The Idylliums of Theocritus Translated from the Greek. With notes critical and explanatory. By Francis Fawkes |
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 | The Idylliums of Theocritus |  |
IV. A vow to Priapus.
If by those oaks with roving step you wind,An image fresh of fig-tree form'd you'll find;
Though cloath'd with bark, three-legg'd and void of ears,
Prompt for the pranks of pleasure he appears.
Springs gush perennial from the rocky hill,
And round the grotto roll their sparkling rill:
Green myrtles, bays, and cypress sweet abound,
And vines diffuse their circling arms around.
The vernal ousels their shrill notes prolong,
And modulate the loudly-varied song;
Sweet nightingales in soft-opponent strain,
Perch'd on the spray melodiously complain.
Repose you there, and to Priapus pray,
That Daphne may no more my bosom sway:
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But if I gain the maid, three victims are decreed;
A stall-fed lamb, a goat, and heifer fair:
Thus may the god propitious hear my prayer.
| The Idylliums of Theocritus | |