Bion was a poet of about the same period as Theocritus, but of whom little is known. The following is a fragment translated by A. Lang:—
“Happy are they that love, when with equal love they are rewarded. Happy was Theseus, when Pirithöus was by his side, yea tho’ he went down to the house of implacable Hades. Happy among hard men and inhospitable was Orestes, for that Pylades chose to share his wanderings. And he was happy, Achilles Æacides, while his darling lived,—happy was he in his death, because he avenged the dread fate of Patroclus.” Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, Golden Treasury series, p. 182.
Lament for Bion by Moschus
The beautiful Lament for Bion by Moschus is interesting in this connection, and should be compared with Shelley’s lament for Keats in Adonais—for which latter poem indeed it supplied some suggestions:—
“Ye mountain valleys, pitifully groan!
Rivers and Dorian springs for Bion weep!
Ye plants drop tears! ye groves lamenting moan!
Exhale your life, wan flowers; your blushes deep
In grief, anemonies and roses, steep!
In softest murmurs, Hyacinth! prolong