Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. As by the kindling of the self-same fire
  2. harder this clay, this wax the softer grows,
  3. so by my love may Daphnis; sprinkle meal,
  4. and with bitumen burn the brittle bays.
  5. Me Daphnis with his cruelty doth burn,
  6. I to melt cruel Daphnis burn this bay.
  7. As when some heifer, seeking for her steer
  8. through woodland and deep grove, sinks wearied out
  9. on the green sedge beside a stream, love-lorn,
  10. nor marks the gathering night that calls her home—
  11. as pines that heifer, with such love as hers
  12. may Daphnis pine, and I not care to heal.
  13. These relics once, dear pledges of himself,
  14. the traitor left me, which, O earth, to thee