"And me, not long ago, fair DAPHNE whistly eyed
As I drove by; and said, I was a paragon:
Nor then indeed to her I churlishly replied;
But, looking on the ground, my way still held I on.
Sweet is a cow-calf's voice, and sweet her breath doth smell;
A bull calf, and a cow, do low full pleasantly.
'Tis sweet in summer by a spring abroad to dwell!
Acorns become the oak; apples, the apple-tree;
And calves, the kine; and kine, the Neatherd much set out."
Thus sung these youths. The Goatherd thus did end the
doubt:
Goatherd.
"O DAPHNIS, what a dulcet mouth and voice thou hast!
'Tis sweeter thee to hear than honey-combs to taste!
Take thee these Pipes, for thou in singing dost excel!
If me, a Goatherd, thou wilt teach to sing so well;
This broken-hornèd goat, on thee bestow I will!
Which to the very brim, the pail doth ever fill."
So then was DAPHNIS glad, and lept and clapt his hands;
And danced as doth a fawn, when by the dam he stands.
MENALCAS grieved, the thing his mind did much dismay:
And sad as Bride he was, upon the marriage day.
Since then among the Shepherds, DAPHNIS chief was had!
And took a Nymph to wife when he was but a lad.
DAPHNIS his Emblem.
_Me tamen urit Amor._
MENALCAS his Emblem.
_At hæc DAPHNE forsan probet._
Goatherd's Emblem.
_Est minor nemo nisi comparatus._
[Illustration]