Eclogues

Virgil

Vergil. The Poems of Vergil. Rhoades, James, translator. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.

  1. plucked at mine ear and warned me: “Tityrus,
  2. beseems a shepherd-wight to feed fat sheep,
  3. but sing a slender song.” Now, Varus, I—
  4. for lack there will not who would laud thy deeds,
  5. and treat of dolorous wars—will rather tune
  6. to the slim oaten reed my silvan lay.
  7. I sing but as vouchsafed me; yet even this
  8. if, if but one with ravished eyes should read,
  9. of thee, O Varus, shall our tamarisks
  10. and all the woodland ring; nor can there be
  11. a page more dear to Phoebus, than the page
  12. where, foremost writ, the name of Varus stands.
  13. Speed ye, Pierian Maids! Within a cave
  14. young Chromis and Mnasyllos chanced to see
  15. silenus sleeping, flushed, as was his wont,
  16. with wine of yesterday. Not far aloof,
  17. slipped from his head, the garlands lay, and there
  18. by its worn handle hung a ponderous cup.
  19. Approaching—for the old man many a time
  20. had balked them both of a long hoped-for song—