Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. Ruthless the boy, thou, mother, cruel too.
  2. Now let the wolf turn tail and fly the sheep,
  3. tough oaks bear golden apples, alder-trees
  4. bloom with narcissus-flower, the tamarisk
  5. sweat with rich amber, and the screech-owl vie
  6. in singing with the swan: let Tityrus
  7. be Orpheus, Orpheus in the forest-glade,
  8. arion 'mid his dolphins on the deep.
  9. Yea, be the whole earth to mid-ocean turned!
  10. Farewell, ye woodlands I from the tall peak
  11. of yon aerial rock will headlong plunge
  12. into the billows: this my latest gift,
  13. from dying lips bequeathed thee, see thou keep.
  14. Cease now, my flute, now cease Maenalian lays.’”