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But may'st thou, if thou dar'st my boon deny,
Torn by fell claws, on beds of nettles lie,
All the cold winter freeze beneath the pole
Where Hebrus' waves down Edon's mountains roll;
In summer, glow in Ethiopia's fires,

Where under Blemyan rocks scorch'd Nile retires.

Leave, O ye Loves, whose cheeks out-blush the rose!

The meads where Hyetis and Byblis flows:
To fair Dione's sacred hill remove,
And bid the coy Philinus glow with love.
Though as a pear he's ripe, the women say,
Thy bloom, alas! Philinus, fades away!
No more, Aratus, let us watch so late,
Nor nightly serenade before his gate:

But in this school let some unmeaning sot

140

At distance far, conceal'd in shades, alone,
Sweet Philomela pour'd her tuneful moan:
The lark, the goldfinch warbled lays of love,
And sweetly pensive coo'd the turtle dove:
While honey-bees, for ever on the wing,
Humm'd round the flowers, or sipt the silver
spring.

The rich, ripe season gratified the sense
With summer's sweets, and autumn's redolence.
Apples and pears lay strew'd in heaps around,
And the plum's loaded branches kiss'd the
ground.
170

Wine flow'd abundant from capacious tuns,
Matur'd divinely by four summers suns.
Say, Nymphs of Castaly! for ye can tell,
Who on the summit of Parnassus dwell,
Did Chiron e'er to Hercules produce

Toil when the first cock crows, and hanging be his In Pholus' cave such bowls of generous juice?

lot.

150

Rest be our portion! and, with potent charm,
May some enchantress keep us free from harm!"
I sung: he view'd me with a smiling look;
And for my song presented me his crook:
Then to the left he tura'd, through flowery meads,
The winding path-way that to Pyxa leads;
While with my friends I took the right-hand road
Where Phrasidamus makes his sweet abode;
Who courteous bad us on soft beds recline
Of lentisck, and young branches of the vine;
Poplars and elms above, their foliage spread,
Lent a cool shade, and wav'd the breezy head;
Below, a stream, from the Nymphs' sacred cave,
In free meanders led its murmuring wave:
In the warm sun-beams, verdant shrubs among,
Shrill grasshoppers renew'd their plaintive song: 160

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140. Thy bloom, alas! &c.] Thus Anacreon, ede 11th, Aryusiv ai yuvain.

Oft, with wanton smiles and jeers,
Women tell me I'm in years.

150. Pyxa] This is supposed to be a city in the island of Cos.

154. Lentisck] See Idyl. V. 138.

160. Shrill grasshoppers] I am aware that the Greek word, TT, and the Latin cicada, means a different insect from our grasshopper; for it has a rounder and shorter body, is of a dark green colour, sits upon trees, and makes a noise five times

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IDYLLIUM VIII.

THE BUCOLIC SINGERS.

ARGUMENT.

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DAPHNIS.

I'll make the trial, and the wager stake.

MENALCAS.

DAPHNIS.

I'll lay a calf, and thou a lamb full-grown.

MENALCAS.

A lamb I dare not; for my parents keep
Strict watch, and every evening count my sheep. 20

A contest in singing, between the shepherd Me- What shall we lay, to equal our renown? nalcas and the neatherd Daphnis, is related; a goatherd is chosen judge; they stake down their pastoral pipes as the reward of victory; the prize is decreed to Daphnis. In this Idyllium, as in the fifth, the second speaker seems to follow the turn of thought used by the first. Dr. Spence observes, there are persons in Italy, and particularly in Tuscany, named Improvisa- What wilt thou stake? and what the victor's gains? tori, who are like the shepherds in Theocritus, surprisingly ready at their answers, respondere parati, and go on speech for speech alternately, alternis dicetis, amant alterna camenæ. This Idyllium is addressed to his friend Diophantus.

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1. Dear Diophantus] The Greek is, Maha vepwe (ως φαντι) κατ' ωρία μακρα Μενάλκας the expression w; pavi, as they say, seems very flat, and not correspondent with the native elegance of Theocritus: and therefore the learned and ingenious John Pierson (see his Verisimilia, p. 46.) proposes to read, Μαλα νέμων, Διοφάντε, κατ' ώρεα κ. τ. λ. observing that Theocritus inscribes several Idylliums to his intimate friends; for instance, he addresses the 6th to Aratus; the 11th and the 13th to Nicias the physician; and to this same Diophantus the 21st. This very plausible emendation I have followed in my translation. That the librarians often obliterated proper names will appear in the note on ver. 55 of this Idyllium. Virgil imitates this passage:

Compulerantque greges Corydon et Thyrsis

in unum;

Thyrsisoves, Corydon distentas lacte capellas:
Ambo florentes ætatibus, Arcades ambo:
Et cantare pares, et respondere parati.

Ecl. 7. 2.

6. Tu calamos inflare leves, ego dicere versus.
Ecl 5. 2.

15. Vis er o inter nos, quid possit uterque, vi-
cissim Experiamur?
Ecl. 3.28.

DAPHNIS.

MENALCAS.

A pipe I form'd, of nine unequal strains,
Sweet-ton'd, with whitest wax compacted tight;
This, this I'll stake-but not my parent's right.

DAPHNIS.

[pains,

And I have one of nine unequal strains,
Sweet-ton'd, and wax'd throughout with nicest
Which late I made; ev'n now my finger bleeds,
Sore wounded by a splinter of the reeds.
Who shall decide the honours of the day?

MENALCAS.

30

Yon goatherd, let him judge the vocal lay;
Our dog barks at bim-call-the man is near:
The shepherds call'd, the goatherd came to hear:
The last decided, while the former sung.
Menalcas first essay'd his tuneful tongue:
Thus in alternate strains the contest ran,
Daphnis reply'd-Menalcas first began;

18.

Ego hanc vitulam, ne forte recuses,
Depono.
Ecl. 3.28.
19. De grege non ausim quicquam deponere

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22. Nine equal strains,] Though nine strains, or reeds, are here mentioned, yet the shepherd's pipe was generally composed of seven reeds, unequal in leugth, and of different tones, joined toge ther with wax. See note on Idyl. I. 169; and Virgil,

Est mihi disparibus septem compacta cicut's Fistula. Ecl. 2.36. It is difficult to conceive how the ancient shopherds could pipe and sing at the same time: certainly that was impracticable. The most probabie opinion is, that they first play'd over the tune, and then sung a verse or stanza of the song answering thereto, and so play'd and sung alternately: which manner of playing and singing is very common with the pipers and fiddlers at our country wakes, who, perhaps, originally borrowed the custom from the Romans, during their residence in Britain. We find the old English minstrels used to warble on their harps, and then sing.-See Percy's essay on the subject.

29. Who shall decide, &c.] The same verse occurs Idyl. V. 71.

35. Alternis igitur contendere versibus ambo
Copêre:

Hos Corydon, illos referebatin ordine Thyrsis,
Ecl. 7. 18.

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But in yon cave to carol with my friend,
And view the ocean while our flocks we tend. 60

MENALCAS.

To teats the drought, to birds the snare, the wind
To trees, and toils are fatal to the hind!
To man the virgin's scorn. O, father Jove!
Thou too hast languish'd with the pains of love.
Thus in alternate strains the contest ran,
And thus Menalcas his last lay began:

70

Wolf, spare my kids, my young and tender sheep;
Though low my lot, a numerous flock I keep.
Rouse, Lightfoot, rouse from indolence profound;
ill fits a shepherd's dog to sleep so sound.
Fear not, my sheep, to crop the verdant plain;
The pastur'd herbage soon will grow again:
Feed well, and fill your udders in the vale,
And when my lambs have suckled, fill the pail."
He sung, and Daphnis sweetly thus reply'd:
"Me, from her grot, a lovely nymph espy'd,
As late I drove my cattle cross the plain;
A long, long look she cast, and call'd me hand-

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tion between the extensive territories of Pelops, and the talents, or treasures of Croesus; and what adds to the probability that this is the true reading, Theocritus mentions the riches of Croesus in the 10th Idyl. ver. 39. and likewise Anacreon, ode 26. ver. 3. Δοκων δ' έχειν τα Κροίσο, Rich seem as Lydia's king: indeed every school-boy knows that the riches of Croesus became a proverb. 58. Nor speed, &c.] -Cursuque pedum Æn. 7. 807.

prævertere ventos.
61. To teats, &c.] The present reading in the
original is, udaai *8 auxs, the draught is fatal to
waters; but a friend of mine reads staow aux pos
draught is fatal to the teats, which is far more na
tural, and agreeable to the idea of a shepherd.

Triste lupus stabulis, maturis frugibus imbres,
Arboribus venti; nobis Amaryllidis iræ.

Ecl. 3. 80. 70. Il fits, &c.] This seems to be an imitation of a verse in Homer: Ov Xen RavnXION EURELY xxnpopov avôça.

II. b. 2. 24.

Il fits a chief, who mighty nations guides,
To waste long nights in indolent repose.
Pope.
72. Thus Virgil,-Gregibus non gramina de-
Geor. b. 2. 200.
sunt, &c.
There for thy flocks fresh fountains never fail,
Undying verdure clothes the grassy vale;
And what is cropt by day, the night renews.

57. Not Pelops' lands, not Cræsus' wealth, &c.] The Greek is, Μη μοι γαν Πέλοπος, μη μοι χρυσ σε ταλαντα Ειη εχειν! May the territories of Pelops, and golden talents never fall to my share! χρύσεια τάλαντα is very frigid; one expects something better than this from the Sicilian Muse, and there fore the ingenious Pierson (see his Verisimilia) observing that the librarians frequently obliterated proper names, instead of gudua reads Kpolodlo saharra; then a new beauty arises in the opposiYOL. XX.

Warton.

78. Et longum, formose, vale, vale, inquit, Ioia! Ecl. 3. 79. 81. This verse occurs, Idyl. 9. ver. 7. in the Greek.

83. Fortunate senex, hic inter flumina nota,
Et foutes sacros, frigus cap abis opacum.
Ecl. 1. 52,

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Menalcas next shall sing; while pasturing near Calves mix with cows, the heifer with the steer; The bulls together with the herd may browze, Rove round the copse, and crop the tender boughs Daphnis, begin the sweet bucolic strain; Menalcas next shall charm the shepherd-swain.

DAPHNIS.

10

Sweet low the herds along the pastur'd ground,
Sweet is the vocal reed's melodious sound;
Sweet pipes the jocund herdsman, sweet I sing,
And lodge securely by yon cooling spring,
Where the soft skins of milk-white heifers, spread
In order fair, compose my decent bed:
Ah luckless! browsing on the mountain's side
The south-wind dash'd them headlong, and they
died.

There I regard no more bright summer's fires
Than youthful lovers their upbraiding sires.

Thus Daphnis chanted his bucolic strain;
And thus Menalcas charm'd the shepherd-swain.

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Here ceas'd the youths; I prais'd their pastoral strains,

The herdsman Daphnis and the shepherd Me-Than toothless men hard nuts when pulse is near. nalcas are urged by a neighbouring shepherd to contend in singing; the song is in alternate strains, and each receives a prize; Daphnis a finely-finished club, and Menalcas a conch. The beauty of this Idyllium consists in the true character of low life, full of self-commendation, and boastful of its own fortune.

DAPHNIS, begin! for merrily you play,
Daphnis, begin the sweet bucolic lay;

85. Vitis ut arboribus decori est, ut vitibus uvæ,
Ut gregibus tauri, segetes ut pinguibus arvis.
Ecl. 5, 52.
As vines the trees, as grapes the vines adorn,
As bulls the herds, and fields the yellow corn.

Dryden.

91. Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta, &c. Ecl. 5. 45.

Mr. Gay has imitated this passage, in his fifth pastoral;

Albeit thy songs are sweeter to mine ear, Than to the thirsty cattle rivers clear; Or winter porridge to the labouring youth, Or buns and sugar to the damsel's tooth. 93. Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musæ Ecl. 6. 69. 101. Ex illo Corydon, Corydon est tempore nobis. Ecl. 7. 70.

1. Daphnis, begin, &c.] The first eight lines in the translation of this Idyllium are supposed to be spoken by the shepherd, who endeavours to engage Daphnis and Menalcas to sing :

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And gave to each a present for his pains:
A well-form'd club became young Daphnis' due,
Which in my own paternal woodlands grew,

9. This verse occurs Idyllium 8th, 77, in the original;

Dulce satis humor, depulsis arbutus hædis,
Lenta salix foto pecori, mihi solus Amyntas.
Ecl. 3. 32.

19. Hos Corydon, illos referebat in ordine Thyr
sis.
Ecl. 7. 20.
22. Ovid has a similar description of Polyphe-

mus's cave:

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ignis

Semper, & assiduâ postes fuligine nigri.
Hic tantum Boreæ curamus frigora, quantum
Aut numerum lupus, aut torrentia flumina
ripas.
Ecl. 7. 49.

Here ever-glowing hearths embrown the
posts,

Here blazing pines expel the pinching frosts, Here cold and Boreas' blasts we dread no more

Than wolves the sheep, or torrent streams the shore. Warton.

prehend signifies wheat boiled, without having 30. Pulse] The Greek is avhoto, which I ap been first ground in the mill, something in the nature of frumenty.

31. Here the shepherd resumes his account of the contest between Daphnis and Menalcas, and describes the presents he made them.

So exquisitely shap'd from end to end,

An artist might admire, but could not mend.
A pearly conch, wreath'd beautifully round,
Late on th' Icarian rocky beach I found,
The shell I gave Meualcas for his share;
Large was the conch, its flesh was rich and rare, 40
(This in five equal portions I divide)

And to five friends a plenteous meal supply'd.
Pleas'd he receiv'd, and lik'd his present well,
And thus he sweetly blew the shining shell:

Hail, rural Muses! teach your bard those strains Which once I sung, and charm'd the listening swains:

50

Then would my tongue repeat the pleasing lore,
And painful blisters never gall it more.
To grasshoppers the grasshoppers are friends,
And ant on ant for mutual aid depends;
The ravenous kite projects his brother kite;
But me the Muse and gentle song delight.
O, may my cave with frequent song be blest!
For neither roseat spring, nor downy rest
So sweet the labourer sooth; nor to the bee
Are flowers so grateful, as the Muse to me:
For Circe's strongest magic ne'er can harm
Those whom the Muses with soft rapture charm.

IDYLLIUM X*.

THE REAPERS,

ARGUMENT.

Milo and Battus, two reapers, have a conference as they are at work; Battus not reaping so fast

as usual, Milo asks him the reason of it; he frankly confesses it was owing to love; and, at the request of Milo, sings a song in praise of his mistress: Milo afterwards repeats the po etical maxims of Lytierses.

MILO and BATTUS. MILO.

BATTUS, some evil sure afflicts you sore;
You cannot reap as you have reap'd before;
No longer you your sheaves with vigour bind,
But, like a wounded sheep, lag heavily behind,
If thus you fail with early morning's light,
How can you work till noon or slow-pac'd night?

BATTUS.

Milo, thou moiling drudge, as hard as stone, An absent mistress didst thou ne'er bemoan?

MILO.

Not I-I never learnt fair maids to woo;
Pray what with love have labouring men to do? 10

BATTUS.

Did love then never interrupt thy sleep?

MILO.

No, Battus: dogs should never run at sheep.

BATTUS.

But I have lov'd these ten long days and more.

MILO.

45. Nymphæ, noster amor, Libethrides, aut Yes, you're a wealthy man, and I a poor.

mihi carmen,

Quale meo Codro, concedite. Ecl. 7. 21.

BATTUS.

Give me the lays, Nymphs of th' inspiring Hence all things round me in confusion lie. springs,

Which Codrus, rival of Apollo sings,

Warton. 48. And painful blisters, &c.] The ancients believed that a lie was always followed by some punishment, as a blister on the tip of the tongue, a pimple on the nose, &c. See Idyl. 12, verse 32. See also Hor, b. 2. ode 8.

49. Juvenal has a similar passage, Sat. 15. 163. Indica tigris agit rabidâ cum tygride pacem Perpetuam: sævis inter se convenit ursis. Tiger with tiger, bear with bear you'll find In leagues offensive and defensive join'd.

Tate.

52. Me verò primùm dulces ante omnia Musæ,
Quarum sacra fero, ingenti perculsus amore,
Accipiant.
Geor. 2. 475.
Ye sacred Muses, with whose beauty fir'd,
My soul is ravish'd, and my brain inspir'd,
Whose priest I am, give me, &c. Dryden.
Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta,
Quale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per æstum
Dulcis aquæ saliente sitim restinguere rivo.
Ecl. 5. 46.

Mr. Pope has something very similar:

Not bubbling fountains to the thirsty swain, Not balmy sleep to labourers faint with pain, Not showers to larks, or sunshine to the bee, Are half so charming as thy sight to me.

MILO.

But tell me who's this charmer of your eye?
BATTUS,

Old Polybuta's niece, the gay, the young,
Who harvest-home at Hypocoon's sung.

* This Idyllium, as Dr. Martyn observes, being a dialogue between two reapers, is generally excluded by the critics from the number of the pastorals and yet, perhaps, if we consider that a herdsman may very naturally describe a conversation between two of his country neighbours, who entertain each other with a rural song, we may soften a little the severity of our critical temper, and allow even this to be called a pastoral.

4. Like a wounded sheep, &c.] Virgil, speaking of a sickening sheep, says, you will see it. Extremamque sequi, aut medio procumbere campo Pascentem.

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