Lycidas and Moeris Lamenting Dispossession — Virgil, Eclogues 9.1–9.67, Latin & English

te, Moeri, pedes?¹ an, quo via ducit, in urbem?

Do your feet carry you, Moeris? Or where the road leads, into the city?

O Lycida, vivi pervenimus, advena nostri

O Lycidas, we have lived to see the day when a stranger, as the possessor of our little farm

(quod numquam veriti sumus) ut² possessor agelli

(a thing we never feared),

diceret: “Haec mea sunt; veteres migrate coloni!”

should say: “These are mine; depart, old colonists!”

nunc victi, tristes, quoniam Fors omnia versat,

Now vanquished, sad, since Fortune overturns all things,

hos illi—quod nec vertat bene³—mittimus haedos.

we send these kids to him—and may it not turn out well for him.

Certe equidem audieram, qua se subducere colles

Certainly indeed I had heard that where the hills begin to withdraw

incipiunt, mollique iugum demittere clivo,

and to lower their ridge with a gentle slope,

usque ad aquam et veteres (iam fracta cacumina) fagos

as far as the water and the old beeches (now with broken tops),

omnia carminibus vestrum servasse Menalcan.

your Menalcas had saved all things by his songs.

Audieras, et fama fuit; sed carmina tantum

You had heard it, and so the rumor was; but our songs

nostra valent, Lycida, tela inter Martia, quantum

have only so much power, Lycidas, amid the weapons of Mars, as they say

Chaonias dicunt aquila veniente columbas.

Chaonian doves have when the eagle approaches.

quod nisi⁴ me quacumque novas incidere lites

Therefore, unless a sinister crow from a hollow oak had warned me

ante Sinistra cava monuisset ab ilice cornix,

beforehand to cut short new disputes in whatever way,

nec tuus hic Moeris, nec viveret ipse Menalcas.

neither your Moeris here nor Menalcas himself would be alive.

Heu, cadit in quemquam tantum scelus? Heu, tua nobis

Alas, does such great wickedness fall upon anyone? Alas, was your solace, Menalcas,

paene simul tecum solatia rapta, Menalca?

almost snatched away from us along with you yourself?

quis caneret nymphas; quis humum florentibus herbis

Who would sing of the nymphs? Who would scatter the ground with flowering herbs

spargeret, aut viridi fontes induceret umbra?

or cover the springs with green shade?

vel quae sublegi tacitus tibi carmina nuper,

Or those songs which I silently stole from you recently,

cum te ad delicias ferres, Amaryllida, nostras?

when you were making your way to Amaryllis, our darling?

Tityre, dum redeo—brevis est via—pasce capellas,

”Tityrus, till I return—the way is short—feed the goats,

et potum pastas age, Tityre, et inter agendum

and when fed, drive them to drink, Tityrus, and while driving,

occursare capro, cornu ferit ille, caveto.

be careful not to meet the he-goat; he strikes with his horn.”

Immo haec, quae Varo necdum perfecta canebat:

Nay rather, those which he sang to Varus, not yet finished:

“Vare, tuum nomen, superet modo Mantua nobis—

”Varus, your name, if only Mantua remains to us—

Mantua, vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae—

Mantua, alas, too near to wretched Cremona!—

cantantes sublime ferent ad sidera cycni.”

singing swans shall bear aloft to the stars.”

Sic tua Cyrneas fugiant examina taxos;

So may your swarms avoid Cyrnean yews;

sic cytiso pastae distendant ubera vaccae!

so may your cows, fed on cytisus, distend their udders!

Incipe, si quid habes: et me fecere poetam

Begin, if you have anything: the Muses of Pieria have made me

Pierides; sunt et mihi carmina; me quoque dicunt

a poet too; I too have songs; the shepherds also call me

vatem pastores, sed non ego credulus illis.

a bard, but I am not credulous of them.

Nam neque adhuc Vario videor, nec dicere Cinna

For as yet I seem to sing nothing worthy of Varus or Cinna,

digna,⁵ sed argutos inter strepere anser olores.

but to cackle like a goose among the tuneful swans.

Id quidem ago et tacitus, Lycida, mecum ipse voluto,

That indeed I am doing, and silently, Lycidas, I am turning it over with myself,

si valeam meminisse; neque est ignobile carmen:

if I might be able to remember; nor is it an ignoble song:

`huc ades, O Galatea; quis est nam ludus in undis

”Come hither, O Galatea; for what play is there in the waves?

hic ver purpureum; varios hic flumina circum

Here is blushing spring; here around the rivers

fundit humus flores; hic candida populus antro

the earth pours forth varied flowers; here the white poplar leans over the cave,

imminet, et lentae texunt umbracula vites.

and the pliant vines weave shady bowers.

huc ades: insani feriant sine litora fluctus.

Come hither; let the mad waves beat the shores.”

Quid, quae te pura solum sub nocte canentem

What of those which I had heard you singing alone

audieram? Numeros memini, si verba tenerem.

under the clear night? I remember the measure, if only I held the words.

“Daphni, quid antiquos signorum suspicis ortus?

”Daphnis, why do you look up at the ancient risings of the constellations?

Ecce Dionaei processit Caesaris astrum,

Behold, the star of Dionaean Caesar has come forth,

astrum, quo segetes gauderent frugibus, et quo

a star by which the fields might rejoice in their crops, and by which

duceret apricis in collibus uva colorem.

the grape might take color on the sunny hills.

insere, Daphni, piros: carpent tua poma nepotes.”

Graft your pears, Daphnis; your descendants shall pluck your fruits.”

Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque: saepe ego longos

Age carries away all things, even the mind; often I remember that as a boy

cantando puerum memini me condere soles:⁶

I laid the long days to rest with singing;

nunc oblita mihi tot carmina; vox quoque Moerim

now so many songs are forgotten by me; even the voice itself now

iam fugit ipsa; lupi Moerim videre priores.⁷

flees Moeris; wolves saw Moeris first.

Sed tamen ista satis referet tibi saepe Menalcas.

But yet Menalcas will repeat those things to you often enough.

Causando nostros in longum ducis amores:

By making excuses you prolong our longing;

et nunc omne tibi stratum silet aequor, et omnes,

and now the whole expanse of water lies smooth and silent for you, and all,

aspice, ventosi ceciderunt murmuris aurae.

look, the windy breezes of murmuring have fallen.

hinc adeo media est nobis via; namque sepulcrum

Just from here is the half of our journey; for the tomb

incipit adparere Bianoris: hic ubi densas

of Bianor begins to appear; here, where the farmers

agricolae stringunt frondes, hic, Moeri, canamus;

thin the thick foliage, here, Moeris, let us sing;

hic haedos depone: tamen veniemus in urbem.

here put down the kids: we shall reach the city anyway.

aut si, nox pluviam ne colligat ante, veremur,

Or if we fear lest night gather rain beforehand,

cantantes licet usque (minus via laedit) eamus;

we may go singing all the way (the journey tires us less);

cantantes ut eamus, ego hoc te fasce levabo.

that we may go singing, I will relieve you of this burden.

Desine plura, puer, et quod nunc instat agamus:

Cease further words, boy, and let us do what now presses;

carmina tum melius, cum venerit ipse, canemus.

we shall sing songs better then, when he himself has come.

Syntax notes7 items

9.1te, Moeri, pedes?
The verb ducunt (to lead) is omitted, meaning "do your feet lead you?"
9.2vivi pervenimus... ut
The ut clause (ut ... diceret) following vivi pervenimus (we lived to reach) expresses result, pointing to an unexpected and painful turn of fate.
9.6quod nec vertat bene
The relative pronoun quod refers to the preceding action as a whole, and vertat is a present subjunctive of wish ("and may it not turn out well").
9.14quod nisi
quod is a connective relative (referring to the whole previous statement) functioning as "and" or "therefore," introducing the conditional clause nisi.
9.35Vario ... digna
The adjective digna (worthy) governs the ablative case, hence Vario and Cinna are in the ablative.
9.52condere soles
condere (literally "to hide" or "to bury") is used here metaphorically with soles (suns/days) to mean "to lay the sun to rest" or "to spend the whole day" while singing.
9.54lupi Moerim videre priores
This reflects an ancient superstition that if a wolf sees a man before the man sees the wolf, the man loses his voice.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22)urn:cts:latinLit:phi0690.phi001.humanitext-lat2:9.1-9.67