Virgil's Eclogues

Eclogue IX

ecloga ix 3 Lycidas: Quo te, Moeri, pedes? an, quo uia ducit, in urbem? Moeris: O Lycida, uiui peruenimus, aduena nostri (quod nunquam ueriti sumus) ut possessor agelli diceret:“haec mea sunt; ueteres migrate coloni.” nunc uicti, tristes, quoniam fors omnia uersat, 5 hos illi (quod nec uertat bene) mittimus haedos. L: Certe equidem audieram, qua se subducere colles incipiunt mollique iugum demittere cliuo, usque ad aquam et ueteres, iam fracta cacumina, fagos, omnia carminibus uestrum seruasse Menalcan. 10 M: Audieras, et fama fuit; sed carmina tantum nostra ualent, Lycida, tela inter Martia quantum Chaonias dicunt aquila ueniente columbas. quod nisi me quacumque nouas incidere lites ante sinistra caua monuisset ab ilice cornix, 15 nec tuus hic Moeris nec uiueret ipse Menalcas. eclogue ix 3 Lycidas: Moeris on foot? Where to? Taking the path to town? Moeris: O Lycidas, to come to this!—a day we never Conceived could come. A soldier-stranger owns our farm now, And says,“It’s mine; so clear out, all you ancient tenants.” Defeated (all men suffer Fortune’s cruel reverses), 5 We’re bringing him these goats—to be a flock of curses! L: Hadn’t I heard that from that place the hills begin to rise, To where their ridges start to gently slope to water And ancient beeches with their shivered tops—all this— Master Menalcas had preserved by singing verses? 10 M: You did; that’s how the rumor ran. But Lycidas, In Mars’s weaponed world, our songs prevail the way Chaonian doves do with the eagle in a fray. A left-side raven in a hollow ilex warned me To break off fighting this new fight, and if he hadn’t, 15 No Moeris (or Menalcas either) would have lived. ecloga ix 68 L: Heu, cadit in quemquam tantum scelus? heu, tua nobis paene simul tecum solacia rapta, Menalca! quis caneret Nymphas? quis humum florentibus herbis spargeret aut uiridi fontis induceret umbra? 20 vel quae sublegi tacitus tibi carmina nuper, cum te ad delicias ferres Amaryllida nostras? “Tityre, dum redeo (brevis est uia), pasce capellas, et potum pastas age, Tityre, et inter agendum occursare capro (cornu ferit ille) caueto.” 25 M: Immo haec, quae Varo necdum perfecta canebat: “Vare, tuum nomen, superet modo Mantua nobis, Mantua uae miserae nimium uicina Cremonae, cantantes sublime ferent ad sidera cycni.” L: Sic tua Cyrneas fugiant examina taxos, 30 sic cytiso pastae distendant ubera uaccae, incipe, si quid habes. et me fecere poetam Pierides, sunt et mihi carmina, me quoque dicunt uatem pastores; sed non ego credulus illis. nam neque adhuc Vario uideor nec dicere Cinna 35 digna, sed argutos inter strepere anser olores. M: Id quidem ago et tacitus, Lycida, mecum ipse uoluto, si ualeam meminisse; neque est ignobile carmen. “huc ades, o Galatea; quis est nam ludus in undis? hic uer purpureum, uarios hic flumina circum 40 eclogue ix 69 L: My god! Who’d perpetrate a crime like that? Menalcas, You—and your comforting—were nearly snatched from us! Who’d sing about the Nymphs, or scatter blooming herbs About the ground? Who’d veil the springs in emerald shadow? 20 Or what about that song I overheard just days Ago, when you sought out my darling Amaryllis? “Tityrus, till I’m back (the way’s not long), please graze My goats. And water them, Tityrus, taking care, In driving them, to watch for Billy Horns; he butts!” 25 M: Yes, and this song (that’s not yet done) he sang to Varus: “O Varus, spare us Mantua (poor Mantua, Too near a neighbor to Cremona) and whole choirs Of swans shall bear your name on high to heaven’s stars.” L: The way you’d want your bees to flee Cyrnean yews; 30 As you’d want clover fodder swelling heifers’ udders; Begin, if you’ve got lines. The Muses made me, too, A poet, with my songs. Shepherds say“bard” as well, But I am not that credulous; I know I still Can’t sing as well as Varius or Cinna can 35 (I’m like a honking goose against the clarion swan). M: I mean to, Lycidas; I’m rummaging my mind To jog my memory (it’s no mean composition). “Come, Galatea; where’s the pleasure in those waves? Here’s rosy spring, here streams where Earth has scattered flowers 40 [18.221.187.121] Project MUSE (2024-04-20 00:36 GMT...