Daphnis me malus urit, ego hanc in Daphnide laurum. ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. talis amor Daphnim, qualis cum fessa iuvencum 85 ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. has olim exuvias mihi perfidus ille reliquit, pignora cara sui: quae nunc ego limine in ipso, terra, tibi mando; debent haec pignora Daphnim. 90 ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. has herbas atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena ipse dedit Moeris (nascuntur plurima Ponto), his ego saepe lupum fieri et se condere silvis Moerim, saepe animas imis excire sepulchris atque satas alio vidi traducere messis. 95 ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. fer cineres, Amarylli, foras rivoque fluenti 100 transque caput iace, nec respexeris. his ego Daphnim adgrediar; nihil ille deos, nil carmina curat. ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. 87 concumbit P1. bays with pitch. Me cruel Daphnis burns; for Bring Daphnis home from town, bring him, my May such longing seize Daphnis as when a heifer, Bring Daphnis home from town, bring him, my songs! These relics that traitor once left me, dear pledges for himself. Now, on my very threshold, I commit them, O Earth, to thee. These pledges make Daphnis my due. Bring Daphnis home from town, bring him, my These herbs and these poisons, culled in Pontus, Moeris himself gave me they grow plenteously in Pontus. By their aid I have oft seen Moeris turn wolf and hide in the woods, oft call spirits from the depth of the grave, and charm sown corn away to other fields. Bring Daphnis home from town, bring him, my songs! Carry forth the embers, Amaryllis, and toss them over your head into a running brook; and look not back. With these I will assail Daphnis; he recks naught of gods or songs. Bring Daphnis home from town, bring him, my songs! 105 aspice, corripuit tremulis altaria flammis sponte sua, dum ferre moror, cinis ipse. bonum sit! nescio quid certe est, et Hylax in limine latrat. credimus? an qui amant, ipsi sibi somnia fingunt ? parcite, ab urbe venit, iam parcite carmina, Daphnis." IX LYCIDAS Quo te, Moeri, pedes? an, quo via ducit, in urbem? MP MOERIS O Lycida, vivi pervenimus, advena nostri (quod numquam veriti sumus) ut possessor agelli diceret: "haec mea sunt; veteres migrate coloni." nunc victi, tristes, quoniam fors omnia versat, hos illi (quod nec vertat bene) mittimus haedos. 5 LYCIDAS Certe equidem audieram, qua se subducere colles incipiunt mollique iugum demittere clivo, usque ad aquam et veteres, iam fracta cacumina, fagos omnia carminibus vestrum servasse Menalcan. 107 Hylas MSS. 109 carmina parcite M. 9 veteris P, Berne Scholia: fagi P. 10 Look! the ash itself, while I delay to carry it forth, has of its own accord caught the shrines with quivering flames. Be the omen good! 'Tis something surely, and Hylax is barking at the gate. Can I trust my eyes? Or do lovers fashion their own dreams? Cease! Daphnis comes home from town; cease now, my songs!" IX1 LYCIDAS WHITHER afoot, Moeris? Is it, as the path leads, to town? MOERIS O Lycidas, we have lived to see the day-an evil never dreamed-when a stranger, holder of our little farm, could say: "This is mine; begone, ye old tenants!" Now, beaten and cowed, since chance rules all, we send him these kids- -our curse go with them! LYCIDAS Yet surely I had heard that, from where the hills begin to rise, then sink their ridge in a gentle slope, down to the water and the old beeches with their now shattered tops, your Menalcas had with his songs saved all. 1 The ninth Eclogue is purely personal, and has to do with the same subject as the first. Perhaps it is a poetical appeal to Varus for assistance. Under the person of Menalcas Virgil himself is concealed. Moeris is the poet's vilicus or bailiff. MOERIS Audieras, et fama fuit; sed carmina tantum LYCIDAS 15 Heu, cadit in quemquam tantum scelus? heu, tua nobis paene simul tecum solacia rapta, Menalca? quis caneret Nymphas? quis humum florentibus herbis spargeret aut viridi fontis induceret umbra ? vel quae sublegi tacitus tibi carmina nuper, cum te ad delicias ferres, Amaryllida, nostras ? "Tityre, dum redeo (brevis est via) pasce capellas, et potum pastas age, Tityre, et inter agendum occursare capro (cornu ferit ille) caveto." MOERIS Immo haec, quae Varo necdum perfecta canebat : "Vare, tuum nomen, superet modo Mantua nobis, Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae, cantantes sublime ferent ad sidera cycni." LYCIDAS Sic tua Cyrneas fugiant examina taxos, Pierides, sunt et mihi carmina, me quoque dicunt 20 25 30 |