Epithalamium of Achilles and Deidameia

Bion. The Greek Bucolic Poets. Edmonds, J. M., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916.

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This work is a bucolic poem in hexameter focusing on the love between the Greek hero Achilles and Deidameia, the princess of Scyros. The poem opens with a dialogue between two shepherds, Lycidas and Myrson, where Lycidas requests a love song and Myrson obliges by singing about Achilles. The song narrates how the young Achilles, disguised as a girl to avoid the Trojan War, lived on Scyros and fell in love with Deidameia. It depicts Achilles secretly yearning for the princess and eventually making a passionate declaration of love while blending in with the women. However, the surviving text cuts off mid-speech during Achilles' courtship, leaving the poem as an unfinished fragment.