pe of the girl's feet to the ivory feet of the divinities
in the temples--perhaps he is thinking of some ivory image of Aphrodite
which he has seen. But how charming an image does he make to arise before
us! Beautiful is the description of the girl's voice as "drowsy sweet."
But the most exquisite thing in the whole song is the final despairing
admission that he can not describe her at all--"and thy ways, I can not
tell of them"! This is one of the most beautiful expressions in any poem
ancient or modern, because of its supreme truth. What mortal ever could
describe the charm of manner, voice, smile, address, in mere words? Such
things are felt, they can not be described; and the peasant boy reaches
the highest height of true lyrical poetry when he cries out "I can not
tell of them." The great French critic Sainte-Beuve attempted to render
this line as follows--"_Quant a ta maniere, je ne puis la rendre!"_ This
is very good; and you can take your choice between it and any English
translation. But good judges say that nothing in English of French equals
the charm of the original.

You will find three different classes of idyls in Theocritus; the idyl
which is a simple song of peasant life, a pure lyric expressing only a
single emotion; the idyl which is a little story, usually a story about
the gods or heroes; and lastly, the idyl which is presented in the form of
a dialogue, or even of a conversation between three or four persons. All
these forms of idyl, but especially the first and the third, were
afterward beautifully imitated by the Roman poets; then very imperfectly
imitated by modern poets. The imitation still goes on, but the very best
English poets have never really been able to give us anything worthy of
Theocritus himself.

However, this study of the Greek model has given some terms to English
literature which every student ought to know. One of these terms is
amoebaean,--amoebaean poetry being dialogue poetry composed in the form of
question and reply. The original Greek signification was that of alternate
speaking. Please do not forget the word. You may often find it in critical
studies in essays upon contemporary literature; and when you see it again,
remember Theocritus and the school of Greek poets who first introduced the
charm of amoebaean poetry. I hope that this little lecture will interest
some of you in Theocritus sufficiently to induce you to read him carefully
through and through. But remember tha