Eclogue 1 Flashcards
Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi
silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avena;
nos patriae fines et dulcia linquimus arva:
nos patriam fugimus; tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra
formosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas.
Tityrus, you lie under the canopy of a wide beech
and practice the woody Muse with your slender pipe;
we are leaving the borders and sweet fields of our fatherland:
we are fleeing our fatherland; you, Tityrus, calm in the shade
teach the woods to resound with the ‘beautiful Amaryllius’.
O Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit:
namque erit ille mihi semper deus; illius aram
saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus.
Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum
ludere, quae vellem, calamo permisit agresti .
O Meiboeus, a god has given this peace to us:
for that man will always be a god to me;
often a delicate lamb from our sheepfold will stain his altar.
that man permitted my oxen to wander, as i see it, and i myself to play, whatever i wish, on my rustic reed-pipe
Non equidem invideo; miror magis: undique totis
usque adeo turbatur agris. En, ipse capellas
protinus aeger ago; hanc etiam vix, Tityre, duco:
hic inter densas corylos modo namque gemellos,
spem gregis, ah, silice in nuda conixa reliquit. Saepe malum hoc nobis, si mens non laeva fuisset,
de caelo tactas memini praedicere quercus:—
saepe sinistra cava praedixit ab ilice cornix.
Sed tamen, iste deus qui sit, da, Tityre, nobis.
indeed i do not look upon you maliciously, but rather i marvel:
there is such a great disturbance continuous and all around in this lands. see, troubled, i drive my she-goats onward; for this one, Tityrus, i scarcely lead:
here among the thick hazel trees just now she having exerted herself left twins,
the hope of the flock, oh, on the naked flint.
this misfortune i would have remembered was often foretold to me,
if my mind had not been dense, by the oaks struck by the heavens: -
as the sinister crow often foretold from the hollow oak.
but nevertheless, tell me, who is this god of yours, Tityrus
Urbem, quam dicunt Romam, Meliboee, putavi 20
stultus ego huic nostrae similem, quo saepe solemus
pastores ovium teneros depellere fetus:
sic canibus catulos similis, sic matribus haedos
noram, sic parvis componere magna solebam:
verum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes,
quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi
The city, which they call Rome, Meliboeus, I stupid one thought was like this one of ours, where are accustomed as shepherds to often drive the delicate young of our sheep:
thus i knew puppies were like dogs, goat kids like their mothers,
thus i was accustomed to comparing large things with small: truly this city lifted her head high among other cities,
as cypresses are accustomed to among the bending viburnum
Et quae tanta fuit Romam tibi causa videndi?
and what was the great cause for you looking upon Rome?
Libertas; quae sera, tamen respexit inertem,
candidior postquam tondenti barba cadebat;
respexit tamen, et longo post tempore venit,
postquam nos Amaryllis habet, Galatea reliquit.
Namque, fatebor enim, dum me Galatea tenebat,
nec spes libertatis erat, nec cura peculi:
quamvis multa meis exiret victima saeptis,
pinguis et ingratae premeretur caseus urbi,
non umquam gravis aere domum mihi dextra redibat
Freedom; which although late looked upon me in my laziness,
after my beard had turned more white and fell at the barber’s trim;
but she looked upon me, and after a long time she came,
after Amaryllis had us and Galatea left.
for, i will confess, while Galatea held me,
there was no hope of freedom nor care of property:
though many a victim left my enclosures,
and many a rich cheese was pressed for the ungrateful city,
never would my right hand come home money laden.
Mirabar, quid maesta deos, Amarylli, vocares,
cui pendere sua patereris in arbore poma:
Tityrus hinc aberat. Ipsae te, Tityre, pinus,
ipsi te fontes, ipsa haec arbusta vocabant.
i used to wonder, why you called on the gods so mournfully, Amaryllis,
for whom you left the apples to hang on their native tree:
Tityrus was gone from here. The pines themselves, Tityrus,
the springs themselves, these orchards themselves were calling you.
Quid facerem? Neque servitio me exire licebat,
nec tam praesentis alibi cognoscere divos.
hic illum vidi iuvenem, Meliboee, quot annis
bis senos cui nostra dies altaria fumant;
hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti:
“pascite, ut ante, boves, pueri, submittite tauros.”
what was i to do? it was not allowed for me to leave servitude,
nor to get to know gods present to help elsewhere.
Here Meliboeus, i saw that young man for whom our altars smoke twelve days a year;
here he was the first to give a response to my plea:
‘boys, feed the oxen as before, tame the bulls.’
Fortunate senex, ergo tua rura manebunt,
et tibi magna satis, quamvis lapis omnia nudus
limosoque palus obducat pascua iunco!
Non insueta gravis temptabunt pabula fetas,
nec mala vicini pecoris contagia laedent.
Fortunate senex, hic, inter flumina nota
et fontis sacros, frigus captabis opacum!
Hinc tibi, quae semper, vicino ab limite, saepes
Hyblaeis apibus florem depasta salicti
saepe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro;
hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras;
nec tamen interea raucae, tua cura, palumbes,
nec gemere aëria cessabit turtur ab ulmo.
fortunate, old man, because the fields shall remain yours,
and large enough for you, although bare rock
and swamp with slimy rush come over your whole pasture!
no unusual food will try your heavily pregnant ewes,
nor will malicious infection of neighbouring cattle injure them.
fortunate old man, here among known streams and sacred springs, you shall grasp shady cold!
on this side, as always, on your neighbour’s boundary, a hedge with Hyblaeian bees feeding upon its willow flowers
shall often induce you into a light sleep with its humming;
on that side under the high rock a leaf-stripper sings to the breezes;
but in the meantime the hoarse wood pigeons, your pets, and the turtle dove shall not cease groaning from the sky-hill elm tree.
Ante leves ergo pascentur in aequore cervi,
et freta destituent nudos in litore pisces,
ante pererratis amborum finibus exsul
aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrim,
quam nostro illius labatur pectore voltus.
sooner therefore light-footed deer shall be fed in the sea,
and the seas will leave behind bare fish on the shore,
sooner shall each wandering as an exile over the other’s lands
shall the Parthian drink of the Ara or the German of the Tigris,
than that face of his fade from our heart.
