Virgil's Eclogues

Eclogue III

ecloga 1ii 3 Menalcas: Dic mihi, Damoeta, cuium pecus? an Meliboei? Damoetas: Non, uerum Aegonis; nuper mihi tradidit Aegon. M: Infelix o semper, oues, pecus! ipse Neaeram dum fouet ac ne me sibi praeferat illa ueretur, hic alienus ouis custos bis mulget in hora, 5 et sucus pecori et lac subducitur agnis. D: Parcius ista uiris tamen obicienda memento. nouimus et qui te transuersa tuentibus hircis et quo (sed faciles Nymphae risere) sacello. M: Tum, credo, cum me arbustum uidere Miconis 10 atque mala uitis incidere falce nouellas. D: Aut hic ad ueteres fagos cum Daphnidis arcum fregisti et calamos: quae tu, peruerse Menalca, eclogue 1ii 3 Menalcas: Tell me whose flock, Damoetas. Meliboeus’s? Damoetas: No, Aegon’s, and he just entrusted it to me. M: Pity the flock, then, since they’re clearly out of luck. He courts Neaera now (afraid that she loves me), While you—a hired herder—milk the mothers twice 5 An hour, draining the flocks and robbing lambs of suck. D: More sparing, please, when charging men with sins like these! We know whom you were with, goats gazing on askance— And in what shrine, despite the wood Nymphs’ lenient glance. M: That day they saw me—I suppose—hack Micon’s trees 10 And newly growing grapevines with my wicked sickle? D: Or here, beside the ancient beeches, when you broke Both Daphnis’ bow and arrows, since you grew perverse, ecloga iii 18 et cum uidisti puero donata, dolebas, et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses. 15 M: Quid domini faciant, audent cum talia fures? non ego te uidi Damonis, pessime, caprum excipere insidiis multum latrante Lycisca? et cum clamarem“quo nunc se proripit ille? Tityre, coge pecus,” tu post carecta latebas. 20 D: An mihi cantando uictius non redderet ille, quem mea carminibus meruisset fistula caprum? si nescis, meus ille caper fuit; et mihi Damon ipse fatebatur, sed reddere posse negabat. M: Cantando tu illum? aut umquam tibi fistula cera 25 iuncta fuit? non tu in triuiis, indocte, solebas stridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen? D: Vis ergo inter nos quid possit uterque uicissim experiamur? ego hanc uitulam (ne forte recuses, bis uenit ad mulctram, binos alit ubere fetus) 30 depono; tu dic mecum quo pignore certes. M: De grege non ausim quicquam deponere tecum: est mihi namque domi pater, est iniusta nouerca, bisque die numerant ambo pecus, alter et haedos. eclogue iii 19 Menalcas—full of spite—when he first got those gifts. And if you hadn’t done him wrong, you would have choked. 15 M: What can the masters do when lowlifes grow so daring? Didn’t I see you, wretch, lying in wait for snaring That goat from Damon, even though Lycisca barked? And when I cried out,“Where’s he running? Watch your flock, Tityrus!” you went ducking down behind the sedges. 20 D: But was he going to give me what my song had won— The goat my piper’s tunes deserved? You may not know it, But Damon had admitted that I’d won that goat, Though paying me was something that“could not be done.” M: You outplayed him? Well, do you now, or did you once, 25 Possess a wax-joined pipe? Confess: you were that dunce At crossroads, killing wretched songs on scrannel pipes. D: That does it! Care to test what each of us can do In turn? I’ll stake this heifer here, so don’t back out. Milked twice a day, she still can suckle two new calves. 30 What will you bet? And don’t be wagering by halves! M: I can’t bet something from the herd—not on my life. (At home’s a father . . . and his wicked second wife. Both count the flocks twice, and she counts the kids as well). ecloga iii 20 uerum, id quod multo tute ipse fatebere maius 35 (insanire libet quoniam tibi), pocula ponam fagina, caelatum diuini opus Alcimedontis, lenta quibus torno facili superaddita uitis diffusos hedera uestit pallente corymbos. in medio duo signa, Conon et—quis fuit alter, 40 descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem, tempora quae messor, quae curuus arator haberet? necdum illis labra admoui, sed condita seruo. D: Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit et molli circum est ansas amplexus acantho, 45 Orpheaque in medio posuit siluasque sequentis; necdum illis labra admoui...