For then nor Pindus nor the Phocian mount The sheep stand round, nor slight their master's pain; -Nor thou, bright bard, the humble flock disdain: 20 In beauty's prime beside the lucid flood, Well pleased, Adonis fed his fleecy brood. The shepherd came; and, with the herdsmen last, 25 'Braves barbarous camps and winter's dreary skies.' With woodland wreath came old Sylvanus crown'd, Fennel and largest lilies nodding round. 30 Pan, too, we saw: th' Arcadian god appear'd 6 And yet this grief?' he asks. In vain it flows: No glut of tears insatiate Cupid knows. Sooner shall herbage moisture cease to love, The bee his trefoil, goats the budding grove.' -But you, Arcadians, deign (sad Gallus cried) 35 And softly, sweetly, will my relics rest, 40 If by your simple reeds my suffering be exprest, 6 Ah! had I, one of you, your flocks or fed, 30. 32 On the fennel' and' elder,' see Martyn in loc. 45 In willowy bower o'erhung with flaunting vine; 50 Here cooling springs, Lycoris, meadows gay away. 'Me reckless love in iron fields detains, Where all the fury of the battle reigns: Thou tread'st-and is it true? perfidious fair, No Gallus at thy side to shield or share 55 Dauntless tread'st Alpine snows, and ice-bound Rhine! For me, adapting my Chalcidian verse To pastoral pipe, I'll sylvan strains rehearse. Now over rocks, through groves, I seem to go; 60 65 70 75 'Ah! nor by wood-nymphs I, nor woodland strain, Solaced or soothed! Farewell, ye woods, again. Vainly to tame th' obdurate god we try: Not should our lip drain wintry Hebrus dry, 60 Gallus is said to have translated the works of Euphorion, a native of Chalcis in Euboea, into Latin. Not though our foot 'mid storms trod Thracia's snows, Enough, ye Muses, has your 80 85 90 THE following notes, of which the sole object is to facilitate the English version to the English reader, have been added, more in conformity with the desire of others than from my own original intention: they are chiefly compiled from remarks of former commentators; and are inserted in the words, and designated by the names of their respective authors. For the selection alone I hold myself responsible. But it would be unpardonable not to particularise the remarks of the Rev. W. Stawell and T. A. Knight, Esq. My estimation of the remarks of the former will be best evinced by the number and importance of the notes which I have selected from his printed illustrations and the original observations of the latter, communicated in a letter to me, will give additional proofs of the sagacity of a writer, whose philosophical investigations and successful experiments have not only contributed to the speculative knowlege of this scientific age, but have assisted the labors, and meliorated the produce, of the farmer and the horticulturist. W. S. : |