38 h 45 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if escaping a prophecy means entering a world where love makes every disguise more dangerous?
In Philip Sidney's The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, Duke Basilius retreats among shepherds and green hills after an alarming oracle. He hopes to escape its threat, but his sheltered daughters, Pamela and Philoclea, draw the love of two visiting princes. Pyrocles and Musidorus take on disguises to get close to them, bringing desire and deception into the duke's country refuge.
Around them, a household full of foolish pride and dangerous feelings turns love into both comedy and risk. Basilius's clever wife, Gynecia, sees more than her husband, while the boastful herdsman Dametas proves easy to fool. Beyond the lodges lie shipwreck, battles, tournaments and schemes for power. Through these adventures, Sidney asks whether love strengthens virtue or ruins judgment.
What you’ll discover
- Princes behind disguises Follow Pyrocles and Musidorus as love draws them into borrowed names and unfamiliar roles.
- Two sheltered princesses Meet steady, thoughtful Pamela and gentle Philoclea as love enters their guarded lives.
- Comedy among the shepherds Enjoy the foolish pride of Dametas amid a household tangled in desire and deception.
- Adventure beyond the hills Venture into a wider world of shipwreck, knights, kidnappers and struggles for power.
- Love against good judgment Consider what happens when private desire presses against virtue and a ruler's duty.
Who will love it
For readers who love Elizabethan literature, knightly adventure, and stories where love makes sensible people act foolishly. Disguises, comic servants, and the clash between private desire and public duty add to the appeal.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An oracle drives a duke into hiding
- Two princes fall in love and hide in disguise
- A comic household and a lovestruck duke
- The wider world of knights and kidnappers
- Love, virtue and the duty of rulers
- How Sidney tells it, and why it stops
Who’s who
- BasiliusThe duke of Arcadia, a kind but fearful ruler who retreats to the country after an alarming oracle.
- GyneciaHis clever, proud wife, who sees more than her husband and is drawn into dangerous feelings.
- PamelaThe elder princess, steady, thoughtful and strong in spirit, who is loved by a prince disguised as a shepherd.
- PhilocleaThe younger princess, gentle and shy, loved by a prince who comes to her father's house as an Amazon.
- PyroclesA prince of Macedon who takes the name Zelmane and dresses as a woman to be near the woman he loves.
- MusidorusPyrocles's cousin and friend, who warns against love and later disguises himself as the shepherd Dorus.
- DametasA boastful, cowardly herdsman given charge of the princesses, and easily fooled by those around him.
- CecropiaA scheming noblewoman who wants power for her son and will use any means to get it.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 38 h 45 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Die Arkadien der Gräfin von Pembroke
by Philip Sidney · 1590
Two princes enter a hidden household in disguise, risking discovery to win the love of sheltered princesses.
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In short
The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia is a prose romance by Philip Sidney, written in the 1580s while he was a courtier and soldier of Queen Elizabeth's England. He wrote it partly for his sister Mary, Countess of Pembroke.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An oracle drives a duke into hiding
The story is set in Arcadia, a land of shepherds and green hills, ruled by Duke Basilius. He is a kindly man but a weak and anxious one. He consults the oracle at Delphi and receives a warning that frightens him. The message speaks of his daughters, of a stranger, and of a household in turmoil.
Basilius reads the prophecy in the worst way. He decides that the safest course is to leave his court and hide. He takes his wife Gynecia and his two daughters, Pamela and Philoclea, to a pair of lodges in a remote part of the countryside. There he plans to keep them away from every suitor and every stranger for the rest of his life.
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What is The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia about?
It follows two princes who disguise themselves to win the daughters of the Duke of Arcadia, who has hidden his family from a feared prophecy. Along the way come comedy, war, captivity and questions about love and duty.
Why is it called the Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia?
Sidney wrote it for his sister Mary, Countess of Pembroke, and after his death she helped bring it into print. Her name on the title honours her role in its making and survival.
What is the difference between the Old and New Arcadia?
The text here does not set out that comparison. Its main tale runs through five books, mixing the princes' adventures with poems and other characters' stories. A sixth book by another writer continues the tale.
The author
Philip Sidney
1554–1586 · English Renaissance poet
Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and diplomat, born in Kent in 1554. He lived in England and travelled in Europe. He wrote The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, Astrophil and Stella, and A Defence of Poesy during the late 1570s and 1580s. He died in Arnhem in 1586.
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