# Pollio — The Eclogues character guide

> Pollio in The Eclogues by Virgil.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0003-pastoral-iv-pollio

## Snapshot

A Roman consul and patron whose name the shepherds invoke, promising him a heifer or a bull in exchange for reading their rural verse.

## Who they are

Pollio stands at the edge of the pastoral world as the powerful patron whose attention the shepherds court, offering livestock and honeyed oaks in return for his favor. He is both a reader of their verses and a figure whose own tragic and political writing the poet aspires to match, another Sophocles with a Homer answering him. His presence ties the collection's rustic songs to the larger machinery of Rome, making the stakes of patronage and poetic ambition visible.

## Relationships

### [Palaemon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eclogues_se/characters/palaemon)

_professional_

Palaemon praises and defers to Pollio, a powerful political patron and consul, acknowledging his influence over poetic and pastoral affairs.

## In the story

### [Pastoral III: Palaemon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eclogues_se/chapters/pastoral-iii-palaemon)

Praised by both Damoetas and Menalcas; Damoetas says Pollio reads his verses, Menalcas says Pollio writes himself.

### [Pastoral IV: Pollio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eclogues_se/chapters/pastoral-iv-pollio)

The consul whose son's birth is celebrated; his consulship and triumph grace the prophesied golden age.

## Links

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