|
|
|
|
|
|
|
totally inadequate, but the beloved himself is an unsuitable match for the hero. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Although we are not told that Heracles rushes off in the direction of the noise, we may infer from the comparison that he does so. The failure of this endeavour remains entirely implicit. But Heracles perseveres, and continues his search, braving 'untrodden thorn bushes' (64). Hylas has disappeared into his locus amoenus, but nature is hostile to Heracles. He also forgets his 'calling':  (67), 'and all Jason's interests were pushed into the background'. And the description of his search concludes with a reference to the god whom no one can escape:  (71), 'for a tormenting god was rending his heart'. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The first of the four final verses is devoted to the beauty and immortality of Hylas. The other three refer to Heracles: 'But the heroes mocked Heracles, because he had deserted the ship and had withdrawn from the Argo with its thirty rowing benches, and on foot had arrived at the Colchians and the inhospitable Phasis' (7375). In the translation given here, the final line is also part of the mocking words of the Argonauts. Others prefer to see this last verse as standing on its own: 'but on foot he reached the Colchians and the inhospitable Phasis'. According to this interpretation Heracles is rehabilitated in the closing line, as his desertion is quite made up for by his fabulous walk. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Although his arguments are not equally valid, Gow is certainly right in rejecting this second explanation. In my view, his first argument, viz. the fact that the Greek does not permit us to take the closing line (75) as an independent sentence, is decisive. If Heracles' arrival were meant to nullify the mockery of the Argonauts, there would be a clear-cut contrast between 1.75 and 11.734, as in Edmonds' translation in the Loeb edition: 'Nevertheless he made the inhospitable land of the Colchians afoot'. However, there is in the Greek not the slightest indication of a 'nevertheless' and such a translation is clearly mistaken. Heracles' arrival on foot is in no way marked off from the mockery of his desertion.20 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Many scholars past and present have gone in search of the "message" that Theocritus has for Nicias. According to Wilamowitz (1906: 177), this poem is "eine Apologie der Knabenliebe": Heracles temporarily neglects his |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
20 Cf. Bonnanno (1986) 33. Gow points out that an emphasising pronoun might have done the job, e.g. . . . Mastronarde (1968: 288, n. 33) states that "the deciding argument should derive from sense", meaning his own interpretation. He considers Gow's arguments unconvincing, but he only refutes the one argument that really cuts no ice and disregards the others. |
|
|
|
|
|