English

IDYLL XV

The F ESTIVAL OF A DONIS

Gorgo

P RAXINOÄ in?
Praxinoä . Yes, Gorgo dear! At last!
That you're here now's a marvel! See to a chair,
A cushion, Eunoä!
Gorgo . I lack naught
Praxinoä . Sit down
Gorgo . Oh, what a thing is spirit! Here I am,
Praxinoä, safe at last from all that crowd
And all those chariots — every street a mass

IDYLL XIV

THE Love OF Æ SHINES

Thyonichus Æschines

Æschines

H AIL , sir Thyonichus
Thyonichus . Æschines, to you.
Æschines . I have missed thee
Thyonichus . Missed me! Why what ails him now?
Æschines . My friend, I am ill at ease.
Thyonichus . Then this explains
Thy leanness, and thy prodigal moustache

IDYLL XIII

H YLAS

Not for us only, Nicias, (vain the dream,)
Sprung from what god soe'er, was Eros born:
Not to us only grace doth graceful seem,
Frail things who wot not of the coming morn.
No — for Amphitryon's iron hearted son,
Who braved the lion, was the slave of one: —

A fair curled creature, Hylas was his name.
He taught him, as a father might his child,

IDYLL XII

The C OMRADES

T HOU art come, lad, come! Scarce thrice hath dusk today
Given place — but lovers in an hour grow gray
As spring's more sweet than winter, grapes than thorns,
The ewe's fleece richer than her latest born's;
As young girls' charms the thrice wed wife's outshine,
As fawns are lither than the ungainly kine,
Or as the nightingale's clear notes outvie
The mingled music of all birds that fly;
So at thy coming passing glad was I.

IDYLL XI

The G IANT'S W OOING

M ETHINKS all nature hath no cure for Love,
Plaster or unguent, Nicias, saving one;
And this is light and pleasant to a man,
Yet hard withal to compass — minstrelsy
As well thou wottest, being thyself a leech,
And a prime favourite of those Sisters nine.
'Twas thus our Giant lived a life of ease,
Old Polyphemus, when, the down scarce seen
On lip and chin, he wooed his ocean nymph:
No curlypated rose and apple wooer,

IDYLL X

The T WO W ORKMEN

Milo. Battus.

W HAT now, poor o'erworked drudge, is on thy mind?
No more in even swathe thou layest the corn:
Thy fellow reapers leave thee far behind,
As flocks a ewe that's footsore from a thorn.
By noon and midday what will be thy plight
If now, so soon, thy sickle fails to bite?
Battus . Hewn from hard rocks, untired at set of sun,

IDYLL IX

P ASTORALS

Daphnis Menalcas A Shepherd.

Shepherd.

A SONG from Daphnis! Open he the lay,
He open: and Menalcas follow next:
While the calves suck, and with the barren kine
The young bulls graze, or roam knee deep in leaves,
And ne'er play truant. But a song from thee,
Daphnis — anon Menalcas will reply
Daphnis . Sweet is the chorus of the calves and kine,

IDYLL VIII

The T RIUMPH OF D APHNIS

Daphnis Menalcas. A Goatherd

D APHNIS , the gentle herdsman, met once, as legend tells,
Menacleas making with his flock the circle of the fells
Both chins were gilt with coming beards: both lads could sing and play:
Menalcas glanced at Daphnis, and thus was heard to say:
" Art thou for singing, Daphnis, lord of the lowing kine?
I say my songs are better, by what thou wilt, than thine "

IDYLL VI

The D RAWN B ATTLE

Daphnis. Damaetas

D APHNIS the herdsman and Damaetas once
Had driven, Aratus, to the selfsame glen.
One chin was yellowing, one showed half a beard
And by a brookside on a summer noon
The pair sat down and sang; but Daphnis led
The song, for Daphnis was the challenger.
Daphnis . " See! Galatea pelts thy flock with fruit,
And calls their master " Lack love," Polypheme

IDYLL V

The B ATTLE OF THE B ARDS

Comatas Lacon Morson

Comatas

G OATS , from a shepherd who stands here, from Lacon, keep away:
Sibyrtas owns him; and he stole my goatskin yesterday
Lacon . Hi! lambs! avoid yon fountain. Have ye not eyes to see
Comatas, him who filched a pipe but two days back from me?
Comatas . Sibyrtas' bondsman own a pipe? whence gotst thou that, and how?