Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. be Orpheus, Orpheus in the forest-glade,
  2. arion 'mid his dolphins on the deep.
  3. Yea, be the whole earth to mid-ocean turned!
  4. Farewell, ye woodlands I from the tall peak
  5. of yon aerial rock will headlong plunge
  6. into the billows: this my latest gift,
  7. from dying lips bequeathed thee, see thou keep.
  8. Cease now, my flute, now cease Maenalian lays.’”
ALPHESIBOEUS
  1. “Bring water, and with soft wool-fillet bind
  2. these altars round about, and burn thereon
  3. rich vervain and male frankincense, that I
  4. may strive with magic spells to turn astray
  5. my lover's saner senses, whereunto
  6. there lacketh nothing save the power of song.
  7. Songs can the very moon draw down from heaven