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diff --git a/11533-h/11533-h.htm b/11533-h/11533-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d9c970 --- /dev/null +++ b/11533-h/11533-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9484 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> + +<html> +<head> + <meta name="generator" content= + "HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st February 2004), see www.w3.org"> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Theocritus, by C.S. + Calverley.</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%;} + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; right: 100%; font-size: 8pt; justify: right;} /* page numbers */ + + .toc { margin-left: 15%; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0em;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 10em;} + .poem p.i14 {margin-left: 14em;} + .poem p.i20 {margin-left: 20em;} + .poem p.i28 {margin-left: 28em;} + .poem p.i36 {margin-left: 36em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 8em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + // --> + </style> +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11533 ***</div> + + <br> + <br> + <br> + + <h1>THEOCRITUS</h1> + + <h2>TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE.</h2> + + <h3>BY</h3> + + <h2>C.S. CALVERLEY,</h2><br> + <br> + <br> + + <center> + <i>LATE FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE</i>. + </center> + + <center> + AUTHOR OF "FLY LEAVES," ETC. + </center> + + <center> + THIRD EDITION. + </center><br> + <br> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="PREFACE"></a> + + <h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + <p>I had intended translating all or nearly all these Idylls into + blank verse, as the natural equivalent of Greek or of Latin + hexameters; only deviating into rhyme where occasion seemed to + demand it. But I found that other metres had their special + advantages: the fourteen-syllable line in particular has that, + among others, of containing about the same number of syllables as + an ordinary line of Theocritus. And there is also no doubt + something gained by variety.</p> + + <p>Several recent writers on the subject have laid down that + every translation of Greek poetry, especially bucolic poetry, + must be in rhyme of some sort. But they have seldom stated, and + it is hard to see, why. There is no rhyme in the original, and + <i>primâ facie</i> should be none in the translation. + Professor Blackie has, it is true, pointed out the "assonances, + alliterations, and rhymes," which are found in more or less + abundance in Ionic Greek.<a name="FNanchorA"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_A"><sup>[A]</sup></a> These may of course be purely + accidental, like the hexameters in Livy or the blank-verse lines + in Mr. Dickens's prose: but accidental or not (it may be said) + they are there, and ought to be recognised. May we not then + recognise them by introducing similar assonances, etc., here and + there into the English version? or by availing ourselves of what + Professor Blackie again calls attention to, the "compensating + powers"<a name="FNanchorB"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_B"><sup>[B]</sup></a> of English? I think with him + that it was hard to speak of our language as one which + "transforms <i>boos megaloio boeién</i> into 'great ox's + hide.'" Such phrases as 'The Lord is a man of war,' 'The trumpet + spake not to the armed throng,' are to my ear quite as grand as + Homer: and it would be equally fair to ask what we are to make of + a language which transforms Milton's line into [Greek: ê + shalpigx ohy proshephê ton hôplismhenon + hochlon.]<a name="FNanchorC"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_C"><sup>[C]</sup></a> But be this as it may, these + phenomena are surely too rare and too arbitrary to be adequately + represented by any regularly recurring rhyme: and the question + remains, what is there in the unrhymed original to which rhyme + answers?</p> + + <p>To me its effect is to divide the verse into couplets, + triplets, or (if the word may include them all) <i>stanzas</i> of + some kind. Without rhyme we have no apparent means of conveying + the effect of stanzas. There are of course devices such as + repeating a line or part of a line at stated intervals, as is + done in 'Tears, idle tears' and elsewhere: but clearly none of + these would be available to a translator. Where therefore he has + to express stanzas, it is easy to see that rhyme may be + admissible and even necessary. Pope's couplet may (or may not) + stand for elegiacs, and the <i>In Memoriam</i> stanza for some + one of Horace's metres. Where the heroes of Virgil's Eclogues + sing alternately four lines each, Gray's quatrain seems to + suggest itself: and where a similar case occurs in these Idylls + (as for instance in the ninth) I thought it might be met by + taking whatever received English stanza was nearest the required + length. Pope's couplet again may possibly best convey the + pomposity of some Idylls and the point of others. And there may + be divers considerations of this kind. But, speaking generally, + where the translator has not to intimate stanzas—where he + has on the contrary to intimate that there are none—rhyme + seems at first sight an intrusion and a <i>suggestio + falsi</i>.</p> + + <p>No doubt (as has been observed) what 'Pastorals' we have are + mostly written in what is called the heroic measure. But the + reason is, I suppose, not far to seek. Dryden and Pope wrote + 'heroics,' not from any sense of their fitness for bucolic + poetry, but from a sense of their universal fitness: and their + followers copied them. But probably no scholar would affirm that + any poem, original or translated, by Pope or Dryden or any of + their school, really resembles in any degree the bucolic poetry + of the Greeks. Mr. Morris, whose poems appear to me to resemble + it more almost than anything I have ever seen, of course writes + what is technically Pope's metre, and equally of course is not of + Pope's school. Whether or no Pope and Dryden <i>intended</i> to + resemble the old bucolic poets in style is, to say the least, + immaterial. If they did not, there is no reason whatever why any + of us who do should adopt their metre: if they did and failed, + there is every reason why we should select a different one.</p> + + <p>Professor Conington has adduced one cogent argument against + blank verse: that is, that hardly any of us can write it.<a name= + "FNanchorD"></a><a href="#Footnote_D"><sup>[D]</sup></a> But if + this is so—if the 'blank verse' which we write is virtually + prose in disguise—the addition of rhyme would only make it + rhymed prose, and we should be as far as ever from "verse really + deserving the name."<a name="FNanchorE"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_E"><sup>[E]</sup></a> Unless (which I can hardly + imagine) the mere incident of 'terminal consonance' can + constitute that verse which would not be verse independently, + this argument is equally good against attempting verse of any + kind: we should still be writing disguised, and had better write + undisguised, prose. Prose translations are of course tenable, and + are (I am told) advocated by another very eminent critic. These + considerations against them occur to one: that, among the + characteristics of his original which the translator is bound to + preserve, one is that he wrote metrically; and that the prattle + which passes muster, and sounds perhaps rather pretty than + otherwise, in metre, would in plain prose be insufferable. Very + likely some exceptional sort of prose may be meant, which would + dispose of all such difficulties: but this would be harder for an + ordinary writer to evolve out of his own brain, than to construct + any species of verse for which he has at least a model and a + precedent.</p> + + <p>These remarks are made to shew that my metres were not + selected, as it might appear, at hap-hazard. Metre is not so + unimportant as to justify that. For the rest, I have used + Briggs's edition<a name="FNanchorF"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_F"><sup>[F]</sup></a> (<i>Poetæ Bucolici + Græci</i>), and have never, that I am aware of, taken + refuge in any various reading where I could make any sense at all + of the text as given by him. Sometimes I have been content to put + down what I felt was a wrong rendering rather than omit; but only + in cases where the original was plainly corrupt, and all + suggested emendations seemed to me hopelessly wide of the mark. + What, for instance, may be the true meaning of [Greek: bolbhost + tist kochlhiast] in the fourteenth Idyll I have no idea. It is + not very important. And no doubt the sense of the last two lines + of the "<i>Death of Adonis</i>" is very unlikely to be what I + have made it. But no suggestion that I met with seemed to me + satisfactory or even plausible: and in this and a few similar + cases I have put down what suited the context. Occasionally also, + as in the Idyll here printed last—the one lately discovered + by Bergk, which I elucidated by the light of Fritzsche's + conjectures—I have availed myself of an opinion which + Professor Conington somewhere expresses, to the effect that, + where two interpretations are tenable, it is lawful to accept for + the purposes of translation the one you might reject as a + commentator. [Greek: tetootaiost] has I dare say nothing whatever + to do with 'quartan fever.'</p> + + <p>On one point, rather a minor one, I have ventured to dissent + from Professor Blackie and others: namely, in retaining the + Greek, instead of adopting the Roman, nomenclature. Professor + Blackie says<a name="FNanchorG"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_G"><sup>[G]</sup></a> that there are some men by whom + "it is esteemed a grave offence to call Jupiter Jupiter," which + begs the question: and that Jove "is much more musical" than + Zeus, which begs another. Granting (what might be questioned) + that <i>Zeus, Aphrodite</i>, and <i>Eros</i> are as absolutely + the same individuals with <i>Jupiter, Venus</i>, and <i>Cupid</i> + as <i>Odysseus</i> undoubtedly is with <i>Ulysses</i>—still + I cannot see why, in making a version of (say) Theocritus, one + should not use by way of preference those names by which he + invariably called them, and which are characteristic of him: why, + in turning a Greek author into English, we should begin by + turning all the proper names into Latin. Professor Blackie's + authoritative statement<a name="FNanchorH"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_H"><sup>[H]</sup></a> that "there are whole idylls in + Theocritus which would sound ridiculous in any other language + than that of Tam o' Shanter" I accept of course unhesitatingly, + and should like to see it acted upon by himself or any competent + person. But a translator is bound to interpret all as best he + may: and an attempt to write Tam o' Shanter's language by one who + was not Tam o' Shanter's countryman would, I fear, result in + something more ridiculous still.</p> + + <p>C.S.C.</p> + + <p>*** For Cometas, in Idyll V., read <i>Comatas</i>.</p><br> + + <p>FOOTNOTES:</p><a name="Footnote_A"></a><a href= + "#FNanchorA">[A]</a> + + <div class="note"> + <p>BLACKIE'S <i>Homer</i>, Vol. I., pp. 413, 414.</p> + </div><a name="Footnote_B"></a><a href="#FNanchorB">[B]</a> + + <div class="note"> + <p><i>Ibid</i>., page 377, etc.</p> + </div><a name="Footnote_C"></a><a href="#FNanchorC">[C]</a> + + <div class="note"> + <p>Professor Kingsley.</p> + </div><a name="Footnote_D"></a><a href="#FNanchorD">[D]</a> + + <div class="note"> + <p>Preface to CONINGTON'S <i>Æneid</i>, page ix.</p> + </div><a name="Footnote_E"></a><a href="#FNanchorE">[E]</a> + + <div class="note"> + <p><i>Ibid</i>.</p> + </div><a name="Footnote_F"></a><a href="#FNanchorF">[F]</a> + + <div class="note"> + <p>Since writing the above lines I have had the advantage of + seeing Mr. Paley's <i>Theocritus</i>, which was not out when I + made my version.</p> + </div><a name="Footnote_G"></a><a href="#FNanchorG">[G]</a> + + <div class="note"> + <p>BLACKIE'S <i>Homer</i>, Preface, pp. xii., xiii.</p> + </div><a name="Footnote_H"></a><a href="#FNanchorH">[H]</a> + + <div class="note"> + <p>BLACKIE'S <i>Homer</i>, Vol. I., page 384.</p> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="CONTENTS"></a> + + <h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_I">IDYLL I. THE DEATH OF + DAPHNIS</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_II">IDYLL II. THE + SORCERESS</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_III">IDYLL III. THE + SERENADE</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_IV">IDYLL IV. THE HERDSMAN</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_V">IDYLL V. THE BATTLE OF THE + BARDS</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_VI">IDYLL VI. THE DRAWN + BATTLE</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_VII">IDYLL VII. + HARVEST-HOME</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_VIII">IDYLL VIII. THE TRIUMPH OF + DAPHNIS</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_IX">IDYLL IX. PASTORALS</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_X">IDYLL X. THE TWO + WORKMEN</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XI">IDYLL XI. THE GIANT'S + WOOING</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XII">IDYLL XII. THE + COMRADES</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XIII">IDYLL XIII. HYLAS</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XIV">IDYLL XIV. THE LOVE OF + ÆSCHINES</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XV">IDYLL XV. THE FESTIVAL OF + ADONIS</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XVI">IDYLL XVI. THE VALUE OF + SONG</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XVII">IDYLL XVII. THE PRAISE OF + PTOLEMY</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XVIII">IDYLL XVIII. THE BRIDAL OF + HELEN</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XIX">IDYLL XIX. LOVE STEALING + HONEY</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XX">IDYLL XX. TOWN AND + COUNTRY</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXI">IDYLL XXI. THE + FISHERMEN</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXII">IDYLL XXII. THE SONS OF + LEDA</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXIII">IDYLL XXIII. LOVE + AVENGED</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXIV">IDYLL XXIV. THE INFANT + HERACLES</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXV">IDYLL XXV. HERACLES THE LION + SLAYER</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXVI">IDYLL XXVI. THE + BACCHANALS</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXVII">IDYLL XXVII. A COUNTRYMAN'S + WOOING</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXVIII">IDYLL XXVIII. THE + DISTAFF</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXIX">IDYLL XXIX. LOVES</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXX">IDYLL XXX. THE DEATH OF + ADONIS</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#IDYLL_XXXI">IDYLL XXXI. LOVES</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href= + "#FRAGMENT_PROM_THE_quotBERENICEquot">FRAGMENT FROM THE + "BERENICE"</a></p> + + <p class="toc"><a href="#EPIGRAMS_AND_EPITAPHS">EPIGRAMS AND + EPITAPHS</a>:—</p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#EI">I.</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#II">II.</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#III">III.</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#IV">IV.</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#V">V.</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#VI">VI.</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#VII">VII.—FOR A STATUE OF + ÆSCULAPIUS</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#VIII">VIII.—ORTHO'S + EPITAPH</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#IX">IX.—EPITAPH OF + CLEONICUS</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#X">X.—FOR A STATUE OF THE + MUSES</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XI">XI.—EPITAPH OF + EUSTHENES</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XII">XII.—FOR A TRIPOD ERECTED BY + DAMOTELES TO BACCHUS</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XIII">XIII.—FOR A STATUE OF + ANACREON</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XIV">XIV.—EPITAPH OF + EURYMEDON</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XV">XV.—ANOTHER</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XVI">XVI.—FOR A STATUE OF THE + HEAVENLY APHRODITE</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XVII">XVII.—To EPICHARMUS</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XVIII">XVIII.—EPITAPH OF CLEITA, + NURSE OF MEDEIUS</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XIX">XIX.—TO ARCHILOCHUS</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XX">XX.—UNDER A STATUE OF + PEISANDER</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XXI">XXI.—EPITAPH OF + HIPPONAX</a></p> + + <p class="toc2"><a href="#XXII">XXII.—ON HIS OWN + BOOK</a></p> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_I"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL I.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Death of Daphnis. + </center> + + <center> + <i>THYRSIS. A GOATHERD.</i> + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>THYRSIS.</p> + + <p>Sweet are the whispers of yon pine that makes</p> + + <p>Low music o'er the spring, and, Goatherd, sweet</p> + + <p>Thy piping; second thou to Pan alone.</p> + + <p>Is his the horned ram? then thine the goat.</p> + + <p>Is his the goat? to thee shall fall the kid;</p> + + <p>And toothsome is the flesh of unmilked kids.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GOATHERD.</p> + + <p>Shepherd, thy lay is as the noise of streams</p> + + <p>Falling and falling aye from yon tall crag.</p> + + <p>If for their meed the Muses claim the ewe,</p> + + <p>Be thine the stall-fed lamb; or if they choose</p> + + <p>The lamb, take thou the scarce less-valued ewe.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THYRSIS.</p> + + <p>Pray, by the Nymphs, pray, Goatherd, seat thee here</p> + + <p>Against this hill-slope in the tamarisk shade,</p> + + <p>And pipe me somewhat, while I guard thy goats.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GOATHERD.</p> + + <p>I durst not, Shepherd, O I durst not pipe</p> + + <p>At noontide; fearing Pan, who at that hour</p> + + <p>Rests from the toils of hunting. Harsh is he;</p> + + <p>Wrath at his nostrils aye sits sentinel.</p> + + <p>But, Thyrsis, thou canst sing of Daphnis' woes;</p> + + <p>High is thy name for woodland minstrelsy:</p> + + <p>Then rest we in the shadow of the elm</p> + + <p>Fronting Priapus and the Fountain-nymphs.</p> + + <p>There, where the oaks are and the Shepherd's seat,</p> + + <p>Sing as thou sang'st erewhile, when matched with him</p> + + <p>Of Libya, Chromis; and I'll give thee, first,</p> + + <p>To milk, ay thrice, a goat—she suckles twins,</p> + + <p>Yet ne'ertheless can fill two milkpails full;—</p> + + <p>Next, a deep drinking-cup, with sweet wax scoured,</p> + + <p>Two-handled, newly-carven, smacking yet</p> + + <p>0' the chisel. Ivy reaches up and climbs</p> + + <p>About its lip, gilt here and there with sprays</p> + + <p>Of woodbine, that enwreathed about it flaunts</p> + + <p>Her saffron fruitage. Framed therein appears</p> + + <p>A damsel ('tis a miracle of art)</p> + + <p>In robe and snood: and suitors at her side</p> + + <p>With locks fair-flowing, on her right and left,</p> + + <p>Battle with words, that fail to reach her heart.</p> + + <p>She, laughing, glances now on this, flings now</p> + + <p>Her chance regards on that: they, all for love</p> + + <p>Wearied and eye-swoln, find their labour lost.</p> + + <p>Carven elsewhere an ancient fisher stands</p> + + <p>On the rough rocks: thereto the old man with pains</p> + + <p>Drags his great casting-net, as one that toils</p> + + <p>Full stoutly: every fibre of his frame</p> + + <p>Seems fishing; so about the gray-beard's neck</p> + + <p>(In might a youngster yet) the sinews swell.</p> + + <p>Hard by that wave-beat sire a vineyard bends</p> + + <p>Beneath its graceful load of burnished grapes;</p> + + <p>A boy sits on the rude fence watching them.</p> + + <p>Near him two foxes: down the rows of grapes</p> + + <p>One ranging steals the ripest; one assails</p> + + <p>With wiles the poor lad's scrip, to leave him soon</p> + + <p>Stranded and supperless. He plaits meanwhile</p> + + <p>With ears of corn a right fine cricket-trap,</p> + + <p>And fits it on a rush: for vines, for scrip,</p> + + <p>Little he cares, enamoured of his toy.</p> + + <p class="i2">The cup is hung all round with lissom + briar,</p> + + <p>Triumph of Æolian art, a wondrous sight.</p> + + <p>It was a ferryman's of Calydon:</p> + + <p>A goat it cost me, and a great white cheese.</p> + + <p>Ne'er yet my lips came near it, virgin still</p> + + <p>It stands. And welcome to such boon art thou,</p> + + <p>If for my sake thou'lt sing that lay of lays.</p> + + <p>I jest not: up, lad, sing: no songs thou'lt own</p> + + <p>In the dim land where all things are forgot.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THYSIS [<i>sings</i>].</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>The voice of Thyrsis. Ætna's Thyrsis I.</p> + + <p>Where were ye, Nymphs, oh where, while Daphnis pined?</p> + + <p>In fair Penëus' or in Pindus' glens?</p> + + <p>For great Anapus' stream was not your haunt,</p> + + <p>Nor Ætna's cliff, nor Acis' sacred rill.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>O'er him the wolves, the jackals howled o'er him;</p> + + <p>The lion in the oak-copse mourned his death.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>The kine and oxen stood around his feet,</p> + + <p>The heifers and the calves wailed all for him.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>First from the mountain Hermes came, and said,</p> + + <p>"Daphnis, who frets thee? Lad, whom lov'st thou so?"</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>Came herdsmen, shepherds came, and goatherds came;</p> + + <p>All asked what ailed the lad. Priapus came</p> + + <p>And said, "Why pine, poor Daphnis? while the maid</p> + + <p>Foots it round every pool and every grove,</p> + + <p>(<i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song</i>)</p> + + <p>"O lack-love and perverse, in quest of thee;</p> + + <p>Herdsman in name, but goatherd rightlier called.</p> + + <p>With eyes that yearn the goatherd marks his kids</p> + + <p>Run riot, for he fain would frisk as they:</p> + + <p class="i2">(<i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>):</p> + + <p>"With eyes that yearn dost thou too mark the laugh</p> + + <p>Of maidens, for thou may'st not share their glee."</p> + + <p>Still naught the herdsman said: he drained alone</p> + + <p>His bitter portion, till the fatal end.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>Came Aphroditè, smiles on her sweet face,</p> + + <p>False smiles, for heavy was her heart, and spake:</p> + + <p>"So, Daphnis, thou must try a fall with Love!</p> + + <p>But stalwart Love hath won the fall of thee."</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>Then "Ruthless Aphroditè," Daphnis said,</p> + + <p>"Accursed Aphroditè, foe to man!</p> + + <p>Say'st thou mine hour is come, my sun hath set?</p> + + <p>Dead as alive, shall Daphnis work Love woe."</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>"Fly to Mount Ida, where the swain (men say)</p> + + <p>And Aphroditè—to Anchises fly:</p> + + <p>There are oak-forests; here but galingale,</p> + + <p>And bees that make a music round the hives.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>"Adonis owed his bloom to tending flocks</p> + + <p>And smiting hares, and bringing wild beasts down.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>"Face once more Diomed: tell him 'I have slain</p> + + <p>The herdsman Daphnis; now I challenge thee.'</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>"Farewell, wolf, jackal, mountain-prisoned bear!</p> + + <p>Ye'll see no more by grove or glade or glen</p> + + <p>Your herdsman Daphnis! Arethuse, farewell,</p> + + <p>And the bright streams that pour down Thymbris' side.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>"I am that Daphnis, who lead here my kine,</p> + + <p>Bring here to drink my oxen and my calves.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>"Pan, Pan, oh whether great Lyceum's crags</p> + + <p>Thou haunt'st to-day, or mightier Mænalus,</p> + + <p>Come to the Sicel isle! Abandon now</p> + + <p>Rhium and Helicè, and the mountain-cairn</p> + + <p>(That e'en gods cherish) of Lycaon's son!</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Forget, sweet Maids, forget your woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>"Come, king of song, o'er this my pipe, compact</p> + + <p>With wax and honey-breathing, arch thy lip:</p> + + <p>For surely I am torn from life by Love.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Forget, sweet Maids, forget your woodland + song</i>.</p> + + <p>"From thicket now and thorn let violets spring,</p> + + <p>Now let white lilies drape the juniper,</p> + + <p>And pines grow figs, and nature all go wrong:</p> + + <p>For Daphnis dies. Let deer pursue the hounds,</p> + + <p>And mountain-owls outsing the nightingale.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Forget, sweet Maids, forget your woodland + song</i>."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>So spake he, and he never spake again.</p> + + <p>Fain Aphroditè would have raised his head;</p> + + <p>But all his thread was spun. So down the stream</p> + + <p>Went Daphnis: closed the waters o'er a head</p> + + <p>Dear to the Nine, of nymphs not unbeloved.</p> + + <p class="i2">Now give me goat and cup; that I may milk</p> + + <p>The one, and pour the other to the Muse.</p> + + <p>Fare ye well, Muses, o'er and o'er farewell!</p> + + <p>I'll sing strains lovelier yet in days to be.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GOATHERD.</p> + + <p>Thyrsis, let honey and the honeycomb</p> + + <p>Fill thy sweet mouth, and figs of Ægilus:</p> + + <p>For ne'er cicala trilled so sweet a song.</p> + + <p>Here is the cup: mark, friend, how sweet it smells:</p> + + <p>The Hours, thou'lt say, have washed it in their well.</p> + + <p>Hither, Cissætha! Thou, go milk her! Kids,</p> + + <p>Be steady, or your pranks will rouse the ram.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_II"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL II.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Sorceress. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Where are the bay-leaves, Thestylis, and the charms?</p> + + <p>Fetch all; with fiery wool the caldron crown;</p> + + <p>Let glamour win me back my false lord's heart!</p> + + <p>Twelve days the wretch hath not come nigh to me,</p> + + <p>Nor made enquiry if I die or live,</p> + + <p>Nor clamoured (oh unkindness!) at my door.</p> + + <p>Sure his swift fancy wanders otherwhere,</p> + + <p>The slave of Aphroditè and of Love.</p> + + <p>I'll off to Timagetus' wrestling-school</p> + + <p>At dawn, that I may see him and denounce</p> + + <p>His doings; but I'll charm him now with charms.</p> + + <p>So shine out fair, O moon! To thee I sing</p> + + <p>My soft low song: to thee and Hecatè</p> + + <p>The dweller in the shades, at whose approach</p> + + <p>E'en the dogs quake, as on she moves through blood</p> + + <p>And darkness and the barrows of the slain.</p> + + <p>All hail, dread Hecatè: companion me</p> + + <p>Unto the end, and work me witcheries</p> + + <p>Potent as Circè or Medea wrought,</p> + + <p>Or Perimedè of the golden hair!</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + + <p>First we ignite the grain. Nay, pile it on:</p> + + <p>Where are thy wits flown, timorous Thestylis?</p> + + <p>Shall I be flouted, I, by such as thou?</p> + + <p>Pile, and still say, 'This pile is of his bones.'</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + + <p>Delphis racks me: I burn him in these bays.</p> + + <p>As, flame-enkindled, they lift up their voice,</p> + + <p>Blaze once, and not a trace is left behind:</p> + + <p>So waste his flesh to powder in yon fire!</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + + <p>E'en as I melt, not uninspired, the wax,</p> + + <p>May Mindian Delphis melt this hour with love:</p> + + <p>And, swiftly as this brazen wheel whirls round,</p> + + <p>May Aphroditè whirl him to my door.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + + <p>Next burn the husks. Hell's adamantine floor</p> + + <p>And aught that else stands firm can Artemis move.</p> + + <p>Thestylis, the hounds bay up and down the town:</p> + + <p>The goddess stands i' the crossroads: sound the gongs.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + + <p>Hushed are the voices of the winds and seas;</p> + + <p>But O not hushed the voice of my despair.</p> + + <p>He burns my being up, who left me here</p> + + <p>No wife, no maiden, in my misery.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + + <p>Thrice I pour out; speak thrice, sweet mistress, thus:</p> + + <p>"What face soe'er hangs o'er him be forgot</p> + + <p>Clean as, in Dia, Theseus (legends say)</p> + + <p>Forgat his Ariadne's locks of love."</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic, wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + + <p>The coltsfoot grows in Arcady, the weed</p> + + <p>That drives the mountain-colts and swift mares wild.</p> + + <p>Like them may Delphis rave: so, maniac-wise,</p> + + <p>Race from his burnished brethren home to me.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + + <p>He lost this tassel from his robe; which I</p> + + <p>Shred thus, and cast it on the raging flames.</p> + + <p>Ah baleful Love! why, like the marsh-born leech,</p> + + <p>Cling to my flesh, and drain my dark veins dry?</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + + <p>From a crushed eft tomorrow he shall drink</p> + + <p>Death! But now, Thestylis, take these herbs and smear</p> + + <p>That threshold o'er, whereto at heart I cling</p> + + <p>Still, still—albeit he thinks scorn of me—</p> + + <p>And spit, and say, ''Tis Delphis' bones I smear.'</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I + love</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i20">[<i>Exit Thestylis</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Now, all alone, I'll weep a love whence sprung</p> + + <p>When born? Who wrought my sorrow? Anaxo came,</p> + + <p>Her basket in her hand, to Artemis' grove.</p> + + <p>Bound for the festival, troops of forest beasts</p> + + <p>Stood round, and in the midst a lioness.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>Theucharidas' slave, my Thracian nurse now dead</p> + + <p>Then my near neighbour, prayed me and implored</p> + + <p>To see the pageant: I, the poor doomed thing,</p> + + <p>Went with her, trailing a fine silken train,</p> + + <p>And gathering round me Clearista's robe.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>Now, the mid-highway reached by Lycon's farm,</p> + + <p>Delphis and Eudamippus passed me by.</p> + + <p>With beards as lustrous as the woodbine's gold</p> + + <p>And breasts more sheeny than thyself, O Moon,</p> + + <p>Fresh from the wrestler's glorious toil they came.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>I saw, I raved, smit (weakling) to my heart.</p> + + <p>My beauty withered, and I cared no more</p> + + <p>For all that pomp; and how I gained my home</p> + + <p>I know not: some strange fever wasted me.</p> + + <p>Ten nights and days I lay upon my bed.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>And wan became my flesh, as 't had been dyed,</p> + + <p>And all my hair streamed off, and there was left</p> + + <p>But bones and skin. Whose threshold crossed I not,</p> + + <p>Or missed what grandam's hut who dealt in charms?</p> + + <p>For no light thing was this, and time sped on.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>At last I spake the truth to that my maid:</p> + + <p>"Seek, an thou canst, some cure for my sore pain.</p> + + <p>Alas, I am all the Mindian's! But begone,</p> + + <p>And watch by Timagetus' wrestling-school:</p> + + <p>There doth he haunt, there soothly take his rest.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>"Find him alone: nod softly: say, 'she waits';</p> + + <p>And bring him." So I spake: she went her way,</p> + + <p>And brought the lustrous-limbed one to my roof.</p> + + <p>And I, the instant I beheld him step</p> + + <p>Lightfooted o'er the threshold of my door,</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>(Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>,)</p> + + <p>Became all cold like snow, and from my brow</p> + + <p>Brake the damp dewdrops: utterance I had none,</p> + + <p>Not e'en such utterance as a babe may make</p> + + <p>That babbles to its mother in its dreams;</p> + + <p>But all my fair frame stiffened into wax.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>He bent his pitiless eyes on me; looked down,</p> + + <p>And sate him on my couch, and sitting, said:</p> + + <p>"Thou hast gained on me, Simætha, (e'en as I</p> + + <p>Gained once on young Philinus in the race,)</p> + + <p>Bidding me hither ere I came unasked.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>"For I had come, by Eros I had come,</p> + + <p>This night, with comrades twain or may-be more,</p> + + <p>The fruitage of the Wine-god in my robe,</p> + + <p>And, wound about my brow with ribands red,</p> + + <p>The silver leaves so dear to Heracles.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>"Had ye said 'Enter,' well: for 'mid my peers</p> + + <p>High is my name for goodliness and speed:</p> + + <p>I had kissed that sweet mouth once and gone my way.</p> + + <p>But had the door been barred, and I thrust out,</p> + + <p>With brand and axe would we have stormed ye then.</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.</p> + + <p>"Now be my thanks recorded, first to Love,</p> + + <p>Next to thee, maiden, who didst pluck me out,</p> + + <p>A half-burned helpless creature, from the flames,</p> + + <p>And badst me hither. It is Love that lights</p> + + <p>A fire more fierce than his of Lipara;</p> + + <p class="i2"><i>(Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my + love</i>.)</p> + + <p>"Scares, mischief-mad, the maiden from her bower,</p> + + <p>The bride from her warm couch." He spake: and I,</p> + + <p>A willing listener, sat, my hand in his,</p> + + <p>Among the cushions, and his cheek touched mine,</p> + + <p>Each hotter than its wont, and we discoursed</p> + + <p>In soft low language. Need I prate to thee,</p> + + <p>Sweet Moon, of all we said and all we did?</p> + + <p>Till yesterday he found no fault with me,</p> + + <p>Nor I with him. But lo, to-day there came</p> + + <p>Philista's mother—hers who flutes to me—</p> + + <p>With her Melampo's; just when up the sky</p> + + <p>Gallop the mares that chariot rose-limbed Dawn:</p> + + <p>And divers tales she brought me, with the rest</p> + + <p>How Delphis loved, she knew not rightly whom:</p> + + <p>But this she knew; that of the rich wine, aye</p> + + <p>He poured 'to Love;' and at the last had fled,</p> + + <p>To line, she deemed, the fair one's hall with flowers.</p> + + <p>Such was my visitor's tale, and it was true:</p> + + <p>For thrice, nay four times, daily he would stroll</p> + + <p>Hither, leave here full oft his Dorian flask:</p> + + <p>Now—'tis a fortnight since I saw his face.</p> + + <p>Doth he then treasure something sweet elsewhere?</p> + + <p>Am I forgot? I'll charm him now with charms.</p> + + <p>But let him try me more, and by the Fates</p> + + <p>He'll soon be knocking at the gates of hell.</p> + + <p>Spells of such power are in this chest of mine,</p> + + <p>Learned, lady, from mine host in Palestine.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Lady, farewell: turn ocean-ward thy steeds:</p> + + <p>As I have purposed, so shall I fulfil.</p> + + <p>Farewell, thou bright-faced Moon! Ye stars, farewell,</p> + + <p>That wait upon the car of noiseless Night.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_III"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL III.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Serenade. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>I pipe to Amaryllis; while my goats,</p> + + <p>Tityrus their guardian, browse along the fell.</p> + + <p>O Tityrus, as I love thee, feed my goats:</p> + + <p>And lead them to the spring, and, Tityrus, 'ware</p> + + <p>The lifted crest of yon gray Libyan ram.</p> + + <p class="i2">Ah winsome Amaryllis! Why no more</p> + + <p>Greet'st thou thy darling, from the caverned rock</p> + + <p>Peeping all coyly? Think'st thou scorn of him?</p> + + <p>Hath a near view revealed him satyr-shaped</p> + + <p>Of chin and nostril? I shall hang me soon.</p> + + <p>See here ten apples: from thy favourite tree</p> + + <p>I plucked them: I shall bring ten more anon.</p> + + <p>Ah witness my heart-anguish! Oh were I</p> + + <p>A booming bee, to waft me to thy lair,</p> + + <p>Threading the fern and ivy in whose depths</p> + + <p>Thou nestlest! I have learned what Love is now:</p> + + <p>Fell god, he drank the lioness's milk,</p> + + <p>In the wild woods his mother cradled him,</p> + + <p>Whose fire slow-burns me, smiting to the bone.</p> + + <p>O thou whose glance is beauty and whose heart</p> + + <p>All marble: O dark-eyebrowed maiden mine!</p> + + <p>Cling to thy goatherd, let him kiss thy lips,</p> + + <p>For there is sweetness in an empty kiss.</p> + + <p>Thou wilt not? Piecemeal I will rend the crown,</p> + + <p>The ivy-crown which, dear, I guard for thee,</p> + + <p>Inwov'n with scented parsley and with flowers:</p> + + <p>Oh I am desperate—what betides me, what?—</p> + + <p>Still art thou deaf? I'll doff my coat of skins</p> + + <p>And leap into yon waves, where on the watch</p> + + <p>For mackerel Olpis sits: tho' I 'scape death,</p> + + <p>That I have all but died will pleasure thee.</p> + + <p>That learned I when (I murmuring 'loves she me?')</p> + + <p>The <i>Love-in-absence</i>, crushed, returned no + sound,</p> + + <p>But shrank and shrivelled on my smooth young wrist.</p> + + <p>I learned it of the sieve-divining crone</p> + + <p>Who gleaned behind the reapers yesterday:</p> + + <p>'Thou'rt wrapt up all,' Agraia said, 'in her;</p> + + <p>She makes of none account her worshipper.'</p> + + <p class="i2">Lo! a white goat, and twins, I keep for + thee:</p> + + <p>Mermnon's lass covets them: dark she is of skin:</p> + + <p>But yet hers be they; thou but foolest me.</p> + + <p class="i2">She cometh, by the quivering of mine eye.</p> + + <p>I'll lean against the pine-tree here and sing.</p> + + <p>She may look round: she is not adamant.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>[<i>Sings</i>] Hippomenes, when he a maid would wed,</p> + + <p>Took apples in his hand and on he sped.</p> + + <p>Famed Atalanta's heart was won by this;</p> + + <p>She marked, and maddening sank in Love's abyss.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">From Othrys did the seer Melampus stray</p> + + <p>To Pylos with his herd: and lo there lay</p> + + <p>In a swain's arms a maid of beauty rare;</p> + + <p>Alphesiboea, wise of heart, she bare.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Did not Adonis rouse to such excess</p> + + <p>Of frenzy her whose name is Loveliness,</p> + + <p>(He a mere lad whose wethers grazed the hill)</p> + + <p>That, dead, he's pillowed on her bosom still?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Endymion sleeps the sleep that changeth + not:</p> + + <p>And, maiden mine, I envy him his lot!</p> + + <p>Envy Iasion's: his it was to gain</p> + + <p>Bliss that I dare not breathe in ears profane.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">My head aches. What reck'st thou? I sing no + more:</p> + + <p>E'en where I fell I'll lie, until the wolves</p> + + <p>Rend me—may that be honey in thy mouth!</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_IV"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL IV.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Herdsmen. + </center> + + <center> + <i>BATTUS. CORYDON.</i> + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Who owns these cattle, Corydon? Philondas? Prythee + say.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>No, Ægon: and he gave them me to tend while he's + away.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Dost milk them in the gloaming, when none is nigh to + see?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>The old man brings the calves to suck, and keeps an eye on + me.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>And to what region then hath flown the cattle's rightful + lord?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Hast thou not heard? With Milo he vanished Elis-ward.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>How! was the wrestler's oil e'er yet so much as seen by + him?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Men say he rivals Heracles in lustiness of limb.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>I'm Polydeuces' match (or so my mother says) and more.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>—So off he started; with a spade, and of these ewes + a score.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>This Milo will be teaching wolves how they should raven + next.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>—And by these bellowings his kine proclaim how sore + they're vexed.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Poor kine! they've found their master a sorry knave + indeed.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>They're poor enough, I grant you: they have not heart to + feed.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Look at that heifer! sure there's naught, save bare bones, + left of her.</p> + + <p>Pray, does she browse on dewdrops, as doth the + grasshopper?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Not she, by heaven! She pastures now by Æsarus' + glades,</p> + + <p>And handfuls fair I pluck her there of young and green + grass-blades;</p> + + <p>Now bounds about Latymnus, that gathering-place of + shades.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>That bull again, the red one, my word but he is lean!</p> + + <p>I wish the Sybarite burghers aye may offer to the + queen</p> + + <p>Of heaven as pitiful a beast: those burghers are so + mean!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Yet to the Salt Lake's edges I drive him, I can swear;</p> + + <p>Up Physcus, up Neæthus' side—he lacks not + victual there,</p> + + <p>With dittany and endive and foxglove for his fare.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Well, well! I pity Ægon. His cattle, go they + must</p> + + <p>To rack and ruin, all because vain-glory was his lust.</p> + + <p>The pipe that erst he fashioned is doubtless scored with + rust?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Nay, by the Nymphs! That pipe he left to me, the self-same + day</p> + + <p>He made for Pisa: I am too a minstrel in my way:</p> + + <p>Well the flute-part in '<i>Pyrrhus</i>' and in + '<i>Glauca</i>' can I play.</p> + + <p>I sing too '<i>Here's to Croton</i>' and '<i>Zacynthus O + 'tis fair</i>,'</p> + + <p>And '<i>Eastward to Lacinium</i>:'—the bruiser Milo + there</p> + + <p>His single self ate eighty loaves; there also did he + pull</p> + + <p>Down from its mountain-dwelling, by one hoof grasped, a + bull,</p> + + <p>And gave it Amaryllis: the maidens screamed with + fright;</p> + + <p>As for the owner of the bull he only laughed outright.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Sweet Amaryllis! thou alone, though dead, art + unforgot.</p> + + <p>Dearer than thou, whose light is quenched, my very goats + are not.</p> + + <p>Oh for the all-unkindly fate that's fallen to my lot!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Cheer up, brave lad! tomorrow may ease thee of thy + pain:</p> + + <p>Aye for the living are there hopes, past' hoping are the + slain:</p> + + <p>And now Zeus sends us sunshine, and now he sends us + rain.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>I'm better. Beat those young ones off! E'en now their + teeth attack</p> + + <p>That olive's shoots, the graceless brutes! Back, with your + white face, back!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Back to thy hill, Cymætha! Great Pan, how deaf thou + art!</p> + + <p>I shall be with thee presently, and in the end thou'lt + smart.</p> + + <p>I warn thee, keep thy distance. Look, up she creeps + again!</p> + + <p>Oh were my hare-crook in nay hand, I'd give it to her + then!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>For heaven's sake, Corydon, look here! Just now a + bramble-spike</p> + + <p>Ran, there, into my instep—and oh how deep they + strike,</p> + + <p>Those lancewood-shafts! A murrain light on that calf, I + say!</p> + + <p>I got it gaping after her. Canst thou discern it, + pray?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Ay, ay; and here I have it, safe in my finger-nails.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Eh! at how slight a matter how tall a warrior quails!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Ne'er range the hill-crest, Battus, all sandal-less and + bare:</p> + + <p>Because the thistle and the thorn lift aye their plumed + heads there.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>—Say, Corydon, does that old man we wot of (tell me + please!)</p> + + <p>Still haunt the dark-browed little girl whom once he used + to tease?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>CORYDON.</p> + + <p>Ay my poor boy, that doth he: I saw them yesterday</p> + + <p>Down by the byre; and, trust me, loving enough were + they.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Well done, my veteran light-o'-love! In deeming thee mere + man,</p> + + <p>I wronged thy sire: some Satyr he, or an uncouth-limbed + Pan.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_V"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL V.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Battle of the Bards. + </center> + + <center> + <i>COMETAS. LACON. MORSON</i>. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Goats, from a shepherd who stands here, from Lacon, keep + away:</p> + + <p>Sibyrtas owns him; and he stole my goatskin yesterday.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Hi! lambs! avoid yon fountain. Have ye not eyes to see</p> + + <p>Cometas, him who filched a pipe but two days back from + me?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Sibyrtas' bondsman own a pipe? whence gotst thou that, and + how?</p> + + <p>Tootling through straws with Corydon mayhap's beneath thee + now?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>'Twas Lycon's gift, your highness. But pray, Cometas, + say,</p> + + <p>What is that skin wherewith thou saidst that Lacon walked + away?</p> + + <p>Why, thy lord's self had ne'er a skin whereon his limbs to + lay.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>The skin that Crocylus gave me, a dark one streaked with + white,</p> + + <p>The day he slew his she-goat. Why, thou wert ill with + spite,</p> + + <p>Then, my false friend; and thou would'st end by beggaring + me quite.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Did Lacon, did Calæthis' son purloin a goatskin? + No,</p> + + <p>By Pan that haunts the sea-beach! Lad, if I served thee + so,</p> + + <p>Crazed may I drop from yon hill-top to Crathis' stream + below!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Nor pipe of thine, good fellow—the Ladies of the + Lake</p> + + <p>So be still kind and good to me—did e'er Cometas + take.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Be Daphnis' woes my portion, should that my credence + win!</p> + + <p>Still, if thou list to stake a kid—that surely were + no sin—</p> + + <p>Come on, I'll sing it out with thee—until thou + givest in.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>'<i>The hog he braved Athene.</i>' As for the kid, 'tis + there:</p> + + <p>You stake a lamb against him—that fat one—if + you dare.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Fox! were that fair for either? At shearing who'd + prefer</p> + + <p>Horsehair to wool? or when the goat stood handy, suffer + her</p> + + <p>To nurse her firstling, and himself go milk a blatant + cur?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>The same who deemed his hornet's-buzz the true cicala's + note,</p> + + <p>And braved—like you—his better. And so + forsooth you vote</p> + + <p>My kid a trifle? Then come on, fellow! I stake the + goat.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Why be so hot? Art thou on fire? First prythee take thy + seat</p> + + <p>'Neath this wild woodland olive: thy tones will sound more + sweet.</p> + + <p>Here falls a cold rill drop by drop, and green + grass-blades uprear</p> + + <p>Their heads, and fallen leaves are thick, and locusts + prattle here.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Hot I am not; but hurt I am, and sorely, when I think</p> + + <p>That thou canst look me in the face and never bleach nor + blink—</p> + + <p>Me, thine own boyhood's tutor! Go, train the she-wolf's + brood:</p> + + <p>Train dogs—that they may rend thee! This, this is + gratitude!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>When learned I from thy practice or thy preaching aught + that's right,</p> + + <p>Thou puppet, thou misshapen lump of ugliness and + spite?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>When? When I beat thee, wailing sore: yon goats looked on + with glee,</p> + + <p>And bleated; and were dealt with e'en as I had dealt with + thee.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Well, hunchback, shallow be thy grave as was thy judgment + then!</p> + + <p>But hither, hither! Thou'lt not dip in herdsman's lore + again.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Nay, here are oaks and galingale: the hum of housing + bees</p> + + <p>Makes the place pleasant, and the birds are piping in the + trees.</p> + + <p>And here are two cold streamlets; here deeper shadows + fall</p> + + <p>Than yon place owns, and look what cones drop from the + pinetree tall.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Come hither, and tread on lambswool that is soft as any + dream:</p> + + <p>Still more unsavoury than thyself to me thy goatskins + seem.</p> + + <p>Here will I plant a bowl of milk, our ladies' grace to + win;</p> + + <p>And one, as huge, beside it, sweet olive-oil therein.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Come hither, and trample dainty fern and poppy-blossom: + sleep</p> + + <p>On goatskins that are softer than thy fleeces piled three + deep.</p> + + <p>Here will I plant eight milkpails, great Pan's regard to + gain,</p> + + <p>Bound them eight cups: full honeycombs shall every cup + contain.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Well! there essay thy woodcraft: thence fight me, never + budge</p> + + <p>From thine own oak; e'en have thy way. But who shall be + our judge?</p> + + <p>Oh, if Lycopas with his kine should chance this way to + trudge!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Nay, I want no Lycopas. But hail yon woodsman, do:</p> + + <p>'Tis Morson—see! his arms are full of + bracken—there, by you.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>We'll hail him.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p class="i6">Ay, you hail him.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p class="i8">Friend, 'twill not take thee long:</p> + + <p>We're striving which is master, we twain, in woodland + song:</p> + + <p>And thou, my good friend Morson, ne'er look with favouring + eyes</p> + + <p>On me; nor yet to yonder lad be fain to judge the + prize.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Nay, by the Nymphs, sweet Morson, ne'er for Cometas' + sake</p> + + <p>Stretch thou a point; nor e'er let him undue advantage + take.</p> + + <p>Sibyrtas owns yon wethers; a Thurian is he:</p> + + <p>And here, my friend, Eumares' goats, of Sybaris, you may + see.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>And who asked thee, thou naughty knave, to whom belonged + these flocks,</p> + + <p>Sibyrtas, or (it might be) me? Eh, thou'rt a + chatter-box!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>The simple truth, most worshipful, is all that I + allege:</p> + + <p>I'm not for boasting. But thy wit hath all too keen an + edge.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Come sing, if singing's in thee—and may our friend + get back</p> + + <p>To town alive! Heaven help us, lad, how thy tongue doth + clack!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS. [<i>Sings</i>]</p> + + <p>Daphnis the mighty minstrel was less precious to the + Nine</p> + + <p>Than I. I offered yesterday two kids upon their + shrine.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON. [<i>Sings</i>]</p> + + <p>Ay, but Apollo fancies me hugely: for him I rear</p> + + <p>A lordly ram: and, look you, the Carnival is near.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Twin kids hath every goat I milk, save two. My maid, my + own,</p> + + <p>Eyes me and asks 'At milking time, rogue, art thou all + alone?'</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Go to! nigh twenty baskets doth Lacon fill with + cheese:</p> + + <p>Hath time to woo a sweetheart too upon the blossomed + leas.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Clarissa pelts her goatherd with apples, should he + stray</p> + + <p>By with his goats; and pouts her lip in a quaint charming + way.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Me too a darling smooth of face notes as I tend my + flocks:</p> + + <p>How maddeningly o'er that fair neck ripple those shining + locks!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Tho' dogrose and anemone are fair in their degree,</p> + + <p>The rose that blooms by garden-walls still is the rose for + me.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Tho' acorns' cups are fair, their taste is bitterness, and + still</p> + + <p>I'll choose, for honeysweet are they, the apples of the + hill.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>A cushat I will presently procure and give to her</p> + + <p>Who loves me: I know where it sits; up in the juniper.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Pooh! a soft fleece, to make a coat, I'll give the day I + shear</p> + + <p>My brindled ewe—(no hand but mine shall touch + it)—to my dear.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Back, lambs, from that wild-olive: and be content to + browse</p> + + <p>Here on the shoulder of the hill, beneath the myrtle + boughs.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Run, (will ye?) Ball and Dogstar, down from that oak tree, + run:</p> + + <p>And feed where Spot is feeding, and catch the morning + sun.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>I have a bowl of cypress-wood: I have besides a cup:</p> + + <p>Praxiteles designed them: for <i>her</i> they're treasured + up.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>I have a dog who throttles wolves: he loves the sheep, and + they</p> + + <p>Love him: I'll give him to my dear, to keep wild beasts at + bay.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Ye locusts that o'erleap my fence, oh let my vines + escape</p> + + <p>Your clutches, I beseech you: the bloom is on the + grape.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>Ye crickets, mark how nettled our friend the goatherd + is!</p> + + <p>I ween, ye cost the reapers pangs as acute as his.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Those foxes with their bushy tails, I hate to see them + crawl</p> + + <p>Round Micon's homestead and purloin his grapes at + evenfall.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p><i>I</i> hate to see the beetles that come warping on the + wind.</p> + + <p>And climb Philondas' trees, and leave never a fig + behind.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Have you forgot that cudgelling I gave you? At each + stroke</p> + + <p>You grinned and twisted with a grace, and clung to yonder + oak.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>That I've forgot—but I have not, how once Eumares + tied</p> + + <p>You to that selfsame oak-trunk, and tanned your unclean + hide.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>There's some one ill—of heartburn. You note it, I + presume,</p> + + <p>Morson? Go quick, and fetch a squill from some old + beldam's tomb.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>I think I'm stinging somebody, as Morson too + perceives—</p> + + <p>Go to the river and dig up a clump of sowbread-leaves.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>May Himera flow, not water, but milk: and may'st thou + blush,</p> + + <p>Crathis, with wine; and fruitage grow upon every rush.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>For me may Sybaris' fountain flow, pure honey: so that + you,</p> + + <p>My fair, may dip your pitcher each morn in honey-dew.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>My goats are fed on clover and goat's-delight: they + tread</p> + + <p>On lentisk leaves; or lie them down, ripe strawberries + o'er their head.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>My sheep crop honeysuckle bloom, while all around them + blows</p> + + <p>In clusters rich the jasmine, as brave as any rose.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>I scorn my maid; for when she took my cushat, she did + not</p> + + <p>Draw with both hands my face to hers and kiss me on the + spot.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>LACON.</p> + + <p>I love my love, and hugely: for, when I gave my flute,</p> + + <p>I was rewarded with a kiss, a loving one to boot.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>Lacon, the nightingale should scarce be challenged by the + jay,</p> + + <p>Nor swan by hoopoe: but, poor boy, thou aye wert for a + fray.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MORSON.</p> + + <p>I bid the shepherd hold his peace. Cometas, unto you</p> + + <p>I, Morson, do adjudge the lamb. You'll first make offering + due</p> + + <p>Unto the nymphs: then savoury meat you'll send to Morson + too.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMETAS.</p> + + <p>By Pan I will! Snort, all my herd of he-goats: I shall + now</p> + + <p>O'er Lacon, shepherd as he is, crow ye shall soon see + how.</p> + + <p>I've won, and I could leap sky-high! Ye also dance and + skip,</p> + + <p>My hornèd ewes: in Sybaris' fount to-morrow all + shall dip.</p> + + <p>Ho! you, sir, with the glossy coat and dangerous crest; + you dare</p> + + <p>Look at a ewe, till I have slain my lamb, and ill you'll + fare.</p> + + <p>What! is he at his tricks again? He is, and he will + get</p> + + <p>(Or my name's not Cometas) a proper pounding yet.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_VI"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL VI.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Drawn Battle. + </center> + + <center> + DAPHNIS. DAMOETAS. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Daphnis the herdsman and Damoetas once</p> + + <p>Had driven, Aratus, to the selfsame glen.</p> + + <p>One chin was yellowing, one shewed half a beard.</p> + + <p>And by a brookside on a summer noon</p> + + <p>The pair sat down and sang; but Daphnis led</p> + + <p>The song, for Daphnis was the challenger.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>"See! Galatea pelts thy flock with fruit,</p> + + <p>And calls their master 'Lack-love,' Polypheme.</p> + + <p>Thou mark'st her not, blind, blind, but pipest aye</p> + + <p>Thy wood-notes. See again, she smites thy dog:</p> + + <p>Sea-ward the fleeced flocks' sentinel peers and barks,</p> + + <p>And, through the clear wave visible to her still,</p> + + <p>Careers along the gently babbling beach.</p> + + <p>Look that he leap not on the maid new-risen</p> + + <p>From her sea-bath and rend her dainty limbs.</p> + + <p>She fools thee, near or far, like thistle-waifs</p> + + <p>In hot sweet summer: flies from thee when wooed,</p> + + <p>Unwooed pursues thee: risks all moves to win;</p> + + <p>For, Polypheme, things foul seem fair to Love."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">And then, due prelude made, Damoetas sang.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAMOETAS.</p> + + <p>"I marked her pelt my dog, I was not blind,</p> + + <p>By Pan, by this my one my precious eye</p> + + <p>That bounds my vision now and evermore!</p> + + <p>But Telemus the Seer, be his the woe,</p> + + <p>His and his children's, that he promised me!</p> + + <p>Yet do I too tease her; I pass her by,</p> + + <p>Pretend to woo another:—and she hears</p> + + <p>(Heaven help me!) and is faint with jealousy;</p> + + <p>And hurrying from the sea-wave as if stung,</p> + + <p>Scans with keen glance my grotto and my flock.</p> + + <p>'Twas I hissed on the dog to bark at her;</p> + + <p>For, when I loved her, he would whine and lay</p> + + <p>His muzzle in her lap. These things she'll note</p> + + <p>Mayhap, and message send on message soon:</p> + + <p>But I will bar my door until she swear</p> + + <p>To make me on this isle fair bridal-bed.</p> + + <p>And I am less unlovely than men say.</p> + + <p>I looked into the mere (the mere was calm),</p> + + <p>And goodly seemed my beard, and goodly seemed</p> + + <p>My solitary eye, and, half-revealed,</p> + + <p>My teeth gleamed whiter than the Parian marl.</p> + + <p>Thrice for good luck I spat upon my robe:</p> + + <p>That learned I of the hag Cottytaris—her</p> + + <p>Who fluted lately with Hippocoön's mowers."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Damoetas then kissed Daphnis lovingly:</p> + + <p>One gave a pipe and one a goodly flute.</p> + + <p>Straight to the shepherd's flute and herdsman's pipe</p> + + <p>The younglings bounded in the soft green grass:</p> + + <p>And neither was o'ermatched, but matchless both.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_VII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL VII.</h2><br> + + <center> + Harvest-Home. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Once on a time did Eucritus and I</p> + + <p>(With us Amyntas) to the riverside</p> + + <p>Steal from the city. For Lycopeus' sons</p> + + <p>Were that day busy with the harvest-home,</p> + + <p>Antigenes and Phrasidemus, sprung</p> + + <p>(If aught thou holdest by the good old names)</p> + + <p>By Clytia from great Chalcon—him who erst</p> + + <p>Planted one stalwart knee against the rock,</p> + + <p>And lo, beneath his foot Burinè's rill</p> + + <p>Brake forth, and at its side poplar and elm</p> + + <p>Shewed aisles of pleasant shadow, greenly roofed</p> + + <p>By tufted leaves. Scarce midway were we now,</p> + + <p>Nor yet descried the tomb of Brasilas:</p> + + <p>When, thanks be to the Muses, there drew near</p> + + <p>A wayfarer from Crete, young Lycidas.</p> + + <p>The horned herd was his care: a glance might tell</p> + + <p>So much: for every inch a herdsman he.</p> + + <p>Slung o'er his shoulder was a ruddy hide</p> + + <p>Torn from a he-goat, shaggy, tangle-haired,</p> + + <p>That reeked of rennet yet: a broad belt clasped</p> + + <p>A patched cloak round his breast, and for a staff</p> + + <p>A gnarled wild-olive bough his right hand bore.</p> + + <p>Soon with a quiet smile he spoke—his eye</p> + + <p>Twinkled, and laughter sat upon his lip:</p> + + <p>"And whither ploddest thou thy weary way</p> + + <p>Beneath the noontide sun, Simichidas?</p> + + <p>For now the lizard sleeps upon the wall,</p> + + <p>The crested lark folds now his wandering wing.</p> + + <p>Dost speed, a bidden guest, to some reveller's board?</p> + + <p>Or townward to the treading of the grape?</p> + + <p>For lo! recoiling from thy hurrying feet</p> + + <p>The pavement-stones ring out right merrily."</p> + + <p>Then I: "Friend Lycid, all men say that none</p> + + <p>Of haymakers or herdsmen is thy match</p> + + <p>At piping: and my soul is glad thereat.</p> + + <p>Yet, to speak sooth, I think to rival thee.</p> + + <p>Now look, this road holds holiday to-day:</p> + + <p>For banded brethren solemnise a feast</p> + + <p>To richly-dight Demeter, thanking her</p> + + <p>For her good gifts: since with no grudging hand</p> + + <p>Hath the boon goddess filled the wheaten floors.</p> + + <p>So come: the way, the day, is thine as mine:</p> + + <p>Try we our woodcraft—each may learn from each.</p> + + <p>I am, as thou, a clarion-voice of song;</p> + + <p>All hail me chief of minstrels. But I am not,</p> + + <p>Heaven knows, o'ercredulous: no, I scarce can yet</p> + + <p>(I think) outvie Philetas, nor the bard</p> + + <p>Of Samos, champion of Sicilian song.</p> + + <p>They are as cicadas challenged by a frog."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">I spake to gain mine ends; and laughing + light</p> + + <p>He said: "Accept this club, as thou'rt indeed</p> + + <p>A born truth-teller, shaped by heaven's own hand!</p> + + <p>I hate your builders who would rear a house</p> + + <p>High as Oromedon's mountain-pinnacle:</p> + + <p>I hate your song-birds too, whose cuckoo-cry</p> + + <p>Struggles (in vain) to match the Chian bard.</p> + + <p>But come, we'll sing forthwith, Simichidas,</p> + + <p>Our woodland music: and for my part I—</p> + + <p>List, comrade, if you like the simple air</p> + + <p>I forged among the uplands yesterday.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>[<i>Sings</i>] Safe be my true-love convoyed o'er the + main</p> + + <p>To Mitylenè—though the southern blast</p> + + <p>Chase the lithe waves, while westward slant the Kids,</p> + + <p>Or low above the verge Orion stand—</p> + + <p>If from Love's furnace she will rescue me,</p> + + <p>For Lycidas is parched with hot desire.</p> + + <p>Let halcyons lay the sea-waves and the winds,</p> + + <p>Northwind and Westwind, that in shores far-off</p> + + <p>Flutters the seaweed—halcyons, of all birds</p> + + <p>Whose prey is on the waters, held most dear</p> + + <p>By the green Nereids: yea let all things smile</p> + + <p>On her to Mitylenè voyaging,</p> + + <p>And in fair harbour may she ride at last.</p> + + <p>I on that day, a chaplet woven of dill</p> + + <p>Or rose or simple violet on my brow,</p> + + <p>Will draw the wine of Pteleas from the cask</p> + + <p>Stretched by the ingle. They shall roast me beans,</p> + + <p>And elbow-deep in thyme and asphodel</p> + + <p>And quaintly-curling parsley shall be piled</p> + + <p>My bed of rushes, where in royal ease</p> + + <p>I sit and, thinking of my darling, drain</p> + + <p>With stedfast lip the liquor to the dregs.</p> + + <p>I'll have a pair of pipers, shepherds both,</p> + + <p>This from Acharnæ, from Lycopè that;</p> + + <p>And Tityrus shall be near me and shall sing</p> + + <p>How the swain Daphnis loved the stranger-maid;</p> + + <p>And how he ranged the fells, and how the oaks</p> + + <p>(Such oaks as Himera's banks are green withal)</p> + + <p>Sang dirges o'er him waning fast away</p> + + <p>Like snow on Athos, or on Hæmus high,</p> + + <p>Or Rhodopè, or utmost Caucasus.</p> + + <p>And he shall sing me how the big chest held</p> + + <p>(All through the maniac malice of his lord)</p> + + <p>A living goatherd: how the round-faced bees,</p> + + <p>Lured from their meadow by the cedar-smell,</p> + + <p>Fed him with daintiest flowers, because the Muse</p> + + <p>Had made his throat a well-spring of sweet song.</p> + + <p>Happy Cometas, this sweet lot was thine!</p> + + <p>Thee the chest prisoned, for thee the honey-bees</p> + + <p>Toiled, as thou slavedst out the mellowing year:</p> + + <p>And oh hadst thou been numbered with the quick</p> + + <p>In my day! I had led thy pretty goats</p> + + <p>About the hill-side, listening to thy voice:</p> + + <p>While thou hadst lain thee down 'neath oak or pine,</p> + + <p>Divine Cometas, warbling pleasantly."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">He spake and paused; and thereupon spake I.</p> + + <p>"I too, friend Lycid, as I ranged the fells,</p> + + <p>Have learned much lore and pleasant from the Nymphs,</p> + + <p>Whose fame mayhap hath reached the throne of Zeus.</p> + + <p>But this wherewith I'll grace thee ranks the first:</p> + + <p>Thou listen, since the Muses like thee well.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>[<i>Sings</i>] On me the young Loves sneezed: for hapless + I</p> + + <p>Am fain of Myrto as the goats of Spring.</p> + + <p>But my best friend Aratus inly pines</p> + + <p>For one who loves him not. Aristis saw—</p> + + <p>(A wondrous seer is he, whose lute and lay</p> + + <p>Shrinèd Apollo's self would scarce + disdain)—</p> + + <p>How love had scorched Aratus to the bone.</p> + + <p>O Pan, who hauntest Homolè's fair champaign,</p> + + <p>Bring the soft charmer, whosoe'er it be,</p> + + <p>Unbid to his sweet arms—so, gracious Pan,</p> + + <p>May ne'er thy ribs and shoulderblades be lashed</p> + + <p>With squills by young Arcadians, whensoe'er</p> + + <p>They are scant of supper! But should this my prayer</p> + + <p>Mislike thee, then on nettles mayest thou sleep,</p> + + <p>Dinted and sore all over from their claws!</p> + + <p>Then mayest thou lodge amid Edonian hills</p> + + <p>By Hebrus, in midwinter; there subsist,</p> + + <p>The Bear thy neighbour: and, in summer, range</p> + + <p>With the far Æthiops 'neath the Blemmyan rocks</p> + + <p>Where Nile is no more seen! But O ye Loves,</p> + + <p>Whose cheeks are like pink apples, quit your homes</p> + + <p>By Hyetis, or Byblis' pleasant rill,</p> + + <p>Or fair Dionè's rocky pedestal,</p> + + <p>And strike that fair one with your arrows, strike</p> + + <p>The ill-starred damsel who disdains my friend.</p> + + <p>And lo, what is she but an o'er-ripe pear?</p> + + <p>The girls all cry 'Her bloom is on the wane.'</p> + + <p>We'll watch, Aratus, at that porch no more,</p> + + <p>Nor waste shoe-leather: let the morning cock</p> + + <p>Crow to wake others up to numb despair!</p> + + <p>Let Molon, and none else, that ordeal brave:</p> + + <p>While we make ease our study, and secure</p> + + <p>Some witch, to charm all evil from our door."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">I ceased. He smiling sweetly as before,</p> + + <p>Gave me the staff, 'the Muses' parting gift,'</p> + + <p>And leftward sloped toward Pyxa. We the while,</p> + + <p>Bent us to Phrasydeme's, Eucritus and I,</p> + + <p>And baby-faced Amyntas: there we lay</p> + + <p>Half-buried in a couch of fragrant reed</p> + + <p>And fresh-cut vineleaves, who so glad as we?</p> + + <p>A wealth of elm and poplar shook o'erhead;</p> + + <p>Hard by, a sacred spring flowed gurgling on</p> + + <p>From the Nymphs' grot, and in the sombre boughs</p> + + <p>The sweet cicada chirped laboriously.</p> + + <p>Hid in the thick thorn-bushes far away</p> + + <p>The treefrog's note was heard; the crested lark</p> + + <p>Sang with the goldfinch; turtles made their moan,</p> + + <p>And o'er the fountain hung the gilded bee.</p> + + <p>All of rich summer smacked, of autumn all:</p> + + <p>Pears at our feet, and apples at our side</p> + + <p>Rolled in luxuriance; branches on the ground</p> + + <p>Sprawled, overweighed with damsons; while we brushed</p> + + <p>From the cask's head the crust of four long years.</p> + + <p>Say, ye who dwell upon Parnassian peaks,</p> + + <p>Nymphs of Castalia, did old Chiron e'er</p> + + <p>Set before Heracles a cup so brave</p> + + <p>In Pholus' cavern—did as nectarous draughts</p> + + <p>Cause that Anapian shepherd, in whose hand</p> + + <p>Rocks were as pebbles, Polypheme the strong,</p> + + <p>Featly to foot it o'er the cottage lawns:—</p> + + <p>As, ladies, ye bid flow that day for us</p> + + <p>All by Demeter's shrine at harvest-home?</p> + + <p>Beside whose cornstacks may I oft again</p> + + <p>Plant my broad fan: while she stands by and smiles,</p> + + <p>Poppies and cornsheaves on each laden arm.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_VIII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL VIII.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Triumph of Daphnis. + </center> + + <center> + <i>DAPHNIS. MENALCAS. A GOATHERD</i>. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Daphnis, the gentle herdsman, met once, as legend + tells,</p> + + <p>Menalcas making with his flock the circle of the + fells.</p> + + <p>Both chins were gilt with coming beards: both lads could + sing and play:</p> + + <p>Menalcas glanced at Daphnis, and thus was heard to + say:—</p> + + <p>"Art thou for singing, Daphnis, lord of the lowing + kine?</p> + + <p>I say my songs are better, by what thou wilt, than + thine."</p> + + <p>Then in his turn spake Daphnis, and thus he made + reply:</p> + + <p>"O shepherd of the fleecy flock, thou pipest clear and + high;</p> + + <p>But come what will, Menalcas, thou ne'er wilt sing as + I."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>This art thou fain to ascertain, and risk a bet with + me?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>This I full fain would ascertain, and risk a bet with + thee.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>But what, for champions such as we, would, seem a fitting + prize?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>I stake a calf: stake thou a lamb, its mother's self in + size.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>A lamb I'll venture never: for aye at close of day</p> + + <p>Father and mother count the flock, and passing strict are + they.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Then what shall be the victor's fee? What wager wilt thou + lay?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>A pipe discoursing through nine mouths I made, full fair + to view;</p> + + <p>The wax is white thereon, the line of this and that edge + true.</p> + + <p>I'll risk it: risk my father's own is more than I dare + do.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>A pipe discoursing through nine mouths, and fair, hath + Daphnis too:</p> + + <p>The wax is white thereon, the line of this and that edge + true.</p> + + <p>But yesterday I made it: this finger feels the pain</p> + + <p>Still, where indeed the rifted reed hath cut it clean in + twain.</p> + + <p>But who shall be our umpire? who listen to our strain?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>Suppose we hail yon goatherd; him at whose horned herd + now</p> + + <p>The dog is barking—yonder dog with white upon his + brow.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Then out they called: the goatherd marked them, + and up came he;</p> + + <p>Then out they sang; the goatherd their umpire fain would + be.</p> + + <p>To shrill Menalcas' lot it fell to start the woodland + lay:</p> + + <p>Then Daphnis took it up. And thus Menalcas led the + way.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>"Rivers and vales, a glorious birth! Oh if Menalcas + e'er</p> + + <p class="i2">Piped aught of pleasant music in your ears:</p> + + <p>Then pasture, nothing loth, his lambs; and let young + Daphnis fare</p> + + <p class="i2">No worse, should he stray hither with his + steers."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>"Pastures and rills, a bounteous race! If Daphnis sang you + e'er</p> + + <p class="i2">Such songs as ne'er from nightingale have + flowed;</p> + + <p>Then to his herd your fatness lend; and let Menalcas + share</p> + + <p class="i2">Like boon, should e'er he wend along this + road."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>"'Tis spring, 'tis greenness everywhere; with milk the + udders teem,</p> + + <p class="i2">And all things that are young have life + anew,</p> + + <p>Where my sweet maiden wanders: but parched and withered + seem,</p> + + <p class="i2">When she departeth, lawn and shepherd too."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>"Fat are the sheep, the goats bear twins, the hives are + thronged with</p> + + <p class="i4">bees,</p> + + <p class="i2">Rises the oak beyond his natural growth,</p> + + <p>Where falls my darling's footstep: but hungriness shall + seize,</p> + + <p class="i2">When she departeth, herd and herdsman + both."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>"Come, ram, with thy blunt-muzzled kids and sleek wives at + thy side,</p> + + <p class="i2">Where winds the brook by woodlands + myriad-deep:</p> + + <p>There is <i>her</i> haunt. Go, Stump-horn, tell her how + Proteus plied</p> + + <p class="i2">(A god) the shepherd's trade, with seals for + sheep."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>"I ask not gold, I ask not the broad lands of a king;</p> + + <p class="i2">I ask not to be fleeter than the breeze;</p> + + <p>But 'neath this steep to watch my sheep, feeding as one, + and fling</p> + + <p class="i2">(Still clasping <i>her</i>) my carol o'er the + seas."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>"Storms are the fruit-tree's bane; the brook's, a summer + hot and dry;</p> + + <p class="i2">The stag's a woven net, a gin the dove's;</p> + + <p>Mankind's, a soft sweet maiden. Others have pined ere + I:</p> + + <p class="i2">Zeus! Father! hadst not thou thy + lady-loves?"</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Thus far, in alternating strains, the lads their woes + rehearst:</p> + + <p>Then each one gave a closing stave. Thus sang Menalcas + first:—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>"O spare, good wolf, my weanlings! their milky mothers + spare!</p> + + <p>Harm not the little lad that hath so many in his care!</p> + + <p>What, Firefly, is thy sleep so deep? It ill befits a + hound,</p> + + <p>Tending a boyish master's flock, to slumber + over-sound.</p> + + <p>And, wethers, of this tender grass take, nothing coy, your + fill:</p> + + <p>So, when it comes, the after-math shall find you feeding + still.</p> + + <p>So! so! graze on, that ye be full, that not an udder + fail:</p> + + <p>Part of the milk shall rear the lambs, and part shall fill + my pail."</p> + + <p class="i2">Then Daphnis flung a carol out, as of a + nightingale:—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>"Me from her grot but yesterday a girl of haughty brow</p> + + <p>Spied as I passed her with my kine, and said, "How fair + art thou!"</p> + + <p>I vow that not one bitter word in answer did I say,</p> + + <p>But, looking ever on the ground, went silently my way.</p> + + <p>The heifer's voice, the heifer's breath, are passing sweet + to me;</p> + + <p>And sweet is sleep by summer-brooks upon the breezy + lea:</p> + + <p>As acorns are the green oak's pride, apples the + apple-bough's;</p> + + <p>So the cow glorieth in her calf, the cowherd in his + cows."</p> + + <p>Thus the two lads; then spoke the third, sitting his goats + among:</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GOATHERD.</p> + + <p>"O Daphnis, lovely is thy voice, thy music sweetly + sung;</p> + + <p>Such song is pleasanter to me than honey on my tongue.</p> + + <p>Accept this pipe, for thou hast won. And should there be + some notes</p> + + <p>That thou couldst teach me, as I plod alongside with my + goats,</p> + + <p>I'll give thee for thy schooling this ewe, that horns hath + none:</p> + + <p>Day after day she'll fill the can, until the milk + o'errun."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Then how the one lad laughed and leaped and + clapped his hands for</p> + + <p class="i6">glee!</p> + + <p>A kid that bounds to meet its dam might dance as + merrily.</p> + + <p>And how the other inly burned, struck down by his + disgrace!</p> + + <p>A maid first parting from her home might wear as sad a + face.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Thenceforth was Daphnis champion of all the + country side:</p> + + <p>And won, while yet in topmost youth, a Naiad for his + bride.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_IX"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL IX.</h2><br> + + <center> + Pastorals. + </center> + + <center> + <i>DAPHNIS. MENALCAS. A SHEPHERD.</i> + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>SHEPHERD.</p> + + <p>A song from Daphnis! Open he the lay,</p> + + <p>He open: and Menalcas follow next:</p> + + <p>While the calves suck, and with the barren kine</p> + + <p>The young bulls graze, or roam knee-deep in leaves,</p> + + <p>And ne'er play truant. But a song from thee,</p> + + <p>Daphnis—anon Menalcas will reply.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Sweet is the chorus of the calves and kine,</p> + + <p class="i2">And sweet the herdsman's pipe. But none may + vie</p> + + <p>With Daphnis; and a rush-strown bed is mine</p> + + <p class="i2">Near a cool rill, where carpeted I lie</p> + + <p class="i2">On fair white goatskins. From a hill-top + high</p> + + <p>The westwind swept me down the herd entire,</p> + + <p class="i2">Cropping the strawberries: whence it comes that + I</p> + + <p class="i2">No more heed summer, with his breath of + fire,</p> + + <p>Than lovers heed the words of mother and of sire.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Thus Daphnis: and Menalcas answered thus:—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MENALCAS.</p> + + <p>O Ætna, mother mine! A grotto fair,</p> + + <p class="i2">Scooped in the rocks, have I: and there I + keep</p> + + <p>All that in dreams men picture! Treasured there</p> + + <p class="i2">Are multitudes of she-goats and of sheep,</p> + + <p class="i2">Swathed in whose wool from top to toe I + sleep.</p> + + <p>The fire that boils my pot, with oak or beech</p> + + <p class="i2">Is piled—dry beech-logs when the snow + lies deep;</p> + + <p class="i2">And storm and sunshine, I disdain them each</p> + + <p>As toothless sires a nut, when broth is in their + reach.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">I clapped applause, and straight produced my + gifts:</p> + + <p class="i2">A staff for Daphnis—'twas the + handiwork</p> + + <p class="i2">Of nature, in my father's acres grown:</p> + + <p class="i2">Yet might a turner find no fault therewith.</p> + + <p class="i2">I gave his mate a goodly spiral-shell:</p> + + <p class="i2">We stalked its inmate on the Icarian rocks</p> + + <p class="i2">And ate him, parted fivefold among five.</p> + + <p>He blew forthwith the trumpet on his shell.</p> + + <p class="i2">Tell, woodland Muse—and then + farewell—what song</p> + + <p class="i2">I, the chance-comer, sang before those + twain.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>SHEPHERD.</p> + + <p class="i2">Ne'er let a falsehood scarify my tongue!</p> + + <p class="i4">Crickets with crickets, ants with ants + agree,</p> + + <p class="i2">And hawks with hawks: and music sweetly + sung,</p> + + <p class="i4">Beyond all else, is grateful unto me.</p> + + <p class="i4">Filled aye with music may my dwelling be!</p> + + <p class="i2">Not slumber, not the bursting forth of + Spring</p> + + <p class="i4">So charms me, nor the flowers that tempt the + bee,</p> + + <p class="i2">As those sweet Sisters. He, on whom they + fling</p> + + <p>One gracious glance, is proof to Circè's + blandishing.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_X"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL X.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Two Workmen. + </center> + + <center> + <i>MILO. BATTUS.</i> + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>What now, poor o'erworked drudge, is on thy mind?</p> + + <p class="i3">No more in even swathe thou layest the + corn:</p> + + <p>Thy fellow-reapers leave thee far behind,</p> + + <p class="i3">As flocks a ewe that's footsore from a + thorn.</p> + + <p>By noon and midday what will be thy plight</p> + + <p>If now, so soon, thy sickle fails to bite?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Hewn from hard rocks, untired at set of sun,</p> + + <p>Milo, didst ne'er regret some absent one?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MILO.</p> + + <p>Not I. What time have workers for regret?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Hath love ne'er kept thee from thy slumbers yet?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MILO.</p> + + <p>Nay, heaven forbid! If once the cat taste cream!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Milo, these ten days love hath been my dream.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MILO.</p> + + <p>You drain your wine, while vinegar's scarce with me.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>—Hence since last spring untrimmed my borders + be.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MILO.</p> + + <p>And what lass flouts thee?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p class="i8">She whom we heard play</p> + + <p>Amongst Hippocoön's reapers yesterday.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MILO.</p> + + <p>Your sins have found you out—you're e'en served + right:</p> + + <p>You'll clasp a corn-crake in your arms all night.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>You laugh: but headstrong Love is blind no less</p> + + <p>Than Plutus: talking big is foolishness.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MILO.</p> + + <p>I talk not big. But lay the corn-ears low</p> + + <p>And trill the while some love-song—easier so</p> + + <p>Will seem your toil: you used to sing, I know.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>BATTUS.</p> + + <p>Maids of Pieria, of my slim lass sing!</p> + + <p>One touch of yours ennobles everything.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i8">[<i>Sings</i>]</p> + + <p>Fairy Bombyca! thee do men report</p> + + <p class="i2">Lean, dusk, a gipsy: I alone nut-brown.</p> + + <p>Violets and pencilled hyacinths are swart,</p> + + <p class="i2">Yet first of flowers they're chosen for a + crown.</p> + + <p>As goats pursue the clover, wolves the goat,</p> + + <p>And cranes the ploughman, upon thee I dote.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Had I but Croesus' wealth, we twain should stand</p> + + <p class="i2">Gold-sculptured in Love's temple; thou, thy + lyre</p> + + <p>(Ay or a rose or apple) in thy hand,</p> + + <p class="i2">I in my brave new shoon and dance-attire.</p> + + <p>Fairy Bombyca! twinkling dice thy feet,</p> + + <p>Poppies thy lips, thy ways none knows how sweet!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>MILO.</p> + + <p>Who dreamed what subtle strains our bumpkin wrought?</p> + + <p class="i2">How shone the artist in each measured + verse!</p> + + <p>Fie on the beard that I have grown for naught!</p> + + <p class="i2">Mark, lad, these lines by glorious + Lytierse.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i8">[<i>Sings</i>]</p> + + <p class="i2">O rich in fruit and cornblade: be this + field</p> + + <p class="i2">Tilled well, Demeter, and fair fruitage + yield!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Bind the sheaves, reapers: lest one, passing, + say—</p> + + <p class="i2">'A fig for these, they're never worth their + pay.'</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Let the mown swathes look northward, ye who + mow,</p> + + <p class="i2">Or westward—for the ears grow fattest + so.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Avoid a noontide nap, ye threshing men:</p> + + <p class="i2">The chaff flies thickest from the corn-ears + then.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Wake when the lark wakes; when he slumbers, + close</p> + + <p class="i2">Your work, ye reapers: and at noontide + doze.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Boys, the frogs' life for me! They need not + him</p> + + <p class="i2">Who fills the flagon, for in drink they + swim.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Better boil herbs, thou toiler after gain,</p> + + <p class="i2">Than, splitting cummin, split thy hand in + twain.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Strains such as these, I trow, befit them well</p> + + <p class="i2">Who toil and moil when noon is at its + height:</p> + + <p>Thy meagre love-tale, bumpkin, though shouldst tell</p> + + <p class="i2">Thy grandam as she wakes up ere 'tis light.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XI"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XI.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Giant's Wooing + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Methinks all nature hath no cure for Love,</p> + + <p>Plaster or unguent, Nicias, saving one;</p> + + <p>And this is light and pleasant to a man,</p> + + <p>Yet hard withal to compass—minstrelsy.</p> + + <p>As well thou wottest, being thyself a leech,</p> + + <p>And a prime favourite of those Sisters nine.</p> + + <p>'Twas thus our Giant lived a life of ease,</p> + + <p>Old Polyphemus, when, the down scarce seen</p> + + <p>On lip and chin, he wooed his ocean nymph:</p> + + <p>No curlypated rose-and-apple wooer,</p> + + <p>But a fell madman, blind to all but love.</p> + + <p>Oft from the green grass foldward fared his sheep</p> + + <p>Unbid: while he upon the windy beach,</p> + + <p>Singing his Galatea, sat and pined</p> + + <p>From dawn to dusk, an ulcer at his heart:</p> + + <p>Great Aphrodite's shaft had fixed it there.</p> + + <p>Yet found he that one cure: he sate him down</p> + + <p>On the tall cliff, and seaward looked, and + sang:—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"White Galatea, why disdain thy love?</p> + + <p>White as a pressed cheese, delicate as the lamb,</p> + + <p>Wild as the heifer, soft as summer grapes!</p> + + <p>If sweet sleep chain me, here thou walk'st at large;</p> + + <p>If sweet sleep loose me, straightway thou art gone,</p> + + <p>Scared like a sheep that sees the grey wolf near.</p> + + <p>I loved thee, maiden, when thou cam'st long since,</p> + + <p>To pluck the hyacinth-blossom on the fell,</p> + + <p>Thou and my mother, piloted by me.</p> + + <p>I saw thee, see thee still, from that day forth</p> + + <p>For ever; but 'tis naught, ay naught, to thee.</p> + + <p>I know, sweet maiden, why thou art so coy:</p> + + <p>Shaggy and huge, a single eyebrow spans</p> + + <p>From ear to ear my forehead, whence one eye</p> + + <p>Gleams, and an o'erbroad nostril tops my lip.</p> + + <p>Yet I, this monster, feed a thousand sheep</p> + + <p>That yield me sweetest draughts at milking-tide:</p> + + <p>In summer, autumn, or midwinter, still</p> + + <p>Fails not my cheese; my milkpail aye o'erflows.</p> + + <p>Then I can pipe as ne'er did Giant yet,</p> + + <p>Singing our loves—ours, honey, thine and + mine—</p> + + <p>At dead of night: and hinds I rear eleven</p> + + <p>(Each with her fawn) and bearcubs four, for thee.</p> + + <p>Oh come to me—thou shalt not rue the day—</p> + + <p>And let the mad seas beat against the shore!</p> + + <p>'Twere sweet to haunt my cave the livelong night:</p> + + <p>Laurel, and cypress tall, and ivy dun,</p> + + <p>And vines of sumptuous fruitage, all are there:</p> + + <p>And a cold spring that pine-clad Ætna flings</p> + + <p>Down from, the white snow's midst, a draught for gods!</p> + + <p>Who would not change for this the ocean-waves?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"But thou mislik'st my hair? Well, oaken + logs</p> + + <p>Are here, and embers yet aglow with fire.</p> + + <p>Burn (if thou wilt) my heart out, and mine eye,</p> + + <p>Mine only eye wherein is my delight.</p> + + <p>Oh why was I not born a finny thing,</p> + + <p>To float unto thy side and kiss thy hand,</p> + + <p>Denied thy lips—and bring thee lilies white</p> + + <p>And crimson-petalled poppies' dainty bloom!</p> + + <p>Nay—summer hath his flowers and autumn his;</p> + + <p>I could not bring all these the selfsame day.</p> + + <p>Lo, should some mariner hither oar his road,</p> + + <p>Sweet, he shall teach me straightway how to swim,</p> + + <p>That haply I may learn what bliss ye find</p> + + <p>In your sea-homes. O Galatea, come</p> + + <p>Forth from yon waves, and coming forth forget</p> + + <p>(As I do, sitting here) to get thee home:</p> + + <p>And feed my flocks and milk them, nothing loth,</p> + + <p>And pour the rennet in to fix my cheese!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"The blame's my mother's; she is false to + me;</p> + + <p>Spake thee ne'er yet one sweet word for my sake,</p> + + <p>Though day by day she sees me pine and pine.</p> + + <p>I'll feign strange throbbings in my head and feet</p> + + <p>To anguish her—as I am anguished now."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">O Cyclops, Cyclops, where are flown thy + wits?</p> + + <p>Go plait rush-baskets, lop the olive-boughs</p> + + <p>To feed thy lambkins—'twere the shrewder part.</p> + + <p>Chase not the recreant, milk the willing ewe:</p> + + <p>The world hath Galateas fairer yet.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"—Many a fair damsel bids me sport with + her</p> + + <p>The livelong night, and smiles if I give ear.</p> + + <p>On land at least I still am somebody."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Thus did the Giant feed his love on song,</p> + + <p>And gained more ease than may be bought with gold.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XII.</h2> + + <center> + The Comrades + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Thou art come, lad, come! Scarce thrice hath dusk to + day</p> + + <p>Given place—but lovers in an hour grow gray.</p> + + <p>As spring's more sweet than winter, grapes than + thorns,</p> + + <p>The ewe's fleece richer than her latest-born's;</p> + + <p>As young girls' charms the thrice-wed wife's outshine,</p> + + <p>As fawns are lither than the ungainly kine,</p> + + <p>Or as the nightingale's clear notes outvie</p> + + <p>The mingled music of all birds that fly;</p> + + <p>So at thy coming passing glad was I.</p> + + <p>I ran to greet thee e'en as pilgrims run</p> + + <p>To beechen shadows from the scorching sun:</p> + + <p>Oh if on us accordant Loves would breathe,</p> + + <p>And our two names to future years bequeath!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">'These twain'—let men say—'lived in + olden days.</p> + + <p>This was a <i>yokel</i> (in their country-phrase),</p> + + <p>That was his <i>mate</i> (so talked these simple + folk):</p> + + <p>And lovingly they bore a mutual yoke.</p> + + <p>The hearts of men were made of sterling gold,</p> + + <p>When troth met troth, in those brave days of old,'</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">O Zeus, O gods who age not nor decay!</p> + + <p>Let e'en two hundred ages roll away,</p> + + <p>But at the last these tidings let me learn,</p> + + <p>Borne o'er the fatal pool whence none return:—</p> + + <p>"By every tongue thy constancy is sung,</p> + + <p>Thine and thy favourite's—chiefly by the young."</p> + + <p>But lo, the future is in heaven's high hand:</p> + + <p>Meanwhile thy graces all my praise demand,</p> + + <p>Not false lip-praise, not idly bubbling froth—</p> + + <p>For though thy wrath be kindled, e'en thy wrath</p> + + <p>Hath no sting in it: doubly I am caressed,</p> + + <p>And go my way repaid with interest.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Oarsmen of Megara, ruled by Nisus erst!</p> + + <p>Yours be all bliss, because ye honoured first</p> + + <p>That true child-lover, Attic Diocles.</p> + + <p>Around his gravestone with the first spring-breeze</p> + + <p>Flock the bairns all, to win the kissing-prize:</p> + + <p>And whoso sweetliest lip to lip applies</p> + + <p>Goes crown-clad home to its mother. Blest is he</p> + + <p>Who in such strife is named the referee:</p> + + <p>To brightfaced Ganymede full oft he'll cry</p> + + <p>To lend his lip the potencies that lie</p> + + <p>Within that stone with which the usurers</p> + + <p>Detect base metal, and which never errs.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XIII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XIII.</h2><br> + + <center> + Hylas. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Not for us only, Nicias, (vain the dream,)</p> + + <p class="i2">Sprung from what god soe'er, was Eros born:</p> + + <p>Not to us only grace doth graceful seem,</p> + + <p class="i2">Frail things who wot not of the coming + morn.</p> + + <p>No—for Amphitryon's iron-hearted son,</p> + + <p>Who braved the lion, was the slave of one:—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>A fair curled creature, Hylas was his name.</p> + + <p class="i2">He taught him, as a father might his child,</p> + + <p>All songs whereby himself had risen to fame;</p> + + <p class="i2">Nor ever from his side would be beguiled</p> + + <p>When noon was high, nor when white steeds convey</p> + + <p>Back to heaven's gates the chariot of the day,</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Nor when the hen's shrill brood becomes aware</p> + + <p class="i2">Of bed-time, as the mother's flapping wings</p> + + <p>Shadow the dust-browned beam. 'Twas all his care</p> + + <p class="i2">To shape unto his own imaginings</p> + + <p>And to the harness train his favourite youth,</p> + + <p>Till he became a man in very truth.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Meanwhile, when kingly Jason steered in quest</p> + + <p class="i2">Of the Gold Fleece, and chieftains at his + side</p> + + <p>Chosen from all cities, proffering each her best,</p> + + <p class="i2">To rich Iolchos came that warrior tried,</p> + + <p>And joined him unto trim-built Argo's crew;</p> + + <p>And with Alcmena's son came Hylas too.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Through the great gulf shot Argo like a bird—</p> + + <p class="i2">And by-and-bye reached Phasis, ne'er + o'erta'en</p> + + <p>By those in-rushing rocks, that have not stirred</p> + + <p class="i2">Since then, but bask, twin monsters, on the + main.</p> + + <p>But now, when waned the spring, and lambs were fed</p> + + <p>In far-off fields, and Pleiads gleamed overhead,</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>That cream and flower of knighthood looked to sail.</p> + + <p class="i2">They came, within broad Argo safely stowed,</p> + + <p>(When for three days had blown the southern gale)</p> + + <p class="i2">To Hellespont, and in Propontis rode</p> + + <p>At anchor, where Cianian oxen now</p> + + <p>Broaden the furrows with the busy plough.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>They leapt ashore, and, keeping rank, prepared</p> + + <p class="i2">Their evening meal: a grassy meadow spread</p> + + <p>Before their eyes, and many a warrior shared</p> + + <p class="i2">(Thanks to its verdurous stores) one lowly + bed.</p> + + <p>And while they cut tall marigolds from their stem</p> + + <p>And sworded bulrush, Hylas slipt from them.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Water the fair lad wont to seek and bring</p> + + <p class="i2">To Heracles and stalwart Telamon,</p> + + <p>(The comrades aye partook each other's fare,)</p> + + <p class="i2">Bearing a brazen pitcher. And anon,</p> + + <p>Where the ground dipt, a fountain he espied,</p> + + <p>And rushes growing green about its side.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>There rose the sea-blue swallow-wort, and there</p> + + <p class="i2">The pale-hued maidenhair, with parsley + green</p> + + <p>And vagrant marsh-flowers; and a revel rare</p> + + <p class="i2">In the pool's midst the water-nymphs were + seen</p> + + <p>To hold, those maidens of unslumbrous eyes</p> + + <p>Whom the belated peasant sees and flies.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And fast did Malis and Eunica cling,</p> + + <p class="i2">And young Nychea with her April face,</p> + + <p>To the lad's hand, as stooping o'er the spring</p> + + <p class="i2">He dipt his pitcher. For the young Greek's + grace</p> + + <p>Made their soft senses reel; and down he fell,</p> + + <p>All of a sudden, into that black well.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>So drops a red star suddenly from sky</p> + + <p class="i2">To sea—and quoth some sailor to his + mate:</p> + + <p>"Up with the tackle, boy! the breeze is high."</p> + + <p class="i2">Him the nymphs pillowed, all disconsolate,</p> + + <p>On their sweet laps, and with soft words beguiled;</p> + + <p>But Heracles was troubled for the child.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Forth went he; Scythian-wise his bow he bore</p> + + <p class="i2">And the great club that never quits his + side;</p> + + <p>And thrice called 'Hylas'—ne'er came lustier + roar</p> + + <p class="i2">From that deep chest. Thrice Hylas heard and + tried</p> + + <p>To answer, but in tones you scarce might hear;</p> + + <p>The water made them distant though so near.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And as a lion, when he hears the bleat</p> + + <p class="i2">Of fawns among the mountains far away,</p> + + <p>A murderous lion, and with hurrying feet</p> + + <p class="i2">Bounds from his lair to his predestined + prey:</p> + + <p>So plunged the strong man in the untrodden + brake—</p> + + <p>(Lovers are maniacs)—for his darling's sake.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>He scoured far fields—what hill or oaken glen</p> + + <p class="i2">Remembers not that pilgrimage of pain?</p> + + <p>His troth to Jason was forgotten then.</p> + + <p class="i2">Long time the good ship tarried for those + twain</p> + + <p>With hoisted sails; night came and still they cleared</p> + + <p>The hatches, but no Heracles appeared.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>On he was wandering, reckless where he trod,</p> + + <p class="i2">So mad a passion on his vitals preyed:</p> + + <p>While Hylas had become a blessed god.</p> + + <p class="i2">But the crew cursed the runaway who had + stayed</p> + + <p>Sixty good oars, and left him there to reach</p> + + <p>Afoot bleak Phasis and the Colchian beach.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XIV"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XIV.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Love of Æschines. + </center> + + <center> + <i>THYONICHUS. ÆSCHINES.</i> + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>ÆSCHINES.</p> + + <p>Hail, sir Thyonichus.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THYONICHUS.</p> + + <p class="i12">Æschines, to you.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>ÆSCHINES.</p> + + <p>I have missed thee.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THYONICHUS.</p> + + <p class="i8">Missed me! Why what ails him now?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>ÆSCHINES.</p> + + <p>My friend, I am ill at ease.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THYONICHUS.</p> + + <p class="i12">Then this explains</p> + + <p>Thy leanness, and thy prodigal moustache</p> + + <p>And dried-up curls. Thy counterpart I saw,</p> + + <p>A wan Pythagorean, yesterday.</p> + + <p>He said he came from Athens: shoes he had none:</p> + + <p>He pined, I'll warrant,—for a quartern loaf.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>ÆSCHINES.</p> + + <p>Sir, you will joke—But I've been outraged, sore,</p> + + <p>And by Cynisca. I shall go stark mad</p> + + <p>Ere you suspect—a hair would turn the scale.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THYONICHUS.</p> + + <p>Such thou wert always, Æschines my friend.</p> + + <p>In lazy mood or trenchant, at thy whim</p> + + <p>The world must wag. But what's thy grievance now?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>ÆSCHINES.</p> + + <p>That Argive, Apis the Thessalian Knight,</p> + + <p>Myself, and gallant Cleonicus, supped</p> + + <p>Within my grounds. Two pullets I had slain,</p> + + <p>And a prime pig: and broached my Biblian wine;</p> + + <p>'Twas four years old, but fragrant as when new.</p> + + <p>Truffles were served to us: and the drink was good.</p> + + <p>Well, we got on, and each must drain a cup</p> + + <p>To whom he fancied; only each must name.</p> + + <p>We named, and took our liquor as ordained;</p> + + <p>But she sate silent—this before my face.</p> + + <p>Fancy my feelings! "Wilt not speak? Hast seen</p> + + <p>A wolf?" some wag said. "Shrewdly guessed," quoth she,</p> + + <p>And blushed—her blushes might have fired a + torch.</p> + + <p>A wolf <i>had</i> charmed her: Wolf her neighbour's + son,</p> + + <p>Goodly and tall, and fair in divers eyes:</p> + + <p>For his illustrious sake it was she pined.</p> + + <p>This had been breathed, just idly, in my ear:</p> + + <p>Shame on my beard, I ne'er pursued the hint.</p> + + <p>Well, when we four were deep amid our cups,</p> + + <p>The Knight must sing 'The Wolf' (a local song)</p> + + <p>Right through for mischief. All at once she wept</p> + + <p>Hot tears as girls of six years old might weep,</p> + + <p>Clinging and clamouring round their mother's lap.</p> + + <p>And I, (you know my humour, friend of mine,)</p> + + <p>Drove at his face, one, two! She gathered up</p> + + <p>Her robes and vanished straightway through the door.</p> + + <p>"And so I fail to please, false lady mine?</p> + + <p>Another lies more welcome in thy lap?</p> + + <p>Go warm that other's heart: he'll say thy tears</p> + + <p>Are liquid pearls." And as a swallow flies</p> + + <p>Forth in a hurry, here or there to find</p> + + <p>A mouthful for her brood among the eaves:</p> + + <p>From her soft sofa passing-swift she fled</p> + + <p>Through folding-doors and hall, with random feet:</p> + + <p><i>'The stag had gained his heath':</i> you know the + rest.</p> + + <p>Three weeks, a month, nine days and ten to that,</p> + + <p>To-day's the eleventh: and 'tis just two months</p> + + <p>All but two days, since she and I were two.</p> + + <p>Hence is my beard of more than Thracian growth.</p> + + <p>Now Wolf is all to her: Wolf enters in</p> + + <p>At midnight; I am a cypher in her eyes;</p> + + <p>The poor Megarian, nowhere in the race.</p> + + <p>All would go right, if I could once <i>unlove</i>:</p> + + <p>But now, you wot, the rat hath tasted tar.</p> + + <p>And what may cure a swain at his wit's end</p> + + <p>I know not: Simus, (true,) a mate of mine,</p> + + <p>Loved Epichalcus' daughter, and took ship</p> + + <p>And came home cured. I too will sail the seas.</p> + + <p>Worse men, it may be better, are afloat,</p> + + <p>I shall still prove an average man-at-arms.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THYONICHUS.</p> + + <p>Now may thy love run smoothly, Æschines!</p> + + <p>But should'st thou really mean a voyage out,</p> + + <p>The freeman's best paymaster's Ptolemy.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>ÆSCHINES.</p> + + <p>What is he else?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THYONICHUS.</p> + + <p class="i8">A gentleman: a man</p> + + <p>Of wit and taste; the top of company;</p> + + <p>Loyal to ladies; one whose eye is keen</p> + + <p>For friends, and keener still for enemies.</p> + + <p>Large in his bounties, he, in kingly sort,</p> + + <p>Denies a boon to none: but, Æschines,</p> + + <p>One should not ask too often. This premised,</p> + + <p>If thou wilt clasp the military cloak</p> + + <p>O'er thy right shoulder, and with legs astride</p> + + <p>Await the onward rush of shielded men:</p> + + <p>Hie thee to Egypt. Age overtakes us all;</p> + + <p>Our temples first; then on o'er cheek and chin,</p> + + <p>Slowly and surely, creep the frosts of Time.</p> + + <p>Up and do somewhat, ere thy limbs are sere.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XV"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XV.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Festival of Adonis. + </center> + + <center> + <i>GORGO. PRAXINOÄ.</i> + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>Praxinoä in?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p class="i6">Yes, Gorgo dear! At last!</p> + + <p>That you're here now's a marvel! See to a chair,</p> + + <p>A cushion, Eunoä!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p class="i10">I lack naught.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p class="i26">Sit down.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>Oh, what a thing is spirit! Here I am,</p> + + <p>Praxinoä, safe at last from all that crowd</p> + + <p>And all those chariots—every street a mass</p> + + <p>Of boots and uniforms! And the road, my dear,</p> + + <p>Seemed endless—you live now so far away!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p>This land's-end den—I cannot call it + house—</p> + + <p>My madcap hired to keep us twain apart</p> + + <p>And stir up strife. 'Twas like him, odious pest!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>Nay call not, dear, your lord, your Deinon, names</p> + + <p>To the babe's face. Look how it stares at you!</p> + + <p>There, baby dear, she never meant Papa!</p> + + <p>It understands, by'r lady! Dear Papa!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p>Well, yesterday (that means what day you like)</p> + + <p>'Papa' had rouge and hair-powder to buy;</p> + + <p>He brought back salt! this oaf of six-foot-one!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>Just such another is that pickpocket</p> + + <p>My Diocleides. He bought t'other day</p> + + <p>Six fleeces at seven drachms, his last exploit.</p> + + <p>What were they? scraps of worn-out pedlar's-bags,</p> + + <p>Sheer trash.—But put your cloak and mantle on;</p> + + <p>And we'll to Ptolemy's, the sumptuous king,</p> + + <p>To see the <i>Adonis</i>. As I hear, the queen</p> + + <p>Provides us something gorgeous.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p class="i26">Ay, the grand</p> + + <p>Can do things grandly.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p class="i14">When you've seen yourself,</p> + + <p>What tales you'll have to tell to those who've not.</p> + + <p>'Twere time we started!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p class="i20">All time's holiday</p> + + <p>With idlers! Eunoä, pampered minx, the jug!</p> + + <p>Set it down here—you cats would sleep all day</p> + + <p>On cushions—Stir yourself, fetch water, quick!</p> + + <p>Water's our first want. How she holds the jug!</p> + + <p>Now, pour—not, cormorant, in that wasteful + way—</p> + + <p>You've drenched my dress, bad luck t'you! There, + enough:</p> + + <p>I have made such toilet as my fates allowed.</p> + + <p>Now for the key o' the plate-chest. Bring it, quick!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>My dear, that full pelisse becomes you well.</p> + + <p>What did it stand you in, straight off the loom?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p>Don't ask me, Gorgo: two good pounds and more.</p> + + <p>Then I gave all my mind to trimming it.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>Well, 'tis a great success.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p class="i26">I think it is.</p> + + <p>My mantle, Eunoä, and my parasol!</p> + + <p>Arrange me nicely. Babe, you'll bide at home!</p> + + <p>Horses would bite you—Boo!--Yes, cry your fill,</p> + + <p>But we won't have you maimed. Now let's be off.</p> + + <p>You, Phrygia, take and nurse the tiny thing:</p> + + <p>Call the dog in: make fast the outer door!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i36">[<i>Exeunt</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Gods! what a crowd! How, when shall we get past</p> + + <p>This nuisance, these unending ant-like swarms?</p> + + <p>Yet, Ptolemy, we owe thee thanks for much</p> + + <p>Since heaven received thy sire! No miscreant now</p> + + <p>Creeps Thug-like up, to maul the passer-by.</p> + + <p>What games men played erewhile—men shaped in + crime,</p> + + <p>Birds of a feather, rascals every one!</p> + + <p>—We're done for, Gorgo darling—here they + are,</p> + + <p>The Royal horse! Sweet sir, don't trample me!</p> + + <p>That bay—the savage!--reared up straight on end!</p> + + <p>Fly, Eunoä, can't you? Doggedly she stands.</p> + + <p>He'll be his rider's death!--How glad I am</p> + + <p>My babe's at home.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p class="i16">Praxinoä, never mind!</p> + + <p>See, we're before them now, and they're in line.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p>There, I'm myself. But from a child I feared</p> + + <p>Horses, and slimy snakes. But haste we on:</p> + + <p>A surging multitude is close behind.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO [<i>to Old Lady</i>].</p> + + <p>From the palace, mother?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>OLD LADY.</p> + + <p class="i20">Ay, child.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p class="i26">Is it fair</p> + + <p>Of access?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>OLD LADY.</p> + + <p class="i12">Trying brought the Greeks to Troy.</p> + + <p>Young ladies, they must try who would succeed.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>The crone hath said her oracle and gone.</p> + + <p>Women know all—how Adam married Eve.</p> + + <p>—Praxinoä, look what crowds are round the + door!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p>Fearful! Your hand, please, Gorgo. Eunoä, you</p> + + <p>Hold Eutychis—hold tight or you'll be lost.</p> + + <p>We'll enter in a body—hold us fast!</p> + + <p>Oh dear, my muslin dress is torn in two,</p> + + <p>Gorgo, already! Pray, good gentleman,</p> + + <p>(And happiness be yours) respect my robe!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>STRANGER.</p> + + <p>I could not if I would—nathless I will.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p>They come in hundreds, and they push like swine.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>STRANGER.</p> + + <p>Lady, take courage: it is all well now.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p>And now and ever be it well with thee,</p> + + <p>Sweet man, for shielding us! An honest soul</p> + + <p>And kindly. Oh! they're smothering Eunoä:</p> + + <p>Push, coward! That's right! 'All in,' the bridegroom + said</p> + + <p>And locked the door upon himself and bride.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>Praxinoä, look! Note well this broidery first.</p> + + <p>How exquisitely fine—too good for earth!</p> + + <p>Empress Athenè, what strange sempstress wrought</p> + + <p>Such work? What painter painted, realized</p> + + <p>Such pictures? Just like life they stand or move,</p> + + <p>Facts and not fancies! What a thing is man!</p> + + <p>How bright, how lifelike on his silvern couch</p> + + <p>Lies, with youth's bloom scarce shadowing his cheek,</p> + + <p>That dear Adonis, lovely e'en in death!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>A STRANGER.</p> + + <p>Bad luck t'you, cease your senseless pigeon's prate!</p> + + <p>Their brogue is killing—every word a drawl!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>Where did he spring from? Is our prattle aught</p> + + <p>To you, Sir? Order your own slaves about:</p> + + <p>You're ordering Syracusan ladies now!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Corinthians bred (to tell you one fact more)</p> + + <p>As was Bellerophon: islanders in speech,</p> + + <p>For Dorians may talk Doric, I presume?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>PRAXINOÄ.</p> + + <p>Persephonè! none lords it over me,</p> + + <p>Save one! No scullion's-wage for us from <i>you</i>!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>Hush, dear. The Argive's daughter's going to sing</p> + + <p><i>The Adonis</i>: that accomplished vocalist</p> + + <p>Who has no rival in "<i>The Sailor's Grave</i>."</p> + + <p>Observe her attitudinizing now.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p><i>Song</i>.</p> + + <p>Queen, who lov'st Golgi and the Sicel hill</p> + + <p class="i2">And Ida; Aphroditè radiant-eyed;</p> + + <p>The stealthy-footed Hours from Acheron's rill</p> + + <p class="i2">Brought once again Adonis to thy side</p> + + <p>How changed in twelve short months! They travel slow,</p> + + <p class="i2">Those precious Hours: we hail their advent + still,</p> + + <p>For blessings do they bring to all below.</p> + + <p class="i2">O Sea-born! thou didst erst, or legend + lies,</p> + + <p>Shed on a woman's soul thy grace benign,</p> + + <p class="i2">And Berenicè's dust immortalize.</p> + + <p>O called by many names, at many a shrine!</p> + + <p class="i2">For thy sweet sake doth Berenicè's + child</p> + + <p>(Herself a second Helen) deck with all</p> + + <p class="i2">That's fair, Adonis. On his right are piled</p> + + <p>Ripe apples fallen from the oak-tree tall;</p> + + <p class="i2">And silver caskets at his left support</p> + + <p>Toy-gardens, Syrian scents enshrined in gold</p> + + <p class="i2">And alabaster, cakes of every sort</p> + + <p>That in their ovens the pastrywomen mould,</p> + + <p class="i2">When with white meal they mix all flowers that + bloom,</p> + + <p>Oil-cakes and honey-cakes. There stand portrayed</p> + + <p class="i2">Each bird, each butterfly; and in the gloom</p> + + <p>Of foliage climbing high, and downward weighed</p> + + <p class="i2">By graceful blossoms, do the young Loves + play</p> + + <p>Like nightingales, and perch on every tree,</p> + + <p class="i2">And flit, to try their wings, from spray to + spray.</p> + + <p>Then see the gold, the ebony! Only see</p> + + <p class="i2">The ivory-carven eagles, bearing up</p> + + <p class="i2">To Zeus the boy who fills his royal cup!</p> + + <p>Soft as a dream, such tapestry gleams o'erhead</p> + + <p class="i2">As the Milesian's self would gaze on, + charmed.</p> + + <p>But sweet Adonis hath his own sweet bed:</p> + + <p class="i2">Next Aphroditè sleeps the + roseate-armed,</p> + + <p>A bridegroom of eighteen or nineteen years.</p> + + <p class="i2">Kiss the smooth boyish lip—there's no + sting there!</p> + + <p>The bride hath found her own: all bliss be hers!</p> + + <p class="i2">And him at dewy dawn we'll troop to bear</p> + + <p>Down where the breakers hiss against the shore:</p> + + <p class="i2">There, with dishevelled dress and unbound + hair,</p> + + <p>Bare-bosomed all, our descant wild we'll pour:</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Thou haunt'st, Adonis, earth and heaven in turn,</p> + + <p class="i2">Alone of heroes. Agamemnon ne'er</p> + + <p>Could compass this, nor Aias stout and stern:</p> + + <p class="i2">Not Hector, eldest-born of her who bare</p> + + <p>Ten sons, not Patrocles, nor safe-returned</p> + + <p>From Ilion Pyrrhus, such distinction earned:</p> + + <p class="i2">Nor, elder yet, the Lapithæ, the sons</p> + + <p>Of Pelops and Deucalion; or the crown</p> + + <p class="i2">Of Greece, Pelasgians. Gracious may'st thou + be,</p> + + <p>Adonis, now: pour new-year's blessings down!</p> + + <p class="i2">Right welcome dost thou come, Adonis dear:</p> + + <p class="i2">Come when thou wilt, thou'lt find a welcome + here."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>GORGO.</p> + + <p>'Tis fine, Praxinoä! How I envy her</p> + + <p>Her learning, and still more her luscious voice!</p> + + <p>We must go home: my husband's supperless:</p> + + <p>And, in that state, the man's just vinegar.</p> + + <p>Don't cross his path when hungry! So farewell,</p> + + <p>Adonis, and be housed 'mid welfare aye!</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XVI"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XVI.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Value of Song. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>What fires the Muse's, what the minstrel's lays?</p> + + <p>Hers some immortal's, ours some hero's praise,</p> + + <p>Heaven is her theme, as heavenly was her birth:</p> + + <p>We, of earth earthy, sing the sons of earth.</p> + + <p>Yet who, of all that see the gray morn rise,</p> + + <p>Lifts not his latch and hails with eager eyes</p> + + <p>My Songs, yet sends them guerdonless away?</p> + + <p>Barefoot and angry homeward journey they,</p> + + <p>Taunt him who sent them on that idle quest,</p> + + <p>Then crouch them deep within their empty chest,</p> + + <p>(When wageless they return, their dismal bed)</p> + + <p>And hide on their chill knees once more their patient + head.</p> + + <p>Where are those good old times? Who thanks us, who,</p> + + <p>For our good word? Men list not now to do</p> + + <p>Great deeds and worthy of the minstrel's verse:</p> + + <p>Vassals of gain, their hand is on their purse,</p> + + <p>Their eyes on lucre: ne'er a rusty nail</p> + + <p>They'll give in kindness; this being aye their + tale:—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Kin before kith; to prosper is my prayer;</p> + + <p>Poets, we know, are heaven's peculiar care.</p> + + <p>We've Homer; and what other's worth a thought?</p> + + <p>I call him chief of bards who costs me naught."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Yet what if all your chests with gold are + lined?</p> + + <p>Is this enjoying wealth? Oh fools and blind!</p> + + <p>Part on your heart's desire, on minstrels spend</p> + + <p>Part; and your kindred and your kind befriend:</p> + + <p>And daily to the gods bid altar-fires ascend.</p> + + <p>Nor be ye churlish hosts, but glad the heart</p> + + <p>Of guests with wine, when they must needs depart:</p> + + <p>And reverence most the priests of sacred song:</p> + + <p>So, when hell hides you, shall your names live long;</p> + + <p>Not doomed to wail on Acheron's sunless sands,</p> + + <p>Like some poor hind, the inward of whose hands</p> + + <p>The spade hath gnarled and knotted, born to groan,</p> + + <p>Poor sire's poor offspring, hapless Penury's own!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Their monthly dole erewhile unnumbered thralls</p> + + <p>Sought in Antiochus', in Aleuas' halls;</p> + + <p>On to the Scopadæ's byres in endless line</p> + + <p>The calves ran lowing with the hornèd kine;</p> + + <p>And, marshalled by the good Creondæ's swains</p> + + <p>Myriads of choice sheep basked on Cranron's plains.</p> + + <p>Yet had their joyaunce ended, on the day</p> + + <p>When their sweet spirit dispossessed its clay,</p> + + <p>To hated Acheron's ample barge resigned.</p> + + <p>Nameless, their stored-up luxury left behind,</p> + + <p>With the lorn dead through ages had they lain,</p> + + <p>Had not a minstrel bade them live again:—</p> + + <p>Had not in woven words the Ceïan sire</p> + + <p>Holding sweet converse with his full-toned lyre</p> + + <p>Made even their swift steeds for aye renowned,</p> + + <p>When from the sacred lists they came home crowned.</p> + + <p>Forgot were Lycia's chiefs, and Hector's hair</p> + + <p>Of gold, and Cycnus femininely fair;</p> + + <p>But that bards bring old battles back to mind.</p> + + <p>Odysseus—he who roamed amongst mankind</p> + + <p>A hundred years and more, reached utmost hell</p> + + <p>Alive, and 'scaped the giant's hideous cell—</p> + + <p>Had lived and died: Eumæus and his swine;</p> + + <p>Philoetius, busy with his herded kine;</p> + + <p>And great Laërtes' self, had passed away,</p> + + <p>Were not their names preserved in Homer's lay.</p> + + <p>Through song alone may man true glory taste;</p> + + <p>The dead man's riches his survivors waste.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">But count the waves, with yon gray wind-swept + main</p> + + <p>Borne shoreward: from a red brick wash his stain</p> + + <p>In some pool's violet depths: 'twill task thee yet</p> + + <p>To reach the heart on baleful avarice set.</p> + + <p>To such I say 'Fare well': let theirs be store</p> + + <p>Of wealth; but let them always crave for more:</p> + + <p>Horses and mules inferior things <i>I</i> find</p> + + <p>To the esteem and love of all mankind.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">But to what mortal's roof may I repair,</p> + + <p>I and my Muse, and find a welcome there?</p> + + <p>I and my Muse: for minstrels fare but ill,</p> + + <p>Reft of those maids, who know the mightiest's will.</p> + + <p>The cycle of the years, it flags not yet;</p> + + <p>In many a chariot many a steed shall sweat:</p> + + <p>And one, to manhood grown, my lays shall claim,</p> + + <p>Whose deeds shall rival great Achilles' fame,</p> + + <p>Who from stout Aias might have won the prize</p> + + <p>On Simois' plain, where Phrygian Ilus lies.</p> + + <p>Now, in their sunset home on Libya's heel,</p> + + <p>Phoenicia's sons unwonted chillness feel:</p> + + <p>Now, with his targe of willow at his breast,</p> + + <p>The Syracusan bears his spear in rest,</p> + + <p>Amongst these Hiero arms him for the war,</p> + + <p>Eager to fight as warriors fought of yore;</p> + + <p>The plumes float darkling o'er his helmèd brow.</p> + + <p>O Zeus, the sire most glorious; and O thou,</p> + + <p>Empress Athenè; and thou, damsel fair,</p> + + <p>Who with thy mother wast decreed to bear</p> + + <p>Rule o'er rich Corinth, o'er that city of pride</p> + + <p>Beside whose walls Anapus' waters glide:—</p> + + <p>May ill winds waft across the Southern sea</p> + + <p>(Of late a legion, now but two or three,)</p> + + <p>Far from our isle, our foes; the doom to tell,</p> + + <p>To wife and child, of those they loved so well;</p> + + <p>While the old race enjoy once more the lands</p> + + <p>Spoiled and insulted erst by alien hands!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">And fair and fruitful may their cornlands + be!</p> + + <p>Their flocks in thousands bleat upon the lea,</p> + + <p>Fat and full-fed; their kine, as home they wind,</p> + + <p>The lagging traveller of his rest remind!</p> + + <p>With might and main their fallows let them till:</p> + + <p>Till comes the seedtime, and cicalas trill</p> + + <p>(Hid from the toilers of the hot midday</p> + + <p>In the thick leafage) on the topmost spray!</p> + + <p>O'er shield and spear their webs let spiders spin,</p> + + <p>And none so much as name the battle-din!</p> + + <p>Then Hiero's lofty deeds may minstrels bear</p> + + <p>Beyond the Scythian ocean-main, and where</p> + + <p>Within those ample walls, with asphalt made</p> + + <p>Time-proof, Semiramis her empire swayed.</p> + + <p>I am but a single voice: but many a bard</p> + + <p>Beside me do those heavenly maids regard:</p> + + <p>May those all love to sing, 'mid earth's acclaim,</p> + + <p>Of Sicel Arethuse, and Hiero's fame.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>O Graces, royal nurselings, who hold dear</p> + + <p>The Minyæ's city, once the Theban's fear:</p> + + <p>Unbidden I tarry, whither bidden I fare</p> + + <p>My Muse my comrade. And be ye too there,</p> + + <p>Sisters divine! Were ye and song forgot,</p> + + <p>What grace had earth? With you be aye my lot!</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XVII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XVII.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Praise of Ptolemy. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>With Zeus begin, sweet sisters, end with Zeus,</p> + + <p>When ye would sing the sovereign of the skies:</p> + + <p>But first among mankind rank Ptolemy;</p> + + <p>First, last, and midmost; being past compare.</p> + + <p>Those mighty ones of old, half men half gods,</p> + + <p>Wrought deeds that shine in many a subtle strain;</p> + + <p>I, no unpractised minstrel, sing but him;</p> + + <p>Divinest ears disdain not minstrelsy.</p> + + <p>But as a woodman sees green Ida rise</p> + + <p>Pine above pine, and ponders which to fell</p> + + <p>First of those myriads; even so I pause</p> + + <p>Where to begin the chapter of his praise:</p> + + <p>For thousand and ten thousand are the gifts</p> + + <p>Wherewith high heaven hath graced the kingliest king.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Was not he born to compass noblest ends,</p> + + <p>Lagus' own son, so soon as he matured</p> + + <p>Schemes such as ne'er had dawned on meaner minds?</p> + + <p>Zeus doth esteem him as the blessèd gods;</p> + + <p>In the sire's courts his golden mansion stands.</p> + + <p>And near him Alexander sits and smiles,</p> + + <p>The turbaned Persian's dread; and, fronting both,</p> + + <p>Rises the stedfast adamantine seat</p> + + <p>Erst fashioned for the bull-slayer Heracles.</p> + + <p>Who there holds revels with his heavenly mates,</p> + + <p>And sees, with joy exceeding, children rise</p> + + <p>On children; for that Zeus exempts from age</p> + + <p>And death their frames who sprang from Heracles:</p> + + <p>And Ptolemy, like Alexander, claims</p> + + <p>From him; his gallant son their common sire.</p> + + <p>And when, the banquet o'er, the Strong Man wends,</p> + + <p>Cloyed with rich nectar, home unto his wife,</p> + + <p>This kinsman hath in charge his cherished shafts</p> + + <p>And bow; and that his gnarled and knotted club;</p> + + <p>And both to white-limbed Hebè's bower of bliss</p> + + <p>Convoy the bearded warrior and his arms.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Then how among wise ladies—blest the + pair</p> + + <p>That reared her!--peerless Berenicè shone!</p> + + <p>Dionè's sacred child, the Cyprian queen,</p> + + <p>O'er that sweet bosom passed her taper hands:</p> + + <p>And hence, 'tis said, no man loved woman e'er</p> + + <p>As Ptolemy loved her. She o'er-repaid</p> + + <p>His love; so, nothing doubting, he could leave</p> + + <p>His substance in his loyal children's care,</p> + + <p>And rest with her, fond husband with fond wife.</p> + + <p>She that loves not bears sons, but all unlike</p> + + <p>Their father: for her heart was otherwhere.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">O Aphroditè, matchless e'en in + heaven</p> + + <p>For beauty, thou didst love her; wouldst not let</p> + + <p>Thy Berenicè cross the wailful waves:</p> + + <p>But thy hand snatched her—to the blue lake bound</p> + + <p>Else, and the dead's grim ferryman—and enshrined</p> + + <p>With thee, to share thy honours. There she sits,</p> + + <p>To mortals ever kind, and passion soft</p> + + <p>Inspires, and makes the lover's burden light.</p> + + <p>The dark-browed Argive, linked with Tydeus, bare</p> + + <p>Diomed the slayer, famed in Calydon:</p> + + <p>And deep-veiled Thetis unto Peleus gave</p> + + <p>The javelineer Achilles. Thou wast born</p> + + <p>Of Berenicè, Ptolemy by name</p> + + <p>And by descent, a warrior's warrior child.</p> + + <p>Cos from its mother's arms her babe received,</p> + + <p>Its destined nursery, on its natal day:</p> + + <p>'Twas there Antigonè's daughter in her pangs</p> + + <p>Cried to the goddess that could bid them cease:</p> + + <p>Who soon was at her side, and lo! her limbs</p> + + <p>Forgat their anguish, and a child was born</p> + + <p>Fair, its sire's self. Cos saw, and shouted loud;</p> + + <p>Handled the babe all tenderly, and spake:</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Wake, babe, to bliss: prize me, as Phoebus + doth</p> + + <p>His azure-spherèd Delos: grace the hill</p> + + <p>Of Triops, and the Dorians' sister shores,</p> + + <p>As king Apollo his Rhenæa's isle."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i3">So spake the isle. An eagle high overhead</p> + + <p>Poised in the clouds screamed thrice, the prophet-bird</p> + + <p>Of Zeus, and sent by him. For awful kings</p> + + <p>All are his care, those chiefliest on whose birth</p> + + <p>He smiled: exceeding glory waits on them:</p> + + <p>Theirs is the sovereignty of land and sea.</p> + + <p>But if a myriad realms spread far and wide</p> + + <p>O'er earth, if myriad nations till the soil</p> + + <p>To which heaven's rain gives increase: yet what land</p> + + <p>Is green as low-lying Egypt, when the Nile</p> + + <p>Wells forth and piecemeal breaks the sodden glebe?</p> + + <p>Where are like cities, peopled by like men?</p> + + <p>Lo he hath seen three hundred towns arise,</p> + + <p>Three thousand, yea three myriad; and o'er all</p> + + <p>He rules, the prince of heroes, Ptolemy.</p> + + <p>Claims half Phoenicia, and half Araby,</p> + + <p>Syria and Libya, and the Æthiops murk;</p> + + <p>Sways the Pamphylian and Cilician braves,</p> + + <p>The Lycian and the Carian trained to war,</p> + + <p>And all the isles: for never fleet like his</p> + + <p>Rode upon ocean: land and sea alike</p> + + <p>And sounding rivers hail king Ptolemy.</p> + + <p>Many are his horsemen, many his targeteers,</p> + + <p>Whose burdened breast is bright with clashing steel:</p> + + <p>Light are all royal treasuries, weighed with his.</p> + + <p>For wealth from all climes travels day by day</p> + + <p>To his rich realm, a hive of prosperous peace.</p> + + <p>No foeman's tramp scares monster-peopled Nile,</p> + + <p>Waking to war her far-off villages:</p> + + <p>No armed robber from his war-ship leaps</p> + + <p>To spoil the herds of Egypt. Such a prince</p> + + <p>Sits throned in her broad plains, in whose right arm</p> + + <p>Quivers the spear, the bright-haired Ptolemy.</p> + + <p>Like a true king, he guards with might and main</p> + + <p>The wealth his sires' arm won him and his own.</p> + + <p>Nor strown all idly o'er his sumptuous halls</p> + + <p>Lie piles that seem the work of labouring ants.</p> + + <p>The holy homes of gods are rich therewith;</p> + + <p>Theirs are the firstfruits, earnest aye of more.</p> + + <p>And freely mighty kings thereof partake,</p> + + <p>Freely great cities, freely honoured friends.</p> + + <p>None entered e'er the sacred lists of song,</p> + + <p>Whose lips could breathe sweet music, but he gained</p> + + <p>Fair guerdon at the hand of Ptolemy.</p> + + <p>And Ptolemy do music's votaries hymn</p> + + <p>For his good gifts—hath man a fairer lot</p> + + <p>Than to have earned much fame among mankind?</p> + + <p>The Atridæ's name abides, while all the wealth</p> + + <p>Won from the sack of Priam's stately home</p> + + <p>A mist closed o'er it, to be seen no more.</p> + + <p>Ptolemy, he only, treads a path whose dust</p> + + <p>Burns with the footprints of his ancestors,</p> + + <p>And overlays those footprints with his own.</p> + + <p>He raised rich shrines to mother and to sire,</p> + + <p>There reared their forms in ivory and gold,</p> + + <p>Passing in beauty, to befriend mankind.</p> + + <p>Thighs of fat oxen oftentimes he burns</p> + + <p>On crimsoning altars, as the months roll on,</p> + + <p>Ay he and his staunch wife. No fairer bride</p> + + <p>E'er clasped her lord in royal palaces:</p> + + <p>And her heart's love her brother-husband won.</p> + + <p>In such blest union joined the immortal pair</p> + + <p>Whom queenly Rhea bore, and heaven obeys:</p> + + <p>One couch the maiden of the rainbow decks</p> + + <p>With myrrh-dipt hands for Hera and for Zeus.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Now farewell, prince! I rank thee aye with + gods:</p> + + <p>And read this lesson to the afterdays,</p> + + <p>Mayhap they'll prize it: 'Honour is of Zeus.'</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XVIII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XVIII.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Bridal of Helen. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Whilom, in Lacedæmon,</p> + + <p class="i2">Tript many a maiden fair</p> + + <p>To gold-tressed Menelaus' halls,</p> + + <p class="i2">With hyacinths in her hair:</p> + + <p>Twelve to the Painted Chamber,</p> + + <p class="i2">The queenliest in the land,</p> + + <p>The clustered loveliness of Greece,</p> + + <p class="i2">Came dancing hand in hand.</p> + + <p>For Helen, Tyndarus' daughter,</p> + + <p class="i2">Had just been wooed and won,</p> + + <p>Helen the darling of the world,</p> + + <p class="i2">By Atreus' younger son:</p> + + <p>With woven steps they beat the floor</p> + + <p class="i2">In unison, and sang</p> + + <p>Their bridal-hymn of triumph</p> + + <p class="i2">Till all the palace rang.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Slumberest so soon, sweet bridegroom?</p> + + <p class="i2">Art thou o'erfond of sleep?</p> + + <p>Or hast thou leadenweighted limbs?</p> + + <p class="i2">Or hadst thou drunk too deep</p> + + <p>When thou didst fling thee to thy lair?</p> + + <p class="i2">Betimes thou should'st have sped,</p> + + <p>If sleep were all thy purpose,</p> + + <p class="i2">Unto thy bachelor's bed:</p> + + <p>And left her in her mother's arms</p> + + <p class="i2">To nestle, and to play</p> + + <p>A girl among her girlish mates</p> + + <p class="i2">Till deep into the day:—</p> + + <p>For not alone for this night,</p> + + <p class="i2">Nor for the next alone,</p> + + <p>But through the days and through the years</p> + + <p class="i2">Thou hast her for thine own.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Nay! heaven, O happy bridegroom,</p> + + <p class="i2">Smiled as thou enteredst in</p> + + <p>To Sparta, like thy brother kings,</p> + + <p class="i2">And told thee thou should'st win!</p> + + <p>What hero son-in-law of Zeus</p> + + <p class="i2">Hath e'er aspired to be?</p> + + <p>Yet lo! one coverlet enfolds</p> + + <p class="i2">The child of Zeus, and thee.</p> + + <p>Ne'er did a thing so lovely</p> + + <p class="i2">Roam the Achaian lea.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"And who shall match her offspring,</p> + + <p class="i2">If babes are like their mother?</p> + + <p>For we were playmates once, and ran</p> + + <p class="i2">And raced with one another</p> + + <p>(All varnished, warrior fashion)</p> + + <p class="i2">Along Eurotas' tide,</p> + + <p>Thrice eighty gentle maidens,</p> + + <p class="i2">Each in her girlhood's pride:</p> + + <p>Yet none of all seemed faultless,</p> + + <p class="i2">If placed by Helen's side.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"As peers the nascent Morning</p> + + <p class="i2">Over thy shades, O Night,</p> + + <p>When Winter disenchains the land,</p> + + <p class="i2">And Spring goes forth in white:</p> + + <p>So Helen shone above us,</p> + + <p class="i2">All loveliness and light.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"As climbs aloft some cypress,</p> + + <p class="i2">Garden or glade to grace;</p> + + <p>As the Thessalian courser lends</p> + + <p class="i2">A lustre to the race:</p> + + <p>So bright o'er Lacedæmon</p> + + <p class="i2">Shone Helen's rosebud face.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"And who into the basket e'er</p> + + <p class="i2">The yarn so deftly drew,</p> + + <p>Or through the mazes of the web</p> + + <p class="i2">So well the shuttle threw,</p> + + <p>And severed from the framework</p> + + <p class="i2">As closelywov'n a warp:—</p> + + <p>And who could wake with masterhand</p> + + <p class="i2">Such music from the harp,</p> + + <p>To broadlimbed Pallas tuning</p> + + <p class="i2">And Artemis her lay—</p> + + <p>As Helen, Helen in whose eyes</p> + + <p class="i2">The Loves for ever play?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"O bright, O beautiful, for thee</p> + + <p class="i2">Are matron-cares begun.</p> + + <p>We to green paths and blossomed meads</p> + + <p class="i2">With dawn of morn must run,</p> + + <p>And cull a breathing chaplet;</p> + + <p class="i2">And still our dream shall be,</p> + + <p>Helen, of thee, as weanling lambs</p> + + <p class="i2">Yearn in the pasture for the dams</p> + + <p>That nursed their infancy.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"For thee the lowly lotus-bed</p> + + <p class="i2">We'll spoil, and plait a crown</p> + + <p>To hang upon the shadowy plane;</p> + + <p class="i2">For thee will we drop down</p> + + <p>('Neath that same shadowy platan)</p> + + <p class="i2">Oil from our silver urn;</p> + + <p>And carven on the bark shall be</p> + + <p class="i2">This sentence, 'HALLOW HELEN'S TREE';</p> + + <p>In Dorian letters, legibly</p> + + <p class="i2">For all men to discern.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Now farewell, bride, and bridegroom</p> + + <p class="i2">Blest in thy new-found sire!</p> + + <p>May Leto, mother of the brave,</p> + + <p class="i2">Bring babes at your desire,</p> + + <p>And holy Cypris either's breast</p> + + <p class="i2">With mutual transport fire:</p> + + <p>And Zeus the son of Cronos</p> + + <p class="i2">Grant blessings without end,</p> + + <p>From princely sire to princely son</p> + + <p class="i2">For ever to descend.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Sleep on, and love and longing</p> + + <p class="i2">Breathe in each other's breast;</p> + + <p>But fail not when the morn returns</p> + + <p class="i2">To rouse you from your rest:</p> + + <p>With dawn shall we be stirring,</p> + + <p class="i2">When, lifting high his fair</p> + + <p>And feathered neck, the earliest bird</p> + + <p class="i2">To clarion to the dawn is heard.</p> + + <p class="i4">O god of brides and bridals,</p> + + <p class="i6">Sing 'Happy, happy pair!'"</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XIX"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XIX.</h2><br> + + <center> + Love Stealing Honey. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Once thievish Love the honeyed hives would rob,</p> + + <p>When a bee stung him: soon he felt a throb</p> + + <p>Through all his finger-tips, and, wild with pain,</p> + + <p>Blew on his hands and stamped and jumped in vain.</p> + + <p>To Aphroditè then he told his woe:</p> + + <p>'How can a thing so tiny hurt one so?'</p> + + <p>She smiled and said; 'Why thou'rt a tiny thing,</p> + + <p>As is the bee; yet sorely thou canst sting.'</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XX"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XX.</h2><br> + + <center> + Town and Country + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Once I would kiss Eunicè. "Back," quoth she,</p> + + <p>And screamed and stormed; "a sorry clown kiss me?</p> + + <p>Your country compliments, I like not such;</p> + + <p>No lips but gentles' would I deign to touch.</p> + + <p>Ne'er dream of kissing me: alike I shun</p> + + <p>Your face, your language, and your tigerish fun.</p> + + <p>How winning are your tones, how fine your air!</p> + + <p>Your beard how silken and how sweet your hair!</p> + + <p>Pah! you've a sick man's lips, a blackamoor's hand:</p> + + <p>Your breath's defilement. Leave me, I command."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Thrice spat she on her robe, and, muttering + low,</p> + + <p>Scanned me, with half-shut eyes, from top to toe:</p> + + <p>Brought all her woman's witcheries into play,</p> + + <p>Still smiling in a set sarcastic way,</p> + + <p>Till my blood boiled, my visage crimson grew</p> + + <p>With indignation, as a rose with dew:</p> + + <p>And so she left me, inly to repine</p> + + <p>That such as she could flout such charms as mine.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">O shepherds, tell me true! Am I not fair?</p> + + <p>Am I transformed? For lately I did wear</p> + + <p>Grace as a garment; and my cheeks, o'er them</p> + + <p>Ran the rich growth like ivy round the stem.</p> + + <p>Like fern my tresses o'er my temples streamed;</p> + + <p>O'er my dark eyebrows, white my forehead gleamed:</p> + + <p>My eyes were of Athenè's radiant blue,</p> + + <p>My mouth was milk, its accents honeydew.</p> + + <p>Then I could sing—my tones were soft + indeed!—</p> + + <p>To pipe or flute or flageolet or reed:</p> + + <p>And me did every maid that roams the fell</p> + + <p>Kiss and call fair: not so this city belle.</p> + + <p>She scorns the herdsman; knows not how divine</p> + + <p>Bacchus ranged once the valleys with his kine;</p> + + <p>How Cypris, maddened for a herdsman's sake,</p> + + <p>Deigned upon Phrygia's mountains to partake</p> + + <p>His cares: and wooed, and wept, Adonis in the brake.</p> + + <p>What was Endymion, sweet Selenè's love?</p> + + <p>A herdsman's lad. Yet came she from above,</p> + + <p>Down to green Latmos, by his side to sleep.</p> + + <p>And did not Rhea for a herdsman weep?</p> + + <p>Didst not thou, Zeus, become a wandering bird,</p> + + <p>To win the love of one who drove a herd?</p> + + <p>Selenè, Cybelè, Cypris, all loved + swains:</p> + + <p>Eunicè, loftier-bred, their kiss disdains.</p> + + <p>Henceforth, by hill or hall, thy love disown,</p> + + <p>Cypris, and sleep the livelong night alone.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXI"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXI.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Fishermen. + </center> + + <center> + <i>ASPHALION, A COMRADE.</i> + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Want quickens wit: Want's pupils needs must work,</p> + + <p>O Diophantus: for the child of toil</p> + + <p>Is grudged his very sleep by carking cares:</p> + + <p>Or, if he taste the blessedness of night,</p> + + <p>Thought for the morrow soon warns slumber off.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Two ancient fishers once lay side by side</p> + + <p>On piled-up sea-wrack in their wattled hut,</p> + + <p>Its leafy wall their curtain. Near them lay</p> + + <p>The weapons of their trade, basket and rod,</p> + + <p>Hooks, weed-encumbered nets, and cords and oars,</p> + + <p>And, propped on rollers, an infirm old boat.</p> + + <p>Their pillow was a scanty mat, eked out</p> + + <p>With caps and garments: such the ways and means,</p> + + <p>Such the whole treasury of the fishermen.</p> + + <p>They knew no luxuries: owned nor door nor dog;</p> + + <p>Their craft their all, their mistress Poverty:</p> + + <p>Their only neighbour Ocean, who for aye</p> + + <p>Bound their lorn hut came floating lazily.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Ere the moon's chariot was in mid-career,</p> + + <p>The fishers girt them for their customed toil,</p> + + <p>And banished slumber from unwilling eyes,</p> + + <p>And roused their dreamy intellects with speech:—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>ASPHALION.</p> + + <p class="i2">"They say that soon flit summer-nights + away,</p> + + <p>Because all lingering is the summer day:</p> + + <p>Friend, it is false; for dream on dream have I</p> + + <p>Dreamed, and the dawn still reddens not the sky.</p> + + <p>How? am I wandering? or does night pass slow?"</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>HIS COMRADE.</p> + + <p class="i2">"Asphalion, scout not the sweet summer so.</p> + + <p>'Tis not that wilful seasons have gone wrong,</p> + + <p>But care maims slumber, and the nights seem long."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>ASPHALION.</p> + + <p class="i2">"Didst thou e'er study dreams? For visions + fair</p> + + <p>I saw last night; and fairly thou should'st share</p> + + <p>The wealth I dream of, as the fish I catch.</p> + + <p>Now, for sheer sense, I reckon few thy match;</p> + + <p>And, for a vision, he whose motherwit</p> + + <p>Is his sole tutor best interprets it.</p> + + <p>And now we've time the matter to discuss:</p> + + <p>For who could labour, lying here (like us)</p> + + <p>Pillowed on leaves and neighboured by the deep,</p> + + <p>Or sleeping amid thorns no easy sleep?</p> + + <p>In rich men's halls the lamps are burning yet;</p> + + <p>But fish come alway to the rich man's net."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMRADE.</p> + + <p class="i2">"To me the vision of the night relate;</p> + + <p>Speak, and reveal the riddle to thy mate."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>ASPHALION.</p> + + <p class="i2">"Last evening, as I plied my watery trade,</p> + + <p>(Not on an o'erfull stomach—we had made</p> + + <p>Betimes a meagre meal, as you can vouch,)</p> + + <p>I fell asleep; and lo! I seemed to crouch</p> + + <p>Among the boulders, and for fish to wait,</p> + + <p>Still dangling, rod in hand, my vagrant bait.</p> + + <p>A fat fellow caught it: (e'en in sleep I'm bound</p> + + <p>To dream of fishing, as of crusts the hound:)</p> + + <p>Fast clung he to the hooks; his blood outwelled;</p> + + <p>Bent with his struggling was the rod I held:</p> + + <p>I tugged and tugged: my efforts made me ache:</p> + + <p>'How, with a line thus slight, this monster take?'</p> + + <p>Then gently, just to warn him he was caught,</p> + + <p>I twitched him once; then slacked and then made taut</p> + + <p>My line, for now he offered not to ran;</p> + + <p>A glance soon showed me all my task was done.</p> + + <p>'Twas a gold fish, pure metal every inch</p> + + <p>That I had captured. I began to flinch:</p> + + <p>'What if this beauty be the sea-king's joy,</p> + + <p>Or azure Amphitritè's treasured toy!'</p> + + <p>With care I disengaged him—not to rip</p> + + <p>With hasty hook the gilding from his lip:</p> + + <p>And with a tow-line landed him, and swore</p> + + <p>Never to set my foot on ocean more,</p> + + <p>But with my gold live royally ashore.</p> + + <p>So I awoke: and, comrade, lend me now</p> + + <p>Thy wits, for I am troubled for my vow."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>COMRADE.</p> + + <p>"Ne'er quake: you're pledged to nothing, for no prize</p> + + <p>You gained or gazed on. Dreams are nought but lies.</p> + + <p>Yet may this dream bear fruit; if, wide-awake</p> + + <p>And not in dreams, you'll fish the neighbouring lake.</p> + + <p>Fish that are meat you'll there mayhap behold,</p> + + <p>Not die of famine, amid dreams of gold."</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXII.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Sons of Leda + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>The pair I sing, that Ægis-armèd Zeus</p> + + <p>Gave unto Leda; Castor and the dread</p> + + <p>Of bruisers Polydeuces, whensoe'er</p> + + <p>His harnessed hands were lifted for the fray.</p> + + <p>Twice and again I sing the manly sons</p> + + <p>Of Leda, those Twin Brethren, Sparta's own:</p> + + <p>Who shield the soldier on the deadly scarp,</p> + + <p>The horse wild-plunging o'er the crimson field,</p> + + <p>The ship that, disregarding in her pride</p> + + <p>Star-set and star-rise, meets disastrous gales:—</p> + + <p>Such gales as pile the billows mountain-high,</p> + + <p>E'en at their own wild will, round stem or stern:</p> + + <p>Dash o'er the hold, the timbers rive in twain,</p> + + <p>Till mast and tackle dangle in mid-air</p> + + <p>Shivered like toys, and, as the night wears on,</p> + + <p>The rain of heaven falls fast, and, lashed by wind</p> + + <p>And iron hail, broad ocean rings again.</p> + + <p>Then can they draw from out the nether abyss</p> + + <p>Both craft and crew, each deeming he must die:</p> + + <p>Lo the winds cease, and o'er the burnished deep</p> + + <p>Comes stillness; this way flee the clouds and that;</p> + + <p>And shine out clear the Great Bear and the Less,</p> + + <p>And, 'twixt the Asses dimly seen, the Crib</p> + + <p>Foretells fair voyage to the mariner.</p> + + <p>O saviours, O companions of mankind,</p> + + <p>Matchless on horse or harp, in lists or lay;</p> + + <p>Which of ye twain demands my earliest song?</p> + + <p>Of both I sing; of Polydeuces first.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Argo, escaped the two inrushing rocks,</p> + + <p>And snow-clad Pontus with his baleful jaws,</p> + + <p>Came to Bebrycia with her heaven-sprung freight;</p> + + <p>There by one ladder disembarked a host</p> + + <p>Of Heroes from the decks of Jason's ship.</p> + + <p>On the low beach, to leeward of the cliff,</p> + + <p>They leapt, and piled their beds, and lit their fires:</p> + + <p>Castor meanwhile, the bridler of the steed,</p> + + <p>And Polydeuces of the nut-brown face,</p> + + <p>Had wandered from their mates; and, wildered both,</p> + + <p>Searched through the boskage of the hill, and found</p> + + <p>Hard by a slab of rock a bubbling spring</p> + + <p>Brimful of purest water. In the depths</p> + + <p>Below, like crystal or like silver gleamed</p> + + <p>The pebbles: high above it pine and plane</p> + + <p>And poplar rose, and cypress tipt with green;</p> + + <p>With all rich flowers that throng the mead, when wanes</p> + + <p>The Spring, sweet workshops of the furry bee.</p> + + <p>There sat and sunned him one of giant bulk</p> + + <p>And grisly mien: hard knocks had stov'n his ears:</p> + + <p>Broad were his shoulders, vast his orbèd chest;</p> + + <p>Like a wrought statue rose his iron frame:</p> + + <p>And nigh the shoulder on each brawny arm</p> + + <p>Stood out the muscles, huge as rolling stones</p> + + <p>Caught by some rain-swoln river and shapen smooth</p> + + <p>By its wild eddyings: and o'er nape and spine</p> + + <p>Hung, balanced by the claws, a lion's skin.</p> + + <p>Him Leda's conquering son accosted first:—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>Luck to thee, friend unknown! Who own this shore?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>Luck, quotha, to see men ne'er seen before!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>Fear not, no base or base-born herd are we.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>Nothing I fear, nor need learn this from thee.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>What art thou? brutish churl, or o'erproud king?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>E'en what thou see'st: and I am not trespassing.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>Visit our land, take gifts from us, and go.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>I seek naught from thee and can naught bestow.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>Not e'en such grace as from yon spring to sip?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>Try, if parched thirst sits languid on thy lip.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>Can silver move thee? or if not, what can?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>Stand up and fight me singly, man with man.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>With fists? or fist and foot, eye covering eye?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>Fall to with fists; and all thy cunning try.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>This arm, these gauntlets, who shall dare withstand?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>I: and "the Bruiser" lifts no woman's-hand.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>Wilt thou, to crown our strife, some meed assign?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>Thou shalt be called my master, or I thine.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>POLYDEUCES.</p> + + <p>By crimson-crested cocks such games are won.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>AMYCUS.</p> + + <p>Lions or cocks, we'll play this game or none.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">He spoke, and clutched a hollow shell, and + blew</p> + + <p>His clarion. Straightway to the shadowy pine</p> + + <p>Clustering they came, as loud it pealed and long,</p> + + <p>Bebrycia's bearded sons; and Castor too,</p> + + <p>The peerless in the lists, went forth and called</p> + + <p>From the Magnesian ship the Heroes all.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Then either warrior armed with coils of + hide</p> + + <p>His hands, and round his limbs bound ponderous bands,</p> + + <p>And, breathing bloodshed, stept into the ring.</p> + + <p>First there was much manoeuvring, who should catch</p> + + <p>The sunlight on his rear: but thou didst foil,</p> + + <p>O Polydeuces, valour by address;</p> + + <p>And full on Amycus' face the hot noon smote.</p> + + <p>He in hot wrath strode forward, threatening war;</p> + + <p>Straightway the Tyndarid smote him, as he closed,</p> + + <p>Full on the chin: more furious waxed he still,</p> + + <p>And, earthward bent, dealt blindly random blows.</p> + + <p>Bebrycia shouted loud, the Greeks too cheered</p> + + <p>Their champion: fearing lest in that scant space</p> + + <p>This Tityus by sheer weight should bear him down.</p> + + <p>But, shifting yet still there, the son of Zeus</p> + + <p>Scored him with swift exchange of left and right,</p> + + <p>And checked the onrush of the sea-god's child</p> + + <p>Parlous albeit: till, reeling with his wounds,</p> + + <p>He stood, and from his lips spat crimson blood.</p> + + <p>Cheered yet again the princes, when they saw</p> + + <p>The lips and jowl all seamed with piteous scars,</p> + + <p>And the swoln visage and the half-closed eyes.</p> + + <p>Still the prince teased him, feinting here or there</p> + + <p>A thrust; and when he saw him helpless all,</p> + + <p>Let drive beneath his eyelids at his nose,</p> + + <p>And laid it bare to the bone. The stricken man</p> + + <p>Measured his length supine amid the fern.</p> + + <p>Keen was the fighting when he rose again,</p> + + <p>Deadly the blows their sturdy gauntlets dealt.</p> + + <p>But while Bebrycia's chieftain sparred round chest</p> + + <p>And utmost shoulder, the resistless foe</p> + + <p>Made his whole face one mass of hideous wounds.</p> + + <p>While the one sweated all his bulk away,</p> + + <p>And, late a giant, seemed a pigmy now,</p> + + <p>The other's limbs waxed ever as he fought</p> + + <p>In semblance and in size. But in what wise</p> + + <p>The child of Zeus brought low that man of greed,</p> + + <p>Tell, Muse, for thine is knowledge: I unfold</p> + + <p>A secret not mine own; at thy behest</p> + + <p>Speak or am dumb, nor speak but as thou wilt.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Amycus, athirst to do some doughty deed,</p> + + <p>Stooping aslant from Polydeuces' lunge</p> + + <p>Locked their left hands; and, stepping out, upheaved</p> + + <p>From his right hip his ponderous other-arm.</p> + + <p>And hit and harmed had been Amyclæ's king;</p> + + <p>But, ducking low, he smote with one stout fist</p> + + <p>The foe's left temple—fast the life-blood + streamed</p> + + <p>From the grim rift—and on his shoulder fell.</p> + + <p>While with his left he reached the mouth, and made</p> + + <p>The set teeth tingle; and, redoubling aye</p> + + <p>His plashing blows, made havoc of his face</p> + + <p>And crashed into his cheeks, till all abroad</p> + + <p>He lay, and throwing up his arms disclaimed</p> + + <p>The strife, for he was even at death's door.</p> + + <p>No wrong the vanquished suffered at thy hands,</p> + + <p>O Polydeuces; but he sware an oath,</p> + + <p>Calling his sire Poseidon from the depths,</p> + + <p>Ne'er to do violence to a stranger more.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Thy tale, O prince, is told. Now sing I + thee,</p> + + <p>Castor the Tyndarid, lord of rushing horse</p> + + <p>And shaking javelin, corsleted in brass.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <center> + PART II. + </center> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The sons of Zeus had borne two maids away,</p> + + <p>Leucippus' daughters. Straight in hot pursuit</p> + + <p>Went the two brethren, sons of Aphareus,</p> + + <p>Lynceus and Idas bold, their plighted lords.</p> + + <p>And when the tomb of Aphareus was gained,</p> + + <p>All leapt from out their cars, and front to front</p> + + <p>Stood, with their ponderous spears and orbed shields.</p> + + <p>First Lynceus shouted loud from 'neath his helm:</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Whence, sirs, this lust for strife? Why, sword in + hand,</p> + + <p>Raise ye this coil about your neighbours' wives?</p> + + <p>To us Leucippus these his daughters gave,</p> + + <p>Long ere ye saw them: they are ours on oath.</p> + + <p>Ye, coveting (to your shame) your neighbour's bed</p> + + <p>And kine and asses and whatever is his,</p> + + <p>Suborned the man and stole our wives by bribes.</p> + + <p>How often spake I thus before your face,</p> + + <p>Yea I myself, though scant I am of phrase:</p> + + <p>'Not thus, fair sirs, do honourable men</p> + + <p>Seek to woo wives whose troth is given elsewhere.</p> + + <p>Lo, broad is Sparta, broad the hunting-grounds</p> + + <p>Of Elis: fleecy Arcady is broad,</p> + + <p>And Argos and Messene and the towns</p> + + <p>To westward, and the long Sisyphian reach.</p> + + <p>There 'neath her parents' roof dwells many a maid</p> + + <p>Second to none in godliness or wit:</p> + + <p>Wed of all these, and welcome, whom ye will,</p> + + <p>For all men court the kinship of the brave;</p> + + <p>And ye are as your sires, and they whose blood</p> + + <p>Runs in your mother's veins, the flower of war.</p> + + <p>Nay, sirs, but let us bring this thing to pass;</p> + + <p>Then, taking counsel, choose meet brides for you.'</p> + + <p>So I ran on; but o'er the shifting seas</p> + + <p>The wind's breath blew my words, that found no grace</p> + + <p>With you, for ye defied the charmer's voice.</p> + + <p>Yet listen to me now if ne'er before:</p> + + <p>Lo! we are kinsmen by the father's side.</p> + + <p>But if ye lust for war, if strife must break</p> + + <p>Forth among kin, and bloodshed quench our feud,</p> + + <p>Bold Polydeuces then shall hold his hands</p> + + <p>And his cousin Idas from the abhorrèd fray:</p> + + <p>While I and Castor, the two younger-born,</p> + + <p>Try war's arbitrament; so spare our sires</p> + + <p>Sorrow exceeding. In one house one dead</p> + + <p>Sufficeth: let the others glad their mates,</p> + + <p>To the bride-chamber passing, not the grave,</p> + + <p>And o'er yon maids sing jubilee. Well it were</p> + + <p>At cost so small to lay so huge a strife."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">He spoke—his words heaven gave not to the + winds.</p> + + <p>They, the two first-born, disarrayed and piled</p> + + <p>Their arms, while Lynceus stept into the ring,</p> + + <p>And at his shield's rim shook his stalwart spear.</p> + + <p>And Castor likewise poised his quivering lance;</p> + + <p>High waved the plume on either warrior's helm.</p> + + <p>First each at other thrust with busy spear</p> + + <p>Where'er he spied an inch of flesh exposed:</p> + + <p>But lo! both spearpoints in their wicker shields</p> + + <p>Lodged ere a blow was struck, and snapt in twain.</p> + + <p>Then they unsheathed their swords, and framed new + modes</p> + + <p>Of slaughter: pause or respite there was none.</p> + + <p>Oft Castor on broad shield and plumèd helm</p> + + <p>Lit, and oft keen-eyed Lynceus pierced his shield,</p> + + <p>Or grazed his crest of crimson. But anon,</p> + + <p>As Lynceus aimed his blade at Castor's knee,</p> + + <p>Back with the left sprang Castor and struck off</p> + + <p>His fingers: from the maimed limb dropped the sword.</p> + + <p>And, flying straightway, for his father's tomb</p> + + <p>He made, where gallant Idas sat and saw</p> + + <p>The battle of the brethren. But the child</p> + + <p>Of Zeus rushed in, and with his broadsword drave</p> + + <p>Through flank and navel, sundering with swift stroke</p> + + <p>His vitals: Lynceus tottered and he fell,</p> + + <p>And o'er his eyelids rushed the dreamless sleep.</p> + + <p>Nor did their mother see her elder son</p> + + <p>Come a fair bridegroom to his Cretan home.</p> + + <p>For Idas wrenched from off the dead man's tomb</p> + + <p>A jutting slab, to hurl it at the man</p> + + <p>Who had slain his brother. Then did Zeus bring aid,</p> + + <p>And struck the marble fabric from his grasp,</p> + + <p>And with red lightning burned his frame to dust.</p> + + <p>So doth he fight with odds who dares provoke</p> + + <p>The Tyndarids, mighty sons of mighty sire.</p> + + <p>Now farewell, Leda's children: prosper aye</p> + + <p>The songs I sing. What minstrel loves not well</p> + + <p>The Tyndarids, and Helen, and the chiefs</p> + + <p>That trod Troy down for Meneläus' sake?</p> + + <p>The bard of Chios wrought your royal deeds</p> + + <p>Into his lays, who sang of Priam's state,</p> + + <p>And fights 'neath Ilion's walls; of sailor Greeks,</p> + + <p>And of Achilles towering in the strife.</p> + + <p>Yet take from me whate'er of clear sweet song</p> + + <p>The Muse accords me, even all my store!</p> + + <p>The gods' most precious gift is minstrelsy.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXIII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXIII.</h2><br> + + <center> + Love Avenged + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>A lad deep-dipt in passion pined for one</p> + + <p class="i2">Whose mood was froward as her face was + fair.</p> + + <p>Lovers she loathed, for tenderness she had none:</p> + + <p class="i2">Ne'er knew what Love was like, nor how he + bare</p> + + <p>A bow, and arrows to make young maids smart:</p> + + <p>Proof to all speech, all access, seemed her heart.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>So he found naught his furnace to allay;</p> + + <p class="i2">No quiver of lips, no lighting of kind + eyes,</p> + + <p>Nor rose-flushed cheek; no talk, no lover's play</p> + + <p class="i2">Was deigned him: but as forest-beasts are + shy</p> + + <p>Of hound and hunter, with this wight dealt she;</p> + + <p>Fierce was her lip, her eyes gleamed ominously.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Her tyrant's-heart was imaged in her face,</p> + + <p class="i2">That flushed, then altering put on blank + disdain.</p> + + <p>Yet, even then, her anger had its grace,</p> + + <p class="i2">And made her lover fall in love again.</p> + + <p>At last, unable to endure his flame,</p> + + <p>To the fell threshold all in tears he came:</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Kissed it, and lifted up his voice and said:</p> + + <p class="i2">"O heart of stone, O curst and cruel maid</p> + + <p>Unworthy of all love, by lions bred,</p> + + <p class="i2">See, my last offering at thy feet is laid,</p> + + <p>The halter that shall hang me! So no more</p> + + <p>For my sake, lady, need thy heart be sore.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Whither thou doom'st me, thither must I fare.</p> + + <p class="i2">There is a path, that whoso treads hath + ease</p> + + <p>(Men say) from love; Forgetfulness is there.</p> + + <p class="i2">But if I drain that chalice to the lees,</p> + + <p>I may not quench the love I have for you;</p> + + <p>Now at your gates I cast my long adieu.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Your future I foresee. The rose is gay,</p> + + <p class="i2">And passing-sweet the violet of the spring:</p> + + <p>Yet time despoils them, and they soon decay.</p> + + <p class="i2">The lily droops and dies, that lustrous + thing;</p> + + <p>The solid-seeming snowdrift melts full fast;</p> + + <p>And maiden's bloom is rare, but may not last.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The time shall come, when you shall feel as I;</p> + + <p class="i2">And, with seared heart, weep many a bitter + tear.</p> + + <p>But, maiden, grant one farewell courtesy.</p> + + <p class="i2">When you come forth, and see me hanging + here,</p> + + <p>E'en at your door, forget not my hard case;</p> + + <p>But pause and weep me for a moment's space.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And drop one tear, and cut me down, and spread</p> + + <p class="i2">O'er me some garment, for a funeral pall,</p> + + <p>That wrapped thy limbs: and kiss me—let the dead</p> + + <p class="i2">Be privileged thus highly—last of + all.</p> + + <p>You need not fear me: not if your disdain</p> + + <p>Changed into fondness could I live again.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And scoop a grave, to hide my loves and me:</p> + + <p class="i2">And thrice, at parting, say, 'My friend's no + more:'</p> + + <p>Add if you list, 'a faithful friend was he;'</p> + + <p class="i2">And write this epitaph, scratched upon your + door:</p> + + <p><i>Stranger, Love slew him. Pass not by, until</i></p> + + <p><i>Thou hast paused and said, 'His mistress used him + ill</i>.'"</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>This said, he grasped a stone: that ghastly stone</p> + + <p class="i2">At the mid threshold 'neath the wall he + laid,</p> + + <p>And o'er the beam the light cord soon was thrown,</p> + + <p class="i2">And his neck noosed. In air the body + swayed,</p> + + <p>Its footstool spurned away. Forth came once more</p> + + <p>The maid, and saw him hanging at her door.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>No struggle of heart it cost her, ne'er a tear</p> + + <p class="i2">She wept o'er that young life, nor shunned to + soil,</p> + + <p>By contact with the corpse, her woman's-gear.</p> + + <p class="i2">But on she went to watch the athletes' + toil,</p> + + <p>Then made for her loved haunt, the riverside:</p> + + <p>And there she met the god she had defied.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>For on a marble pedestal Eros stood</p> + + <p class="i2">Fronting the pool: the statue leaped, and + smote</p> + + <p>And slew that miscreant. All the stream ran blood;</p> + + <p class="i2">And to the top a girl's cry seemed to + float.</p> + + <p>Rejoice, O lovers, since the scorner fell;</p> + + <p>And, maids, be kind; for Love deals justice well.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXIV"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXIV.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Infant Heracles. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p class="i2">Alcmena once had washed and given the + breast</p> + + <p>To Heracles, a babe of ten months old,</p> + + <p>And Iphicles his junior by a night;</p> + + <p>And cradled both within a brazen shield,</p> + + <p>A gorgeous trophy, which Amphitryon erst</p> + + <p>Had stript from Ptereläus fall'n in fight.</p> + + <p>She stroked their baby brows, and thus she said:</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Sleep, children mine, a light luxurious + sleep,</p> + + <p>Brother with brother: sleep, my boys, my life:</p> + + <p>Blest in your slumber, in your waking blest!"</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">She spake and rocked the shield; and in his + arms</p> + + <p>Sleep took them. But at midnight, when the Bear</p> + + <p>Wheels to his setting, in Orion's front</p> + + <p>Whose shoulder then beams broadest; Hera sent,</p> + + <p>Mistress of wiles, two huge and hideous things,</p> + + <p>Snakes with their scales of azure all on end,</p> + + <p>To the broad portal of the chamber-door,</p> + + <p>All to devour the infant Heracles.</p> + + <p>They, all their length uncoiled upon the floor,</p> + + <p>Writhed on to their blood-feast; a baleful light</p> + + <p>Gleamed in their eyes, rank venom they spat forth.</p> + + <p>But when with lambent tongues they neared the cot,</p> + + <p>Alcmena's babes (for Zeus was watching all)</p> + + <p>Woke, and throughout the chamber there was light.</p> + + <p>Then Iphicles—so soon as he descried</p> + + <p>The fell brutes peering o'er the hollow shield,</p> + + <p>And saw their merciless fangs—cried lustily,</p> + + <p>And kicked away his coverlet of down,</p> + + <p>Fain to escape. But Heracles, he clung</p> + + <p>Round them with warlike hands, in iron grasp</p> + + <p>Prisoning the two: his clutch upon their throat,</p> + + <p>The deadly snake's laboratory, where</p> + + <p>He brews such poisons as e'en heaven abhors.</p> + + <p>They twined and twisted round the babe that, born</p> + + <p>After long travail, ne'er had shed a tear</p> + + <p>E'en in his nursery; soon to quit their hold,</p> + + <p>For powerless seemed their spines. Alcmena heard,</p> + + <p>While her lord slept, the crying, and awoke.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Amphitryon, up: chill fears take hold on + me.</p> + + <p>Up: stay not to put sandals on thy feet.</p> + + <p>Hear'st thou our child, our younger, how he cries?</p> + + <p>Seest thou yon walls illumed at dead of night,</p> + + <p>But not by morn's pure beam? I know, I know,</p> + + <p>Sweet lord, that some strange thing is happening + here."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">She spake; and he, upleaping at her call,</p> + + <p>Made swiftly for the sword of quaint device</p> + + <p>That aye hung dangling o'er his cedarn couch:</p> + + <p>And he was reaching at his span-new belt,</p> + + <p>The scabbard (one huge piece of lotus-wood)</p> + + <p>Poised on his arm; when suddenly the night</p> + + <p>Spread out her hands, and all was dark again.</p> + + <p>Then cried he to his slaves, whose sleep was deep:</p> + + <p>"Quick, slaves of mine; fetch fire from yonder hearth:</p> + + <p>And force with all your strength the doorbolts back!</p> + + <p>Up, loyal-hearted slaves: the master calls."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Forth came at once the slaves with lighted + lamps.</p> + + <p>The house was all astir with hurrying feet.</p> + + <p>But when they saw the suckling Heracles</p> + + <p>With the two brutes grasped firm in his soft hands,</p> + + <p>They shouted with one voice. But he must show</p> + + <p>The reptiles to Amphitryon; held aloft</p> + + <p>His hands in childish glee, and laughed and laid</p> + + <p>At his sire's feet the monsters still in death.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Then did Alcmena to her bosom take</p> + + <p>The terror-blanched and passionate Iphicles:</p> + + <p>Cradling the other in a lambswool quilt,</p> + + <p>Her lord once more bethought him of his rest.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Now cocks had thrice sung out that night was + e'er.</p> + + <p>Then went Alcmena forth and told the thing</p> + + <p>To Teiresias the seer, whose words were truth,</p> + + <p>And bade him rede her what the end should be:—</p> + + <p>'And if the gods bode mischief, hide it not,</p> + + <p>Pitying, from me: man shall not thus avoid</p> + + <p>The doom that Fate upon her distaff spins.</p> + + <p>Son of Eueres, thou hast ears to hear.'</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Thus spake the queen, and thus he made + reply:</p> + + <p>"Mother of monarchs, Perseus' child, take heart;</p> + + <p>And look but on the fairer side of things.</p> + + <p>For by the precious light that long ago</p> + + <p>Left tenantless these eyes, I swear that oft</p> + + <p>Achaia's maidens, as when eve is high</p> + + <p>They mould the silken yarn upon their lap,</p> + + <p>Shall tell Alcmena's story: blest art thou</p> + + <p>Of women. Such a man in this thy son</p> + + <p>Shall one day scale the star-encumbered heaven:</p> + + <p>His amplitude of chest bespeaks him lord</p> + + <p>Of all the forest beasts and all mankind.</p> + + <p>Twelve tasks accomplished he must dwell with Zeus;</p> + + <p>His flesh given over to Trachinian fires;</p> + + <p>And son-in-law be hailed of those same gods</p> + + <p>Who sent yon skulking brutes to slay thy babe.</p> + + <p>Lo! the day cometh when the fawn shall couch</p> + + <p>In the wolfs lair, nor fear the spiky teeth</p> + + <p>That would not harm him. But, O lady, keep</p> + + <p>Yon smouldering fire alive; prepare you piles</p> + + <p>Of fuel, bramble-sprays or fern or furze</p> + + <p>Or pear-boughs dried with swinging in the wind:</p> + + <p>And let the kindled wild-wood burn those snakes</p> + + <p>At midnight, when they looked to slay thy babe.</p> + + <p>And let at dawn some handmaid gather up</p> + + <p>The ashes of the fire, and diligently</p> + + <p>Convey and cast each remnant o'er the stream</p> + + <p>Faced by clov'n rocks, our boundary: then return</p> + + <p>Nor look behind. And purify your home</p> + + <p>First with sheer sulphur, rain upon it then,</p> + + <p>(Chaplets of olive wound about your heads,)</p> + + <p>Innocuous water, and the customed salt.</p> + + <p>Lastly, to Zeus almighty slay a boar:</p> + + <p>So shall ye vanquish all your enemies."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Spake Teiresias, and wheeling (though his + years</p> + + <p>Weighed on him sorely) gained his ivory car.</p> + + <p>And Heracles as some young orchard-tree</p> + + <p>Grew up, Amphitryon his reputed sire.</p> + + <p>Old Linus taught him letters, Phoebus' child,</p> + + <p>A dauntless toiler by the midnight lamp.</p> + + <p>Each fall whereby the sons of Argos fell,</p> + + <p>The flingers by cross-buttock, each his man</p> + + <p>By feats of wrestling: all that boxers e'er,</p> + + <p>Grim in their gauntlets, have devised, or they</p> + + <p>Who wage mixed warfare and, adepts in art,</p> + + <p>Upon the foe fall headlong: all such lore</p> + + <p>Phocian Harpalicus gave him, Hermes' son:</p> + + <p>Whom no man might behold while yet far off</p> + + <p>And wait his armed onset undismayed:</p> + + <p>A brow so truculent roofed so stern a face.</p> + + <p>To launch, and steer in safety round the goal,</p> + + <p>Chariot and steed, and damage ne'er a wheel,</p> + + <p>This the lad learned of fond Amphitryon's self.</p> + + <p>Many a fair prize from listed warriors he</p> + + <p>Had won on Argive racegrounds; yet the car</p> + + <p>Whereon he sat came still unshattered home,</p> + + <p>What gaps were in his harness time had made.</p> + + <p>Then with couched lance to reach the foe, his targe</p> + + <p>Covering his rear, and bide the biting sword;</p> + + <p>Or, on the warpath, place his ambuscade,</p> + + <p>Marshal his lines and rally his cavaliers;</p> + + <p>This knightly Castor learned him, erst exiled</p> + + <p>From Argos, when her realms with all their wealth</p> + + <p>Of vineyards fell to Tydeus, who received</p> + + <p>Her and her chariots at Adrastus' hand.</p> + + <p>Amongst the Heroes none was Castor's match</p> + + <p>Till age had dimmed the glory of his youth.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Such tutors this fond mother gave her son.</p> + + <p>The stripling's bed was at his father's side,</p> + + <p>One after his own heart, a lion's skin.</p> + + <p>His dinner, roast meat, with a loaf that filled</p> + + <p>A Dorian basket, you might soothly say</p> + + <p>Had satisfied a delver; and to close</p> + + <p>The day he took, sans fire, a scanty meal.</p> + + <p>A simple frock went halfway down his leg:</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 45%;"> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXV"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXV.</h2><br> + + <center> + Heracles the Lion Slayer. + </center> + <hr style="width: 45%;"> + <br> + <br> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p class="i2">To whom thus spake the herdsman of the + herd,</p> + + <p>Pausing a moment from his handiwork:</p> + + <p>"Friend, I will solve thy questions, for I fear</p> + + <p>The angry looks of Hermes of the roads.</p> + + <p>No dweller in the skies is wroth as he,</p> + + <p>With him who saith the asking traveller nay.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"The flocks Augéas owns, our gracious + lord,</p> + + <p>One pasture pastures not, nor one fence bounds.</p> + + <p>They wander, look you, some by Elissus' banks</p> + + <p>Or god-beloved Alphéus' sacred stream,</p> + + <p>Some by Buprasion, where the grape abounds,</p> + + <p>Some here: their folds stand separate. But before</p> + + <p>His herds, though they be myriad, yonder glades</p> + + <p>That belt the broad lake round lie fresh and fair</p> + + <p>For ever: for the low-lying meadows take</p> + + <p>The dew, and teem with herbage honeysweet,</p> + + <p>To lend new vigour to the hornèd kine.</p> + + <p>Here on thy right their stalls thou canst descry</p> + + <p>By the flowing river, for all eyes to see:</p> + + <p>Here, where the platans blossom all the year,</p> + + <p>And glimmers green the olive that enshrines</p> + + <p>Rural Apollo, most august of gods.</p> + + <p>Hard by, fair mansions have been reared for us</p> + + <p>His herdsmen; us who guard with might and main</p> + + <p>His riches that are more than tongue may tell:</p> + + <p>Casting our seed o'er fallows thrice upturn'd</p> + + <p>Or four times by the share; the bounds whereof</p> + + <p>Well do the delvers know, whose busy feet</p> + + <p>Troop to his wine-vats in fair summer-time.</p> + + <p>Yea, all these acres wise Augéas owns,</p> + + <p>These corn-clad uplands and these orchards green,</p> + + <p>Far as yon ledges whence the cataracts leap.</p> + + <p>Here do we haunt, here toil, as is the wont</p> + + <p>Of labourers in the fields, the livelong day.</p> + + <p>But prythee tell me thou—so shalt thou best</p> + + <p>Serve thine own interests—wherefore art thou + here?</p> + + <p>Seeking Augéas, or mayhap some slave</p> + + <p>That serves him? I can tell thee and I will</p> + + <p>All thou would'st know: for of no churlish blood</p> + + <p>Thou earnest, nor wert nurtured as a churl:</p> + + <p>That read I in thy stateliness of form;</p> + + <p>The sons of heaven move thus among mankind."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Then answered him the warrior son of Zeus.</p> + + <p>"Yea, veteran, I would see the Epéan King</p> + + <p>Augéas; surely for this end I came.</p> + + <p>If he bides there amongst his citizens,</p> + + <p>Ruling the folk, determining the laws,</p> + + <p>Look, father; bid some serf to be my guide,</p> + + <p>Some honoured master-worker in the fields,</p> + + <p>Who to shrewd questions shrewdly can reply.</p> + + <p>Are not we made dependent each on each?"</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">To him the good old swain made answer thus:</p> + + <p>"Stranger, some god hath timed thy visit here,</p> + + <p>And given thee straightway all thy heart's desire.</p> + + <p>Hither Augéas, offspring of the Sun,</p> + + <p>Came, with young Phyleus splendid in his strength,</p> + + <p>But yesterday from the city, to review</p> + + <p>(Not in one day) his multitudinous wealth,</p> + + <p>Methinks e'en princes say within themselves,</p> + + <p>'The safeguard of the flock's the master's eye.'</p> + + <p>But haste, we'll seek him: to my own fold I</p> + + <p>Will pilot thee; there haply find the King."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">He said and went in front: but pondered + much</p> + + <p>(As he surveyed the lion-skin and the club,</p> + + <p>Itself an armful) whence this stranger came;</p> + + <p>And fain had asked. But fear recalled the words</p> + + <p>That trembled on his lip, the fear to say</p> + + <p>Aught that his fiery friend might take amiss.</p> + + <p>For who can fathom all his fellow's mind?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">The dogs perceived their coming, yet far + off:</p> + + <p>They scented flesh, they heard the thud of feet:</p> + + <p>And with wild gallop, baying furiously,</p> + + <p>Ran at Amphitryon's son: but feebly whined</p> + + <p>And fawned upon the old man at his side.</p> + + <p>Then Heracles, just lifting from the ground</p> + + <p>A pebble, scared them home, and with hard words</p> + + <p>Cursed the whole pack; and having stopped their din</p> + + <p>(Inly rejoiced, nathless, to see them guard</p> + + <p>So well an absent master's house) he spake:</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Lo! what a friend the royal gods have + given</p> + + <p>Man in the dog! A trusty servant he!</p> + + <p>Had he withal an understanding heart,</p> + + <p>To teach him when to rage and when forbear,</p> + + <p>What brute could claim like praise? But, lacking wit,</p> + + <p>'Tis but a passionate random-raving thing."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">He spake: the dogs ran scurrying to their + lairs.</p> + + <p>And now the sun wheeled round his westering car</p> + + <p>And led still evening on: from every field</p> + + <p>Came thronging the fat flocks to bield and byre.</p> + + <p>Then in their thousands, drove on drove, the kine</p> + + <p>Came into view; as rainclouds, onward driven</p> + + <p>By stress of gales, the west or mighty north,</p> + + <p>Come up o'er all the heaven; and none may count</p> + + <p>And naught may stay them as they sweep through air;</p> + + <p>Such multitudes the storm's strength drives ahead,</p> + + <p>Such multitudes climb surging in the rear—</p> + + <p>So in swift sequence drove succeeded drove,</p> + + <p>And all the champaign, all the highways swarmed</p> + + <p>With tramping oxen; all the sumptuous leas</p> + + <p>Rang with their lowing. Soon enough the stalls</p> + + <p>Were populous with the laggard-footed kine,</p> + + <p>Soon did the sheep lie folded in their folds.</p> + + <p>Then of that legion none stood idle, none</p> + + <p>Gaped listless at the herd, with naught to do:</p> + + <p>But one drew near and milked them, binding clogs</p> + + <p>Of wood with leathern thongs around their feet:</p> + + <p>One brought, all hungering for the milk they loved,</p> + + <p>The longing young ones to the longing dams.</p> + + <p>One held the pail, one pressed the dainty cheese,</p> + + <p>Or drove the bulls home, sundered from the kine.</p> + + <p>Pacing from stall to stall, Augéas saw</p> + + <p>What revenue his herdsman brought him in.</p> + + <p>With him his son surveyed the royal wealth,</p> + + <p>And, strong of limb and purpose, Heracles.</p> + + <p>Then, though the heart within him was as steel,</p> + + <p>Framed to withstand all shocks, Amphitryon's son</p> + + <p>Gazed in amazement on those thronging kine;</p> + + <p>For none had deemed or dreamed that one, or ten,</p> + + <p>Whose wealth was more than regal, owned those tribes:</p> + + <p>Such huge largess the Sun had given his child,</p> + + <p>First of mankind for multitude of flocks.</p> + + <p>The Sun himself gave increase day by day</p> + + <p>To his child's herds: whatever diseases spoil</p> + + <p>The farmer, came not there; his kine increased</p> + + <p>In multitude and value year by year:</p> + + <p>None cast her young, or bare unfruitful males.</p> + + <p>Three hundred bulls, white-pasterned, crumple-horned,</p> + + <p>Ranged amid these, and eke two hundred roans,</p> + + <p>Sires of a race to be: and twelve besides</p> + + <p>Herded amongst them, sacred to the Sun.</p> + + <p>Their skin was white as swansdown, and they moved</p> + + <p>Like kings amid the beasts of laggard foot.</p> + + <p>Scorning the herd in uttermost disdain</p> + + <p>They cropped the green grass in untrodden fields:</p> + + <p>And when from the dense jungle to the plain</p> + + <p>Leapt a wild beast, in quest of vagrant cows;</p> + + <p>Scenting him first, the twelve went forth to war.</p> + + <p>Stern was their bellowing, in their eye sat death,</p> + + <p>Foremost of all for mettle and for might</p> + + <p>And pride of heart loomed Phaeton: him the swains</p> + + <p>Regarded as a star; so bright he shone</p> + + <p>Among the herd, the cynosure of eyes.</p> + + <p>He, soon as he descried the sun-dried skin</p> + + <p>Of the grim lion, made at Heracles</p> + + <p>(Whose eye was on him)—fain to make his crest</p> + + <p>And sturdy brow acquainted with his flanks.</p> + + <p>Straight the prince grasped him with no tender grasp</p> + + <p>By the left horn, and bowed that giant bulk</p> + + <p>To earth, neck foremost: then, by pressure brought</p> + + <p>To bear upon his shoulder, forced him back.</p> + + <p>The web of muscles that enwraps the nerves</p> + + <p>Stood out from the brute's fore-arm plain to see.</p> + + <p>Marvelled the King, and Phyleus his brave son,</p> + + <p>At the strange prowess of Amphitryon's child.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Then townwards, leaving straight that rich + champaign,</p> + + <p>Stout Heracles his comrade, Phyleus fared;</p> + + <p>And soon as they had gained the paven road,</p> + + <p>Making their way hotfooted o'er a path</p> + + <p>(Not o'er-conspicuous in the dim green wood)</p> + + <p>That left the farm and threaded through the vines,</p> + + <p>Out-spake unto the child of Zeus most high,</p> + + <p>Who followed in his steps, Augéas' son,</p> + + <p>O'er his right shoulder glancing pleasantly.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"O stranger, as some old familiar tale</p> + + <p>I seem to cast thy history in my mind.</p> + + <p>For there came one to Argos, young and tall,</p> + + <p>By birth a Greek from Helicè-on-seas,</p> + + <p>Who told this tale before a multitude:</p> + + <p>How that an Argive in his presence slew</p> + + <p>A fearful lion-beast, the dread and death</p> + + <p>Of herdsmen; which inhabited a den</p> + + <p>Or cavern by the grove of Nemean Zeus.</p> + + <p>He may have come from sacred Argos' self,</p> + + <p>Or Tiryns, or Mycenæ: what know I?</p> + + <p>But thus he told his tale, and said the slayer</p> + + <p>Was (if my memory serves me) Perseus' son.</p> + + <p>Methinks no islander had dared that deed</p> + + <p>Save thee: the lion's skin that wraps thy ribs</p> + + <p>Argues full well some gallant feat of arms.</p> + + <p>But tell me, warrior, first—that I may know</p> + + <p>If my prophetic soul speak truth or not—</p> + + <p>Art thou the man of whom that stranger Greek</p> + + <p>Spoke in my hearing? Have I guessed aright?</p> + + <p>How slew you single-handed that fell beast?</p> + + <p>How came it among rivered Nemea's glens?</p> + + <p>For none such monster could the eagerest eye</p> + + <p>Find in all Greece: Greece harbours bear and boar,</p> + + <p>And deadly wolf: but not this larger game.</p> + + <p>'Twas this that made his listeners marvel then:</p> + + <p>They deemed he told them travellers' tales, to win</p> + + <p>By random words applause from standers-by."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Then Phyleus from the mid-road edged away,</p> + + <p>That both might walk abreast, and he might catch</p> + + <p>More at his ease what fell from Heracles:</p> + + <p>Who journeying now alongside thus began:—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"On the prior matter, O Augéas' + child,</p> + + <p>Thine own unaided wit hath ruled aright.</p> + + <p>But all that monster's history, how it fell,</p> + + <p>Fain would I tell thee who hast ears to hear,</p> + + <p>Save only whence it came: for none of all</p> + + <p>The Argive host could read that riddle right.</p> + + <p>Some god, we dimly guessed, our niggard vows</p> + + <p>Resenting, had upon Phoroneus' realm</p> + + <p>Let loose this very scourge of humankind.</p> + + <p>On peopled Pisa plunging like a flood</p> + + <p>The brute ran riot: notably it cost</p> + + <p>Its neighbours of Bembina woes untold.</p> + + <p>And here Eurystheus bade me try my first</p> + + <p>Passage of arms, and slay that fearsome thing.</p> + + <p>So with my buxom bow and quiver lined</p> + + <p>With arrows I set forth: my left hand held</p> + + <p>My club, a beetling olive's stalwart trunk</p> + + <p>And shapely, still environed in its bark:</p> + + <p>This hand had torn from holiest Helicon</p> + + <p>The tree entire, with all its fibrous roots.</p> + + <p>And finding soon the lion's whereabouts,</p> + + <p>I grasped my bow, and on the bent horn slipped</p> + + <p>The string, and laid thereon the shaft of death.</p> + + <p>And, now all eyes, I watched for that fell thing,</p> + + <p>In hopes to view him ere he spied out me.</p> + + <p>But midday came, and nowhere could I see</p> + + <p>One footprint of the beast or hear his roar:</p> + + <p>And, trust me, none appeared of whom to ask,</p> + + <p>Herdsman or labourer, in the furrowed lea;</p> + + <p>For wan dismay kept each man in his hut.</p> + + <p>Still on I footed, searching through and through</p> + + <p>The leafy mountain-passes, till I saw</p> + + <p>The creature, and forthwith essayed my strength.</p> + + <p>Gorged from some gory carcass, on he stalked</p> + + <p>At eve towards his lair; his grizzled mane,</p> + + <p>Shoulders, and grim glad visage, all adrip</p> + + <p>With carnage; and he licked his bearded lips.</p> + + <p>I, crouched among the shadows of the trees</p> + + <p>On the green hill-top, waited his approach,</p> + + <p>And as he came I aimed at his left flank.</p> + + <p>The barbèd shaft sped idly, nor could pierce</p> + + <p>The flesh, but glancing dropped on the green grass.</p> + + <p>He, wondering, raised forthwith his tawny head,</p> + + <p>And ran his eyes o'er all the vicinage,</p> + + <p>And snarled and gave to view his cavernous throat.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile I levelled yet another shaft,</p> + + <p>Ill pleased to think my first had fled in vain.</p> + + <p>In the mid-chest I smote him, where the lungs</p> + + <p>Are seated: still the arrow sank not in,</p> + + <p>But fell, its errand frustrate, at his feet.</p> + + <p>Once more was I preparing, sore chagrined,</p> + + <p>To draw the bowstring, when the ravenous beast</p> + + <p>Glaring around espied me, lashed his sides</p> + + <p>With his huge tail, and opened war at once.</p> + + <p>Swelled his vast neck, his dun locks stood on end</p> + + <p>With rage: his spine moved sinuous as a bow,</p> + + <p>Till all his weight hung poised on flank and loin.</p> + + <p>And e'en as, when a chariot-builder bends</p> + + <p>With practised skill his shafts of splintered fig,</p> + + <p>Hot from the fire, to be his axle-wheels;</p> + + <p>Flies the tough-rinded sapling from the hands</p> + + <p>That shape it, at a bound recoiling far:</p> + + <p>So from far-off the dread beast, all of a heap,</p> + + <p>Sprang on me, hungering for my life-blood. I</p> + + <p>Thrust with one hand my arrows in his face</p> + + <p>And my doffed doublet, while the other raised</p> + + <p>My seasoned cudgel o'er his crest, and drave</p> + + <p>Full at his temples, breaking clean in twain</p> + + <p>On the fourfooted warrior's airy scalp</p> + + <p>My club; and ere he reached me, down he fell.</p> + + <p>Headlong he fell, and poised on tremulous feet</p> + + <p>Stood, his head wagging, and his eyes grown dim;</p> + + <p>For the shrewd stroke had shattered brain and bone.</p> + + <p>I, marking him beside himself with pain.</p> + + <p>Fell, ere recovering he should breathe again,</p> + + <p>At vantage on his solid sinewy neck,</p> + + <p>My bow and woven quiver thrown aside.</p> + + <p>With iron clasp I gripped him from the rear</p> + + <p>(His talons else had torn me) and, my foot</p> + + <p>Set on him, forced to earth by dint of heel</p> + + <p>His hinder parts, my flanks entrenched the while</p> + + <p>Behind his fore-arm; till his thews were stretched</p> + + <p>And strained, and on his haunches stark he stood</p> + + <p>And lifeless; hell received his monstrous ghost.</p> + + <p>Then with myself I counselled how to strip</p> + + <p>From off the dead beast's limbs his shaggy hide,</p> + + <p>A task full onerous, since I found it proof</p> + + <p>Against all blows of steel or stone or wood.</p> + + <p>Some god at last inspired me with the thought,</p> + + <p>With his own claws to rend the lion's skin.</p> + + <p>With these I flayed him soon, and sheathed and armed</p> + + <p>My limbs against the shocks of murderous war.</p> + + <p>Thus, sir, the Nemean lion met his end,</p> + + <p>Erewhile the constant curse of beast and man."</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXVI"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXVI.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Bacchanals. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p class="i2">Agavè of the vermeil-tinted cheek</p> + + <p class="i4">And Ino and Autonoä marshalled erst</p> + + <p class="i2">Three bands of revellers under one + hill-peak.</p> + + <p class="i4">They plucked the wild-oak's matted foliage + first,</p> + + <p class="i2">Lush ivy then, and creeping asphodel;</p> + + <p>And reared therewith twelve shrines amid the untrodden + fell:</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">To Semelè three, to Dionysus nine.</p> + + <p class="i4">Next, from a vase drew offerings subtly + wrought,</p> + + <p class="i2">And prayed and placed them on each fresh green + shrine;</p> + + <p class="i4">So by the god, who loved such tribute, + taught.</p> + + <p class="i2">Perched on the sheer cliff, Pentheus could + espy</p> + + <p>All, in a mastick hoar ensconced that grew thereby.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Autonoä marked him, and with, frightful cries</p> + + <p class="i4">Flew to make havoc of those mysteries weird</p> + + <p class="i2">That must not be profaned by vulgar eyes.</p> + + <p class="i4">Her frenzy frenzied all. Then Pentheus + feared</p> + + <p class="i2">And fled: and in his wake those damsels + three,</p> + + <p>Each with her trailing robe up-gathered to the knee.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"What will ye, dames," quoth Pentheus. "Thou + shalt guess</p> + + <p class="i4">At what we mean, untold," Autonoä + said.</p> + + <p class="i2">Agavè moaned—so moans a + lioness</p> + + <p class="i4">Over her young one—as she clutched his + head:</p> + + <p class="i2">While Ino on the carcass fairly laid</p> + + <p>Her heel, and wrenched away shoulder and + shoulder-blade.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Autonoä's turn came next: and what + remained</p> + + <p class="i4">Of flesh their damsels did among them + share,</p> + + <p class="i2">And back to Thebes they came all + carnage-stained,</p> + + <p class="i4">And planted not a king but aching there.</p> + + <p class="i2">Warned by this tale, let no man dare defy</p> + + <p>Great Bacchus; lest a death more awful he should die,</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">And when he counts nine years or scarcely + ten,</p> + + <p class="i4">Rush to his ruin. May I pass my days</p> + + <p>Uprightly, and be loved of upright men!</p> + + <p class="i4">And take this motto, all who covet praise:</p> + + <p class="i2">('Twas Ægis-bearing Zeus that spake it + first:)</p> + + <p>'The godly seed fares well: the wicked's is accurst.'</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Now bless ye Bacchus, whom on mountain + snows,</p> + + <p class="i4">Prisoned in his thigh till then, the Almighty + laid.</p> + + <p class="i2">And bless ye fairfaced Semelè, and + those</p> + + <p class="i4">Her sisters, hymned of many a hero-maid,</p> + + <p class="i2">Who wrought, by Bacchus fired, a deed which + none</p> + + <p>May gainsay—who shall blame that which a god hath + done?</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXVII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXVII.</h2><br> + + <center> + A Countryman's Wooing. + </center> + + <center> + <i>DAPHNIS. A MAIDEN</i>. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>How fell sage Helen? through a swain like thee.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Nay the true Helen's just now kissing me.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Satyr, ne'er boast: 'what's idler than a kiss?'</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Yet in such pleasant idling there is bliss.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>I'll wash my mouth: where go thy kisses then?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Wash, and return it—to be kissed again.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Go kiss your oxen, and not unwed maids.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Ne'er boast; for beauty is a dream that fades.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Past grapes are grapes: dead roses keep their smell.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Come to yon olives: I have a tale to tell.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Not I: you fooled me with smooth words before.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Come to yon elms, and hear me pipe once more.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Pipe to yourself: your piping makes me cry.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>A maid, and flout the Paphian? Fie, oh fie!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>She's naught to me, if Artemis' favour last.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Hush, ere she smite you and entrap you fast.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>And let her smite me, trap me as she will!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Your Artemis shall be your saviour still?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Unhand me! What, again? I'll tear your lip.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Can you, could damsel e'er, give Love the slip?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>You are his bondslave, but not I by Pan!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>I doubt he'll give thee to a worser man.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Many have wooed me, but I fancied none.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Till among many came the destined <i>one</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Wedlock is woe. Dear lad, what can I do?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Woe it is not, but joy and dancing too.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Wives dread their husbands: so I've heard it said.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Nay, they rule o'er them. What does woman dread?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Then children—Eileithya's dart is keen.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>But the deliverer, Artemis, is your queen.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>And bearing children all our grace destroys.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Bear them and shine more lustrous in your boys.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Should I say yea, what dower awaits me then?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Thine are my cattle, thine this glade and glen.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Swear not to wed, then leave me in my woe?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Not I by Pan, though thou should'st bid me go.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>And shall a cot be mine, with farm and fold!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Thy cot's half-built, fair wethers range this wold.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>What, what to my old father must I say?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Soon as he hears my name he'll not say nay.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Speak it: by e'en a name we're oft beguiled.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>I'm Daphnis, Lycid's and Nomæa's child.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Well-born indeed: and not less so am I.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>I know—Menalcas' daughter may look high.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>That grove, where stands your sheepfold, shew me + please.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Nay look, how green, how tall my cypress-trees.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Graze, goats: I go to learn the herdsman's trade.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Feed, bulls: I shew my copses to my maid.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Satyr, what mean you? You presume o'ermuch.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>This waist is round, and pleasant to the touch.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>By Pan, I'm like to swoon! Unhand me pray!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Why be so timorous? Pretty coward, stay.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>This bank is wet: you've soiled my pretty gown.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>See, a soft fleece to guard it I put down.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>And you've purloined my sash. What can this mean?</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>This sash I'll offer to the Paphian queen.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Stay, miscreant—some one comes—I heard a + noise.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>'Tis but the green trees whispering of our joys.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>You've torn my plaidie, and I am half unclad.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Anon I'll give thee a yet ampler plaid.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Generous just now, you'll one day grudge me bread.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Ah! for thy sake my life-blood I could shed.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>Artemis, forgive! Thy eremite breaks her vow.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Love, and Love's mother, claim a calf and cow.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>THE MAIDEN.</p> + + <p>A woman I depart, my girlhood o'er.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>DAPHNIS.</p> + + <p>Be wife, be mother; but a girl no more.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Thus interchanging whispered talk the pair,</p> + + <p>Their faces all aglow, long lingered there.</p> + + <p>At length the hour arrived when they must part.</p> + + <p>With downcast eyes, but sunshine in her heart,</p> + + <p>She went to tend her flock; while Daphnis ran</p> + + <p>Back to his herded bulls, a happy man.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXVIII"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXVIII.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Distaff. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Distaff, blithely whirling distaff, azure-eyed Athena's + gift</p> + + <p>To the sex the aim and object of whose lives is household + thrift,</p> + + <p>Seek with me the gorgeous city raised by Neilus, where a + plain</p> + + <p>Roof of pale-green rush o'er-arches Aphroditè's + hallowed fane.</p> + + <p>Thither ask I Zeus to waft me, fain to see my old friend's + face,</p> + + <p>Nicias, o'er whose birth presided every passion-breathing + Grace;</p> + + <p>Fain to meet his answering welcome; and anon deposit + thee</p> + + <p>In his lady's hands, thou marvel of laborious ivory.</p> + + <p>Many a manly robe ye'll fashion, much translucent maiden's + gear;</p> + + <p>Nay, should e'er the fleecy mothers twice within the + selfsame year</p> + + <p>Yield their wool in yonder pasture, Theugenis of the + dainty feet</p> + + <p>Would perform the double labour: matron's cares to her are + sweet.</p> + + <p>To an idler or a trifler I had verily been loth</p> + + <p>To resign thee, O my distaff, for the same land bred us + both:</p> + + <p>In the land Corinthian Archias built aforetime, thou hadst + birth,</p> + + <p>In our island's core and marrow, whence have sprung the + kings of earth:</p> + + <p>To the home I now transfer thee of a man who knows full + well</p> + + <p>Every craft whereby men's bodies dire diseases may + repel:</p> + + <p>There to live in sweet Miletus. Lady of the Distaff + she</p> + + <p>Shall be named, and oft reminded of her poet-friend by + thee:</p> + + <p>Men shall look on thee and murmur to each other, 'Lo! how + small</p> + + <p>Was the gift, and yet how precious! Friendship's gifts are + priceless all.'</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXIX"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXIX.</h2><br> + + <center> + Loves. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>'Sincerity comes with the wine-cup,' my dear:</p> + + <p>Then now o'er our wine-cups let us be sincere.</p> + + <p>My soul's treasured secret to you I'll impart;</p> + + <p>It is this; that I never won fairly your heart.</p> + + <p>One half of my life, I am conscious, has flown;</p> + + <p>The residue lives on your image alone.</p> + + <p>You are kind, and I dream I'm in paradise then;</p> + + <p>You are angry, and lo! all is darkness again.</p> + + <p>It is right to torment one who loves you? Obey</p> + + <p>Your elder; 'twere best; and you'll thank me one day.</p> + + <p>Settle down in one nest on one tree (taking care</p> + + <p>That no cruel reptile can clamber up there);</p> + + <p>As it is with your lovers you're fairly perplext;</p> + + <p>One day you choose one bough, another the next.</p> + + <p>Whoe'er at all struck by your graces appears,</p> + + <p>Is more to you straight than the comrade of years;</p> + + <p>While he's like the friend of a day put aside;</p> + + <p>For the breath of your nostrils, I think, is your + pride.</p> + + <p>Form a friendship, for life, with some likely young + lad;</p> + + <p>So doing, in honour your name shall be had.</p> + + <p>Nor would Love use you hardly; though lightly can he</p> + + <p>Bind strong men in chains, and has wrought upon me</p> + + <p>Till the steel is as wax—but I'm longing to + press</p> + + <p>That exquisite mouth with a clinging caress.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">No? Reflect that you're older each year than + the last;</p> + + <p>That we all must grow gray, and the wrinkles come + fast.</p> + + <p>Reflect, ere you spurn me, that youth at his sides</p> + + <p>Wears wings; and once gone, all pursuit he derides:</p> + + <p>Nor are men over keen to catch charms as they fly.</p> + + <p>Think of this and be gentle, be loving as I:</p> + + <p>When your years are maturer, we two shall be then</p> + + <p>The pair in the Iliad over again.</p> + + <p>But if you consign all my words to the wind</p> + + <p>And say, 'Why annoy me? you're not to my mind,'</p> + + <p>I—who lately in quest of the Gold Fruit had sped</p> + + <p>For your sake, or of Cerberus guard of the dead—</p> + + <p>Though you called me, would ne'er stir a foot from my + door,</p> + + <p>For my love and my sorrow thenceforth will be o'er.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXX"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXX.</h2><br> + + <center> + The Death of Adonis. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Cythera saw Adonis</p> + + <p class="i2">And knew that he was dead;</p> + + <p>She marked the brow, all grisly now,</p> + + <p class="i2">The cheek no longer red;</p> + + <p>And "Bring the boar before me"</p> + + <p class="i2">Unto her Loves she said.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Forthwith her winged attendants</p> + + <p class="i2">Ranged all the woodland o'er,</p> + + <p>And found and bound in fetters</p> + + <p class="i2">Threefold the grisly boar:</p> + + <p>One dragged him at a rope's end</p> + + <p class="i2">E'en as a vanquished foe;</p> + + <p>One went behind and drave him</p> + + <p class="i2">And smote him with his bow:</p> + + <p>On paced the creature feebly;</p> + + <p class="i2">He feared Cythera so.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>To him said Aphroditè:</p> + + <p class="i2">"So, worst of beasts, 'twas you</p> + + <p>Who rent that thigh asunder,</p> + + <p class="i2">Who him that loved me slew?"</p> + + <p>And thus the beast made answer:</p> + + <p class="i2">"Cythera, hear me swear</p> + + <p>By thee, by him that loved thee,</p> + + <p class="i2">And by these bonds I wear,</p> + + <p>And them before whose hounds I ran—</p> + + <p>I meant no mischief to the man</p> + + <p class="i2">Who seemed to thee so fair.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"As on a carven statue</p> + + <p class="i2">Men gaze, I gazed on him;</p> + + <p>I seemed on fire with mad desire</p> + + <p class="i2">To kiss that offered limb:</p> + + <p>My ruin, Aphroditè,</p> + + <p class="i2">Thus followed from my whim.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>"Now therefore take and punish</p> + + <p class="i2">And fairly cut away</p> + + <p>These all unruly tusks of mine;</p> + + <p class="i2">For to what end serve they?</p> + + <p>And if thine indignation</p> + + <p class="i2">Be not content with this,</p> + + <p>Cut off the mouth that ventured</p> + + <p class="i2">To offer him a kiss"—</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>But Aphroditè pitied</p> + + <p class="i2">And bade them loose his chain.</p> + + <p>The boar from that day forward</p> + + <p class="i2">Still followed in her train;</p> + + <p>Nor ever to the wildwood</p> + + <p class="i2">Attempted to return,</p> + + <p>But in the focus of Desire</p> + + <p class="i2">Preferred to burn and burn.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="IDYLL_XXXI"></a> + + <h2>IDYLL XXXI.</h2><br> + + <center> + Loves. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Ah for this the most accursed, unendurable of ills!</p> + + <p>Nigh two months a fevered fancy for a maid my bosom + fills.</p> + + <p>Fair she is, as other damsels: but for what the simplest + swain</p> + + <p>Claims from the demurest maiden, I must sue and sue in + vain.</p> + + <p>Yet doth now this thing of evil my longsuffering heart + beguile,</p> + + <p>Though the utmost she vouchsafes me is the shadow of a + smile:</p> + + <p>And I soon shall know no respite, have no solace e'en in + sleep.</p> + + <p>Yesterday I watched her pass me, and from down-dropt + eyelids peep</p> + + <p>At the face she dared not gaze on—every moment + blushing more—</p> + + <p>And my love took hold upon me as it never took before.</p> + + <p>Home I went a wounded creature, with a gnawing at my + heart;</p> + + <p>And unto the soul within me did my bitterness impart.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">"Soul, why deal with me in this wise? Shall thy + folly know no bound?</p> + + <p>Canst thou look upon these temples, with their locks of + silver crowned,</p> + + <p>And still deem thee young and shapely? Nay, my soul, let + us be sage;</p> + + <p>Act as they that have already sipped the wisdom-cup of + age.</p> + + <p>Men have loved and have forgotten. Happiest of all is + he</p> + + <p>To the lover's woes a stranger, from the lover's fetters + free:</p> + + <p>Lightly his existence passes, as a wild-deer fleeting + fast:</p> + + <p>Tamed, it may be, he shall voyage in a maiden's wake at + last:</p> + + <p>Still to-day 'tis his to revel with his mates in boyhood's + flowers.</p> + + <p>As to thee, thy brain and marrow passion evermore + devours,</p> + + <p>Prey to memories that haunt thee e'en in visions of the + night;</p> + + <p>And a year shall scarcely pluck thee from thy miserable + plight."</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i2">Such and divers such reproaches did I heap upon + my soul.</p> + + <p>And my soul in turn made answer:—"Whoso deems he can + control</p> + + <p>Wily love, the same shall lightly gaze upon the stars of + heaven</p> + + <p>And declare by what their number overpasses seven times + seven.</p> + + <p>Will I, nill I, I may never from my neck his yoke + unloose.</p> + + <p>So, my friend, a god hath willed it: he whose plots could + outwit Zeus,</p> + + <p>And the queen whose home is Cyprus. I, a leaflet of + to-day,</p> + + <p>I whose breath is in my nostrils, am I wrong to own his + sway?"</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="FRAGMENT_PROM_THE_quotBERENICEquot"></a> + + <h2>FRAGMENT PROM THE "BERENICE."</h2><br> + <br> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Ye that would fain net fish and wealth withal,</p> + + <p class="i2">For bare existence harrowing yonder mere,</p> + + <p>To this our Lady slay at even-fall</p> + + <p class="i2">That holy fish, which, since it hath no + peer</p> + + <p class="i2">For gloss and sheen, the dwellers about + here</p> + + <p>Have named the Silver Fish. This done, let down</p> + + <p class="i2">Your nets, and draw them up, and never fear</p> + + <p>To find them empty * * * *</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;"> + <a name="EPIGRAMS_AND_EPITAPHS"></a> + + <h2>EPIGRAMS AND EPITAPHS.</h2><br> + + <h3><a name="EI"></a>I.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Yours be yon dew-steep'd roses, yours be yon</p> + + <p>Thick-clustering ivy, maids of Helicon:</p> + + <p>Thine, Pythian Pæan, that dark-foliaged bay;</p> + + <p>With such thy Delphian crags thy front array.</p> + + <p>This horn'd and shaggy ram shall stain thy shrine,</p> + + <p>Who crops e'en now the feathering turpentine.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="II"></a>II.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>To Pan doth white-limbed Daphnis offer here</p> + + <p class="i2">(He once piped sweetly on his herdsman's + flute)</p> + + <p>His reeds of many a stop, his barbèd spear,</p> + + <p class="i2">And scrip, wherein he held his hoards of + fruit.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="III"></a>III.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p class="i2">Daphnis, thou slumberest on the leaf-strown + lea,</p> + + <p class="i4">Thy frame at rest, thy springes newly + spread</p> + + <p class="i2">O'er the fell-side. But two are hunting + thee:</p> + + <p class="i4">Pan, and Priapus with his fair young head</p> + + <p class="i2">Hung with wan ivy. See! they come, they + leap</p> + + <p>Into thy lair—fly, fly,—shake off the coil of + sleep!</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="IV"></a>IV.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>For yon oaken avenue, swain, you must steer,</p> + + <p class="i2">Where a statue of figwood, you'll see, has been + set:</p> + + <p>It has never been barked, has three legs and no ear;</p> + + <p class="i2">But I think there is life in the patriarch + yet.</p> + + <p>He is handsomely shrined within fair chapel-walls;</p> + + <p class="i2">Where, fringed with sweet cypress and myrtle + and bay,</p> + + <p>A stream ever-fresh from the rock's hollow falls,</p> + + <p class="i2">And the ringleted vine her ripe store doth + display:</p> + + <p>And the blackbirds, those shrill-piping songsters of + spring,</p> + + <p class="i2">Wake the echoes with wild inarticulate + song:</p> + + <p>And the notes of the nightingale plaintively ring,</p> + + <p class="i2">As she pours from her dun throat her lay sweet + and strong.</p> + + <p>Sitting there, to Priapus, the gracious one, pray</p> + + <p class="i2">That the lore he has taught me I soon may + unlearn:</p> + + <p>Say I'll give him a kid, and in case he says nay</p> + + <p class="i2">To this offer, three victims to him will I + burn;</p> + + <p>A kid, a fleeced ram, and a lamb sleek and fat;</p> + + <p>He will listen, mayhap, to my prayers upon that.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="V"></a>V.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Prythee, sing something sweet to me—you that can + play</p> + + <p>First and second at once. Then I too will essay</p> + + <p>To croak on the pipes: and yon lad shall salute</p> + + <p>Our ears with a melody breathed through his flute.</p> + + <p>In the cave by the green oak our watch we will keep,</p> + + <p>And goatish old Pan we'll defraud of his sleep.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="VI"></a>VI.</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Poor Thyrsis! What boots it to weep out thine eyes?</p> + + <p class="i2">Thy kid was a fair one, I own:</p> + + <p>But the wolf with his cruel claw made her his prize,</p> + + <p class="i2">And to darkness her spirit hath flown.</p> + + <p>Do the dogs cry? What boots it? In spite of their + cries</p> + + <p class="i2">There is left of her never a bone.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3><a name="VII"></a>VII.</h3> + + <center> + For a Statue of Æsculapius. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Far as Miletus travelled Pæan's son;</p> + + <p>There to be guest of Nicias, guest of one</p> + + <p>Who heals all sickness; and who still reveres</p> + + <p>Him, for his sake this cedarn image rears.</p> + + <p>The sculptor's hand right well did Nicias fill;</p> + + <p>And here the sculptor lavished all his skill.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="VIII"></a>VIII.</h3> + + <center> + Ortho's Epitaph. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Friend, Ortho of Syracuse gives thee this charge:</p> + + <p>Never venture out, drunk, on a wild winter's night.</p> + + <p>I did so and died. My possessions were large;</p> + + <p>Yet the turf that I'm clad with is strange to me + quite.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="IX"></a>IX.</h3> + + <center> + Epitaph of Cleonicus. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Man, husband existence: ne'er launch on the sea</p> + + <p class="i2">Out of season: our tenure of life is but + frail.</p> + + <p>Think of poor Cleonicus: for Phasos sailed he</p> + + <p class="i2">From the valleys of Syria, with many a + bale:</p> + + <p>With many a bale, ocean's tides he would stem</p> + + <p class="i2">When the Pleiads were sinking; and he sank with + them.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="X"></a>X.</h3> + + <center> + For a Statue of the Muses. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>To you this marble statue, maids divine,</p> + + <p>Xenocles raised, one tribute unto nine.</p> + + <p>Your votary all admit him: by this skill</p> + + <p>He gat him fame: and you he honours still.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XI"></a>XI.</h3> + + <center> + Epitaph of Eusthenes. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Here the shrewd physiognomist Eusthenes lies,</p> + + <p>Who could tell all your thoughts by a glance at your + eyes.</p> + + <p>A stranger, with strangers his honoured bones rest;</p> + + <p>They valued sweet song, and he gave them his best.</p> + + <p>All the honours of death doth the poet possess:</p> + + <p>If a small one, they mourned for him nevertheless.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XII"></a>XII.</h3> + + <center> + For a Tripod Erected by Damoteles to Bacchus. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>The precentor Damoteles, Bacchus, exalts</p> + + <p class="i2">Your tripod, and, sweetest of deities, you.</p> + + <p>He was champion of men, if his boyhood had faults;</p> + + <p class="i2">And he ever loved honour and seemliness + too.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XIII"></a>XIII.</h3> + + <center> + For a Statue of Anacreon. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>This statue, stranger, scan with earnest gaze;</p> + + <p class="i2">And, home returning, say "I have beheld</p> + + <p>Anacreon, in Teos; him whose lays</p> + + <p class="i2">Were all unmatched among our sires of eld."</p> + + <p>Say further: "Youth and beauty pleased him best;"</p> + + <p class="i2">And all the man will fairly stand exprest.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XIV"></a>XIV.</h3> + + <center> + Epitaph of Eurymedon. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Thou hast gone to the grave, and abandoned thy son</p> + + <p>Yet a babe, thy own manhood but scarcely begun.</p> + + <p>Thou art throned among gods: and thy country will take</p> + + <p>Thy child to her heart, for his brave father's sake.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XV"></a>XV.</h3> + + <center> + Another. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Prove, traveller, now, that you honour the brave</p> + + <p>Above the poltroon, when he's laid in the grave,</p> + + <p>By murmuring 'Peace to Eurymedon dead.'</p> + + <p>The turf should lie light on so sacred a head.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XVI"></a>XVI.</h3> + + <center> + For a Statue of the Heavenly Aphrodite. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Aphrodite stands here; she of heavenly birth;</p> + + <p>Not that base one who's wooed by the children of + earth.</p> + + <p>'Tis a goddess; bow down. And one blemishless all,</p> + + <p>Chrysogonè, placed her in Amphicles' hall:</p> + + <p>Chrysogonè's heart, as her children, was his,</p> + + <p>And each year they knew better what happiness is.</p> + + <p>For, Queen, at life's outset they made thee their + friend;</p> + + <p>Religion is policy too in the end.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XVII"></a>XVII.</h3> + + <center> + To Epicharmus. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Read these lines to Epicharmus. They are Dorian, as was + he</p> + + <p class="i2">The sire of Comedy.</p> + + <p>Of his proper self bereavèd, Bacchus, unto thee we + rear</p> + + <p class="i2">His brazen image here;</p> + + <p>We in Syracuse who sojourn, elsewhere born. Thus much we + can</p> + + <p class="i2">Do for our countryman,</p> + + <p>Mindful of the debt we owe him. For, possessing ample + store</p> + + <p class="i2">Of legendary lore,</p> + + <p>Many a wholesome word, to pilot youths and maids thro' + life, he spake:</p> + + <p class="i2">We honour him for their sake.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XVIII"></a>XVIII.</h3> + + <center> + Epitaph of Cleita, Nurse of Medeius. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>The babe Medeius to his Thracian nurse</p> + + <p class="i2">This stone—inscribed <i>To + Cleita</i>—reared in the midhighway.</p> + + <p class="i2">Her modest virtues oft shall men rehearse;</p> + + <p>Who doubts it? is not 'Cleita's worth' a proverb to this + day?</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XIX"></a>XIX.</h3> + + <center> + To Archilochus. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Pause, and scan well Archilochus, the bard of elder + days,</p> + + <p class="i4">By east and west</p> + + <p class="i4">Alike's confest</p> + + <p class="i2">The mighty lyrist's praise.</p> + + <p>Delian Apollo loved him well, and well the + sister-choir:</p> + + <p class="i4">His songs were fraught</p> + + <p class="i4">With subtle thought,</p> + + <p class="i2">And matchless was his lyre.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XX"></a>XX.</h3> + + <center> + Under a Statue of Peisander, WHO WROTE THE LABOURS OF HERACLES. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>He whom ye gaze on was the first</p> + + <p>That in quaint song the deeds rehearsed</p> + + <p>Of him whose arm was swift to smite,</p> + + <p>Who dared the lion to the fight:</p> + + <p>That tale, so strange, so manifold,</p> + + <p>Peisander of Cameirus told.</p> + + <p>For this good work, thou may'st be sure,</p> + + <p class="i2">His country placed him here,</p> + + <p>In solid brass that shall endure</p> + + <p>Through many a month and year.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XXI"></a>XXI.</h3> + + <center> + Epitaph of Hipponax. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Behold Hipponax' burialplace,</p> + + <p class="i2">A true bard's grave.</p> + + <p>Approach it not, if you're a base</p> + + <p class="i2">And base-born knave.</p> + + <p>But if your sires were honest men</p> + + <p class="i2">And unblamed you,</p> + + <p>Sit down thereon serenely then,</p> + + <p class="i2">And eke sleep too.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Tuneful Hipponax rests him here.</p> + + <p>Let no base rascal venture near.</p> + + <p>Ye who rank high in birth and mind</p> + + <p>Sit down—and sleep, if so inclined.</p> + </div> + </div><br> + + <h3><a name="XXII"></a>XXII.</h3> + + <center> + On his own Book. + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <br> + <br> + + <p>Not my namesake of Chios, but I, who belong</p> + + <p>To the Syracuse burghers, have sung you my song.</p> + + <p>I'm Praxagoras' son by Philinna the fair,</p> + + <p>And I never asked praise that was owing elsewhere.</p> + </div> + </div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11533 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |