Thyr. Goatherd, that Pine-tree's Boughs by yonder Spring, In pleasing Murmurs mix, and sweetly sing: And thou dost sweetly pipe; dear charming Swain, And well deserv'st the next Reward to Pan, &c.
Goat. And sweeter Notes thy Pipe, dear Shepherd, fill, Than murm'ring Springs, that roll from yonder Hill When Muses claim a Sheep, a Lamb's thy Due; When they a Lamb, thou shalt receive a Ewe. Creech.
Thyrsis then proceeds to lament, in the softest Verse that is possible, Daphnis's unhappy Love, the Beginning of which only I shall recite to you:
Παι ποκ' αρ' ησθ' ὁκαΔαφνιϛ ετακετο παι ποκα, νυμφαι; Η κατα Πηνειω καλα τεμπεα, η κατα Πινδω; Ου γαρ δη ποταμοιο μεγαν ῥοον ειχετ' Αναπω, Ουδ' Αιτναϛ σκοπιαν, ουδ' Ακιδοϛ ἱερον ὑδωρ.
Where were you, Nymphs? Where did the Nymphs reside? Where were you then, when Daphnis pin'd and dy'd? On Pindus' Top, or Tempe's open Plain, Where careless Nymphs, forgetful of the Swain? For not one Nymph by swift Asopus stood, Nor Ætna's Cliff, nor Acis' sacred Flood. Creech.
These harmonious Lines, Virgil imitates, in the following ones, but does not equal.
[256] Quæ nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellæ, &c.
What Groves, ye Nymphs, detain'd you hence? what Lawns?
What Bion and Moschus have done in this Kind, among the Greeks, the Learned are no Strangers to. Among the Latins, we have nothing remaining of Calphurnius Siculus and Aurelius Nemesianus, but their Names[257]. The Syrinx, or Shepherd's Pipe; the Form, the Number, and the Manner of disposing the Oaten Reeds; the Names of the first Inventors of this Sort of Poetry, and other Things of the like Nature, I pass over, as foreign to my Province. Whoever is studious this Way, may consult the Writers of poetical History. I would only observe, that it seems universally agreed upon, that Pastoral owes its Rise and Increase to Sicily.
I cannot but think it a Poem less suitable to modern Times, on account of the Difference in the Circumstances of human Life, from what it was anciently. As the Condition of Shepherds is now mean and contemptible; it seems too forced a Prosopopœia to affix to them any Character of Politeness, or to introduce them as Men of Wealth and Education: These Things are contradictory to Truth, and therefore leave no Room for Fiction. The very Foundation, then, of Pastorals, as they are accommodated to the present Times, seems wholly taken away. But setting aside this, it must be own'd, several of the Moderns have attempted them very successfully, both in their own Tongue, and in Latin. The Italians and French generally want the Bucolic Genius: Their Shepherds are too genteel; as well bred as Citizens at least, if not as Courtiers, and fall into other Absurdities of the same Kind. Our Countryman Spencer has succeeded much better; and one or two of the present Age seem justly to have deserv'd the Prize.