In 1986, reviewing recent work on the Bucolics, William S. Anderson wrote, 'Van Sickle, Design, has produced the most persuasive portrait of the Eclogues, arguing cogently for what he calls an "ideological order."' The Design of Virgil's Bucolics argues that Virgil composed his ten eclogues as parts of a system: the Book of Bucolics conceived as a concerted whole. The report of frequent theatre presentations showed that Virgil caught attention withdramatic flair, masking an ideological programme that grew to encompass motifs of a returning Golden Age and new myth, providing cover for the...