Nec fpes libertatis erat, nec cura peculî,
Quamvis multa meis exiret victima feptis,
Pinguis et ingratae premeretur cafeus urbi,

Non uшquam gravis aere domum mihi dextra redibat.
MELIBOEUS.

Mirabar, quid moesta deos, Amarylli, vocares
Cui pendere fua patereris in arbore poma.
Tityrus hinc aberat. ipfae te, Tityre, pinus,
Ipfi te fontes, ipfa haec arbufta vocabant.

TITYRUS.

Quid facerem? neque fervitio me exire licebat,
Nec tam praefentis alibi cognofcere divos.
Hic illum vidi juvenem, Meliboee, quot annis
Bis fenos cui noftra dies altaria fumant.
Hic mihi refponfum primus dedit ille petenti :
Pafcite, ut ante, boves, pueri: fubmittite tauros.

MELIBOEUS.

Fortunate fenex, ergo tua rura manebunt?

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40

45

Et tibi magna fatis: quamvis lapis omnia nudus,
Limofoque palus obducat pafcua junco ;

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Non infueta gravis tentabunt pabula foetas :
Nec mala vicini pecoris contagia laedent.
Fortunate fenex, hic inter flumina nota,
Et fontis facros, frigus captabis opacum.
Hinc tibi, quae femper vicino ab limite fepes,
Hyblaeis apibus florem depafta falicti,

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52. The fhrubs.] The arbusta were large pieces of ground planted with elms or other trees, at the diftance commonly of forty feet, to leave room for corn to grow between them. These trees were pruned in fuch a manner, as to ferve for ftages to the vines, which were planted near them. The vines faftened after this manner, were called arbustivae vites. See the 12th chapter of Columella de arboribus.

58. Swains feed.] The word fubmittite in the original may' mean the breeding the cattle, as well as yoking oxen.

61. What tho' rough ftones.] The reader of tafte cannot but be pleafed with this little landícape, efpecially as fome critics

Careless I liv'd of freedom and of gain,

And frequent victims thinn'd my folds in vain;
Tho' to th' ungrateful town my cheese I fold,
Yet ftill I bore not back th' expected gold.
MELIBOEUS.

45

Oft, Amaryllis, I with wonder heard

Thy vows to heav'n in soft distress preferr'd.
With wonder oft thy lingering fruits furvey'd;

Nor knew for whom the bending branches ftay'd: 'Twas Tit'rus was away-for thee detain'd

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The pines, the fhrubs, the bubbling fprings complain'd. TITYRUS.

What could I do? where elfe expect to find

One glimpse of freedom, or a god so kind?
There I that youth beheld, for whom fhall rife
Each year my votive incenfe to the skies.
'Twas there this gracious answer blefs'd mine ears,
Swains feed again your herds, and yoke your steers.

MELIBOEUS.

Happy old man! then fill thy farms reftor'd,

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Enough for thee, fhall blefs thy frugal board.

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What tho' rough ftones the naked foil o'erspread,
Or marthy bulrufh rear its watry head,

No foreign food thy teeming ewes fhall fear,

No touch contagious fpread its influence here.
Happy old man! here mid' the custom'd ftreams

And facred fprings, you'll fhun the fcorching beams,
While from yon willow-fence, thy paftures' bound,
The bees that fuck their flow'ry ftores around,
Shall fweetly mingle, with the whispering boughs,
Their lulling murmurs, and invite repose:

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70

think Virgil is here defcribing his own eftate. 'Tis a mistake to imagine the spot of ground was barren, for we find it contained a vineyard and apiary, and good pasture land; and the fhepherd fays he fupplied Mantua with victims and cheeses.

VOL. I.

G

Saepe levi fomnum fuadebit inire fufurro.
Hinc alta fub rupe canet frondator ad auras.
Nec tamen interea raucae, tua cura, palumbes,
Nec gemere aëria ceffabit turtur ab ulmo.

TITYRUS.

Ante leves ergo pafcentur in aethere cervi,
Et freta deftituent nudos in litore pifcis :

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Ante, pererratis amborum finibus exful,

Aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrin,
Quam noftro illius labatur pectore voltus.

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MELIBOEUS.

At nos hinc alii fitientis ibimus Afros:

Pars Scythiam, et rapidum Cretae veniemus Oaxen,
Et penitus toto divifos orbe Britannos.

En umquam patrios longo poft tempore finis,
Pauperis ac tugurî congeftum cefpite culmen,
Poft aliquot, mea regna videns, mirabor ariftas ?
Inpius haec tam culta novalia miles habebit?
Barbarus has fegetes? en quo difcordia civis
Produxit miferos! en quîs confevimus agros!
Infere nunc, Meliboee, piros; pone ordine vitis.
Ite meae, felix quondam pecus, ite capellae.

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75

77. The Parthian.] Thefe images are not fo much in charac ter as thofe in the two preceding lines. They are too remote for our fimple fhepherd.

85. Ah! Shall I never.] By en in the original, fay the commentators, is meant unquamne, aliquandone, or an unquam. Ruaeus obferves that thefe expreffions are in general only a bare and cold interrogation, but furely in this paffage the poet means an interrogation joined with an eager defire; a fort of languishing in Meliboeus after the farms and fields he was obliged to leave. We find the fame expreffion in the fame fenfe in the eighth Eclogue.

86. Many a year.] By poft aliquot ariftas in the original, is certainly meant after fome years. It is natural for thepherds to

meafure

While from steep rocks the pruner's fong is heard;
Nor the foft-cooing dove, thy fav'rite bird,
Mean while fhall cease to breathe her melting strain,
Nor turtles from th' aërial elm to plain.

TITYRUS.

Sooner the ftag in fields of air fhall feed,
Seas leave on naked fhores the fcaly breed,
The Parthian and the German climates change,
This Arar drink, and that near Tigris range,
Than e'er, by stealing time effac'd, shall part
His much-lov'd image from my grateful heart.
MELIBOEUS.

But we far hence to diftant climes fhall go,
O'er Afric's burning fands, or Scythia's fnow,

Where roars Oäxis, or where seas embrace,
Dividing from the world, the British race.
Ah! fhall I never once again behold,
When many a year in tedious round has roll'd,
My native feats?-Ah! ne'er with ravisht thought
Gaze on my little realm, and turf-built cot?
What! must these rifing crops barbarians share?
These well-till'd fields become the spoils of war?
See to what mis'ry difcord drives the fwain!

See, for what lords we fpread the teeming grain !
Now Meliboeus, now, renew your cares,
Go, rank again your vines, and graft your pears:
Away, my goats, once happy flocks! away!
No more fhall I refume the rural lay :

measure the years by the harvests. Arifta is the beard of the wheat; the Roman husbandmen fowed only the bearded wheat.

87. Ab! ne'er.] These short and abrupt exclamations are very natural, and have quite a dramatic air. The image of his little farm and cottage being plunder'd, breaks in upon the fhepherd, and quite diforders his mind. The irony in the following lines,

Infere nunc, Meliboee, piros, &c. ftrongly expreffes both grief and indignation.

Non ego vos pofthac, viridi projectus in antro,
Dumofa pendere procul de rupe videbo.

Carmina nulla canam. non, me pafcente, capellae,
Florentem cytifum, et falices carpetis amaras.

TITYRUS.

Hic tamen hanc mecum poteras requiefcere noctem
Fronde fuper viridi. funt nobis mitia poma,
Caftaneae molles, et preffi copia lactis.

Et jam fumma procul villarum culmina fumant,
Majorefque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae.

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97. No more, as in.] I have feen in Italy (and on the Vatican hill near Rome, in particular) a little arch'd cave made by the fhepherds of ever-greens, not high enough to ftand in; there they lie at their eafe to observe their flocks browsing. Is it not fuch a fort of cave which is meant here? Viridi is not a proper epithet for the infide of a natural cave, especially for fuch rocky ones as one finds in Italy. SPENCE. 104. Cheefe.] The Roman peafants used to carry the curd as foon as it was preffed into the towns, or elfe falt it for cheese against the winter.