'Spectator.'[1] But as the Latin Eclogue itself is short, it may be well to attempt a translation of it here, before remarking further upon its meaning.
"Muses of Sicily, lift me for once
To higher flight; our humble tamarisk groves
Delight not all; and though the fields and woods
Still bound my song, give me the skill to make
Fit music for a Roman consul's ear.
"Comes the Last Age, of which the Sibyl sang—
A new-born cycle of the rolling years;
Justice returns to earth, the rule returns
Of good King Saturn;—lo! from the high heavens
Comes a new seed of men. Lucina chaste,
Speed the fair infant's birth, with whom shall end
Our age of iron, and the golden prime
Of earth return; thine own Apollo's reign
In him begins anew. This glorious age
Inaugurates, O Pollio, with thee;
Thy consulship shall date the happy months;
Under thine auspices the Child shall purge
Our guilt-stains out, and free the land from dread.
He with the gods and heroes like the gods
Shall hold familiar converse, and shall rule
With his great father's spirit the peaceful world.
For thee, O Child, the earth untilled shall pour
Her early gifts,—the winding ivy's wreath,
Smiling acanthus, and all flowers that blow.
She-goats undriven shall bring full udders home,
The herds no longer fear the lion's spring;
The ground beneath shall cradle thee in flowers,
The venomed snake shall die, the poisonous herb
Perish from out thy path, and leave the almond there.
"But when with growing years the Child shall learn
- ↑ No. 378.
