Complete Works of Theocritus

by Theocritus

  [12] Look, ah! look upon me; my heart is torn with pain. I wish I were yon humming bee to thread my way through the ivy and the fern you do prink your cave withal and enter in! O now know I well what Love is. ’Tis a cruel god. I warrant you a she-lion’s dugs it was he sucked and in a forest was reared, so doth he slow-burn me, aye, pierce me to the very bone. O Nymph of the pretty glance, but all stone; O Nymph of the dark dark eyebrow, come clasp thy goatherd that is so fain to be kissing thee. E’en in an empty kiss there’s sweet delight. You’ll make me tear in pieces the ivy-wreath I have for you, dear Amaryllis; of rosebuds twined it is, and of fragrant parsley leaves...

  ῎Ωμοι ἐγώ, τί πάθω; τί ὁ δύσσοος; οὐχ ὑπακούεις; —

  τὰν βαίταν ἀποδὺς ἐς κύματα τηνῶ ἁλεῦμαι, 25

  ὧπερ τὼς θύννως σκοπιάζεται ῎Ολπις ὁ γριπεύς:

  καἴκα δἠποθάνω, τό γε μὰν τεὸν ἁδὺ τέτυκται.

  ἔγνων πρᾶν, ὅκα μευ μεμναμένω, εἰ φιλέεις με,

  οὐδὲ τὸ τηλέφιλον ποτεμάξατο, τὸ πλατάγημα,

  ἀλλ᾽ αὔτως ἁπαλῷ ποτὶ πάχεος ἐξεμαράνθη. 30

  εἶπε καὶ ἀγροιῶτις ἀλαθέα κοσκινόμαντις,

  ἁ πρᾶν ποιολογεῦσα Παραιβάτις, οὕνεκ᾽ ἐγὼ μὲν

  τὶν ὅλος ἔγκειμαι, τὺ δέ μευ λόγον οὐδένα ποιῇ.

  ἦ μάν τοι λευκὰν διδυματόκον αἶγα φυλάσσω,

  τάν με καὶ ἁ Μέρμνωνος ἐριθακὶς ἁ μελανόχρως 35

  αἰτεῖ, καὶ δωσῶ οἱ, ἐπεὶ τύ μοι ἐνδιαθρύπτῃ.

  [24] Alas and well-a-day! what’s to become of me? Ay me! you will not answer. I’ll doff my plaid and go to Olpis’ watching-place for tunnies and leap from it into the waves; and if I die not, ‘twill be though no fault of yours. I found it out t’other day; my thoughts were of you and whether or no you loved me, and when I played slap to see, the love-in-absence that should have stuck on, shrivelled up forthwith against the soft of my arm. Agroeo too, the sieve-witch that was out the other day a-simpling beside the harvesters, she spoke me true when she said you made me of none account, though I was all wrapt up in you. Marry, a white twinner-goat have I to give you, which that nut-brown little handmaiden of Mermnon’s is fain to get of me – and get her she shall seeing you choose to play me the dainty therein...

  ῞Αλλεται ὀφθαλμός μευ ὁ δεξιός: ἦ ῥά γ᾽ ἰδησῶ

  αὐτάν; ᾀσεῦμαι ποτὶ τὰν πίτυν ὧδ᾽ ἀποκλινθείς,

  καί κέ μ᾽ ἴσως ποτίδοι, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἀδαμαντίνα ἐστίν.

  [37] Lo there! a twitch o’ my right eye. Shall I be seeing her? I’ll go lean me against yon pine-tree and sing awhile. It may be she’ll look upon me then, being she’s no woman of adamant.

  ῾Ιππομένης ὅκα δὴ τὰν παρθένον ἤθελε γᾶμαι, 40

  μᾶλ᾽ ἐν χερσὶν ἑλὼν δρόμον ἄνυεν: ἁ δ᾽ ᾿Αταλάντα

  ὡς ἴδεν, ὡς ἐμάνη, ὡς ἐς βαθὺν ἅλατ᾽ ἔρωτα.

  τὰν ἀγέλαν χὡ μάντις ἀπ᾽ ῎Οθρυος ἆγε Μελάμπους

  ἐς Πύλον: ἁ δὲ Βίαντος ἐν ἀγκοίναισιν ἐκλίνθη,

  μάτηρ ἁ χαρίεσσα περίφρονος ᾿Αλφεσιβοίης. 45

  τὰν δὲ καλὰν Κυθέρειαν ἐν ὤρεσι μᾶλα νομεύων

  οὐχ οὑτῶς ὥδωνις ἐπὶ πλέον ἄγαγε λύσσας,

  ὥστ᾽ οὐδὲ φθίμενόν νιν ἄτερ μαζοῖο τίθητι;

  ζαλωτὸς μὲν ἐμὶν ὁ τὸν ἄτροπον ὕπνον ἰαύων

  ᾿Ενδυμίων, ζαλῶ δὲ φίλα γύναι ᾿Ιασίωνα, 50

  ὃς τοσσῆν᾽ ἐκύρησεν, ὅσ᾽ οὐ πευσεῖσθε βέβαλοι.

  [40] (sings) When Schoenus’ bride-race was begun, apples fell from one that run;

  She looks, she’s lost, and lost doth leap, into love so dark and deep.

  When the seer in’s brother’s name with those kin to Pylus came,

  Bias to the joy-bed hies whence sprang Alphesibee the wise.

  When Adonis o’er the sheep in the hills his watch did keep,

  The Love-Dame proved so wild a wooers, e’en in death she clips him to her.

  O would I were Endymion that sleeps the unchanging slumber on,

  Or, Lady, knew thy Jasion’s glee which prófane eyes may never see!...

  ᾿Αλγέω τὰν κεφαλάν, τὶν δ᾽ οὐ μέλει. οὐκέτ᾽ ἀείδω,

  κεισεῦμαι δὲ πεσών, καὶ τοὶ λύκοι ὧδέ μ᾽ ἔδονται.

  ὡς μέλι τοι γλυκὺ τοῦτο κατὰ βρόχθοιο γένοιτο.

  [52] My head aches sore, but ’tis nought to you. I’ll make an end, and throw me down, aye, and stir not if the wolves devour me – the which I pray be as sweet honey in the throat to you.

  IDYLL IV. νομεῖς Βάττος καὶ Κορύδων

  IDYLL IV. THE HERDSMEN

  A conversation between a goatherd named Battus and his fellow goatherd Corydon, who is acting oxherd in place of a certain Aegon who has been persuaded by one Milon son of Lampriadas to go and compete in a boxing-match at Olympia. Corydon’s temporary rise in rank gives occasion for some friendly banter – which the sententious fellow does not always understand – varied with bitter references to Milon’s having supplanted Battus in the favours of Amaryllis. The reference to Glaucè fixes the imaginary date as contemporary with Theocritus. This is not the great Milon, but a fictitious strong man of the same town called, suitably enough, by his name. The poem, like all the other genuine shepherd-mimes, contains a song. Zacynthus is still called the flower of the Levant. The scene in near Crotona in Southern Italy.

  BATTUS (in a bantering tone)

  Βάττος

  εἰπέ μοι ὦ Κορύδων, τίνος αἱ βόες; ἦ ῥα Φιλώνδα;

  Κορύδων

  οὔκ, ἀλλ᾽ Αἴγωνος: βόσκειν δέ μοι αὐτὰς ἔδωκεν.

  Βάττος

  ἦ πᾴ ψε κρύβδαν τὰ ποθέσπερα πάσας ἀμέλγεις;

  Κορύδων

  ἀλλ᾽ ὁ γέρων ὑφίητι τὰ μοσχία κἠμὲ φυλάσσει.

  [1] What, Corydon man; whose may your cows be? Philondas’s?

  CORYDON

  Nay, Aegon’s; he hath given me the feeding of them in his stead.

  BATTUS

  And I suppose, come evening, you give them all a milking hugger-mugger?

  CORYDON

  Not so; the old master sees me to that; he puts the calves to suck, himself.

  BATTUS

  But whither so far was their own proper herdsman gone?

  CORYDON

  Did you never hear? Milon carried him off with him to the Alpheus.

  BATTUS

  Lord! When had the likes of him ever so much as set eyes upon a flask of oil?

  CORYDON (sententiously)

  Men say he rivals Heracles in might.

  BATTUS (scoffing)

  Βάττος

  αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἐς τίν᾽ ἄφαντος ὁ βουκόλος ᾤχετο χώραν; 5

  Κορύδων

  οὐκ ἄκουσας; ἄγων νιν ἐπ᾽ ᾿Αλφεὸν ᾤχετο Μίλων.

  Βάττος

  καὶ πόκα τῆνος ἔλαιον ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ὀπώπει;

  Κορύδων


  φαντί νιν ῾Ηρακλῆι βίην καὶ κάρτος ἐρίσδειν.

  Βάττος

  κἤμ᾽ ἔφαθ᾽ ἁ μάτηρ Πολυδεύκεος εἶμεν ἀμείνω.

  [9]And mammy says I’m another Polydeuces.

  CORYDON

  Κορύδων

  κᾤχετ᾽ ἔχων σκαπάναν τε καὶ εἴκατι τουτόθε μᾶλα. 10

  Βάττος

  πείσαι τοι Μίλων καὶ τὼς λύκος αὐτίκα λυσσῆν.

  Κορύδων

  ταὶ δαμάλαι δ᾽ αὐτὸν μυκώμεναι αἵδε ποθεῦντι.

  Βάττος

  δειλαῖαί γ᾽ αὗται: τὸν βουκόλον ὡς κακὸν εὗρον.

  Κορύδων

  ἦ μὰν δειλαῖαί γε, καὶ οὐκέτι λῶντι νέμεσθαι.

  [10] Well, he took a score of sheep and a spade with him, when he went.

  BATTUS (with a momentary bitterness)

  Ah, that Milon! he’ld persuade a wolf to run mad for the asking.

  CORYDON

  And his heifers miss him sore; hark to their lowing.

  BATTUS (resuming his banter)

  Aye; ’twas an ill day for the kine; how sorry a herdsman it brought them!

  CORYDON (misunderstanding)

  Marry, an ill day it was, and they are off their feed now.

  BATTUS

  Βάττος

  τήνας μὲν δή τοι τᾶς πόρτιος αὐτὰ λέλειπται 15

  τὠστία. μὴ πρῶκας σιτίζεται ὥσπερ ὁ τέττιξ;

  [15] Look you now, yonder beast, she’s nought but skin and bone. Pray, doth she feed on dewdrops like the cricket?

  CORYDON

  Κορύδων

  οὐ Δᾶν, ἀλλ᾽ ὁκὰ μέν νιν ἐπ᾽ Αἰσάροιο νομεύω

  καὶ μαλακῶ χόρτοιο καλὰν κώμυθα δίδωμι,

  ἄλλοκα δὲ σκαίρει τὸ βαθύσκιον ἀμφὶ Λάτυμνον.

  [17] Zeus! No. Why, sometimes I graze her alone the Aesarus and give her a brave bottle of the tenderest green grass, and oftentimes her play-ground’s in the deep shade of Latymnus.

  BATTUS

  Βάττος

  λεπτὸς μὰν χὡ ταῦρος ὁ πυρρίχος. εἴθε λάχοιεν 20

  τοὶ τῶ Λαμπριάδα, τοὶ δαμόται, ὅκκα θύωντι

  τᾷ ῞Ηρᾳ, τοιόνδε: κακοχράσμων γὰρ ὁ δᾶμος.

  [20] Aye, and the red-poll bull, he’s lean as can be. (bitterly again) I only would to god, when there’s a sacrifice to Hera in their ward, the sons of Lampriadas might get such another as he: they are a foul mixen sort, they o’ that ward.

  CORYDON

  Κορύδων

  καὶ μὰν ἐς Στομάλιμνον ἐλαύνεται ἔς τε τὰ Φύσκω,

  καὶ ποτὶ τὸν Νήαιθον, ὅπᾳ καλὰ πάντα φύοντι,

  αἰγίπυρος καὶ κνύζα καὶ εὐώδης μελίτεια. 25

  [23] All the same that bull’s driven to the sea-lake and the Physcian border, and to that garden of good things, goat-flower, mullet, sweet odorous balsam, to with Neaethus.

  BATTUS (sympathising as with another of Milon’s victims)

  Βάττος

  φεῦ φεῦ βασεῦνται καὶ ταὶ βόες ὦ τάλαν Αἴγων

  εἰς ᾿Αίδαν, ὅκα καὶ τὺ κακᾶς ἠράσσαο νίκας,

  χἁ σῦριγξ εὐρῶτι παλύνεται, ἅν ποκ᾽ ἐπάξα.

  [26] Heigho, poor Aegon! thy very kine must needs meet their death because thou art gone a-whoring after vainglory, and the herdsman’s pipe thou once didst make thyself is all one mildew.

  CORYDON

  Κορύδων

  οὐ τήνα γ᾽, οὐ Νύμφας, ἐπεὶ ποτὶ Πῖσαν ἀφέρπων

  δῶρον ἐμοί νιν ἔλειπεν: ἐγὼ δέ τις εἰμὶ μελικτάς, 30

  κεὖ μὲν τὰ Γλαύκας ἀγκρούομαι, εὖ δὲ τὰ Πύρρω.

  αἰνέω τάν τε Κρότωνα — καλὰ πόλις, ἅ τε Ζάκυνθοσ —

  καὶ τὸ ποταῷον, τὸ Λακίνιον ᾇπερ ὁ πύκτας

  Αἴγων ὀγδώκοντα μόνος κατεδαίσατο μάζας.

  τηνεῖ καὶ τὸν ταῦρον ἀπ᾽ ὤρεος ἆγε πιάξας 35

  τᾶς ὁπλᾶς κἤδωκ᾽ ᾿Αμαρυλλίδι, ταὶ δὲ γυναῖκες

  μακρὸν ἀνάυσαν, χὡ βουκόλος ἐξεγέλασσεν.

  [29] Nay, by the Nymphs, not it. He bequeathed it to me when he set out for Pisa. I too am something of a musician. Mark you, I’m a dabster at Glaucè’s snatches and those ditties Pyrrhus makes: (sings)

  O Croton is a bonny town as Zacynth by the sea,

  And a bonny sight on her eastward height is the fane of Laciny,

  Where boxer Milon one fine morn made fourscore loaves his meal,

  And down the hill another day, while lasses holla’d by the way,

  To Amaryllis, laughing gay led the bull by the heel.

  BATTUS (not proof against the tactless reference; apostrophising)

  Βάττος

  ὦ χαρίεσσ᾽ ᾿Αμαρυλλί, μόνας σέθεν οὐδὲ θανοίσας

  λασεύμεσθ᾽: ὅσον αἶγες ἐμὶν φίλαι, ὅσσον ἀπέσβης.

  αἰαῖ τῶ σκληρῶ μάλα δαίμονος, ὅς με λελόγχει. 40

  [38] O beautiful Amaryllis, though you be dead, I am true, and I’ll never forget you. My pretty goats are dear to me, but dear no less a maiden that is no more. O well-a-day that my luck turned so ill!

  CORYDON

  Κορύδων

  θαρσεῖν χρὴ φίλε Βάττε: τάχ᾽ αὔριον ἔσσετ᾽ ἄμεινον.

  ἐλπίδες ἐν ζωοῖσιν, ἀνέλπιστοι δὲ θανόντες.

  χὡ Ζεὺς ἄλλοκα μὲν πέλει αἴθριος, ἄλλοκα δ᾽ ὕει.

  [41] Soft you, good Battus; be comforted. Good luck comes with another morn; while there’s life there’s hope; rain one day, shine the next.

  BATTUS

  Βάττος

  θαρσέω. βάλλε κάτωθε τὰ μοσχία: τᾶς γὰρ ἐλαίας

  [44] Let be. ’tis well. (changing the subject) Up with you, ye calves; up the hill! They are at the green of those olives, the varlets.

  CORYDON

  τὸν θαλλὸν τρώγοντι τὰ δύσσοα. σίτθ᾽ ὁ λέπαργος. 45

  Κορύδων

  σίτθ᾽ ἁ Κυμαίθα ποτὶ τὸν λόφον. οὐκ ἐσακούεις;

  ἡξῶ ναὶ τὸν Πᾶνα κακὸν τέλος αὐτίκα δωσῶν,

  εἰ μὴ ἄπει τουτῶθεν. ἴδ᾽ αὖ πάλιν ἅδε ποθέρπει.

  εἴθ᾽ ἦν μοι ῥοικὸν τὸ λαγωβόλον, ὥς τυ πάταξα.

  [45] Hey up, Snowdrop! hey up, Goodbody! to the hill wi’ ye! Art thou deaf? ‘Fore Pan I’ll presently come thee an evil end if thou stay there. Look ye there; back she comes again. Would there were but a hurl-bat in my hand! I had had at the.

  BATTUS

  Βάττος

  θᾶσαί μ᾽ ὦ Κορύδων πὸτ τῶ Διός: ἁ γὰρ ἄκανθα 50

  ἀρμοῖ μ᾽ ὧδ᾽ ἐπάταξ᾽ ὑπὸ τὸ σφυρόν. ὡς δὲ βαθεῖαι

  τἀτρακτυλλίδες ἐντί. κακῶς ἁ πόρτις ὄλοιτο:

  ἐς ταύταν ἐτύπην χασμε
ύμενος. ἦ ῥά γε λεύσσεις;

  [50] Zeus save thee, Corydon; see here! It had at me as thou sadist the word, this thorn, here under my ankle. And how deep the distaff-thistles go! A plague o’ thy heifer! It all came o’ my gaping after her. (Corydon domes to help him) Dost see him, lad?

  CORYDON

  Κορύδων

  ναὶ ναί, τοῖς ὀνύχεσσιν ἔχω τέ νιν: ἅδε καὶ αὐτά.

  [54] Aye, aye, and have got him ‘twixt my nails; and lo! here he is.

  BATTUS (in mock-heroic strain)

  Βάττος

  ὁσσίχον ἐστὶ τὸ τύμμα καὶ ἁλίκον ἄνδρα δαμάζει. 55

  [55] O what a little tiny wound to overmaster so mighty a man!

  CORYDON (pointing the moral)

  Κορύδων

  εἰς ὄρος ὅκχ᾽ ἕρπῃς, μὴ νήλιπος ἔρχεο Βάττε.

  ἐν γὰρ ὄρει ῥάμνοί τε καὶ ἀσπάλαθοι κομέονται.

  [56] Thou should’st put on thy shoes when thou goest into the hills, Battus; ’tis rare ground for thorns and gorse, the hills.

  BATTUS

  Βάττος

  εἴπ᾽ ἄγε μ᾽ ὦ Κορύδων, τὸ γερόντιον ἦ ῥα διώκει,

  τήναν τὰν κυάνοφρυν ἐρωτίδα, τᾶς ποκ᾽ ἐκνίσθη;

  [58] Pray tell me, Corydon, comes gaffer yet the gallant with that dark-browed piece o’love he was smitten of?

  CORYDON

  Κορύδων

  ἀκμάν γ᾽ ὦ δειλαῖε: πρόαν γε μὲν αὐτὸς ἐπενθὼν 60

  καὶ ποτὶ τᾷ μάνδρᾳ κατελάμβανον ἆμος ἐνήργει.

  [60] Aye, what does he, ill’s his luck. I happened of them but two days agone, and near the byre, too, and faith, gallant was the word.

  BATTUS (apostrophising)

  Βάττος

  εὖ γ᾽ ὤνθρωπε φιλοῖφα. τό τοι γένος ἢ Σατυρίσκοις

  ἐγγύθεν ἢ Πάνεσσι κακοκνάμοισιν ἐρίσδεις.

  [62] Well done, Goodman Light-o’-love. ’Tis plain thou comest not far below the old Satyrs and ill-shanked Pans o’ the country-side for lineage.

  IDYLL V. Βουκολιασταὶ Κομάτας καὶ Λάκων