The Eclogues · Chapter
Pastoral X: Gallus explained
Virgil's friend Gallus, a poet, is heartbroken because his beloved Lycoris has left him for a soldier.
What happens
Virgil's friend Gallus, a poet, is heartbroken because his beloved Lycoris has left him for a soldier. He retreats to Arcadia, where he is visited by rural deities and laments his unrequited love, expressing a desire to live a pastoral life or to die in the wilderness. The poem ends with Virgil's own tribute to Gallus and a call to end the song.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
Gallus's unrequited love for Lycoris drives the entire poem, exploring the pain and obsession of desire.
Displacement and Loss
Gallus is displaced from his pastoral ideal by war and Lycoris's abandonment, longing for a simpler life.
Nature and the Pastoral Ideal
The Arcadian setting and natural imagery (woods, fountains, flocks) serve as a backdrop for Gallus's lament and his fantasy of a pastoral existence.
Characters to notice
- Gallus
The central figure, a poet mourning his lost love Lycoris, who has abandoned him for a soldier.
- Apollo
Appears to Gallus, chiding him for his excessive grief over Lycoris, who has fled to war.
- Silvanus
Arrives wearing a rustic crown of fennel and lilies to console Gallus.
- Pan
Arrives with vermilion cheeks and temples, advising Gallus that love is not satisfied by tears.
- Menalcas
Mentioned as one of the swains who came to Gallus, wet with winter mast.
- Phyllis
Imagined by Gallus as a possible love interest who would have been faithful, in contrast to Lycoris.
Key passages
“Thy sacred succour, Arethusa, bring, To crown my labour (’tis the last I sing), Which proud Lycoris may with pity view: The muse is mournful, though the numbers few.”
Virgil invokes the nymph Arethusa to help him write a final song about Gallus's sorrow, hoping Lycoris might feel pity.
Opening invocation sets the tone of mourning and poetic closure.
“Love alters not for us his hard decrees, Not though beneath the Thracian clime we freeze, Or Italy’s indulgent heaven forgo, And in mid-winter tread Sithonian snow; ... Love conquers all; and we must yield to Love.”
Love's power is absolute and unchanging, no matter where one goes or what one endures; everyone must submit to love.
Gallus's final resignation to love's omnipotence, echoing a universal theme.