manifold, ye Muses, and I, some future day, will sing you yet a
sweeter song.

The Goatherd. Filled may thy fair mouth be with honey, Thyrsis, and
filled with the honeycomb; and the sweet dried fig mayst thou eat of
Aegilus, for thou vanquishest the cicala in song! Lo here is thy
cup, see, my friend, of how pleasant a savour! Thou wilt think it
has been dipped in the well-spring of the Hours. Hither, hither,
Cissaetha: do thou milk her, Thyrsis. And you young she-goats,
wanton not so wildly lest you bring up the he-goat against you.



IDYL II



Simaetha, madly in love with Delphis, who has forsaken her,
endeavours to subdue him to her by magic, and by invoking the Moon,
in her character of Hecate, and of Selene. She tells the tale of the
growth of her passion, and vows vengeance if her magic arts are
unsuccessful.

The scene is probably some garden beneath the moonlit shy, near the
town, and within sound of the sea. The characters are Simaetha, and
Thestylis, her handmaid.

Where are my laurel leaves? come, bring them, Thestylis; and where
are the love-charms? Wreath the bowl with bright-red wool, that I
may knit the witch-knots against my grievous lover, {11} who for