Women and Genre in Calpurnius Siculus’ Eclogues

Abstract

Abstract This article aims to examine the ways in which the Calpurnian text converses with the earlier pastoral tradition focusing on the women identified in the collection. Leaving aside the mythical female figures who are also traced in the collection (e.g. Pales and Venus), this study focuses on all the female characters mentioned by male figures, trying to show that women in the Eclogues, among other elements (such as subjects, motifs, intertexts, language and style), constitute a significant means by which Calpurnius shows originality and generic evolution. It is argued that the female characters in Calpurnian pastoral are the erotic objects of the herdsmen and the recipients of their songs and in that sense they recall the pastoral tradition (Greek and Roman) that Calpurnius inherited. What is more, they are central metapoetic elements which show Calpurnius’ metaliterary engagement with gender in a collection that stresses the originality of the Neronian pastoral. Most importantly, however, they incorporate features and elements from other literary genres (mostly from Roman comedy and love elegy) and in that sense they constitute a significant means by which Calpurnius maintains the generic tensions employed by his literary antecedents (i.e. Vergil) and broadens the limits of pastoral.