Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. “Say in what country grow such flowers as bear
  2. the names of kings upon their petals writ,
  3. and you shall have fair Phyllis for your own.”
PALAEMON
  1. Not mine betwixt such rivals to decide:
  2. you well deserve the heifer, so does he,
  3. with all who either fear the sweets of love,
  4. or taste its bitterness. Now, boys, shut off
  5. the sluices, for the fields have drunk their fill.
  • muses of Sicily, essay we now
  • a somewhat loftier task! Not all men love
  • coppice or lowly tamarisk: sing we woods,
  • woods worthy of a Consul let them be.
  • Now the last age by Cumae's Sibyl sung
  • has come and gone, and the majestic roll
  • of circling centuries begins anew:
  • justice returns, returns old Saturn's reign,
  • with a new breed of men sent down from heaven.