Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. and of rich olive-oil two bowls, will set;
  2. and of the wine-god's bounty above all,
  3. if cold, before the hearth, or in the shade
  4. at harvest-time, to glad the festal hour,
  5. from flasks of Ariusian grape will pour
  6. sweet nectar. Therewithal at my behest
  7. shall Lyctian Aegon and Damoetas sing,
  8. and Alphesiboeus emulate in dance
  9. the dancing Satyrs. This, thy service due,
  10. shalt thou lack never, both when we pay the Nymphs
  11. our yearly vows, and when with lustral rites
  12. the fields we hallow. Long as the wild boar
  13. shall love the mountain-heights, and fish the streams,
  14. while bees on thyme and crickets feed on dew,
  15. thy name, thy praise, thine honour, shall endure.
  16. Even as to Bacchus and to Ceres, so
  17. to thee the swain his yearly vows shall make;
  18. and thou thereof, like them, shalt quittance claim.”
MOPSUS
  1. How, how repay thee for a song so rare?
  2. For not the whispering south-wind on its way