This is the first full-scale commentary on poems by Theocritus since Gow's edition of 1950, and the first to exploit the recent revolution in the study of Hellenistic and Roman poetry; the poems included in this volume (Idylls 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 ...

Published simultaneously in Canada by McClelland and Stewart.

Gow's Theocritus comprises an authoritative text and translation of the works of the creator of Greek bucolic poetry.

In particular, the book explores the subtle and complex links among Theocritus's poem, modes of praise drawn from both Greek and Egyptian traditions, and the subsequent flowering of Latin poetry in the Augustan age."