MENALCAS.

Quid domini faciant, audent cum talia fures?
Non ego te vidi Damonis, peffime, caprum
Excipere infidiis, multum latrante Lycisca ?
Et cum clamarem: Quo nunc fe proripit ille?
Tityre, coge pecus: tu post carecta latebas.
DAMOETAS.

An mihi cantando victus non redderet ille,
Quem mea carminibus meruiffet fistula, caprum?
Si nefcis, meus ille caper fuit; et mihi Damon
Ipfe fatebatur: fed reddere poffe negábat.

MENALCAS.

Cantando tu illum? aut umquam tibi fistula cera
Juncta fuit? non tu in triviis, indocte, folebas
Stridenti miferum ftipula difperdere carmen?
DAMOETAS.

Vis ergo inter nos, quid poffit uterque, viciffim
Experiamur? ego hanc vitulam, ne forte recufes,
Bis venit ad mulctram, binos alit ubere foetus,
Depono: tu dic, mecum quo pignore certes.
MENALCAS.

De grege non aufim quidquam deponere tecum.
Eft mihi namque domi pater, eft injusta noverca:
Bifque die numerant ambo pecus, alter et haedos.
Verum id, quod multo tute ipfe fatebere majus,
Infanire libet quoniam tibi, pocula ponam
Fagina, caelatum divini opus Alcimedontis :

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36. To ftare.] Nothing can be fo fatyrical as this line, All thefe R's (with a repetition of ft in ftridenti & ftipula) could not concur without fome defign. Milton imitates this paffage in his beautiful poem entitled Lycidas.

Grate on their fcrannel pipes of wretched straw.

48. Alcimedon.] As there is no account left us of any famous artist called Alcimedon, Dr. Martyn imagines that he was a friend of our poet, who was therefore willing to transmit his name to pofterity. By his name, he appears to have been a Greek. How highly the arts of painting and carving were efteemed in Greece, appears from this very remarkable passage

MENALCAS.

What daring scandal must thy mafter prate,

Since thou, his flave, canft talk at fuch a rate!
Did not I see thee, thief, fteal Damon's goat,
While loud Lycisca gave the warning note?
And when I cry'd,-" See, where the rascal speeds;
"Tit'rus take care”—you skulk'd behind the reeds.
DAMOETAS.

The goat was mine, and won beyond difpute;

The lawful prize of my victorious flute.
Not Damon's felf the just demand denies,

But owns he could not pay the forfeit prize.
MENALCAS.

You win a goat by mufic? did thy hand
E'er join th' unequal reeds with waxen band?
Vile dunce! whofe fole ambition was to draw

The mob in streets to ftare at thy harfh-grating ftraw.

DAMOETAS.

Howe'er that be, fuppofe we trial make?

I, to provoke you more, yon heifer stake.

Two calves fhe rears, twice fills the pails a-day,

Now for the ftrife 'tis your's fome pledge to lay.

MENALCAS.

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You cannot from my flock a pledge require,

You know I have at home a peevish fire,

A cruel ftep-dame too-ftrict watch they keep,

And twice each day they count my goats and sheep.

But fince your proffer'd prize so much you boast,

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I'll stake a pledge of far fuperior cost.

Two beauteous bowls of beechen wood are mine,
The sculpture of Alcimedon divine;

in Pliny; fpeaking of Eupompus, he fays, "It was enjoined by "his authority, firft in Sicyon, and next throughout all Greece, "that ingenuous youths fhould above all things learn the art "of carving, that is, of making defigns in box; and that this **art should be ranked among the firft of the liberal ones. He "thought

H 3

Lenta quibus torno facili fuperaddita vitis
Diffufos edera veftit pallente corymbos.

In medio duo figna, Conon: et quis fuit alter,
Defcripfit radio totum qui gentibus orbem,
Tempora quae meffor, quae curvus arator haberet?
Necdum illis labra admovi, fed condita fervo.

DAMOETAS.

Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit,
Et molli circum eft anfas amplexus acantho,
Orpheaque in medio pofuit, filvafque fequentis.
Necdum illis labra admovi, fed condita fervo.
Si ad vitulam fpectas, nihil eft quod pocula laudes.
MENALCAS.

Nunquam hodie effugies. veniam quocunque vocaris.
Audiat haec tantum vel qui venit: ecce, Palaemon:
Efficiam pofthac quemquam ne voce laceffas.

DAMOETAS.

Quin age, fi quid habes; in me mora non erit ulla,
Nec quemquam fugio. tantum, vicine Palaemon,
Senfibus baec imis (res eft non parva) reponas.
PALAEMON.

Dicite: quandoquidem in molli confedimus herba.
Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos,
Nunc frondent filvae, nunc formofiffimus annus.
Incipe, Damoeta; tu deinde fequêre, Menalca.
Alternis dicetis: amant alterna Camenae.

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"thought the laws of honour were violated, if any but gentlemen, or at least those that were reputably born, practifed this "art; and made a perpetual prohibition that flaves never "fhould be admitted to learn it. Hence it is that we see no celebrated pieces of carving, neither of engraving, or relievo, [Toreutice] done by any perfon in the degree of a flave." Nat. Hift. b. 35. 6. 10.

Whose easy chiffel o'er the work has twin'd,
A vine with berries of pale ivy join'd.

Full in the midst two comely forms appear,

Conon, with him who fram'd that wond'rous sphere,
Which points the change of feasons to the fwain,
And when to plough the foil, or reap the grain.
These are my pledge; which yet with care I keep
Untouch'd, and unpolluted by the lip.
DAMOETAS.

I have a pair by the fame artift made,

Their handles with acanthus' leaves o'erlaid,

Where Orpheus in the midft attracts the grove-
But my first-proffer'd prize is ftill above

All we can stake; tho' yet my cups I keep
Untouch'd, and unpolluted by the lip.

MENALCAS.

Name your own terms, nor think the field to fly,
We'll choose, for judge, the first who paffes by
Palaemon comes - let him the caufe decide}
For once I'll tame an empty boaster's pride.
DAMOETAS.

I fear the threats of no vain-glorious swain,
No proud Menalcas, nor his vaunted strain.
The fong, Palaemon, with attention hear,
No mean debate demands thy listening ear.
PALAEMON.

Begin, fince on the tender turf we rest,

And fields and trees in fruitful stores are drest.
The lofty groves their verdant livery wear,
And in full beauty blooms the laughing year.
Begin Damoetas; next, Menalcas, prove
Thy fkill; the Nine alternate measures love.

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DAMOETAS.

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Ab Jove principium, Mufae: Jovis omnia plena:
Ille colit terras, illi mea carmina curae.

MENALCAS.

Et me Phoebus amat: Phoebo fua femper apud me

Munera funt, lauri, et fuave rubens hyacinthus.
DAMOETAS.

Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella;

Et fugit ad falices, et fe cupit ante videri.

MENALCAS.

At mihi fefe offert ultro meus ignis Amyntas:
Notior ut jam fit canibus non Delia noftris.
DAMOETAS.

Parta meae Veneri funt munera: namque notavi
Ipfe locum, aëriae quo congeffere palumbes.

MENALCAS.

Quod potui, puero filveftri ex arbore lecta
Aurea mala decem mifi: cras altera mittam.

DAMOETAS.

O quoties, et quae nobis Galatea locuta eft!
Partem aliquam, venti, divom referatis ad auris.

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77. Mufes from mighty.] Virgil feems to have laid it down as an indifpenfable rule to himfelf, in thefe Amoebaean verses, to make the refpondent fhepherd anfwer his opponent, in exactly the fame number of lines. Either this rule was never taken notice of by any former tranflator; or the extreme difficulty of obferving it, hath deterred them from attempting to follow it. How I have fucceeded (both in this and the feventh Eclogue) must be left to the determination of the judicious reader, who, it is hoped, will make proper allowances for fuch a constraint.

82. Laurel.] The ancient poets feem to use laurus indifferently for laurels, or bays: ftrictly speaking, lauro, or lauro regio, gnifies the former in Italian, and alloro the latter; but their beil poets ufe lauro indifferently for both. SPENCE.

103. Breezes, bear.] This fentiment of Damoetas is beautiful and poetical to the laft degree, especially, partem aliquam.