Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. of Damon and Alphesiboeus now,
  2. those shepherd-singers at whose rival strains
  3. the heifer wondering forgot to graze,
  4. the lynx stood awe-struck, and the flowing streams,
  5. unwonted loiterers, stayed their course to hear—
  6. how Damon and Alphesiboeus sang
  7. their pastoral ditties, will I tell the tale.
  8. Thou, whether broad Timavus' rocky banks
  9. thou now art passing, or dost skirt the shore
  10. of the Illyrian main,—will ever dawn
  11. that day when I thy deeds may celebrate,
  12. ever that day when through the whole wide world
  13. I may renown thy verse—that verse alone
  14. of Sophoclean buskin worthy found?
  15. With thee began, to thee shall end, the strain.
  16. Take thou these songs that owe their birth to thee,
  17. and deign around thy temples to let creep
  18. this ivy-chaplet 'twixt the conquering bays.
  19. Scarce had night's chilly shade forsook the sky
  20. what time to nibbling sheep the dewy grass