All twined with bitter parsley and with flowers,
Spoke thus to him: "Behold, the Muses give
"These pipes to thee: receive them as the same,
"That formerly they gave old Hesiod, he
"Who laid low by his songs stubborn ash-trees
"Upon the hills. On these pipes thou shalt sing
"The first beginning of the Grynean grove
"Than which not one is more Apollo's pride."
Why should I tell, how Scylla, Nisus' maid,
Her snowy sides circled with noisy beasts,
Harassed Ulysses' ships, and her sea-hounds
In the deep whirlpool, tore their frightened crews?
He also sang of Tereus' transformed limbs
Of Philomela's banquets, and the gifts
Prepared by her; then how she fled in grief
To desert places, also of the wings
On which she hovered high, before her home.
All that of you happy Eurotas heard
From musing Phœbus, and bid laurels learn.
All this he sang, and to the stars resound
The echoing valleys: at his word at last
The sheep are gathered to their fold, and soon
Are numbered; then the Evening Star shines forth
In the reluctant heavens—Vesper glows.
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