BOOK III THEE, too, great Pales, we will sing, and thee, famed shepherd of Amphrysus,1 and you, ye woods and streams of Lycaeus. Other themes, which else had charmed with song some idle fancy, are now all trite. Who knows not pitiless Eurystheus, or the altars of detested Busiris? Who has not told of the boy Hylas, of Latona's Delos, of Hippodame, and Pelops, famed for ivory shoulder, and fearless with his steeds? I must essay a path whereby I, too, may rise from earth and fly victorious on the lips of men. I first, if life but remain, will return to my country, bringing the Muses with me in triumph from the Aonian peak; first I will bring back to thee, Mantua, the palms of Idumaea, and on the green plain will set up a temple in marble beside the water, where great Mincius wanders in slow windings and fringes his banks with slender reeds.2 16 In the midst I will have Caesar, and he shall possess the shrine. In his honour I, a victor resplendent in Tyrian purple, will drive a hundred four-horse chariots beside the stream. For me, Greece, leaving Alpheus and the groves of Molorchus, shall vie in races and with raw-hide gloves, and I, 1 Apollo. all 2 Virgil's proposed poem is described allegorically as a temple, in which Caesar is to be the deity. ipse caput tonsae foliis ornatus olivae 25 dona feram. iam nunc sollemnis ducere pompas MPR ad delubra iuvat caesosque videre iuvencos, vel scaena ut versis discedat frontibus utque purpurea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni. in foribus pugnam ex auro solidoque elephanto Gangaridum faciam victorisque arma Quirini, atque hic undantem bello magnumque fluentem Nilum ac navali surgentis aere columnas. addam urbes Asiae domitas pulsumque Niphaten 30 fidentemque fuga Parthum versisque sagittis et duo rapta manu diverso ex hoste tropaea bisque triumphatas utroque ab litore gentes. stabunt et Parii lapides, spirantia signa, Assaraci proles demissaeque ab Iove gentis nomina Trosque parens et Troiae Cynthius auctor. Invidia infelix furias amnemque severum Cocyti metuet tortosque Ixionis anguis immanemque rotam et non exsuperabile saxum. interea Dryadum silvas saltusque sequamur intactos, tua, Maecenas, haud mollia iussa. te sine nil altum mens incohat: en age, segnis rumpe moras; vocat ingenti clamore Cithaeron Taygetique canes domitrixque Epidaurus equorum, 25 tollent P. 28 huic P. 38 metuens P. 35 40 1 The stage "scaenae" either formed the background and, when parted (discedat) in the centre, disclosed a new scene within, or were triangular prisms, which revolved (versis frontibus) on either side of the stage. were often used at the same time. Both kinds, doubtless, The ancient curtain rose with brows decked with shorn olive-leaves, will bring gifts. Even now 'tis a joy to lead the solemn procession to the sanctuary, and view the slaughter of the steers; or to watch how the scene retreats with changing front, and how the inwoven Britons raise the purple curtains.1 On the doors I will fashion, in gold and solid ivory, the battle of the Ganges' tribe, and the arms of conquering Quirinus; there, too, the Nile, surging with war and flowing full; and columns soaring high with prows of bronze. I will add Asia's vanquished cities, the routed Niphates, the Parthian, whose trust is in flight and backward-shot arrows, the two trophies torn perforce from farsundered foes and the nations on either shore that yielded twofold triumphs.2 Here, too, shall stand Parian marbles, statues that breathe the seed of Assaracus, and the great names of the race sprung from Jove, father Tros, and the Cynthian founder of Troy. Loathly envy shall cower before the Furies and the stern stream of Cocytus, Ixion's twisted snakes and monstrous wheel, and the unconquerable stone.3 40 Meantime let us pursue the Dryads' woods and virgin glades-no easy behest of thine, Maecenas. Apart from thee, my mind essays no lofty theme; arise then, break through slow delays! With mighty clamour Cithaeron calls, and Taygetus' hounds and instead of falling. The "inwoven Britons" are the figures worked upon it. 2 Upon the great temple-doors were to be sculptures in relief showing Caesar's victories over foes in the far East and the far West (of the Mediterranean). In the pugnam Gangaridum Virgil refers to Antony's Oriental troops. The rivers and mountains (e.g. the Niphates) of conquered people were often represented in triumphal processions. 3 i.e. of Sisyphus. et vox adsensu nemorum ingeminata remugit. Epidaurus, tamer of horses; and the cry, doubled by the applauding groves, rings back. Yet anon I will gird me to sing Caesar's fiery fights, and bear his name in story through as many years as Caesar is distant from the far-off birth of Tithonus. ears. 49 Whether a man aspires to the prize of Olympia's palm and breeds horses, or rears bullocks, strong for the plough, let his chief care be to choose the mould of the dams. The best-formed cow is fierce-looking, her head ugly, her neck thick, and her dewlaps hanging down from chin to legs. Moreover, her long flank has no limit; all points are large, even the feet; and under the crooked horns are shaggy Nor should I dislike one marked with white spots, or impatient of the yoke, at times fierce with the horn, and more like a bull in face; tall throughout, and as she steps sweeping her footprints with the tail's tip. The age to bear motherhood and lawful wedlock ends before the tenth year, and begins after the fourth; the rest of their life is neither fit for breeding nor strong for the plough. Meantime, while lusty youth still abides in the herds, let loose the males; be first to send your cattle to mate, and supply stock after stock by breeding. Life's fairest days are ever the first to flee for hapless mortals; on creep diseases, and sad age, and suffering; and stern death's ruthlessness sweeps away its prey. 69 Ever will there be some kine whose mould you would wish to change; ever, I pray, renew them, and, lest too late you regret your losses, keep in advance, and year by year choose new stock for the herd. 72 Likewise for your breed of horses is the same choice needed. Only, upon those whom you mean to rear for the hope of the race, be sure to spend |