Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. bid you Amyntas match them if he can.
MENALCAS
  1. As limber willow to pale olive yields,
  2. as lowly Celtic nard to rose-buds bright,
  3. so, to my mind, Amyntas yields to you.
  4. But hold awhile, for to the cave we come.
MOPSUS
  1. “For Daphnis cruelly slain wept all the Nymphs—
  2. ye hazels, bear them witness, and ye streams—
  3. when she, his mother, clasping in her arms
  4. the hapless body of the son she bare,
  5. to gods and stars unpitying, poured her plaint.
  6. Then, Daphnis, to the cooling streams were none
  7. that drove the pastured oxen, then no beast
  8. drank of the river, or would the grass-blade touch.
  9. Nay, the wild rocks and woods then voiced the roar
  10. of Afric lions mourning for thy death.
  11. Daphnis, 'twas thou bad'st yoke to Bacchus' car
  12. armenian tigresses, lead on the pomp
  13. of revellers, and with tender foliage wreathe
  14. the bending spear-wands. As to trees the vine
  15. is crown of glory, as to vines the grape,