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THE

FIFTH PASTORAL.

O R,

DAPHNI S.

THE ARGUMENT.

Mopfus and Menalcas, two very expert fhepherds at a fong, begin one by confent to the memory of Daphnis; who is fuppofed, by the beft critics, to reprefent Julius Cæfar. Mopfus laments his death, Menalcas proclaims his divinity: the whole Eclogue confifting of an elegy and an apotheofis.

MENALCAS.

SINCE on the downs our flocks together feed,
And fince my voice can match your tuneful reed,

Why fit we not beneath the grateful shade,
Which hazles, intermix'd with elms, have made?
MOPS. Whether you please that fylvan scene to

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Or will you to the cooler cave fucceed,

Whose mouth the curling vines have overspread?
MEN. Your merit and your years command the

choice:

Amyntas only rivals you in voice.

ΙΟ

MOPS. What will not that prefuming fhepherd

dare,

Who thinks his voice with Phoebus may compare?
MEN. Begin you firft; if either Alcon's praife,
Or dying Phyllis, have infpir'd your lays :
If her you mourn, or Codrus you commend,
Begin, and Tityrus your flock shall tend.

:

MOPS. Or fhall I rather the fad verse repeat, Which on the beech's bark I lately writ :

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I writ, and fung betwixt; now bring the fwain
Whose voice you boast, and let him try the strain. 20
MEN. Such as the fhrub to the tall olive fhows,

Or the pale fallow to the blushing rofe;

Such is his voice, if I can judge aright,

Compar'd to thine, in sweetness and in height.

MOPS. No more, but fit and hear the promis'd

lay,

The gloomy grotto makes a doubtful day.

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The nymphs about the breathlefs body wait
Of Daphnis, and lament his cruel fate.

The trees and floods were witnefs to their tears:
At length the rumour reach'd his mother's ears.
The wretched parent, with a pious hafte,
Came running, and his lifeless limbs embrac❜d.

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She

She figh'd, fhe fobb'd, and, furious with despair,
She rent her garments, and he tore her hair:
Accufing all the gods, and every star.

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The fwains forgot their fheep, nor near the brink
Of running waters brought their herds to drink.
The thirsty cattle, of themselves, abftain'd
From water, and their graffy fare difdain'd.
The death of Daphnis woods and hills deplore, 40
They caft the found to Libya's defert fhore;
The Libyan lyons hear, and hearing roar.
Fierce tigers Daphnis taught the yoke to bear;
And firft with curling ivy drefs'd the spear;
Daphnis did rites to Bacchus first ordain ;
And holy revels for his reeling train.

As vines the trees, as grapes the vines adorn,
As bulls the herds, and fields the yellow corn :
So bright a fplendor, fo divine a grace,

The glorious Daphnis caft on his illustrious race.
When envious Fate the godlike Daphnis took,
Our guardian Gods the fields and plains forfook:
Pales no longer fwell'd the teeming grain,
Nor Phoebus fed his oxen on the plain;
No fruitful crop the fickly fields return;

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But oats and darnel choke the rifing corn.

And where the vales with violets once were crown'd,
Now knotty burrs and thorns difgrace the ground.
Come, fhepherds, come, and ftrow with leaves the plain;
Such funeral rites your Daphnis did ordain.
With cypress boughs the cryftal fountains hide,
And foftly let the running waters glide,

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A lafling

A lafting monument to Daphnis raife,
With this infcription to record his praise :
Daphnis, the field's delight, the fhepherd's love, 65
Renown'd on earth, and deify'd above,

Whose flock excell'd the fairest on the plains,
But less than he himself surpass'd the swains.
MEN. O heavenly poet! fuch thy verfe appears,
So fweet, fo charming to my ravish'd ears,
As to the weary fwain, with cares oppreft,
Beneath the fylvan fhade, refreshing reft:
As to the feverish traveller, when first
He finds a crystal stream to quench his thirst.
In finging, as in piping, you excel;

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And scarce your mafter could perform so well.
O fortunate young man! at least your lays
Are next to his, and claim the fecond praise.
Such as they are, my rural fongs I join,
To raise our Daphnis to the powers divine;
For Daphnis was fo good, to love whate'er was mine.
MOPS. How is my foul with fuch a promise rais'd!
For both the boy was worthy to be prais'd,
And Stimichon has often made me long

To hear like him, fo foft, fo fweet a fong.

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MEN. Daphnis, the guest of heaven, with wondering eyes

Views in the milky way the starry skies.

And far beneath him, from the fhining fphere,
Beholds the moving clouds, and rolling year.

For

For this, with chearful cries the woods refound; 90
The purple spring arrays the various ground;
The nymphs and thepherds dance; and Pan himfelf
is crown'd.

The wolf no longer prowls for nightly spoils,
Nor birds the fpringes fear, nor ftags the toils:
For Daphnis reigns above; and deals from thence 95
His mother's milder beams and peaceful influence.
The mountain-tops unfhorn, the rocks rejoice;
The lowly fhrubs partake of human voice.

Affenting nature, with a gracious nod,

Proclaims him, and falutes the new-admitted God. 100 Be still propitious, ever good to thine;

Behold four hallow'd altars we design;

And two to thee, and two to Phoebus rise;

On both are offer'd annual facrifice.

The holy priests, at each returning year,

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Two bowls of milk and two of oil fhall bear;

And I myself the guests with friendly bowls will cheer.

Two goblets will I crown with fparkling wine,
The generous vintage of the Chian vine;

These will I pour to thee, and make the nectar

thine.

In winter fhall the genial feaft be made
Before the fire; by fummer in the fhade.
Damætas fhall perform the rites divine:
And Lictian Egon in the fong shall join.
Alphefibeus, tripping, fhall advance;
And mimic fatyrs in his antic dance.

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