illi dulcis adest requies et pura voluptas, Talibus in studiis baculo dum nixus apricas 90 95 100 105 Delia diva, tuo, quo quondam victa furore 110 venit Nyctelium fugiens Cadmeis Agaue, infandas scelerata manus e caede cruenta quae gelidis bacchata iugis requievit in antro, 115 92 ut requiem victus CL. 93 liget V: licet : levet Exc. 96 95 frondis Heinsius. pastori quisque V, Ellis. poetae H: poeta 2. 100 solitum It: solidum 2. 114 datura Aldine 1534: futuram CL: futurum гV. his are sweet repose and unsullied pleasure, free, with simple cares. This is his goal, toward this he directs every sense; this is the thought lurking within his heart, that, content with any fare, he may be rich in repose, and in pleasant sleep may enchain his weary frame. O flocks, O Pans, O vales of Hamadryads, delightful in your springs, in whose humble worship the shepherds, vying each for himself with the bard of Ascra,1 spend with tranquil hearts a care-free life. 98 Amid such joys, while leaning on his staff the shepherd cons his sunny themes, and while, with no artful melody, on his joined reeds he attunes the wonted lay, burning Hyperion, mounting aloft, extends his rays, and, parting midway heaven's vault, there plants his light where into either Ocean he flings his ravenous flames. And now, driven by the shepherd, the straying goats were wending back to the pools of whispering water, which settled dark beneath the verdant moss. Now had the Sun ridden o'er the mid portion of his course, when the shepherd began to gather his flocks within the thick shade. Then 2 from a distance he saw them settle in thy green grove, O Delian goddess, whither once, smitten with madness, came Cadmus' daughter, Agave, flying from Nyctelius, her cursed hands defiled with blood of slaughter-Agave, who once had revelled on the cold heights, then rested in the cave, doomed at later day for her son's death to pay penance. Here, too, Pans sporting upon the green 1 Hesiod; cf. Eclogues, VI. 70; Georgics, II. 176. 3 2 The Latin sentence has no grammatical conclusion; "then" is a substitute for "when." i.e. Bacchus. On recovering her senses, Agave conceived a horror of Bacchus, the god whose rites she was celebrating when she slew Pentheus. et Satyri Dryadesque chorus egere puellae 119 pernigre morantem : pernice morantur Ellis. 129 implexae Heinsius: amplexae . 120 125 130 135 132 lamentanti Weber, Ellis: lamentandi MSS. perfide 1'2 perfida 2. 133 dicende Leo: deflende Scaliger: defende. 137 addita Vr, Vollmer. 139 ac petit Heinsius, Ellis: appetit 2. motibus Scaliger. grass, and Satyrs, and Dryad maids with the Naiad throng, once trod their dances. Not so much did Orpheus with his song stay Hebrus, lingering within his banks, or stay the woods, as much as with their dance they keep thee tarrying, O fleet goddess, gladly shedding many joys upon thy countenanceeven they, to whom, of its very nature, the place with its echoing whisper gave a home, refreshing their weary forms in its sweet shade. 123 For first, in the sloping vale, there arose spreading planes, towering high, and among them the wicked lotus-wicked for that she seduced the comrades of the sorrowing Ithacan, while she welcomed and held them captive with undue charm.1 Then they, whose limbs Phaëthon, hurled forth in flames from the resplendent car of the Sun's steeds, had through grief transformed, the Heliads, their arms entwining the slender stems-from outstretched branches lavished their white veiling. Next came she, to whom, lamenting his perfidy, Demophoon left unending grief--ah! Demophoon, "perfidious called of many, even still worthy to be called of maidens "perfidious"! Oaks attended her, chanters of the fates oaks once given for man's sustenance before the grains of Ceres: these oaks the furrow of Triptolemus exchanged for ears of corn.5 Here the great glory of the Argoan ship, the lofty pine, shaggy in her stately limbs, adorns the woods, and on the skyey mountains is fain to reach the stars. 1 cf. Homer, Odyssey, IX. 83 ff. 6 2 i.e. Phaethon's sisters, who were turned into poplars. 3 Phyllis, who at death was changed into an almond-tree. She died of grief, supposing that Demophoon had deserted her. Referring to the oracle at Dodona; cf. Georgics, I. 8 and 147 ff. 5 cf. Georgics, I. 19. cf. Eclogues, IV. 34 and 38. ilicis et nigrae species et fleta cupressus 140 145 150 155 Pastor, ut ad fontem densa requievit in umbra, mitem concepit proiectus membra soporem, anxius insidiis nullis, sed lentus in herbis securo pressos somno mandaverat artus. 160 stratus humi dulcem capiebat corde quietem, ni Fors incertos iussisset ducere casus. nam solitum volvens ad tempus tractibus isdem immanis vario maculatus corpore serpens, mersus ut in limo magno subsideret aestu, obvia vibranti carpens, gravis aere, lingua, squamosos late torquebat motibus orbis : 165 140 et fleta Ellis: et leta n. 141 monent Sillig. 143 escendunt Heyne: accedunt г: excedunt VCL. 149 liquorum Haupt, Leo. quaqua Barth: quamquam. 155 subter Heyne: super: supra г. 150 165 subsideret Bembo: sub sideris: Ellis thinks a verse has been lost. 167 montibus VгL. |