Eclogue VII (Fairclough)

MELIBOEUS

Daphnis, it chanced, had made his seat beneath a whispering ilex, while Corydon and Thyrsis had driven their flocks together — Thyrsis his sheep, Corydon his goats swollen with milk — both in the bloom of life, Arcadians both, ready in a match to sing, as well as to make reply. To this place, while I sheltered my tender myrtles from the cold, my he-goat, the lord of the flock himself, had strayed; and lo! I catch sight of Daphnis. As he in turn saw me, "Quick," he cries, "come hither, Meliboeus; your goat and kids are safe, and if you can idle awhile, pray rest beneath the shade. Hither your steers will of themselves come over the meadows to drink; here Mincius fringes his green banks with waving reeds, and from the hallowed oak swarm humming bees.

What could I do? I had no Alcippe or Phyllis to pen my new-weaned lambs at home; and the match — Corydon against Thyrsis — was a mighty one. Still, I counted their sport above my work. So in alternate verses the pair began to compete; alternate verses the Muses were fain to recall. These Corydon, those Thyrsis repeated in turn.

CORYDON

Ye Nymphs of Libethra, my delight, either grant me such a strain as ye gave my Codrus — the lays he makes come nearest to Apollo's — or, if such power is not for us all, here on the hallowed pine shall hang my tuneful pipe.

THYRSIS

Shepherds of Arcady, crown with ivy your rising bard, that Codrus' sides may burst with envy; or, should he praise me unduly, wreathe my brow with foxglove, lest his evil tongue harm the bard that is to be.

CORYDON

To thee, Delia, young Micon offers this head of a bristling boar and the branching antlers of a long-lived stag. If this fortune still abides, thou shalt stand full length in polished marble, thy ankles bound high with purple buskins.

THYRSIS

A bowl of milk, Priapus, and these cakes, are all thou canst expect year by year; the garden thou watchest is poor. Now we have made thee of marble for the time; but if births make full the flock, then be thou of gold.

CORYDON

Galatea, child of Nereus, sweeter to me than Hybla's thyme, whiter than swans, lovelier than pale ivy, soon as the bulls come back from pasture to the stalls, if thou hast any love for thy Corydon, come hither!

THYRSIS

Nay, let me seem to thee more bitter than Sardinian herbs, more rough than gorse, more worthless than upcast seaweed, if even now I find not this day longer than a whole year. Go home, my well-fed steers, if ye have any shame, go home!

praise, provoke the jealousy of the gods. Foxglove was a charm against such bewitchment.

CORYDON

Ye mossy springs, and grass softer than sleep, and the green arbutus that shields you with its scant shade, ward the noontide heat from my flock. Now comes the summer's parching, now the buds swell on the gladsome tendril.

THYRSIS

Here we have a hearth and pitchy brands; here, a good fire ever blazing and door-posts black with never-failing soot. Here we reck as much of the chill blasts of Boreas as the wolf of the number of sheep, or rushing torrents of their banks.

CORYDON

Here stand junipers and shaggy chestnuts; strewn about under the trees lie their own divers fruits; now all nature smiles; but if fair Alexis should quit these hills you would see the very rivers dry.

THYRSIS

The field is parched; the grass is athirst, dying in the tainted air; Bacchus has grudged the hills, the shade of his vines: but at the coming of my ..Phyllis all the woodland will be green, and Jupiter, in his fullness, shall descend in gladsome showers.

CORYDON

The poplar is most dear to Alcides, the vine to Bacchus, the myrtle to lovely Venus, and his own laurel to Phoebus. Phyllis loves hazels, and while Phyllis loves them, neither the myrtle nor laurel of Phoebus shall outvie the hazels.

THYRSIS

Fairest is the ash in the woods, the pine in the gardens, the poplar by rivers, the fir on mountain-tops; but, if thou, lovely Lycidas, shouldst often visit me, the ash in the woods and the pine in the gardens would yield to thee.

MELIBOEUS

This I remember, and how Thyrsis, vanquished, strove in vain. From that day it is Corydon, Corydon with us.