Classic Poem

MELIBOEUS, CORYDON, THYRSIS .

MELIBOEUS.

Beneath an holm that murmur'd to the breeze
The youthful D APHNIS lean'd in rural ease:
With him two gay Arcadian swains reclin'd,
Who in the neighbouring vale their flocks had join'd,
T HYRSIS , whose care it was the goats to keep,
And C ORYDON , who fed the fleecy sheep;
Both in the flowery prime of youthful days,
Both skill'd in single or responsive lays.
While I with busy hand a shelter form
To guard my myrtles from the future storm,
The husband of my goats had chanced to stray:
To find the vagrant out I take my way.
Which D APHNIS seeing cries, " Dismiss your " fear,
" Your kids and goat are all in safety here;
" And, if no other care require your stay,
" Come, and with us unbend the toils of day
" In this cool shade; at hand your heifers feed,
" And of themselves will to the watering speed;
" Here fringed with reeds slow Mincius winds " along,
" And round yon oak the bees soft-murmuring " throng."
What could I do? for I was left alone,
My P HYLLIS and A LCIPPE both were gone,
And none remain'd to feed my weanling lambs,
And to restrain them from their bleating dams:
Betwixt the swains a solemn match was set,
To prove their skill, and end a long debate.
Though serious matters claim'd my due regard,
Their pastime to my business I prefer'd.
To sing by turns the Muse inspir'd the swains,
And C ORYDON began th' alternate strains.

CORYDON.

Y E Nymphs of Helicon, my sole desire!
O warm my breast with all my C ODRUS ' fire,
If none can equal C ODRUS ' heavenly lays,
For next to P HOEBUS he deserves the praise,
No more I ply the tuneful art divine,
My silent pipe shall hang on yonder pine.

THYRSIS.

A RCADIAN swains, an ivy wreathe bestow,
With early honours crown your poet's brow;
C ODRUS shall chafe, if you my songs commend,
Till burning spite his tortur'd entrails rend;
Or amulets, to bind my temples, frame,
Lest his invidious praises blast my fame.

CORYDON.

A STAG'S tall horns, and stain'd with savage gore
This bristled visage of a tusky boar,
To thee, O Virgin-goddess of the chace,
Young M YCON offers for thy former grace.
If like success his future labours crown,
Thine, Goddess, then shall be a nobler boon,
In polish'd marble thou shalt shine complete,
And purple sandals shall adorn thy feet.

THYRSIS.

To thee, P RIAPUS , each returning year,
This bowl of milk, these hallow'd cakes we bear;
Thy care our garden is but meanly stor'd,
And mean oblations all we can afford.
But if our flocks a numerous offspring yield,
And our decaying fold again be fill'd,
Though now in marble thou obscurely shine,
For thee a golden statue we design.

CORYDON.

O G ALATEA , whiter than the swan,
Loveliest of all thy sisters of the main,
Sweeter than Hybla, more than lillies fair!
If ought of C ORYDON employ thy care,
When shades of night involve the silent sky,
And slumbering in their stalls the oxen lie,
Come to my longing arms, and let me prove
Th' immortal sweets of G ALATEA'S love.

THYRSIS.

A S the vile sea-weed scatter'd by the storm,
As he whose face Sardinian herbs deform,
As burs and brambles that disgrace the plain,
So nauseous so detested be thy swain;
If when thine absence I am doom'd to bear
The day appears not longer than a year.
Go home, my flocks, ye lengthen out the day,
For shame, ye tardy flocks, for shame away!

CORYDON.

Y E mossy fountains warbling as ye flow!
And softer than the slumbers ye bestow
Ye grassy banks! ye trees with verdure crown'd,
Whose leaves a glimmering shade diffuse around!
Grant to my weary flocks a cool retreat,
And screen them from the summer's raging heat;
For now the year in brightest glory shines,
Now reddening clusters deck the bending vines.

THYRSIS.

Here's wood for fuel; here the fire displays
To all around its animating blaze;
Black with continual smoke our posts appear;
Nor dread we more the rigour of the year,
Than the fell wolf the fearful lambkins dreads,
When he the helpless fold by night invades;
Or swelling torrents, headlong as they roll,
The weak resistance of the shatter'd mole.

CORYDON.

Now yellow harvests wave on every field,
Now bending boughs the hoary chesnut yield,
Now loaded trees resign their annual store,
And on the ground the mellow fruitage pour;
Jocund the face of Nature smiles, and gay;
But if the fair A LEXIS were away,
Inclement drought the hardening soil would drain,
And streams no longer murmur o'er the plain.

THYRSIS.

A LANGUID hue the thirsty fields assume,
Parch'd to the root the flowers resign their bloom,
The faded vines refuse their hills to shade,
Their leafy verdure wither'd and decay'd;
But if my P HYLLIS on these plains appear,
Again the groves their gayest green shall wear,
Again the clouds their copious moisture lend,
And in the genial rain shall J OVE descend.

CORYDON.

A LCIDES ' brows the poplar-leaves surround,
A POLLO'S beamy locks with bays are crown'd,
The myrtle, lovely Queen of smiles, is thine,
And jolly B ACCHUS loves the curling vine;
But while my P HYLLIS loves the hazle-spray,
To hazle yield the myrtle and the bay.

THYRSIS.

T HE fir, the hills; the ash adorns the woods;
The pine, the gardens; and the poplar, floods.
If thou, my L YCIDAS , wilt deign to come,
And chear thy shepherd's solitary home,
The ash so fair in woods, and garden-pine
Will own their beauty far excel'd by thine,

MELIBOEUS.

S O sung the swains, but T HYRSIS strove in vain;
Thus far I bear in mind th' alternate strain,
Young C ORYDON acquir'd unrival'd fame,
And still we pay a deference to his name.