■/f ^ :\r- 
 
 
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 THE ECLOGUES OF CALPURNIUS. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/ecloguesofcalpurOOcalprich 
 
THE ECLOGUES OF 
 CALPURNIUS 
 
 RENDERED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY 
 
 EDWARD J. L. SCOTT, M.A., OxoN., 
 
 KEEPER OF MSS., AND EGERTON LIBRARIAN, BRITISH MUSEUM. 
 
 LONDON : 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS, 
 
 York Street, Covent Garden. 
 1890. 
 
Pa y 211 
 
 CHISWICK PRESS :— C. WHITTINGHAl^ AND CO., TOOKS COURT, 
 CHANCERY LANE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 If any merit may be claimed for this rendering of 
 Calpurnius into English (the first which has ever 
 appeared either in prose or verse), it is due in great 
 part to Prof Robinson Ellis, Latin Reader in the 
 University of Oxford. At his urgent request it 
 was first undertaken, and it has had throughout 
 the benefit of his careful revision. 
 
 E. J. L. S. 
 
 British Museum, 
 I St Ocf., 1890. 
 
 292oG8 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 ECLOGA PRIMA. 
 
 CORYDON, ORNITUS. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Nondum soils equos declivis mitigat aestas, 
 Quamvis et madidis incumbant praela racemis, 
 Et spument rauco ferventia musta susurro. 
 Cernis ut, ecce ! pater quas tradidit, Ornite, vaccae 
 Molliter hirsuta latus explicuere genista ? 5 
 
 Nos quoque vicinis cur non succedimus umbris ? 
 Torrida cur solo defendimus ora galero ? 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 ECLOGUE I. 
 
 CORYDON, OrNITUS. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Not yet the swooning summer breeds 
 Abate of heat in Phoebus* steeds, 
 Although beneath the vineyard's press 
 ^ Each cluster yield ripe juiciness, 
 
 And with hoarse murmurs in the fume 
 Of boiling vats the new wine spume. 
 Look, Ornitus, my friend, these cows. 
 Our father bade us lead to browse. 
 Their flanks luxuriously spread 
 Where'er the rough broom forms a bed. 
 Why do not we too seek the shade 
 Here furnished by the neighbouring glade? 
 Why should our faces fiercely tanned 
 By simple bonnet thus be fanned ? 
 
4 ' ' ' CALP'U'RNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 — f— f-. 
 
 Ornitus. 
 Hoc potius, frater Corydon, nemus, antra petamus 
 Ista patris Fauni, graciles ubi pinea denset 
 Silva comas, rapidoque caput levat obvia soli, lo 
 Bullantes ubi fagus aquas radice sub ipsa 
 Protegit, et ramis errantibus implicat umbras. 
 
 Corydon. 
 Quo me cumque voces, sequar, Ornite ; nam mea 
 
 Leuce, 
 Dum negat amplexus nocturnaque gaudia, nobis 
 Pervia cornigeri fecit sacraria Fauni. 15 
 
 Ornitus. 
 Prome igitur calamos, et, si qua recondita servas : 
 Nee tibi defuerit mea fistula, quam mihi nuper 
 
ECLOGUE /. 
 
 Ornitus. 
 
 Nay, Corydon, but towards this grove 15 
 
 With better judgment let us rove. 
 
 Yon grot our father Faunus likes, 
 
 Where the pine-wood its slender spikes 
 
 Masses right upwards, till it raise 
 
 Its head to screen the burning blaze, 20 
 
 Where the beech roofs the bubbling waves 
 
 Of yonder fountain as it laves 
 
 The very roots, and casts a shade 
 
 Confused, by moving branches made. 
 
 Corydon. 
 
 I follow wheresoe'er you choose ; 25 
 
 For while my Leuce doth refuse 
 
 Her fond embrace and kisses sweet 
 
 And joys for nightly season meet, 
 
 I thus unchallenged entrance gain 
 
 To horned Faunus* inmost fane. 30 
 
 Ornitus. 
 
 If that be so, your reeds produce, 
 And any lay you store for use ; 
 Nor shall you find my own pipe's aid 
 To you is wanting, for me made 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Matura docilis compegit arundine Lygdon. 
 
 Et iam captatae pariter successimus umbrae. 
 
 Sed quaenam sacra descripta est pagina fago, 20 
 
 Quam modo nescio quis properanti falce notavit ? ^"^^ 
 
 Aspicis, ut virides etiam nunc littera rimas ^^^ 
 
 Servet, et arenti nondum se laxet hiatu ? 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Ornite, fer propius tua lumina : tu potes alto 
 Cortice descriptos citius percurrere versus, 25 
 
 Nam tibi longa satis pater internodia largus, 
 Procerumque dedit mater non invida corpus. 
 
 Ornitus. 
 Non pastor, non haec triviali more viator, 
 
ECLOGUE I. 
 
 Of late by Ladon's skilful heed 35 
 
 Out of a ripely-seasoned reed. 
 
 And we too in our turn the shade 
 
 That caught our fancy now invade. 
 
 Yet stay, what means this page I find 
 
 Writ on the sacred beech's rind, 40 
 
 Which lately some one in his haste, 
 
 I know not who, with sickle traced ? 
 
 How well preserved e'en yet and green 
 
 The letters here incised are seen, 
 
 Nor is their outline yet destroyed, 45 
 
 Where the slits parching show a void ? 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Bring nearer, Ornitus, your gaze : 
 
 The verses that this trunk displays 
 
 Carved at so great a height you can 
 
 With quicker apprehension scan, 50 
 
 Your sire was tall, and you from him 
 
 Inherit length enough of limb. 
 
 Your mother too, no grudging dame, 
 
 Bequeathed to you her stalwart frame. 
 
 Ornitus. 
 
 No traveller, no shepherd here, 55 
 
 His wayside leisure seeks to cheer, 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Sed deus ipse canit : nihil armentale resultant, 
 
 Nee montana sacros distinguunt iubila versus. 30 f^K 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Mira refers : sed rumpe moras, oculoque sequaci 
 Quam primum nobis divinum perlege carmen. 
 
 Ornitus. 
 Qui iuga, qui silvas tueor, satus aethere, Faunus 
 Haec populis ventura cano : iuvat arbore sacra 
 Laeta patefactis incidere carmina fatis. 35 
 
 Vos o praecipue nemorum gaudete coloni, J,'^^'^'^ 
 
 Vos populi gaudete mei : licet omne vagetur 
 Securo custode pecus, nocturnaque pastor 
 Claudere fraxinea nolit praesepia crate. 
 
ECLOGUE L 
 
 The style a very God betrays : 
 
 No ring here of bucolic lays, 
 
 Nor alpine jodels intersperse 
 
 Their pauses through the sacred verse. 60 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Your words are strange : yet prithee waste 
 No time, but read me o'er in haste 
 This song divine, and let your eye 
 Your rapid tongue accompany. 
 
 Ornitus. 
 
 I Faunus, sprung from Heaven's domain, 65 
 
 Who o'er the hills and forests reign, 
 
 Foretell the nations what shall be 
 
 In time to come : this sacred tree. 
 
 The spreading beech on which my Muse 
 
 May carve her gladsome strains, I choose. 70 
 
 Rejoice each forest denizen, 
 
 Rejoice above thy fellow-men. 
 
 And ye my subjects too rejoice : 
 
 All herds to pastures new at choice 
 
 May wander, while their guardians sleep, 75 
 
 Nor need the shepherd seek to keep 
 
 His folds secure from panic fright 
 
 By ashen hurdles closed at night. 
 
lo CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Non tamen insidias praedator ovilibus ullas 40 
 
 Afferet, aut laxis abiget iumenta capistris. 
 l^Aurea secura cum pace renascitur aetas, f' '^;^^,2$' 
 Et redit ad terras tandem squalore situque 
 Alma Themis posito, iuvenemque beata sequuntur 
 Saecula, maternis causam qui vicit in ulnis. 45 
 
 Dum populos deus ipse reget, dabit impia victas 
 Post tergum Bellona manus, spoliataque telis 
 In sua vesanos torquebit viscera morsus, 
 Et modo quae toto civilia distulit orbe, 
 Secum bella geret. Nullos iam Roma Philippos 50 
 Deflebit, nullos ducet captiva triumphos. 
 Omnia Tartareo subigentur carcere bella, 
 
ECLOGUE I. 
 
 Yet shall no reiving cataran 
 
 Against the sheep-cotes dare to plan 80 
 
 His ambush, nor shall steal by craft, 
 
 Their halters loosed, the beasts of draught. 
 
 The golden age revives once more, 
 
 And Peace returns with open door, 
 
 All filth and squalor put aside 85 
 
 Comes smiling Themis to abide 
 
 At length as whilom on the Earth, 
 
 And happy cycles waked to birth 
 
 Attend the youth, who held in sport 
 
 Within a mother's arms his court. 90 
 
 While He as God mankind commands, 
 
 Accurst Bellona shall her hands 
 
 Deliver bound behind her back. 
 
 And with invenomed teeth for lack 
 
 Of weapons wrested from her grip 95 
 
 Her own intestines madly rip, 
 
 And those domestic wars which o'er 
 
 The whole wide world she spread before 
 
 Henceforward with herself shall wage. 
 
 Rome shall not in a future age icx> 
 
 A new Philippi weep to see. 
 
 Nor triumph in captivity. 
 
 Immured within the prison bars 
 
 Of Tartarus shall languish wars, 
 
12 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Immergentque caput tenebris, lucemque timebunt. 
 Candida pax aderit, nee solum eandida vultu, 
 Qualis saepe fuit, quae, libera Marte professo, 55 
 Quae, domito procul hoste, tamen grassantibus 
 
 armis, 
 Publica diffudit tacito discordia ferro. 
 Omne procul vitium simulatae cedere pacis 
 lussit, et insanos dementia contudit enses. 
 Nulla catenati feralis pompa senatus 60 
 
 Carnificum lassabit opus, nee carcere pleno 
 Infelix raros numerabit curia patres. 
 Plena quies aderit, quae, stricti nescia ferri, 
 Altera Saturni referet Latialia regna. 
 Altera regna Numae, qui primus ovantia caede 65 
 
ECLOGUE L 13 
 
 And, plunging in the murky night 105 
 
 Their heads, shall shun the realms of light. 
 
 Peace, guileless maid, shall there be seen, 
 
 Nor guileless merely in her mien, 
 
 As oft, in days now distant far, 
 
 Whene'er set free from open war, iio 
 
 And every foreign foe subdued. 
 
 She suffered treason to intrude, 
 
 And far and wide with secret steel 
 
 Spread discords through the commonweal. 
 
 To distant climes let all false art 115 
 
 That counterfeits fair Peace depart ; 
 
 Such were the orders Mercy gave. 
 
 And buried every maddened glaive. 
 
 No more like some funereal show 
 
 The senate fettered row by row 120 
 
 Shall tire the headsman's practised strokes. 
 
 Nor, while the gaol its victims chokes, 
 
 A Council Hall with hapless fate 
 
 Few senators enumerate. 
 
 Rest, perfect rest, be present there, 125 
 
 Who, guiltless of a weapon bare, 
 
 That ancient kingdom shall replace 
 
 Of Saturn o'er the Latin race ; 
 
 She Numa's empire shall recall, 
 
 Numa who warriors first of all 130 
 
14 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Agmina, Romuleis et adhuc ardentia castris, 
 Pads opus docuit, iussitque silentibus armis 
 Inter sacra tubas, non inter bella sonare. 
 lam nee adumbrati faciem mercatus honoris, 
 Nee vacuos tacitus fasces et inane tribunal 70 
 
 Accipiet consul, sed legibus omne reductis 1% 
 
 I us aderit, moremque fori vultumque priorem 
 Reddet, et afflictum melior deus auferet aevum. 
 Exsultet, quaecumque Notum gens ima iacentem 
 Erectumque colit Boream, quaecumque vel ortu 75 
 Vel patet occasu, mediove sub aethere fervit. 
 Cernitis, ut puro nox iam vicesima coelo 
 Fulgeat, et placida radiantem luce cometem 
 
ECLOGUE I. 15 
 
 Taught works of peace (while o'er the slain 
 
 Triumphant rang the victors' strain, 
 
 And hearts still panted for the fray, 
 
 Where Romulus' entrenchments lay), 
 
 And trumpets bade 'mid hush of arms 135 
 
 To temples call, not sound alarms. 
 
 Henceforward shall no Consul buy 
 
 The shadowy form of dignity. 
 
 Nor the tribunal empty kept 
 
 And worthless fasces mute accept, 140 
 
 But now the laws once more in force. 
 
 Right takes anew her perfect course, 
 
 And to the Forum doth restore 
 
 The features which of old it bore, 
 
 The manner of its bygone past ; 145 
 
 For this down-trodden age at last 
 
 Shall happier destinies displace. 
 
 Joy, joy to all, to every race 
 
 From where the southern lowlands lie 
 
 To where the north wind takes the sky, 150 
 
 Nor less from where the sun displays 
 
 His rising beams, or setting rays, 
 
 Or in meridian splendour burns. 
 
 Look how the twentieth night returns. 
 
 How heaven with liquid lustre gleams 155 
 
 Refulgent, how the radiant streams 
 
i6 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Proferat ? ut Hquidum nutet sine vulnere plenus ? 
 Numquidutrumquepolum, sicutsolet,ignecruento 80 
 Spargit, et ardenti scintillat sanguine lampas ? 
 At quondam non talis erat, cum, Caesare rapto, 
 Indixit miseris fatalia civibus arma. 
 Scilicet ipse deus Romanae pondera moHs 
 Fortibus excipiet sic inconcussa lacertis, 85 
 
 Ut neque translati sonitu fragor intonet orbis, 
 Nee prius ex mentis defunctos Roma penates 
 Censeat, occasus nisi quum respexerit ortus. 
 
ECLOGUE I. 17 
 
 From yonder harmless comet fly, 
 
 In bright relief against the sky ; 
 
 Look how its lustrous brilliance shows 
 
 No presage of impending blows. i6o 
 
 Doth anywhere the heavenly torch 
 
 Now either pole as whilom scorch 
 
 With bloody fires, or kindling rays 
 
 Flicker with sanguinary blaze ? 
 
 Yet such was not its aspect then, 165 
 
 When Caesar passed from mortal ken, 
 
 And hapless citizens afar 
 
 Saw signs of devastating war. 
 
 Doubt not our Prince himself the weight 
 
 So massive of the Roman state 170 
 
 Shall take up with a God-like grace 
 
 So firmly in his strong embrace, 
 
 As neither shall the crash be heard 
 
 Of ruin from the power transferred, 
 
 Nor judged upon their merits past 175 
 
 Shall the dead rulers e'er be classed, 
 
 By virtue of the State's decrees, 
 
 'Mid Rome's protecting deities. 
 
 Until the rising Prince's name 
 
 Illume the dead's fast waning fame. 180 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Ornite, iamdudum velut ipso numine plenus 
 Me quatit, et mixtus subit inter gaudia terror. 90 
 Sed bona facundi veneremur numina Fauni. 
 
 Ornitus. 
 Carmina, quae nobis deus obtulit ipse canenda, 
 Dicamus, teretique sonum modulemur avena : 
 Forsitan Augustas feret haec Meliboeus ad aures. 
 
ECLOGUE I. i9> 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 *Tis long since, Ornitus, a thrill 
 
 Of terror doth my being fill 
 
 Born of the God himself ; I feel 
 
 Fear mixed with gladness o'er me steal. 
 
 But let us praise with reverend sense 185 
 
 Good Faunus' Godlike eloquence. 
 
 , Ornitus. 
 
 What God hath offered us in verse 
 
 Unasked, let us in song rehearse, 
 
 And let us set his lines to suit 
 
 The music of our rounded flute : 190 
 
 Perchance these strains Augustus' ear, 
 
 From Meliboeus* lips will hear. 
 
20 
 
 ECLOGA SECUNDA. 
 
 Idas, Astacus, Thyrsis. 
 
 Intactam Crotalen puer Astacus et puer Idas, 
 Idas lanigeri dominus gregis, Astacus horti, 
 Dilexere diu, formosus uterque, nee impar 
 Voce sonans. Hi cum terras gravis ureret aestas. 
 Ad gelidos fontes et easdem forte sub umbras 
 Conveniunt, dulcique simul contendere cantu 
 Pignoribusque parant : placet, hie ut vellera septem, 
 Ille sui victus ne messem vindicet horti : 
 Et magnum certamen erat sub iudice Thyrsi. 
 
21 
 
 ECLOGUE II. 
 
 Idas, Astacus, Thyrsis. 
 
 Maid Crotale yet unsubdued 
 
 Young Astacus and Idas wooed ; 
 
 Idas possessed a fleecy herd, 
 
 His garden Astacus preferred. 
 
 Their passion grew through many an hour. 
 
 Both graced alike with Beauty's dower, 
 
 Nor less well matched in shepherd's glees. 
 
 They, when with blighting heat the leas 
 
 Were withering, together met 
 
 By chance near one cool rivulet 
 
 And the same elms. Each youth prepares 
 
 To match his rival in soft airs, 
 
 And wagered forfeits ; seven sheep 
 
 Idas, the other will not keep 
 
 His garden's harvest if he lose, 
 
 And both as arbitrator choose 
 
 Thyrsis, for 'twas a contest rare. 
 
 Of cattle every kind was there. 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Adfuit omne genus pecudum, genus omne ferarum, lo 
 Et quaecumque vagis altum ferit aera pennis. 
 Convenit umbrosa quicumque sub ilice lentas 
 Pascit oves, Faunusque pater, Satyrique bicornes. 
 Adfuerunt sicco Dryades pede, Naiades udo, 
 Et tenuere suos properantia flumina cursus. 15 
 
 Desistunt tremulis incurrere frondibus Euri, 
 Altaque per totos fecere silentia montes. 
 Omnia cessabant, neglectaque pascua tauri 
 Calcabant : illis etiam certantibus ausa est 
 Daedala nectareos apis intermittere flores. 20 
 
 lamque sub annosa medius consederat umbra 
 Thyrsis, et, O pueri me iudice pignora, dixit, 
 
ECLOGUE 11. 23 
 
 Wild beasts, and whatsoe'er on high 
 
 With roving pinions cleaves the sky. 20 
 
 There all, who sheep slow-pacing lead 
 
 Beneath the ilex green to feed, 
 
 Bear Father Faunus company ; 
 
 And thither twi-horned Satyrs hie. 
 
 Nymphs of the woods and waters meet, 25 
 
 Dry-sandalled, or with dewy feet, 
 
 And rivers, hastening from their source, 
 
 Stayed for awhile their wonted course. 
 
 The Eastern breeze, that rides at play 
 
 On quivering leaves, now dies away, 30 
 
 And all the vast expanse of hills 
 
 With penetrating silence fills. 
 
 All nature now to rest was laid. 
 
 And bulls were trampling o'er the glade. 
 
 Careless of pasture ; e'en the bee, 35 
 
 That cunningest of workers, she, 
 
 While these debate their mutual powers, 
 
 Dared leave awhile her nectared flowers. 
 
 And now beneath an elm's deep shade 
 
 Thyrsis between the pair had made 40 
 
 His resting-place, *' Ye boys" quoth he, 
 
 "Your stakes, while judgment lies with me, 
 
 I warn ye, will not count for much ; 
 
 Nay, let your full reward be such. 
 
24 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Irrita sint, moneo : satis hinc mercedis habeto, 
 Si laudem victor, si fert opprobria victus. 
 Et nunc alternos magis ut distinguere cantus 25 
 Possitis, ter quisque manus iactate micantes. 
 Nee mora ; decernunt digitis ; prior incipit Idas. 
 
 Idas. 
 Me Silvanus amat, dociles mihi donat avenas, 
 Et mea frondenti circumdat tempora taeda. 
 llle etiam parvo dixit mihi non leve carmen : 30 
 lam levis obliqua crescit tibi fistula canna. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 At mihi Flora comas pallenti gramine cingit, 
 Et mihi matura Pomona sub arbore plaudit. 
 Accipe, dixerunt Nymphae, puer, accipe fontes : 
 
ECLOGUE 11. 25 
 
 That he who wins shall reap the fame, 45 
 
 And he who loses bear the shame. 
 And now, that ye the clearer may- 
 Mark your alternate roundelay, 
 Each make quick motions with his hand, 
 And finger-signals thrice expand." 50 
 
 Straightway they score defeats and wins 
 On fingers. Idas first begins. 
 
 Idas. 
 
 Silvanus loves me, and he feeds 
 
 His flame w4th gifts of well-made reeds, 
 
 Wreaths of the ever-verdant pine — 55 
 
 His gift — around my temples twine. 
 
 To me, ere ceased my boyhood's hour, 
 
 His voice rehearsed a song of power ; 
 
 " A slender pipe there grows," quoth he, 
 
 " Already on curved reeds for thee." 60 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 
 But Flora round my locks doth make 
 
 Wreaths of pale grasses for my sake, 
 
 For me, where spread the orchard's roots, 
 
 Pomona plays with dancing fruits. 
 
 " Take then," so ran the Nymphs' decree, 65 
 
 " Take, Boy, this spring we tender thee, 
 
26 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 lam potes irriguos nutrire canalibus hortos. 35 
 
 Idas. 
 Me docet ipsa Pales cultum gregis, ut niger albae 
 Terga maritus ovis nascenti mutet in agna, 
 Quae neque diversi speciem servare parentis 
 Possit, et ambiguo testetur utrumque colore. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 Non minus arte mea mutabilis induit arbos 40 
 
 Ignotas frondes et non gentilia poma. 
 Ars mea nunc malo pira temperat, et modo cogit 
 Insita praecoquibus subrepere Persica prunis. 
 
 Idas. . 
 Me teneras salices iuvat aut oleastra putare 
 
ECLOGUE II, 27 
 
 So, where its runnels trickle by, 
 
 Thy garden's needs thou shalt supply." 
 
 Idas. 
 
 Pales herself to rear my flock 
 
 Instructs me, how in raising stock ^o 
 
 The white ewes' husbands, black-fleeced rams, 
 
 Change colours in the growing lambs, 
 
 And cannot show their race renewed 
 
 In sires' or dams' similitude ; 
 
 Yet, as a witness to the pair, 75 
 
 Their parti-coloured fleeces wear. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 
 And my art in no less degree 
 
 Can force by grafts the changing tree 
 
 To bear two natures thus combined. 
 
 Strange leaves and fruit of alien kind. 80 
 
 Now by my skill yon apple bears. 
 
 Blent with its own, a crop of pears, 
 
 Now, forced upon an early plum, 
 
 These grafted quinces shyly come. 
 
 Idas. 
 
 I love the willow^s tender top, 85 
 
 Or oleaster shoots, to lop, 
 
28 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Et gregibus portare novis, ut carpere frondes 45 
 Condiscant, primoque recidere gramina morsu, 
 Ne depulsa vagas quaerat foetura parentes. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 Et mihi cum fulvis radicibus arida tellus 
 Pangitur, irriguo perfunditur area fonte, 
 Et satiatur aqua, succos ne forte priores 50 
 
 Languida mutata quaerant plantaria terra. 
 
 Idas. 
 O si quis Crotalen deus afferat, hunc ego terris, 
 Hunc ego sideribus solum regnare fatebor. 
 Decernamque nemus, dicamque : sub arbore numen 
 Hoc erit ; ite procul, sacer est locus, ite profani. 55 
 
ECLOGUE IL 29 
 
 And carry to the flocks in sheaves, 
 
 That early nibbling at the leaves 
 
 May train them still in opening youth 
 
 To crop the grass with new grown tooth, 90 
 
 Lest, weaning time well over, lambs 
 
 Pursue too far their wandering dams. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 
 When for each yellow root I toil 
 
 To open out the dusty soil, 
 
 Myself the flower-bed duly drench 95 
 
 With runnels trickling through the trench, 
 
 And fill with water, lest some hap 
 
 Should rob the seedlings of their sap 
 
 Indigenous, and drooping heads 
 
 Bear witness to their change of beds. icx> 
 
 Idas. 
 
 Oh ! were it so that Crotale 
 
 Some Deity should bring to me ! 
 
 His reign alone will I approve 
 
 On earth or 'mid the stars above. 
 
 And more, a copse I will decree 105 
 
 And say, " God dwells beneath this tree, 
 
 Ye uninitiated, fly 
 
 This temple of the Deity." 
 
30 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 Urimur in Crotalen : si quis mea vota deorum 
 Audiat, huic soli, virides qua gemmeus undas 
 Fons agit et tremulo percurrit lilia rivo, 
 Inter pampineas ponetur faginus ulmos. 
 
 Idas. 
 Ne contemne casas et pastoralia tecta : 60 
 
 Rusticus est, fateor, sed non et barbarus Idas. 
 Saepe vaporato mihi cespite palpitat agnus, 
 Saepe cadit festis devota Palilibus agna. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 Nos quoque pomiferi Laribus consuevimus horti 
 Mittere primitias et fingere liba Priapo, 65 
 
ECLOGUE If. 31 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 
 For Crotale I longing burn ; 
 
 If any God his ear shall turn no 
 
 To catch my vows, alone to Hinn, 
 
 Where emerald wavelets kiss the brim 
 
 Of yonder fount begemmed with spray, 
 
 And o'er the beds of lilies play 
 
 In rippling streams, will I set up 115 
 
 'Mid vine-clad elms a beechen cup. 
 
 Idas. 
 
 From lowly hut and shepherd's roof 
 
 Stand not so scornfully aloof; 
 
 Idas is clownish, I confess. 
 
 But bears no taint of savageness. 120 
 
 Oft, where my turf-built altar steams, 
 
 A struggling he-lamb's lifeblood gleams, 
 
 And oft on Pales' festivals 
 
 A ewe-lamb in her honour falls. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 
 We too have hesitated not 125 
 
 To offer from our orchard plot 
 Its first-fruits for the Lares' sake. 
 And cheese-cakes for Priapus make ; 
 
32 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Rorantesque favos damus et liquentia mella : 
 Nee fore grata minus, quam si caper imbuat aras. 
 
 Idas. 
 Mille sub uberibus balantes pascimus agnas, 
 Totque Tarentinae praestant mihi vellera matres. 
 Per totum niveus premitur mihi caseus annum : 70 
 Si venias, Crotale, totus tibi serviet hornus. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 Qui numerare velit, quam multa sub arbore nostra 
 Poma legam, citius tenues numerabit arenas. 
 Semper olus metimus, nee bruma nee impedit aestas ; 
 Si venias, Crotale, totus tibi serviet hortus. 75 
 
ECLOGUE II, 33 
 
 Both dripping honeycombs we give, 
 
 And honey trickling from the hive ; 130 
 
 Nor will they less acceptance gain, 
 
 Than if a goat the altar stain. 
 
 Idas. 
 
 My flock — a thousand ewe-lambs bleat 
 
 Still tugging at the mother's teat ; 
 
 For me in rich Tarentum's field 135 
 
 As many dams their fleeces yield ; 
 
 In my unfailing press is found 
 
 A snow-white cheese the whole year round. 
 
 Come, and this produce Crotale, 
 
 Shall wholly at your service be. 140 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 How many apples fallen thick 
 Beneath our tree my fingers pick 
 Would any count, 'twere easier feat 
 To count a field of straggling wheat. 
 Nor Winter's reign nor Summer's sway 145 
 Forbid fresh salad every day. 
 Come, and this garden, Crotale, 
 Shall wholly at your service be. 
 D 
 
34 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Idas. 
 Quamvis siccus ager languentes excoquat herbas, 
 Sume tamen calathos nutanti lacte coactos. 
 Vellera tunc dabimus, quum primum tempus apricum 
 Surget, et a tepidis fiet tonsura Kalendis. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 Et nos, quos etiam praetorrida munerat aestas, 80 
 Mille renidenti dabimus tibi cortice Chias, 
 Castaneasque nuces totidem, cum sole Decembri 
 Maturis nucibus virides rumpentur echini. 
 
 Idas. 
 Num, precor, informis videor tibi } num gravis 
 
 annis } 
 Decipiorque miser, quoties moUissima tango 85 
 
ECLOGUE 11. J5 
 
 Idas. 
 
 Although the moisture-lacking ground 
 
 Parch up the drooping herbage round, 150 
 
 Yet take these milking-pails that swim 
 
 With creamy riches to the brim. 
 
 Our gift of fleeces shall begin, 
 
 When open weather first sets in, 
 
 And, when the tepid Kalends cool 155 
 
 The air, our sheep shall lose their wool. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 
 We too, to whom a summer's heat. 
 However scorching, brings its treat. 
 For you a thousand figs will find 
 Of Chian growth with glossy rind ; 160 
 
 Of chestnuts too a like display, 
 When, in the sun's December ray 
 Maturing, the green husks have burst 
 Wherein the ripening nuts were nurst. 
 
 Idas. 
 
 Pray tell me, if my form appears 165 
 
 So foul to you } so bowed with years } 
 Must I with shame the cheat confess 
 Each time my hands these features press 
 
36 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Ora manu, primique sequor vestigia floris 
 Nescius, et gracili digitos lanugine fallo ? 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 Fontibus in liquidis quoties me conspicor, ipse 
 Admiror toties : etenim sic flore iuventae 
 Induimur vultus, ut in arbore saepe notavi 90 
 
 Cerea sub tenui lucere Cydonia lana. 
 
 Idas. 
 Carmina poscit.amor, nee fistula cedit amori ; 
 Sed fugit, ecce ! dies, revocatque crepuscula vesper. 
 Hinc tu, Daphni, greges, illinc agat Alphesiboeus. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 lam resonant frondes, iamcantibusobstrepit arbos, 95 
 
ECLOGUE II. 37 
 
 So wholly smooth, or when I trace 
 
 A beard's first outlines on my face, 170 
 
 And with an unsuspicious grasp 
 
 The tender down my fingers clasp ? 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 
 Each time I see my figure set 
 
 In some clear-watered rivulet, 
 
 So often gazing I admire ; 175 
 
 For youth's fair bloom doth so attire 
 
 My cheeks with down, as I have seen 
 
 Erewhile on trees a lucent sheen 
 
 Within Cydonian quinces glow 
 
 Their woolly nap of down below. 180 
 
 Idas. 
 
 Love at our hands a sonnet asks, 
 
 Nor doth our pipe refuse Love's tasks ; 
 
 But see ! the day is wellnigh gone 
 
 And Vesper brings the twilight on. 
 
 Daphnis, on this side, drive the sheep 185 
 
 And those Alphesiboeus keep. 
 
 ASTACUS. 
 
 Now stirs a breeze the leaves among, 
 And rustling trees o'erwhelm our song. 
 
38 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 I procul, i Doryla, plenumque reclude canalem, 
 Et sine iamdudum sitientes irriget hortos. 
 Vix ea finierant, senior cum talia Thyrsis : 
 
 Thyrsis. 
 Este pares, et ob hoc Concordes vivite, nam vos 
 Et decor et cantus et amor sociavit et aetas. loo 
 
ECLOGUE IL 39 
 
 Go, Dorylas, to yonder side, 
 
 Set the chief runnel open wide, 190 
 
 And let the gardens quaff their fill 
 
 That long have thirsted for its rill. 
 
 Scarce had their song's last echoes died, 
 When aged Thyrsis thus replied ; 
 
 Thyrsis. 
 
 " Be equals, and, inspired thereby, 195 
 
 Together live in harmony. 
 For you by songs, and beauty's pride. 
 And love, and age, are close allied." 
 
40 
 
 ECLOGA TERTIA. 
 
 lOLLAS, LYCIDAS. 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 Numquid in hac, Lycida, vidisti forte luvencam 
 Valle meam ? solet ista tuis occurrere tauris, 
 Et iam paene duas, dum quaeritur, eximit horas ; 
 Nee tamen apparet. Duris ego perdita ruscis 
 lamdudum nullis dubitavi crura rubetis 5 
 
 Scindere, nee quidquam post tantum sanguinis egi. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Non satis attendi nee enim vacat. Uror, loUa ; 
 Uror, et immodice : Lycidan ingrata reliquit 
 
41 
 
 ECLOGUE III. 
 
 lOLLAS, LYCIDAS. 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 
 Say, Lycidas, has any chance 
 
 Directed in this vale your glance 
 
 Towards my heifer ? fain is she 
 
 To meet your bulls perpetually. 
 
 And now, since on her track I went, 5 
 
 Two fruitless hours are wellnigh spent, 
 
 And yet she comes not into view ; 
 
 Long time the valley ranging through, 
 
 I grazed 'gainst bush and briar my shins, 
 
 Sore damaged by the prickly whins 10 
 
 That met me, natheless all this blood 
 
 Has brought but small return of good. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 I kept scant watch, no time had I, 
 
 lollas, fiercest jealousy 
 
 Consumed me, jealousy past aid, 15 
 
 Phyllis has left me, thankless jade. 
 
42 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Phyllis, amatque novum post tot mea munera 
 Mopsum. 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 Mobilior ventis o ! femina : sic tua Phyllis ? lo 
 
 Quae sibi, nam memini, si quando solus abesses, 
 Mella etiam sine te iurabat amara videri. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Altius ista querar, si forte vacabit, lolla : 
 Has pete nunc salices, et laevas flecte sub ulmos. 
 Nam cum prata calent, illic requiescere noster 15 
 Taurus amat, gelidaque iacet spatiosus in umbra, 
 Et matutinas revocat palearibus herbas. 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 Non equidem, Lycida, quamvis contemptus abibo : 
 
ECLOGUE III. 43 
 
 And, spite of gifts I rain on her, 
 The upstart Mopsus can prefer. 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 
 So true your Phyllis to her kind ? 
 
 So fickle more than fickle wind ? 20 
 
 Yet she, if memory serve me right, 
 
 When you were missing from her sight, 
 
 Would swear, that honey's cloying sweet, 
 
 You absent, seemed a bitter treat. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 Whene'er, lollas, youVe the time, 25 
 
 My griefs shall find an ample rhyme ; 
 
 Now towards the left your heifer through 
 
 These willow beds and elms pursue, 
 
 For, when the meadows glow with heat, 
 
 Our bull delights for his retreat 30 
 
 To choose that nook, and stalking there 
 
 'Mid the cool shadows makes his lair, 
 
 And to his dewlap bids repass 
 
 His matin meal of half-chewed grass. 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 
 No, Lycidas, 'tis here I stay, 35 
 
 Howe'er your pride wish me away. 
 
44 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Tityre, quas dixit, salices pete laevus, et illinc, 
 Si tamen invenies, deprensam verbere multo 20 
 Hue age ; sed fractum referas hastile memento. 
 Nunc age die, Lycida : quae vos tarn magna tulere 
 lurgia ? quis vestro deus intervenit amori ? 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 Phyllide contentus sola, tu testis, lolla, es, 
 Calliroen sprevi, quamvis cum dote rogaret. 25 
 
 En sibi cum Mopso calamos intexere cera 
 Incipit, et puero comitata sub ilice cantat. 
 Haec ego cum vidi, fateor, sic intimus arsi, 
 Ut nihil ulterius tulerim : namprotinus ambas 
 Diduxi tunicas, et pectora nuda cecidi. 30 
 
ECLOGUE IIL 45 
 
 Search, Tityrus, these willows through, 
 
 Search leftward as he said to you. 
 
 And, if you chance to find her there, 
 
 Bring here your captive, never spare 40 
 
 The unrestricted lash, but mind, 
 
 Leave not your broken crook behind. 
 
 Now tell me, Lycidas, what high 
 
 Contention crossed your amity. 
 
 Who was the power malign, that came 45 
 
 Betwixt you and your whilom flame ? 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 Content with Phyllis' love was I, 
 
 You can, lollas, testify. 
 
 And therefore to Callirrhoe mute. 
 
 Albeit a dower backed her suit ; 50 
 
 When suddenly the wanton maid 
 
 Joins her with wax by Mopsus' aid 
 
 New reeds, and with her boyish swain 
 
 Beneath the ilex lifts her strain. 
 
 This sight, scarce seen for very shame, 55 
 
 Set all my inmost heart aflame. 
 
 Nor further insult might I brook, 
 
 For in a sudden heat I took 
 
 And downward rent her double vest 
 
 To beat her unprotected breast ; 60 
 
46 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Alcippen irata petit, dixitque : relicto 
 Improbe, te, Lycida, Mopsum tua Phyllis amabit. 
 Nunc penes Alcippen manet, ac ne forte vagetur, 
 Ah vereor : nee tarn nobis ego Phyllida reddi 
 Exopto, quam quod Mopso iurgetur anhelo. 35 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 A te coeperunt tua iurgia. Tu prior illi 
 Victas tende manus ; decet indulgere puellae, 
 Vel cum prima nocet. Si quid mandare iuvabit, 
 Sedulus iratae contingam nuntius aures. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 lamdudum meditor, quo Phyllida carmine placem. 40 
 Forsitan audito poterit mitescere cantu ; 
 
ECLOGUE III, 47 
 
 Alcippe sought the wrathful maid, 
 
 And, as she left my presence, said, 
 
 " From you your Phyllis* love shall pass 
 
 To Mopsus, spiteful Lycidas." 
 
 Just now she shares Alcippe*s home, 65 
 
 But, lest from door to door she roam 
 
 Hereafter, much I fear, nor strain 
 
 To win my Phyllis back again 
 
 So hotly, as I pant to see 
 
 Mopsus and her at enmity. 70 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 
 It was from you the quarrel burst 
 
 To flame ; yourself be therefore first 
 
 To stretch to her a suppliant hand ; 
 
 Maidens our pardon may command, 
 
 E'en though their fault bear earlier date, 75 
 
 And if you trust me with your fate, — 
 
 A zealous go-between, — I'll preach 
 
 To ears incensed a humble speech. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 Long since to charm her back I try, 
 
 And muse what song shall pacify ; 80 
 
 It may be, when she hears my strain, 
 
 Her heart may soften once again ; 
 
48 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Et solet ilia meas ad sidera ferre Camoenas. 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 Die age, nam eerasi tua eortiee verba notabo, 
 Et decisa feram rutilanti carmina libro. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Hastibi, Phylli, preces iampallidus,hos tibi cantus 45 
 Dat Lycidas, quos nocte miser modulator acerba, 
 Dum flet, et excluso disperdit lumina somno. 
 Non sic destricta marcescit turdus oliva, 
 Non lepus, extremas legulus cum sustulit uvas, 
 Ut Lycidas domina sine Phyllide tabidus erro. 50 
 Te sine, vae misero, mihi lilia nigra videntur, 
 Nee sapiunt fontes, et acescunt vina bibenti. 
 
ECLOGUE III. 49 
 
 Know you her wont is to exalt 
 My verses to the starry vault ? 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 
 Speak then, for on this cherry bark 85 
 
 Your graven phrases will I mark, 
 And so your verses, shorn away 
 From the red rind, to her convey. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 To you these prayers, these lines to you 
 Doth Lycidas, now wan of hue, 90 
 
 Fair Phyllis, send ; ah ! woful wight ! 
 He tunes them through the dismal night, 
 When drenched in tears he exiles sleep, 
 And wasted eyes sad vigils keep. 
 No thrush so dwindles on lean fare 95 
 
 When olive trees are stript and bare, 
 No hare so shrinks to meagre shape 
 When gleaners pick the latest grape. 
 As barred my queen's, my Phyllis' love 
 I, Lycidas, all wasted rove. 100 
 
 For when you are not by, alack ! 
 Then lilies change from white to black, 
 Each pleasant runnel tasteless grows. 
 And sour each draught of Bacchus flows. 
 E 
 
50 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 At SI tu venias, et Candida lila fient, 
 
 Et sapient fontes, et dulcia vina bibentur. 
 
 lUe ego sum Lycidas, quo te cantante solebas 55 
 
 Dicere felicem, cui dulcia saepe dedisti 
 
 Oscula, nee medios dubitasti rumpere cantus, 
 
 Atque inter calamos errantia labra petisti. 
 
 Ah dolor, et post haec placuit tibi torrida Mopsi 
 
 Vox, et carmen iners, et acerbae stridor avenae ? 60 
 
 Quem sequeris ? quem, Phylli, fugis ? formosior illo 
 
 Dicor, et hoc ipsum mihi tu iurare solebas. 
 
 Sum quoque divitior : certaverit ille tot haedos 
 
 Pascere, quot nostri numerantur vespere tauri. 
 
 Quid tibi, quae nosti, referam ? scis, optima Phylli, 65 
 
ECLOGUE III, 51 
 
 But should your presence grace us, then 105 
 
 The lilies will be white again : 
 
 No longer runnels tasteless pour, 
 
 And Bacchus* draughts be sweet once more. 
 
 I am that Lycidas, whose voice, 
 
 You vowed, could make you oft rejoice no 
 
 To hear its tones, on whom you rained 
 
 Delicious kisses unrestrained 
 
 Full many a time ; nay, thought not wrong 
 
 To interrupt my half-heard song. 
 
 Seeking once more to kiss in play 115 
 
 My lips, as o'er the reeds they stray. 
 
 Ah grief! and could you in the end 
 
 To love of Mopsus condescend ! 
 
 His feeble Muse, his rough-toned speech, 
 
 His scrannel straw's ill-grating screech ! 120 
 
 Whom follow you, whom, Phyllis, fly } 
 
 Far goodlier man, they say, am I, 
 
 Than e'er was he ; that this is so, 
 
 Your own lips told me long ago. 
 
 His means too cannot match with mine, 125 
 
 Let him but try to feed as fine 
 
 A flock of kids, as 1 can call 
 
 My herd of bulls at evening fall. 
 
 Yet needs not, gentle maid, that I 
 
 Refresh your untired memory. 130 
 
52 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Quam numerosa meis siccetur bucula mulctris, 
 Et quam multa suos suspendat ad ubera natos. 
 Sed mihi nee gracilis sine te fiscella salicto 
 Texitur, et nullo tremuere coagula lacte. 
 Quod si dura times etiam nunc verbera, Phylli, 70 
 Tradimus ecce manus : licet illae et vimine torto 
 Scilicet et lenta post tergum vite domentur, 
 Ut mala nocturni religavit brachia Mopsi 
 Tityrus, et furem medio suspendit ovili. 
 Accipe, ne dubites, meruit manus utraque poenas. 75 
 His tamen, his isdem manibus tibi saepe palumbes, 
 Saepe etiam leporem, decepta matra, paventem 
 Misimus in gremium ; per me tibi lilia prima 
 
ECLOGUE III. 53 
 
 How many heifers drain their teat 
 
 Into our dairy-pails you weet ; 
 
 How large the milky mothers' ring, 
 
 When round their dugs the younglings cling. 
 
 But I've no skill, bereft of thee, 135 
 
 To weave me from the willow tree 
 
 A slender strainer, nor to make 
 
 Each pan of milk with rennet shake. 
 
 But if you may not even yet. 
 
 Sweet Phyllis, those ill blows forget, 140 
 
 See I surrender here my hands. 
 
 Bid them be bound with firmest bands 
 
 Of withes behind my back, and tough 
 
 Vine saplings add correction rough. 
 
 As Tityrus late to the side 145 
 
 Of nightly-prowling Mopsus tied 
 
 His thievish arms, and high among 
 
 The folded sheep that robber hung. 
 
 Seize, seize them, do not hesitate, 
 
 Each hand alike deserves its fate ; 150 
 
 And yet 'twas oft their lucky hap 
 
 To fill with turtle doves your lap ; 
 
 Oft too a trembling leveret 
 
 Snared with its mother in my net 
 
 These self-same hands to you conveyed ; 155 
 
 The earliest Hlies by my aid. 
 
54 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Contigerunt, primaeque rosae ; vixdum bene florem 
 Degustabat apis, tu cingebare coronis. 80 
 
 Aurea sed forsan mendax tibi munera iactat, 
 Qui metere occidua ferales nocte lupinos 
 Dicitur, et cocto pensare legumine panem : 
 Qui sibi tunc felix, tunc fortunatus habetur, 
 Vilia cum subigit manualibus hordea saxis. 85 
 
 Quod si turpis amor precibus, quod abominor, istis 
 Obstiterit, laqueum miseri nectemus ab ilia 
 nice, quae nostros primum violavit amores. 
 Hi tamen ante mala figentur in arbore versus : 
 Credere, pastores, levibus nolite puellis ; 90 
 
 Phyllida Mopsus amat, Lycidan habet ultima rerum. 
 
ECLOGUE II L 55 
 
 The earliest roses, you possess'd, 
 
 Scarce had the bee some floweret, pressed 
 
 For honey, sipped, a garland bound 
 
 Your brow with circling blooms around. i6o 
 
 But yet this liar may perchance 
 
 His glittering gifts to you enhance. 
 
 Who oft at hush of night, 'tis said, 
 
 Plucks lupines — offerings of the dead, — 
 
 And many a while his lack of cates 165 
 
 With sodden pottage compensates ; 
 
 Who deems himself then blessed by Fate, 
 
 Then to be hailed as fortunate, 
 
 When his own hands his handmill turn, 
 
 Grinding cheap barley in his quern. 170 
 
 But if (forbid it Powers Divine !) 
 
 Still rise to crush these prayers of mine 
 
 Some base affection, from yon tree 
 
 I'll hang to end this misery 
 
 A knotted cord — yon ilex there, 175 
 
 Which first profaned a love so fair. 
 
 Yet ere I die, this verse shall be 
 
 Engraven on th* ill-omened tree, 
 
 "Ye shepherd swains, be disinclined 
 
 To trust young maids of fickle mind, 180 
 
 Mopsus finds love in Phyllis' eyes, 
 
 And death claims Lycidas his prize." 
 
56 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Nunc age, si quidquam miseris succurris, loUa, 
 
 Perfer, et exora modulato Phyllida cantu. 
 
 Ipse procul stabo, vel acuta carice tectus, 
 
 Vel propius latitans vicina saepe sub horti. 95 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 Ibimus : et veniet, nisi me praesagia fallunt. 
 Nam bonus a dextra fecit mihi Tityrus omen, 
 Qui venit inventa non irritus ecce iuvenca. 
 
ECLOGUE III, 57 
 
 Come now, lollas, if you can 
 
 Succour a miserable man, 
 
 Convey to Phyllis these my prayers, 185 
 
 But set them first to plaintive airs. 
 
 I will betake me far afield. 
 
 Or crouch in prickly sedge concealed, 
 
 Or 'neath this neighbouring altar lie. 
 
 As oft in its vicinity. 190 
 
 lOLLAS. 
 
 We'll onward, she will soon appear. 
 
 If I can read these portents clear, 
 
 For see ! an omen on the right ! 
 
 Here's honest Tityrus in sight, 
 
 Bringing (nor was his search in vain) 195 
 
 My long-lost heifer in his train. 
 
58 
 
 ECLOGA QUARTA. 
 Meliboeus, Corydon, Amyntas. 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 
 Quid tacitus, Corydon, vultuque subinde minaci, 
 Quidve sub hac platano, quam garrulus adstrepit 
 
 humor. 
 Infesta statione sedes ? iuvat humida forsan 
 Ripa, levatque diem vicini spiritus amnis ? 
 
 Corydon. 
 Carmina iamdudum, non quae nemorale resultent, 5 
 Volvimus, o Meliboee, sed haec, quibus aurea possint 
 Saecula cantari, quibus et deus ipse canatur, 
 Qui p'opulos urbemque regit pacemque togatam. 
 
59 
 
 ECLOGUE IV. 
 
 Meliboeus, Corydon, Amyntas. 
 
 Meliboeus? 
 
 Say, Corydon, why speech subdued, 
 
 And with a fitful boding mood. 
 
 Or why beneath this plane, whose feet 
 
 The streamlet's brawling waters beat, 
 
 Do you thus strangely posted stay ? 5 
 
 Perhaps the bank, bedewed with spray. 
 
 Delights you, or from yonder pool 
 
 The day is fanned by breezes cool. 
 
 Corydon. 
 
 O Meliboeus, for some time 
 
 My thoughts are weaving into rhyme. 10 
 
 No woodland joys my Muse engage, 
 
 My songJs^o£the-X^ld€n"Age 
 
 If I may sing it, yes, my theme 
 
 Is of that self-same Power supreme. 
 
 Who rules the peoples, rules the town 15 
 
 And Peace robed in her civic gown. 
 
6o CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 Dulce quidem resonas, nee te diversus Apollo 
 Despicit, o iuvenis, sed magnae numina Romae lo 
 Non ita cantari debent, ut ovile Menalcae. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Quidquid id est, silvestre licet videatur acutis 
 Auribus, et nostro tantum memorabile pago : 
 Dum mea rusticitas, si non valet arte polita 
 Carminis, at certe valeat pietate probari. 15 
 
 Rupe sub haceadem,quamproxima pinus obumbrat, 
 Haec eadem nobis frater meditatur Amyntas, 
 Quern vicina meis natalibus admovet aetas. 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 6i 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 
 Harmonious are your songs in sooth, 
 
 -Nor doth Apollo, happy youth, 
 
 Look on you with averted eyes ; 
 
 But Rome's majestic deities 20 
 
 Demand a higher flight of wing, 
 
 Than when Menalcas' fold you sing. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 I care not if my song appears. 
 
 How slight soever, rude to ears 
 
 Acutely strung, and only meet 25 
 
 To mention in our village street : 
 
 This my uncourtliness of speech. 
 
 Although its rhythm fail to reach 
 
 A style urbane, deserves, you'll own. 
 
 Praise for its reverential tone. 30 
 
 With kindred thoughts beneath the shade. 
 
 Which o'er this rock yon pine has made. 
 
 With kindred thoughts to mine his Muse 
 
 My brother, young Amyntas, woos. 
 
 Whose age and mine so equal run 35 
 
 Our natal days are blent in one. 
 
62 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 lam puerum calamos et odorae vincula cerae 
 lungere non cohibes, levibus quern saepe cicutis 20 
 Ludere conantem vetuisti fronte paterna ? 
 Dicentem, Corydon, te non semel ista notavi : 
 Frange, puer, calamos, et inanes desere Musas ; 
 I, potius glandes rubicundaque collige corna, 
 Due ad mulctra greges, et lac venale per urbem 25 
 Non tacitus porta. Quid'enim tibi fistula reddet 
 Quo tutere famem ? certe mea carmina nemo 
 Praeter ab his scopulis ventosa remurmurat Echo. 
 
 Corydon. 
 Haec ego, confiteor, dixi, Meliboee, sed oHm : 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 63 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 
 What ? can the lad (and you consent) 
 
 With bands of fragrant wax cement 
 
 His joints of sounding reedstems now ? 
 
 Yet oft with right paternal brow, 40 
 
 If e*er on hemlock slight he tried 
 
 An air, your license you denied. 
 
 Yes, Corydon, not once nor twice 
 
 I marked you giving this advice ; 
 
 " Break, boy, thy vocal reeds to bits, 45 
 
 And cry the thankless Muses quits ; 
 
 Go, better far to stack up rows 
 
 Of acorns and plum-coloured sloes, 
 
 Lead cattle to the milking-pail. 
 
 And through the City hawk for sale 50 
 
 Thy milk, nor voice, nor cry be mute. 
 
 For where's the harvest of thy flute 
 
 To stay withal thy hunger pains } 
 
 For past a doubt not one my strains 
 
 Repeats, except the Echo's sough, 55 
 
 Reverberating from yon bluff." 
 
 Corydon. 
 
 I own, I used such words before. 
 But, Meliboeus, 'twas of yore ; 
 
64 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Non eadem nobis sunt tempora, non deus idem. 30 
 Spes magis arridet : certe ne fraga rubosque 
 Colligerem, viridique famem solarer hibisco, 
 Tu fads, et tua nos alit indulgentia farre. 
 Tu nostras miseratus opes docilemque iuventam, 
 Hiberna prohibes ieiunia solvere fago. 35 
 
 Ecce nihil querulum per te, Meliboee, sonamus ; 
 Per te secura saturi recubamus in umbra, 
 Et fruimur silvis Amaryllidos, ultima nuper 
 Littora terrarum, nisi tu, Meliboee, fuisses, 
 Ultima visuri, trucibusque obnoxia Mauris 40 
 
 Pascua Geryonis, liquidis ubi cursibus ingens 
 Dicitur occiduas impellere Baetis arenas. 
 Scilicet extremo nunc vilis in orbe iacerem, 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 65 
 
 Our times are altered now, I deem, 
 
 And altered too our God supreme. 60 
 
 Hope brighter smiles : if certes I 
 
 The bramble's fruit or strawberry 
 
 Collect not, nor my hunger-pain 
 
 With green marsh-mallows yet restrain, 
 
 *Tis all your doing, and with bread 65 
 
 By your indulgence we are fed. 
 
 j Compassionating in kind ruth 
 
 \ Our slender means and quick-schooled youth, 
 
 ' You will not let us break our fast 
 
 On winter stores of beechen mast. 70 
 
 Through thee alone no plaintive note 
 
 Wakes, Meliboeus, from our oat ; 
 
 Through thee full-fed in careless ease 
 
 We lounge beneath these leafy trees. 
 
 Or Amaryllis' woodland lair, 75 
 
 Who, save for Meliboeus' care, 
 
 / Were destined lately to explore 
 
 I Earth's farthest, aye, her farthest shore, 
 And Geiyon's meads, a wealthy prize 
 To tempt the fierce Moor's avarice, 80 
 
 Where Baetis huge, so legends say. 
 Rolls downward on his western way 
 To find the shore. Good sooth should I 
 At the world's end an outcast lie, 
 F 
 
66 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Ah dolor, et pecudes inter conductus Iberas 
 Irrita septena modularer sibila canna : 45 
 
 Nee quisquam nostras inter dumeta Camoenas 
 Respiceret : non ipse daret mihi forsitan aurem, 
 Ipse deus vacuam, longeque sonantia vota 
 Scilicet extremo non exaudiret in orbe. 
 Sed nisi forte tuas melior sonus avocat aures, 50 
 Et nostris aliena magis tibi carmina rident, 
 Vis, hodierna tua subigatur pagina lima ? 
 Nam tibi non tantum venturos discere nimbos, 
 Agricolis qualemque ferat sol aureus ortum, 
 Attribuere dei, sed dulcia carmina saepe 55 
 
 Concinis, et modo te Baccheis Musa corymbis 
 Munerat, et lauro modo pulcher obumbrat Apollo. 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 67 
 
 Or hired, ah well a day ! to keep 85 
 
 Iberian herds and flocks of sheep, 
 
 Or pour an ineffectual strain, 
 
 And to my sevenfold pipe complain. 
 
 No mortal wight should condescend 
 
 My bushborn Muses to befriend 90 
 
 With kindly look ; no listening ear 
 
 Our sovran lord should lend to hear, 
 
 Nor catch the far, far echoing sound 
 
 Of prayers from earth's remotest bound. 
 
 But if no more aspiring lay 95 
 
 Shall chance your ears to steal away, 
 
 Nor verse that falls from other lips 
 
 Your pleasure in my songs eclipse, 
 
 That verse (why not ?) this day I writ 
 
 Your critic file shall polish it. 100 
 
 For not alone you recognize 
 
 The coming tempests ere they rise 
 
 On husbandmen, or how the morn 
 
 Will prove from ruddy sunset born 
 
 (From Heaven to you this knowledge grows), 105 
 
 But sweetest melodies compose 
 
 Full often ; now the Tragic Muse 
 
 With bunches due to Bacchus woos 
 
 Your gifts, and with his laurel now 
 
 Beauteous Apollo shades your brow. no 
 
6S CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Quod si tu faveas trepido mihi, forsitan illos 
 Experiar calamos, here quos mihi doctus lollas 
 Donavit, dixitque : Truces haec fistula tauros 60 
 Conciliat, nostroque sonat dulcissima Fauno. 
 Tityrus hanc habuit, cecinit qui primus in istis 
 Montibus Hyblaea modulabile carmen avena. 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 Magna petis, Corydon, si Tityrus esse laboras : 
 Ille fuit vates sacer, et qui posset avena 65 
 
 Praesonuisse chelym, blandae cui saepe canenti 
 AUusere ferae, cui substitit advena quercus, 
 Quem modo cantantem rutilo spargebat acantho 
 Nais, et implicitos comebat pectine crines. 
 
ECLOGUE IV, 
 
 But oh ! if you would gratify 
 
 My longing, haply I might try 
 
 Those reeds, which yesterday to me 
 
 lollas, skilled in melody, 
 
 Presented with a simple word, 115 
 
 " This pipe doth tame the fiercest herd 
 
 Of bulls, and on our Faunus' ear 
 
 Its music strikes most dulcet clear. 
 
 'Twas Tityrus that owned it erst, 
 
 Who in these mountains was the first 120 
 
 To carol ditties, that might suit 
 
 The tones of Hybla's sweetest flute." 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 
 Your aims, my Corydon, are high. 
 
 If to be Tityrus you try; 
 
 A bard inspired with heaven-born fire, 125 
 
 His pipe might well outsing that lyre 
 
 Whose tone could draw to frolic game 
 
 Wild beasts, and bade the oaks, that came 
 
 To listen, halt ; when he did sing, 
 
 The Naiad oft a wreath would bring 130 
 
 Of red Acanthus blooms, and try 
 
 His tangled locks to comb and tie. 
 
70 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Est fateor, Meliboee, deus, sed nee mihi Phoebus 70 
 Forsitan abnuerit ; tu tantum commodus audi : 
 Scimus enim, quam te non aspernetur Apollo. 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 Incipe, nam faveo, sed prospice, ne tibi forte 
 Tinnula tarn fragili respiret fistula buxo, 
 Quam resonare solet, si quando laudat Alexim. 75 
 Hos potius calamos, magis hos sectare canales, 
 Et preme, qui dignas cecinerunt consule silvas. 
 Incipe, ne dubita. Venit en et frater Amyntas : 
 Cantibus iste tuis alterno succinet ore. 
 Dicite, ne mora sit, vicibusque reducite carmen : 80 
 
ECLOGUE IV, 71 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Inspired he is, I must confess ; 
 
 Yet, Meliboeus, none the less 
 
 Phoebus may deign myself to hear, 135 
 
 So you but lend a kindly ear : 
 
 For well I weet Apollo ne'er 
 
 Can slight you, or despise your prayer. 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 Proceed, for Fm a critic kind, 
 Yet warily, or you may find 140 
 
 The fragile boxwood prove too weak, 
 Forcing your tinkling pipe to squeak 
 A note so slight as that, whene'er 
 Alexis' praises are its care. 
 Rather, far rather set your mind 145 
 
 Those reeds, those well-joined pipes, to find 
 Which whilom sung, when I besought 
 " Woods worthy of a consul's thought." 
 Begin, and have no thought of me. 
 Your brother, too, Amyntas, see, 150 
 
 Alternate to your every strain 
 His lips shall echo a refrain. 
 Begin, ye must not dally long, 
 And each by turns take up the song : 
 
72 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Tuque prior, Corydon, tu proximus ibis, Amynta. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Ab love principium, si quis canit aethera, sumat, 
 Si quis Atlantiaci molitur pondus Olympi : 
 At mihi, qui nostras praesenti numine terras 
 Perpetuamque regit iuvenili robore pacem, 85 
 
 Laetus et Augusto felix arrideat ore. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 Me quoque facundo comitatus Apolline Caesar 
 Respiciat, montes neu dedignetur adire, 
 Quos et Phoebus amat, quos luppiter ipse tuetur : 
 In quibus augustos visuraque saepe triumphos 90 
 Laurus fructificat, vicinaque nascitur arbos. 
 
ECLOGUE IV, 73 
 
 You, Corydon, lead ofif, and then, 155 
 
 Amyntas, you reply again. 
 
 Corydon. 
 
 Let every bard prelude with Jove, 
 
 Who would extol the realms above. 
 
 Whoso Olympus' weight would bear, 
 
 By Atlas balanced in mid air. 160 
 
 And he, th* incarnate God, whose sway 
 
 All lands of this our earth obey, 
 
 By whose young prowess ne'er shall cease 
 
 The blessings of eternal peace. 
 
 Let him, a bright propitious friend, 165 
 
 Imperial patronage extend. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 Me too shall Caesar, in whose train 
 Moves eloquent Apollo, deign 
 To have respect unto, nor fear 
 Among these mountains to appear, 170 
 
 Sharers alike of Phoebus' love. 
 And of the guardian care of Jove : 
 Mountains, where bays fair-fruited blow. 
 And oaks companionably grow. 
 Destined through many a coming day 175 
 
 Imperial triumphs to survey. 
 
74 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Ipse polos etiam qui temperat igne geluque, 
 luppiter ipse parens, cui tu iam proximus ipse, 
 Caesar, abes, posito paulisper fulmine saepe 
 Cressia rura petit, viridiqut reclinis in antro 95 
 
 Carmina Dictaeis audit Curetica silvis. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 Aspicis, ut virides audito Caesare silvae 
 Conticeant ? memini, quamvis urgente procella, 
 Sic nemus immotis subito requiescere ramis, 
 Et dixi : deus hinc, certe deus expulit Euros : 100 
 Nee mora ; Pharsalae solverunt sibila cannae. 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 75 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 He even, who doth ever mould 
 
 Heaven's climes by change of heat and cold, 
 
 Great Jove, the universal sire, 
 
 (From whom thou, Caesar, may'st aspire, i8o 
 
 Thyself to hold the second place). 
 
 Dropping his thunderbolts a space. 
 
 Oft wends to Cretan meads his way, 
 
 And lists to some Curetic lay. 
 
 Reclined at ease in verdant cave, 185 
 
 O'er which Dictaean forests wave. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 Mark you, how at the very sound 
 Of Caesar's name the greenwood round 
 Grows wholly still ? my thought recalls. 
 How when the air was thick with squalls, 190 
 Yon leafy copse stood all at rest. 
 And not a breeze the boughs possessed ; 
 "A God," I cried, "'tis sure a God, 
 Drave hence the east winds with his nod,'* 
 And forthwith each Pharsalian reed 195 
 
 Their piping notes from dumbness freed. 
 
76 CALPURNIUS STCULUS. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Aspicis, ut teneros subitus vigor excitet agnos ? 
 Utque superfuso magis ubera lacte graventur, 
 Et nuper tonsis exundent vellera foetis ? 
 Hoc ego iam, memini, semel hac in valle notavi, 105 
 Et, venisse Palen, pecoris dixisse magistros. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 Scilicet omnis eum tellus, gens omnis adorat, 
 Diligiturque deis : quern sic taciturna verentur 
 Arbuta, cuius iners audito nomine tellus 
 Incaluit, floremque dedit, cui silva vocato no 
 
 Densat odore comas, stupefacta regerminat arbos. 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 77 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Yon tender lambkins, do but mark, 
 
 Thrill with a sudden vigorous spark, 
 
 And see ! the ewes' teats weightier show, . 
 
 Flushed with the milk's o'erpouring flow, 200 
 
 And fuller fleeces do adorn 
 
 Those dams that were so lately shorn. 
 
 This scene (so runs my memory) 
 
 Once in this valley met my eye 
 
 Before ; then spake the shepherds thus, 205 
 
 "Pales is come to visit us." 
 
 Amyntas. 
 
 Yea, every country, every tribe. 
 
 Worship and praise to Him ascribe. 
 
 And He is by all gods beloved 
 
 To whom yon arbutes thus unmoved 210 
 
 Do reverence : from the sluggish Earth, 
 
 Warmed to new life, fresh flowers had birth. 
 
 When she had only heard his name ; 
 
 The forest, stirred by his acclaim, 
 
 Her boskage lavishly perfumes, 215 
 
 And awe-charmed trees renew their blooms. 
 
78 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 CORYDON. 
 lUius ut primum senserunt numina terrae, 
 Coepit et uberior, sulcis fallentibus olim, 
 Luxuriare seges, tandemque legumina plenis 
 Vix resonant siliquis, nee praefocata malignum 115 
 Messis habet lolium, nee inertibus albet avenis. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 lam neque damnatos metuit iactare ligones 
 Fossor, et inuento, si fors dedit, utitur auro. 
 Nee timet, ut nuper, dum iugera versat arator, 
 Ne sonet offenjso contraria vomere massa, 120 
 
 lamque palam presso magis et magis instat aratro. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 lUe dat, ut primas Cereri dare cultor aristas 
 
ECLOGUE IV, 79 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Soon as the lands began to feel 
 
 His godlike influence o'er them steal, 
 
 Furrows, which we had seen belie 
 
 Our hopes, in new fertility 220 
 
 Luxuriate ; beans full-podded yield 
 
 No vacuous rattling, and the field 
 
 Chokes not with darnel, weed malign, 
 
 Nor fears the oats' unfruitful shine. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 
 Our swains need fear no more to ply 225 
 
 Their spades as under penalty. 
 
 But, if Dame Fortune's gifts are kind. 
 
 May freely spend the gold they find ; 
 
 Nor need the ploughman, as of yore. 
 
 Upturning loosened clods, deplore, 230 
 
 Lest his share's jarring note betray 
 
 Some obstacle that blocks his way, 
 
 For openly he leans him now 
 
 More and more firmly on his plough. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Through His boon Ceres can command 235 
 Her firstfruits at each tiller's hand, 
 
8o CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Possit, et intacto Bromium perfundere vino, 
 
 Ut nudus ruptas saliat calcator in uvas, 
 
 Utque bono plaudat paganica turba magistro, 125 
 
 Qui facit egregios ad pervia compita ludos. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 Ille meis pacem dat montibus : ecce per ilium 
 Seu cantare iuvat, seu ter pede lenta ferire 
 Gramina, nullus obest : licet et cantare choreis, 
 Et cantus viridante licet mihi condere libro, 130 
 Turbida nee calamos iam surdant classica nostros. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Numine Caesareo securior ipse Lycaeas 
 Pan recolit silvas, et amoena Faunus in umbra 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 
 
 And Bromius quaffs from many a vine, 
 Libations now of unbroached wine, 
 Through Him our bursting clusters greet 
 The vintagers* bare-treading feet, 240 
 
 Through Him the peasants shout acclaim 
 To the kind Master of their game, 
 Whene'er at crossings of the way- 
 He celebrates high holiday. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 
 He on our mountains Peace bestows : 245 
 
 No obstacles, I trow, oppose 
 
 (To Him be thanks) our wish to beat 
 
 In triple measure with swift feet 
 
 The sluggish grass, or rouse a glee ; 
 
 To us both song and dance are free. 250 
 
 Nay more, my Muse unfettered graves 
 
 On yon green bark her rhythmic staves. 
 
 Nor are our reedpipes henceforth drowned 
 
 By the loud-braying trumpet's sound. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Under this charm of Caesar's reign, 255 
 
 Pan lighter-hearted doth again 
 Visit each cool Lycaean glade. 
 And Faunus in the pleasant shade 
 G 
 
82 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Securus recubat, placido quin fonte lavatur 
 
 Nais, et humanum non calcatura cruorem 135 
 
 Per iuga siccato velox pede currit Oreas. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 Di, precor, hunc iuvenem, quern vos, neque fallet, ab 
 
 ipso 
 Aethere misistis, post longa reducite vitae 
 Tempora, vel potius mortale resolvite pensum, 
 Et date perpetuo coelestia fila metallo : 140 
 
 Sit deus, et nolit pensare Palatia coelo. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Tu commutata seu luppiter ipse figura, 
 Caesar, ades, seu quis superum sub imagine falsa 
 Mortalique lates (es enipi deus) : hunc, precor, 
 orbem, 
 
ECLOGUE IV, 83 
 
 Lies at his ease ; the Naiads lave 
 
 In yonder Fount's unruffled wave 260 
 
 Their beauties ; and, afraid no more 
 
 Of trampling in fresh human gore, 
 
 O'er hilltops the Oreads, fleet 
 
 Of limb, scour with unmoistened feet. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 
 O gods, I pray ye, this same youth 265 
 
 (For ye yourselves, in very sooth, 
 
 Did send Him down from Heaven to man), 
 
 After a life's far-lengthened span, 
 
 Recall to you, or else instead 
 
 Untwine for Him our mortal thread, 270 
 
 And grant Him a celestial skein 
 
 Of metal, that shall aye remain : 
 
 Let Him be God, yet not incline 
 
 For Heaven to change His Palatine. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Thou Caesar (whether thou dost dare 275 
 
 Jove's form commuted thus to wear. 
 
 Or some supernal power lies 
 
 Hidden in counterfeited guise 
 
 Of mortal mould, yet God), I pray 
 
 Still may'st thou o'er this orb bear sway 280 
 
84 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Hos, precor, aeternus populos rege : sit tibi coeli 145 
 Vilis amor, coeptamque, pater, ne desere pacem. 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 Rustica credebam nemorales carmina vobis 
 Concessisse deos, et obesis auribus apta : 
 Verum, quae paribus modo concinuistis avenis. 
 Tarn liquidum, tarn dulce sonant, ut non ego malim, 
 Quod Peligna legunt examina, lambere nectar. 151 
 
 CORYDON. 
 O mihi quam tereti decurrens carmine versus 
 Turn, Meliboee, sonet, si quando in montibus istis 
 Dicar habere Larem, si quando nostra videre 
 Pascua contingat; vellit nam saepius aurem 155 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 85 
 
 And these wide populaces prove 
 Thine empire endless : let thy love, 
 Great Father, slight its Heaven, nor cease 
 Thy new-inaugurated Peace. 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 
 My fancy used to whisper me, 285 
 
 That clownish was the melody 
 Bestowed on you by sylvan gods, 
 And fit for ears of dullard clods ; 
 ' But all your late concerted notes. 
 Proceeding from your well-matched oats, 290 
 Are melodies so clear, so sweet. 
 It were to me no dearer treat 
 To sip of that nectareous prize 
 Bees gather 'neath Pelignian skies. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 O Meliboeus, think but how 295 
 
 My verses' unimpassioned flow 
 
 Would sound at last a loftier chime, 
 
 If on these mountains any time 
 
 Some homestead I might call my own. 
 
 Or a small pasture ground be shown 30x5 
 
 Belonging by good hap to me ; 
 
 But whispered carping Poverty 
 
86 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Invida paupertas, et dixit : ovilia cura. 
 
 At tu, si qua tamen non aspernanda putabis, 
 
 Fer, Meliboee, deo mea carmina : nam tibi fas est 
 
 Sacra Palatini penetralia visere Phoebi. 
 
 Tu mihi talis eris, qualis qui dulce sonantem i6o 
 
 Tityron e silvis dominam deduxit in urbem, 
 
 Ostenditque deos, et spreto, dixit, ovili, 
 
 Tityre, rura prius, sed post cantabimus arma. 
 
 Amyntas. 
 Respiciat nostros utinam fortuna labores 
 Pulchrior, et meritae faveat deus ipse iuventae : 165 
 Non tamen interea tenerum mactabimus haedum, 
 Et pariter subitae peragemus fercula coenae. 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 87 
 
 Too often, twitching at my ear, 
 
 *' Sheepfolds — thy one sole care is here.'* 
 
 But then if these my songs perchance 305 
 
 Win, any one, thy countenance. 
 
 Bear them, O Meliboeus, bear 
 
 Unto the god, for thou may'st dare 
 
 Enter that consecrated shrine 
 
 Of Phoebus on his Palatine. 310 
 
 To me thou shalt extend such aid 
 
 As did that friend, who whilom bade 
 
 The sweet-voiced Tityrus remove 
 
 To our royal city from his grove. 
 
 Showed him the Powers, and thus advised, 315 
 
 " O Tityrus, the fold despised. 
 
 We first will sing the praise of meads, 
 
 And afterwards of doughty deeds." 
 
 Amyntas. 
 
 Oh would that Fortune might beguile 
 
 Our toil with more auspicious smile, 320 
 
 And well deserving youth might find 
 
 At God's own hands reception kind ! 
 
 We notwithstanding, while we wait, 
 
 A tender kid will immolate, 
 
 And homely dishes will prepare 325 
 
 For a rough meal — our common care. 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 Nunc ad flumen oves deducite : lam fremit aestas, 
 lam sol contractas pedibus magis admovet umbras. 
 
ECLOGUE IV. 89 
 
 Meliboeus. 
 
 Now marshal to the river side 
 Our flock ; for 'tis the hot noontide, 
 And to our feet with lessening sweep 
 The sun-chased shadows nearer creep. 330 
 
90 
 
 ECLOGA QUINTA. 
 
 Mycon. 
 
 Forte Mycon senior, Canthusque, Myconis alumnus, 
 Torrentem patula vitabant ilice solem. 
 Cum iuveni senior praecepta daturus alumno 
 Talia verba refert tremulis titubantia labris : 
 
 Mycon. 
 Quas errare vides inter dumeta capellas, 5 
 
 Canaque lascivo concidere gramina morsu, 
 Canthe puer, quos ecce greges a monte remotos 
 Cernis in aprico decerpere gramina campo, 
 Hos tibi do senior iuveni pater, ipse tuendos 
 Accipe, iam certe potes insudare labori, 10 
 
91 
 
 ECLOGUE V. 
 
 Mycon. 
 
 The aged Mycon on a day 
 
 Beneath a spreading holmoak lay 
 
 With Canthus, Mycon's foster son, 
 
 Intent the blazing heat to shun, 
 
 The while his sire, alert to store 5 
 
 His youthful mind with garnered lore, 
 
 In corresponding measures sang 
 
 With trembling lips and quavering twang. 
 
 Mycon. 
 
 Yon herd of she-goats which you may 
 
 See there among the thickets stray, 10 
 
 And with a playful nibbling bite 
 
 The grasses yet from hoarfrost white. 
 
 And, Canthus lad, yon flock of sheep. 
 
 Which you can see the mountain steep 
 
 Desert for yonder sunny mead, 15 
 
 And busy on its pastures feed, 
 
 These, Boy, your aged sire I make 
 
 My gift to you, yourself must take 
 
 And tend them well, for you can moil, 
 
 I doubt not, lad, can sweat a'nd toil, 20 
 
92 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 lam pro me gnavam potes exercere iuventam. 
 Aspicis, ut nobis aetas iam mille querelas 
 Afferat et baculum premat inclinata senectus ? 
 Sed qua lege regas et amantes lustra capellas, 
 Et melius pratis errantes moUibus agnas, 15 
 
 Percipe. Vere novo, quum iam tinnire volucres 
 Incipient, nidosque reversa lutabit hirundo, 
 Protinus hiberno pecus omne movebis ovili. 
 Tunc etenim melior vernanti gramine silva 
 PuUat, et aestivas reparabilis inchoat umbras, 20 
 Tunc florent silvae, viridisque renascitur annus. 
 Tunc Venus et calidi scintillat fervor amoris, 
 Lascivumque pecus salientes accipit hircos. 
 
ECLOGUE V. 93 
 
 And in my stead need never shirk 
 
 Your young intelligence to work. 
 
 Mark you, how now advancing years 
 
 Bring in their train a thousand cares 
 
 To me, how Age with stooping gait 25 
 
 Leans on a trusty staff his weight ? 
 
 But by what law to rule the goats — 
 
 A tribe that on the bushes doats, 
 
 And lambs — a flock that better feeds 
 
 While wandering through the grassy meads, 30 
 
 Learn now and know. In early spring. 
 
 When birds their busy twittering 
 
 Begin, and with fresh clay is drest 
 
 The home-returning swallow's nest. 
 
 Let the whole flock without delay 35 
 
 From winter folds be moved away ; 
 
 Then do the budding woods afford 
 
 A freer range of fresh greensward, 
 
 And once again in every glade 
 
 Re-introduce the summer shade, 40 
 
 Then woods put on their leafy train. 
 
 And the green year is born again ; 
 
 Then Venus reigns, and in all eyne 
 
 Love's fervid passions sparkling shine ; 
 
 And in their wanton sport the flock 45 
 
 Receives the he-goats' covering shock. 
 
94 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Sed non ante greges in pascua mitte reclusos, 
 Quam fuerit placata Pales. Turn cespite vivo 25 
 Pone focum, Geniumque loci Faunumque Laresque 
 Salso farre voca : tepidos tunc hostia cultros 
 Imbuat ; hac etiam, dum vivit, ovilia lustra. 
 Nee mora, tunc campos ovibus, dumeta capellis, 
 Orto sole dabis, simul hunc transcendere montem 30 
 Coeperit et primae spatium tepefecerit horae. 
 At si forte vaces, dum matutina relaxat 
 Frigora sol, tumidis spumantia mulctra papillis 
 Implebit, quod mane fluet, rursusque premetur 
 Mane, quod occiduae mulsura redegerit horae. 35 
 Farce tamen foetis, nee sint compendia tanti, 
 
ECLOGUE V. 95 
 
 But when the sheep have left the pen 
 Set them not free to browse again 
 
 / Till Pales be propitiate 
 With sacrifice. An altar straight 50 
 
 / Build thou of freshly springing sods ; 
 Invoke with salted meal the gods, 
 The guardian genius of the spot 
 The Lars and Faunus. Then the hot 
 Life-blood must from a victim steep 55 
 
 Your ploughshares ; and the folds for sheep 
 Purge with his blood ere life be gone. 
 Then stay no longer, but lead on 
 Your goats to thickets, browsing sheep 
 To plains, when first o'er yonder steep 60 
 
 The sun begins his early climb. 
 And warms the hour of matin prime. 
 But if mayhap you're free to wait 
 Until the sun's rays dissipate 
 The early frosts, your morning store 65 
 
 Shall brim the milk-pails foaming o'er 
 From fuU-swoln udders, and beside 
 Whate'er the evening's milking tide 
 Shall reproduce you must again 
 For cheeses in the morning strain. 70 
 
 But spare the newly-weaned, nor let 
 Your thrift at such high rate be set, 
 
96 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Destruat ut niveos venalis caseus agnos : 
 Nam tibi praecipuo foetura coletur amore. 
 Te quoque non pudeat, quum serus ovilia vises, 
 Si qua iacebit ovis partu resoluta recenti, 40 
 
 Hanc humeris portare tuis, natosque tepenti 
 Ferre sinu tremulos et nondum stare paratos. 
 Nee tu longinquas procul a praesepibus herbas, 
 Nee nimis amotae sectabere pabula silvae, 
 Dum peragit vernum lovis inconstantia tempus. 45 
 Veris enim dubitanda fides : modo fronte serena 
 Blandius arrisit, modo cum caligine nimbos 
 Intulit, et miseras torrentibus abstulit agnas. 
 At cum longa dies sitientes afiferet aestus, 
 
ECLOGUE V. 97 
 
 That snow-white lambs find cause to rue 
 Each gainful cheese to market due ; 
 For dams at yeaning-tide shall prove 75 
 
 The foremost objects of your love. 
 But if your sheepfolds ever claim 
 A midnight visit, let not shame 
 Forbid you, where some sick ewe lies 
 Spent with her fresh birth-agonies, 80 
 
 Such on your shoulder to upheave, 
 And to your bosom's warmth receive 
 Her new-dropt shivering progeny, 
 Unused as yet young feet to try. 
 But grassy pastures, that lie far 85 
 
 From where your stalled inclosures are. 
 Choose not, nor let your stores of food 
 Be sought in too remote a wood. 
 Whilst Jove with his unsettled sky 
 Doth balk the Spring continually. 90 
 
 For Spring's good faith is marred by guile : 
 Sometimes she wears a genial smile 
 On her clear face, and then again 
 Clouds it with darkening storms of rain, 
 And down the torrent's rushing way 95 
 
 Hurries your lambs, a hapless prey. 
 But when the thirst-creating blaze 
 Of summer grows with lengthening days, 
 H 
 
98 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Nec fuerit variante deo mutabile coelum, 50 
 
 lam silvis committe greges, iam longius herbas 
 Quaere, sed ante diem pecus exeat : humida dukes 
 Efficit aura cibos, quoties fugientibus Euris 
 Frigida nocturne tinguntur pascua rore, 
 Et matutinae lucent in gramine guttae. 55 
 
 At simul argutae nemus increpuere cicadae, 
 Ad fontem compelle greges, nec protinus herbas 
 Et campos permitte sequi : sine protegat illos 
 Interea veteres quae porrigit esculus umbras. 
 Verum ubi declivi iam nona tepescere sole 60 
 
 Incipiet, seraeque videbitur hora merendae, 
 Rursus pasce greges et opacos desere lucos. 
 
ECLOGUE V. 99 
 
 Nor with the shifting mood of Jove 
 
 The sky is changeable above, icx) 
 
 Then to the woods your flocks confide, 
 
 And seek for pastures far and wide. 
 
 But let the cattle forward fare 
 
 Ere peep of day ; the dewy air 
 
 Sweetens their banquet on the crops, 105 
 
 Oft as at eve the east wind drops, 
 
 And dews, that coming nightfall yields. 
 
 Drench all the frozen pasture fields. 
 
 And with their drops, as morning beams, 
 
 Each blade of grass translucent gleams. 1 10 
 
 But when shrill crickets chirruping 
 
 Have made the woodland echoes ring, 
 
 Straight to the fountain drive your sheep. 
 
 Nor suffer them unchanged to keep 
 
 Their station in the grassy glade ; 115 
 
 See them protected by the shade 
 
 Of aged oaks, which far and wide 
 
 Fold them in shadow where they bide. 
 
 But when the ninth hour has begun 
 
 Beneath a downward sloping sun 120 
 
 To cool apace, and you shall feel 
 
 'Tis time for afternoon's late meal. 
 
 Let the flocks o*er the pastures rove 
 
 Once more, and quit the shaded grove. 
 
loo CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Nec prius aestivo pecus includatur ovili, 
 Quam levibus nidis somnos captare volucris 
 Cogitet, ac tremuH dent mulctra coagula lactis. 65 
 Cum iatn tempus erit maternas demere lanas, 
 Hircorumque iubas et olentes caedere barbas. 
 Ante tamen secerne pecus, gregibusque notatis 
 Consimiles include comas, ne longa minutis, 
 MolHa ne duris coeant, ne Candida fuscis. 70 
 
 Succida iam tereti constringito vellera iunco, 
 Sed tibi cum vacuas posito velamine costas 
 Denudabit ovis, circumspice, ne sit acuta 
 Forfice laesa cutis, tacitum ne pustula virus 
 Texerit occulto sub vulnere, quae nisi ferro 75 
 
BClaGt/E\ ^.^ ; ' \ i \i \ '>, i \ >';> loi 
 
 Nor on the cattle shut the door 125 
 
 That bars the summer fold, before 
 
 Each bird within her fragile nest 
 
 Thinks to compose herself to rest 
 
 Before coagulates in cream 
 
 Each milk-pan*s undulating stream. 130 
 
 But when comes round the time of year 
 
 Fleece-laden dams to closely shear, 
 
 And he-goats' rank malodorous crop 
 
 Of hairs on neck and chin to lop ; 
 
 Yet, ere you start, divide the stock, 135 
 
 And, when youVe branded all the flock, 
 
 Like qualities of fleeces sort 
 
 Together, lest or long with short, 
 
 Or smooth should mingle with the rough, 
 
 Or light with those of darker stuff. 140 
 
 Now where the greasy fleeces lie 
 
 With wisps of reeds in bundles tie. 
 
 But when, his woolly wrappings laid 
 
 Aside, the sheep has once displayed 
 
 His naked haunches to your gaze, 145 
 
 Then lest the sharp shears chance to graze 
 
 His skin, look heedfully around. 
 
 Lest underneath the hidden wound 
 
 Some blister its slow poison hide. 
 
 Which, should the lancet not divide 150 
 
I02 /, \: :€:4'i^puiiin^ 
 
 Rumpitur, ah miserum fragili rubigine corpus 
 Arrodet sanies, et putrida contrahet ossa. 
 Providus (hoc moneo) viventia sulphura tecum, 
 Et scillae caput, et virosa bitumina porta, 
 Ulceribus laturus opem ; nee Brutia desit 80 
 
 Dura tibi ; liquido picis unguine terga, memento, 
 Si sint rasa, linas : vivi quoque pondera melle 
 Argenti coquito, lentumque bitumen aheno, 
 Impressurus ovi tua nomina, nam tibi lites 
 Auferet ingentes lectus possessor in armo. 85 
 
 Nunc etiam, dum siccus ager, dum fervida tellus, 
 Dum rimosa palus et multo torrida limo 
 Aestuat, et fragiles nimium sol pulverat herbas, 
 
ECLOGUE V. 103 
 
 Alas ! the bloody pus, that flows 
 
 From sloughing sores, may decompose 
 
 His carcase, crumbling all the bulk 
 
 Of bones into a shrivelled hulk. 
 
 Forearmed (this warning comes from me) 155 
 
 Fresh sulphur, leek's head from the sea 
 
 Bear in your hand ; nor less import 
 
 Bitumen of the rankest sort. 
 
 Relief for every ulcerous scar. 
 
 Then also let stiff Bruttian tar 160 
 
 Stand ready by you : should the hide 
 
 (Mark well my words) be scarified. 
 
 That unctuous liquid smear on it, 
 
 In honey steep a massy bit 
 
 Of quicksilver ; bitumen, too, 165 
 
 Your pot shall melt to slimiest glue ; 
 
 These serve to stamp your name withal, 
 
 And stave off many a legal brawl, 
 
 If on its shoulder clearly placed 
 
 The owner's brand-mark can be traced. 170 
 
 Now, too, while drought attacks the field. 
 
 While parched is every wold and weald. 
 
 And seamed with cracks the marshes lie. 
 
 Bare sludge heaps reeking to the sky. 
 
 Baked to the centre; while soft blooms 175 
 
 Of grass the sun to dust consumes, 
 
I04 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Lurida conveniet succendere galbana septis, 
 
 Et tua cervino lustrare mapalia fumo. 90 
 
 Obfuit ille malis odor anguibus ; ipse videbis 
 
 Serpentum cecidisse minas ; non stringere dentes 
 
 Ulla potest uncos, sed inani debilis ore 
 
 Marcet, et obtuso iacet exarmata veneno. 
 
 Nunc age vicinae, circumspice, tempora brumae 95 
 
 Qua ratione geras. Aperit cum vinea sepes, 
 
 Et portat lectas securus circitor uvas, 
 
 Incipe falce nemus vivasque recidere frondes. 
 
 Nunc opus est teneras summatim stringere virgas, 
 
 Nunc hiemiservare comas, dumpermanet humor, 100 
 
 Dum viret, et tremulas non excutit Africus umbras. 
 
ECLOGUE V. 105 
 
 Within the folds Will serve your turn 
 
 Pale yellow galbanums to burn, 
 
 And with the hartshorn's subtle fumes 
 
 Deodorize your herdsmen's rooms. 180 
 
 Deadly that scent is found to be 
 
 To noxious snakes ; yourself may see 
 
 The darting reptiles' threatened air 
 
 Subside ; not one thenceforth may bare 
 
 His crooked poison-fangs, but draws 185 
 
 Nerveless with ineffectual jaws 
 
 His shrivelled bulk, and lays him low 
 
 His venomed darts a pointless show. 
 
 Now list, and while the season brings 
 
 Midwinter, cast about for things 190 
 
 It soon will need, your plans dispose. 
 
 Soon as the vineyard clears its rows. 
 
 And your vine-dresser, free of cares, 
 
 The grapes fresh-gathered homeward bears. 
 
 Begin with knife your underwood 195 
 
 And sprouting saplings to denude. 
 
 Now is your time and task to lop 
 
 Its tender branches from the top ; 
 
 Now while the sap remains, to heap 
 
 Your brushwood up for winter-keep, 200 
 
 While yet 'tis green, nor Afric's blast 
 
 Earthward the dancing shade hath cast. 
 
io6 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Has tibi conveniet tepidis foenilibus olim 
 Promere, cum pecudes extremus clauserit annus. 
 Hac tibi nitendum est : labor hie in tempore noster, 
 Gnavaque sedulitas redit et pastoria virtus. 105 
 
 Nee pigeat ramos sieeis miscere reeentes, 
 Et suceos adhibere novos, ne torrida nimbis 
 Instet hiems, nimioque gelu nivibusque eoactis 
 Incurvare vetet nemus et eonstringere frondes. 
 Tu tamen aut leves hederas aut molle salictum no 
 Valle premes media : sitis est pensanda tuorum, 
 Canthe, gregum viridante eibo : nihil aridus illis, 
 Ingenti positus quamvis strue, prosit aeervus, 
 Virgea si desunt liquido turgentio sueeo, 
 
ECLOGUE V. 107 
 
 These you shall find it worth your while 
 
 Within the hayloft's warmth to pile, 
 
 But later, when the year grown old 205 
 
 Has penned your kine within the fold. 
 
 For this one purpose you must moil ; 
 
 To this still turns your annual toil, 
 
 A ceaseless round of active strife, 
 
 Joined with the manly shepherd life. 210 
 
 Nor deem it trouble lost to mix 
 
 Fresh branches with the withered sticks, 
 
 And introduce a new supply 
 
 Of sap, lest winter drawing nigh 
 
 Benumbing with his storm-clouds yield 215 
 
 Overwhelming ice and snows congealed. 
 
 And thus your saplings stay unbent. 
 
 And stripping of their leaves prevent 
 
 Yet ever in the midmost vale 
 
 You shall not ivies smooth-leaved fail 220 
 
 Nor limber willow grounds to shave 
 
 And prune ; that thirst your cattle have 
 
 For fresh green food must be appeased. 
 
 Nor, Canthus, let their wants be eased 
 
 From fodder heaps that moisture lack, 225 
 
 Though piled upon an ample stack. 
 
 But should you fail for lack of food 
 
 With sappy succulence endued. 
 
io8 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Et quibus est aliquid plenae vitale medullae. 115 
 Praecipue gelidum stipula cum fronde caduca 
 Sterne solum, ne forte rigor penetrabile corpus 
 Urat, et interno vastet pecuaria morbo. 
 
 Plura quidem meminisse velim, nam plura super- 
 sunt : 
 Sed iam sera dies cadit, et iam sole fugato 120 
 
 Frigidus aestivas impellit Noctifer horas. 
 
ECLOGUE V, 109 
 
 Whose inmost pith abundant grows, 
 
 And with vitality overflows, 230 
 
 Be it your chiefest care to spread 
 
 Fresh stubble o*er their frozen bed 
 
 With fallen leaves, for fear a chill 
 
 Should nip them open to each ill 
 
 The winter brings, and decimate 235 
 
 Your cattle with a deep-set fate. 
 
 More would I fain recall to mind, 
 
 Since more, far more remains behind ; 
 
 But now the day belated dies, 
 
 Now is the sun expelled the skies, 240 
 
 While night's chill Marshal in his train 
 
 Drives forth the sunny hours amain. 
 
ECLOGA SEXTA. 
 
 AsTiLUS, Lycidas, Mnasyllus. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 Serus ades, Lycida : modo Nyctilus et puer Alcon 
 Certavere sub his alterno carmine ramis, 
 ludice me, sed non sine pignore. Nyctilus haedos 
 luncta matre dedit : catulum dedit ille leaenae, 
 luravitque genus : sed sustulit omnia victor. 5 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Nyctilon ut cantu rudis exsuperaverit Alcon, 
 Astile, credibile est, si vincat acanthida cornix, 
 Vocalem superet si dirus aedona bubo. 
 
fv 
 
 ECLOGUE VI. 
 
 AsTiLUS, Lycidas, Mnasyllus. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 
 Too late my Lycidas arrives, 
 
 Awhile ago young Alcon strives 
 
 With Nyctilus beneath this tree, 
 
 In measures sung alternately, 
 
 Myself the judge ; the stakes stood thus, 5 
 
 Two kids were pledged by Nyctilus, 
 
 Who joined with them their dam to help, 
 
 The other staked a lion-whelp. 
 
 Swearing its pedigree on oath. 
 
 And there as victor won them both. 10 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 That Nyctilus could e'er be beat 
 
 By untrained Alcon were a feat, 
 
 Which, Astilus, I might suppose, 
 
 If goldfinches succumb to crows, « 
 
 Or if the screech-owl, hoarse of throat, 15 
 
 Surpassed the nightingale's sweet note. 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 Non potiar Petale, qua nunc ego maceror una, 
 Si magis aut docili calamorum Nyctilus arte, lo 
 Aut cantu magis est, quam vultu, proximus illi. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 lam non decipior ; te iudice pallidus alter 
 Venit, et hirsuta spinosior histrice barba ; 
 Candidus alter erat, levique decentior ovo. 
 Et ridens oculis crinemque simillimus auro, 15 
 
 Qui posset did, si non cantaret, Apollo. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 O Lycida, si quis tibi carminis usus inesset, 
 Tu quoque laudatum posses Alcona probare. 
 
ECLOGUE VI. 113 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 
 Never be Petale mine own 
 
 (For whom I waste for whom alone,) 
 
 If any closer likeness be 
 
 'Twixt him and Nyctilus to see, 20 
 
 Than in their singing you shall note, 
 
 Or piping on the tuneful oat. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 No longer can you gull me now ; 
 
 Since Nyctilus as pale of brow 
 
 Your judgment damned, his bristly beard 25 
 
 As porcupine's rough quills upreared ; 
 
 But fair was Alcon, with a cheek 
 
 No smoothest ^^'g was e'er so sleek. 
 
 His eyes with laughter met your ow^n. 
 
 And hair that rivalled gold in tone ; 30 
 
 In sooth he might Apollo be, 
 
 Save only for his minstrelsy. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 
 Ah ! Lycidas, if only song 
 By practice did to you belong. 
 You too might learn to recognize 35 
 
 Alcon's true merit for the prize. 
 I 
 
114 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Vis igitur, quoniam nee nobis, improbe, par es, 
 Ipse tuos iudex calamos committere nostris ? 20 
 Vis conferre manus ? veniat licet arbiter Alcon. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 Vincere tii quemquam ? vel te certamine quisquam 
 Dignetur, qui vix stillantes, aride, voces 
 Rumpis et expellis male singultantia verba ? 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Fingas plura licet ; nee enim potes, improbe, vera 25 
 Exprobrare mihi, sicut tibi multa Lyeotas. 
 Sed quid opus vana consumere tempora lite ? 
 Ecce venit Mnasyllus : erit, nisi forte reeusas, 
 
ECLOGUE VL 115 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 Come, losel, since you may not be 
 
 Upon a par with even me, 
 
 Judge that you were, can you incline 
 
 Your reedpipe now to match with mine ? 40 
 
 Will you strike hands ? If you prefer, 
 
 Alcon may be the arbiter. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 
 Vanquished by you was ever swain ? 
 
 Could ever any contest deign 
 
 To wage with you, who, dry of throat, 45 
 
 Jerk out each harsh spasmodic note. 
 
 And drop by drop with stammering tongue 
 
 Your halting words abroad are flung ? 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 Lies you may tell and plenty too : 
 
 For you shall never cast those true 50 
 
 Reproaches, rogue, against my fame, 
 
 With which Lycotas brands your name. 
 
 But what avails us so to spend 
 
 Our time in wrangling without end ? 
 
 See here's Mnasyllus : if, may be, 55 
 
 You raise no chance objections, he 
 
ii6 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Arbiter inflatis non credulus, improbe, verbis. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 Malueram, fateor, vel praedamnatus abire, 30 
 
 Quam tibi certanti partem committere vocis. 
 Ne tamen hoc impune feras : en aspicis ilium, 
 Candida qui medius cubat inter lilia cervum ? 
 Quamvis hunc Petale mea diligat, accipe victor. 
 Scit frenos et ferre iugum, sequiturque vocantem 35 
 Credulus, et mensae non improba porrigit ora. 
 Aspicis, ut fructicat late caput, utque sub ipsis 
 Cornibus et tereti pendent redimicula collo ? 
 Aspicis, ut niveo frons irretita capistro 
 Lucet, et a dorso, quae totam circuit alvum, 40 
 
ECLOGUE VL 117 
 
 Shall prove the judge, that sets no heed, 
 Losel, by all your bragging screed. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 I must confess, I had preferred 
 To quit you, though condemned unheard, 60 
 Than I should match one rival note 
 Of mine against your tuneless throat. 
 However, that you may not brag 
 Without a challenge, yonder stag 
 Centred among the lilies fair 65 
 
 That couches down, d' you mark him there ? 
 Though he be Petale's fond love, 
 Yet take him, should you victor prove. ^ 
 Both reins and yoke he's trained to bear, 
 And follows unsuspicious, where 70 
 
 You bid him come, and towards your food 
 . Stretches a mouth nor bold nor rude. 
 / Mark you, how wide and far they spread 
 j Those branching honours of his head t 
 • How pendent from the very horns 75 
 
 \ A necklet his smooth throat adorns } 
 
 And mark you, how his forehead, bound 
 I With snow-white frontlet fretted round, 
 I Glistens, and stretching from his back 
 
 The lateral girth, whose wavy track 80 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Alternat vitreas lateralis cingula bullas ? 
 Cornua subtiles ramosaque tempora moUes 
 Implicuere rosae, rutiloque monilia torque 
 Extrema cervice natant, ubi pendulus apri 
 Dens sedet, et nivea distinguit pectora luna. 45 
 Hunc ego, qualemcunque vides, Mnasylle, paciscor 
 Pendere, dum sciat hie se non sine pignore vinci. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Terreri, Mnasylle, suo me munere credit : 
 Aspice, quam timeam. Genus est, ut scitis, equarum 
 Non vulgare mihi, quarum de sanguine ponam 50 
 Velocem Petason, qui gramina matre relicta 
 Nunc primum teneris libavit dentibus. Illi 
 
ECLOGUE VI. 119 
 
 Embraces all the belly, shows 
 
 Glass beads in alternating rows ? 
 
 The roses deftly intertwined 
 
 Among his antlers softly wind 
 
 His branching temples round about, 85 
 
 And from beneath his neck swings out 
 
 A collaret with golden chain, 
 
 Wherein a pendent tusk is lain 
 
 Of some wild boar, a mark to rest 
 
 Like snow-white crescent on his breast. 90 
 
 This stag, Mnasyllus, as you see, 
 
 So mild, so tame, do I agree 
 
 To stake, that Lycidas may wot 
 
 Without some pledge he loses not. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 Frightened, Mnasyllus, do I seem 95 
 
 At his grand stake ? is such his dream } 
 
 Just mark the cowardice I show. 
 
 A breed is mine, as well you know, 
 
 Of choicest mares, no common breed. 
 
 And of their stock am I agreed 100 
 
 Swift-footed Pegasus to stake. 
 
 Who left his mother for the sake 
 
 Of pastures, which he now assays 
 
 With tender teeth. My beast displays 
 
I20 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Terga sedent, micat acre caput, sine pondere cervix, 
 Pes levis, adductum latus, excelsissima frons est, 
 Et tornata brevi substringitur ungula cornu, 55 
 
 Ungula, qua viridi sic exsultavit in arvo, 
 Tangeret ut fragiles, sed non curvaret, aristas : 
 Hunc dare, si vincar, silvestria numina iuro. 
 
 Mnasyllus. 
 Et vacat, et vestros cantus audire iuvabit. 
 ludice me sane contendite, si libet : istic 60 
 
 Protinus, ecce, torum fecere sub ilice Musae. 
 / 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 Sed ne vicini nobis sonus obstrepat amnis, 
 Gramina linquamus ripamque volubilis undae. 
 
ECLOGUE VI , 121 
 
 A deepset back, a head and neck 105 
 
 That tossing proudly feel no check 
 
 From overbulk, feet fashioned slight, 
 
 Thin flanks, and brow of massive height. 
 
 While in its narrow horny sheath 
 
 A well-turned hoof is bound beneath, — 1 10 
 
 A hoof, — whose habit is to fly 
 
 O'er green cornlands so rapidly. 
 
 That e'en the slender ears of grain 
 
 Unbent beneath its touch remain : 
 
 Him swear I, by the gods that live 115 
 
 In woodland, if I lose, to give. 
 
 Mnasyllus. 
 
 Leisure and pleasure both agree 
 
 To make me test your minstrelsy. 
 
 While I the part of umpire play. 
 
 An 't please ye, here contend, I pray, 120 
 
 Forthwith ; a couch the Muses, see, 
 
 Have spread beneath the ilex-tree. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 
 But to escape the deafening din, 
 
 That rises from the neighbouring linn, 
 
 Be grassy meads by us forsook 125 
 
 And margent of the babbling brook. 
 
CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Namque sub exeso raucum mihi pumice lymphae 
 Respondent, et obest arguti glarea rivi. 65 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Si placet, antra magis vicinaque saxa petamus, 
 Saxa, quibus viridis stillanti vellere muscus 
 Dependet, scopulisque cavum sinuantibus arcum 
 Imminet exesa veluti testudine concha. 
 
 Mnasyllus. 
 Venimus, et tacito sonitum mutabimus antro, 70 
 Seu residere libet, dabit, ecce, sedilia tophus, 
 Ponere seu cubitum, melior viret herba tapetis. 
 Nunc mihi seposita reddantur carmina hte, 
 Nam vicibus teneros malim cantetis amores : 
 
ECLOGUE VL 123 
 
 For I encounter from the spray- 
 That eats yon pumice cliff away- 
 Hoarse echoes, and the whispering wave 
 Against the gravel drowns my stave. 130 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 If you object not, let our feet \ 
 
 To caves and neighbouring cliffs retreat. 
 Yon cliffs I mean, where pendent droops 
 The verdant moss in fleecelike loops 
 Distilling dew, while, threatening low, 135 
 
 The curving rocks, like hollow bow, 
 Resemble in their vaulted space 
 A turtle's scooped-out carapace. 
 
 Mnasyllus. 
 
 The quiet cave and noisy hum 
 
 Shall be exchanged now we are come, 140 
 
 And if to sit your wishes meets, 
 
 The tufa, see, shall furnish seats. 
 
 If to recline, the verdant grass 
 
 All covered couches will surpass. 
 
 Now that ye Ve put aside your wrongs 145 
 
 Pay me the tribute of your songs, 
 
 For interchangeably mine ear 
 
 Would rather your soft love-songs hear : 
 
124 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Astile, tu Petalen, Lycida, tu Phyllida lauda. 75 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Tu modo nos illis lam nunc, Mnasylle, precamur, 
 Auribus excipias, quibus hunc et Acanthida nuper 
 Diceris in silva iudex audisse Thalea. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 Non equidem possum, cum provocet iste, tacere. 
 Rumpor enim merito : nihil hie, nisi iurgia, quaerit. 80 
 Audiat aut dicat, quoniam cupit ; hoc mihi certe 
 Dulce satis fuerit, Lycidam spectare trementem, 
 Dum te stante palam sua crimina pallidus audit. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Me, puto, vicinus Stimicon, me proximus Aegon 
 
ECLOGUE VI. 125 
 
 Praise Phyllis, Lycidas, to me, 
 
 And, Astilus, praise Petale. 150 
 
 Lycidas. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mnasyllus, you shall hear 
 
 Our contest with the self-same ear 
 
 (Thus we anticipating pray) 
 
 Which heard, 'tis said, the other day 
 
 Him and Acanthis in the wood, — 155 
 
 A judge Thalia-like in mood. 
 
 Astilus. 
 
 I vow I cannot hold my tongue. 
 
 When taunts like his abroad are flung. 
 
 My righteous anger needs a vent ; 
 
 For quarrels are his sole intent. 160 
 
 Let him give ear, or else recite, 
 
 Since he thus wills it ; 'twill be quite 
 
 Enough of joy, I know, to speer 
 
 At Lycidas unmanned by fear, 
 
 When in your presence unconcealed 165 
 
 He hears aghast his faults revealed. 
 
 Lycidas. 
 Twas me, of course, friend Stimicon, 
 Me neighbour -^gon railed upon 
 
126 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Hos inter fructices tacite risere volentem 85 
 
 Oscula cum tenero simulare virilia Mopso. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 Fortior o utinam nondum Mnasyllus adesset : 
 Efficerem, ne te quisquam tibi turpior esset. 
 
 Mnasyllus. 
 Quid furitis ? quo vos insania tendere iussit ? 
 Si vicibus certare placet — sed non ego vobis 90 
 Arbiter : hoc alius possit discernere iudex. 
 Et venit, ecce, Mycon, venit et vicinus loUas : 
 Litibus hi vestris poterunt imponere finem. 
 
ECLOGUE VL 127 
 
 With secret glee amid these bays 
 
 When my wish was by coaxing ways 170 
 
 To hint to Mopsus* youthful mind 
 
 In me a grown-up friend he'd find. 
 
 ASTILUS. 
 
 I wish a stronger man than I — 
 
 Mnasyllus — had not yet come by : 
 
 I'd take good care you ne'er were shown 175 
 
 An uglier visage than your own. 
 
 Mnasyllus. 
 
 Why rage thus blindly } To what ends 
 
 Does this your madness lead, my friends, 
 
 If in alternate strains ye choose 
 
 To match your powers — but I refuse 180 
 
 To be your umpire : this debate "^ 
 
 Some other may adjudicate. 
 
 See, friend lollas' face I spy, 
 
 And Mycon in his company ; 
 
 They will be able to impose 185 
 
 On this your strife a fitting close. 
 
128 
 
 ECLOGA SEPTIMA. 
 
 Lycotas, Corydon. 
 
 Lycotas. 
 Lentus ab urbe venis, Corydon ; vicesima certe 
 Nox fuit, ut nostrae cupiunt te cernere silvae, 
 Ut tua moerentes exspectant iubila tauri. 
 
 Corydon. 
 O piger et duro non mollior axe, Lycota, 
 Qui veteres fagos, nova quam spectacula, mavis 5 
 Cernere, quae patula iuvenis deus edit arena. 
 
 Lycotas. 
 Mirabar, quae tanta foret tibi causa morandi, 
 Cur tua cessaret taciturnis fistula silvis, 
 
ECLOGUE VI I. 129 
 
 ECLOGUE VII. 
 
 Lycotas, Corydon. 
 
 Lycotas. 
 
 Late from the city, Corydon, 
 
 You come ; the nights are close upon 
 
 A score, since this our woodland belt 
 
 A longing for your presence felt. 
 
 And since the bulls complaining all 5 
 
 Have listened for your well-known call. 
 
 Corydon. 
 
 O dull and of no softer stuff, 
 
 Lycotas, you than axle tough ! 
 
 On whom this beech-grove old bestows 
 
 More pleasure than those recent shows, 10 
 
 Which in th' arena's level space 
 
 Are held by our young Ruler's grace. 
 
 Lycotas. 
 
 Indeed I marvelled at your stay, 
 What cause there could be for delay. 
 Why in the silent woods around 15 
 
 Your pipe withheld its wonted sound ; 
 K 
 
I30 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Et solus Stimicon caneret pallente corymbo ; 
 Quern sine te moesti tenero donavimus haedo. lo 
 Nam dum lentus abes, lustravit ovilia Thyrsis, 
 lussit et arguta iuvenes certare cicuta. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Scilicet invictus Stimicon et praemia dives 
 Auferat, accepto non solum gaudeat haedo, 
 Verum tota ferat, quae lustrat ovilia Thyrsis, 15 
 Non tamen aequabit mea gaudia, nee mihi, si quis 
 Omnia Lucanae donet pecuaria silvae. 
 Grata magis fuerint, quam quae spectamus in urbe. 
 
 Lycotas. 
 Die age die, Corydon, nee nostras invidus aures 
 
ECLOGUE VII. 131 
 
 Why Stimicon would sing alone, 
 
 Pale \vy round his temples thrown ; 
 
 To whom, distressed for loss of you, 
 
 We gave the tender kid — your due. 20 
 
 While loitering far from home you bide, 
 
 Thyrsis the sheepfolds purified, 
 
 And on the shrill-toned hemlock reed 
 
 Bade youths contend for victory's meed. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 Well, be it so ! let Stimicon, 25 
 
 Flushed with the wealth of trophies won, 
 
 Bear off his prize, and not alone 
 
 In one poor kid enjoyment own. 
 
 But take whole sheepfolds, yea, whatever 
 
 Is purified by Thyrsis' care. 30 
 
 He will not rise, when all is done, 
 
 To joys like mine : let any one 
 
 Make me this offer, " All the kine 
 
 Within Lucania's woods be thine," ^ 
 
 Such gift could not more welcome be, 35 
 
 Than what the city shows to me. 
 
 Lycotas. 
 
 Tell me, come tell me, Corydon, 
 And cast not churlish looks upon 
 
132 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Despice : non aliter certe mihi dulce loquere, 20 
 Ouam cantare soles, quoties ad sacra vocantur 
 Aut fecunda Pales aut pastoralis Apollo. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 Vidimus in coelum trabibus spectacula textis 
 Surgere, Tarpeium prope despectantia culmen, 
 Immensosque gradus, et clivos lene iacentes. 25 
 Venimus ad sedes, ubi pulla sordida veste 
 Inter femineas spectabat turba cathedras. 
 Nam quaecumque patent sub aperto libera coelo, 
 Aut eques aut nivei loca densavere tribuni. 
 Qualiter haec patulum concedit vallis in orbem, 30 
 Et sinuata latus, resupinis undique silvis, 
 
ECLOGUE VIL 133 
 
 Your listener, sooth as fain would I 
 
 List to your dulcet melody, 40 
 
 As when you charm us with your lay. 
 
 If, on some rural holiday, 
 
 Apollo as a shepherd dight 
 
 Or fruitful Pales we invite. 
 
 CORYDON. 
 
 I saw a theatre, which, hung 45 
 
 With interlacing rafters, sprung 
 
 To heaven, and seemed aloft to frown 
 
 Above the high Tarpeian crown, 
 
 And tiers in number without end. 
 
 And slopes that gently upward tend. 50 
 
 Then onward to the seats I press. 
 
 Where, meanly clad in sombre dress. 
 
 The vulgar crowd beside the chairs 
 
 Reserved for women sits and stares. 
 
 For all the seats that open lie 55 
 
 Beneath the Heaven's free canopy. 
 
 To these in robes of purest white 
 
 Had crowded tribune, crowded knight. 
 
 E'en as thou seest this lowly ground 
 
 Expand into a spacious round, 60 
 
 Whose sides pursue a sinuous track, 
 
 While forests everywhere fall back, 
 
134 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Inter continues curvatur concava montes : 
 Sic ibi planitiem curvae sinus ambit arenae, 
 Et geminis medium se molibus alligat ovum. 
 Quid tibi nunc referam, quae vix suffecimus ipsi 35 
 Per partes spectare suas ? sic undique fulgor 
 Percussit : stabam defixus et ore patenti, 
 Cunctaque mirabar, necdum bona singula noram. 
 Tum mihi, tum senior lateri qui forte sinistro 
 lunctus erat, Quid te stupefactum, rustice, dixit, 40 
 Ad tantas miraris opes ? qui, nescius auri, 
 Sordida tecta, casas, et sola mapalia nosti. 
 En ego tam tremulus, tam vertice canus, et ista 
 Factus in urbe senex, stupeo tamen omnia : certe 
 
ECLOGUE VI L 135 
 
 And 'mid the hills' unbroken chain 
 
 It winds along — a well-like plain — ; 
 
 So there th' arena sweeping round 65 
 
 Girdles a ring of even ground, 
 
 And to tall piles on either side 
 
 The centre, oval-shaped, is tied. 
 
 How should I dare relate to you. 
 
 What mine own eyes might hardly view, 70 
 
 As still they roamed from part to part, 
 
 So much its glitter struck the heart 
 
 From every quarter ; mazed in mood y/ 
 
 And with a gaping mouth I stood. 
 
 At the huge pile in wonder gazed, 75 
 
 Nor yet its several gems appraised. 
 
 Just then a greybeard (who, it chanced, 
 
 Had to my left side close advanced 
 
 His person,) thus did me accost, 
 
 " My country friend, if you are lost 80 
 
 In wonder at such wealth untold 
 
 What marvel ? Ignorant of gold, 
 
 Dim homes and dark are all you wot, 
 
 A cabin or sequestered cot. 
 
 Mark me so weak with age, my crown 85 
 
 Of hairs so hoary, in this town 
 
 Grown to a veteran old in years. 
 
 Yet wondrous all to me appears. 
 
136 CALPURNIUS STCULUS, 
 
 Vilia sunt nobis, quaecumque prioribus annis 45 
 Vidimus, et sordet, quidquid spectavimus olim. 
 Balteus en gemmis, en illita porticus auro 
 Certatim radiant ; nee non, ubi finis arenae 
 Proxima marmoreo praebet spectacula muro, 
 Sternitur adiunctis ebur admirabile truncis, 50 
 
 Et coit in rotulum, tereti qui lubricus axe 
 Impositos subita vertigine falleret ungues, 
 Excuteretque feras. Auro quoque torta refulgent 
 Retia, quae totis in arenani dentibus exstant, 
 Dentibus aequatis ; et erat, mihi crede, Lycota, 55 
 Si qua fides, nostro dens longior omnis aratro. 
 Ordine quid referam ? vidi genus omne ferarum. 
 
ECLOGUE VII. 137 
 
 Certes whatever met our gaze 
 
 Whatever we viewed in former days 90 
 
 Was little worth ; to this each show 
 
 Of by-past time was mean enow. 
 
 See ! faced with gold the top arcade, 
 
 See too ! with gems the belt inlaid, 
 
 In sheeny rivalry contend, 95 
 
 And where th' arena at its end 
 
 Brings up the show's decreasing space. 
 
 Close to the wall with marble face, 
 
 There ivory of the choicest sort 
 
 On bars close-welded is inwrought ; 100 
 
 Both in one cylinder cohere 
 
 To form a smooth and slippery sphere. 
 
 Whose sudden revolutions cheat 
 
 The climbing monsters' claws and feet. 
 
 Hurling them backwards ; wires of gold 105 
 
 Broad nets of vivid flame uphold, 
 
 Which, forwards to th' arena flung, 
 
 On massy tusks projecting hung. 
 
 Tusks matched with tusks in even size ; 
 
 Trust me, if ought of credit lies 1 10 
 
 In me, each tusk, Lycotas, there 
 
 Was more in length than our ploughshare. 
 
 But why each sight by turns report t 
 
 Creatures I saw of every sort 
 
138 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Hie niveos lepores, et non sine cornibus apros, 
 Hie raram silvis etiam, quibus editur, Alcen. 
 Vidimus et tauros, quibus aut eervice levata 60 
 
 Deformis seapulis torus eminet, aut quibus hirtae 
 lactantur per eolla iubae, qmbus aspera mento 
 Barba iacet, tremulisque rigent palearia setis. 
 Non solum nobis silvestria eernere monstra 
 Contigit : aequoreos ego eum certantibus ursis 65 
 Speetavi vitulos, et equorum nomine dictum, 
 Sed deforme pecus, quod in illo naseitur amni, 
 Qui sata riparum vernantibus irrigat undis. 
 Ah trepidi quoties nos discedentis arenae 
 Vidimus in partes, ruptaque voragine terrae 70 
 
ECLOGUE VII. 139 
 
 Hares with white furry snow adorned 115 
 
 And boars unnaturally horned, 
 
 And that strange elk, a creature rare 
 
 E'en in the woods that make its lair. 
 
 Bulls, too, I saw of either shape. 
 
 Or those, upon whose heightened nape 120 
 
 From shoulder-blades protruding grows 
 
 Upward a shapeless hump, or those 
 
 Over whose necks are wildly tossed 
 
 Their shaggy manes, their chins are mossed 
 
 With rugged beards, their dewlaps wear 125 
 
 A wavy mass of bristling hair. 
 
 Nor was it my good hap alone 
 
 To sight each uncouth monster known 
 
 To the wild woodland. Sea calves I 
 
 With bears in conflict might descry, 130 
 
 And those unsightly brutes, that claim 
 
 To borrow from the horse their name. 
 
 Bred by that stream whose rising spate 
 
 The springing crops doth irrigate. 
 
 How oft I, inly terrified, 135 
 
 Witnessed, as side withdrew from side. 
 
 The arena's level scene dispart. 
 
 And grisly monsters upward start 
 
I40 CALPURNIUS SICULUS, 
 
 Emersisse feras ; et ab isdem saepe cavernis 
 Aurea cum croceo creverunt arbuta nimbo. 
 
 Lycotas. 
 O felix Corydon, quern non tremebunda senectus 
 Impedit, o felix, quod in haec tibi saecula primes, 
 Indulgente deo, demittere contigit annos. 75 
 
 Nunc tibi si propius venerandum cernere numen 
 Sors dedit, et praesens vultumque habitumque 
 
 notasti, 
 Die age die, Corydon, quae sit mihi forma deorum. 
 
 Corydon. 
 O utinam nobis non rustica vestis inesset ! 
 Vidissem propius mea numina : sed mihi sordes, 80 
 Pullaque paupertas, et adunco fibula morsu 
 
ECLOGUE VIL 141 
 
 From bursting refts of deep-sunk ground. 
 How often from that gulf profound 140 
 
 Gold-branching arbutes sprang to view, 
 With fountain spray of saffron hue. 
 
 Lycotas. 
 
 Most happy, Corydon, your star ! 
 
 Not yet for you his jealous bar 
 
 Age interposes, feeble age ! 145 
 
 And fortunate, whose life's first stage 
 
 Kind Heaven reserves in its fair prime 
 
 To witness our auspicious time. 
 
 But come now, tell me, if by right 
 
 Of luck you won a clearer sight 150 
 
 Of that dread Power, and noted there 
 
 With your own eyes, his face, his air. 
 
 Tell me, dear Corydon, I pray, 
 
 What features do the gods display .'* 
 
 Corydon. 
 
 Oh would that then I had been dressed 155 
 
 In other than a clownish vest ! 
 
 For closer thus to me had been 
 
 My Deity, but struggles mean 
 
 And dingy poverty stepped in, 
 
 And brooch secured by crooked pin ; 160 
 
142 CALPURNIUS SICULUS. 
 
 Obfuerunt ; utcunque tamen conspeximus ipsum 
 Longius, ac, nisi me visus decepit, in uno 
 Et Martis vultus et Apollinis esse putavi. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
ECLOGUE VII. 143 
 
 Yet did I manage in a way, 
 
 Too far to please me, to survey 
 
 The very hero, and unless 
 
 My sight betrayed me, I should guess, 
 
 That in his lineaments you'd find 165 
 
 Mars and Apollo both combined. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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