# Moeris — The Eclogues character guide

> Moeris in The Eclogues by Virgil.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Old Moeris

**First appearance:** 0008-pastoral-ix-lycidas-and-moeris

## Snapshot

An old shepherd driven from his farm by a soldier's order, carrying two kids as a bribe and confessing that songs no longer save anyone.

## Who they are

Moeris meets Lycidas on the road to town, visibly displaced, and tells him the grim news that Menalcas's song did not in fact save the farm, and that he himself barely escaped a violent quarrel. He remembers fragments of Menalcas's verses but admits his own voice has gone hoarse and his soul untuned to rhyme by care and time. He is the collection's clearest witness to dispossession, the moment when pastoral's music falters against the weight of real loss.

## Relationships

### [Daphnis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eclogues_se/characters/daphnis)

_friendship_

Daphnis and Moeris are fellow shepherds who share songs and memories, with Moeris often acting as an elder figure to Daphnis.

## In the story

### [Pastoral VIII: Pharmaceutria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eclogues_se/chapters/pastoral-viii-pharmaceutria)

Old Moeris is mentioned as the source of the poisonous plants used in the magic spells.

### [Pastoral IX: Lycidas and Moeris](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eclogues_se/chapters/pastoral-ix-lycidas-and-moeris)

The bailiff of Virgil, expelled from his farm by a centurion, carrying two kids as a peace offering.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eclogues_se/characters/moeris
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eclogues_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eclogues_se/characters