The Bucolics and Eclogues

Virgil

The Bucolics and Eclogues

ECLOGUE I

MELIBOEUS

TITYRUS

MELIBOEUSYou, Tityrus, 'neath a broad beech-canopyReclining, on the slender oat rehearseYour silvan ditties: I from my sweet fields,And home's familiar bounds, even now depart.Exiled from home am I; while, Tityrus, youSit careless in the shade, and, at your call,"Fair Amaryllis" bid the woods resound.TITYRUSO Meliboeus, 'twas a god vouchsafedThis ease to us, for him a god will IDeem ever, and from my folds a tender lambOft with its life-blood shall his altar stain.His gift it is that, as your eyes may see,My kine may roam at large, and I myselfPlay on my shepherd's pipe what songs I will.MELIBOEUSI grudge you not the boon, but marvel more,Such wide confusion fills the country-side.See, sick at heart I drive my she-goats on,And this one, O my Tityrus, scarce can lead:For 'mid the hazel-thicket here but nowShe dropped her new-yeaned twins on the bare flint,Hope of the flock- an ill, I mind me well,Which many a time, but for my blinded sense,The thunder-stricken oak foretold, oft tooFrom hollow trunk the raven's ominous cry.But who this god of yours? Come, Tityrus, tell.TITYRUSThe city, Meliboeus, they call Rome,I, simpleton, deemed like this town of ours,Whereto we shepherds oft are wont to driveThe younglings of the flock: so too I knewWhelps to resemble dogs, and kids their dams,Comparing small with great; but this as farAbove all other cities rears her headAs cypress above pliant osier towers.MELIBOEUSAnd what so potent cause took you to Rome?TITYRUSFreedom, which, though belated, cast at lengthHer eyes upon the sluggard, when my beard'Gan whiter fall beneath the barber's blade-Cast eyes, I say, and, though long tarrying, came,Now when, from Galatea's yoke released,I serve but Amaryllis: for I will own,While Galatea reigned over me, I hadNo hope of freedom, and no thought to save.Though many a victim from my folds went forth,Or rich cheese pressed for the unthankful town,Never with laden hands returned I home.MELIBOEUSI used to wonder, Amaryllis, whyYou cried to heaven so sadly, and for whomYou left the apples hanging on the trees;'Twas Tityrus was away. Why, Tityrus,The very pines, the very water-springs,The very vineyards, cried aloud for you.TITYRUSWhat could I do? how else from bonds be freed,Or otherwhere find gods so nigh to aid?There, Meliboeus, I saw that youth to whomYearly for twice six days my altars smoke.There instant answer gave he to my suit,"Feed, as before, your kine, boys, rear your bulls."MELIBOEUSSo in old age, you happy man, your fieldsWill still be yours, and ample for your need!Though, with bare stones o'erspread, the pastures allBe choked with rushy mire, your ewes with youngBy no strange fodder will be tried, nor hurtThrough taint contagious of a neighbouring flock.Happy old man, who 'mid familiar streamsAnd hallowed springs, will court the cooling shade!Here, as of old, your neighbour's bordering hedge,That feasts with willow-flower the Hybla bees,Shall oft with gentle murmur lull to sleep,While the leaf-dresser beneath some tall rockUplifts his song, nor cease their cooings hoarseThe wood-pigeons that are your heart's delight,Nor doves their moaning in the elm-tree top.TITYRUSSooner shall light stags, therefore, feed in air,The seas their fish leave naked on the strand,Germans and Parthians shift their natural bounds,And these the Arar, those the Tigris drink,Than from my heart his face and memory fade.MELIBOEUSBut we far hence, to burning Libya some,Some to the Scythian steppes, or thy swift flood,Cretan Oaxes, now must wend our way,Or Britain, from the whole world sundered far.Ah! shall I ever in aftertime beholdMy native bounds- see many a harvest henceWith ravished eyes the lowly turf-roofed cotWhere I was king? These fallows, trimmed so fair,Some brutal soldier will possess these fieldsAn alien master. Ah! to what a passHas civil discord brought our hapless folk!For such as these, then, were our furrows sown!Now, Meliboeus, graft your pears, now setYour vines in order! Go, once happy flock,My she-goats, go. Never again shall I,Stretched in green cave, behold you from afarHang from the bushy rock; my songs are sung;Never again will you, with me to tend,On clover-flower, or bitter willows, browse.TITYRUSYet here, this night, you might repose with me,On green leaves pillowed: apples ripe have I,Soft chestnuts, and of curdled milk enow.And, see, the farm-roof chimneys smoke afar,And from the hills the shadows lengthening fall!

ECLOGUE II

ALEXIS

The shepherd Corydon with love was firedFor fair Alexis, his own master's joy:No room for hope had he, yet, none the less,The thick-leaved shadowy-soaring beech-tree groveStill would he haunt, and there alone, as thus,To woods and hills pour forth his artless strains."Cruel Alexis, heed you naught my songs?Have you no pity? you'll drive me to my death.Now even the cattle court the cooling shadeAnd the green lizard hides him in the thorn:Now for tired mowers, with the fierce heat spent,Pounds Thestilis her mess of savoury herbs,Wild thyme and garlic. I, with none beside,Save hoarse cicalas shrilling through the brake,Still track your footprints 'neath the broiling sun.Better have borne the petulant proud disdainOf Amaryllis, or Menalcas wooed,Albeit he was so dark, and you so fair!Trust not too much to colour, beauteous boy;White privets fall, dark hyacinths are culled.You scorn me, Alexis, who or what I amCare not to ask- how rich in flocks, or howIn snow-white milk abounding: yet for meRoam on Sicilian hills a thousand lambs;Summer or winter, still my milk-pails brim.I sing as erst Amphion of Circe sang,What time he went to call his cattle homeOn Attic Aracynthus. Nor am ISo ill to look on: lately on the beachI saw myself, when winds had stilled the sea,And, if that mirror lie not, would not fearDaphnis to challenge, though yourself were judge.Ah! were you but content with me to dwell.Some lowly cot in the rough fields our home,Shoot down the stags, or with green osier-wandRound up the straggling flock! There you with meIn silvan strains will learn to rival Pan.Pan first with wax taught reed with reed to join;For sheep alike and shepherd Pan hath care.Nor with the reed's edge fear you to make roughYour dainty lip; such arts as these to learnWhat did Amyntas do?– what did he not?A pipe have I, of hemlock-stalks compactIn lessening lengths, Damoetas' dying-gift:'Mine once,' quoth he, 'now yours, as heir to own.'Foolish Amyntas heard and envied me.Ay, and two fawns, I risked my neck to findIn a steep glen, with coats white-dappled still,From a sheep's udders suckled twice a day-These still I keep for you; which ThestilisImplores me oft to let her lead away;And she shall have them, since my gifts you spurn.Come hither, beauteous boy; for you the NymphsBring baskets, see, with lilies brimmed; for you,Plucking pale violets and poppy-heads,Now the fair Naiad, of narcissus flowerAnd fragrant fennel, doth one posy twine-With cassia then, and other scented herbs,Blends them, and sets the tender hyacinth offWith yellow marigold. I too will pickQuinces all silvered-o'er with hoary down,Chestnuts, which Amaryllis wont to love,And waxen plums withal: this fruit no lessShall have its meed of honour; and I will pluckYou too, ye laurels, and you, ye myrtles, near,For so your sweets ye mingle. Corydon,You are a boor, nor heeds a whit your giftsAlexis; no, nor would Iollas yield,Should gifts decide the day. Alack! alack!What misery have I brought upon my head!-Loosed on the flowers Siroces to my bane,And the wild boar upon my crystal springs!Whom do you fly, infatuate? gods ere now,And Dardan Paris, have made the woods their home.Let Pallas keep the towers her hand hath built,Us before all things let the woods delight.The grim-eyed lioness pursues the wolf,The wolf the she-goat, the she-goat herselfIn wanton sport the flowering cytisus,And Corydon Alexis, each led onBy their own longing. See, the ox comes homeWith plough up-tilted, and the shadows growTo twice their length with the departing sun,Yet me love burns, for who can limit love?Ah! Corydon, Corydon, what hath crazed your wit?Your vine half-pruned hangs on the leafy elm;Why haste you not to weave what need requiresOf pliant rush or osier? Scorned by this,Elsewhere some new Alexis you will find."

ECLOGUE III

MENALCAS

DAMOETAS

PALAEMON

MENALCASWho owns the flock, Damoetas? Meliboeus?DAMOETASNay, they are Aegon's sheep, of late by himCommitted to my care.MENALCASO every wayUnhappy sheep, unhappy flock! while heStill courts Neaera, fearing lest her choiceShould fall on me, this hireling shepherd hereWrings hourly twice their udders, from the flockFilching the life-juice, from the lambs their milk.DAMOETASHold! not so ready with your jeers at men!We know who once, and in what shrine with you-The he-goats looked aside- the light nymphs laughed-MENALCASAy, then, I warrant, when they saw me slashMicon's young vines and trees with spiteful hook.DAMOETASOr here by these old beeches, when you brokeThe bow and arrows of Damon; for you chafedWhen first you saw them given to the boy,Cross-grained Menalcas, ay, and had you notDone him some mischief, would have chafed to death.MENALCASWith thieves so daring, what can masters do?Did I not see you, rogue, in ambush lieFor Damon's goat, while loud Lycisca barked?And when I cried, "Where is he off to now?Gather your flock together, Tityrus,"You hid behind the sedges.DAMOETASWell, was heWhom I had conquered still to keep the goat.Which in the piping-match my pipe had won!You may not know it, but the goat was mine.MENALCASYou out-pipe him? when had you ever pipeWax-welded? in the cross-ways used you notOn grating straw some miserable tuneTo mangle?DAMOETASWell, then, shall we try our skillEach against each in turn? Lest you be loth,I pledge this heifer; every day she comesTwice to the milking-pail, and feeds withalTwo young ones at her udder: say you nowWhat you will stake upon the match with me.MENALCASNaught from the flock I'll venture, for at homeI have a father and a step-dame harsh,And twice a day both reckon up the flock,And one withal the kids. But I will stake,Seeing you are so mad, what you yourselfWill own more priceless far- two beechen cupsBy the divine art of AlcimedonWrought and embossed, whereon a limber vine,Wreathed round them by the graver's facile tool,Twines over clustering ivy-berries pale.Two figures, one Conon, in the midst he set,And one- how call you him, who with his wandMarked out for all men the whole round of heaven,That they who reap, or stoop behind the plough,Might know their several seasons? Nor as yetHave I set lip to them, but lay them by.DAMOETASFor me too wrought the same AlcimedonA pair of cups, and round the handles wreathedPliant acanthus, Orpheus in the midst,The forests following in his wake; nor yetHave I set lip to them, but lay them by.Matched with a heifer, who would prate of cups?MENALCASYou shall not balk me now; where'er you bid,I shall be with you; only let us haveFor auditor- or see, to serve our turn,Yonder Palaemon comes! In singing-boutsI'll see you play the challenger no more.DAMOETASOut then with what you have; I shall not shrink,Nor budge for any man: only do you,Neighbour Palaemon, with your whole heart's skill-For it is no slight matter-play your part.PALAEMONSay on then, since on the greensward we sit,And now is burgeoning both field and tree;Now is the forest green, and now the yearAt fairest. Do you first, Damoetas, sing,Then you, Menalcas, in alternate strain:Alternate strains are to the Muses dear.DAMOETAS"From Jove the Muse began; Jove filleth all,Makes the earth fruitful, for my songs hath care."MENALCAS"Me Phoebus loves; for Phoebus his own gifts,

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