My Thalia first deigned to play in Syracusan verse, and blushed not to inhabit the woods.
§6.3Cum canerem reges et proelia, Cynthius aurem §6.4vellit, et admonuit: “Pastorem, Tityre, pinguis §6.5pascere oportet ovis, deductum dicere carmen. ” §6.6Nunc ego—namque super tibi erunt, qui dicere laudes, §6.7Vare, tuas cupiant, et tristia condere bella— §6.8agrestem tenui meditabor arundine Musam.
When I was singing of kings and battles, Cynthius pulled my ear and warned me: "A shepherd, Tityrus, should feed fat sheep, but sing a slender song." Now I—for there will be more than enough who desire to speak your praises, Varus, and to compose grim wars— will practice the rustic Muse on a slender reed.
§6.9Non iniussa cano: si quis tamen haec quoque, si quis §6.10captus amore leget, te nostrae, Vare, myricae, §6.11te nemus omne canet; nec Phoebo gratior ulla est, §6.12quam sibi quae Vari praescripsit pagina nomen.
I do not sing unbidden things: yet if anyone, if anyone captured by love shall read even these, of you, Varus, our tamarisks, of you every grove shall sing; nor is any page more pleasing to Phoebus, than that which has written Varus' name at its head.
§6.13Pergite, Pierides! Chromis et Mnasyllos in antro §6.14Silenum pueri somno videre iacentem, §6.15inflatum hesterno venas, ut semper, Iaccho: §6.16serta procul tantum capiti delapsa iacebant, §6.17et gravis attrita pendebat cantharus ansa.
Proceed, Pierian Muses! Chromis and Mnasyllos in a cave saw Silenus lying asleep, his veins swollen, as always, with yesterday's wine: his wreaths lay just slipped off from his head a little way off, and his heavy tankard was hanging by its worn handle.
§6.18Adgressi—nam saepe senex spe carminis ambo §6.19luserat—iniciunt ipsis ex vincula sertis: §6.20addit se sociam, timidisque supervenit Aegle,— §6.21Aegle, Naiadum pulcherrima,—iamque videnti §6.22sanguineis frontem moris et tempora pingit.
Attacking him—for often the old man had deceived both with the hope of a song—they cast upon him fetters made from his very wreaths: Aegle joins them as an ally and comes upon them in their fear— Aegle, the most beautiful of the Naiads—and as he now opens his eyes she paints his forehead and temples with blood-red mulberries.
§6.23Ille dolum ridens, “Quo vincula nectitis?” inquit;
He, laughing at the trick, says: "Why do you bind these fetters?
§6.24“solvite me, pueri; satis est potuisse videri: §6.25carmina, quae voltis, cognoscite; carmina vobis, §6.26huic aliud mercedis erit. ” Simul incipit ipse.
Free me, boys; it is enough to have seemed to have been able to be seen: hear the songs you wish; songs for you, and for her there shall be another reward." At once he himself begins.
§6.27Tum vero in numerum Faunosque ferasque videres §6.28ludere, tum rigidas motare cacumina quercus; §6.29nec tantum Phoebo gaudet Parnasia rupes, §6.30nec tantum Rhodope miratur et Ismarus Orphea.
Then indeed you might have seen Fauns and wild beasts playing to the rhythm, then rigid oaks swaying their tops; nor does the Parnassian rock rejoice so much in Phoebus, nor do Rhodope and Ismarus marvel so much at Orpheus.
§6.31Namque canebat, uti magnum per inane coacta §6.32semina terrarumque animaeque marisque fuissent, §6.33et liquidi simul ignis; ut his exordia primis §6.34omnia et ipse tener mundi concreverit orbis; §6.35tum durare solum et discludere Nerea ponto §6.36coeperit, et rerum paulatim sumere formas; §6.37iamque novum terrae stupeant lucescere solem, §6.38altius atque cadant submotis nubibus imbres; §6.39incipiant silvae cum primum surgere, cumque §6.40rara per ignaros errent animalia montis.
For he sang how, through the great void, the seeds of earth and air and sea had been gathered together, and therewith of liquid fire; how from these first elements all beginnings and the young sphere of the world itself coalesced; how then the ground began to harden and to shut off Nereus in the sea, and gradually to take the forms of things; and how now the lands are amazed that a new sun begins to shine, and how, as the clouds are lifted, showers fall from higher up; when first the woods begin to rise, and when scattered animals wander through unknown mountains.
§6.41Hinc lapides Pyrrhae iactos, Saturnia regna, §6.42Caucasiasque refert volucres, furtumque Promethei: §6.43his adiungit, Hylan nautae quo fonte relictum §6.44clamassent, ut litus “Hyla, Hyla!” omne sonaret. §6.45et fortunatam, si numquam armenta fuissent, §6.46Pasiphaen nivei solatur amore iuvenci.
Next he relates the cast stones of Pyrrha, the reign of Saturn, and the Caucasian birds, and the theft of Prometheus: to these he adds at what spring the sailors had called for the abandoned Hylas, so that the whole shore resounded "Hylas, Hylas!" and he consoles Pasiphae, fortunate if herds had never existed, in her love for the snow-white bull.
§6.47ah, virgo infelix, quae te dementia cepit!
Ah, unhappy maiden, what madness seized you!
§6.48Proetides inplerunt falsis mugitibus agros: §6.49at non tam turpis pecudum tamen ulla secuta est §6.50concubitus, quamvis collo timuisset aratrum, §6.51et saepe in levi quaesisset cornua fronte.
The daughters of Proetus filled the fields with false lowings: yet not one of them pursued such shameful mating with beasts, though she had feared the plow on her neck, and often sought horns on her smooth forehead.
§6.52ah, virgo infelix, tu nunc in montibus erras: §6.53ille, latus niveum molli fultus hyacintho, §6.54ilice sub nigra pallentis ruminat herbas, §6.55aut aliquam in magno sequitur grege.
Ah, unhappy maiden, you now wander in the mountains: he, his snow-white flank pillowed on soft hyacinths, under a dark holm-oak chews the pale grass, or follows some female in the great herd.
“Claudite, nymphae, §6.56Dictaeae nymphae, nemorum iam claudite saltus, §6.57si qua forte ferant oculis sese obvia nostris §6.58errabunda bovis vestigia; forsitan illum, §6.59aut herba captum viridi, aut armenta secutum, §6.60perducant aliquae stabula ad Gortynia vaccae. ” §6.61Tum canit Hesperidum miratam mala puellam; §6.62tum Phaethontiades musco circumdat amaro §6.63corticis, atque solo proceras erigit alnos.
"Close, nymphs, Dictaean nymphs, close now the glades of the groves, if by chance any wandering tracks of the bull may present themselves to our eyes; perhaps some cows may lead him, either captivated by green grass or following the herds, to the Gortynian stalls." Then he sings of the maiden who marveled at the apples of the Hesperides; then he surrounds the daughters of Phaethon with the bitter moss of bark, and raises them from the ground as tall alders.
§6.64Tum canit, errantem Permessi ad flumina Gallum §6.65Aonas in montis ut duxerit una sororum, §6.66utque viro Phoebi chorus adsurrexerit omnis; §6.67ut Linus haec illi, divino carmine pastor, §6.68floribus atque apio crinis ornatus amaro, §6.69dixerit: “Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musae, §6.70Ascraeo quos ante seni, quibus ille solebat §6.71cantando rigidas deducere montibus ornos: §6.72his tibi Grynei nemoris dicatur origo, §6.73ne quis sit lucus, quo se plus iactet Apollo. ” §6.74Quid loquar aut Scyllam Nisi, quam fama secuta est §6.75candida succinctam latrantibus inguina monstris §6.76Dulichias vexasse rates, et gurgite in alto, §6.77ah, timidos nautas canibus lacerasse marinis,
Then he sings how, as Gallus wandered by the streams of Permessus, one of the sisters led him to the Aonian mountains, and how the whole choir of Phoebus rose up to the man; how Linus, a shepherd of divine song, his hair adorned with flowers and bitter celery, said to him: "These reeds the Muses give to you, lo, take them, whom they gave before to the Ascraean elder, with which he was wont by singing to lead down rigid mountain-ashes from the mountains: with these let the origin of the Grynean grove be sung by you, so that there may be no grove in which Apollo prides himself more." Why should I speak of Scylla, daughter of Nisus, of whom the story went that, her fair loins girt with barking monsters, she harassed the Dulichian ships, and in the deep gulf, ah, tore the fearful sailors with her sea-dogs?
§6.78aut ut mutatos Terei narraverit artus; §6.79quas illi Philomela dapes, quae dona pararit, §6.80quo cursu deserta petiverit, et quibus ante §6.81infelix sua tecta supervolitaverit alis?
Or how he told of the changed limbs of Tereus; what feasts, what gifts Philomela prepared for him, with what speed she sought the desert places, and with what wings, unhappy one, she hovered over her own roof before?
§6.82Omnia, quae Phoebo quondam meditante, beatus §6.83audiit Eurotas, iussitque ediscere laurus, §6.84ille canit: pulsae referunt ad sidera valles; §6.85cogere donec ovis stabulis numerumque referri §6.86iussit, et invito processit Vesper Olympo.
All things which, when Phoebus of old practiced them, the blessed Eurotas heard and ordered his laurels to learn by heart, he sings: the struck valleys echo them back to the stars; until Vesper ordered to gather the sheep into the folds and to report their number, and set forth from an unwilling Olympus.