Page:Eclogues of Virgil (1908).djvu/40

 Bring Daphnis, O my songs, bring Daphnis home.

For charms have power to draw the moon from Heav'n,

By charms, the enchantress changed Ulysses' crew

And, as men say, cold-blooded snakes can be

Lured to their death, by songs, in the green meads.

Bring Daphnis, O my songs, bring Daphnis home!

First, I wind round thine image triple threads

Of three-fold hues, and three times lead it round

The altars. Gods unequal numbers love!

Now, Amaryllis, tie the three-hued knots

And say the while, 'I tie fair Venus' bands.'

Bring Daphnis, O my songs, bring Daphnis home!

As one same fire makes hard the clay, and yet

Softens the wax, so love may Daphnis melt.

Sprinkle the meal! quick! burn the laurel twigs

With blazing tar. As Daphnis me consumes

So may he pine with love, and I not care.

May he go wand'ring thro' the woods and groves

As do the unquiet heifers by the brooks,

Forgetting when night falls, to seek their home

That he may suffer so, is my desire.

Bring Daphnis, O my songs, bring Daphnis home!

Long since the false one left as pledge with me

His cast-off garments—dear—for they were his.

I to the earth commit them—by the gate,

These pledges should bring Daphnis to my side,

Bring Daphnis, O my songs, bring Daphnis home!

Mœris himself gave me these herbs, and these

Most poisonous plants, gather'd in Pontus, where