Eclogues
Virgil
Vergil. The Poems of Vergil. Rhoades, James, translator. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.
- or Cinna deem I, but account myself
- a cackling goose among melodious swans.
- 'Twas in my thought to do so, Lycidas;
- even now was I revolving silently
- if this I could recall—no paltry song:
- “Come, Galatea, what pleasure is 't to play
- amid the waves? Here glows the Spring, here earth
- beside the streams pours forth a thousand flowers;
- here the white poplar bends above the cave,
- and the lithe vine weaves shadowy covert: come,
- leave the mad waves to beat upon the shore.”
- What of the strain I heard you singing once
- on a clear night alone? the notes I still
- remember, could I but recall the words.
- “Why, Daphnis, upward gazing, do you mark
- the ancient risings of the Signs? for look
- where Dionean Caesar's star comes forth
- in heaven, to gladden all the fields with corn,
- and to the grape upon the sunny slopes
- her colour bring! Now, the pears;