The Bucolics and Ecloges [English] | Page 8

unhallowed union e'er was fain?As with a beast to mate, though many a time?On her smooth forehead she had sought for horns,?And for her neck had feared the galling plough.?O ill-starred maid! thou roamest now the hills,?While on soft hyacinths he, his snowy side?Reposing, under some dark ilex now?Chews the pale herbage, or some heifer tracks?Amid the crowding herd. Now close, ye Nymphs,?Ye Nymphs of Dicte, close the forest-glades,?If haply there may chance upon mine eyes?The white bull's wandering foot-prints: him belike?Following the herd, or by green pasture lured,?Some kine may guide to the Gortynian stalls.?Then sings he of the maid so wonder-struck?With the apples of the Hesperids, and then?With moss-bound, bitter bark rings round the forms?Of Phaethon's fair sisters, from the ground?Up-towering into poplars. Next he sings?Of Gallus wandering by Permessus' stream,?And by a sister of the Muses led?To the Aonian mountains, and how all?The choir of Phoebus rose to greet him; how?The shepherd Linus, singer of songs divine,?Brow-bound with flowers and bitter parsley, spake:?"These reeds the Muses give thee, take them thou,?Erst to the aged bard of Ascra given,?Wherewith in singing he was wont to draw?Time-rooted ash-trees from the mountain heights.?With these the birth of the Grynean grove?Be voiced by thee, that of no grove beside?Apollo more may boast him." Wherefore speak?Of Scylla, child of Nisus, who, 'tis said,?Her fair white loins with barking monsters girt?Vexed the Dulichian ships, and, in the deep?Swift-eddying whirlpool, with her sea-dogs tore?The trembling mariners? or how he told?Of the changed limbs of Tereus- what a feast,?What gifts, to him by Philomel were given;?How swift she sought the desert, with what wings?Hovered in anguish o'er her ancient home??All that, of old, Eurotas, happy stream,?Heard, as Apollo mused upon the lyre,?And bade his laurels learn, Silenus sang;?Till from Olympus, loth at his approach,?Vesper, advancing, bade the shepherds tell?Their tale of sheep, and pen them in the fold.
ECLOGUE VII
MELIBOEUS CORYDON THYRSIS
Daphnis beneath a rustling ilex-tree?Had sat him down; Thyrsis and Corydon?Had gathered in the flock, Thyrsis the sheep,?And Corydon the she-goats swollen with milkBoth?in the flower of age, Arcadians both,?Ready to sing, and in like strain reply.?Hither had strayed, while from the frost I fend?My tender myrtles, the he-goat himself,?Lord of the flock; when Daphnis I espy!?Soon as he saw me, "Hither haste," he cried,?"O Meliboeus! goat and kids are safe;?And, if you have an idle hour to spare,?Rest here beneath the shade. Hither the steers?Will through the meadows, of their own free will,?Untended come to drink. Here Mincius hath?With tender rushes rimmed his verdant banks,?And from yon sacred oak with busy hum?The bees are swarming." What was I to do??No Phyllis or Alcippe left at home?Had I, to shelter my new-weaned lambs,?And no slight matter was a singing-bout?'Twixt Corydon and Thyrsis. Howsoe'er,?I let my business wait upon their sport.?So they began to sing, voice answering voice?In strains alternate- for alternate strains?The Muses then were minded to recallFirst?Corydon, then Thyrsis in reply.
CORYDON?"Libethrian Nymphs, who are my heart's delight,?Grant me, as doth my Codrus, so to singNext?to Apollo he- or if to this?We may not all attain, my tuneful pipe?Here on this sacred pine shall silent hang."
THYRSIS?"Arcadian shepherds, wreathe with ivy-spray?Your budding poet, so that Codrus burst?With envy: if he praise beyond my due,?Then bind my brow with foxglove, lest his tongue?With evil omen blight the coming bard."
CORYDON?"This bristling boar's head, Delian Maid, to thee,?With branching antlers of a sprightly stag,?Young Micon offers: if his luck but hold,?Full-length in polished marble, ankle-bound?With purple buskin, shall thy statue stand."
THYRSIS?"A bowl of milk, Priapus, and these cakes,?Yearly, it is enough for thee to claim;?Thou art the guardian of a poor man's plot.?Wrought for a while in marble, if the flock?At lambing time be filled,stand there in gold."
CORYDON?"Daughter of Nereus, Galatea mine,?Sweeter than Hybla-thyme, more white than swans,?Fairer than ivy pale, soon as the steers?Shall from their pasture to the stalls repair,?If aught for Corydon thou carest, come."
THYRSIS?"Now may I seem more bitter to your taste?Than herb Sardinian, rougher than the broom,?More worthless than strewn sea-weed, if to-day?Hath not a year out-lasted! Fie for shame!?Go home, my cattle, from your grazing go!"
CORYDON?"Ye mossy springs, and grass more soft than sleep,?And arbute green with thin shade sheltering you,?Ward off the solstice from my flock, for now?Comes on the burning summer, now the buds?Upon the limber vine-shoot 'gin to swell."
THYRSIS?"Here is a hearth, and resinous logs, here fire?Unstinted, and doors black with ceaseless smoke.?Here heed we Boreas' icy breath as much?As the wolf heeds the number of the flock,?Or furious rivers their restraining banks."
CORYDON?"The junipers and prickly chestnuts stand,?And 'neath each tree lie strewn their several fruits,?Now the whole world is smiling, but if fair?Alexis from these hill-slopes should away,?Even the rivers you would ; see run dry."
THYRSIS?"The field is parched, the grass-blades thirst to death?In the faint air; Liber hath