Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. and no slight matter was a singing-bout
  2. 'twixt Corydon and Thyrsis. Howsoe'er,
  3. I let my business wait upon their sport.
  4. So they began to sing, voice answering voice
  5. in strains alternate—for alternate strains
  6. the Muses then were minded to recall—
  7. first Corydon, then Thyrsis in reply.
    8. CORYDON
    1. “Libethrian Nymphs, who are my heart's delight,
    2. grant me, as doth my Codrus, so to sing—
    3. next to Apollo he—or if to this
    4. we may not all attain, my tuneful pipe
    5. here on this sacred pine shall silent hang.”
    THYRSIS
    1. “Arcadian shepherds, wreathe with ivy-spray
    2. your budding poet, so that Codrus burst
    3. with envy: if he praise beyond my due,
    4. then bind my brow with foxglove, lest his tongue
    5. with evil omen blight the coming bard.”
    CORYDON
    1. “This bristling boar's head, Delian Maid, to thee,
    2. with branching antlers of a sprightly stag,
    3. young Micon offers: if his luck but hold,