25 While loud the mongrel bark'd, filch Damon's goat? 'sweet,' 30 The pipe you call so Was it with wax e'er fasten'd? In the street Through grating straws squeak out your wretched strain ? Dam. And dare you, then, a match in singing make? This heifer on my wretched strain' I stake: Two calves she nurses, twice is milk'd each day— Men. No wager dare I offer from my fold; 35 40 Carved round whose rims flows gracefully a vine, 45. 44 Beechen cups,' as we learn from Pliny, were anciently held in great esteem. This pair is beautifully described, after the first Idyl of Theocritus. 47 Conon was probably the mathematical friend of Archimedes, who mentions his theorems, his profound science, and his death. He is recorded also with honor by Callima And for the scythe and plough assign'd their days? 50 Dam. Two cups for me, too, scoop'd that hand re nown'd, And with acanthus wreathed their handles round: Pure have I kept them from the lip and gaze; 55 Men. Not so your challenge shall you 'scape to-day. I close with it: who passes, judge our lay! -And lo, Palæmon!-I will teach your tongue, Henceforth, less will to dare in taunt or song. Dam. Come on, then, if of music aught be thine : I nor the challenge, nor the judge, decline. 60 Palamon. Begin : since here the turf supplies our 65 seat, And the soft mead strews flowers beneath our feet; chus and Catullus, and more slightly by Propertius. The alter, with such a happiness of pastoral simplicity left unnamed, remains still unascertained-whether Aratus, or Hesiod (to one of whom Martyn inclines), or Archimedes himself. Aratus we know traced the skies,' or constellations, and for the scythe and plough assign'd their days.' 48 The radius, here translated circling line,' was the staff or rod used by the ancient mathematicians in describing the various parts of the heavens and the earth, and in drawing figures on sand. 50 This commendation is to be found in both the sixteenth Iliad, and Theocritus' first Idyl. 58 i. e. I accept your first proposal, and (notwithstanding my father and stepmother) agree to stake a heifer; so assured do I feel of victory.' 61 Come on, then-:' so also Theocritus; of whom likewise close imitations are to be found in vv. 32. 35. 69. 71. 73. 5-78, 79-82. 91-94. 107, 108. 111. 113. &c. &c. And forest-glades their greenest livery wear, 6 70 Dam. Begin we, Muse, from Jove; through all he reigns; Fattens the earth, nor e'en my verse disdains.' Men. 'To Phoebus, too, I'm dear; and all he loves, The bay and hyacinth, adorn my groves.' 'Dam. Me Galatea pelts with apples green; Then flies, but hopes she does not fly unseen.' Men. To me my flame has ever joyous flown; Not to my dogs my Dian better known.' 75 80 Dam. 6 I've sent and will to-morrow send ten more.' my ear! Winds, waft her words to heaven, that gods may hear!' Men. 'Nought it avails me that Amyntas smiles; 85 If, while he hunts, I still must watch the toils.' Dam. Iölas, 'tis my birthday; Phyllis send: When bleeds my harvest-calf, yourself attend.' Men. Phyllis I love: for grieved when I withdrew, 'Adieu!' she wept and cried, a long adieu !'' 90 81 Pomegranates grow even in the woods of Italy, as we are told by Matthioli, and are of a golden or yellowish color, pallenti cortice (Ov. Met. v.). 87 Iölas, addressed by both the competitors, was probably the father of Phyllis. The ancients used to celebrate their birthdays with great conviviality. To this Phyllis is invited by Damætas; Iolas to a more solemn festival, the Ambarvalia, when a sacrifice was offered by them with peculiar rites for the success of their corn.-See Georg. i. 339. VIR. VOL. 1. B Dam. Wolves hurt the flocks, and showers the ripen'd corn, And storms the woods; and me my fair one's scorn.' Men. 'Young grain likes moisture; kids the budding grove; Lithe osiers teeming cows; I but Amyntas love.' Dam. Rude though it be, kind Pollio bears my reed: 95 A heifer, Muses, for your votary feed.' not; And yoke the fox, and milk the rank he-goat!' Dam. Hence, boys, who gather berries in the brake, And woodland flowers! There lurks the chilly snake.' Men. Ewes, tread with caution near that treacherous pool: 105 See, where the ram still dripping dries his wool!' Dam. ‘Tityrus, your goats restrain from that deep wave: Them will I soon in shallower waters lave.' 6 93 Literally, weaned kids the arbute or strawberry-tree. 95 Pollio, as we learn from Horace (Od. ii. 1.), was a writer of tragedies, and an orator, as well as a successful general. He was also an historian, and a bountiful patron of poets, especially of Virgil and of Horace.-See Martyn in loc., as likewise for various theories on the purport and the objects of the contrasted sacrifices of the heifer' and the bull,' vv. 96, 97. 101 Of Bavius we know only that he was a wretched poet, and died in Cappadocia, A. U. C. 720: with Mævius Horace has made us a little, and but a little, better acquainted in one of his epodes. He, if not Bavius also, was probably an adversary of Pollio. Men. Boys, fold your flocks: if heat the ewes dis tress, In vain, as late, our hands their teats shall press.' 110 Dam. How lean that bull o'er clover-pastures strays! Love on the herd, as on the master, preys.' · Men. Love has not struck my lambs; yet worse they seem, Scathed by some unknown eye's malignant beam!' Dam. Say, in what lands-and be my Phoebus crown'd 115 By three short ells yon spacious heavens are bound.' Men. Say, in what lands those wondrous flowers are grown, Which bear the names of kings-and Phyllis be thine own.' 120 Pal. Not mine your tuneful struggle to decide : Ye both deserve the prize for which ye've vied; [And whoso or shall dread love's sweet control, Or feel his shaft deep rankling in the soul.] -Close, boys, the streams: enough has flow'd to feed The swelling green, and saturate the mead. 111 Ervum is properly a kind of vetch, said by Aristotle, Columella, and Pliny to fatten cattle. 116-118 For the long, various, and doubtful solutions of these two puzzles, the reader is referred to Martyn in loc. I will only add, that of the sundry answers of the First, a well is the most popular with the commentators; and the martagon lily, spotted occasionally with ferruginous dots resembling AI, AI, (the notes of lamentation for the death of Hyacinthus, and half the name of Ajax,) is generally regarded as best fulfilling the conditions of the Second. 123 This may either literally refer to the usage of rocky and warm countries, where rills of water are diverted from their courses to refresh the parched fields; or it may metaphorically mean, put an end to your contest: I have received sufficient pleasure in hearing you;'- -as good poetry is compared in the fifth eclogue to the quenching of thirst. Consult also Deut. xxxii. 2. |