Eclogues

Virgil

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

  • o baby-boy! ten months of weariness
  • for thee she bore: O baby-boy, begin!
  • For him, on whom his parents have not smiled,
  • gods deem not worthy of their board or bed.
    • MENALCAS
    1. Why, Mopsus, being both together met,
    2. you skilled to breathe upon the slender reeds,
    3. I to sing ditties, do we not sit down
    4. here where the elm-trees and the hazels blend?
    MOPSUS
    1. You are the elder, 'tis for me to bide
    2. your choice, Menalcas, whether now we seek
    3. yon shade that quivers to the changeful breeze,
    4. or the cave's shelter. Look you how the cave
    5. is with the wild vine's clusters over-laced!
    MENALCAS
    1. None but Amyntas on these hills of ours
    2. can vie with you.
    MOPSUS
    1. What if he also strive
    2. to out-sing Phoebus?
    MENALCAS
    1. Do you first begin,
    2. good Mopsus, whether minded to sing aught
    3. of Phyllis and her loves, or Alcon's praise,