Such be their fortune, who so well can sing From love what painful joys, what pleasing tor ments spring. Now, boys, obstruct the course of yonder rill: PASTORAL IV.1 POLLIO. SICILIAN Muse, sublimer strains inspire, 1 In this fourth pastoral, no particular landscape is delineated. The whole is a prophetic song of triumph. But as almost all the images and allusions are of the rural kind, it is no less a true bucolic than the others; if we admit the definition of a pastoral, given us by an author of the first rank, who calls it "A poem in which any action or passion is represented by its effects upon country life." It is of little importance to inquire on what occasion this poem was written. The spirit of prophetic enthusiasm that breathes through it, and the resemblance it bears in many places to the Oriental manner, make it not improbable that our poet composed it partly from some pieces of ancient prophecy that might have fallen into his hands, and that he afterwards inscribed it to his friend and patron Pollio, on accasion of the birth of his son Salonius. The author of the Rambler. OF BEATTIE. If sylvan themes we sing, then let our lays The age comes on, that future age of gold In Cuma's mystic prophecies foretold. The years begin their mighty course again, The Virgin now returns, and the Saturnian reign. Now from the lofty mansions of the sky To Earth descends an heaven-born progeny. Thy Phoebus reigns; Lucina, lend thine aid; Nor be his birth, his glorious birth delay'd! An iron race shall then no longer rage, But all the world regain the golden age. This child, the joy of nations, shall be born Thy consulship, O Pollio, to adorn: Thy consulship these happy times shall prove, And see the mighty months begin to move: Then all our former guilt shall be forgiven, And man shall dread no more th' avenging doom of Heaven. The son with heroes and with gods shall shine, And lead, enroll'd with them, the life divine. He o'er the peaceful nations shall preside, And his sire's virtues shall his sceptre guide. To thee, auspicious babe, th' unbidden earth Shall bring the earliest of her flowery birth; Acanthus soft in smiling beauty gay, The blossom'd bean, and ivy's flaunting spray. Th' untended goats shall to their homes repair, And to the milker's hand the loaded udder bear. The mighty lion shall no more be fear'd, But graze innoxious with the friendly herd. Sprung from thy cradle fragrant flowers shall spread, And, fanning bland, shall wave around thy head. But when thy father's deeds thy youth shall fire, Each country shall abound in every store, No pruning-hook the tender vine shall wound; In concord join'd with fate's unalter'd law, O dear to all thy kindred gods above! O would th' immortals lend a length of days, With ardour equal to the mighty theme; Nor loftier numbers flow'd from Linus' tongue, Repay a parent's care, O beauteous boy, PASTORAL V.1 MENALCAS, MOPSUS. MENALCAS. SINCE you with skill can touch the tuneful reed, 2 This passage has perplexed all the critics. Out of a number of significations that have been offered, the translator has pitched upon one which he thinks the most agreeable to the scope of the poem and most consistent with the language of the original. The reader, who wants more particulars on this head, may consult Servius, De La Cerda, or Ruaus. 1 Here we discover Menalcas and Mopsus seated in an |