Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ECLOGUE 7, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Daphnis was seated 'neath a murmurous oak
Last Line: From that day forth 'twas 'corydon' for me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Virgil; Vergil


MELIBOEUS. CORYDON. THYRSIS.

M.

DAPHNIS was seated 'neath a murmurous oak,
When Corydon and Thyrsis (so it chanced)
Had driv'n their two flocks -- one of sheep, and one
Of teeming goats -- together: herdsmen both,
Both in life's spring, and able well to sing,
Or, challenged, to reply. To that same spot
I, guarding my young myrtles from the frost,
Find my goat strayed, the patriarch of the herd:
And straight spy Daphnis. He, espying me
In turn, cries, "Meliboeus! hither, quick!
Thy goat, and kids, are safe. And if thou hast
An hour to spare, sit down beneath the shade.
Hither unbid will troop across the leas
The kine to drink: green Mincius fringes here
His banks with delicate bullrush, and a noise
Of wild bees rises from the sacred oak."

What could I do? Alcippe I had none,
Nor Phyllis, to shut up my new-weaned lambs:
Then, there was war on foot -- a mighty war --
Thyrsis and Corydon! -- So in the end
I made my business wait upon their sport. --
So singing verse for verse -- that well the Muse
Might mark it -- they began their singing-match.
Thus Corydon, thus Thyrsis sang in turn. (They sing.)

C. "Ye Fountain Nymphs, my loves Grant me to sing
Like Codrus: -- next Apollo's rank his lines: --
Or here -- if all may scarce do everything --
I'll hang my pipe up on these sacred pines."
T. "Swains! a new minstrel deck with ivy now,
Till Codrus burst with envy! Or, should he
Flatter o'ermuch, twine foxglove o'er my brow,
Lest his knave's-flattery spoil the bard to be."
C. "'To Dian, from young Micon: this boar's head,
And these broad antlers of a veteran buck.'
Full-length in marble -- ancle-bound with red
Buskins -- I'll rear her, should to-day bring luck."
T. "Ask but this bowl, Priapus, and this cake
Each year: for poor the garden thou dost keep.
Our small means made thee marble: whom we'll make
Of gold, should lambing multiply our sheep."
C. "Maid of the seas! more sweet than Hybla's thyme,
Graceful as ivy, white as is the swan!
When home the fed flocks wend at evening's prime,
Then come -- if aught thou car'st for Corydon."
T. "Hark! bitterer than wormwood may I be,
Bristling as broom, as drifted sea-weed cheap,
If this day seem not a long year to me!
Home, home for very shame, my o'er-fed sheep!"
C. "Ye mossy rills, and lawns more soft than dreams,
Thinly roofed over by these leaves of green:
From the great heat -- now summer's come, now teems
The jocund vine with buds -- my cattle screen."
T. "Warm hearth, good faggots, and great fires you'll find
In my home: black with smoke are all its planks:
We laugh, who're in it, at the chill north wind,
As wolves at troops of sheep, mad streams at banks."
C. "Here furry chestnuts rise and juniper:
Heaped 'neath each tree the fallen apples lie:
All smiles. But, once let fair Alexis stir
From off these hills -- and lo! the streams are dry."
T. "Thirsts in parched lands and dies the blighted grass;
Vines lend no shadow to the mountain-height;
But groves shall bloom again, when comes my lass;
And in glad showers Jove descend in might."
C. "Poplars Alcides likes, and Bacchus vines;
Fair Venus myrtle, and Apollo bay;
But while to hazel-leaves my love inclines,
Nor bays nor myrtles greater are than they."
T. "Fair in woods ash; and pine on garden-grass:
On tall cliffs fir; by pools the poplar-tree.
But if thou come here oft, sweet Lycidas,
Lawn-pine and mountain-ash must yield to thee."
M. All this I've heard before: remember well
How Thyrsis strove in vain against defeat.
From that day forth 'twas 'Corydon' for me.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net