"Why, Daphnis, dost thou search in old records, To know the seasons when the stars arise? See, Cæsar's lamp is lighted in the skies,-- The star, whose rays the blushing grapes adorn, And swell the kindly ripening ears of corn. Under this influence, graft the tender shoot; Thy children's children shall enjoy the fruit." The rest I have forgot; for cares and time Change all things, and untune my soul to rhyme. I could have once sung down a summer's sun; But now the chime of poetry is done: My voice grows hoarse; I feel the notes decay, As if the wolves had seen me first to-day. But these, and more than I to mind can bring, Menalcas has not yet forgot to sing. LYCIDAS. Thy faint excuses but inflame me more: And now the waves roll silent to the shore; Husht winds the topmost branches scarcely bend, As if thy tuneful song they did attend: Already we have half our way o'ercome; Far off I can discern Bianor's tomb. Here, where the labourer's hands have formed a bower Of wreathing trees, in singing waste an hour. Rest here thy weary limbs; thy kids lay down: We've day before us yet to reach the town; Or if, ere night, the gathering clouds we fear, A song will help the beating storm to bear. And, that thou may'st not be too late abroad, Sing, and I'll ease thy shoulders of thy load. MOERIS. Cease to request me;, let us mind our way: Another song requires another day. When good Menalcas comes, if he rejoice, And find a friend at court, I'll find a voice. FOOTNOTES: [301] In the Ninth Pastoral, Virgil has made a collection of many scattering passages, which he had translated from Theocritus; and here he has bound them into a nosegay.--DRYDEN. PASTORAL X. OR, _GALLUS_. ARGUMENT. _Gallus, a great patron of Virgil, and an excellent poet, was very deeply in love with one Cytheris, whom he calls Lycoris, and who had forsaken him for the company of a soldier. The poet therefore supposes his friend Gallus retired, in his height of melancholy, into the solitudes of Arcadia, (the celebrated scene of pastorals,) where he represents him in a very languishing condition, with all the rural deities about him, pitying his hard usage, and condoling his misfortune._