The Eclogues · Chapter
Pastoral III: Palaemon explained
Damoetas and Menalcas engage in a heated exchange of insults and boasts before agreeing to a singing contest.
What happens
Damoetas and Menalcas engage in a heated exchange of insults and boasts before agreeing to a singing contest. They present their wagers—Menalcas offers two carved beechwood bowls, Damoetas a heifer—and Palaemon is called to judge. After an alternating song on themes of love, nature, and poetic rivalry, Palaemon declares both equally skilled and leaves the contest undecided.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
Both singers express longing for their beloveds—Damoetas for Phyllis, Menalcas for Amyntas—and describe the pains and pleasures of love.
Art and Poetry
The contest itself is a celebration of poetic skill; the carved bowls and the invocation of Muses underscore the value of craftsmanship and inspiration.
Nature and the Pastoral Ideal
The setting is a lush spring landscape; the singers use natural imagery (flocks, trees, flowers, storms) to frame their emotions and rivalries.
Characters to notice
- Menalcas
Challenges Damoetas to a singing contest; offers two carved bowls as wager; sings of his love for Amyntas and his disdain for Bavius and Maevius.
- Damoetas
Accepts Menalcas's challenge; wagers a heifer; sings of his love for Phyllis and praises Pollio.
- Palaemon
Acts as judge of the singing contest; declares both contestants equally skilled and leaves the victory undetermined.
- Phyllis
Mentioned by Damoetas as his beloved; she pelts him with apples and trips to the woods.
- Amyntas
Mentioned by Menalcas as his beloved; comes unasked and sits on Menalcas's knee.
- Pollio
Praised by both Damoetas and Menalcas; Damoetas says Pollio reads his verses, Menalcas says Pollio writes himself.
Key passages
“Ho, swain! what shepherd owns those ragged sheep?”
Hey, herdsman! whose are those scruffy sheep?
Menalcas opens the exchange by insulting Damoetas's flock.
“The pawn I proffer shall be full as good: Two bowls I have, well turned, of beechen wood; Both by divine Alcimedon were made”
I offer a worthy wager: two finely crafted beechwood bowls made by the skilled Alcimedon.
Menalcas describes the bowls he stakes in the contest.
“So nice a difference in your singing lies, That both have won, or both deserved, the prize.”
The difference in your singing is so slight that both have won, or both deserve the prize.
Palaemon declares the contest a draw.