Gallus' Unrequited Love and Lament in Arcadia — Virgil, Eclogues 10.1–10.77, Latin & English

Extremum hunc, Arethusa, mihi concede laborem:

Grant me, Arethusa, this last labor:

pauca meo Gallo, sed quae legat ipsa Lycoris,

a few songs for my Gallus, but such as Lycoris herself may read,

carmina sunt dicenda.¹ neget quis carmina Gallo?

must be sung. Who would deny songs to Gallus?

sic tibi, cum fluctus subterlabere Sicanos,

So, when you glide beneath Sicanian waves,

Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam.

may bitter Doris not intermingle her wave with yours.

incipe; sollicitos Galli dicamus amores,

Begin; let us sing of the anxious loves of Gallus,

dum tenera attondent simae virgulta capellae.

while the flat-nosed goats crop the tender shrubs.

non canimus surdis; respondent omnia silvae.

We do not sing to the deaf; the woods echo all things.

Quae nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellae

What groves, or what glades held you, maiden

Naides, indigno cum Gallus amore peribat?

Naiads, when Gallus was perishing of an unworthy love?

nam neque Parnasi vobis iuga, nam neque Pindi

For neither did the ridges of Parnassus, nor those of Pindus

ulla² moram fecere, neque Aoniae Aganippe.

cause you any delay, nor did Aonian Aganippe.

Illum etiam lauri, etiam flevere myricae.

Him even the laurels, even the tamarisks wept.

Pinifer illum etiam sola sub rupe iacentem

Even pine-bearing Maenalus wept for him as he lay beneath a lonely rock,

Maenalus, et gelidi fleverunt saxa Lycaei.

and the rocks of cold Lycaeus wept for him.

Stant et oves circum;—nostri nec poenitet illas,

The sheep also stand around;—they are not ashamed of us,

nec te poeniteat pecoris, divine poeta;—

nor be you ashamed of the flock, divine poet;—

et formosus ovis ad flumina pavit Adonis;

even beautiful Adonis pastured sheep by the rivers;

venit et upilio; tardi venere subulci;

The shepherd also came; the slow swineherds came;

uvidus hiberna venit de glande Menalcas.

Menalcas came, wet from gathering the winter acorns.

Omnes “Unde amor iste” rogant “tibi?” Venit Apollo:

All ask: “Whence comes this love of yours?” Apollo came:

“Galle, quid insanis?” inquit; “tua cura Lycoris³

”Gallus, why are you mad?” he said; “Lycoris, your love,

perque nives alium perque horrida castra secuta est.”

has followed another through both snows and dreadful camps.”

Venit et agresti capitis Silvanus honore,

Silvanus also came, with the rustic crown upon his head,

florentis ferulas et grandia lilia quassans.

shaking flowering fennels and large lilies.

Pan deus Arcadiae venit, quem vidimus ipsi

Pan, god of Arcadia, came, whom we ourselves saw,

sanguineis ebuli bacis minioque rubentem.

stained red with the blood-red berries of dwarf-elder and vermilion.

“Ecquis erit modus?” inquit; “Amor non talia curat;

”Will there be any limit?” he said; “Love does not care for such things;

nec lacrimis crudelis Amor, nec gramina rivis,

neither is cruel Love sated with tears, nor grass with streams,

nec cytiso saturantur apes, nec fronde capellae.”

nor bees with cytisus, nor goats with leaves.”

Tristis at ille: “Tamen cantabitis, Arcades,” inquit

But sad he replied: “Yet you will sing, Arcadians,

“montibus haec vestris: soli cantare periti

this on your mountains: Arcadians alone skilled in song.

Arcades. O mihi tum quam molliter ossa quiescant,

O how softly then my bones would rest,

vestra meos olim si fistula dicat amores!

if hereafter your pipe should sing of my loves!

Atque utinam ex vobis unus, vestrique fuissem

And would that I had been one of you, and either

aut custos gregis, aut maturae vinitor uvae!

the guardian of a flock, or the vintager of the ripe grape!

Certe, sive mihi Phillis, sive esset Amyntas,

Surely, whether Phyllis were mine, or Amyntas,

seu quicumque furor—quid tum, si fuscus Amyntas;

or whoever my passion—what then, if Amyntas is dark?

et nigrae violae sunt et vaccinia nigra—

both violets are dark, and hyacinths are dark—

mecum inter salices lenta sub vite iaceret;

they would lie with me among the willows, beneath the pliant vine;

serta mihi Phyllis legeret, cantaret Amyntas.

Phyllis would gather wreaths for me, Amyntas would sing.

Hic gelidi fontes, hic mollia prata, Lycori,

Here are cold springs, here soft meadows, Lycoris,

hic nemus; hic ipso tecum consumerer aevo.

here is a grove; here with you I would be consumed by time itself.

Nunc insanus amor duri me Martis in armis

Now a mad love keeps me in the arms of harsh Mars,

tela inter media atque adversos detinet hostes:

in the midst of weapons and confronting enemies:

tu procul a patria (nec sit mihi credere tantum!)⁴

you, far from your fatherland (may it not be mine to believe such a thing!)

Alpinas, ah dura, nives et frigora Rheni

lookest upon Alpine snows, ah cruel one, and the frosts of the Rhine,

me sine sola vides: ah, te ne frigora laedant!

alone without me: ah, may the frosts not hurt you!

ah, tibi ne teneras glacies secet aspera plantas!

ah, may the rough ice not cut your tender feet!

Ibo, et, Chalcidico quae sunt mihi condita versu⁵

I will go, and the songs which were composed by me in Chalcidic verse,

carmina, pastoris Siculi modulabor avena.

I will tune on the Sicilian shepherd’s pipe.

certum est in silvis, inter spelaea ferarum

It is my resolve to prefer to suffer in the woods, among the dens of wild beasts,

malle pati, tenerisque meos incidere amores

and to carve my loves on the tender

arboribus; crescent illae, crescetis, amores.

trees; they will grow, and you will grow, my loves.

Interea mixtis lustrabo Maenala nymphis,

Meanwhile I will roam over Maenalus with the nymphs,

aut acris venabor apros: non me ulla vetabunt

or hunt fierce boars: no frosts shall forbid me

frigora Parthenios canibus circumdare saltus.

to surround Parthenian glades with dogs.

iam mihi per rupes videor lucosque sonantis

Already I seem to myself to go through rocks and echoing groves;

ire; libet Partho torquere Cydonia cornu

it pleases me to shoot Cydonian arrows from a Parthian bow:

spicula:—tamquam haec sit nostri medicina furoris,⁶

as if this were a remedy for our madness,

ut deus ille malis hominum mitescere discat!

or as if that god could learn to soften at human miseries!

Iam neque hamadryades rursus nec carmina nobis

Now neither the hamadryads again, nor songs themselves

ipsa placent; ipsae rursus concedite silvae.

please me; you yourselves, woods, again give way.

non illum nostri possunt mutare labores,

Our labors cannot change him,

nec si frigoribus mediis Hebrumque bibamus,

not even if in the midst of frosts we should drink of the Hebrus,

Sithoniasque nives hiemis subeamus aquosae,

and undergo Sithonian snows under a wet winter,

nec si, cum moriens alta liber aret in ulmo,

nor if, when the dying bark withers on the high elm,

Aethiopum versemus ovis sub sidere Cancri.

we should drive the sheep of the Ethiopians under the sign of Cancer.

omnia vincit Amor; et nos cedamus Amori.”

Love conquers all things; and let us yield to Love.”

Haec sat erit, divae, vestrum cecinisse poetam,

This will be enough, goddesses, for your poet to have sung,

dum sedet et gracili fiscellam texit hibisco,

while he sits and weaves a basket of slender hibiscus,

Pierides; vos haec facietis maxima Gallo—

Muses of Pieria; you will make these songs of greatest value to Gallus—

Gallo, cuius amor tantum mihi crescit in horas,

Gallus, for whom my love grows as much hour by hour,

quantum vere novo viridis se subicit alnus.

as in early spring the green alder shoots itself up.

Surgamus; solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra;

Let us rise; the shade is wont to be harmful to singers;

iuniperi gravis umbra; nocent et frugibus umbrae.

the shade of the juniper is harmful; shades harm the crops too.

Ite domum saturae, venit Hesperus, ite capellae.

Go home, well-fed, the evening star comes, go, my goats.

Syntax notes6 items

10.2pauca meo Gallo... carmina sunt dicenda
The main verb is the passive periphrastic sunt dicenda (must be sung), with pauca carmina (a few songs) as its subject. The relative clause quae legat uses the present subjunctive to express purpose or characteristic ("such as Lycoris herself may read").
10.11Parnasi vobis iuga, nam neque Pindi ulla
iuga (ridges, neuter plural nominative) is the subject, with the adjective ulla agreeing with it. Parnasi and Pindi are genitives modifying iuga. fecere is the syncopated form of the perfect third-person plural fecerunt (they made/caused).
10.22tua cura Lycoris
cura (care, anxiety) is used metonymically to mean "the object of love/care" and stands in apposition to Lycoris.
10.46nec sit mihi credere tantum
The present subjunctive sit expresses a wish ("may it not be...") or possibility, with the infinitive credere serving as the subject. mihi is a dative of possessor or reference. tantum is the neuter accusative singular acting as the object of credere ("to believe so great a thing").
10.50Chalcidico... versu
Refers to the elegiac verse of Euphorion of Chalcis. It reflects Gallus's own translations and adaptations of Euphorion's Greek poetry into Latin.
10.60tamquam haec sit nostri medicina furoris
tamquam introduces a hypothetical comparison ("as if..."), governing the present subjunctives sit and discat (line 61). nostri is a poetic plural meaning "my".

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — translation 1

urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi001.humanitext-lat2:10.1-10.77