[Dantes Alagherii Iohanni De Virgilio. Ecloga I].

Vidimus in nigris albo patiente lituris 
Pyerio demulsa sinu modulamina nobis. 
Forte recensentes pastas de more capellas 
tunc ego sub quercu meus et Melibeus eramus. 
Ille quidem, cupiebat enim consciscere cantum, 
«Tityre, quid Mopsus? quid vult? edissere» dixit. 
Ridebam, Mopse; magis et magis ille premebat. 
Victus amore sui, posito vix denique risu, 
«Stulte, quid insanis?» inquam: «tua cura capelle 
te potius poscunt, quanquam mala cenula turbet. 
Pascua sunt ignota tibi que Menalus alto 
vertice declivi celator solis inumbrat, 
herbarum vario florumque inpicta colore. 
Circuit hec humilis et tectus fronde saligna 
perpetuis undis a summo margine ripas 
rorans alveolus, qui, quas mons desuper edit, 
sponte viam, qua mitis eat, se fecit aquarum. 
Mopsus in his, dum lenta boves per gramina ludunt, 
contemplatur ovans hominum superumque labores: 
inde per inflatos calamos interna recludit 
gaudia sic ut dulce melos armenta sequantur, 
placatique ruant campis de monte leones, 
et refluant unde, frondes et Menala nutent». 
«Tityre», tunc «si Mopsus» ait «decantat in herbis 
ignotis, ignota tamen sua carmina possum, 
te monstrante, meis vagulis prodiscere capris». 
Hic ego quid poteram, cum sic instaret anhelus? 
«Montibus Aoniis Mopsus, Melibee, quot annis, 
dum satagunt alii causarum iura doceri, 
se dedit et sacri nemoris perpalluit umbra. 
Vatificis prolutus aquis, et lacte canoro 
viscera plena ferens et plenus ad usque palatum, 
me vocat ad frondes versa Peneyde cretas». 
«Quid facies?» Melibeus ait: «tu tempora lauro 
semper inornata per pascua pastor habebis?» 
«O Melibee, decus vatum, quoque nomen in auras 
fluxit, et insomnem vix Mopsum Musa peregit», 
retuleram, cum sic dedit indignatio vocem: 
«Quantos balatus colles et prata sonabunt, 
si viridante coma fidibus peana ciebo! 
Sed timeam saltus et rura ignara deorum. 
Nonne triumphales melius pexare capillos 
et patrio, redeam si quando, abscondere canos 
fronde sub inserta solitum flavescere Sarno?» 
Ille: «Quis hoc dubitet? propter quod respice tempus, 
Tityre, quam velox; nam iam senuere capelle 
quas concepturis dedimus nos matribus hircos». 
Tunc ego: «Cum mundi circumflua corpora cantu 
astricoleque meo, velut infera regna, patebunt, 
devincire caput hedera lauroque iuvabit: 
concedat Mopsus». «Mopsus» tunc ille «quid?» inquit. 
«Comica nonne vides ipsum reprehendere verba, 
tum quia femineo resonant ut trita labello, 
tum quia Castalias pudet acceptare sorores?» 
ipse ego respondi, versus iterumque relegi, 
Mopse, tuos. Tunc ille humeros contraxit et «Ergo 
quid faciemus» ait «Mopsum revocare volentes?» 
«Est mecum quam noscis ovis gratissima» dixi 
«ubera vix que ferre potest, tam lactis abundans; 
rupe sub ingenti carptas modo ruminat herbas; 
nulli iuncta gregi nullis assuetaque caulis, 
sponte venire solet, numquam vi, poscere mulctram. 
Hanc ego prestolor manibus mulgere paratis, 
hac inplebo decem missurus vascula Mopso. 
Tu tamen interdum capros meditere petulcos 
et duris crustis discas infigere dentes». 
Talia sub quercu Melibeus et ipse canebam, 
parva tabernacla nobis dum farra coquebant. 
 

[Dante Alighieri to Giovanni del Virgilio. Eclogue I].

In letters black, upon receptive white, I saw  
the modulations milked for me from the Pierian bosom.  
As it chanced, telling, as is our wont, our pastured goats, 
under an oak, I and my Melibaeus had taken stand;  
when he (by longing urged to learn the song)  
"Tell me, Tityrus, what Mopsus will." I laughed,  
Mopsus; but he urged me until for very love  
at last I yielded; and, scarce covering my mirth--  
"Ah, fool!" I said, "what madness this? Thy care  
the goats bespeak, though by lean fare distressed!  
Where Maenalus' high peak the sinking sun  
conceals, lie shady pastures all to thee unknown;  
with many a varying hue inlaid of flowers and grasses;  
round them gently flows, under the osiers, with perpetual  
wave his banks bedewing from his brimming verge,  
a streamlet; offering a ready way wherein may gently  
flow the watery store furnished by mountain heights.  
There, even there, whilst in lush grass his oxen sport,  
the toils of men and gods doth Mopsus contemplate, exultant!  
Then through breath-receiving reeds his inward joy reveals;  
until the herds follow the dulcet strain, and from the mount 
lions, no longer fierce, haste to the fields. The waves are stayed,  
and Maenalus himself inclines his foliage." 
"Tityrus! what though Mopsus in unknown pastures sings;  
yet I those unknown songs might practise for my goats, 
poor wanderers, if thou wouldst show the way." So he,  
and what could I, when thus he pressed breathless? "O Melibaeus,  
others vie to master lore litigious. Mopsus still year in year out  
himself hath dedicate to the Aonian mountains; hath grown  
pale beneath the shadows of the sacred grove, 
drenched by prophetic waters, inly filled, aye to the palate,  
with the milk of song! He to the leaves sprung  
from the Peneid's change invites me." "And thine answer?  
Thinkest thou thus still to wear thy temples unadorned, 
a shepherd ever on the rustic plains?" said Melibaeus. 
"Scattered to the winds the glory, aye, the very name of bards!  
O Melibaeus," I had said, "and scarce one vigil-keeping Mopsus hath  
the muse known to maintain!" Then indignation gave a voice to utter  
these: "What bleating sounds would gather from the flocks o'er hill  
and plain if to a paean I should smite the strings with leaf-entwined hair!  
But let me shun the glades and pastures that know not the gods!  
Were it not better my triumphant locks should hide beneath  
the green their hoariness, erst auburn-glowing, by the ancestral stream, 
should ever I return to deck them there, of Arno." 
"Nay, who doubts it ?" he replied. "But mark time's flight,  
"O Tityrus, how swift! And goats whose dams we mated waxing old!" 
Ah! when the gliding universal orbs and the star-woning spirits,  
in my song, e'en as the nether realms, shall stand revealed,  
then," I replied, "my joy shall be to bind 
my brow with laurel and with ivy;  
-- leave of Mopsus asked." "Of Mopsus? Why of him?" the other said.  
And I myself replied: "Hast thou not marked the scorn  
wherewith he greets the speech of Comedy which women's chat 
stales on the lip, which the Castalian sisters blush to receive?"  
And, Mopsus, here read thy verses once again. 
He shrugged, and said, "How to our side shall Mopsus,  
then, be won?" "A ewe is mine!" I said, "to thee well known, 
choicest of all the rest, who scarce supports, so doth she teem  
with milk, her udders' weight (herbage fresh cropt  
she chews beneath a rock immense)  
associate with no flock, nor known to any fold.  
Of her own will she comes, and never driven, to the milking-pail. 
Her do I purpose with deft hand to milk. 
From her ten measures will I fill to send 
to Mopsus. And do those give heed, the while, 
to the wanton goats; and learn thy teeth to fix in stubborn crusts."  
Such words beneath the oak did I and Melibaeus sing;  
what time our humble cot prepared our oaten meal.