# Pastoral X: Gallus explained — The Eclogues

> Chapter companion for The Eclogues by Virgil.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_eclogues_se/chapters/pastoral-x-gallus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_eclogues_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_eclogues_se/chapters