University of Virginia Library

The fyrst Eclog of Virgill, intituled: Tityrus.

The speakers are Melibey and Tityrus: Melibey representing a Citizen or townseman of Mantua, and Tityrus the person of Uirgill.
Melibey.
O Tityrus thou lieng vnder shade of spreading beech,
Doost play a countrie song vpon a slender oten pipe,
We do forsake our countrie bounds, & medowes sweet [which be]
We doo forsake our natiue soile, thou Tityr slug in shade
Doost teach the woods to sound so shrill, thy loue faire Amaryll.

Ti.
O Melibey [our] god hath wrought this quietnesse for vs,
For he shall euer be my god, his altars oftentimes
A tender lambe out of my folds shall colour and imbrue,
He suffered my sheepe to stray [and feed] as thou doost see,
And eeke my selfe on countrie pipe to play what songs I would.

Me.
I doo not grudge at this thy good, but rather woonder I,
That troubles so exceeding great, feelds ouer euery where
Yet see my selfe a sickly man, doo driue my gotes aloofe,
O Tityrus this gote also scarse doo I leade or guide:
For but a while ago euen heere, among the hazels thicke,
Foorth hauing brought with mickle paine, hir twins [a he and shee]
My hope of flocke, vpon a flint bare shee [alacke] them left,
I doo remember well the okes, from heauen which were toucht,
Foretold vs [many a time] and oft, of this foule euill lucke,
If that our mind vntoward [stand starke foolish] had not beene,
Oftimes the crow from hollow holme foretold vnhappy newes,
But yet what god this is giue vs O Tityr t'vnderstand.

Tit.
O Melibey I foolish man, thought that the citie, which
They do call Rome, was like to this of ours, whereto full oft
We shepheards vse to driue the ten-der weanlings of our sheepe,
I know also that puppies yoong are like their bitch [or dam]
And kids to gotes, so great with small I vsed to compare.
But this did lift hir head so high among all other townes,
As cipres trees are woont among the oziers apt to bend.

Mel.
And what so great occasion was, to thee of seeing Rome?

Tit.
Euen libertie which late did looke vpon me slouenlike,
But fairer now my beard is falne, with pouling it away.
Yet libertie hath lookt on me, and after long is come,
Euen after Amaryllis hath and Galath left vs quite,
For (I will now confesse the truth) whiles Galath did possesse me,
Ne hope was there of liberty, ne care of cattell mine,
Though many a sacrifice did go out of my sheepcotes then,
And good fat cheeses prest and made for that vnthankfull towne,
Yet neuer full of mony came my right hand backward home.

Mel.
O Amaryll I woondred why thou sad on gods wouldst call,
For whom thou suffer wouldst thy frute vpon their tree to hang,
From hence was Tityrus away, O Tityrus the pines,
The water-springs and these same groues did call thee by thy name.

Tit.
What should I do? bicause I may not out of seruice go,
Nor any where [but here in Rome] such present gods to know?
O Melibey here I haue seene [Cæsar] that proper youth,
For whom our altars yerely smoke twise six daies euery month,
He first gaue answer here to me then humbly making sute,
O youths your oxen feed as erst, your buls put vnder yoke.

Mel.
O luckie old man therfore thy lands shal whole remain to thee,
And large enough, albeit that bare stones and fennie flouds
Do ouerlay the pastures all with muddy rush and sedge,
Unwoonted feeding shall not taint thy cattell great with yoong,
Nor ill disease of neighbours beasts, shall do hurt vnto thine,
O luckie old man thou oft shalt take the fresh and shadie cold,
Euen here among the riuers knowne and holy water springs,
On this side shall thy sense or hedge next by thy neighbours bounds,
Thy hedge of willow trees whose floure are eat of Hybla bees,
Shall oft with gentle sound of them persuade thee fall asleepe,
On th' other side the treelopper from vnder mountaine high
Shall chaunt and sing with voice alowd [persing the aiery skie]
Yet in the meane time ringdoues hoarse, thy care [and great delight]
Ne turtle doue shall ceasse to moorne from loftie tree of elme.

Tit.
Therfore the stags so light [of foot like birds] shal feed in th' aire,
The seas shall faile, and fishes leaue all bare vpon the shore,
The Parthian pilgrime first shall drinke of Arax riuer cleere,
Or one of Germanie shall drinke of Tigris flowing streames,
(The bounds of both gone round about) [and passed far and neere]
Before his face and countenance shall slip out of my brest.

Mel.
But we will hense depart some to the thirstie Africans,
Part of vs into Scithia [by trauelling] will come,
And to Oaxis rough of Creet [a riuer passing swift]
And to the Brittans parted from the vniuersall world.
Lo on a day I beholding of my natiue countrie bounds,
Long time hereafter seeing too some summers ouerpast,
The couering of my cottage poore all made and thatcht with turfe,
[Which cottage was] my kingdome, shall I woonder at the same?
Shall wicked soldiors haue and hold these fallow fields so trimd?
And strangers reape this crop of mine; alacke behold whereto
Discord hath brought [and drawne by force] our wofull citizens;
See now for whome our fields we haue [with seed in seedtime] sowne,
O Melibey now pearetress graft, and vines in order set,
And go my gotes, erst happie beasts, to places go vnknowne,
I being laid along vpon a vallie fresh and greene
Hereafter shall not see you hang vpon the bushie banks,
I will not sing songs any more, nor you my little gotes,
Shall neuer crop the blooming shrub, and bitter willow trees
I feeding you [or all the while that I prouide you food.]

Tit.
Howbeit here thou maist thee rest with me this [present] night,
Upon greene leaues [in grassie ground] ripe apples [some] we haue,
Soft chestnuts, and of creame and curds [for cheese] we haue good store,
And now the highest tops of farms far off do cast a smoke,
And greater shadowes [than before] from mountains high do fall.

The second Eclog of Virgill, intituled, Corydon.

By Alexis is ment a youth named Alexander, and by Corydon is vnderstood Virgill.
The shepherd Corydon loued sore Alexis faire [that youth]
His lords delight, and yet he had not that which he did hope,
He [came] full oft the beeches thicke vnto with shadie tops,
There all alone he cast vnto the mounteins and the woods
These words rude and disordered [with labour spent in vaine,]
O cruell Alex for my songs thou doost not care [a straw]
Of vs thou doost no pitie take, yea more, thou mak'st me die,
How do the cattell also take the shadowes and the coole,
Now doo the thornie thickets hide the lizzards greene also,
And Thestylis [that woman] stamps wilde thyme and garlike too,
Strong smelling herbs, for mowers [meat] wearied in scortching sunne.
But yet the groues doo sound againe with grashops hoarse and mee,
Whilest I go all about to seeke the treddings of thy feet,
In hot and burning sunne [alacke:] had it not better beene
T'auoid the heauie anger and the proud disdaine and spite
Of Amaryll [that wench?] and had it not far better beene
T'abide Menalca, blacke though he and [louely] white were she?
O faire welfauoured youth, trust not too much thy gallant hew
White priuet [flowers] fall [to the ground] blacke violets gathered vp,
O Alex I am scornd of thee, ne ask'st thou what I am,
How rich in cattell white as snow, how greatly stord with milke,
A thousand lambs of mine doo stray vpon Sicilia hilles,
New milke in summer failes me not, ne yet in winter [time]
I sing [the songs] that Amphron Dircey was woont [to sing]
Upon the hyll of Aracynth butting vpon the shore,
If any time he cald his heard [and cattell him about:]
Ne am I so ill fauoured, I saw my selfe of late
Standing on shore, when as the sea stood calme and still from winds,
I will not feare Daphnis [that man] thou being iudge [betweene]
If so be that my counterfet doo neuer me deceiue,
O that thou wouldest dwell with me in sluttish countrie soile,
In cottages both low and small, and sticke the stags with darts,
And driue the flocke of kids to mallows and to rushes greene,
Thou shalt resemble Pan in sing-ing in the woods with me,
Pan first deuised to ioyne with wax, pipes many a one together,
Pan cares for sheepe and [shepheards too] of sheepe [which] maisters [be,]
Ne let it thee repent with pipe thy little lip t'haue worne,
What thing did not Amyntas doo that he this same might know?
A pipe made vp of seuen reeds, and diuerse all in sound,
I haue, which Damet once bestowd vpon me for a gift,
And dieng said, This pipe hath thee, next owner of the same.
Thus said Dameta, howbeit Amyntas [busie] foole,
Did enuie me therefore. Beside two little gotes were found
Of me in vallie dangerous, their skins with speckled white,
Two teats of sheepe they drie adaie [with sucking,] which I keepe
For thee: [yet] Thestylis desirde me long ago that she
Might haue them hense, and so she will, because thou scornst our gifts,
O faire well fauoured youth come heere, behold the nymphs doo bring
Lillies for thee by baskets full, white Nais [the nymph also]
Cropping for thee pale violets, and poppie floures likewise
Dooth ioine the floure delice and floure of fennell sauouring well,
And making [garlands] also of sweet Casia, and other
Most sweet and pleasant hearbs, she decks blacke violets soft [of leafe]
With yellow floures of marigold [which followeth the sunne.]
My selfe will gather peaches gray, with tender cotton [cotes]
And chestnuts too, which Amaryll [my sweet hart] loued well,
And I will put plums [vnto these] plums red and soft as wax,
And honor also to this plum [or apple] shall be [doone]
And you O baytrees I will crop, and hirtle berrie trees,
So set and placed for bicause sweet sauours you doo mingle.
O Corydon thou art a clowne, Alex regards no gifts,
Ne if by gifts thou striue and straine, may Iol giue thee place.
Alacke what might I [doo] vnto my selfe poore sillie man?
Lost and vndone; I haue let in southwinds among the floures,
And bores into the watrie springs [my pleasures I haue spoild.]
Ah mad-head; from whom fliest thou? the gods haue dwelt in woods,
And Paris too king Dardans sonne. What castles, forts and townes
Pallas hath built, in them let hir inhabit [keepe and dwell]
Aboue all other places let the woods content vs best.
The sterne and lowring lion she dooth follow [in chase] the woolfe,
The woolfe dooth follow [in chase] the gote, the wanton gote likewise
Doth couet after cythisus that blooming shrub [for life]
And O Alexis after thee poore Corydon doth hunt,
Their owne [peculiar] pleasure drawes [and conquers] euery men.
Behold the bullocks home doo beare their plowes hangd on the yoke,
The sunne also in going downe th' increasing shades doth double,
Yet loue torments me still, what mea-sure can there be for loue?
Ah Corydon ah Corydon what madnesse hath thee caught?
Thou hast a vine halfe cut and lopt [growing] vpon an elme
All full of leaues; Why doost thou not yet rather now at last
Settle thy selfe some thing to make, which needfull is to vse,
[Some wicker worke] of iuie rods, or else of rushes soft?
Thou shalt find out another if this Alex thee disdaine.

The third Eclog of Virgill, intituled: Palæmon.

[_]

Speakers' names in this text have been abbreviated. Major speakers' names are abbreviated as follows:

• For Me. read Menalcas;
• For Da. read Dametas.

The speakers are Menalcas and Dametas, challenger and defendant, the iudge of the match is Palæmon.
Menalcas.
O Damet, tell, whose beasts be these, are they Melibs or no?

Da.
Not his, but Ægons, Ægon gaue them me of late [to keepe.]

Me.
O sheepe alwaies vnluckie beasts, while he [Ægon I meane]
Doth loue and cherish Nerea, and feareth least that she
Should more esteeme of me than him. This Damet, who indeed
Is shepheard to another man, milks sheepe twise in an houre,
And so from sheepe their iuice, from lambs their milke is drawne away.

Da.
O Menalc yet remember that these faults are to be laid
Unto mens charge more sparingly: we also know who had
[To do with thee] thine eies then loo-king wantonly awrie,
And in what chapell too, but yet the gentle nymps did laugh.

Me.
Then I beleeue [when as they saw] me cut the wood or groue
Of Micon, and his newgrowne vines with naughtie [hedging] bill.

Da.
Or else the nymphs [did laugh] euen here hard by their beeches old
When thou didst breake the bow and shafts of Daphnis, which when as
Thou froward Menalc sawest giuen the youth, thou diddest grudge,
And if thou hadst not hurt him too some way thou wouldst haue dide.

Me.
What shal the lords [or owners] do when theeues dare [play such pranks]
O naughtie fellow, saw not I thee take in snares [by stelth]
A gote of Damons [at what time] the bandog barked much,
And when I cald aloud to thee, Ho whether trudgeth he?
O Tityr gather vp thy beasts: thou lurkedst in the sedge.

Da.
Should not that fellow Damon o-uercome of me in play,
Haue giuen me the gote, the which my pipe deseru'd with songs?
And if thou canst not tell [so much] that gote is [cleere] mine owne,
And Damon so confest himselfe; but said he could not giue it.

Me.
Didst thou in singing [conquer] him, or hadst at any time,
Whistle or pipe ioind close with wax, and woonted wast not thou,
Unskilfull [foole] in common waies to lauish sillie songs
Upon a pipe all out of tune [making an irkesome noise?]

Da.
Wilt thou therfore betweene vs twaine, that we by trial prooue
By turnes what both of vs can do; this cow (least thou perhaps
Shouldst it refuse, coms twise a day vnto the milking pale,
And with hir vdders nourisheth and feeds two calues at once)
This cow Ile lay: now tell me for what wager thou wouldst striue?

Me.
Of this my flocke I dare not I lay any thing with thee.
For I a father and a curst stepmother haue at home,
They both do count twise in a day the cattell [euery chone]
And one of them doth tell the kids: howbeit I will lay
That which to be much greater thou thy selfe shalt [now] confesse,
(Bicause it is thy pleasure to be mad) [that is to say]
These drinking pots of beech which are the grauen workmanship
Of excellent Alcymedon, vpon which pots being made
With easie [cutting] grauing toole, a limber winding vine
Doth cloth and decke the berries growne and spreaded here and there
With whitish iuie leaues; and in the middle of these pots
Two images [are grauen] Co-non one and who the other?
Euen he that with his rod set foorth to nations all the world,
What times the reaper and the croo-ked plowman [too] should haue
Unto those pots I haue not yet [so much] as laid my lips,
But do preserue and keepe them [in a corner] hidden close.

Da.
The same Alcymedon hath made two pots also for vs,
And compassed about the eares with tender beare claw [leaues]
And hath set Orphey in the midst, and following him the woods,
Unto those pots I haue not yet [so much as] laid my lips,
But do preserue and keepe them [in a corner] hidden close.
If thou wouldst looke vpon my cow, ther's naught my pots to praise.

Men.
Thou shalt not scape to day, Ile come whersoeuer thou wilt call,
And I will bring to passe that thou hereafter with thy voice
Shalt not prouoke [or challenge a-ny man [as thou hast me]
And let Palæmon only heare these songs, lo where he coms.

Da.
Go to then, if thou hast [or canst sing any thing at all,]
In me there shall be no delay, ne will I shrinke or start
Aside for any man [not I] Palæmon neighbour mine,
Only lay vp in iudgement deepe this strife, the thing's not small.

Pal.
Say then [and sing] sith we are sat vpon the grasse so soft,
Now euery field and euery tree beginneth frute to beare,
Now woods beare leaues, and now the yeare is in his brauest hew,
Begin Dameta, Menalc thou shalt follow afterwards,
By turns you both shall sing, the nymphs loue songs that go by turnes.

Da.
O muses, at god Iupiter let our beginning be,
All things are full replenished with great god Iupiter,
He loueth and preserues the earth, he careth for my songs.

Me.
And god Apollo loueth me, for whom I alwaies haue
His gifts, bay [boughs] and lillies red, both which do sweetly smell.

Da.
The wanton wench Galath both cast an apple oft at me,
And runs vnto the willowes, and would first full faine be seene.

Me.
But my loue sweet Amyntas coms to me of his owne will,
So that Diana is not now more knowne vnto our dogs.

Da.
Gifts gotten are for Venus mine, for I haue markt the place,
Wherein the doues of th'aire haue ga-thred [stuffe to build their neasts.]

Me.
I haue sent to my youth ten yel-low apples like to gold,
(As many as I could) puld from a tree in woods [so wild,]
Ten other apples vnto him to morrow I will send.

Da.
O what [sweet words] how oft also spake Galath vnto vs?
O winds beare you some part of them to th' eares of gods [aboue.]

Me.
O my Amynt what profits it, that thou in hart and mind
Doost not despise and set me light, if I the nets do keepe,
While thou doost follow [huntmanlike in chase the brislie] bore?

Da.
O Iöl send me Phyllis, for now is my byrth day come,
Wherein Ile sacrifice for corne, and come [Iöl] thy selfe.

Me.
Phyllis I loue afore all else, for she wept at my going,
And said farewell faire youth, a long time Iöl O farewell.

Da.
The woolfe a sad and heauie thing is vnto cattell stald,
And showrs of raine [a heauie thing] to frutes [in season] ripe,
And winds to trees, and vnto vs the wrath of Amaryll.

Me.
The moistning raine is sweet to fields when they be [newlie] sowne,
The shoots of vines are sweet to kids [from sucking] put away,
So is the limber willow tree to cattell great with yoong,
[But sweet and pleasant] vnto me Amyntas is alone.

Da.
Pollio dooth loue our song, although it be a countrie one,
[And therefore] O Pierides, [you muses] feed a cow
For Pollio your reader, and to sacrifice it him.

Me.
Pollio himselfe dooth also make songs that be new and strange,
O feed a bull for Pollio, which with his horns can butt,
And with his feet can fling and scat-ter all about the sand.

Da.
O Pollio who so loueth thee, let that man thither come,
Whether he doth reioice that thou thy selfe art also come,
Let honie flow, and thornie bush beare deintie grapes for him.

Me.
O Meni who so hates not Baue, let that man loue thy songs,
And let him couple foxes too, and milch the male-kind gotes.

Da.
O prettie boies which gather floures and strawberries also,
Creeping or growing on the ground, hence get you fast away,
For in the grasse doth lurke a snake [whose poison is full] cold.

Me.
O sheepe forbeare and spare to go too forwards on the way,
It is not good to trust the bankes: [for why] the ram himselfe
Dooth drie his flesh [bicause he fell into the water wet.]

Da.
O Tityr driue thy little gotes from [treading neere] the streame,
My selfe when time shall serue will wash them all in running spring.

Me.
O you my lads take vp the sheepe and put them in the fold,
[For] if the heat shall ouertake their milke as late it did,
In vaine we shal with palms of hands presse oft and wring their teat.

Da.
Alacke how leane a bull haue I in pasture fat and ranke,
The selfe same loue is deadlie dole to sheepe and sheapheard too.

Me.
Loue truly is no cause in mine, scarce cleaues their flesh to bones,
I wot not I what [euell] ey dooth witch my tender lambs?

Da.
O Menalc tell me in what ground, a space of heauen appeeres.
Three elues, no more, and thou shalt be Apollo great to mee.

Me.
O Damet tell me in what ground those flours doo spring and grow,
Wherein are written names of kings, and Phyllis take alone.

Pal.
It is not in vs for to end betweene you strifes so great,
Both thou Menalc [by due desert] art worthy of the cow,
And this Dameta too, and whosoeuer else beesids,
Shall feare sweet loue, or prooue and trie the same bitter to be,
Now youths shut vp the sluses close, the medes haue droonke enough.

The fourth Eclog of Virgill intituled Pollio, or the birth day of Soloninus.

In this eclog the poet speaketh alone.
O muses of Sicilia ile let's greater matters sing,
Shrubs [groues] and bushes lowe delight and please not euery man,
If we doo sing of woods, the woods be worthy of a consull,
Now is the last age come whereof Sibyllas verse foretold,
And now the virgin come againe, and saturnes kingdome come,
Now is [a sonne] an ofspring new sent downe from heauen high,
O chast Lucina fauour thou the boy that's now in birth,
By whom the yron nation first shall cease and haue an end,
And ouer all the world this golden age shall rise [and spring]
O Pollio truly of this age the beauties and the hew,
Shall [then] begin [when] thou art con-sull and the moneths great
Shall [then] begin [forward to go and orderly] proceed,
I my marke or notes of our offense doo yet remaine,
The same made void deliuer shall, the earth from endlesse feare
Thou being guide and gouernor he [Cæsar I doo meane]
Shall take his life of gods [aboue] and also he shall see
Most noble states with heauenly gods mingled [in companie,]
Aad he likewise himselfe shalbe of them beheld and seene,
And shall with fathers vertues rule the world in quiet set:
O child the ground shall yeeld to thee hir first fruits, little gifts,
No dressing [thereupon bestowd] in places euery where,
Euen yuie spreding of itselfe with [gentle] lady flowre,
And beanes of Æygipt mingled with that plesant beatefoot herbe,
The little gotes themselues shall beare home to their [maisters house]
Their dugs stuft full of milke, the herds [of cattell] shall not feare
The lions great aud terrible, the very cradle too
[Wherein the infant lies] shall yeeld faire louelie floure to thee,
The serpent perrish shall and dy, the herbe of poison too
[Which is] deceptfull, it shall die [and withering fall away]
And deintie grapes of Syria shall very common grow,
But herewithall when as thou shalt the fame and praises read
Of noble men, and therewithall thy fathers acts and deeds,
And shall perceiue and vnderstand what [heauenlie] vertue is,
Then shall the feeld wax yellowish by little and by little,
With soft and tender eares of corne, and ruddie grapes shall hang
On thorne vntrimd [and wilde] hard okes shall sweat honny like deaw:
But yet of old deceipt and guile a few marks shall remaine,
Which may commaund to try the sea with ships, and compasse townes
With walles, and cut in furrowes deepe into the ground [with plow]
Another Typhis then shall liue, another Argus too,
Which may conuey and carry cho-sen men of noble race,
Then also other warres shalbe, and once againe to Troy,
Achilles great and valiant shalbe [set out] and sent,
Then hereupon soone after that thy [yeares] and settled age,
Hath made thee be a matt, the mer-chant he shall leaue the sea,
The ship of pine tree shall not change hir merchandize [and wares,]
All kind of ground all kind of things shall [carrie yeeld and] beare,
The earth shall bide no rake, the vine no hedgebill shall abide,
The plowman now shall loose the yokes from strong and sturdy buls,
The wooll shall learne to counterfeit colours of diuers kinds,
But in the medowes shall the ram his woollen fleeses change,
Now into purple sweetly red, now yellow saffron hew:
A colour bright and flaming red shall of it owne accord
Cloth [and adorne] the lambs feeding a fee-ding in the [pasture] field.
The fatall ladies all agree-ing in the stedfast law
And mightie power of destinie said to their spindels [thus,]
Run on such seasons [golden times and happie ages still]
O deere ofspring and child of gods, O great increase of Ioue,
Great honours vndertake, the time [ordaind] will shortly be,
Behold the world now staggering with burthen crooked bent,
The land, the coasts of sea, the heauen profound and passing high,
Behold how all things ioy at this same [golden] time to come.
O that the last part of my life might last so long to me,
My breath also, as might suffice to tell thine acts and deeds,
Not Orph of Thrace should passe me then in [sweet melodious] songs,
Nor Linus neither, though the mother of the one were by,
And th' others father present too, Calliope the muse
Is Orpheus mother, and of Line Apollo [father] faire.
Though Pan should striue with me [in song] Arcadia being iudge,
Euen Pan would say hee's ouercome, Arcadia being iudge,
O little boie begin to know thy mother by thy laughing,
Ten months brought vnto mother thine both long and tedious toiles,
O little boy begin [to know thy mother by thy laughing]
At whom thy parents laughed not [when thou wast but a babe]
Ne god thought worthie of his boord, ne goddesse of hir bed.

The fift Eclog intituled: Daphnis.

[_]

Speakers' names in this text have been abbreviated. They are as follows:

• For Me. read Menalcas;
• For Mo. read Mopsus.

The speakers are Menalcas and Mopsus, the second giuing place to the first as to his elder, and yet both well acquainted and friends.
Menalcas.
O Mops because together we are met, both being good,
Thou for to whistle on thy pipe, and I light songs to sing,
Why do we not sit downe toge-ther here among the elms,
Mingled with hazels; [by their shade to saue vs from the sun.]

Mo.
O Menalc thou mine elder art, and therefore meet it is
That I obey thee, whether we do go into the shades
Uncerteine, when the westerne winds do moue [and blow]
Or rather go into a caue, behold the vinetree wild
How it hath ouerspread the caue with branches [growing] thin.

Me.
Let Amynt all alone striue with thee in [these] hils of ours,

Mo.
What if the same [Amynt] should striue to conquer Phebe in singing?

Me.
Begin thou first ô Mops to sing if thou haue any loue
Of Phyllis, or haue Alcons praise, or Codrus [angrie] bralles,
Begin, for Tityr he will keepe [and tend] thy feeding kids.

Mo.
Nay rather I will trie to sing the songs, which lately I
Wrote on the greene barke of a beech, and singing tunably,
Hauing noted them by course; bid Amynt striue [sing] after me.

Me.
As much as limber willow tree giues place to oliue pale,
As much as spike low [by the ground] giues place to rosiers red:
So much (in our opinion) giues Amynt place to thee,
But sirra ceasse [more words to say] she are come to the caue.

Mop.
The nymphs did mourne and moue Daphnis by cruell death y'slaine,
O hazell trees and riuers too, the nymphs you witnesse bee,
When as his mother did imbrace his sonnes most wofull corps,
She cald the gods [most cruell] and the stars she cruell cald;
O Daphnis shepheards none did driue their bullocks [grazd and] fed
Unto the riuers coole in those daies, no fourefooted beast
Did tast the watersprings, ne toucht one blade or leafe of grasse;
O Daphnis all the mounteins wild and woods report and say
That euen the Lions of Africa lamented at thy death.
Daphnis deuised first to ioine together in a coch,
The tigres of Armenia, and Daphnis [first deuisd]
To wind and bind the limber speares about with softish leaues.
As to the trees the vine is [all] the honour and the praise,
As to the vine the grapes, as to the flocke the [sturdie] buls,
As to the fat [and rankest] fields the [ripened] standing corne;
So thou to thine the honor art now after thou art dead.
Pales hir selfe hath left the field, Apollo too hath left them,
Unluckie tares and barren otes beare sway in plowed lands,
Wherein we oftentimes cast bar-lie [seed corne] great and large,
In steed of violets soft and lil-lies red rise vp [and grow]
Thistle and shrub [beset about] with sharpe and pricking thorns.
O shepherds scatter you the ground with leaues, and shadowes bring
To and vpon the water springs [make groues about the same]
Daphnis commands such things be done for him [vnto his praise;]
And make a toome, and on the toome this verse [of memory] set:
Daphnis I am, knowne in the woods from hence vnto the stars,
Of cattell faire a keeper, yet fairer [than they] my selfe.

Me.
O heauenly poet this thy song is euen such to vs,
As to the weary quiet sleepe, vpon the grasse [so greene]
As in a heat and drought to quench ones thirst with springing streames
Of water sweet, thou doost not on-ly match thy maister iumpe
In piping, but in singing too. O Mops thou luckie youth,
Thou shalt be now the next to him [the second man I meane]
Howbeit we will sing our songs in some sort [as we may]
By course againe to thee, and will lift vp vnto the stars
Daphnis thy deere, Daphnis we will lift vp vnto the stars:
Daphnis [made very much of vs, and] likewise loued vs.

Mop.
Can any thing more deerer be to vs than such a gift?
The youth himselfe [euen Dapnis sweet] was woorthy to be soong,
And Stimicon a while ago did praise these songs to vs.

Me.
White Daphnis woondreth at the light vnwoonted of Olympus,
And vnderfoot doth see the clouds and stars that shine beneath,
And therefore pleasure doth possesse the glad and ioyfull woods,
And other countrie grounds beside, and Pan and shepheards too,
And those same gyrles the Dryades [which keepe among the okes.]
The woolfe deuiseth not ne thinks on snares for sillie beasts,
Ne trains and nets deuise deceit for [stags and running] harts,
Good Daphnis loueth quietnesse [he loueth rest and peace:]
The hils vnshorne lift vp for ioy their voices to the stars,
The rocks themselues, the very groues [for ioy] sound out their songs,
A god is Daphnis [doubtlesse] he O Menalc is a god.
O Daphnis O be good and kind and gratious vnto thine;
Behold foure altars, two for thee O Daphnis, and for Phebe
Two other altars. I will dresse and readie make for thee
Yerely two pots both foming [full] of new milke [to the brim,]
And two kans full of good fat oile; and being merry I
Will make thee bankets first of all, with much wine [thervnto,]
Before the fire if it be cold, if hot then in the shade,
And I will poure out quaffing cups of malmsey wines [which are]
New [strange and passing pleasant drinks] like ippocrasse in tast.
Damet and Ægon he of Creet shall sing songs vnto me,
Alphesibey shall counterfeit the dansing satyrs too;
These [duties] euer shalbe done to thee [for honors sake:]
And when we shall restore and pay the nymphs our woonted vowes,
And when we shall deuoutly view and go about the feelds,
Whiles bore shall loue the tops of hils, or fish the riuers [streames]
Whiles bees shall feed of thyme and grashoppers of [heauenly] deaw,
Thy honor, name, and praises shall for euermore remaine:
To thee shall husbandmen [and all that dwell in countrie soile]
Make vowes, as vnto Bacchus and to Ceres [they do vse]
And thou shalt charge them with their vowes [in binding them to pay.]

Mop.
What gifts, what gifts for such a song shall I bestow on thee?
For neither doth the blast of sow-therne wind when as it coms,
Nor watershores and banks [bedasht] and beaten with the flouds,
Nor streames which downward run among the vallies full of stones,
So much delight and please me [as the song which thou hast soong.]

Me.
We will bestow vpon thee first this brittle pipe; this pipe
Taught vs, the shepheard Corydon did loue Alexis faire,
The same taught vs, whose beasts be these, are they Melibs or no?

Mo.
But Menalc take thou here my shep-heards staffe, which Antigen
When oft he vrgde the same of me, yet had it not away,
(And yet at that time Antigen was worthie to be loued)
My trim faire staffe with euen knots and [shepheards] hooke of brasse.

The sixt Eclog conteineth a sonnet or song of Silenus, by whom is meant the poet Virgill himselfe.

The onely speaker in this eclog is the poet himselfe.
Our muse Thalia first of all vouchsafed hath to play
In verse of Siracuse and hath not blusht to dwell in woods:
When as I sang of kings and wars, Apollo pluckt mine eare,
And warned me, O Tityrus a shepheard it behooues
To feed his fattie sheepe, and sing a base and homely song.
O Vare now will I exercise and play a countrie tune,
Upon a slender [pipe of] reed, for thou shalt haue enow
To tell thy praises, and to make [bookes of] thy battels [fought]
I do not sing vnbidden things: but yet if any bee,
If any be taken with loue, these base songs let him read,
O Vare our shrubs shall sing of thee, and so shall euery wood,
Ne shall there any booke more pleasing be to mighty Phebe,
Than is the same which written hath it selfe the name of Vare.
O muses you of hier mount proceed; Chrome and Mnasil
The boies saw Silen lie asleepe in caue, his veins puft vp
With [swilling] wine but yesterday, as alwaies he is woont,
His garlands only fallen from his head did lie far off,
And neere him hoong a mightie kan with eare [or handle] worne,
These boies setting on Silen cast vpon him binding bands,
Made of the very garlands, for old Silen oftentimes
Had both these boies beguiled with [vaine] hope of [promis'd] song,
Ægle the fair'st of waternymphs hir selfe companion ioind,
And commeth in the nicke [to helpe and succour] them afraid.
Ægle she paints old Silens browes, and temples of his head,
With bloudie [colour] mulberries, he being now awake,
And laughing at the subtill iest said [to them] To what end
Knit you these knots and bands; O boies loose me, it is ynough
That I could haue beene seene of you [being seene but when I list:]
Know songs of me now what you will, songs to you [I will sing]
[But] to this Ægle shalbe [giuen] another [due] reward:
And herewithall old Silen doth begin himselfe to sing.
Now truly then thou mightst behold the Fauns and beasts so wild,
To play and skip, to leape and danse in number and in time,
Stiffe okes also full oft to moue [and shake] their tops aloft,
Parnassus hill doth not so much delight and ioy in Phebe,
Nor Rhodope and Ismarus [two hils which be in Thrace]
Do not so greatly muse and mar-uell at the [songs] of Orph,
As all the world reioiseth [whiles old] Silen is a singing.
For he did sing how seeds [and first beginnings] of the earth,
Of aire and sea and fire so cleere, were made and wrought together,
All in a great and emptie space; and how that euery thing
[Tooke their] beginnings from these first [foure elements also,]
And how the weake and tender globe of all the world [so round]
Grew fast and strong in euery part; then how the earth began
To harden, and to separat god Nereus from the sea,
Also to take the shapes of things, by little and by little,
And how the earth amazd did muse at the new sun to shine,
And shewrs of raine fall downe from clouds remou'd [or drawne aloft]
When as the woods began to rise, and cattell but a few
Went straieng ouer hils vnknowne: [then Silen] after this
Doth shew of stones by Pyrrha cast, and Saturns kingdome too,
And herevpon [he shews] of men the generation, and
The first beginnings of all things; the birds of Caucas hill,
The theft of Prometh, vnto these he ioins [the tale of Hyle,]
As in what sea the mariners cald Hyla left behind,
That all the shore [with eccho lowd] did Hyla Hyla sound.
And Silen also with the loue of heifer white as snow
Doth comfort Pasiph, happie she if buls had neuer beene,
Alacke [Pasiph] vnhappy wench, what madnesse thee hath caught?
King Pretus daughter fild the fields with mowings like to kine,
And yet none of them followed such filthy lusts of beasts,
Although [some one of them] had feard the plow vpon hir necke,
And often sought in forhed smooth for horns [and yet had none.]
Alacke Pasiph vnhappy wench thou wandrest now on hils,
That bull [whose] side is vndershord with lillies red doth chew
Pale hearbs vnder a blackish holme [blacke in respect of shade:]
Or else some cow he followeth in some great flocke or heard.
O you the nymphs of Dicte mount, and you the nymphs of woods,
Close in the vplands of your woods, if any where perhaps
The straieng steps of this same bull vpon the way should beare
Themselues vnto your eyes [if them it be your chanse to see.]
Some kine will peraduenture bring him vnto Gortyn stals,
Delighted with the grasse so greene, or following of the heard.
Then Silen sings how Atalant that wench did woonder at
The apples of Hesperides, and compasseth about
The sisters of [fond] Phaeton with mosse of bitter barke,
And lifts them vp out of the ground turnd into alntrees tall.
Then sings he how one of the si-sters brought to Æon hils,
[The poet] Gallus wandering to Permessus running streames,
And how all Phebus company rose vp vnto the man,
How Line the shepheard hauing [then] his hairs bedeckt with flours,
And bitter smalage said to him these words in heauenly song:
The muses giue thee these same pipes (lo take them) which said pipes
They gaue a good while since vnto th' old man of Ascra towne,
Wherewith he was accustomed by singing to bring downe
Stiffe ashtrees from the mounteins: let the first beginning too
Of Griney wood be told of thee, that there may be no woods
Whereof Apollo more might vaunt and boast [so much as this.]
What should I speake rather of Scil-la the king Nisus daughter,
Or [of that Scilla] whom report hath followed [saieng that]
She hauing hir white priuie parts beset with barking monsters,
Tormented Dulichs ships, and rent with cur-dogs of the sea
The fearfull seamen [out alas] in gulfe profound and deepe,
Or how he told vs of the lims of Terey, which were turnd
[Into a bird] what deinty meats, what gifts [faire] Philomel
Made redy for him, and what course he tooke to wildernesse,
And with what wings [vnlucky man] he fled ouer his house.
Silen doth sing of euery thing, which blessed Eurot heard
Apollo sometime exercise, and bade the baytrees by
To learne [those songs] the vallies low being beaten with the sound
Do beare it vp vnto the stars, vntill he had [the boies]
Put vp the sheepe into the folds, and tell their number too;
And [then] the euening star came foorth against the will of heauen.

The seuenth Eclog: intituled Melibeus.

[_]

Speakers' names in this text have been abbreviated. They are as follows:

• For Me. read Melibey;
• For Co. read Corydon;
• For Th. read Thyris.

The speakers in this eclog, are Melibey, Corydon, and Thyrsis
Melibeus.
Daphnis by [good] hap sat [him] downe vnder a whizzing holme,
And Corydon with Thyrsis droue their flocks all to one [place,]
Thyrsis his sheepe, & Corydon his gotes [well] stuft with milke,
Both flourishing in age [I meane both in their youthfull yeares]
Arcadians both, and equall [youths] to pipe [to play] and sing,
And redie [both] to answer [such as challeng'd them therein,]
Whiles I do fense my tender trees of myrtle from the cold,
The gote himselfe of all the flocke the husband and the man,
Came hither straieng downe, and I looke Daphnis full vpon
[To helpe me] and when he againe did see me, quicke he spake;
Come hither Melibey thy gote is safe, so are thy kids:
And if thou canst stay any whit [then] rest thee in the shade,
The bullocks they will hither come ouer the meads to drinke,
Here Mincius greene hath hid the banks with weake and tender reeds.
What should I do? I neither had [the wench] Alcippe by,
Nor Phyllis, who might haue shut vp at home [in house] my lambs
Put from their milk [weand from their dams] & Corydon had [in hand]
A great contention [and a match to trie] with Thyrsis [then:]
Yet did I lesse regard mine ear-nest businesse than their play,
Therefore they both began to striue with songs avy [by course:]
The muses would haue them record [their musicke] both by turns.
These Corydon in order, and those Thyrsis did rehearse.

Co.
O nymphs [named] Libethrides, our loue, grant vnto me
Such songs as to my Codrus [you vouchsaft to giue and graunt,]
He makes the very next [and like] to Phebus verses [fine]
Or if we cannot all make such] then shall our whistle shrill
[Our pipe whereon we play] be hangd here on this holy pine.

Th.
O shepheards you of Arcadie, with iuie decke your port,
That Codrus guts may bursten be, for very spite and enuy,
Or if he shall [this poet praise too much] beyond our liking,
Then compasse you my browes about with [flours of] ladies gloues,
Least euill toong should do me hurt, which shall a poet be.

Cor.
O thou [Diana] Delia [calld] Micon the little youth
Doth giue to thee the head of this [same stiffe and] bristlie bore,
And branched horns of long liu'd stag if this may be mine owne.
Thou shalt stand whole of marble smooth, being braste about the legs
With buskins [braue] of purple hew [or colour plesant red.]

Th.
O Priap thou, it is enough for thee to looke [and haue
Of vs] a boll of milke, and yeare by yeare these [baked] cakes,
[Bicause] thou art the keeper of a poore [and simple] garden:
We haue thee now of marble made, according to the time,
But if so bee that bringing foorth of yoong ones doo increase
And fill our flocke [with store] then be thou [Priap] all of gold.

Cor.
O Galath [milke white] nimph & daugh-ter vnto Nereus too
More sweet and sauourie to me than hony of Hibla hill
More white than swans, more faire [and fine] than iuy [berries] white,
So soone as being fed the bulls shall home returne to stalls.
Then come thou too, if any care of Coridon possesse thee.

Th.
Nay rather let me seeme to thee more bitter than the herbs
That spring vp in Sardinia soile, more rough [and woorse to handle]
Than is [the shrub calld] butchers broome, more vile [& lesse esteemd]
Than weeds cast vp [to shore by sea] if that this [present] day,
Be not alredy longer than a whole yeare vnto me:
O bullockes fed enough, go home, if you haue any shame.

Cor.
O mossie springs and thou O grasse most soft to sleepe vpon,
And thou greene wilding tree which with a shadow thin doth hide you,
Keepe off from cattell summer heate, now scortching summer coms,
And buds swell now in branches ranke [of vine to bring foorth grapes.]

Th.
Heere is a herth & gummy wood, heer's fire good store alwaies,
The posts are blacke with daily soote: heere we as much doo care
For northerne winde, as doth the woolfe [take care] for count of sheepe,
O streaming flouds and riuers care for [washing of] their banks.

Cor.
The iunipers stand [full of frute] the chestnuts heary rough,
And vnder trees their scatred frute all sorts lie euery where,
Now all things laugh: but if Alex-is faire should from these hills
Depart and go, then shouldst thou see the riuers dried vp.

Th.
The field is dry [& parcht with heat,] the grasse a thirst is dieng,
Through fault of aire [corrupt] and Bachus he doth pine and grudge
The hills his branches bearing grapes: greene euery wood shall grow,
At comming of our Phillis, and sweet wholsome aire good store
Shall then come downe with merry shoures [of comfortable raine.]

Cor.
The Poplar is best pleasing tree to Alcide [Hercules]
The Uine to Bacchus, vnto faire Venus the myrtle tree,
The baytree vnto Phebus, and Phillis dooth loue the hazels;
Whiles Phillis loues them, neither shall the mirtle nor the bay
Of Phebus passe the hazell tree [in estimation.]

Th.
In woods the ash is fairest tree, in gar-dens [sweete] the pine,
In riuers [cleere] the poplar tree, in mounteines high the firr,
But Lycida faire [youth] if thou wouldst oftentimes me see,
The ash in woods, the pine in gar-dens shall giue place to thee.

Me.
I well remember these same songs [soong Corydon & Thyrse]
And Thirses being ouermatcht did striue but all in vaine:
Since that time Corydon thou art calld noble Corydon.

The eight Eclog intituled Pharmaceutria.

[_]

Speakers' names in this text have been abbreviated. They are as follows:

• For Da. read Damon;
• For Alp. read Alphesibey.

To Augustus, the complaint of a louer, and Pharmaceutria: the speakers Damon and Alphesibey
Da.
O lucifer [bright morning star] arise and comming now
Before the comfortable day, draw on and set it forward,
Whiles I beguilde with loue vnkind of Nisa she my wife
Complaine, and dieng call vpon the gods in my last houre,
Although I nothing prouūted by witnesse theirs to me
O pipe begin Menalian songs, begin with me to sing.
Mount Menalus hath euermore a shrill and whizzing wood,
And speaking pinetrees, euermore it heareth shepherds loues,
Yea Pan, who was the very first that would not suffer reeds
to be vnskilfull [but of them did make most cunning pipes:]
O Pipe begin Menalian songs, begin with me to sing.
Nisa that wench is giuen away to Mops [a fowle faste man]
What should we not [poore] louers hope [or rather feare] will bee,
Now griffins shalbe ioynd [in loue] with horses, and in times
And ages following fearefull deers shall come with dogs to drinke:
O Mopsus cut new gummy sticks, now thou doost wed a wife,
And maried man cast nuts abrode; the euening star hath left.
[The mountaine] Oeta for thy sake, [thy wished night is come:]
O pipe begin Menalian songs, begin with me to sing.
O Nisa coupled to a man [worthy of such a wife]
Whilst thou despisest all but him, and whiles my pipe in hate
[And foule disfauour] is with thee, and whiles my silly gotes,
Mine eybrews hearie rough [beeside] my beard growne in length,
[Are almost irksome vnto thee;] Ne doost thou yet beleeue
That any god regards or cares for things of mortall men:
O Pipe begin Menalian songs, begin with me to sing.
I haue thee seene a little one [and] gathering frute bedewd
Within our gardens hedgd about, thy mother then with thee,
I was your guide, and [of mine age] the second yeere to eleuen,
[My thirteenth yeere] had then begun, and I could reach and touch
The brittle boughs, vpon the ground [as on my feet I stood;]
So soone as I [thy face] had seene, oh how I was vndoone;
Oh how ill error [raging loue] hath carried me away;
O Pipe begin Menalian songs, begin with me to sing.
Now doo I know [by triall true] what [cruell] thing loue is,
The hill Ismar or Rhodope, th' vnciuill garamants,
Are furthest [proofe of all the world, in Afrike which doo dwell]
Breed and bring foorth that boy among the hard and stonie rocks,
[A boy] not of our kind and bloud [but of another nature:]
O Pipe begin Menalian songs, begin with me to sing.
Curst loue and cruell taught a mo-ther [she Medea cald]
All to defile her hands with bloud of her owne naturall sonne;
Thou also cruell mother wast: but heere a question growes,]
Whether the mother or the naugh-tie boy more cruell were?
That naughtie boy he cruell was, so cruell mother thou:
O Pipe begin Menalian songs, begin with me to sing.
Now let the woolfe of one accord depart and void from sheepe,
Now let hard okes beare apples [faire of yellow hew] like gold,
Let alnetree bloome and flourish with narcisse or daffodily,
Let shrubs [and bushes] at their barks sweat gummy amber out,
Let owles contend and striue in song with swans [Apollos birds]
Let Tytyrus be Orpheus now, yea Orpheus in the woods,
And [braue] Arion [musicks pearle] among the dolphins too:
O pipe begin Menalian songs, begin with me to sing.
Let all things be the midst of sea [as therewith ouerflowne]
O woods farwell and liue [for] I will hedlong downe be throwne
Into the water from the view of mounteine high in th' aire;
O Nisa take and haue this gift, the last of me now dieng:
O pipe leaue of Menalian songs now ceasse and leaue them off.
These songs soong Damon, O Pie-rides you muses shew
What answered Alphesibey? we cannot all [do] all.
Alp Bring water foorth, and bind with fillets soft these altars round
Burne veruine fat and full of iuice, and frankincense the best,
That I may try to turne away the right wits of my husband
With sacrifices magicall [of witchcraft] and inchantment;
Nothing is wanting now but charms [which woonders great do worke]
O you my charms bring Daphnis from the town, bring Daphnis home.
Charms able are from heauen high to fetch the moone adowne,
With charms did Circe turne and change Vlisses fellowes [shapes]
With charming is the snake so cold in medowes burst to peeces:
O you my charms bring Daphnis from the town, bring Daphnis home.
I twist for thee euen first of all these threeds [in number] three,
In colour threefold differing, and thrise about these altars
I draw thy liuely counterfet: God ioies in number od:
O you my charms bring Daphnis from the town, bring Daphnis home.
O Amaryll knit in three knots those [twisted] colours three,
O Amaryll knit by and by, and say I knit the knots
Of Venus [to procure and cause kindnesse and loue againe:]
O you my charms bring Daphnis from the town, bring Daphnis home.
As this same durt doth harden, and this same wax doth soften,
With one and selfe same [heat of] fire, so Daphnis with our loue;
Cast meale abrode, and brittle baies with brimstone set on fire,
That naughty Daphnis burneth me, on him this bay I'le burne:
O you my charms bring Daphnis from the town, bring Daphnis home.
Let such loue hold [and full possesse] Daphnis, as when a cow
Lustie and yoong being wearie made with seeking of a bull,
Through woods and groues [now vp now downe, at last] doth lie along
Upon the grasse so greene hard by a spring of water [cleere]
Undone [and cast away with loue] ne doth remember [once]
Thense to depart, and go away from late [and darksome] night,
Let such loue haue Daphnis in hold, ne care in me to heale him.
O you my charms bring Daphnis frō the towne, bring Daphnis home.
That faithlesse Daphnis left me once these garments [from his backe,]
Which might be pledges deere of him [and tokens of remembrance,]
Which pledges I betake to thee O earth now at mine entrance
[Into my house,] these pledges shall [bring] Daphnis [backe to me:]
O you my charms bring Daphnis from the town, bring Daphnis home
One Meris he gaue me these hearbs, and these same poisons too,
Which gathered were in Pontus [sea] for me [and my behoofe]
Great plenty of them grow in Pont. I oftentimes haue seene
Meris become a woolfe with these, and hide himselfe in woods,
To raise vp souls out of their graues full many a time and oft,
And I haue seene Meris remoue and carrie corne new sowne
From one field to another, [and all by these hearbs effect:]
O you my charms bring Daphnis frō the towne, bring Daphnis home.
O Amaryll bring ashes out, and cast them ouer head
Into the flowing riuer, I will Daphnis set vpon
With these same ashes, nothing he doth care for gods ne charms,
O you my charms bring Daphnis frō the towne, bring Daphnis home.
Behold and see the ashes haue caught hold vpon the altars,
With trembling flames of owne accord, while I prolong the time
To carry them; good lucke may't be, I know not what it is,
And Hylax now our bandog-barks, euen at the entry doore,
May we beleeue [Daphnis is come?] or else that such as loue,
Doo faine but dreams vnto themselues [things neither so nor so:]
Cease O my charms, Daphnis is come out of the towne, now cease.

The ninth Eclog: intituled Meris.

[_]

Speakers' names in this text have been abbreviated. They are as follows:

• For Me. read Meris;
• For Ly. read Lycidas.

The speakers are Lycidas and Meris.
Lycidas.
O Meris whither [tread] thy feet? the way that leads to towne?

Me.
O Lycid we aliue are come [to this vnhappy time]
(Which we did neuer fear or doubt) that euen a stranger [meere]
[Made] owner of our little land, may say These [goods] are mine,
Depart, be gone you dwellers old. Now we quite ouercome
And sad do send that owner [who possesseth all our grounds]
These kids [as gift] which would to God may turne him to no good,
Sith lucke and lot turns vpside downe, all things [that worldly be.]

Ly.
Truly I heare [reported that] your friend Menalcas saued
By verses [which this man hath made, his lands and liuings] all
[Lieng and being there] whereas the mountains do begin
To shrinke and to remoue themselues, and downward bow their tops
With soft [and easie] banke [to clime] as far as Mincius riuer,
And broken tops of beeches old [now very much decaid.]

Me.
O Lycid thus thou heardst, and so the fame and rumor was,
But yet our verses do so much preuaile among the wars,
As doues of Chaon (do men say) when as the eagle coms.
And if so be the lefthand crow had warned me before
From hollow holme to [put away] new strifes and cut them off,
By any kind of means; ne this thy Meris should haue liued,
Nor Menalc neither [I and he had both of vs beene slaine.]

Ly.
Alacke, and can so foule a deed befall to any man?
Alacke Menalc, and should thy ioies [thy verses sweet and fine]
Haue welnigh with thy selfe from vs beene snatcht perforce away?
Who then should sing of nymphs? who thē should spred the ground with flours?
Or who should couer watersprings wt shade [of trees so] green?
Or [who should sing the verses] which I stole of late from thee
Holding my peace, when as thou went'st to Amaryll our ioy?
O Tityr feed my gotes till I come backe, my way is short,
And being fed, driue them to drinke, and Tityr in their driuing
Take heed to meet the maistergote, he striketh with his horns.

Me.
Nay then who should these sonnets sing, which Menalc he himself
Did sing to Vare, not perfect yet, O Vare the singing swans
Thy name shall beare aloft to stars [conditionally] so that
Our [citie] Mantua may remaine for vs [therein to dwell:]
Our Mantua too too neere alacke, to wretched Cremon towne.

Ly.
O Mere begin [to sing] if thou haue any [song in store]
So let thy swarms of bees auoid the yewghs of Cirnos Ile.
So let thy kine with cithyse fed their vdders stuffe [with milke:]
And the Pierides also haue me a poet made,
I likewise verses haue and songs, and shepherds say also
That I a poet am, but yet I doo them not beleeue,
For neither seeme I songs to sing worthie of Vare or Cinna,
But all among the swans shrill to gaggle like a goose.

Me.
I doo the same in very deede [prepare my selfe to sing]
And with my selfe holding my peace I thinke vpon [a song]
If I, O Lycid, able were to call it vnto mind,
It is a song none of the ba-sest [but the very best.]
O Galath hither come, for what pastime is in the waters?
Here is the purple flouring spring, here doth the ground affoord
Flours sundrie sorts all round about the riuers [which do grow]
The poplar white here ouerhangs the caue, and bending vines
Do shadie places weaue and wind [with spreading of their branches:]
Come hither Galath, let the flouds outragious smite the shores.

Ly.
What [saist thou of those songs] which I heard thee singing alone
Upon an euening faire and bright? the tune I do remember,
If that I knew the words [the note I haue but not the dittie.]

Me.
O Daphnis why beholdest thou th' old risings of the signs?
Lo Cæsar, Dioneus star is come abrode [and shines,]
The star wherby all seeds would ioy in [bringing foorth of] frute,
Whereby also the grapes would draw a colour vnto them,
On hils [which] warme and open [lie against the shining sunne:]
O Daphnis graft thou peartrees now, thine heirs shall crop the frute,
Age taketh all things quite away, yea mind and memorie too.
I [well] remember when I was a boy, full oft I made
Long sunnie daies with singing [then whole daies I spent in songs,]
Now are so many songs forgot, and Meris voice doth faile him,
The woolues spide Meris first [and so they tooke away my speech:]
But yet these songs shall Menalc oft ynough rehearse to thee.

Ly.
O Meris in excusing thee, thou doost prolong our loues,
Now euery sea being still and calme doth hold his peace for thee,
And (see) all blasts of windie noise are falne [and quite alaid]
Our midway this [to Mantua] is from this place where we be,
For why the toome of Bianor [the builder of that citie]
Begins t'appeare. O Meris here let vs twaine sing [and pipe]
Euen here where husbandmen do lop and cut down boughs so thicke,
Heere lay thou downe thy kids [awhile] yet shall we [time enough]
Come to the citie [Mantua] or if so be we doubt
Least that the night should gather raine before [we thether reach,]
Let vs go sluging thorough quite, the way wil hurt vs lesse.
And that we may go singing, I will ease thee of this lode.

Me
O youth leaue off & cease [to moue] more matters at this time]
And let vs doo that businesse first which stands vs now in hand,
Then may we better sing when as Menalc himselfe is come.

The tenth and last Eclog of the mad loue of Cornelius Gallus.

In this eclog the poet Virgill himselfe is the onely speaker.
O Arethus [thou nimphe] grant me this labour last [of mine,]
Uerses a few are to be said of Gallus my [good freend,]
But which [said] verses let Lico-ris read hir selfe [also,]
Uerses [and songs] are to be said; who would denie to Gall
Uerses? nay then who would not write verses vnto his praise?]
[O Arethuse] begin [to sing.] So bitter Doris she,
Let hir not mix with thee hir streames, when thou shalt eb and flow
Under the flouds of sicill sea. [now] let vs chant and sing
The carefull loues of Gall, whiles that the litle flat nozde gotes
Shall crop and nip the tender twigs: we sing not to the deafe,
The woods doo answere euery thing [with sound of eccho shrill,]
O wenches you the Naiades, what woods, what groues held you?
[Where were you] when as Gall did pe-rish by disdainfull loue?
For neither any tops of [high] Parnassus hill, nor yet
Of Pindus [mount] made any stay [ne caused you to tarry,]
Nor Aganippe [spring which is with] in Aonia [land]
[Could make you stay,] yea euen the bayes beewaild & mon'd my Gall,
So did the shrubs and bushes lowe, so did the Menal mount,
Which beareth pinetrees, so likewise the very rocks and stones
Of Licey [mounteine] cold bewaile [and lamentably moorne]
For Gallus being vnderneath a solitarie rocke,
And round about him stand the sheepe ne shames at them of vs,
Nor let it shame thee poet great of cattell and of sheepe,
For faire Adonis fed [and gra-sed] sheepe by riuers [side,]
And shepheads too with swine herds slow came [to the poet Gall,]
Menalcas also wringing wet with [gathering] winter akorns,
All [these] after Gall from whense this loue [extreame of his should be.]
Apollo came himselfe and said, what Gallus art thou mad?
Lycoris all thy care and ioy doth follow another man,
Through [frost and] snow and dredfull campe [or tents of soldiers stout.]
Syluanus too with countrie pompe and honor on his head,
[A garland made of flours and leaues] came also vnto Gall,
Shaking his flouring feruls and his lilles [faire and] great.
God Pan of Arcadie he came, whom we saw [coloured] red
With bloudie berries of ebull tree, and also vermilion,
And [Pan] said vnto Gall, what mea-sure [or what end] shalbe
[Of this thy sadnes?] loue regards ne cares for such [behauiors,]
Neither is cruell loue content or satisfide with teares,
Nor grasse with riuers [watring them,] nor bees with cytise [flours]
Nor little shee gooes with the leaues [and tender sprigs of trees:]
But he pensife and sad dooth say, o you Arcadians [all,]
Who are alone the cunning men to sing [my wretched case]
O then how soft [and all at ease] my bone should take their rest,
If that your pipe hereafter shall report these loues of mine:
And would to god I had beene one of you, and eeke had beene
Either the keeper of your flocks, or dresser of [your vines,]
Or gatherer of your grapes full ripe, then truly whether shee,
Phillis, had beene my [louer deere,] or Amint [my delight]
Or any other raging loue (what then, if Amint bee
Both blacke [and swart] so violets and vaccins too are blacke:)
Yet Amint he should lie with me among the willow trees.
Under the limber bending vines [neere Mantua which doo grow:]
Phillis should gather garland floures, and Amint he should sing.
Heere o Lycoris [louer mine] are water springs so coole,
And heere be medows soft [with grasse,] heere also is a wood,
Heere would I wasted be with age, [and spend my life] with thee,
New raging loue keeps me in armes of hard [and warlike] Mars,
Among the midst of weapons, and of foes against vs [bent.]
Alacke Lycoris thou art far away from country thine,
And all alone without me thou hard [wench] doost see the snow
Of Alpine [hills] and [feel'st] the cold-nesse of the [riuer] Rhene,
(Ne could I credit or beleeue a thing so great and strange)
Alacke Lycoris [o beware] least coldnesse doo the hurt,
Alacke Licoris least sharpe yse doo cut thy tender feete.
I will be gone and exercise, [or play] vpon the pipe
Of the sicilian shepherd, [who had Theocrit to name,]
Songs made by me in Calcid verse, [in old Zuphorions verse,
A poet borne in a Chalcis towne within the ile of Greece.]
It is decreed and purposed of me to suffer rather
[This miserie] in woods amoong the dens of beastes so wilde,
And graue in tender trees my bones; these trees shall spring and grow,
And you my [raging] loues [with them] shall likewise spring and grow.
In the meane time about the mount of Menal I will walke,
Mingled [and well accompanied] with nimphs [which there doo keepe]
Or I will hunt the bores so wilde, no cold shall me forbid.
[Ne let or hinder me] to com-passe round about with dogs
The woods vpon Parthenius hill. I seeme now to my selfe
To go through rocks and sounding woods, it is my pleasure too.
Out of a Parthian [bowe, at th' ends which tipped is with] horne
To shoot Cydonian arrows [swift,] as if so be this were
The medcine of our raging loue; or else [that Cupid hee]
That god may learne in mens mishaps [ah] gentle to become,
Those [nimphs] the Hamadryades [which liue and die with trees,
And cheefly with the okes] doo no-thing please me now againe,
No not my songs themselues: o woods remoue you hense againe,
Our labours cannot change ne turne [Cupid] that god [of loue,]
No not if Hebeus floud we should drinke vp amidst the cold,
Or go and suffer scythian snows of watrie winter season,
Nor if we should [in feeding] shift the sheepe of Æthiops [blacke]
Under the star of Cancer; when the barke in elmetree high
Dieng [with scortching heat of sun] doth dry and parch away.
Loue ouercommeth euery thing, and let vs yeeld to loue.
O [ladies] you Pierides, it shalbe [now] enough
That [I] your poet [Virgill] haue these [foresaid sonnete] soong,
Whiles he sits still, and [also] makes a little mawnd or basket
Of slender twigs [or ozier rods O you] Pierides
These songs you most shall make to Gall; to Gall, the loue of whome
Growes euery houre so much in me, as in the spring time fresh
The alnetree greene shoots vp itselfe [in tallnesse and in hight.
But let vs rise, the shade is woont to singers to be hurtfull,
The shadow of the iuniper is noisome, and to frute
The shadowes also do much harme: O you my little gotes
Full fed go home, the euening comes, my little gotes go home.