Trespassers Will Be Charmed on Sight

Abstract

In this article, I present an interpretation of violent episodes in the pastoral poetry of the third-century Latin author, Nemesianus. Drawing on comparison to depictions of sexual violence on apotropaic amulets and art, I argue that Nemesianus intended his own poetry to showcase the apotropaic power of pastoral songs and pastoral books. In so doing, Nemesianus continues a tradition of ancient pastoral authors who expended considerable effort to compare their hexameters and themselves to magical spells and practitioners of magic. I conclude with some thoughts on the Good Shepherd motif on sarcophagi roughly contemporary with Nemesianus.