The Idylliums of Theocritus :: :: University of Virginia Library

A contest in singing, between the shepherd Menalcas and the neatherd Daphnis, is related; a goatherd is chosen judge; they stake down their pastoral pipes as the reward of victory; the prize is decreed to Daphnis. In this Idyllium, as in the fifth, the second speaker seems to follow the turn of thought used by the first. Dr. Spence observes, there are persons in Italy, and particularly in Tuscany, named Improvisatori, who are like the shepherds in Theocritus, surprisingly ready at their answers, respondere parati, and go on speech for speech alternately, alternis dicetis, amant alterna camenæ. This Idyllium is addressed to his friend Diophantus.

Daphnis, Menalcas, Goatherd,

Dear Diophantus, some few days ago,
Menalcas, on the mountain's breezy brow,

By chance met Daphnis bonny, blithe, and fair;
This fed his herds, and that his fleecy care.
Both grac'd with golden tresses, both were young,
Both sweetly pip'd, and both melodious sung:
Then first Menalcas, with complacent look,
Survey'd the master of the herd, and spoke:

MENALCAS.
Daphnis, thou keeper of the bellowing kine!
Wilt thou to me the palm of song resign?
Or try thy skill, and then thy master own?
Thus Daphnis answer'd:

DAPHNIS.
Thou sheep-tending clown,
Poor-piping shepherd! sing'st thou e'er so well,
Thou can'st not Daphnis at the song excell.

MENALCAS.
Stake then some wager; let us trial make:

DAPHNIS.
I'll make the trial, and the wager stake.

MENALCAS.
What shall we lay, to equal our renown?

DAPHNIS.
I'll lay a calf, and thou a lamb full-grown.

MENALCAS.
A lamb I dare not; for my parents keep
Strict watch, and every evening count my sheep.

DAPHNIS.
What wilt thou stake? and what the victor's gains?

MENALCAS.
A pipe I form'd, of nine unequal strains,

Sweet-ton'd, with whitest wax compacted tight;
This, this I'll stake—but not my parent's right.

DAPHNIS.
And I have one of nine unequal strains,
Sweet-ton'd, and wax'd throughout with nicest pains,
Which late I made; ev'n now my finger bleeds,
Sore wounded by a splinter of the reeds.
Who shall decide the honours of the day?

MENALCAS.
Yon goatherd, let him judge the vocal lay;
Our dog barks at him—call—the man is near:
The shepherds call'd, the goatherd came to hear:
The last decided, while the former sung.
Menalcas first essay'd his tuneful tongue:
Thus in alternate strains the contest ran,
Daphnis reply'd—Menalcas first began;

MENALCAS.
Ye vales, ye streams, from source celestial sprung,
If e'er Menalcas sweetly pip'd or sung,
Feed well my lambs, and if my Daphnis need
Your flowery herbage, let his heifers feed.

DAPHNIS.
Fountains and herbs, rich pasturage, if e'er
Sung Daphnis meet for nightingales to hear,
Fatten my herds; if to these meadows fair
Menalcas drives, O feed his fleecy care.

MENALCAS.
When here my fair one comes, Spring smiles around,
Meads flourish, and the teats with milk abound,
My lambs grow fat; if she no longer stay,
Parch'd are the meads, the shepherd pines away.

DAPHNIS.
Where Milo walks, the flower-enamour'd bees
Work food nectareous, taller are the trees,

The goats bear twins; if he no longer stay,
The herdsman withers, and the herds decay.

MENALCAS.
O goat, the husband of the white-hair'd flock!
Drink at the shady fount by yonder rock,
'Tis there he lives; and let young Milo know,
Proteus fed sea-calves in the deep below.

DAPHNIS.
Not Pelops' lands, not Crœsus' wealth excite
My wish, nor speed to match the winds in flight;
But in yon cave to caroll with my friend,
And view the ocean while our flocks we tend.

MENALCAS.

To teats the drought, to birds the snare, the wind
To trees, and toils are fatal to the hind;
To man the virgin's scorn. O, father Jove!
Thou too hast languish'd with the pains of love.

Thus in alternate strains the contest ran,
And thus Menalcas his last lay began:
“Wolf, spare my kids, my young and tender sheep;
Though low my lot, a numerous flock I keep.
Rouse, Lightfoot, rouse from indolence profound;
Ill fits a shepherd's dog to sleep so sound.
Fear not, my sheep, to crop the verdant plain;
The pastur'd herbage soon will grow again:
Feed well, and fill your udders in the vale,
And when my lambs have suckled, fill the pail.”

“He sung, and Daphnis sweetly thus reply'd:
Me, from her grot, a lovely nymph espy'd,
As late I drove my cattle cross the plain;
A long, long look she cast, and call'd me handsome swain.
I answer'd not, but, as in thought profound,
Pursued my road, with eyes upon the ground.
The heifer sweetly breathes, and sweetly lows,
Sweet is the bullock's voice, and sweet the cow's:
'Tis passing sweet to lie by murmuring streams,
And waste long summer-days in gentle dreams.
On oaks smooth acorns ornamental grow,
And golden apples on the pippen glow;
Calves grace the cows, light-skipping on the plain,
And lusty cows commend the careful swain.”
They sung; the goatherd thus:

GOATHERD.

Thy verse appears
So sweet, O Daphnis! to my ravish'd ears,

More pleasing far thy charming voice to me
Than to my taste the nectar of the bee.
Receive these pipes, the victor's rightful meed:
And would'st thou teach me, while my kids I feed,
This goat rewards thy pains, that never fails
Each morn to fill the largest of my pails.
As skips the fawn her mother doe around,
So Daphnis leap'd for joy, and dancing beat the ground:
As grieve new-married maids their sires to leave,
So, deeply sighing, did Menalcas grieve.

Since that time, Daphnis, chief of shepherd-swains,
Daphnis supreme without a rival reigns:
And, to complete his happiness, he led
The blooming Naïs to his nuptial bed.