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 "
Then in his turn spake Daphnis, and thus he made reply:
" O shepherd of the fleecy flock, thou pipest clear and high;
But come what will, Menalcas, thou ne'er wilt sing as I. "
Menalcas . This art thou fain to ascertain, and risk a bet with me?
Daphnis . This I full fain would ascertain, and risk a bet with thee.
Menalcas . But what, for champions such as we, would seem a fitting prize?
Daphnis . I stake a calf: stake thou a lamb, its mother's self in size
Menalcas . A lamb I'll venture never: for aye at close of day
Father and mother count the flock, and passing strict are they
Daphnis . Then what shall be the victor's fee? What wager wilt thou lay?
Menalcas . A pipe discoursing through nine mouths I made full fair to view;
The wax is white thereon, the line of this and that edge true
I'll risk it: risk my father's own is more than I dare do
Daphnis . A pipe discoursing through nine mouths, and fair, hath Daphnis too:
The wax is white thereon, the line of this and that edge true
But yesterday I made it: this finger feels the pain
Still, where indeed the rifted reed hath cut it clean in twain
But who shall be our umpire? who listen to our strain?
Menalcas . Suppose we hail yon goatherd; him at whose horned herd now
The dog is barking — yonder dog with white upon his brow
Then out they called: the goatherd marked them, and up came he;
Then out they sang; the goatherd their umpire fain would be
To shrill Menalcas' lot it fell to start the woodland lay:
Then Daphnis took it up. And thus Menalcas led the way.
Menalcas . " Rivers and vales, a glorious birth! Oh if Menalcas e'er
Piped aught of pleasant music in your ears:
Then pasture, nothing loth, his lambs; and let young Daphnis fare
No worse, should he stray hither with his steers. "
Daphnis . " Pastures and rills, a bounteous race! If Daphnis sang you e'er
Such songs as ne'er from nightingale have flowed;
Then to his herd your fatness lend; and let Menalcas share
Like boon, should e'er he wend along this road. "
Menalcas . " 'Tis spring, 'tis greenness everywhere; with milk the udders teem,
And all things that are young have life anew,
Where my sweet maiden wanders: but parched and withered seem,
When she departeth, lawn and shepherd too. "
Daphnis . " Fat are the sheep, the goats bear twins, the hives are thronged with bees,
Rises the oak beyond his natural growth,
Where falls my darling's footstep: but hungriness shall seize,
When she departeth, herd and herdsman both. "
Menalcas . " Come, ram, with thy blunt-muzzled kids and sleek wives at thy side,
Where winds the brook by woodlands myriad deep:
There is her haunt. Go, Stump-horn, tell her how Proteus plied
(A god) the shepherd's trade, with seals for sheep. "
Daphnis . " I ask not gold, I ask not the broad lands of a king;
I ask not to be fleeter than the breeze;
But 'neath this steep to watch my sheep, feeding as one, and fling
(Still clasping her ) my carol o'er the seas. "
Menalcas . " Storms are the fruit-tree's bane; the brook's, a summer hot and dry;
The stag's a woven net, a gin the dove's;
Mankind's, a soft sweet maiden. Others have pined ere I:
Zeus! Father! hadst not thou thy lady loves? "

Thus far, in alternating strains, the lads their woes rehearst:
Then each one gave a closing stave. Thus sang Menalcas first:
Menalcas . " O spare, good wolf, my weanlings! their milky mothers spare!
Harm not the little lad that hath so many in his care!
What, Firefly, is thy sleep so deep? It ill befits a hound,
Tending a boyish master's flock, to slumber over-sound.
And, wethers, of this tender grass take, nothing coy, your fill:
So, when it comes, the after math shall find you feeding still.
So! so! graze on, that ye be full, that not an udder fail:
Part of the milk shall rear the lambs, and part shall fill my pail. "

Then Daphnis flung a carol out, as of a nightingale:
Daphnis . " Me from her grot but yesterday a girl of haughty brow
Spied as I passed her with my kine, and said, " How fair art thou! "
I vow that not one bitter word in answer did I say,
But, looking ever on the ground, went silently my way.
The heifer's voice, the heifer's breath, are passing sweet to me;
And sweet is sleep by summer brooks upon the breezy lea:
As acorns are the green oak's pride, apples the apple-bough's;
So the cow glorieth in her calf, the cowherd in his cows. "

Thus the two lads; then spoke the third, sitting his goats among:
Goatherd . " O Daphnis, lovely is thy voice, thy music sweetly sung;
Such song is pleasanter to me than honey on my tongue
Accept this pipe, for thou bast won. And should there be some notes
That thou couldst teach me, as I plod alongside with my goats,
I'll give thee for thy schooling this ewe, that horns hath none:
Day after day she'll fill the can, until the milk o'errun. "

Then how the one lad laughed and leaped and clapped his hands for glee!
A kid that bounds to meet its dam might dance as merrily
And how the other inly burned, struck down by his disgrace!
A maid first parting from her home might wear as sad a face.

Thenceforth was Daphnis champion of all the country side:
And won, while yet in topmost youth, a Naiad for his bride.