Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. with tender rushes rimmed his verdant banks,
  2. and from yon sacred oak with busy hum
  3. the bees are swarming.” What was I to do?
  4. No Phyllis or Alcippe left at home
  5. had I, to shelter my new-weaned lambs,
  6. and no slight matter was a singing-bout
  7. 'twixt Corydon and Thyrsis. Howsoe'er,
  8. I let my business wait upon their sport.
  9. So they began to sing, voice answering voice
  10. in strains alternate—for alternate strains
  11. the Muses then were minded to recall—
  12. first Corydon, then Thyrsis in reply.
    13. CORYDON
    1. “Libethrian Nymphs, who are my heart's delight,
    2. grant me, as doth my Codrus, so to sing—
    3. next to Apollo he—or if to this
    4. we may not all attain, my tuneful pipe
    5. here on this sacred pine shall silent hang.”
    THYRSIS
    1. “Arcadian shepherds, wreathe with ivy-spray
    2. your budding poet, so that Codrus burst
    3. with envy: if he praise beyond my due,