Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/157

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Past. V.
PASTORALS.
25


The Fifth Pastoral.

OR,

DAPHNIS.

The ARGUMENT.

Mopsus and Menalcas, two very expert Shepherds at a Song, begin one by consent to the Memory of Daphnis; who is suppos'd, by the best Criticks, to represent Julius Cæsar. Mopsus laments his Death, Menalcas proclaims his Divinity. The whole Eclogue consisting of an Elegie and an Apotheosis.

MENALCAS.

SINCE on the Downs our Flocks together feed,

And since my Voice can match your tuneful Reed,
Why sit we not beneath the grateful Shade,
Which Hazles, intermix'd with Elms, have made?

MOPSUS.

Whether you please that Silvan Scene to take,5

Where whistling Winds uncertain Shadows make: