Eclogues
Virgil
Vergil. The Poems of Vergil. Rhoades, James, translator. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.
- of Damon and Alphesiboeus now,
- those shepherd-singers at whose rival strains
- the heifer wondering forgot to graze,
- the lynx stood awe-struck, and the flowing streams,
- unwonted loiterers, stayed their course to hear—
- how Damon and Alphesiboeus sang
- their pastoral ditties, will I tell the tale.
- Thou, whether broad Timavus' rocky banks
- thou now art passing, or dost skirt the shore
- of the Illyrian main,—will ever dawn
- that day when I thy deeds may celebrate,
- ever that day when through the whole wide world
- I may renown thy verse—that verse alone
- of Sophoclean buskin worthy found?
- With thee began, to thee shall end, the strain.
- Take thou these songs that owe their birth to thee,
- and deign around thy temples to let creep
- this ivy-chaplet 'twixt the conquering bays.
- Scarce had night's chilly shade forsook the sky
- what time to nibbling sheep the dewy grass