The Bucolics and Ecloges [English] | Page 5

a day both reckon up the
flock,
And one withal the kids. But I will stake,
Seeing you are so
mad, what you yourself
Will own more priceless far- two beechen
cups
By the divine art of Alcimedon
Wrought 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

wand
Marked 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 yet
Have I set lip to them, but lay them by.
DAMOETAS
For me too wrought the same Alcimedon
A pair of
cups, and round the handles wreathed
Pliant acanthus, Orpheus in the
midst,
The forests following in his wake; nor yet
Have I set lip to
them, but lay them by.
Matched with a heifer, who would prate of
cups?
MENALCAS
You shall not balk me now; where'er you bid,
I shall
be with you; only let us have
For auditor- or see, to serve our turn,

Yonder Palaemon comes! In singing-bouts
I'll see you play the
challenger no more.
DAMOETAS
Out then with what you have; I shall not shrink,
Nor
budge for any man: only do you,
Neighbour Palaemon, with your
whole heart's skillFor
it is no slight matter-play your part.
PALAEMON
Say on then, since on the greensward we sit,
And
now is burgeoning both field and tree;
Now is the forest green, and
now the year
At 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,
Bays
and sweet-blushing hyacinths, I keep."
DAMOETAS
"Gay Galatea throws an apple at me,
Then hies to
the willows, hoping to be seen."
MENALCAS
"My dear Amyntas comes unasked to me;
Not Delia
to my dogs is better known."

DAMOETAS
"Gifts for my love I've found; mine eyes have marked

Where the wood-pigeons build their airy nests."
MENALCAS
"Ten golden apples have I sent my boy,
All that I
could, to-morrow as many more."
DAMOETAS
"What words to me, and uttered O how oft,
Hath
Galatea spoke! waft some of them,
Ye winds, I pray you, for the gods
to hear."
MENALCAS
"It profiteth me naught, Amyntas mine,
That in your
very heart you spurn me not,
If, while you hunt the boar, I guard the
nets."
DAMOETAS
"Prithee, Iollas, for my birthday guest
Send me your
Phyllis; when for the young crops
I slay my heifer, you yourself shall
come."
MENALCAS
"I am all hers; she wept to see me go,
And, lingering
on the word, 'farewell' she said,
'My beautiful Iollas, fare you well.'"
DAMOETAS
"Fell as the wolf is to the folded flock,
Rain to ripe
corn, Sirocco to the trees,
The wrath of Amaryllis is to me."
MENALCAS
"As moisture to the corn, to ewes with young
Lithe
willow, as arbute to the yeanling kids,
So sweet Amyntas, and none
else, to me."
DAMOETAS
"My Muse, although she be but country-bred,
Is
loved by Pollio: O Pierian Maids,
Pray you, a heifer for your reader
feed!"
MENALCAS
"Pollio himself too doth new verses make:
Feed ye a
bull now ripe to butt with horn,
And scatter with his hooves the flying
sand."

DAMOETAS
"Who loves thee, Pollio, may he thither come
Where
thee he joys beholding; ay, for him
Let honey flow, the thorn-bush
spices bear."
MENALCAS
"Who hates not Bavius, let him also love
Thy songs,
O Maevius, ay, and therewithal
Yoke foxes to his car, and he-goats
milk."
DAMOETAS
"You, picking flowers and strawberries that grow
So
near the ground, fly hence, boys, get you gone!
There's a cold adder
lurking in the grass."
MENALCAS
"Forbear, my sheep, to tread too near the brink;
Yon
bank is ill to trust to; even now
The ram himself, see, dries his
dripping fleece!"
DAMOETAS
"Back with the she-goats, Tityrus, grazing there
So
near the river! I, when time shall serve,
Will take them all, and wash
them in the pool."
MENALCAS
"Boys, get your sheep together; if the heat,
As late it
did, forestall us with the milk,
Vainly the dried-up udders shall we
wring."
DAMOETAS
"How lean my bull amid the fattening vetch!
Alack!
alack! for herdsman and for herd!
It is the self-same love that wastes
us both."
MENALCAS
"These truly- nor is even love the causeScarce
have
the flesh to keep their bones together
Some evil eye my lambkins
hath bewitched."
DAMOETAS
"Say in what clime- and you shall be withal
My
great Apollo- the whole breadth of heaven
Opens no wider than three
ells to view."

MENALCAS
"Say in what country grow such flowers as bear
The
names of kings upon their petals writ,
And you shall have fair Phyllis
for your own."
PALAEMON
Not mine betwixt such rivals to decide:
You well
deserve the heifer, so does he,
With all who either fear the sweets of
love,
Or taste its bitterness. Now, boys, shut off
The sluices, for the
fields have drunk their fill.
ECLOGUE IV
POLLIO
Muses of Sicily, essay we now
A somewhat loftier task! Not all men
love
Coppice or lowly tamarisk: sing we woods,
Woods worthy of a