8
those shepherd-singers at whose rival strains
the heifer wondering forgot to graze,
the lynx stood awe-struck, and the flowing streams,
unwonted loiterers, stayed their course to hear—
5
how Damon and Alphesiboeus sang
their pastoral ditties, will I tell the tale.
DAMON
“Rise, Lucifer, and, heralding the light,
bring in the genial day, while I make moan
fooled by vain passion for a faithless bride,
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for Nysa, and with this my dying breath
call on the gods, though little it bestead—
the gods who heard her vows and heeded not.
Ever hath Maenalus his murmuring groves
30
and whispering pines, and ever hears the songs
of love-lorn shepherds, and of Pan, who first
brooked not the tuneful reed should idle lie.
Nysa to Mopsus given! what may not then
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we lovers look for? soon shall we see mate
griffins with mares, and in the coming age
shy deer and hounds together come to drink.
