fail the woods, water fail the streams, but let the strain that curses fail not my reeds! May these flowery garlands of Venus, with their varied beauties, which in spring-time paint the fields with brilliant hues (hence, ye sweet breezes: hence, ye fragrant odours of the field!)-may they change to blasting heats and loathsome poisons; may nothing sweet to eyes, nothing sweet to ears be wafted!" 25 Thus I pray, and in our prayers may these strains abound! "O thou best of woods, oft sung in our playful songs and verses, thou beauteous in thy wealth of green, thou shalt shear thy green shade: neither shalt thou boast of thy soft boughs' joyous leafage, as the breezes blow among them,1 nor, O Battarus, shall it oft resound for me with my song. When with his axe the soldier's impious hand shall fell it, and the lovely shadows fall, thyself, more lovely than they, shalt fall, the old owner's happy timber. Yet all for naught! Rather, accursed by our verses, thou shalt burn with heaven's fires. O Jupiter ('twas Jupiter himself nurtured this wood), this must thou turn into ashes! 37"Then let the strength of the Thracian North blow his mighty blasts; let the East drive a cloud with lurid darkness mixed; let the South-West menace with storm-clouds threatening rain, when thy woodland, gleaming in the dark-blue sky, shall not learn again what thou, O Lydia,2 hast often uttered! Let neighbouring flames in order seize 1 Ellis takes auris as dative: "toss to the gales that blow music into thy soft-swaying branches." 2 Lydia is the poet's sweetheart. VOL. II. H H pascantur segetes, diffusis ignibus auras Sic precor et nostris superent haec carmina votis: "Nigro multa mari dicunt portenta natare, Si minus haec, Neptune, tuas infundimus auris, Battare, fluminibus tu nostros trade dolores; nam tibi sunt fontes, tibi semper flumina amica. nil est quod perdam ulterius; merito omnia Ditis. "Flectite currentis nymphas, vaga flumina, retro, flectite et adversis rursum diffundite campis; 43 auras Heinsius: . aurae. 46 fiant H. 44 ardor It.: arbor. 52 arsit Ribbeck: arcet: ardet Scaliger. 54 revocasti H: revocasset 57 ferenti S. 63 tuas Heinsius: tuis. 65 flumina semper S. . 58 infesto It.: infesta. 64 nostris M. 66 em quod pergam ulteris S. upon the vines, let the crops become their food, let the blaze in scattered fires wing its way athwart the breezes, and link the corn-ears with the trees! Where the unholy rod measured our fields, where once were our boundaries, let all become ashes!" 47 Thus I pray, and in our prayers may these strains abound! "O waves, that with your waters beat the shores; O shores, that o'er the fields scatter sweet breezes, give car to these cries. Let Neptune with his waves pass to the tilth, and with thick sand cover the fields! Where Vulcan, feeding on the lands, has burned with heaven's fires, be it called a sister of the Libyan sand, a second Syrtis!" 51 This sadder strain, O Battarus, I remember thou didst recall: "Many fearsome things, they say, swim in the black sea-monsters that oft-times terrify with forms unlooked for, when suddenly they have reared their bodies from out the raging deep. These hidden things may Neptune chase with threatening trident, on all sides upturning with the winds the murky seasurge, and in his hoary waves swallowing the swarthy ashes! Let my lands be called the savage sea; beware, O sailor, of lands, whereon we have pronounced our curses, unholy prayers!" 63 If this, O Neptune, we do not pour into thy ears, do thou, O Battarus, consign our sorrows to the streams; for to thee the springs, to thee the streams are ever friendly. No further ruin can I effect 2; to Dis all belongs of right. "Turn back your running waters, ye roving streams; turn back, and pour them again over the 1 i.e. left by the fire described above. 2 i.e. by my curses. нн 2 incurrant amnes passim rimantibus undis nec nostros servire sinant erronibus agros." Dulcius hoc, memini, revocasti, Battare, carmen: "Emanent subito sicca tellure paludes et metat hic iuncos, spicas ubi legimus olim; cogulet arguti grylli cava garrula rana.” Tristius hoc rursum dicit mea fistula carmen: "Praecipitent altis fumantes montibus imbres, et late teneant diffuso gurgite campos, qui dominis infesta minantes stagna relinquant. cum delapsa meos agros pervenerit unda, piscetur nostris in finibus advena arator, advena, civili qui semper crimine crevit.” O male devoti praetorum crimine agelli, tuque inimica pii semper Discordia civis : exsul ego indemnatus egens mea rura reliqui, miles ut accipiat funesti praemia belli. hinc ego de tumulo mea rura novissima visam, hinc ibo in silvas; obstabunt iam mihi colles, obstabunt montes, campos audire licebit: "Dulcia rura valete, et Lydia dulcior illis, et casti fontes et felix nomen agelli." Tardius a miserae descendite monte capellae: mollia non iterum carpetis pabula nota; tuque resiste pater. en prima novissima nobis, intueor campos: longum manet esse sine illis. 70 servire B1: exire ML. 73 iungos spicos S. 74 cogulet L: occultet S: occupet It. 78 qui It.: quid dominus S. relinquunt. 70 75 80 85 90 79 cum delapsa meos Reitzenstein: unde (undae) ZMS: lapsa (elapsa) meos LM. 81 crimina S. 93 en It. et: sit Birt. opposing fields: let brooks from all sides rush in with deep-cleaving waters, nor let them suffer our lands to be enslaved to vagabonds!" 71 This sweeter strain, O Battarus, I remember thou didst recall: "Let marshes from parched ground suddenly spring forth, and, where once we gathered corn-ears, let this man reap rushes; let the croaking frog sour the chirping cricket's hollow lairs!" 75 This sadder strain my pipe gives forth in turn : "From high mountains let rains rush streaming down, and with outspread flood widely possess the plains; then with menace of evil to their lords let them leave stagnant pools! When the wave, gliding down, reaches my fields, then let the stranger ploughman fish within my bounds-the stranger, who has ever waxed rich through citizens condemned!" 82 O ye fields accursed, ye that the praetors have condemned! and thou, O Discord, ever the foe of righteous citizens! I, a needy exile, though uncondemned, have left my fields, that a soldier may receive the wages of deadly war. From this mound will I look my last upon my lands; from this will I pass to the woods; soon will the hills, soon will the mountains impede my view, but the plains will be able to hear: "Sweet lands, farewell! and thou, Lydia, farewell, sweeter than they, and ye, pure fountains, and ye fields of happy name!" 91 Ah! more slowly come down from the hill, ye poor she-goats: never again shall ye browse on the soft pastures that ye know so well; and do thou, sire of the flock, stay behind! Lo, upon the plains, my first and last possession, I gaze: long must I be reft of them! |