Virgil's great lyrics, rendered by the acclaimed translator of The Odes of Horace and Gilgamesh The Eclogues of Virgil gave definitive form to the pastoral mode, and these magically beautiful poems, which were influential in so much subsequent literature, perhaps best exemplify what pastoral can do. "Song replying to song replying to song," touchingly comic, poignantly sad, sublimely joyful, the various music that these shepherds make echoes in scenes of repose and harmony, and of hardship and trouble in work and love. A bilingual edition, The Eclogues of Virgil includes concise, informative notes and an Introduction that describes the fundamental role of this deeply original book in the pastoral tradition. “Mr. Ferry is a gifted poet and much-admired translator . . . Those to whom the original is a sealed book will enjoy much of its charm through the medium of the author's accomplished translation, while those who, like Shakespeare, have 'small Latin' can experience the additional pleasure of savoring, with Mr. Ferry's help, the musical perfection of Virgil's lines.” ― Bernard Knox, The Washington Times “Ferry has achieved a high degree of fidelity to what Virgil wrote . . . Simple, luminous clarity.” ― Richard Jenkyns, The New Republic “Fresh-minted and sparkling . . . Ferry's translation wonderfully preserves the exquisite harmonies of the mode while giving it a vigorous edge of reality.” ― Robert Taylor, The Boston Globe Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro, 70-19 BC) was born in the north of Italy and completed his education in Rome. Generally considered Rome's greatest poet, he wrote Eclogues , 37 BC, and Georgics, 29 BC. He then devoted the rest of his life to the composition of his greatest work, the epic poem the Aeneid . David Ferry , a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry for his translation of Gilgamesh , is a poet and translator who has also won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, given by the Academy of American Poets, and the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, given by the Library of Congress. In 2001, he received an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Ferry is the Sophie Chantal Hart Professor of English Emeritus at Wellesley College. The Eclogues of Virgil By Virgil Farrar Straus Giroux Copyright © 2000 Virgil All right reserved. ISBN: 9780374526962 Chapter One ECLOGA I * * * [ MELIBOEUS / TITYRUS ] MELIBOEUS Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi siluestrem tenui Musam meditaris auena; nos patriae finis et dulcia linquimus arua. nos patriam fugimus; tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra formosam resonare doces Amaryllida siluas. TITYRUS O Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit. namque erit ille mihi semper deus, illius aram saepe tener nostris ab ouilibus imbuet agnus. ille meas errare boues, ut cernis, et ipsum ludere quae uellem calamo permisit agresti. MELIBOEUS Non equidem inuideo, miror magis: undique totis usque adeo turbatur agris. en ipse capellas protinus aeger ago; hanc etiam uix, Tityre, duco. hic inter densas corylos modo namque gemellos, spem gregis, a! silice in nuda conixa reliquit. saepe malum hoc nobis, si mens non laeua fuisset, de caelo tactas memini praedicere quercus. sed tamen iste deus qui sit, da, Tityre, nobis. ECLOGUE I * * * [ MELIBOEUS / TITYRUS ] MELIBOEUS Tityrus, there you lie in the beech-tree shade, Brooding over your music for the Muse, While we must leave our native place, our homes, The fields we love, and go elsewhere; meanwhile, You teach the woods to echo `Amaryllis.' TITYRUS O Meliboeus, a god gave me this peace. He will always be a god to me, and often The blood of a newborn lamb will be offered to him. Because of him, as you can see, my cattle Can browse in the fields as they please, and as I please, I idly play upon my slender reed. MELIBOEUS It's not that I'm envious, but full of wonder. There's so much trouble everywhere these days. I was trying to drive my goats along the path And one of them I could hardly get to follow; Just now, among the hazels, she went into labor And then, right there on the hard flinty ground, Gave birth to twins who would have been our hope, Back on our farm. I should have been able to tell That something like this was going to happen to us, TITYRUS Vrbem quam dicunt Romam, Meliboee, putaui stultus ego huic nostrae similem, quo saepe solemus pastores ouium teneros depellere fetus. sic canibus catulos similis, sic matribus haedos noram, sic paruis componere magna solebam. uerum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes quantum lenta solent inter uiburna cupressi. MELIBOEUS Et quae tanta fur Romam tibi causa uidendi? TITYRUS Libertas, quae sera tamen respexit inertem, candidior postquam tondenti barba cadebat, respexit tamen et longo post tempore uenit, postquam nos Amaryllis habet, Galatea reliquit. namque (fatebor enim) du