BUCOLICS, a term occasionally used for rural or pastoral poetry. The expression has been traced back in English to the beginning of the 14th century, being used to describe the "Eclogues" of Virgil. The most celebrated collecton of bucolics in antiquity is that of Theocritus, of which about 3o in the Doric dialect, and mainly written in hexameter verse, have been pre served. This was the name, as is believed, originally given by Vir gil to his pastoral poems, with the direct object of challenging comparison with the writings of Theocritus. In modern times the term "bucolics" has not often been specifically given by the poets to their pastorals; the main exception being that of Ronsard, who collected his eclogues under the title of "Les Bucoliques." (See also PASTORAL.)