Ecl. 6.1Prīma Syrācosiō dignāta est lūdere versū,
nostra nec ērubuit silvās habitāre Thalīa.First my Thalia deigned to play in Syracusan verse, and did not blush to dwell in the woods. Ecl. 6.3Cum canerem rēgēs et proelia, Cynthius aurem
vellit, et admonuit: "Pāstōrem, Tityre, pinguīs
5pāscere oportet ovīs, dēductum dīcere carmen."When I was singing of kings and battles, the Cynthian god plucked my ear and warned me: 'A shepherd, Tityrus, should feed fat sheep, but sing a finely spun song.' Ecl. 6.6Nunc ego—namque super tibi erunt, quī dīcere laudēs,
Vāre, tuās cupiant, et trīstia condere bella—
agrestem tenuī meditābor arundine Mūsam.Now I—for you will have more than enough who long to tell your praises, Varus, and to set down grim wars—will practise the rustic Muse on a slender reed. Ecl. 6.9Nōn iniussa canō: sī quis tamen haec quoque, sī quis
10captus amōre leget, tē nostrae, Vāre, myrīcae,
tē nemus omne canet;I do not sing unbidden: yet if anyone reads these too, if anyone, captivated by love, reads them, our tamarisks will sing of you, Varus, every grove will sing of you; Ecl. 6.11nec Phoebō grātior ūlla est,
quam sibi quae Vārī praescrīpsit pāgina nōmen.nor is any page more pleasing to Phoebus than one which has set at its head the name of Varus.
Ecl. 6.13Pergite, Pīeridēs!Proceed, Pierian Muses! Ecl. 6.13Chromis et Mnasyllos in antrō
Sīlēnum puerī somnō vīdēre iacentem,
15īnflātum hesternō vēnās, ut semper, Iacchō:
serta procul tantum capitī dēlapsa iacēbant,
et gravis attrītā pendēbat cantharus ānsā.The boys Chromis and Mnasyllos saw Silenus lying asleep in a cave, his veins swollen, as always, with yesterday's wine: the garlands lay just apart, slipped from his head, and his heavy tankard hung by its worn handle. Ecl. 6.18Adgressī—nam saepe senex spē carminis ambō
lūserat—iniciunt ipsīs ex vincula sertīs:
20addit sē sociam, timidīsque supervēnit Aeglē,—
Aeglē, Nāiadum pulcherrima,—iamque videntī
sanguineīs frontem mōrīs et tempora pingit.Falling upon him—for the old man had often cheated them both with the hope of a song—they cast fetters made from the garlands themselves upon him: Aegle joins them as an ally and comes up to the timid boys—Aegle, loveliest of the Naiads—and, as he now opens his eyes, she paints his forehead and temples with blood-red mulberries. Ecl. 6.23Ille dolum rīdēns, "Quō vincula nectitis?"He, laughing at the trick, 'Why are you tying these fetters?' Ecl. 6.23inquit;he says; Ecl. 6.24"solvite mē, puerī;'Release me, boys; Ecl. 6.24satis est potuisse vidērī:
25carmina, quae voltis, cognōscite;it is enough to have seemed to have the power: learn the songs you want; Ecl. 6.25carmina vōbīs,
huic aliud mercēdis erit."songs for you; for her there will be another kind of reward.' Ecl. 6.26Simul incipit ipse.At once he himself begins.
Ecl. 6.27Tum vērō in numerum Faunōsque ferāsque vidērēs
lūdere, tum rigidās mōtāre cacūmina quercūs;Then indeed you would have seen Fauns and wild beasts sporting in rhythm, then stiff oaks nodding their tops; Ecl. 6.29nec tantum Phoebō gaudet Parnāsia rūpēs,
30nec tantum Rhodopē mīrātur et Ismarus Orphea.neither does the Parnassian rock rejoice so much in Phoebus, nor do Rhodope and Ismarus marvel so much at Orpheus. Ecl. 6.31Namque canēbat, utī magnum per ināne coācta
sēmina terrārumque animaeque marisque fuissent,
et liquidī simul ignis;For he sang how, through the great void, the seeds of earth and air and sea had been gathered together, and of liquid fire as well; Ecl. 6.33ut hīs exōrdia prīmīs
omnia et ipse tener mundī concrēverit orbis;how from these first beginnings all things, and the young sphere of the world itself, grew solid; Ecl. 6.35tum dūrāre sōlum et disclūdere Nērea pontō
coeperit, et rērum paulātim sūmere fōrmās;how then the ground began to harden and shut Nereus off in the sea, and little by little to take on the forms of things; Ecl. 6.37iamque novum terrae stupeant lūcēscere sōlem,
altius atque cadant submōtīs nūbibus imbrēs;and how the lands are amazed as the new sun shines out, and rains fall from higher as the clouds are lifted away; Ecl. 6.39incipiant silvae cum prīmum surgere, cumque
40rāra per ignārōs errent animālia montīs.when woods first begin to rise, and when animals wander here and there over the unknowing mountains.
Ecl. 6.41Hinc lapidēs Pyrrhae iactōs, Sāturnia regna,
Caucasiāsque refert volucrēs, fūrtumque Promētheī:
hīs adiungit, Hylān nautae quō fonte relictum
clāmāssent, ut lītus "Hyla, Hyla!"Then he tells of the stones Pyrrha threw, of Saturn's reign, of the Caucasian birds and Prometheus' theft: to these he adds at what spring the sailors had left Hylas and called for him, so that the shore 'Hylas, Hylas!' Ecl. 6.44omne sonāret.rang out all over. Ecl. 6.45et fortūnātam, sī numquam armenta fuissent,
Pāsiphaēn niveī sōlātur amōre iuvencī.and he consoles Pasiphae, happy had herds never existed, with love for a snow-white bullock. Ecl. 6.47ah, virgō īnfēlīx, quae tē dēmentia cēpit!ah, unhappy girl, what madness has seized you! Ecl. 6.48Proetidēs inplērunt falsīs mūgītibus agrōs:
at nōn tam turpis pecudum tamen ūlla secūta est
50concubitūs, quamvīs collō timuisset arātrum,
et saepe in levī quaesīsset cornua fronte.The daughters of Proetus filled the fields with feigned lowing: yet none of them pursued such shameful union with cattle, though each had feared the plough on her neck, and often felt for horns on her smooth brow. Ecl. 6.52ah, virgō īnfēlīx, tū nunc in montibus errās:
ille, latus niveum mollī fultus hyacinthō,
īlice sub nigrā pallentīs rūminat herbās,
55aut aliquam in magnō sequitur grege.ah, unhappy girl, you now wander on the mountains: he, resting his snowy flank on soft hyacinth, chews pale grasses beneath a dark holm-oak, or follows some heifer in the great herd.
Ecl. 6.55"Claudite, nymphae,
Dictaeae nymphae, nemorum iam claudite saltūs,
sī qua forte ferant oculīs sēsē obvia nostrīs
errābunda bovis vestīgia;'Close, nymphs, Dictaean nymphs, close now the glades of the woods, in case by chance the bull's wandering tracks should meet my eyes; Ecl. 6.58forsitan illum,
aut herbā captum viridī, aut armenta secūtum,
60perdūcant aliquae stabula ad Gortynia vaccae."perhaps some cows may lead him, captivated by the green grass or following the herd, to the stalls of Gortyn.' Ecl. 6.61Tum canit Hesperidum mīrātam māla puellam;Then he sings of the girl who marvelled at the apples of the Hesperides; Ecl. 6.62tum Phaethontiadēs muscō circumdat amārō
corticis, atque solō prōcērās ērigit alnōs.then he wraps the sisters of Phaethon in the moss of bitter bark, and raises them from the ground as tall alders. Ecl. 6.64Tum canit, errantem Permēssī ad flūmina Gallum
65Aonas in montīs ut dūxerit ūna sorōrum,
utque virō Phoebī chorus adsurrēxerit omnis;Then he sings how one of the sisters led Gallus, wandering by the streams of Permessus, to the Aonian mountains, and how the whole choir of Phoebus rose to greet the man; Ecl. 6.67ut Linus haec illī, dīvīnō carmine pāstor,
flōribus atque apiō crīnīs ōrnātus amārō,
dīxerit: "Hōs tibi dant calamōs, ēn accipe, Mūsae,
70Ascraeō quōs ante senī, quibus ille solēbat
cantandō rigidās dēdūcere montibus ornōs:
hīs tibi Grȳnēī nemoris dīcātur orīgō,
nē quis sit lūcus, quō sē plūs iactet Apollo."how Linus, a shepherd of divine song, his hair adorned with flowers and bitter parsley, said to him: 'These reeds the Muses give you—here, take them—which once they gave to the old man of Ascra, with which he used to draw the stiff ash-trees down from the mountains by his singing: with these let the origin of the Grynean grove be told by you, so that there may be no grove in which Apollo takes more pride.' Ecl. 6.74Quid loquar aut Scyllam Nīsī, quam fāma secūta est
75candida succīnctam lātrantibus inguina mōnstrīs
Dūlichiās vexāsse ratēs, et gurgite in altō,
ah, timidōs nautās canibus lacerāsse marīnīs,
aut ut mūtātōs Tēreī narrāverit artūs;Why should I tell either of Scylla, daughter of Nisus, of whom the story goes that, her white loins girt with barking monsters, she harried the Dulichian ships, and in the deep whirlpool, ah, tore the frightened sailors with her sea-dogs; or how he told of the transformed limbs of Tereus; Ecl. 6.79quās illī Philomēla dapēs, quae dōna parārit,
80quō cursū dēserta petīverit, et quibus ante
īnfēlīx sua tēcta supervolitāverit alīs?what feast, what gifts Philomela prepared for him, in what flight she sought the wilderness, and on what wings, unhappy one, she first fluttered over her own home?
Ecl. 6.82Omnia, quae Phoebō quondam meditante, beātus
audiit Eurōtās, iussitque ēdiscere laurus,
ille canit: pulsae referunt ad sīdera vallēs;All the songs which once, as Phoebus rehearsed them, blessed Eurotas heard and bade his laurels learn by heart, he sings: the echoing valleys carry them back to the stars; Ecl. 6.85cōgere dōnec ovīs stabulīs numerumque referrī
iussit, et invītō prōcessit Vesper Olympō.until the Evening Star bade them pen the sheep in the folds and count their number, and came forth over an unwilling Olympus.