Bucolic UneasinessA Comparative Study of Translations and Adaptations of Virgil's Second Eclogue in Early Modern England

Resumen

Virgil's eclogues, model of the Renaissance pastoral, were commonly translated and adapted for didactic purposes in the period. The second eclogue¿s homoerotic tone was approached differently and mostly uneasily by the majority of authors. By comparing some of the translations, this paper tries to investigate the various strategies used to balance the instability and ambiguity set between the normalised academic discourses dealing with Virgil¿s Bucolics and their homoerotic language. Finally it is argued that, however disguised as works of art, these poems were read as merely sexual, so that Virgilian same-sex affection was as depraved as any other and needed moral correction.