Theocritus Idyl I

This watercolor was made to illustrate an idyll—a pastoral poem—ascribed to the Greek poet Theocritus, who lived during the third century BCE. The poem is written as a dialogue between the shepherd Thyrsis and an unnamed goatherd. Thyrsis recounts the shepherd Daphnis’s confrontation with Cypris (another name for Aphrodite, the goddess of love): And yes, Cypris too came smiling sweetly, smiling secretly, but bearing heavy anger in her heart. And she said, 'Daphnis, did you not indeed assert that you would bind Love, and have you not now been bound by fierce Love yourself?'” In telling his story, Thyrsis self-identifies with Daphnis, shown to the right in Flint’s illustration. Daphnis is about to bear the wrath of Cypris, who resents his contention that he can master love. Flint may well have identified with Thyrsis and Daphnis, for he suffered disappointments in his sometimes misguided passions for women.