"This volume collects ten classic papers on the Eclogues, written between 1975 and 1999 by leading scholars from the UK, the USA, Germany, and Italy, and is meant as an invitation to (re)discover Vergil's earliest poems through recent developments in Vergilian criticism. The contributions treat general issues that the work raises (Ernst A. Schmidt discusses the nature of the Eclogues' 'Arcadia'; R.G.M. Nisbet and Lorenz Rumpf consider Vergil's bucolic language; and Seamus Heaney explores the continuing relevance of the pastoral mode in modern times) as well as individual poems (there are specific discussions of Eclogues 1-3 by Thomas K. Hubbard, 1 by Christine G. Perkell, 3 by John Henderson, 4 by R.G.M. Nisbet, 6 by David O. Ross, Jr., and 10 by Gian Biagio Conte).

As an introduction to contemporary scholarship on the Eclogues, the book will be helpful to students who are encountering the poems for the first time, while also serving as a reference work for more seasoned scholars."--Jacket.