Page:Eclogues of Virgil (1908).djvu/33



By chance, my Daphnis sat to rest awhile

Under a rustling holm-oak, and his friends

Thyrsis and Corydon their mingled flocks

Had thither brought, Thyrsis his sheep—there too

The she-goats, full of milk, of Corydon.

Both swains were in the first flower of their youth,

Both of Arcadian sort, equal in song

And skilled in giving answer, verse by verse.

Hither (whilst I, with careful zeal, did seek

My tender myrtles from the cold to shield)

The he-goat, father of my flock, had strayed.

Soon I, and Daphnis, both each other spied,

And he cried, "Melibœus, come with haste!

Thy goat and kids are safe, so, if thou canst

Cease from thy labour, rest here in the shade.

O'er the fair meadows mays't thou see thy kine

Come of their own free will, to slake their thirst,

Green with soft rushes, here are Mincio's banks,

Whilst swarming bees hum round the sacred oak."

—What could I do? I owned no careful folk

At home, to shut up all my weanling lambs,