Complete Works of Theocritus Read online

Of Libya, Chromis; and I’ll give thee, first,

  To milk, ay thrice, a goat — she suckles twins,

  Yet ne’ertheless can fill two milkpails full; —

  Next, a deep drinking-cup, with sweet wax scoured,

  Two-handled, newly-carven, smacking yet

  O’ the chisel. Ivy reaches up and climbs

  About its lip, gilt here and there with sprays

  Of woodbine, that enwreathed about it flaunts

  Her saffron fruitage. Framed therein appears

  A damsel (’tis a miracle of art)

  In robe and snood: and suitors at her side

  With locks fair-flowing, on her right and left,

  Battle with words, that fail to reach her heart.

  She, laughing, glances now on this, flings now

  Her chance regards on that: they, all for love

  Wearied and eye-swoln, find their labour lost.

  Carven elsewhere an ancient fisher stands

  On the rough rocks: thereto the old man with pains

  Drags his great casting-net, as one that toils

  Full stoutly: every fibre of his frame

  Seems fishing; so about the gray-beard’s neck

  (In might a youngster yet) the sinews swell.

  Hard by that wave-beat sire a vineyard bends

  Beneath its graceful load of burnished grapes;

  A boy sits on the rude fence watching them.

  Near him two foxes: down the rows of grapes

  One ranging steals the ripest; one assails

  With wiles the poor lad’s scrip, to leave him soon

  Stranded and supperless. He plaits meanwhile

  With ears of corn a right fine cricket-trap,

  And fits it on a rush: for vines, for scrip,

  Little he cares, enamoured of his toy.

  The cup is hung all round with lissom briar,

  Triumph of Æolian art, a wondrous sight.

  It was a ferryman’s of Calydon:

  A goat it cost me, and a great white cheese.

  Ne’er yet my lips came near it, virgin still

  It stands. And welcome to such boon art thou,

  If for my sake thou’lt sing that lay of lays.

  I jest not: up, lad, sing: no songs thou’lt own

  In the dim land where all things are forgot.

  THYSIS [sings].

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  The voice of Thyrsis. Ætna’s Thyrsis I.

  Where were ye, Nymphs, oh where, while Daphnis pined?

  In fair Penëus’ or in Pindus’ glens?

  For great Anapus’ stream was not your haunt,

  Nor Ætna’s cliff, nor Acis’ sacred rill.

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  O’er him the wolves, the jackals howled o’er him;

  The lion in the oak-copse mourned his death.

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  The kine and oxen stood around his feet,

  The heifers and the calves wailed all for him.

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  First from the mountain Hermes came, and said,

  “Daphnis, who frets thee? Lad, whom lov’st thou so?”

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  Came herdsmen, shepherds came, and goatherds came;

  All asked what ailed the lad. Priapus came

  And said, “Why pine, poor Daphnis? while the maid

  Foots it round every pool and every grove,

  (Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song)

  “O lack-love and perverse, in quest of thee;

  Herdsman in name, but goatherd rightlier called.

  With eyes that yearn the goatherd marks his kids

  Run riot, for he fain would frisk as they:

  (Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song):

  “With eyes that yearn dost thou too mark the laugh

  Of maidens, for thou may’st not share their glee.”

  Still naught the herdsman said: he drained alone

  His bitter portion, till the fatal end.

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  Came Aphroditè, smiles on her sweet face,

  False smiles, for heavy was her heart, and spake:

  “So, Daphnis, thou must try a fall with Love!

  But stalwart Love hath won the fall of thee.”

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  Then “Ruthless Aphroditè,” Daphnis said,

  “Accursed Aphroditè, foe to man!

  Say’st thou mine hour is come, my sun hath set?

  Dead as alive, shall Daphnis work Love woe.”

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  “Fly to Mount Ida, where the swain (men say)

  And Aphroditè — to Anchises fly:

  There are oak-forests; here but galingale,

  And bees that make a music round the hives.

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  “Adonis owed his bloom to tending flocks

  And smiting hares, and bringing wild beasts down.

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  “Face once more Diomed: tell him ‘I have slain

  The herdsman Daphnis; now I challenge thee.’

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  “Farewell, wolf, jackal, mountain-prisoned bear!

  Ye’ll see no more by grove or glade or glen

  Your herdsman Daphnis! Arethuse, farewell,

  And the bright streams that pour down Thymbris’ side.

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  “I am that Daphnis, who lead here my kine,

  Bring here to drink my oxen and my calves.

  Begin, sweet Maids, begin the woodland song.

  “Pan, Pan, oh whether great Lyceum’s crags

  Thou haunt’st to-day, or mightier Mænalus,

  Come to the Sicel isle! Abandon now

  Rhium and Helicè, and the mountain-cairn

  (That e’en gods cherish) of Lycaon’s son!

  Forget, sweet Maids, forget your woodland song.

  “Come, king of song, o’er this my pipe, compact

  With wax and honey-breathing, arch thy lip:

  For surely I am torn from life by Love.

  Forget, sweet Maids, forget your woodland song.

  “From thicket now and thorn let violets spring,

  Now let white lilies drape the juniper,

  And pines grow figs, and nature all go wrong:

  For Daphnis dies. Let deer pursue the hounds,

  And mountain-owls outsing the nightingale.

  Forget, sweet Maids, forget your woodland song.”

  So spake he, and he never spake again.

  Fain Aphroditè would have raised his head;

  But all his thread was spun. So down the stream

  Went Daphnis: closed the waters o’er a head

  Dear to the Nine, of nymphs not unbeloved.

  Now give me goat and cup; that I may milk

  The one, and pour the other to the Muse.

  Fare ye well, Muses, o’er and o’er farewell!

  I’ll sing strains lovelier yet in days to be.

  GOATHERD.

  Thyrsis, let honey and the honeycomb

  Fill thy sweet mouth, and figs of Ægilus:

  For ne’er cicala trilled so sweet a song.

  Here is the cup: mark, friend, how sweet it smells:

  The Hours, thou’lt say, have washed it in their well.

  Hither, Cissætha! Thou, go milk her! Kids,

  Be steady, or your pranks will rouse the ram.

  IDYLL II. The Sorceress.

  Where are the bay-leaves, Thestylis, and the charms?

  Fetch all; with fiery wool the caldron crown;

  Let glamour win me back my false lord’s heart!

  Twelve days the wretch hath not come nigh to me,


  Nor made enquiry if I die or live,

  Nor clamoured (oh unkindness!) at my door.

  Sure his swift fancy wanders otherwhere,

  The slave of Aphroditè and of Love.

  I’ll off to Timagetus’ wrestling-school

  At dawn, that I may see him and denounce

  His doings; but I’ll charm him now with charms.

  So shine out fair, O moon! To thee I sing

  My soft low song: to thee and Hecatè

  The dweller in the shades, at whose approach

  E’en the dogs quake, as on she moves through blood

  And darkness and the barrows of the slain.

  All hail, dread Hecatè: companion me

  Unto the end, and work me witcheries

  Potent as Circè or Medea wrought,

  Or Perimedè of the golden hair!

  Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  First we ignite the grain. Nay, pile it on:

  Where are thy wits flown, timorous Thestylis?

  Shall I be flouted, I, by such as thou?

  Pile, and still say, ‘This pile is of his bones.’

  Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  Delphis racks me: I burn him in these bays.

  As, flame-enkindled, they lift up their voice,

  Blaze once, and not a trace is left behind:

  So waste his flesh to powder in yon fire!

  Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  E’en as I melt, not uninspired, the wax,

  May Mindian Delphis melt this hour with love:

  And, swiftly as this brazen wheel whirls round,

  May Aphroditè whirl him to my door.

  Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  Next burn the husks. Hell’s adamantine floor

  And aught that else stands firm can Artemis move.

  Thestylis, the hounds bay up and down the town:

  The goddess stands i’ the crossroads: sound the gongs.

  Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  Hushed are the voices of the winds and seas;

  But O not hushed the voice of my despair.

  He burns my being up, who left me here

  No wife, no maiden, in my misery.

  Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  Thrice I pour out; speak thrice, sweet mistress, thus:

  “What face soe’er hangs o’er him be forgot

  Clean as, in Dia, Theseus (legends say)

  Forgat his Ariadne’s locks of love.”

  Turn, magic, wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  The coltsfoot grows in Arcady, the weed

  That drives the mountain-colts and swift mares wild.

  Like them may Delphis rave: so, maniac-wise,

  Race from his burnished brethren home to me.

  Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  He lost this tassel from his robe; which I

  Shred thus, and cast it on the raging flames.

  Ah baleful Love! why, like the marsh-born leech,

  Cling to my flesh, and drain my dark veins dry?

  Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  From a crushed eft tomorrow he shall drink

  Death! But now, Thestylis, take these herbs and smear

  That threshold o’er, whereto at heart I cling

  Still, still — albeit he thinks scorn of me —

  And spit, and say, ‘’Tis Delphis’ bones I smear.’

  Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

  [Exit Thestylis.

  Now, all alone, I’ll weep a love whence sprung

  When born? Who wrought my sorrow? Anaxo came,

  Her basket in her hand, to Artemis’ grove.

  Bound for the festival, troops of forest beasts

  Stood round, and in the midst a lioness.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  Theucharidas’ slave, my Thracian nurse now dead

  Then my near neighbour, prayed me and implored

  To see the pageant: I, the poor doomed thing,

  Went with her, trailing a fine silken train,

  And gathering round me Clearista’s robe.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  Now, the mid-highway reached by Lycon’s farm,

  Delphis and Eudamippus passed me by.

  With beards as lustrous as the woodbine’s gold

  And breasts more sheeny than thyself, O Moon,

  Fresh from the wrestler’s glorious toil they came.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  I saw, I raved, smit (weakling) to my heart.

  My beauty withered, and I cared no more

  For all that pomp; and how I gained my home

  I know not: some strange fever wasted me.

  Ten nights and days I lay upon my bed.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  And wan became my flesh, as ‘t had been dyed,

  And all my hair streamed off, and there was left

  But bones and skin. Whose threshold crossed I not,

  Or missed what grandam’s hut who dealt in charms?

  For no light thing was this, and time sped on.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  At last I spake the truth to that my maid:

  “Seek, an thou canst, some cure for my sore pain.

  Alas, I am all the Mindian’s! But begone,

  And watch by Timagetus’ wrestling-school:

  There doth he haunt, there soothly take his rest.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  “Find him alone: nod softly: say, ‘she waits’;

  And bring him.” So I spake: she went her way,

  And brought the lustrous-limbed one to my roof.

  And I, the instant I beheld him step

  Lightfooted o’er the threshold of my door,

  (Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love,)

  Became all cold like snow, and from my brow

  Brake the damp dewdrops: utterance I had none,

  Not e’en such utterance as a babe may make

  That babbles to its mother in its dreams;

  But all my fair frame stiffened into wax.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  He bent his pitiless eyes on me; looked down,

  And sate him on my couch, and sitting, said:

  “Thou hast gained on me, Simætha, (e’en as I

  Gained once on young Philinus in the race,)

  Bidding me hither ere I came unasked.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  “For I had come, by Eros I had come,

  This night, with comrades twain or may-be more,

  The fruitage of the Wine-god in my robe,

  And, wound about my brow with ribands red,

  The silver leaves so dear to Heracles.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  “Had ye said ‘Enter,’ well: for ‘mid my peers

  High is my name for goodliness and speed:

  I had kissed that sweet mouth once and gone my way.

  But had the door been barred, and I thrust out,

  With brand and axe would we have stormed ye then.

  Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.

  “Now be my thanks recorded, first to Love,

  Next to thee, maiden, who didst pluck me out,

  A half-burned helpless creature, from the flames,

  And badst me hither. It is Love that lights

  A fire more fierce than his of Lipara;

  (Bethink thee, mistress Moon, whence came my love.)

  “Scares, mischief-mad, the maiden from her bower,

  The bride from her warm couch.” He spake: and I,

  A willing listener, sat, my hand in his,

  Among the cushions, and his cheek touche
d mine,

  Each hotter than its wont, and we discoursed

  In soft low language. Need I prate to thee,

  Sweet Moon, of all we said and all we did?

  Till yesterday he found no fault with me,

  Nor I with him. But lo, to-day there came

  Philista’s mother — hers who flutes to me —

  With her Melampo’s; just when up the sky

  Gallop the mares that chariot rose-limbed Dawn:

  And divers tales she brought me, with the rest

  How Delphis loved, she knew not rightly whom:

  But this she knew; that of the rich wine, aye

  He poured ‘to Love;’ and at the last had fled,

  To line, she deemed, the fair one’s hall with flowers.

  Such was my visitor’s tale, and it was true:

  For thrice, nay four times, daily he would stroll

  Hither, leave here full oft his Dorian flask:

  Now— ’tis a fortnight since I saw his face.

  Doth he then treasure something sweet elsewhere?

  Am I forgot? I’ll charm him now with charms.

  But let him try me more, and by the Fates

  He’ll soon be knocking at the gates of hell.

  Spells of such power are in this chest of mine,

  Learned, lady, from mine host in Palestine.

  Lady, farewell: turn ocean-ward thy steeds:

  As I have purposed, so shall I fulfil.

  Farewell, thou bright-faced Moon! Ye stars, farewell,

  That wait upon the car of noiseless Night.

  IDYLL III. The Serenade.

  I pipe to Amaryllis; while my goats,

  Tityrus their guardian, browse along the fell.

  O Tityrus, as I love thee, feed my goats:

  And lead them to the spring, and, Tityrus, ‘ware

  The lifted crest of yon gray Libyan ram.

  Ah winsome Amaryllis! Why no more

  Greet’st thou thy darling, from the caverned rock

  Peeping all coyly? Think’st thou scorn of him?

  Hath a near view revealed him satyr-shaped

  Of chin and nostril? I shall hang me soon.

  See here ten apples: from thy favourite tree

  I plucked them: I shall bring ten more anon.

  Ah witness my heart-anguish! Oh were I

  A booming bee, to waft me to thy lair,

  Threading the fern and ivy in whose depths

  Thou nestlest! I have learned what Love is now:

  Fell god, he drank the lioness’s milk,

  In the wild woods his mother cradled him,

  Whose fire slow-burns me, smiting to the bone.

  O thou whose glance is beauty and whose heart

  All marble: O dark-eyebrowed maiden mine!

  Cling to thy goatherd, let him kiss thy lips,

  For there is sweetness in an empty kiss.