ECLOGUE, a short pastoral dialogue in verse. The word is conjectured to be derived from the Greek verb EKXE'Yetv, to choose. Another derivation traces it to a , goat, and X6yos, speech, and makes it a conversation of shepherds. The idea of dialogue, however, is not necessary for an eclogue, which is often not to be distinguished from the idyll. The grammarians, in giving this title to Virgil's pastoral conversations (Bucolica), tended to make the term "eclogue" apply exclusively to dialogue. The ;Eclogues of the Spanish poet Garcilasso de la Vega (1503-36) are still admired. See also BucoLics ; PASTORAL.