Dryden. Smyth. Duke. King. Sprat. Halifax

TITYRUS AND MELIBUS. I fought not freedom, nor afpir'd to gain:

THE ARGUMENT.

The occafion of the first Paftoral was this. When Unknowing that the pin'd for your return : Auguftus had fettled himself in the Roman empire, We wonder'd why he kept her fruit fo long, that he might reward his veteran troops for their For whom fo late th' ungather'd apples hung; paft fervice, he diftributed among them all the lands But now the wonder ceases, fince I fee that lay about Cremona and Mantua: turning cut She kept them only, Tityrus, for thee. the right owners for having fided with his enemies. For thee the bubbling springs appear'd to mourn, Virgil was a fufferer among the reft; who after- And whispering pines made vows for thy return. wards recovered his eftate by Maecenas's interceffion, TIT. What should I do, while here I was enand as an inftance of his gratitude compofed the following Puftoral; where he fets out his own good No glimpfe of god-like liberty remain'd; fortune in the perfon of Tityrus, and the calamities Nor could I hope in any place but there, of his Mantuan neighbours in the character of Me-To find a god fo prefent to my prayer. libocus.

MELIBOEUS.

BENEATH the shade which beechen boughs dif

You, Tityrus, entertain your fylvan Muse:
Round the wide world in banishment we roam,
Forc'd from our pleafing fields and native home:
While stretch'd at ease you fing your happy loves;
And Amarillis fills the fhady groves.

TIT. These bleffings, friend, a Deity bestow'd:
For never can I deem him lefs than God.
The tender firstlings of my woolly breed
Shall on his holy altar often bleed.
He gave my kine to graze the flowery plain;
And to my pipe renew'd the rural strain.

MEL. I envy not your fortune, but admire, That while the raging fword and wasteful fire Destroy the wretched neighbourhood around, No hoftile arms approach your happy ground. Far different is my fate: my feeble goats With pains I drive from their forfaken cotes: And this you fee I fcarcely drag along, Who yeaning on the rocks has left her young ; (The hope and promife of my failing fold.) My lofs by dire portents the gods foretold: For had I not been blind, I might have feen Yon riven oak, the fairest of the green, And the hoarfe raven, on the blasted bough, By croaking from the left prefag'd the coming blow. But tell me, Tityrus, what heavenly power Preferv'd your fortunes in that fatal hour?

TIT. Fool that I was, I thought imperial Rome' Like Mantua, where on market-days we come, And thither drive our tender lambs from home. So kids and whelps their fires and dams express: And fo the great I meafur'd by the lefs. But country towns, compar'd with her, appear Like Ahrubs when lofty cypreffes are near.

MEL. What great occafion call'd you hence to

Rome!

TIT. Freedom, which came at length, though flow to come:

Nor did my fearch of liberty begin,

Till my black hairs were chang'd upon my chin.
Nor Amarillis would vouchsafe a look,
Till Galatea's meaner bonds I troke.

Till then a helpless, hopeless, homely fwain,

Though many a victim from my folds was bought, And many a cheese to country markets brought, Yet all the little that I got, I fpent,

And ftill return'd as empty as I went.

MEL. We stood amaz'd to fee your mistress mourn;

chain'd,

There firft the youth of heav'nly birth I view'd,
For whom our monthly victims are renew'd.
He heard my vows, and graciously decreed
My grounds to be reftor'd, my former flocks to feed.
MEL. O fortunate old man! whofe farm re-
mains

For you fufficient, and requites your pains:
Though ruthes overspread the neighbouring plains.
Though here the marthy grounds approach your
fields,

And there the foil a ftony harvest yields,
Your teeming ewes fhall no strange meadows try,
Nor feat a rott from tainted company.

Behold you bordering fence of fallow trees

Is fraught with flowers, the flowers are fraught with bees:

The bufy bees with a foft murmuring strain
Invite to gentle fleep the labouring fwain.
While from the neighbouring rock, with rural fongs
The pruner's voice the pleafing dream prolongs;
Stock-doves and turtles tell their amorous pain,
And, from the lofty elms, of love complain.

TIT. Th' inhabitants of feas and skies shall change,

And fish on fhore, and ftags in air fhall range,
The banish'd Parthian dwell on Arar's brink,
And the blue German fhall the Tigris drink :
Ere I forfaking gratitude and truth,
Forget the figure of that godlike youth.

MEL. But we must beg our bread in climes unknown,

Beneath the fcorching or the freezing zone.
And fome to far Oaxis shall be fold;
Or try the Libyan heat, or Scythian cold.
The reft among the Britons be confin'd;
A race of men from all the world disjoin'd.
O muft the wretched exiles ever mourn,
Nor after length of rolling years return?
Are we condemn'd by fate's unjuft decree,
No more our houses and our homes to see ?

Or fhall we mount again the rural throne,
And rule the country kingdoms, once our own!
Did we for thefe barbarians plant and fow,
On thefe, on thefe, our happy fields bestow?
Good heaven, what dire effects from civil difcord (
flow:

Now let me graff my pears, and prune the vine;
The fruit is theirs, the labour only mine.
Farewel my paftures, my paternal stock,
My fruitful fields, and my more fruitful flock!
No more, my goats, shall I behold you climb,
The steepy cliffs, or crop the flowery thyme !
No more extended in the grot below,
Shall fee you browfing on the mountain's, brow
The prickly fhrubs; and after on the bare,
Lean down the deep abyss, and hang in air,
No more my fheep fhall fip the morning dew;
No more my fong fhall please the rural crew :
Adieu, my tuneful pipe! and all the world adieu!
TIT. This night, at least, with me forget your
care ;

Chefnuts and curds and cream fhall be your fare:
The carpet-ground shall be with leaves o'erfpread;
And boughs thall weave a covering for your head.
For fee yon funny bill the shade extends :
And curling fmoke from cottages afcends.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

The commentators can by no means agree on the perfon of Alexis, but are all of opinion that fome beautiful youth is meant by him, to whom Virgil here makes love in Corydon's language and fimplicity. His way boy's coynefs; recommends himself for his beauty and of courtship is wholly paftoral: he complains of the fill in piping; invites the youth into the country, where he promifes him the diverfions of the place, with a fuitable prefent of nuts and apples: but when he finds nothing will prevail, he refolves to quit his troublesome amour, and betake himself again to his former bufinefs.

You

YOUNG Corydon, th' unhappy shepherd fwain,
The fair Alexis lov'd, but lov'd in vain :
And underneath the beechen shade, alone,
Thus to the woods and mountains made his moan.
Is tlás, unkind Alexis, my reward,
And must I die unpity'd, and unheard?
Now the green lizard in the grove is laid,
The fheep enjoy the coolness of the shade;
And Theftylis wild thyme and garlic beats
For harvest hinds, o'erfpent with toil and heats:.
While in the fcorching fun I trace in vain
Thy flying footsteps o'er the burning plain,
VOL. II,

The creaking locufts with my voice confpire,
They fry with heat, and I with fierce defire.
How much more eafy was it to sustain
Proud Amarillis and her haughty reign,
The fcorns of young Menalcas, once my care,
Though he was black, and thou art heavenly fair.
Truft not too much to that enchanting face;
Beauty's a charm, but foon the charm will pass:
White lilies lie neglected on the plain,
While dufky hyacinths for use remain.
My paffion is thy fcom: nor wilt thou know
What wealth I have, what gifts I can bestow:
What ftores my dairies and my folds contain;
A thousand lambs that wander on the plain:
New milk that all the winter never fails,
And all the fummer overflows the pails:
Amphion fung not fweeter to his herd,
When fummon'd ftones the Theban turrets rear'd,
Nor am I fo deform'd; for late I stood
Upon the margin of the briny flood:
The winds were ftill, and if the glafs be true,
With Daphnis I may vie, though judg'd by you.
O leave the noify town, O come and fee
Our country cots, and live content with me!
To wound the flying deer, and from their cotes
With me to drive a-field the browsing.goats:
To pipe and fing, and in our country strain
To copy, or perhaps contend with Pan.
Pan taught to join with wax, unequal reeds,
Pan loves the fhepherds, and their flocks he feeds:
Nor fcorn the pipe; Amyntas, to be taught,
With all his kiffes would my fkill have bought.
Of feven fmooth joints a mellow pipe I have,
Which with his dying breath Damætas gave:
And faid, This, Corydon, I leave to thee;
For only thou deferv'ft it after me.

His eyes Amyntas durft not upward lift,
For much he grudg'd the praife, but more the gift.
Befides two kids that in the valley ftray'd,

I found by chance, and to my fold convey'd. -
They drain two bagging udders every day;
And these fhall be companions of thy play.
Which Theftylis had often begg'd in vain :
Both fleck'd with white, the true Arcadian strain,
And the fhall have them, if again the fues,
Since you the giver and the gift refuse.
white lilies in full canifters they bring,
Come to my longing arms, my lovely care,
And take the prefents which the nymphs prepare.
With all the glories of the purple fpring.
The daughters of the flood have fearch'd the mead.
For violets pale, and cropp'd the poppies head;
The short narciffus, and fair daffodil,
Panfies to please the fight, and caffia fweet to fmell;
And fet foft hyacinths with iron-blue,
To fhade marih marigolds of shining hue.
Some bound in order, others loosely ftrow'd,
To drefs thy bower, and trim thy new abode.
Myfelf will fearch our planted grounds at home.
For downy peaches and the gloffy plumb:
And thrash the chefnuts in the neighbouring grove,
Such as my Amarillisusid to love.

The laurel and the myrtle (weets agree ;*
And both in nofegays fhall be bound for thee.
Ah, Corydon, ah poor unhappy (wain,
Alexis will thy homely gifts difdain:
Nor, fhould't thou offer all thy little store,
Will rich.Iplus yield, but offer more.

What have I done to name that wealthy fwain,
So powerful are his prefents, mine fo mean!
The boar amidst my crystal streams I bring;
And fouthern winds to blast my flowery spring.
Ah cruel creature, whom dost thou defpife?
The gods to live in woods have left the skies.
And godlike Paris in th' Idean grove,
To Prium's wealth preferr'd Oenone's love.
In cities which the built, let Pallas reign;
Towers are for Gods, but forefts for the fwain.
The greedy lionefs the wolf purfues,

The wolf the kid, the wanton kid the browfe:
Alexis, thou art chas'd by Corydon;
All follow feveral games, and each his own.
See from afar the fields no longer smoke,
The fweating fteers unharness'd from the yoke,
Bring, as in triumph, back the crooked plough;
The fhadows lengthen as the fun goes low.
Cool breezes now the raging heats remove;
Ah, cruel heaven! that made no cure for love!
I wish for balmy fleep, but wifh in vain:
Love has no bounds in pleasure, or in pain.
What frenzy, fhepherd, has thy foul poffefs'd,
Thy vineyard lies half-prun'd, and half undress'd.
Quench, Corydon, thy long unanfwer'd fire:
Mind what the common wants of life require:
On willow twigs employ thy weaving care;
And find an easier love, though not so fair.

THE

THIRD PASTORAL.

PALÆ

MON.

THE ARGUMENT.

Damætas and Menalcas, after feme (mart Arokes of country raillery, refolve to try who has the most kill at a fong; and accordingly make their neighbour Palamon judge of their performances: who, after full hearing of both parties, declares himself unfu for the decifion of so weighty a controverly, leaves the victory undetermined.

and

MENALCAS, DAMÆTAS, PALEMON.

H°,

MENALCAS.

fwain, what shepherd owns thofe ragged
fheep?

DAM. Egon's they are, he gave them me to
keep.

MEN. Unhappy sheep of an unhappy swain
While he Neæra courts, but courts in vain,
And fears that I the damfel shall obtain.
Thou, varlet, dolt thy master's gains devour:
Thou milk'ft his ewes, and often twice an hour;
Of grafs and fodder thou defraud'ft the dams;
And of their mother's dugs, the starving lambs.

DAM. Good words, young Catamite, at least to

men:

We know who did your business, how, and when.
And in what chapel too you plaid your prize;
And what the goats obferv'd with leering eyes:
The nymphs were kind, and laugh'd, and there (
your fafety lies.

MEN. Yes, when I cropt the hedges of the Leis;
Cut Micon's tender vines, and stole the stays.

DAM. Or rather, when beneath yon ancient oak,
The bow of Daphnis, and the thafts you broke:
When the fair boy receiv'd the gift of right;
And, but for mifchief, you had dy'd for fpite.
MEN. What nonfenfe would the fool thy mafter
prate,

When thou, his knave, canft talk at fuch a rate!
Did I not fee you, rafcal, did I not?
When you lay fnug to fnap young Damon's goat?
His mungrel bark'd, I ran to his relief,
And cry'd, There, there he goes; stop, ftop the
thief:

Difcover'd, and defeated of your prey,
You skulk'd behind the fence, and freak'd away.
DAM. An honeft man may freely take his own;
The goat was mine, by finging fairly won.
A folemn match was made; he loft the prize.
Ask Damon, ask if he the debt denies ;

I think he dares not; if he does, he lyes.
MEN. Thou fing with him, thou booby! never
pipe

Was fo prophan'd to touch that blubber'd lip :
Dance at the beft; in ftreets but fcarce allow'd
To tickle, on thy ftraw, the ftupid crowd.

DAM. To bring it to the trial, will you dare
Our pipes, our skill, our voices, to compare?
My brinded heifer to the stake I lay;
Two thriving calves fhe fuckles twice a day:
And twice befides her beastings never fail
To ftore the dairy with a brimming pail.
Now back your finging with an equal stake.

MEN. That should be feen, if I had one to make.
You know too well I feed my father's flock:
What can I wager from the common stock:
A ftepdame too I have, a curfed fhe,
Who rules my hen-peck'd fire, and orders me:
Both number twice a day the milky dams;
At once the takes the tale of all the lambs.
But fince you will be mad, and fince you may
Sufpect my courage, if I fhould not lay,
The pawn I proffer fball be full as good:
Two bowls I have, well turn'd of beechen wood;
Both by divine Alcimedon were made :
To neither of them yet the lip is laid;
The ivy's item, its fruit, its foliage, lurk
In various fhapes around the curious work.
Two figures on the fides emboss'd appear;
Conon, and, what's his name who made the
sphere,

And fhew'd the feafons of the fliding year,
Inftructed in his trade the labouring fwain,
And when to reap, and when to fow the grain?
DAM. And I have two to match your pair, at

home:

The wood the fame, from the fame hand they come:
The kimbo handles feem with bears-foot carv'd;
And never yet to table have been ferv'd:
Where Orpheus on his lyre laments his love,
With beats encompafs'd, and a dancing grove

But thefe, nor all the proffers you can make,
Are worth the heifer which I set to stake.

MEN. No more delays, vain boafter, but begin:
I prophesy before-hand I fhall win.
Palemon fhall be judge how ill you rhyme :
Ill teach you how to brag another time.

DAM. Rhymer, come on, and do the worst you

can:

I fear not you, nor yet a better man.

With filence, neighbour, and attention wait:
For 'tis a bufinefs of a high debate.

PAL. Sing then; the fhade affords a proper
place;

The trees are cloath'd with leaves, the fields with grafs ;

The bloffoms blow; the birds on bushes fing;
And nature has accomplish'd all the fpring.
The challenge to Damatas fhall belong,
Mænalcas fhall fuftain his under-fong:
Each in his turn your tuneful numbers bring;
By turns the tuneful Mufes love to fing.
DAM. From the great Father of the gods above
My Mufe begins; for all is full of Jove;
To Jove the care of heaven and earth belongs;
My flocks he bleffes, and he loves my fongs.

MIN. Me Phoebus loves; for he my Mufe infpires;

And in her fongs, the warmth he gave, requires.
For him the god of thepherds and their sheep,
My blufhing hyacinths and my bays I keep.

DAM. My Phyllis me with pelted apples plies,
Then tripping to the woods the wanton hies:
And wishes to be feen, before the flies.

MEN. But fair Amyntas comes unafk'd to

mind,

Her fwain a pretty prefent has defign'd:

I faw two stock-doves billing, and ere long
Will take the neft, and hers fhall be the young.
MEN. Ten ruddy wildings in the wood I found,
And stood on tip-toes, reaching from the ground;
1 fent Amyntas all my prefent ftore;
And will, to-morrow, fend as many more.

DAM. The lovely maid lay panting in my arms;
And all the faid and did was full of charms.
Winds, on your wings to heaven her accents bear!
Such words as heaven alone is fit to hear.

MEN. Ah! what avails it me, my love's de

light,

To call you mine, when absent from my fight!
I hold the nets, while you pursue the prey;

And must not share the dangers of the day.
DAM. I keep my birth-day: fend my Phillis,

home;

At fhearing-time, Iolas, you may come.
MEN. With Phyllis I am more in grace than ́

you:

Her forrow did my parting steps purfue : Adieu, my dear, the said, a long adieu !

The ground is falfe, the running ftreams are deep:
See, they have caught the father of the flock,
Who dries his fleece upon the neighbouring rock.
DAM. From rivers drive the kids, and fling your

Anon I'll wash them in the fhallow brook.
MEN. To fold, my flock; when milk is dry'd
⚫ with heat,

In vain the milk-maid tugs an empty teat.
DAM. How lank my bulls from plenteous paf-
ture come !

But love, that drains the herd, destroys the groom.
MEN. My flocks are free from love; yet look fo

DAM. The nightly wolf is baneful to the fold, Storms to the wheat, to buds the bitter cold; But from my frowning fair, more ills I find Than from the wolves, and ftorms, and winterwind.

MEN. The kids with pleasure browse the bushy

plain,

The fhowers are grateful to the fwelling grain:
To teeming ewes the fallow's tender tree;
But more than all the world my love to me.
DAM. Pollio my rural verse youchfafes to read:
A heifer, Mufes, for your patron breed.

MEN, My Pollio writes himself; a bull he
bred

With fpurning heels, and with a butting head.
DAM. Who Pollio loves, and who his Muse ad,
mires,

Let Pollio's fortune crown his full defires.
Let myrrh instead of thorn his fences fill;
And showers of honey from his oaks diftil.

MEN. Who hates not living Bavius, let him be
(Dead Mævius) damn'd to love thy works and thee:
The fame ill tafte of sense would serve to join
Dog-foxes in the yoke, and fhear the swine.

DAM. Ye boys who pluck the flowers, and spoil the spring,

Beware the fecret fnake that fhoots a fting.
MEN. Graze not too near the banks, my jolly

fheep,

hook;

thin,

Their bones are barely cover'd with their skin.
What magic has bewitch'd the wooly dams,
And what ill eye beheld the tender lambs?

DAM. Say, where the round of heaven which'
all contains,

To three fhort ells on earth our fight restrains,
Tell that, and rife a Phoebus for thy pains
MEN. Nay, tell me firft, in what new region
fprings

A flower that bears infcrib'd the names of kings:
And thou fhalt gain a prefent as divine
As Phoebus' felf; for Phyllis fhall be thine.

PAL. So nice a difference in your finging lies,
That both have won, or both deferv'd, the prize.
Reft equal happy both; and all who prove
The bitter fweets and pleafing pains of love.
Now dam the ditches, and the floods restrain:
Their moisture has already drench'd the plain.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

But when to ripen'd manhood he shall grow,
The greedy failor fhall the feas forego;
No keel fhall cut the waves for foreign ware;
For every foil fhall every product bear.
The labouring hind his oxen fhall disjoin,
No plough fhall hurt the glebe, no pruning-hook
the vine,

Nor wool fhall in diffembled colours shine;
But the luxurious father of the fold,

With native purple, or unborrow'd gold,
Beneath his pompous fleece thall proudly fweat;
And under Tyrian robes the lamb shall bleat.

The Poet celebrates the birth-day of Salonius, the fon of The Fates, when they this happy web have spun, Pollio, born in the confulfbip of his father, after the Shall blefs the facred clue, and bid it smoothly rum. taking of Solena, a city in Dalmatia. Many of Mature in years, to ready honours move, the verfes are tranflated from one of the Sibyls, who O of celeftial feed! O fofter son of Jove! prophefied of our Saviour's birth.

ICILIAN Mufe, begin a loftier ftrain!

plain,

Delight not all; Sicilian Mufe, prepare

hade the

To make the vocal woods deferve a conful's care.
The laft great age, foretold by facred rhymes,
Renews its finished courfe; Saturnian times
Roll round again, and mighty years, begun
From their first orb, in radiant circles run.
The base degenerate iron offspring ends;
A golden progeny from heaven defcends:
O chafte Lucina, fpeed the mother's pains;
And hafte the glorious birth; thy own Apollo
reigns!

The lovely boy, with his aufpicious face!
Shall Pollio's confuifhip and triumph grace;
Majestic months fet out with him to their ap-

pointed race.

The father banith'd virtue fhall restore,

}

And crimes fhall threat the guilty world no more.
The fon fhall lead the life of gods, and be
By gods and heroes feen, and gods and heroes fee.
The jarring nations he in peace fhall bind,
And with paternal virtues rule mankind.
Unbidden earth fhall wreathen ivy bring
And fragrant herbs (the promifes of fpring),
As her firft offerings to her infant king.

See, labouring Nature calls thee to fuftain

The nodding frame of heaven, and earth, and main;
See, to their bafe reftor'd, earth, feas, and air,
And joyful ages from behind, in crowding ranks ap-
pear.

To fing thy praife, would heaven my breath pro

long,

Infufing fpirits worthy fuch a fong;

Not Thracian Orpheus fhould tranfcend my lays,
Nor Linus, crown'd with never-fading bays;
Though each his heavenly parent fhould inspire;
The Mufe inftruct the voice, and Phoebus tune the

lyre.

Should Pan contend in verfe, and thou my theme,
Arcadian judges fhould their God condemn.
Begin, aufpicious boy, to caft about

Thy infant eyes, and, with a fmile, thy mother
fingle out;

Thy mother well deferves that short delight,
The naufeous qualms of ten long months and travel
to requite.

Then fmile; the frowning infant's doom is read,
No god fhall crown the board, nor goddess bless the
bed.

THE

The goats, with Arutting dugs, fhall homeward
fpeed,

And lowing herds fecure from lions feed.
His cradle hall with rifing flowers be crown'd;
The ferpent's brood fhall die: the facred ground
Shall weeds and poisonous plants refufe to bear,
Each common bufh fhall Syrian roses wear.
But when heroic verfe his youth fhall raife,
And form it to hereditary praife,
Unlabour'd harvefts fhall the fields adorn,
And cluster'd grapes fhall bluth on every thorn.
The knotted oaks fhall fhowers of honey weep,
And through the matted grafs the liquid gold fhall
creep.

Yet, of old fraud fome footsteps fhall remain,
The merchant ftill fhall plough the deep for gain:
Great cities fhall with walls be compafs'd round;
And sharpen'd fhares fhall vex the fruitful ground,
Another Typhis hall new feas explore,
Another Argos land the chiefs upon th'Iberian fhore.
Another Helen other wars create,
And great Achilles urge the Trojan fate.

FIFTH PASTORAL.

O R,

DAPHNI S.

THE ARGUMENT.

Moplus and Menalcas, two very expert fhepherds at a Jong, begin by one confent to the memory of Daphnis ; who is fuppofed, by the best critics, to reprefent Julius Cafar. Morfus laments his death, Menalcas proclaims his divinity: the whole Eclogue confifting of an elegy and an apotheofis.

MENALCAS

INCE on the downs our flocks together feed,
And fince my voice can match your tuneful

reed.

Why fit we not beneath the grateful shade,
Which hazles, intermix'd with elms, have made?

« Претходна Настави »

Књиге