Pastoral III (Dryden): Palaemon

MENALCAS
HO, Groom, what Shepherd owns those ragged Sheep?

DAMAETAS
Aegon's they are, he gave 'em me to keep.

MENALCAS
Unhappy Sheep of an Unhappy Swain,
While he Neaera courts, but courts in vain,
And fears that I the Damsel shall obtain;
Thou, Varlet, dost thy Master's gains devour:
Thou milk'st his Ewes, and often twice an hour;
Of Grass and Fodder thou defraud'st the Dams:
And of their Mothers Duggs the starving Lambs.

DAMAETAS
Good words, young Catamite, at least to Men:
We know who did your Business, how, and when.
And in what Chappel too you plaid your prize;
And what the Goats observ'd with leering Eyes:
The Nymphs werekind, and laught, and there your safety lies.

MENALCAS
Yes, when I crept the Hedges of the Leys;
Cut Micon's tender Vines, and stole the Stays.

DAMAETAS
Or rather, when beneath yon ancient Oak,
The Bow of Daphnis and the Shafts you broke:
When the fair Boy receiv'd the Gift of right;
And but for Mischief, you had dy'd for spight.

MENALCAS
What Nonsense wou'd the Fool thy Master prate,
When thou, his Knave, can'st talk at such a rate!
Did I not see you, Rascal, did I not!
When you lay snug to snap young Damon's Goat?
His Mungril bark'd, I ran to his relief,
And cry'd, There, there he goes; stop, stop the Thief.
Discover'd and defeated of your Prey,
You sculk'd behind the Fence, and sneak'd away.

DAMAETAS
An honest Man may freely take his own;
The Goat was mine, by singing fairly won.
A solemn match was made; He lost the Prize,
Ask Damon, ask if he the Debt denies;
I think he dares not, if he does, he lyes.

MENALCAS
Thou sing with him, thou Booby; never Pipe
Was so profan'd to touch that blubber'd Lip:
Dunce at the best; in Streets but scarce allow'd
To tickle, on thy Straw, the stupid Crowd.

DAMAETAS
To bring it to the Trial, will you dare
Our Pipes, our Skill, our Voices to compare?
My Brinded Heifar to the Stake I lay;
Two Thriving Calves she suckles twice a day:
And twice besides her Beestings never fail
To store the Dairy, with a brimming Pail.
Now back your singing with an equal Stake.

MENALCAS
That shou'd be seen, if I had one to make.
You know too well I feed my Father's Flock:
What can I wager from the common Stock?
A Stepdame too I have, a cursed she,
Who rules my Hen-peck'd Sire, and orders me.
Both number twice a day the Milky Dams;
And once she takes the tale of all the Lambs.
But since you will be mad, and since you may
Suspect my Courage, if I should not lay;
The Pawn I proffer shall be full as good:
Two Bowls I have, well turn'd of Beechen Wood;
Both by divine Alcimedon were made;
To neither of them yet the Lip is laid.
The Lids are Ivy, Grapes in clusters lurk,
Beneath the Carving of the curious Work.
Two Figures on the sides emboss'd appear;
Conon, and what's his Name who made the Sphere,
And shew'd the Seasons of the sliding Year,
Instructed in his Trade the Lab'ring Swain,
And when to reap, and when to sowe the Grain?

DAMAETAS
And I have two, to match your pair, at home;
The Wood the same, from the same Hand they come:
The kimbo Handles seem with Bears-foot carv'd;
And never yet to Table have been serv'd:
Where Orpheus on his Lyre laments his Love,
With Beasts encompass'd, and a dancing Grove:
But these, nor all the Proffers you can make,
Are worth the Heifar which I set to stake.

MENALCAS
No more delays, vain Boaster, but begin:
I prophecy before-hand I shall win.
Palaemon shall be Judge how ill you rhime,
I'll teach you how to brag another time.

DAMAETAS
Rhymer come on, and do the worst you can:
I fear not you, nor yet a better Man.
With Silence, Neighbour, and Attention wait:
For 'tis a business of a high Debate.

PALAEMON
Sing then; the Shade affords a proper place;
The Trees are cloath'd with Leaves, the Fields with Grass;
The Blossoms blow; the Birds on bushes sing;
And Nature has accomplish'd all the Spring.
The Challenge to Damaetas shall belong,
Menalcas shall sustain his under Song:
Each in his turn your tuneful numbers bring;
In turns the tuneful Muses love to sing.

DAMAETAS
From the great Father of the Gods above
My Muse begins; for all is full of Jove;
To Jove the care of Heav'n and Earth belongs;
My Flocks he blesses, and he loves my Songs.

MENALCAS
Me Phoebus loves; for He my Muse inspires;
And in her Songs, the warmth he gave, requires.
For him, the God of Shepherds and their Sheep,
My blushing Hyacinths, and my Bays I keep.

DAMAETAS
With pelted Fruit, me Galatea plyes;
Then tripping to the Woods the Wanton hies:
And wishes to be seen, before she flies.
But from my frowning Fair, more Ills I find,
Than from the Wolves, and Storms, and Winter-wind.

MENALCAS
The Kids with pleasure browze the bushy Plain,
The Show'rs are grateful to the swelling Grain:
To teeming Ewes the Sallow's tender tree;
But more than all the World my Love to me.

DAMAETAS
Pollio my Rural Verse vouchsafes to read:
A Heyfar, Muses, for your Patron breed.

MENALCAS
My Pollio writes himself, a Bull be bred,
With spurning Heels, and with a butting Head.

DAMAETAS
Who Pollio loves, and who his Muse admires,
Let Pollio's fortune crown his full desires.
Let Myrrh instead of Thorn his Fences fill:
And Show'rs of Hony from his Oaks distil.

MENALCAS
Who hates not living Bavius, let him be
(Dead Maevius) damn'd to love thy Works and thee:
The same ill taste of Sense wou'd serve to join
Dog Foxes in the Yoak, and sheer the Swine.

DAMAETAS
Ye Boys, who pluck the Flow'rs, and spoil the Spring,
Beware the secret Snake, that shoots a sting.

MENALCAS
Graze not too near the Banks, my jolly Sheep,
The Ground is false, the running Streams are deep:
See, they have caught the Father of the Flock;
Who drys his Fleece upon the neighb'ring Rock.

DAMAETAS
From Rivers drive the Kids, and sling your Hook;
Anon I'll wash 'em in the shallow Brook.

MENALCAS
But fair Amyntas comes unask'd to me;
And offers Love; and sits upon my knee:
Not Delia to my Dogs is known so well as he.

DAMAETAS
To the dear Mistress of my Love-sick Mind,
Her Swain a pretty Present has design'd:
I saw two Stock-doves billing, and e're long
Will take the Nest, and Hers shall be the Young.

MENALCAS
Ten ruddy Wildings in the Wood I found,
And stood on tip-toes, reaching from the ground;
I sent Amyntas all my present Store;
And will, to Morrow, send as many more.

DAMAETAS
The lovely Maid lay panting in my arms;
And all she said and did was full of Charms.
Winds on your Wings to Heav'n her Accents bear;
Such words as Heav'n alone is fit to hear.

MENALCAS
Ah! what avails it me, my Love's delight,
To call you mine, when absent from my sight!
I hold the Nets, while you pursue the Prey;
And must not share the Dangers of the Day.

DAMAETAS
I keep my Birth-day: send my Phillis home;
At Sheering-time, Iolas, you may come.

MENALCAS
With Phillis I am more in grace than you:
Her Sorrow did my parting-steps pursue:
Adieu my Dear, she said, a long Adieu.

DAMAETAS
The Nightly Wolf is baneful to the Fold,
Storms to the Wheat, to Budds the bitter Cold;

MENALCAS
To fold, my Flock; when Milk is dry'd with heat,
In vain the Milk-maid tugs an empty Teat.

DAMAETAS
How lank my Bulls from plenteous pasture come!
But Love that drains the Herd, destroys the Groom.

MENALCAS
My Flocks are free from Love; yet look so thin,
Their bones are barely cover'd with their Skin.
What magick has bewitch'd the woolly Dams,
And what ill Eyes beheld the tender Lambs?

DAMAETAS
Say, where the round of Heav'n, which all contains,
To three short Ells on Earth our sight restrains:
Tell that, and rise a Phoebus for thy pains.

MENALCAS
Nay tell me first, in what new Region springs
A Flow'r, that bears inscrib'd the names of Kings:
And thou shalt gain a Present as Divine
As Phoebus self; for Phillis shall be thine.

PALAEMON
So nice a diff'rence in your Singing lyes,
That both have won, or both deserv'd the Prize.
Rest equal happy both; and all who prove
The bitter Sweets, and pleasing Pains of Love.
Now dam the Ditches, and the Floods restrain:
Their moisture has already drench'd the Plain.