Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. rich vervain and male frankincense, that I
  2. may strive with magic spells to turn astray
  3. my lover's saner senses, whereunto
  4. there lacketh nothing save the power of song.
  5. Songs can the very moon draw down from heaven
  6. circe with singing changed from human form
  7. the comrades of Ulysses, and by song
  8. is the cold meadow-snake, asunder burst.
  9. These triple threads of threefold colour first
  10. I twine about thee, and three times withal
  11. around these altars do thine image bear:
  12. uneven numbers are the god's delight.
  13. Now, Amaryllis, ply in triple knots
  14. the threefold colours; ply them fast, and say
  15. this is the chain of Venus that I ply.
  16. As by the kindling of the self-same fire