Shalt hear, and shalt condemn thy suppliants to their vow. MOPSUS. What present, worth thy verse, can Mopsus find? Not the soft whispers of the southern wind, That play through trembling trees, delight me more; Nor murmuring billows on the sounding shore, Nor winding streams, that through the valley glide, And the scarce-covered pebbles gently chide. MENALCAS. Receive you first this tuneful pipe, the same That played my Corydon's unhappy flame; The same that sung Neæra's conquering eyes, And, had the judge been just, had won the prize. MOPSUS. Accept from me this sheep-hook in exchange; The handle brass, the knobs in equal range. Antigenes, with kisses, often tried } To beg this present, in his beauty's pride, } When youth and love are hard to be denied. } But what I could refuse to his request, Is yours unasked, for you deserve it best. PASTORAL VI. OR, _SILENUS_. ARGUMENT. _Two young shepherds, Chromis and Mnasylus, having been often promised a song by Silenus, chance to catch him asleep in this Pastoral; where they bind him hand and foot, and then claim his promise. Silenus, finding they would be put off no longer, begins his song, in which he describes the formation of the universe, and the original of animals, according to the Epicurean philosophy; and then runs through the most surprising transformations which have happened in Nature since her birth. This Pastoral was designed as a compliment to Syron the Epicurean, who instructed Virgil and Varus in the principles of that philosophy. Silenus acts as tutor, Chromis and Mnasylus as the two pupils._[299]