Eclogue 3

Eclogue 3 (Ecloga III; Bucolica III) is a pastoral poem by the Latin poet Virgil, one of a collection of ten poems known as the "Eclogues". This eclogue represents the rivalry in song of two herdsmen, Menalcas and Damoetas. After trading insults, the two men decide to have a singing competition, for which each offers a prize (Damoetas a female calf and Menalcas a pair of ornamented cups). A neighbour, Palaemon, who comes along by chance, agrees to be the judge. The second half of the poem consists of the contest, in which each of the two competitors in turn sings a couplet and the other caps it with another couplet (each singing 12 couplets in all). In the end Palaemon brings the contest to an end and declares it a draw.

The poem is based mainly on the bucolic Idyll 5 of the 3rd century BC Greek poet Theocritus, but with elements added from Idyll 4 and other Theocritean idylls. Like Theocritus's Idylls 4 and 5, and all of Virgil's surviving poetry, Eclogue 3 is composed in dactylic hexameters.

Eclogues 2 and 3 are thought to be the earliest of Virgil's Eclogues to be written, and so date to about 42 BC.