Thou'rt white as silver; for thy loveliness I would exchange gold of the finest grain, I'd count it wealth, if thee I might possess, To lose the loftiest station I might gain: Since, Blanca, thou dost know what I confess, I pray thee, cease thy lover to disdain, And grant it may be Blanca I must thank That in love's lottery I draw no blank. Though I were sunk in blankest poverty And but a farthing had to call my own, If that fair thing were thou, I would not be Changed for the richest man the world hath known. This would I count my chief felicity, Were Juan de Espera en Dios[115] and I but one, If, at the time the _Blancas_ three I sought, Thou, Blanca, in the midst of them were caught. Silerio would have gone further with his story, had he not been stopped by the sound of many pipes and attuned flageolets, which was heard at their backs; and, turning their heads, they saw coming towards them about a dozen gay shepherds, set in two lines, and in the midst came a comely herdsman, crowned with a garland of honeysuckle and other different flowers. He carried a staff in one hand; and with staid step advanced little by little, and the other shepherds, with the same success, all playing their instruments, gave pleasing and rare token of themselves. As soon as Elicio saw them, he recognised that Daranio was the shepherd they brought in the midst, and that the others were all neighbours, who wished to be present at his wedding, to which also Thyrsis and Damon had come; and to gladden the betrothal feast, and to honour the bridegroom, they were proceeding in that manner towards the village. But Thyrsis, seeing that their coming had imposed silence upon Silerio's story, asked him to spend that night together with them all in the village, where he would be waited upon with all the good-will possible, and might satisfy their wishes by finishing the incident he had begun. Silerio promised this, and at the same moment came up the band of joyous shepherds, who, recognising Elicio, and Daranio Thyrsis and Damon, his friends, welcomed one another with tokens of great joy; and renewing the music, and renewing their happiness, they turned to pursue the road they had begun. Now that they were coming nigh to the village, there came to their ears the sound of the pipe of the unloving Lenio, whereat they all received no little pleasure, for they already knew his extreme disposition, and so, when Lenio saw and knew them, without interrupting his sweet song, he came towards them singing as follows: LENIO. Ah happy, happy all Brimful of gladness and of jollity, Fortunate will I call So fair a company, If it yield not unto Love's tyranny!