Alanio

Alanio is Ismenia’s cousin and a shepherd whose changing affections help turn a prank into a chain of competing loves. He first becomes Selvagia’s beloved after she mistakes Ismenia, disguised as a shepherdess and calling herself Alanio, for him; later, his jealousy over Montano’s place in Ismenia’s affections leads him to neglect Selvagia and renew his pursuit of Ismenia.

Identity and Introduction

Ismenia loves Alanio more than herself, while his affection for her is initially less intense. The cousins resemble one another so closely in face, eyes, and other features that, as Selvagia’s account puts it, their different sex is the one distinction that would keep people from mistaking one for the other. That resemblance makes Alanio the unwitting source of Ismenia’s deception: when she needs a shepherd’s name while disguised, his is the first that comes to her tongue.

The Disguise and Selvagia’s Attachment

At a temple, Ismenia speaks to Selvagia in the guise of a shepherdess but presents herself as Alanio. She sustains the impersonation through the night, answering Selvagia’s expressions of love and agreeing to meet again. At parting, Selvagia sees the supposed shepherd leave with a smile, but dismisses the glimpse as a possible mistake. She carries away the memory of the embrace and the declarations of love, convinced that she has met Alanio.

Eight days later, the real Alanio comes to Selvagia’s village and appears where she can see him as she walks with other shepherdesses toward a spring. Still believing him to be the person she met in disguise, she signals him to join her. They speak, and Selvagia’s love deepens; she believes he has become attached to her too, though she later judges that he did not show his affection through action as much as he should have. Their relationship continues in secrecy for a time. Ismenia eventually learns of it and, recognizing that her own trick has helped turn Alanio toward Selvagia, is distressed by the result. The deception has thus produced a real attachment that Selvagia says would have endured even after its origin was exposed.

Jealousy and the Reversal of Affections

The lovers’ positions shift when Ismenia turns toward Montano. She loves him firmly and distances herself from Alanio, in part to repay what she regards as his neglect and his choice of Selvagia. Alanio is pained to see Ismenia devoted to a man he considers an enemy. At first, however, his love for Selvagia keeps him from showing the full force of that distress.

As Montano grows cooler toward Ismenia, either because of the abundance of her favors or because he is jealous of Alanio’s attentions, he sees Selvagia bringing her sheep to the fold and begins to love her intensely. The result is a changing sequence of desire: Selvagia loves Alanio, Alanio loves Ismenia, Ismenia loves Montano, and Montano loves Selvagia. Alanio’s jealousy then alters his conduct. To obstruct Montano’s growing advantage, he begins paying renewed attention to Ismenia and makes fewer public visits to Selvagia. His absence from Selvagia and renewed proximity to Ismenia reverse his own attachments: he forgets Selvagia and returns to his first love, while Selvagia remains devoted to him and feels deceived.

Pursuit and Narrative Role

The shifting loves take shape as a pattern of pursuit across the pastoral landscape. If Ismenia goes into the fields, Alanio follows; Ismenia follows Montano to the flock; Montano follows Selvagia; and Selvagia goes after Alanio when she learns he is in a familiar woodland. On one occasion, Selvagia finds Alanio weeping over his disappointment while Ismenia laughs at his sighs. The scene makes visible the disparity between the person pursuing and the person pursued, even as their positions keep changing.

Alanio’s story shows how a false identity can set genuine affection in motion, but it does not make love stable: his attachment to Selvagia yields to jealousy, rivalry, and Ismenia’s renewed presence. His shifting loyalties are a central mechanism in the pastoral plot’s interlocking pattern, where each person’s pursuit changes the direction of someone else’s desire.