R. J. Cholmeley, M.A., The Idylls of Theocritus

The dialect in 28-30 is Aeolic. The chief peculiarities of this are: (1) the absence of the spiritus asper in almost every case (l. 4 ἶρον = ἱερόν): (2) the shifting of the accent far back on words, e.g. 6 ἴδων, 23 ἄει, 25 τίματα, etc.: (3) the doubling of consonants, ἄμμιν, ξέννον, χέρρας = χεῖρας, Μίλλατον, 16 ἀμμετέρας: (4) in conjugation of verbs; a large number of verbs appear in the -μι form instead of -ω. Thus xxviii. 3 θέρσεισ᾽ = θαρσοῦσα （θέρσημι）. Some have ὑμάρτη, xxviii. 3--ὑμάρτημι for ὑμαρτέω: αἰτήμεθα, xxviii. 5: ποτήμενα, xxix. 30: δοκίμοι, xxx. 26 (δοκίμωμι): φίλη, xxix. 20 (φίλημι): ἐθέλεισθα or ἐθέλησθα （ἐθέλεις）, xxix. 4. In the -ω conjugation the participle is formed in -οισα (xxviii. 19); the 2nd pers. sing. -ης for -εις (xxix. 14); infin. -ην for -ειν (xxix. 35); εἰμί has participle ἔσσαν (xxviii. 16): (5) in nouns note the accus. plur. -οις for -ους (xxviii. 20); gen. sing in -ω (xxx. 1, etc.).

As with the Doric used in the other idylls the Aeolic here is not a pure dialect, but contains an admixture of forms which are not Aeolic at all [xxviii. 6 ὅπως: καλεῦντος, xxix. 39 (Aeolic would be καλέντος): νοέοντα, xxix. 31]. Others which are Aeolic but quite obsolete, βράκη (= ῥάκη), xxviii. 11; ἀπύ for ἀπό, βραϊδίως, xxx. 27; vid. Legrand, Étude, p. 252. How much is to be attributed to Theocritus and how much to faulty transmission is not to be determined with certainty; the restoration or not of Aeolisms must depend on the taste of each individual reader.

[2] γύναιξιν dative after δῶρον cf. Soph. Trach. 668 τῶν σῶν ῾Ηρακλεῖ δωρημάτων: Eurip. I. T. 387.

[3] Νείλεος πόλιν Miletus; Callim. iii. 225: “      χαῖρε Χιτώνη
Μιλήτῳ ἐπίδημε: δὲ γὰρ ποιήσατο Νειλεὺς
ἡγεμόνην ὅτε νηυσὶν ἀνήγετο Κεκροπίηθεν.

”

[4] καλάμω…ὑπαπάλω. I have left the Vulg. lectio, although the last word is in the highest degree uncertain. No satisfactory emendation is forthcoming, and the only plausible suggestion is that the word conceals ὑπ᾽ + the name of a hill (Meineke). It is just possible, however, to keep to the MS. and explain the word as a compound of ὑπό and ἁπαλός, like ὑπόσυχνος, etc., the ὑπο- giving the sense of 'somewhat.' It is, however, then necessary to suppose that the first -α- is counted long on the analogy of such Aeolic forms as ἕν（ν）εκα, ξέν（ν）ον, σῦν ὀλίγῳ (xxviii. fin.). In that case translate 'where is the shrine of Cypris of tender reeds.' There was a temple of Venus at Samos called τὸ ἐν καλάμοις or τὸ ἐν ἕλει: cf. Theocr. vii. 115, where the name Βυβλίς is probably connected with βύβλος and derived from these rush-beds.

[6] τέρψομαι cf. Odyss. xvi. 25 νῦν εἴσελθε φίλον τέκος ὄφρα σε θυμῷ τέρψομαι εἰσορόων.

[7] ἴερον φύτον cf. Iliad ii. 704 Ποδάρκης, ὄζος ῎Αρηος: Theocr. vii. 44.

[8] πολυμόχθω, 'wrought with toil.'

γεγενημέναν, 'made'; the passive of ποιέω as in Isocr. ii. 27 τοῖς πράγμασι τοῖς μὴ διὰ σοῦ γεγενημένοις, etc.

[9] ὀλόχω = ἀλόχου.

χέρρας = χεῖρας.

[10] πέπλοις acc. plur. = πέπλους: cf. ll. 12, 16.

[11] φορέοισ᾽ = φορέουσι （φοροῦσι）.

βράκη （ῥάκη）, 'raiment.' The β represents the digamma at the beginning of words in Aeolic; so βροδοπάχεες is restored in Sappho; and we find βραϊδίως, Theocr. xxx. 28, and βραδινός in Sappho.

ὐδάτινα Callim. fr. 295 has ὑδάτινον καίρωμα. The sense is probably 'flowing,' not 'water-coloured' or 'transparent.' That was at any rate the sense understood by Antipater in A. Pal. ix. 567 ὑδατίνους φορέουσα βραχίονας.

[13] πέξαιντο, 'would get shorn.' The use of the middle is curious; cf. Pseudo-Phocyl. 166 ἄρουραι λήια κειράμεναι.

αὐτοένει, 'in one year.'

[15] ἐβολλόμαν = ἐβουλόμην.

ἀκίρας, 'idle.'

[16] ἀμμετέρας…χθονός see Introd.

[17] ᾿Εφύρας Corinth; cf. xvi. 83. Syracuse was a colony from Corinth.

[19] sqq. ὃς…ἀπαλαλκέμεν, 'he knows many a skilful healing art to keep disease from men.'

νόσοις is acc. plur. ἀπαλαλκέμεν, infin. dependent on φάρμακα ἐδάη. The form is Epic rather than Aeolic.

[21] πεδά = μετά: cf. xxix. 38.

[24] κῆνο = ἐκεῖνο, τὤπος = τὸ ἔπος: 'thus shall one say who sees thee: truly a little gift, but great the love; and love makes all things precious'; cf. A. Pal. vi. 227 ὀλίγην δόσιν ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ θυμοῦ and the Homeric δόσις δ᾽ ὀλίγη τε φίλη τε (Odyss. vi. 208).

[25] σύν cf. ἀσυ_νέτημι τῶν ἀνέμων στάσιν, Alcaeus.