Nor deem'st the gods, resentful, visit wrong- First did'st thou to these doting eyes appear I was your guide-too happy I the while! 45 50 55 Begin with me, my pipe, the soft Mænalian song. 60 -O savage mother, who such lore could'st learn! O boy, too savage, teaching lore so stern! Savage alike who urged, and did, the wrongBegin with me, my pipe, the soft Mænalian song. 'Fly now, ye hungry wolves, th' unguarded fold, 65 And glow each oak with vegetable gold; All gay with daffodils let alders tower, And lowliest tamarisks weep their amber shower: 55 The Garamantes were a savage people of Africa, living as far southward (it was thought) as the earth was habitable, and therefore called extremi. 59 The mother' here alluded to was Medea, who when Jason married Creusa, murdered her children. 66 Swans were erroneously supposed by the ancients to sing sweetly, especially just before their death. The story of Arion of Corinth, who captivated a dolphin by his music, when he was on the point of being thrown overboard by some sailors, and was borne safely by it to shore, is told by Herodotus. Vie owls with swans: let Tityrus Orpheus be; 70 75 Cease now, O cease, my pipe, the soft Mænalian song.' Thus Damon: next Alphesibœus' strain Record, ye Muses! for our powers are vain. 80 This altar's frame, and bid rich incense breathe, home. 'The spell of verse can drag th' obedient moon From heaven, when riding in her highest noon: Ulysses' comrades with the numerous spell 85 Circe transform'd: cold serpents writhe and swell, 90 Compell'd by mighty song, and burst in foam Bring from the city, bring, ye charms, my Daphnis home. 'First, these three threads in mystic union join'd, Three-color'd, I around his image bind; 81 Alphesibæus assumes the person of a sorceress engaged in magical incantations. 85 Spells. The carmen, whence our word charm,' means here a particular form of words used in these superstitious ceremonies; probably the recurring line, or formula, ' Bring from the city,' &c. 95 And with that image circle thrice the shrine (Uneven numbers please the powers divine!) So may he at my potent summons comeBring from the city, bring, ye charms, my Daphnis home. 'In threefold knot now, Amaryllis, tie The triple threads: and still, in tightening, cry; 100 'With these, love's knots, I knit him ne'er to roam'Bring from the city, bring, ye charms, my Daphnis home. y! 105 'As shrivels in one fire this moulded clay, And melts the wax, so Daphnis melt away So shrivels in my love! The salted meal Now sprinkle; burn the crackling bay: I feel Harsh Daphnis fire me! Such his lot I doomBring from the city, bring, ye charms, my Daphnis home. 110 'O seize him love like that, when far and near The wearied heifer seeks her wandering steer; And having languish'd much, and rambled long The wide-spread forest's lengthening glades among, Sinks by some sedgy stream: nor quits the grove, Though night's late hours approach! Him seize such love, Nor deign I his physician to become 115 Bring from the city, bring, ye charms, my Daphnis home. 103 This was continued, even in later times. James I., in his Dæmonologie,' says: To some others at these times he (the devil) teacheth how to make pictures of waxe or claye, that by the roasting thereof the persons that they beare the name of may be continually melted, or dried away by continual sicknesse,' &c. 105 The meal' salted, parched, and kneaded (molita) was called mola, and sprinkled on the foreheads of the victims, &c. whence our term 'immolation.' 'To me these relics once the traitor leftDear relics! These I now, of him bereft, Beneath my threshold, earth, to thee consign: These, these again shall make the rover mine; Though, far estranged, 'midst other scenes he roamBring from the city, bring, ye charms, my Daphnis home. 120 125 'These herbs, these poisons cull'd on Pontic ground (In Pontus, herbs of wondrous power abound) Moris bestow'd: and him I oft have view'd, Changed by their force, in sylvan solitude, Howl a fierce wolf; transport the bearded grain From its first native to a distant plain, And call pale spectres from the yawning tomb— Bring from the city, bring, ye charms, my Daphnis home. 'Forth, Amaryllis, forth the ashes bear, And o'er thy shoulder in the streamlet clear 130 Nor gods he heeds, nor dreads the strains of doom— Bring from the city, bring, ye charms, my Daphnis home. 'And lo! the altar gleams with quivering blaze, 136 Self-kindled, while my tardy hand delays To bear the ashes to the destined flood: Something it, sure, portends-O be it good! 140 May I, then, trust my heart's fond wishes?-Hark! Or weave I love's light dream in fancy's loom? No, cease, my charms; he comes-comes from the city home!' ECLOGUE IX.-MORIS. ARGUMENT. In this Eclogue, which was probably composed by Virgil soon after his Tityrus, A. U. C. 713, on his return to Rome from his unsuccessful attempt to take possession of his Mantuan property, are dexterously introduced fragments of his earlier poems; one in particular addressed to Varus (through whom the poet seems to have been first made known to Pollio), promising him the reward of poetical praise for his intercession in behalf of Mantua; and another in honor of the star, which appeared for seven days together after the death of Julius Cæsar, and was supposed to announce his reception among the immortals. Mæris, as Servius informs us, Menalcas', i. e. Virgil's, farming bailiff, had been directed by his master (during his own absence) to carry matters as fairly as possible with Arrius, the centurion, who had refused with great violence to readmit him to his little field.' Catrou, however, stiffly contends (from the nostri agelli, the vestrum Menalcam, &c.) that Moeris must have been the father, not the servant, of Virgil. Lycidas. WHITHER, good Mœris? bent? For the city Maris. O Lycidas, our life, with sad extent, Has reach'd to woes beyond my utmost fear; Begone, old landlords; I am master here!' Our little field's usurper sternly cries. 5 To him, since thus her wheel dame Fortune plies, VIR. VOL. I. D |