Arethusa), was undertaken A. U. C. 717, at the request of Gallus, whose hapless love it records: thus extending the period occupied in writing the Eclogues over seven years, from A. U. C. 710 to 717. The order of them appears to have been (different from their usual location) Alexis, Palamon, Daphnis, Tityrus, Maris, Silenus, Pollio, Pharmaceutria, Melibaus, and Gallus. THIS closing effort, Arethusa, aid; 5 A few brief strains be to my Gallus paid: 10 Nymphs, o'er what lawns, what forests did ye rove, When Gallus faded in disastrous love? 3 So Pope, in his "Windsor Forest ;" 15 What muse for Granville can refuse to sing? The same poet has also in his second Pastoral happily imitated vv. 9, 10. Lycoris is supposed to have been Cytheris, an actress of those times. The old mythology states that Alpheus, a river of Peloponnesus, fell in love with the nymph Arethusa; who, flying from his pursuit, was metamorphosed by Diana into a fountain, and made her escape under the sea to Ortygia, an island near Sicily.-See Eneid ix. 11 Imitated from Theocritus, and by Pope, as likewise by Milton in his "Lycidas,"" Where were ye, nymphs," &c The sheep stand round, nor slight their master's pain; -Nor thou, bright bard, the humble flock dis dain: In beauty's prime beside the lucid flood, 20 The shepherd came; and, with the herdsmen last, Lycoris, for another swain,” he cries, 25 "Braves barbarous camps and winter's dreary skies." With woodland wreath came old Sylvanus crown'd, Fennel and largest lilies nodding round. Pan, too, we saw: th' Arcadian god appear'd 30 "In vain it flows: 35 No glut of tears insatiate Cupid knows. 40 45 In willowy bower o'erhung with flaunting vine; And he would sing, or she the chaplet twine. Dusky the hyacinth's, the violet's hue. Here cooling springs, Lycoris, meadows gay 50 away. 30, 32 On the "fennel" and "elder," see Martyn in loc. "Me reckless love in iron fields detains, 55 Dauntless tread'st Alpine snows, and ice-bound Rhine! Ah! may no ice wound those soft feet of thine, To pastoral pipe, I'll sylvan strains rehearse. 60 65 Now over rocks, through groves, I seem to go; 70 Now twang my shafts from Parthia's horned bow: As if such toils the tyrant could remove, Or any human art could medicine love! "Ah! nor by wood-nymphs I, nor woodland strain, Solaced or soothed! Farewell, ye woods again. 75 Vainly to tame the obdurate god we try : Not should our lip drain wintry Hebrus dry, Not though our foot 'mid storms trod Thracia's snows, Not though we fed our flocks where Cancer glows On Indian sands, and peels the towering grove- 80 Love conquers all; and we must yield to love." Enough, ye Muses, has your bard essay'd, Weaving his rushy basket in the shade. These numbers you to Gallus will endear; Gallus, for whom, as year succeeds to year, 85 60 Gallus is said to have translated the works of Euphorion, a native of Chalcis in Euboea, into Latin. My love still grows, as in the vernal prime The minstrel choir, the ripening grain destroy: |