Latin Eclogues

DANTES ALAGHERII IOHANNI DE V IRGILIO

EGLOGA II

 

Velleribus Colchis prepes detectus Eous

alipedesque alii pulcrum Titana ferebant.

Orbita, qua primum flecti de culmine cepit,

currigerum canthum libratim quemque tenebat;

resque refulgentes, solite superarier umbris,               5

vincebant umbras et fervere rura sinebant.

Tityrus hoc propter confugit et Alphesibeus

ad silvam, pecudumque suique misenus uterque,

fraxineam silvam tiliis platanisque frequentem.

Et dum silvestri pecudes mixteque capelle                10

insidunt herbe, dum naribus aera captant,

Tityrus - bic annosus enim - defensus acerna

fronde soporifero gravis incumbebat odori;

nodosoque piri vulso de stirpe bacillo

stabat subnixus, ut diceret, Alphesibeus.                  15

“Quod mentes hominum” fabatur “ad astra ferantur,

unde fuere, nove cum corpora nostra subirent;

quod libeat niveis avibus resonare Caistrum

temperie celi letis et valle palustri;

quod pisces coeant pelagi pelagusque relinquant      20

flumina qua primum Nerei confinia tangunt;

Caucason Hyrcane maculent quod sanguine tigres,

et Libies coluber quod squama verrat arenas,

non miror - nam cuique placent conformia vite

Tityre; sed Mopso miror, mirantur et omnes              25

pastores alii mecum Sicula arva tenentes,

arida Ciclopum placeant quod saxs sub Ethna”.

Dixerat, et calidus et gutture tardus anhelo

iam Melibeus adest et vix “En, Tityre” dixit.

Inrisere senes iuvenilia guttura, quantum                   30

Sergestum e scopulo vulsum risere Sicani.

Tum senior viridi canum de cespite crinem 

sustulit et patulis efflanti naribus infit:

“O nimium iuvenis, que te nova causa coegit

pectoreos cursu rapido sic angere folles?”.                35

Ille nichil contra, sed, quam tunc ipse tenebat,

cannea cum tremulis coniuncta est fistula labris,

sibilus hinc simplex avidas non venit ad aures,

verum, ut arundinea puer is pro voce laborat

- mira loquar, sed vera tamen -, spiravit arundo:         40

Forte sub inriuos colles, ubi Sarpina Rheno;

et, tria si flasset ultra spiramina flata,

centum carminibus tacitos mulcebat agrestes.

Tityrus et secum conceperat Alphesibeus,

Tityron et voces compellant Alphesibei:                     45

“Sic, venerande senex, tu roscida rura Pelori

deserere auderes, antrum Ciclopis iturus?”.

Ille:”Quid hoc dubitas? Quid me, carissime, tentas?”.

Quid dubito? Quid tento? a refert tunc Alphesibeus:

(Tibia non sentis quod fit virtute canora                      50

numninis et similis natis de murmure cannis,

murmure pandenti turpissima tempora regis

qui iussu Bromii Pactolida tinxit arenam?

Quod vocet ad litus Ethneo pumice tectum, 

fortunat e senex, falso ne crede favori,                      55

et Driadum miserere loci pecorumque tuorum.

Te iuga, te saltus nostri, te flumina flebunt

absentem et Nymphe mecum peiora timentes,

et cadet invidia quam nunc habet ipse Pachynus;

nos quoque pastores te cognovisse pigebit.               60

Fortunate senex, fontes et pabula nota

desertare tuo vivaci nornine nolis”.

“O plus quam media merito pars pectoris huius,”

(atque suum tetigit) longevus Tityrus inquit,

“Mopsus amore pari mecu connexus ob illas             65

que male gliscentem timide fugere Pyreneum,

litora dextra Pado ralus a Rubicone sinistra

me colere, Emilida qua terminat Adria terram,

litoris Ethnei commendat Pascua nobis,

nescius in tenera quod nos duo degimus herba          70

Trinacride montis, quo non fecundius alter

montibus in Siculis pecudes armentaque pavit.

Sed quanquam viridi sint postponenda Pelori

Ethnica saxs solo, Mopsum visurus adirem,

hic grege dimisso, ni te, Polipheme, timerem”.          75

“Quis Poliphemon” ait “non horreat” Alphesibeus

“assuetum rictus humano sanguine tingui,

tempore iam ex illo quando Galathea relicti

Acidis heu miseri discerpere viscera vidit?

Vix illa evasit: an vis valuisset amoris,                      80

effera dum rabies tanta perferbuit ira?

Quid, quod Achemenides, sociorum cede cruentum

tantum prospiciens, animam vix claudere quivit?

A, mea vita, precor, nunquam tam dira voluptas

te premat, ut Rhenus et Nayas illa recludat               85

hoc illustre caput, cui iam fron dator in alta

virgine perpetuas festinat cernere frondes”.

Tityrus arridens et tota mente secundus

verba gregis magni tacitus concepit alumni.

Sed quia tam proni scindebant ethra iugales,             90

ut rem quamque sua iam multum vinceret umbra,

virgiferi, silvis gelida cum valle relictis,

post pecudes rediere suas, hirteque capelle,

inde velut reduces ad mollia prata, preibant.

Callidus interea iuxta latitavit Ionas,                          95

omnia qui didicit, qui retulit omnia nobis:

ille quidem nobis, et nos tibi, Mopse, poymus.

DANTES ALAGHERII IOHANNI DE VIRGILIO

EGLOGA II

 

Shorn of the Colchian fleece, forward Eous

and his companion winged steeds brought down

the beauteous Titan. From the peak, as soon as

the race began to turn, both chariots

sped on well-balanced wheels, and things that once    5

were won by shadows now all shadows won,

making a conflagration of the fields.

Tityrus, therefore, with Alphesiboeus

found shelter in the grove, each caring for

himself and his own flock, as in that place                10

the grove was thick with planes and linden trees.

There, while their flocks with intermingling goats

settled upon the grass and sniffed the air,

shading himself with maple-foliage,

eager to doze, old Tityrus lay down                          15

within that pungent, sleep-inducing scent;

but, next to him, Alphesiboeus stood

leaning upon a knotted staff carved out

of a pear-tree’s hard trunk, and wished to speak.

Thus he began, “That all the minds of men                20

are lifted to the stars whence they descended 

the day they first into our bodies came;

that, pleased with balmy skies and marshy dells,

snow-white birds like to make Cayster sound;

that fish seek one another in the sea                        25

but shun the spot where the incoming streams

enter the boundaries of Nereus;

that Caucasus is smeared with blood by wild

Hyrcanian tigers, and all scaly serpents

streak Libyan sands, I marvel not at all,                    30

for, Tityrus, we’re pleased by different things

according to our life’s delight and taste.

But I, indeed, do marvel (and with me

all of the shepherds on Sicilian plains)

that Mopsus finds such pleasure in the arid               35

rocks the Cyclopes under Etna own.”

At this, perspiring, breathless, Meliboeus

approached, and could but say, “Look, Tityrus!”

The older shepherds laughed at the young man

with the parched throat just as Sicanians did             40

at young Sergestus from his rock set free.

Then the old man out of the verdant turf

raised his gray locks, and told the younger one,

heavily puffing still, “What’s wrong with you,

who, still so young, make bellows of your chest?”      45

He did not answer, but as soon as he

drew to his quivering lips the reedy flute,

no simple whisper struck our eager ears

for, as the youngster strove to blow his voice

into the reed (how strange this is, yet true!),              50

the reed breathed forth this live “Perhaps beneath

the sprinkled hills where Sarpina and Rhenus,”

and, had it three more times breathed equally,

with full a hundred songs it would have soothed

the shepherds who were listening in awe.                  55

Tityrus understood, and so did, too,

Alphesiboeus, who was first to speak.

“Respectable old man, would you now dare

desert Pelorus’ dewy pasture-land

and seek the Cyclops’ hidden cave once more?”        60

And he, “Why doubt? Why am I tempting you?

Can you not see this reed is made to sing

by godly power, and resembles one 

of those reeds out of the old murmur born—

the murmur that laid bare the sordid brow                  65

of the king who, by Bromius compelled,

reddened the space of the Pactolian sand?

It calls you to the shore the Etna paved

with pumice stone. 0 fortunate old man,

do not believe in this deceptive gift                            70

but stay right here instead, still taking care

of every Dryad and of all your sheep.

Ah, if you go, our hillocks and our streams

and all our nymphs, afraid of harsher fate,

will mourn with me; the enyy that now throbs            75

in all Pachinus will at once be dead,

and we, your fellow shepherds, shall regret

once having known you. You are blessèd here,

and so, my dear old man, let not your mind

be tempted by the thought of leaving all                    80

these rills and fields your lively name makes bright.”

“O rightly more than half of this my breast,”

(touching his own), old Tityrus replied,

“dear Mopsus, linked with bond of love to me

for those who ran in terror from the evil                      85

lust of Pyreneus, full well you know

that here I dwell upon the Po’s right bank

and on the left one of the Rubicon
where Adria ends th’ Emilian country-side

and lures us to the pastures far away                       90

along the slopes of Etna; but you should

also know well that here the two of us

press the soft grass of a Trinacrian mount

whi ch no Sicilian summit ever beats

for pasturable wealth to flock and herd.

Yet though the rocks of Etna by no means                95

should be held dearer than the verdant soil

of our Pelorus, willingly would I

visit my Mopsus, leaving here my flock,

if, Polyphemus, you I did not fear.”

Aphesiboeus added, “Who would not                      100

shudder at Polyphemus’ very sight,

accustomed as he is to taint his jaws

with human blood, since Galatea saw him

tear wretched Acis’ entrails one by one?

Scarce could she save herself. Would might of love  105

have then prevailed if brutal hunger flamed

in such a wrathful way? And what about

poor Achemenides, who only gazed

upon him, bloodied with his comrades’ death,

and hardly kept his soul still in his breast?              110

Ah, life of mine, I beg you not to let

so dire a frenzy seize you as would rob

the Rhenus and the Naiad of the bliss

of binding your most venerable head,

for which the pruner eagerly selects                        115

leaves everlasting from a virgin height.”

Tityrus smiled and with his every thought

welcomed in silence every uttered word

of the apprentice of his mighty flock.

But sinde the firmament by now was cleft                120

by steeds so low, they vanquished everything

with their own shadows, from the cooling vales

and from the woods every staffed shepherd came

behind his gathered flock, with shaggy goats

home-bound advancing to soft grass in front.           125

Meanwhile astute Iolas hid not far—

he who reported all these things to us.

Yes, it was he who told us everything

just as, O Mopsus, we are telling you.

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