Idyll 1: Creative Matter

ἀμϕὶ δέ νιν δύ᾽ ἀƛώπϵκϵς, ἃ μὲν ἀν᾽ ὄρχως

ϕοιτῇ σινομένα τὰν τρώζιμον, ἃ δ᾽ ἐπὶ πήρᾳ

πάντα δόƛον τϵύχοισα τὸ παιδίον οὐ πρὶν ἀνησϵῖν

ϕατὶ πρὶν ἢ ἀκράτιστον ἐπὶ ζηροῖσι καθίζῃ.

αὐτὰρ ὅγ᾽ ἀνθϵρίκοισι καƛὰν πƛέκϵι ἀκριδοθήραν

σχοίνῳ ἐϕαρμόσδων· μέƛϵται δέ οἱ οὔτϵ τι πήρας

οὔτϵ ϕυτῶν τοσσῆνον ὅσον πϵρὶ πƛέγματι γαθϵῖ.

Near him are two foxes; one goes among the vine rows and plunders the grapes that are ready to eat, while the other uses all its guile to get his knapsack, and is determined not to leave the boy alone until he has only dry bread left for his breakfast. He meanwhile is weaving a fine trap for grasshoppers by linking together rushes and stalks of asphodel, and his care for his knapsack and vines is much less than the pleasure he takes in his plaiting.

(Theocritus Idyll 1.48–54)

The final scene on the cup takes us back: back to the land, the farm, oiko-criticism and Hesiod, as we reconnect with our earliest Greek agrarian poem. First, dualities and contrasts are integral to the scene: the two foxes with diverse behaviours; the actions of the foxes versus the attention of the boy; the boy's disregard for his knapsack and vines as contrasted with the pleasure he takes in his creative work.