130

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 Æthiopia's fires,

Where under Blemyan rocks scorch'd Nile re

tires.

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
Toil when the first cock crows, and hanging be his

lot.

At distance far, conceal'd in shades, alone,
Sweet Philomela pour'd her tuneful moan:
The lark, the goldânch 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,
140 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
In Pholus' cave such bowls of generous juice?
Did Polypheme, who from the mountain's steep
Hurl'd rocks at vessels sailing on the deep,
E'er drain the goblet with such nectar crown'd,
Nectar that nimbly made the Cyclops bound, 180
As then, ye Nymphs! at Ceres' holy shrine
Ye mix'd the milk, the honey, and the wine.
O may I prove once more that happy man
In her large heaps to fix the purging fan!
And may the goddess smile serene and bland,
While ears of corn and poppies grace her hand.

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 turn'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

140. Thy bloom, alas! &c.] Thus Anacreon, ode 11th, AryIV AI YUVAIXEÇ,

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, TITTIE, and the Latin cicada, means a different insect from our grasshopper; for it has rounder and shorter body, is of a dark green colour, sits upon trees, and makes a noise five times

louder than our grasshopper; it begins its song as
soon as the Sun grows hot, and continues singing
till it sets: its wings are beautiful, being streaked
with silver, and marked with brown spots; the outer
wings are twice as long as the inner, and more
variegated; yet, after the example of Mr. Pope,
(see Iliad 3. ver. 200) I retain the usual term.
164. Nec gemere aëriâ cessabit turtur ab ulmo.
Ecl. 1. 59.
Tuis hic omnia plena
Muneribus; tibi pampineo gravidus au-

167.

DAPHNIS.

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 I'll lay a calf, and thou a lamb full-growu. 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 Improvisatori, who are like the shepherds in Theocritus, What wilt thou stake? and what the victor's gains? surprisingly ready at their answers, respondere parati, and go on speech for speech alternately, alternis dicetis, amant alterna camena. This Idyllium is addressed to his friend Diophantus.

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.

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 length, and of different tones, joined toge ther with wax. See note on Idyl. I. 169; and

Virgil,

1. Dear Diophantus] The Greek is, Maha vipwr (ως φαντι) κατ' ώρεα μακρά Μενάλκας the expression w; parti, 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, Μαλά νέμων, Διοφάντε, κατ' ώρεα κ. τ. λ. Est mihi disparibus septem compacta cicutis observing that Theocritus inscribes several IdylFistula. Ecl. 2.36. liums to his intimate friends; for instance, he ad- It is difficult to conceive how the ancient shepdresses the 6th to Aratus; the 11th and the 13th herds could pipe and sing at the same time: certo Nicias the physician; and to this same Diophan-tainly that was impracticable. The most probable tus 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;

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

Ecl. 7. 2.

G. Tu calamos inflare leves, ego dicere versus.
Ecl. 5. 2.
uterque, vi-
Ecl, 3. 28.

15. Vis ergo inter nos, quid possit
cissim Experiamur?

opinion is, that they first play'd over the tune, and then sung a verse or stanza of the song auswering 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

MENALCAS.

Ye vales, ye streams, from source celestial sprung,
If e'er Menalcas sweetly pip'd or sung,
Feed well my lambs, and if my Daphnis need
Your flowery herbage, let his heifers feed.

DAPHNIS.

Fountains and herbs, rich pasturage, if e'er
Sang Daphnis meet for nightingales to hear,
Fatten my herds; if to these meadows fair
Menalcas drives, O feed his fleecy care.

MENALCAS.

40

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 spare, 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:
"Wolf, spare my kids, my young and tender sheep;
Though low my lot, a numerous flock I keep.

When here my fair one comes, Spring smiles Rouse, Lightfoot, rouse from indolence profound;

around,

Meads flourish, and the teats with milk abound,
My lambs grow fat; if she no longer stay,
Parch'd are the meads, the shepherd pines away.

Not Pelops' lands, not Croesus' wealth excite
My wish, nor speed to match the winds in fligat;

rebit.

45. Phyllidis adventu nostræ nemus omne viEcl. 7. 59. 48. Aret ager; vitio moriens sitit aëris herba. ib. 57. Pope has finely imitated both Theocritus and Virgil;

Str. All Nature mourns, the skies relent in

showers,

Hush'd are the birds, and clos'd the droop
ing flowers;

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-
some swain.

I answer'd not, but, as in thought profound,
Pursued my road with eyes upon the ground. 80
The heifer sweetly breathes, and sweetly lows,
Sweet is the bullock's voice, and sweet the cow's:
'Tis passing sweet to lie by murmuring streams,
And waste long summer-days in gentle dreams.

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 ode 26. ver. 3. Doxydex Te Koos, Rich I the 10th Idyl. ver. 39. and likewise Anacreon, 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.
original is, vaid auxas, the draught is fatal to
61. To teats, &c.] The present reading in the
waters; but a friend of mine reads as BUXOS,
draught is fatal to the teats, which is far more na-

If Delia smile, the flowers begin to spring,tural, and agreeable to the idea of a shepherd.
The skies to brighten, and the birds to sing.

Daph. All Nature laughs, the groves are fresh

and fair,

The Sun's mild lustre warms the vital air,
If Sylvia smiles, new glories gild the shore,
And vanquish'd Nature seems to charm

no more.

of

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

Ecl. 3. 80.
70. Ill fits, &c.] This seems to be an imitation
a verse in Homer: Ou xen kamuxio daly
poçov avdṣa.
Il. 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,
And what is cropt by day, the night renews.
Undying verdure clothes the grassy vale;
Warton,

57. Not Pelops' lands, not Cræsus' wealth, &c.] The Greek is, Μη μοι γαν Πέλοπος, μη μοι χρυσ στα τάλαντα. Ει εχειν! May the territories of Pelops, and golden talents never fall to my share! Xona Takata is very frigid; one expects something better than this from the Sicilian Muse, and therefore the ingenious Pierson (see his Verisimitia) observing that the librarians frequently obliterated proper names, instead of you reads Koo sahara; then a new beauty arises in the opposiYOL. XX.

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

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

194

On oaks smooth acorns ornamental grow,
And golden apples on the pippin glow;
Calves grace the cows, light-skipping on the plain,
And lusty cows commend the careful swain."
They sung; the goatherd thus:

ARGUMENT.

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.
MENALCAS,

Ætna's my parent; there I love to dwell,
Where the rock-mountains form an ample cell :
And there, with affluence blest, as great I live,
As swains can wish, or golden slumbers give;
By me large flocks of goats and sheep are fed,
Their wool my pillow, and their skins my bed:
In caldrons boil'd their flesh sustains me well;
Dry beechen faggots wintry frosts expel.
Thus I regard no more the cold severe

21

29

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 couch. The beauty of this Idyllium consists in the true character of low life, full of self-commendation, and boastful of its own fortune.

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 fœto pecori, mihi solus Amyntas.
Ecl. 3. 82.

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

12. Ut canis a corio nunquam absterrebitur Hor. b. 2. sat. E. 14. The original is, Εκ πίθω αντλείς δηλον εγώ δ' εχω εδ' άλις οξος. instead of δηλον, Ho Iznius (see his notes on Apollonius, b. 3. ver. 902.) reads my, and then the interpretation will be, you drink red wine out of a hogshead; but I have scarcely vinegar enough.

18. Who harvest-home, &c.] This line occurs Past. 3. Idyllium 6. 54.