THYRSIS. May I rather seem more bitter than the poisonous herbs of Sardinian, more repulsive than the ruscus, more worthless than the sea weed that is thrown upon the shore; if this day be not now longer to me than a whole year. Fed heifers, go home, go, if you have any shame. CORYDON. O ye mossy fountains, and grass softer than sleep, and the green arbutus which covers you with a chequered shade, defend the cattle from the solstitial heat; already the scorching summer is arrived, already the buds swell upon the joyful vine. THYRSIS. Here is a fire and bituminous fuel: here is always a large fire, and the posts black with continual smoke. Here we fear the cold of the north-east wind, as the wolf, a flock of sheep, and regard it no more than the torrent regards a river's banks. CORYDON. Here the junipers and the rough chesnuts, lie scattered every where, the fruit of each under its own tree; now all things smile but if beautiful Alexis is absent from these mountains, thou mayest see even the rivers dried up. THYRSIS. The field withers; thirsty vegetation dies with the heat of the air; Bacchus envied the umbrageous vine leaves on the hills when my Phyllis comes, every grove will be green again; and rain will most plentifully descend in a joyful shower. CORYDON. The poplar is the most delightful to Hercules; the vine to Bacchus; the myrtle to beautiful Venus; his own laurel to Apollo. Phyllis loves the hazles; as long as Phyllis shall love these, neither the myrtle nor the laurel of Apollo shall excel the hazles. THYRSIS. In the woods, the ash is the fairest tree; in gardens, the pine; on the banks of rivers the poplar; on the highest mountains, the fir: but if thou, O beautiful Lycidas, wilt often visit me, the ash in the woods, and the pine in the gardens, shall yield to thee. MELIBOEUS. These verses I remember, and Thyrsis who was conquered, contended in vain. From that time Corydon, is Corydon for me. WE will recite the song of the shepherds, Damon and Alphesiboeus, at whose trial of skill, the admiring heifer paused unmindful of her grass; at whose song the ounces were astonished, and the rivers changing in their course, stood still. We will recite the song of Damon and Alphesiboeus. O thou, inspire me, whether thou art now marching over the rocks of the great Timavus, or coasting the shore of the Illyrian sea. Will that day ever come, when it will be permitted to me, in poetry, to tell thy deeds? to extol thy verses through the whole world, alone worthy the tragic muse of Sophocles? my first work I have dedicated to thee; to thee shall be my last; accept these verses, begun at thy command, and permit this ivy to intertwine among the victorious laurels which bind thy temples. Scarcely the cool shade of night had retired from the sky, when the dew, most grateful to the cattle, is on the tender grass; Damon, leaning against the round olive stem, thus began. DAMON. O Lucifer, arise, and preceding, bring on the day; whilst deceived by the cruel love of Nisa, my bride, I complain, and dying, invoke the Gods in my last hour, though I have hitherto profited nothing by calling them to witness. My pipe, begin with me Mænalian strains. Mænalus hath ever both a murmuring grove and vocal pines ; he always hears the loves of the shepherds, and of Pan, who was the first that would not suffer reeds to be idle. My pipe, begin with me Mænalian strains. Mopsus is given to Nisa: what may not we lovers hope? now griffins are matched with mares, and in another age the timid fallow-deer will come with dogs to drink at the same bowl. O Mopsus, cut new torches: your wife is being conducted home. O bridegroom, scatter thy walnuts: for thee Hesperus forsakes Oëta. My pipe, begin with me Mænalian strains. O thou art married to a worthy man! whilst thou despisest all others; and whilst thou hatest my pipe and my goats, my shaggy eye-brows and my matted beard; neither believest thou that any of the Gods regard human affairs. My pipe, begin with me Mænalian strains. I saw thee, a little girl, gathering the dewy apples with thy mother, in our hedges, (I was your conductor), I had then entered upon my twelfth year, and could then just reach the fragile branches from the ground. How did I see, how was I undone, how was I lost in fatal error ! My pipe, begin with me Mænalian strains. Now I know what love is: either Tmarus or Rhodope, or the furthest Garamantes brought him forth among hard rocks; no boy of our race or blood. My pipe, begin with me Mænalian strains. Cruel love taught a mother to stain her hands with the blood of her children, thou wast also a cruel mother; thou, a more cruel mother, than he, a wicked boy. He was a wicked boy: thon, a cruel mother. My pipe, begin with me Mænalian strains. Even now let the wolf flee from the sheep of his own accord; let the sturdy oaks bear golden apples; the alder, the flowers of the daffodil; the tamarisk, exude fat amber from its bark; and owls contend with swans; Tityrus, become Orpheus; Orpheus in the woods, and Arion among dolphins. My pipe, begin with me Mænalian strains. Let all things one deep sea become. Farewell ye woods. From the top of a high mountain, headlong will I cast myself into the sea; and take thou this last gift of one who is about to be no more Cease, my pipe, now cease Mænalian strains. Thus Damon: O ye Muses, tell what Alphesiboeus should reply; it is not the lot of all to be able to do all things. ALPHESIBOEUS. Bring out the water, and girt these altars with a soft fillet; and burn unctuous vervain and strong frankincense; that I may try to subvert the right senses of my husband, by magic. Nothing here is wanting, but incantation. My incantations, bring, bring Daphnis from the city, home. Charms can even bring down the moon from heaven; Circe metamorphosed the companions of Ulysses by incantations; by incantation, the cold snake is burst in the meadows. My incantations, bring, bring Daphnis from the city, home. First, I surround thee with these three lists, diversified with three colours, and conduct thy image thrice about these altars; the Deity delights in an odd number. My incantations, bring, bring Daphnis from the city, home. As this clay hardens, and this wax melts in one and the same fire: so Daphnis, by my love. Sprinkle the sacrificial cake, and burn the crackling bays with bitumen. Cruel Daphnis burns me; and I, Daphnis, in this bay. My incantations, bring, bring Daphnis from the city, home. May such love possess Daphnis, as a heifer feels when tired with seeking the bull through woods and thick groves, lies |