Eclogues

Perseus Latin · Perseus Latin · 1,060 sections

3.111
feed ye a bull now ripe to butt with horn,
3.112
and scatter with his hooves the flying sand.”
3.113
“Who loves thee, Pollio, may he thither come
3.114
where thee he joys beholding; ay, for him
3.115
let honey flow, the thorn-bush spices bear.”
3.116
“Who hates not Bavius, let him also love
3.117
thy songs, O Maevius, ay, and therewithal
3.118
yoke foxes to his car, and he-goats milk.”
3.119
“You, picking flowers and strawberries that grow
3.120
so near the ground, fly hence, boys, get you gone!
3.121
There's a cold adder lurking in the grass.”
3.122
“Forbear, my sheep, to tread too near the brink;
3.123
yon bank is ill to trust to; even now
3.124
the ram himself, see, dries his dripping fleece!”
3.125
“Back with the she-goats, Tityrus, grazing there
3.126
so near the river! I, when time shall serve,
3.127
will take them all, and wash them in the pool.”
3.128
“Boys, get your sheep together; if the heat,
3.129
as late it did, forestall us with the milk,
3.130
vainly the dried-up udders shall we wring.”
3.131
“How lean my bull amid the fattening vetch!
3.132
Alack! alack! for herdsman and for herd!
3.133
It is the self-same love that wastes us both.”
3.134
“These truly—nor is even love the cause—
3.135
scarce have the flesh to keep their bones together
3.136
some evil eye my lambkins hath bewitched.”
3.137
“Say in what clime—and you shall be withal
3.138
my great Apollo—the whole breadth of heaven
3.139
opens no wider than three ells to view.”
3.140
“Say in what country grow such flowers as bear
3.141
the names of kings upon their petals writ,
3.142
and you shall have fair Phyllis for your own.”
3.143
Not mine betwixt such rivals to decide:
3.144
you well deserve the heifer, so does he,
3.145
with all who either fear the sweets of love,
3.146
or taste its bitterness. Now, boys, shut off
3.147
the sluices, for the fields have drunk their fill.
4.1
muses of Sicily, essay we now
4.2
a somewhat loftier task! Not all men love
4.3
coppice or lowly tamarisk: sing we woods,
4.4
woods worthy of a Consul let them be.
4.5
Now the last age by Cumae's Sibyl sung
4.6
has come and gone, and the majestic roll
4.7
of circling centuries begins anew:
4.8
justice returns, returns old Saturn's reign,
4.9
with a new breed of men sent down from heaven.
4.10
Only do thou, at the boy's birth in whom
4.11
the iron shall cease, the golden race arise,
4.12
befriend him, chaste Lucina; 'tis thine own
4.13
apollo reigns. And in thy consulate,
4.14
this glorious age, O Pollio, shall begin,
4.15
and the months enter on their mighty march.
4.16
Under thy guidance, whatso tracks remain
4.17
of our old wickedness, once done away,
4.18
shall free the earth from never-ceasing fear.
4.19
He shall receive the life of gods, and see
4.20
heroes with gods commingling, and himself
4.21
be seen of them, and with his father's worth
4.22
reign o'er a world at peace. For thee, O boy,
4.23
first shall the earth, untilled, pour freely forth
4.24
her childish gifts, the gadding ivy-spray
4.25
with foxglove and Egyptian bean-flower mixed,
4.26
and laughing-eyed acanthus. Of themselves,
4.27
untended, will the she-goats then bring home
4.28
their udders swollen with milk, while flocks afield
4.29
shall of the monstrous lion have no fear.
4.30
Thy very cradle shall pour forth for thee
4.31
caressing flowers. The serpent too shall die,
4.32
die shall the treacherous poison-plant, and far
4.33
and wide Assyrian spices spring. But soon
4.34
as thou hast skill to read of heroes' fame,
4.35
and of thy father's deeds, and inly learn
4.36
what virtue is, the plain by slow degrees
4.37
with waving corn-crops shall to golden grow,
4.38
from the wild briar shall hang the blushing grape,
4.39
and stubborn oaks sweat honey-dew. Nathless
4.40
yet shall there lurk within of ancient wrong
4.41
some traces, bidding tempt the deep with ships,
4.42
gird towns with walls, with furrows cleave the earth.
4.43
Therewith a second Tiphys shall there be,
4.44
her hero-freight a second Argo bear;
4.45
new wars too shall arise, and once again
4.46
some great Achilles to some Troy be sent.
4.47
Then, when the mellowing years have made thee man,
4.48
no more shall mariner sail, nor pine-tree bark
4.49
ply traffic on the sea, but every land
4.50
shall all things bear alike: the glebe no more
4.51
shall feel the harrow's grip, nor vine the hook;
4.52
the sturdy ploughman shall loose yoke from steer,
4.53
nor wool with varying colours learn to lie;
4.54
but in the meadows shall the ram himself,
4.55
now with soft flush of purple, now with tint
4.56
of yellow saffron, teach his fleece to shine.
4.57
While clothed in natural scarlet graze the lambs.
4.58
“Such still, such ages weave ye, as ye run,”
4.59
sang to their spindles the consenting Fates
4.60
by Destiny's unalterable decree.
4.61
Assume thy greatness, for the time draws nigh,
4.62
dear child of gods, great progeny of Jove!
4.63
See how it totters—the world's orbed might,

Perseus Latin. CTS URN phi0690.phi001.perseus-eng2. Via the Perseus Digital Library / Open Greek and Latin TEI corpora. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.