Hædorumque gregem viridi compellere hibisco! 30
Mecum unà in sylvis imitabere Pana canendo.
Pan primus calamos cerâ conjungere plures
Instituit; Pan curat oves oviumque magistros.
Nec te poeniteat calamo trivisse labellum:
Hæc eadem ut sciret, quid non faciebat Amyntas?
Est mihi disparibus septem compacta cicutis
Fistula, Damœtas dono mihi quam dedit olim,

35

Et dixit moriens: Te nunc habet ista secundum.'

Dixit Damcetas; invidit stultus Amyntas.

Præterea duo, nec tutâ mihi valle reperti,

40

Capreoli, sparsis etiam nunc pellibus albo,
Bina die siccant ovis ubera; quos tibi servo.
Jam pridem à me illos abducere Thestylis orat-
Et faciet; quoniam sordent tibi munera nostra.
Hùc ades, ô formose puer: tibi lilia plenis
Ecce ferunt Nymphæ calathis; tibi candida Naïs,
Pallentes violas et summa papavera carpens,
Narcissum et florem jungit benè olentis anethi;
Tum, casia atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis,
Mollia luteolâ pingit vaccinia calthà.
Ipse ego cana legam tenerâ lanugine mala,
Castaneasque nuces, mea quas Amaryllis amabat.
Addam cerea pruna; honos erit huic quoque pomo;
Et vos, ô lauri, carpam, et te, proxima myrte:
Sic positæ quoniam suaves miscetis odores.

Rusticus es, Corydon: nec munera curat Alexis;

Nec, si muneribus certes, concedat Iolas.

Heu, heu, quid volui misero mihi! Floribus Austrum, Perditus, et liquidis immisi fontibus apros.

45

50

55

Quem fugis, ah demens? Habitârunt dî quoque sylvas, 60 Dardaniusque Paris. Pallas, quas condidit, arces

35

"With me to pierce the stag, and to the mead "Drive the young kids, my tender flock, to feed. "Here we, in song conjoin'd, with Pan will vie: "Pan, who first taught the art with waxen tie "To bind the reeds unequal; Pan, whose arm "Protects the shepherd and the sheep from harm. "Nor with the reed to wear thy lip disdain: "This skill how long'd Amyntas to attain ! "Mine is a pipe of sevenfold tube combined, "Which old Damotas to my hand consign'd: "It's second master thou,' he dying said"He said; and weak Amyntas droop'd the head. "And mine two kids, their hides still dappled round 45 "(As late I roved, in no safe valley found)

"Which daily of two ewes the udders drain;

"These I for thee preserve-alas! in vain: "These oft has Thestylis implored of me;

40

"And let her take them, since despised by thee! 50 "O come! The Nymphs for thee in baskets bring "Their lilied stores: for thee the blooming spring "The white-arm'd Naiad rifles; violets pale,

"The poppy's flush, and dill which scents the gale, "Cassia, and hyacinth, and daffodil

"With yellow marigold the chaplet fill.

"The downy apricot be mine to bear,

"And chesnuts once to Amaryllis dear:

"Nor shall the bloomy plum unhonour'd pine;

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"And ye, proud bays, shall with the myrtle twine: 60 "For, blended so, ye breathe an odour all divine.

"Ah! clownish Corydon, thy gifts he'll none:

"Nor would Iölas be in gifts outdone

"Wretch that I am! that name-not south winds more "Can vex my flowers, my streams the wallowing boar! 65 "Whom shunn'st thou, inconsiderate boy? The Gods, "And Dardan Paris, whilom dwelt in woods.

Ipsa colat: nobis placeant ante omnia sylvæ.
Torva leæna lupum sequitur; lupus ipse capellam;
Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella ;

Te Corydon, ô Alexi: trahit sua quemque voluptas. 65
Adspice, aratra jugo referunt suspensa juvenci,

Et sol crescentes decedens duplicat umbras:
Me tamen urit amor; quis enim modus adsit amori?
Ah Corydon, Corydon, quæ te dementia cepit !
Semiputata tibi frondosâ vitis in ulmo est.

Quin tu aliquid saltem potius, quorum indiget usus,
Viminibus mollique paras detexere junco.
Invenies alium, si te hic fastidit, Alexin."

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III. PALÆMON.

Men. Dic mihi, Damœta, cujum pecus? an Melibœi? Dam. Non; verùm Egonis: nuper mihi tradidit Ægon. Men. Infelix ô semper, oves, pecus! Ipse Neæram Dum fovet, ac ne me sibi præferat illa veretur,

Hic alienus oves custos bis mulget in horâ ;

Et succus pecori et lac subducitur agnis.

Dam. Parciùs ista viris tamen objicienda memento: Novimus et qui te, transversa tuentibus hircis,

Et quo, sed faciles Nymphæ risêre, sacello.

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Men. Tum, credo, quùm me arbustum videre Miconis, Atque malà vites incidere falce novellas.

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"Let Pallas love the towers, 'twas hers to rear:
"To us the woodlands be for ever dear!
"The lioness pursues the wolf, her prey;
"The wolf the kid, the kid the trefoil's spray,
"And Corydon Alexis: bound by laws
"Peculiar, each his special pleasure draws.

"And see, their yokes upon their shoulders hung,
"Homeward the weary bullocks plod along :
"The sun, cool setting, whelms in shade the grove;
"Yet still I burn-for what can temper love?

"Ah! Corydon, what madness fires thy brain! "Thy vines, half-pruned, on leafy elms remain. "Rather of osiers thou, with happier care, "Or plaited rushes useful frails prepare; "Nor fear, should still Alexis frown, to find

"Some love, though not so fair, yet far more kind.”

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80

III. PALEMON.

5

Menalcas. ARE these, Damotas, Melibœus' sheep?
Damætas. No, Egon's; Egon gave them me to keep.
Men. Ah! ever luckless flock! While he pursues
Neæra's love, and trembles still to lose
-Her favour'd suitor I-this varlet swain
Dares twice an hour their milky juices drain, [plain.
While the wrong'd lambs with hungry bleats com-
Dam. These taunts on men be cautious how you throw!
We know, who saw you-in what chapel too-
With glance oblique while goats congenial peer'd;
But the indulgent Nymphs look'd on, and leer'd.

Men. Aye, 'twas, I trow, upon that self-same day,
When arm'd with savage knife for fierce affray,
I hack'd poor Micon's shrubs and vines away!

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Dam. Aut hic ad veteres fagos, quùm Daphnidis arcum Fregisti et calamos: quæ tu, perverse Menalca,

Et quùm vidisti puero donata dolebas;

Et, si non aliquà nocuisses, mortuus esses.

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Men. Quid domini faciant, audent quùm talia fures! Non ego te vidi Damonis, pessime, caprum Excipere insidiis, multùm latrante Lyciscâ? Et quùm clamarem: "Quo nunc se proripit ille? “Tityre, coge pecus;" tu post carecta latebas.

Dam. An mihi cantando victus non redderet ille,
Quem mea carminibus meruisset fistula, caprum?
Si nescis, meus ille caper fuit: et mihi Damon
Ipse fatebatur; sed reddere posse negabat.

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Men. Cantando tu illum? Aut umquam tibi fistula cerâ Juncta fuit? Non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas Stridenti miserum stipulâ disperdere carmen?

Dam. Vis ergo inter nos, quid possit uterque, vicissim Experiamur? Ego hanc vitulam (ne fortè recuses, Bis venit ad mulctram, binos alit ubere fœtus) Depono: tu dic, mecum quo pignore certes.

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Men. De grege non ausim quidquam deponere tecum:
Est mihi namque domi pater, est injusta noverca ;
Bisque die numerant ambo pecus, alter et hædos.
Verùm, id quod multo tute ipse fatebere majus,

(Insanire libet quoniam tibi) pocula ponam
Fagina, cælatum divini opus Alcimedontis :
Lenta quibus torno facili superaddita vitis
Diffusos ederâ vestit pallente corymbos.

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In medio duo signa; Conon, et-quis fuit alter,
Descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem ;

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Tempora quæ messor, quæ curvus arator haberet?
Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo.