Eclogues

Virgil

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

  1. circe with singing changed from human form
  2. the comrades of Ulysses, and by song
  3. is the cold meadow-snake, asunder burst.
  4. These triple threads of threefold colour first
  5. I twine about thee, and three times withal
  6. around these altars do thine image bear:
  7. uneven numbers are the god's delight.
  8. Now, Amaryllis, ply in triple knots
  9. the threefold colours; ply them fast, and say
  10. this is the chain of Venus that I ply.
  11. As by the kindling of the self-same fire
  12. harder this clay, this wax the softer grows,
  13. so by my love may Daphnis; sprinkle meal,
  14. and with bitumen burn the brittle bays.
  15. Me Daphnis with his cruelty doth burn,
  16. I to melt cruel Daphnis burn this bay.