PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

We meet the minor scribbler, Bavius, in Vergil's Third Eclogue.  The rather oblique reference occurs in the poem that follows the Second Eclogue which celebrates Corydon's unrequited passion for his employer's son, Alexis.

  They tell me that Bavius barely qualified to deserve the title, Poet:  his skill in poetic processes, such as syllabics and lineation, were negligible; and his knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology was embarrassingly shallow.  He wrote as if entirely unwawre of the canon of Roman literature.  He resented Vergil's superior knowledge, courtesy, and verve; and he was blissfully ignorant of the existence, or ongoing development of the Roman canon of literature.  The standard of poetry's allusive function, codified by Callimachus, Apollonius, and those minor epic poets who contributed to the Matter of Troy was beyond the reach of Bavius' ability, but well clenched in the flailing, clenched fists of his jealousy and covetousness.  Vergil was the epitome of the refined, scholarly poet, who could write the poetry of real emotion without breaking down into an "Oh, woe is me" stylelessness; Bavius was the opposite---the epitome of an unqualified Yokel who gloried in the arrogance of his own profuse ignorance.   

   They tell me that, in a public forum, Vergil offered a compliment to Bavius about one of his poems, which Bavius rejected, because he resented being commended by a mind so vastly superior to his.  He could not rest, nor follow accepted courtesy, in the knowledge that Vergil was not the inferior Poet that he, Bavius, was.  Now Bavius is remembered, if at all, as a vague reference in the Third Eclogue, following the poem that triumphantly asserted Corydon's desire to experience Love as he felt led.

Starward