TITYRUS.

. Sooner shall the fleet stags feed upon the air, and the seas leave the fishes exposed upon the shore: sooner shall the Parthian exile drink at the Araris, or all the inhabitants of Germany drink at the Tigris, both having passed their confines, than his countenance shall pass away from my remembrance.

MELIBOEUS.

But we, hence, some shall drink with the thirsty Africans; part will go to Scythia and to the rapid Oaxes, of Crete, and to the Britons, totally separated from the whole world. Lo, shall I ever in time to come, seeing, rejoice at the boundary of my lands, and the top of my poor cottage covered with turf—my own kingdom-after an absence of years? shall impious soldiers have these lands, so lately brought into cultivation ? shall barbarians have these cornfields? See, whither strife has brought wretched citizens! behold for whom we have sown our fields! Meliboeus-now graft your pear trees-now put your vines in order. Go, go, my goats, my once happy flock. I, stretched at length in the green cave, shall not in future see you at a distance, pendant from the bushy rock. I shall sing no more songs; nor you, my goats, browze the flowering cytisus, and the bitter sallow, while I myself am feeding you.

TITYRUS.

But still thou mayest repose here to-night with me, upon the green leaves; there are baked apples, and boiled chesnuts for thee, and plenty of racotta.* And now the cottage tops

Pressi lactis, I have translated racotta. This is a curd prepared with sugar, and sometimes with spices, but will not keep

of the villages at a distance smoke, and lengthened shadows fall from the high mountains.

ECLOGUE II.

ALEXIS.

THE shepherd Corydon burned for the beautiful Alexis, the delight of his lord, nor had he room to hope: yet, came he constantly among the thick beeches, with shady tops; there, alone, in vacant mood, he poured out his crude ejaculations to the mountains and the woods.

O cruel Alexis! carest thou nothing for my verses? hast thou no pity for what concerns me? wilt thou drive me to despair? Even now the sheep enjoy the cool shade; even now the brambles conceal the green lizards; and Thestylis pounds

good for more than two or three days: it is a delicacy among the poor people in Italy at this time, and I think it highly probable that it is the same which Virgil means by pressi lactis. Castancae molles I have translated boiled chesnuts, from the same conviction of the poet's meaning; for, among the ancients, as well as among the modern Romans, this fruit made a part of the food of the poor peo ple, and now, in most of the towns and villages in Italy, boiled chesnuts, with or without milk, as it can be afforded by their parents, make a considerable part of the food for young children, and in this boiled state they are every where exposed for sale.

garlic and wild thyme, strong scented herbs for the reapers relaxed with piercing heat. But whilst I tread thy footsteps, under the scorching sun, the hoarse cicadae joins with me, to make the echoing groves resound. Was it not better to suffer the gloomy indignation of Amaryllis, and her haughty disdain? was it not better to endure Menalcas? although he was dark, and thou, fair. O beautiful boy, trust not too much to thy complexion. The white privet falls, the dark hyacinths are gathered. I am despised by thee, O Alexis; nor doest thou ask who I am; how rich in cattle, as white as snow; how plentifully supplied with milk. Belonging to me, there are a thousand lambs straying on the Sicilian mountains. To me new milk is not wanting in summer, nor in winter. I sing what Dircaean Amphion used on the rocky shore of Aracynthus, when he called his flocks. Nor am I so ugly : lately on the shore I saw myself, when the sea was calm, unruffled by the winds. I should not fear Daphnis, thyself being judge, if reflection never deceives. Oh, that it might please thee to dwell with me, in the midst of a rude country and humble cottages, to pierce the stags, and drive a herd of goats with a green hibiscus. Thou shalt, together with me, imitate Pan, singing in the woods. Pan first instructed how to join many reeds together with wax: Pan protects the sheep, and the masters of the fold: nor wilt thou repent to have rubbed thy lip with the reed. What did Amyntas not do that he might know the same thing? I have a pipe compacted of seven unequal reeds, which Damœtas formerly gave to me as a gift; and dying said, now, this has thee for a second master. Damœtas said so: the fool Amyntas envied me. Besides there are two kids which I found in

a dangerous valley, with their skins spotted with white, that even now they dry two dugs of a sheep daily, which I take care of for thee. Lately, Thestylis begged them of me, and she shall have them, since my gifts are worthless to thee.

Come thou hither, O lovely boy, see, Nymphs carrying lilies for thee in full baskets: a fair Naiad cropping pale violets and poppy tops for thee, to which she joins the narcissus, and the flower of the sweet-scented dill; then interspersing cassia and other sweet herbs, she contrasts the delicate hyacinth with the yellow marigold. I myself will gather apples, hoary with tender bloom, and chesnuts which my Amaryllis loved. I will add waxen plums, and this fruit shall be also honoured. I will crop you, O laurels, and thee, myrtle, next; since so placed and mixed sweet odours are produced.

O Corydon, thou art a rustic, neither does Alexis care for thy gifts; nor can Iolas yield, if thou contendest with presents. Alas, alas, what evil have I willed? myself distracted, have let in the south winds to my flowers, and the wild boars to my limpid fountains. Ah, madly, whom fleest thou! Even the Gods, and the Dardanian Paris have inhabited the woods. Let Minerva herself dwell in the temples which she has built; let the woods delight us above all things.

The grim lioness pursues the wolf; the wolf, the goat; the wanton goat pursues the flowering cytisus. O Alexis, Corydon pursues thee: every one is attracted by his own pleasures. Behold the young bullocks returning with the plough suspended on the yoke, and the declining sun doubles the increasing shadows; yet love burns me; for what mean is there in the passion of love? Ah Corydon, Corydon, what madness

has befallen thee? thy vines, half pruned, hang on the leafy elm. Therefore, rather prepare to plat something at least, with twigs and soft rush, that may be useful: thou wilt find another, if this Alexis disdains thee.

ECLOGUE III.

MENALCAS, DAMOETAS, PALAEMON.

M. Damoetas, tell me to whom these sheep belong? do they belong to Meliboeus ?

D. No; truly they belong to Ægon; Ægon lately entrusted them to my care.

M. O sheep! always unhappy flock whilst he courts Neaera, and fears lest she may prefer me to himself: this foreign keeper milks the sheep twice in an hour, and robs them of their sustenance, and the lambs of their milk.

D. Towards men, however, it will become you to be more sparing of censure: even we know who debased thee: the he-goats looking askance-and in that cave too-but the careless nymphs laughed.

M. I believe it to have been then, when they saw me cut Micon's grove, and his young vines, with a malicious bill.hook.

D. And here, at the old beech trees, when thou brokest the bow and arrows of Daphnis, which thou, perverse Me