Two young fhepherds, Chromis and Mnafylus, having been often promised a song by Silenus, chance to catch him afleep in this Eclogue; where they bind him hand and foot, and then claim his promife. Silenus, finding they would be put off no longer, begins his fong, in which he describes the formation of the univerfe, and the original of animals, according to the Epicurean philofophy; and then runs through the most furprising transformations which have happened in Nature fince her birth. This Eclogue was defigned as a compliment to Syro the Epicurean, who instructed Virgil and Varus in the principles of that philofophy. Silenus acts as tutor, Chromis and Mnafylus as the two pupils.
First of Romans stoop'd to rural strains,
Nor blush'd to dwell among Sicilian fwains,
When my Thalia rais'd her bolder voice,
And kings and battles were her lofty choice,
Phoebus did kindly humbler thoughts infufe,
And with this whifper check th' afpiring Mufe
A fhepherd, Tityrus, his flocks should feed,
And choose a fubject fuited to his reed.
Thus I (while each ambitious pen prepares
To write thy praises, Varus, and thy wars)
My paftoral tribute in low numbers pay,
And though I once prefum'd, I only now obey.
But yet (if any with indulgent eyes
Can look on this, and fuch a trifle prize)
Thee only, Varus, our glad fwains shall fing,
And every grove and every echo ring.
Phoebus delights in Varus' favourite name,
And none who under that protection came
Was ever ill receiv'd, or unfecure of fame.
Proceed my Mufe.
Young Chromis and Mnafylus chanc'd to ftray
Where (fleeping in a cave) Silenus lay,
Whofe conftant cups fly fuming to his brain,
And always boil in each extended vein;
His trufty flaggon, full of potent juice,
Was hanging by, worn thin with age and ufe;
Drop'd from his head, a wreath lay on the ground;
In hafte they feiz'd him, and in hafte they bound;
Eager, for both had been deluded long
With fruitless hope of his inftructive fong:
But while with confcious fear they doubtful stood,
Ægle, the fairest Naïs of the flood,
With a vermilion dye his temples ftain'd.
Waking, he fmil'd, and must I then be chain'd?
Loofe me, he cry'd; 'twas boldly done, to find
And view a God, but 'tis too bold to bind,
The promis'd verfe no longer I'll delay
(She fhall be fatisfy'd another way).
With that he rais'd his tuneful voice aloud,
The knotty oaks their listening branches bow'd,
And favage beafts and Sylvan Gods did crowd;
For lo! he fung the world's ftupendous birth,
How fcatter'd feeds of fea, and air, and earth,
And purer fire, through univerfal night
And empty space, did fruitfully unite;
From whence th' innumerable race of things,
By circular fucceffive order springs.
By what degrees this earth's compacted sphere Was harden'd, woods and rocks and towns to bear; How finking waters (the firm land to drain) Fill'd the capacious deep, and form'd the main, While from above, adorn'd with radiant light, A new-born sun surpriz'd the dazzled fight; How vapours turn'd to clouds obfcure the sky, And clouds diffolv'd the thirsty ground supply; How the firft foreft rais'd its fhady head,
Till when, few wandering beasts on unknown mountains fed.
Then Pyrrha's ftony race rofe from the ground,
Old Saturn reign'd with golden plenty crown'd,
And bold Prometheus (whofe untam'd defire
Rival'd the fun with his own heavenly fire)
Now doom'd the Scythian vulture's endless prey,
Severely pays for animating clay.
He nam'd the nymph (for who but Gods could tell?)
Into whofe arms the lovely Hylas fell;
Alcides wept in vain for Hylas loft,
Hylas in vain resounds through all the coast.
He with compassion told Pasiphaë's fault,
Ah! wretched queen! whence came that guilty thought?
The maids of Argos, who with frantic cries
And imitated lowings fill'd the skies,
(Though metamorphos'd in their wild conceit)
Did never burn with fuch unnatural heat.
Ah! wretched queen! while you on mountains ftray,
He on foft flowers his fnowy fide does lay;
Or feeks in herds a more proportion'd love :
Surround, my nymphs, the cries, furround the grove;
Perhaps fome footsteps printed in the clay,
Will to my love direct your wandering way;
Perhaps, while thus in search of him I roam,
My happier rivals have intic'd him home.
He fung how Atalanta was betray'd
By thofe Hefperian baits her lover laid,
And the fad fifters who to trees were turn'd,
While with the world th' ambitious brother burn'd.
All he defcrib'd was prefent to their eyes,
And as he rais'd his verfe, the poplars feem'd to rise.
He taught which Mufe did by Apollo's will
Guide wandering Gallus to th' Aonian hill :
(Which place the God for folemn meetings chofe)
With deep refpect the learned fenate rose,
And Linus thus (deputed by the rest)
The hero's welcome, and their thanks, exprefs'd:
This harp of old to Hefiod did belong,
To this, the Mufes' gift, join thy harmonious fong;
Charm'd by these strings, trees starting from the ground,
Have follow'd with delight the powerful found.
Thus confecrated, thy Grynæan grove
Shall have no equal in Apollo's love.
Why should I fpeak of the Megarian maid,
For love perfidious, and by love betray'd?
And her, who round with barking monsters arm'd,
The wandering Greeks (ah frighted men !) alarm'd
Whofe only hope on fhatter'd fhips depends,
While fierce fea-dogs devour the mangled friends.
Or tell the Thracian tyrant's alter'd shape,
And dire revenge of Philomela's rape,
Who to thofe woods directs her mournful course,
Where the had fuffer'd by incestuous force,
While, loth to leave the palace too well known,
Progné flies, hovering round, and thinks it still her own?
Whatever near Eurota's happy ftream
With laurels crown'd, had been Apollo's theme,
Silenus fings; the neighbouring rocks reply,
And send his myftic numbers through the sky;
Till night began to spread her gloomy veil,
And call'd the counted fheep from every dale;
The weaker light unwillingly declin’d,
And to prevailing fhades the murmuring world refign'd.
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