Or, if he blast my Muse with envious praise, CORYDON. These branches of a stag, this tusky boar THYRSIS. This bowl of milk, these cakes, (our country fare) For thee, Priapus, yearly we prepare, Because a little garden is thy care. But, if the falling lambs increase my fold, CORYDON. Fair Galatea, with thy silver feet, 40. 45 50 O, whiter than the swan, and more than Hybla sweet! Tall as a poplar, taper as the bole! Come, charm thy shepherd, and restore my soul. 55 Come, when my lated sheep at night return; And crown the silent hours, and stop the rosy morn. THYRSIS. May I become as abject in thy sight, As sea-weed on the shore, and black as night; Rough as a bur, deform'd like him who chaws 60 Sardinian herbage to contract his jaws; Such and so monstrous let thy swain appear, If one day's absence looks not like a year. Hence from the field, for shame! the flock deserves No better feeding, while the shepherd starves. CORYDON. Ye mossy springs, inviting easy sleep, 65 Ye trees, whose leafy shades those mossy fountains keep, Defend my flock! The summer heats are near, And blossoms on the swelling vines appear. THYRSIS. With heapy fires our cheerful hearth is crown'd; 69 We fear not more the winds, and wintry cold, Than streams the banks, or wolves the bleating fold. CORYDON. Our woods, with juniper and chesnuts crown'd, With falling fruits and berries paint the ground; 75 And lavish Nature laughs, and strows her stores around. But, if Alexis from our mountains fly, Ev'n running rivers leave their channels dry. THYRSIS. Parch'd are the plains, and frying is the field, Nor with'ring vines their juicy vintage yield. CORYDON. The poplar is by great Alcides worn; 80 8.5 And, while she loves that common wreath to wear, Nor bays, nor myrtle boughs, with hazle shall compare. THYRSIS. The tow'ring ash is fairest in the woods; In gardens pines, and poplars by the floods: 91 But, if my Lycidas will ease my pains, And often visit our forsaken plains, To him the tow'ring ash shall yield in woods, MELIBUS. These rhymes I did to memory commend, When vanquish'd Thyrsis did in vain contend; Young Corydon without a rival reigns. 95 100 PASTORAL VIII. OR, PHARMACEUTRIA. ARGUMENT. This pastoral contains the songs of Damon and Alphesibous. The first of them bewails the loss of his mistress, and repines at the success of his rival Mopsus. The other repeats the charms of some enchantress, who endeavoured by her spells and magic to make Daphnis in love with her. THE mournful muse of two despairing swains, To which the savage lynxes list'ning stood; The rivers stood on heaps, and stopp'd the running flood; The hungry herd their needful food refuse 5 Of two despairing swains, I sing the mournful muse. Great Pollio! thou, for whom thy Rome prepares The ready triumph of thy finish'd wars, Whether Timavus or th' Illyrian coast, 10 15 Thine was my earliest muse; my latest shall be thine. Scarce from the world the shades of night withdrew; Scarce were the flocks refresh'd with morning dew, When Damon, stretch'd beneath an olive shade, 21 And wildly staring upwards, thus inveigh'd Against the conscious gods, and curs'd the cruel maid: "Star of the morning, why dost thou delay? Come, Lucifer, drive on the lagging day, While I my Nisa's perjur'd faith deplore Witness, ye pow'rs, by whom she falsely swore! 25 Yet shall my dying breath to heav'n complain. 29 Begin with me, my flute, the sweet Mænalian strain. "The pines of Mænalus, the vocal grove, Are ever full of verse, and full of love: |