"Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays. Now let the wolf turn tail and fly the sheep, Tough oaks bear golden apples, alder-trees Bloom with narcissus-flower, the tamarisk Sweat with rich amber, and the screech-owl vie In singing with the swan: let Tityrus Be Orpheus, Orpheus in the forest-glade, Arion 'mid his dolphins on the deep.
"Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays. Yea, be the whole earth to mid-ocean turned! Farewell, ye woodlands I from the tall peak Of yon aerial rock will headlong plunge Into the billows: this my latest gift, From dying lips bequeathed thee, see thou keep. Cease now, my flute, now cease Maenalian lays."Thus Damon: but do ye, Pierian Maids- We cannot all do all things- tell me how Alphesiboeus to his strain replied.
ALPHESIBOEUS "Bring water, and with soft wool-fillet bind These altars round about, and burn thereon Rich vervain and male frankincense, that I May strive with magic spells to turn astray My lover's saner senses, whereunto There lacketh nothing save the power of song.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home. Songs can thevery moon draw down from heaven Circe with singing changed from human form The comrades of Ulysses, and by song Is the cold meadow- snake, asunder burst.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home. These triple threads of threefold colour first I twine about thee, and three times withal Around these altars do thine image bear: Uneven numbers are the god's delight.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home. Now, Amaryllis, ply in triple knots The threefold colours; ply them fast, and say This is the chain of Venus that I ply.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home. As by the kindling of the self-same fire Harder this clay, this wax the softer grows, So by my love may Daphnis; sprinkle meal, And with bitumen burn the brittle bays. Me Daphnis with his cruelty doth burn, I to melt cruel Daphnis burn this bay.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home. As when some heifer, seeking for her steer Through woodland and deep grove, sinks wearied out On the green sedge beside a stream, love-lorn, Nor marks the gathering night that calls her home- As pines that heifer, with such love as hers May Daphnis pine, and I not care to heal.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home. These relics once, dear pledges of himself, The traitor left me, which, O earth, to thee Here on this very threshold I commit- Pledges that bind him to redeem the debt.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home. These herbs of bane to me did Moeris give, In Pontus culled, where baneful herbs abound. With these full oft have I seen Moeris change To a wolf's form, and hide him in the woods, Oft summon spirits from the tomb's recess, And to new fields transport the standing corn.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home. Take ashes, Amaryllis, fetch them forth, And o'er your head into the running brook Fling them, nor look behind: with these will Upon the heart of Daphnis make essay. Nothing for gods, nothing for songs cares he.
"Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home. Look, look I thevery embers of themselves Have caught the altar with a flickering flame, While I delay to fetch them: may the sign Prove lucky! something it must mean, for sure, And Hylax on the threshold 'gins to bark! May we believe it, or are lovers still By their own fancies fooled?
Give o'er, my songs, Daphnis is coming from the town, give o'er."
