M. Mirabar, quid maesta deos, Amarylli, vocares, Quid facerem? Neque servitio me exire licebat, nec tam praesentis alibi cognoscere divos. hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras ; T. Ante leves ergo pascentur in aequore cervi, aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrim, En umquam patrios longo post tempore finis, pauperis et tuguri congestum caespite culmen, 48 quodannis. R. 60 aethere. H. 62 exul. R. 66 cretae. R. 40 45 50 55 60 65 post aliquot mea regna videns mirabor aristas? Insere nunc, Meliboee, piros, pone ordine vitis ! carmina nulla canam; non, me pascente, capellae, florentem cytisum et salices carpetis amaras. T. Hic tamen hanc mecum poteras requiescere noctem et iam summa procul villarum culmina fumant, ECLOGUE II. 70 75 80 THE subject of this poem is the complaint of a shepherd, Corydon, in love with a boy Alexis. It is said to represent the admiration of Virgil for a young slave whom he saw at the house of his patron Asinius Pollio, and whose beauty he thus celebrates, in the conventional style of pastoral verse. The story further goes that Pollio, charmed with the poem, made a gift of the slave to the author; and that the slave, being carefully educated, became a celebrated grammarian under his real name Alexander. This story, though not certain, is natural and probable. Some parts of the poem are imitations of Theocritus (Idyls iii., xi.). ORMOSUM pastor Corydon ardebat Alexim, Fo delicias domini, nec quid speraret habebat; tantum inter densas, umbrosa cacumina, fagos adsidue veniebat. Ibi haec incondita solus montibus et silvis studio iactabat inani : O crudelis Alexi, nihil mea carmina curas? Nil nostri miserere? Mori me denique coges. S Nunc etiam pecudes umbras et frigora captant; Nonne fuit satius tristis Amaryllidis iras Despectus tibi sum, nec qui sim quaeris, Alexi, quam dives pecoris, nivei quam lactis abundans. Mille meae Siculis errant in montibus agnae ; lac mihi non aestate novum, non frigore defit; canto quae solitus, si quando armenta vocabat, Amphion Dircaeus in Actaeo Aracintho. Nec sum, adeo informis: nuper me in litore vidi, cum placidum ventis staret mare; non ego Daphnim iudice te metuam, si numquam fallit imago. O tantum libeat mecum tibi sordida rura Nec te paeniteat calamo trivisse labellum: et dixit moriens: 'Te nunc habet ista secundum.' Dixit Damoetas; invidit stultus Amyntas. Praeterea duo, nec tuta mihi valle reperti, 11 serpullum. R. 22 novom (as always after v). R. 32 33 39 omitted. R. 15 20 25 30 35 40 capreoli, sparsis etiam nunc pellibus albo, Huc ades, O formose puer: tibi lilia plenis ecce ferunt Nymphae calathis; tibi candida Naïs, pallentis violas et summa papavera carpens, narcissum et florem iungit bene olentis anethi; tum casia atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis, mollia luteola pingit vaccinia calta. Ipse ego cana legam tenera lanugine mala, castaneasque nuces, mea quas Amaryllis amabat ; addam cerea pruna: honos erit huic quoque pomo; et vos, O lauri, carpam, et te, proxima myrte, sic positae quoniam suavis miscetis odores. Rusticus es, Corydon : nec munera curat Alexis, nec, si muneribus certes, concedat Iollas. Heu, heu, quid volui misero mihi! Floribus austrum perditus et liquidis inmisi fontibus apros. Quem fugis, ah, demens? Habitarunt di quoque silvas, Dardaniusque Paris. Pallas, quas condidit arces, ipsa colat; nobis placeant ante omnia silvae. Torva leaena lupum sequitur; lupus ipse capellam ; dorentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella ; 65 te Corydon, o Alexi : trahit sua quemque voluptas. Aspice, aratra iugo referunt suspensa iuvenci, et sol crescentis decedens duplicat umbras : me tamen urit amor; quis enim modus adsit amori? 70 ECLOGUE III. THIS eclogue represents (after Theocritus, Idyl iv. and v.) the rivalry in song of two shepherds, Menalcas and Damotas. After some dispute — and a dash of blackguard — the decision is left to Palæmon as umpire, and the two rival swains vie in alternate couplets. This form of verse is called Amoebaan (auoßaios, responsive). The couplets are wholly disconnected, some of them mere squibs flung out, it is supposed, by the poet at his rivals. Though the Amoebæan verse is Greek, and the poem itself copied from Theocritus, yet the alternate abuse is thoroughly Italian. The Romans were very fond of coarse invective and repartee, and these form the staple of the Satura (one of the earliest forms of Latin drama), the Fescennine and Atellane farces, and the Mimes. (Cf. Teuffel, Geschichte der Kömischen Litteratur, § 3, et seq.) IC mihi, Damoeta, cuium pecus, an Meliboei? DIC D. Non, verum Aegonis; nuper mihi tradidit Aegon. M. Infelix o semper, ovis, pecus, ipse Neaeram dum fovet, ac ne me sibi praeferat illa veretur, hic alienus ovis custos bis mulget in hora, et sucus pecori et lac subducitur agnis. D. Parcius ista viris tamen obicienda memento: M. Tum, credo, cum me arbustum videre Miconis atque mala vitis incidere falce novellas. ΙΟ D. Aut hic ad veteres fagos cum Daphnidis arcum et, si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses. M. Quid domini faciant, audent cum talia fures! 15 20 |