§1.1Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi §1.2silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avena; §1.3nos patriae fines et dulcia linquimus arva: §1.4nos patriam fugimus; tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra §1.5formosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas.
Tityrus, you, reclining under the canopy of a spreading beech, meditate a woodland Muse upon a slender oat-pipe; we leave our country's bounds and sweet fields: we flee our homeland; you, Tityrus, at ease in the shade, teach the woods to re-echo beautiful Amaryllis.
§1.6O Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit: §1.7namque erit ille mihi semper deus; illius aram §1.8saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus.
O Meliboeus, a god has wrought this leisure for us: for he will ever be a god to me; his altar a tender lamb from our sheepfolds shall often stain.
He has permitted my kine to roam, as you see, and myself to play what I would on my rustic reed.
Indeed I envy you not; I marvel rather: so great is the turmoil on every side in all the fields.
En, ipse capellas §1.13protinus aeger ago; hanc etiam vix, Tityre, duco: §1.14hic inter densas corylos modo namque gemellos, §1.15spem gregis, ah, silice in nuda conixa reliquit.
Lo, I myself, sick, drive my she-goats onward; this one, Tityrus, I can scarce lead: for here just now among the thick hazels, having kidded twins, the hope of the flock, ah, she left them on the naked flint.
§1.16Saepe malum hoc nobis, si mens non laeva fuisset, §1.17de caelo tactas memini praedicere quercus:—
Often this ill to us, had my mind not been fatuous, I remember the oaks blasted from heaven did foretell.
§1.19Sed tamen, iste deus qui sit, da, Tityre, nobis.
But yet, tell us, Tityrus, who is that god of yours?
§1.20Urbem, quam dicunt Romam, Meliboee, putavi §1.21stultus ego huic nostrae similem, quo saepe solemus §1.22pastores ovium teneros depellere fetus:
The city which they call Rome, Meliboeus, I thought, foolish as I was, like this of ours, whither we shepherds are oft wont to drive the tender offspring of our sheep.
§1.23sic canibus catulos similis, sic matribus haedos §1.24noram, sic parvis componere magna solebam:
Thus I knew puppies like dogs, thus kids like their mothers; thus was I wont to compare great things with small.
§1.25verum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes, §1.26quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.
But this city has reared her head as far above all others as cypresses are wont to do among the bending osiers.
§1.27Et quae tanta fuit Romam tibi causa videndi?
And what was the great cause of your seeing Rome?
§1.28Libertas; quae sera, tamen respexit inertem, §1.29candidior postquam tondenti barba cadebat; §1.30respexit tamen, et longo post tempore venit, §1.31postquam nos Amaryllis habet, Galatea reliquit:
Liberty; which, though late, yet looked upon me in my sloth, after my beard fell whiter to the barber; yet she looked upon me, and came after a long time, now that Amaryllis holds us, and Galatea has left us.
§1.32namque, fatebor enim, dum me Galatea tenebat, §1.33nec spes libertatis erat, nec cura peculi: §1.34quamvis multa meis exiret victima saeptis, §1.35pinguis et ingratae premeretur caseus urbi, §1.36non umquam gravis aere domum mihi dextra redibat.
For, indeed I will confess, while Galatea held me, there was neither hope of liberty nor care for thrift: though many a victim went out from my folds, and rich cheese was pressed for the ungrateful town, never did my right hand return home heavy with coin.
§1.37Mirabar, quid maesta deos, Amarylli, vocares, §1.38cui pendere sua patereris in arbore poma: §1.39Tityrus hinc aberat.
I used to wonder, Amaryllis, why you sadly called upon the gods, for whom you suffered the apples to hang on their native tree: Tityrus was away.
Ipsae te, Tityre, pinus, §1.40ipsi te fontes, ipsa haec arbusta vocabant.
The very pines, Tityrus, the very springs, these very copses were calling for you.
§1.41Quid facerem? Neque servitio me exire licebat,
What was I to do?
§1.42nec tam praesentis alibi cognoscere divos.
I could not escape from bondage, nor elsewhere find gods so present to help.
§1.43hic illum vidi iuvenem, Meliboee, quot annis §1.44bis senos cui nostra dies altaria fumant; §1.45hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti: §1.46“pascite, ut ante, boves, pueri, submittite tauros. ” §1.47Fortunate senex, ergo tua rura manebunt, §1.48et tibi magna satis, quamvis lapis omnia nudus §1.49limosoque palus obducat pascua iunco!
Here I saw that youth, Meliboeus, for whom twelve days each year our altars smoke; here he first gave this response to my petition: "Feed your kine as before, boys; breed your bulls." Fortunate old man, so your lands will remain yours, and great enough for you, though naked stone and marsh with slimy rush coat all the pastures!
No strange fodder shall tempt the sickly pregnant ewes, nor evil contagion from a neighbor's flock shall harm them.
Fortunate old man, here, amid familiar streams and sacred springs, you shall court the cool shade!
§1.54hinc tibi, quae semper, vicino ab limite, saepes §1.55Hyblaeis apibus florem depasta salicti §1.56saepe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro; §1.57hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras; §1.58nec tamen interea raucae, tua cura, palumbes, §1.59nec gemere aëria cessabit turtur ab ulmo.
On this side, as ever, the hedge on your neighbor's boundary, its willow-bloom fed upon by Hyblaean bees, shall often coax you to sleep with its gentle whisper; on that side, beneath the lofty rock, the pruner shall sing to the winds; nor yet meanwhile shall the hoarse wood-pigeons, your delight, nor the turtle-dove cease to moan from the airy elm.
§1.60Ante leves ergo pascentur in aequore cervi, §1.61et freta destituent nudos in litore pisces, §1.62ante pererratis amborum finibus exsul §1.63aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrim, §1.64quam nostro illius labatur pectore voltus.
Therefore sooner shall light stags feed in the air, and the sea leave the fish bare on the shore, sooner, both their boundaries traversed, shall the exile drink, the Parthian of the Arar, or Germany of the Tigris, than his countenance shall fade from our heart.
§1.65At nos hinc alii sitientis ibimus Afros, §1.66pars Scythiam et rapidum Cretae veniemus Oaxen, §1.67et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos.
But we must go hence, some to the thirsty Africans, others shall reach Scythia and the swift Oaxes of Crete, and the Britons utterly divided from the whole world.
§1.68En umquam patrios longo post tempore finis, §1.69pauperis et tuguri congestum caespite culmen, §1.70post aliquot mea regna videns mirabor aristas?
Ah, shall I ever, after a long time, beholding my native bounds, and the turf-heaped roof of my poor cottage, look with wonder thereafter at a few ears of corn, my kingdom?
§1.71Impius haec tam culta novalia miles habebit, §1.72barbarus has segetes? En, quo discordia civis
An impious soldier shall possess these well-tilled fallows, a barbarian these crops? Lo, whither discord has led our wretched citizens!
§1.73produxit miseros! His nos consevimus agros!
For these have we sown our fields!
§1.74Insere nunc, Meliboee, piros, pone ordine vitis.
Graft your pears now, Meliboeus; set your vines in order.
§1.75Ite meae, felix quondam pecus, ite capellae.
Go, my she-goats, once a happy flock, go.
§1.76Non ego vos posthac, viridi proiectus in antro, §1.77dumosa pendere procul de rupe videbo; §1.78carmina nulla canam; non, me pascente, capellae, §1.79florentem cytisum et salices carpetis amaras.
Never hereafter, stretched in a green cave, shall I see you hanging far off from a bushy cliff; no songs shall I sing; not under my tending, she-goats, shall you crop the flowering clover and bitter willows.
§1.80Hic tamen hanc mecum poteras requiescere noctem §1.81fronde super viridi: sunt nobis mitia poma, §1.82castaneae molles, et pressi copia lactis; §1.83et iam summa procul villarum culmina fumant, §1.84maioresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae.
Yet here for this night you might rest with me upon green boughs: we have ripe apples, soft chestnuts, and store of pressed cheese; and now the chimney-tops of the villas smoke in the distance, and larger shadows fall from the high mountains.