"Est mihi disparibus
_septem_
compacta cicutis
Fistula.
Fistula.
Scriptori Erotici Graeci
She felt an oppression at her heart, she could not restrain
her eyes from gazing upon him, nor her mouth from often pronouncing
his name. She took no food, she lay awake at night, she neglected
her flock, she laughed and wept by turns; now she would doze, then
suddenly start up; at one moment her face became pale, in another
moment it burnt with blushes. Such irritation is not felt even by
the breeze-stung heifer. [11] Upon one occasion, when alone, she thus
reasoned with herself. --"I am no doubt ill, but what my malady is I
know not; I am in pain, and yet I have no wound; I feel grief, and yet
I have lost none of my flock; I burn, and yet am sitting in the shade:
how often have brambles torn my skin, without my shedding a single
tear! how often have the bees stung me, yet I could still enjoy my
meals! Whatever it is which now wounds my heart, must be sharper than
either of these. Daphnis is beautiful, so are the flowers; his pipe
breathes sweetly, so does the nightingale; yet I take no account either
of birds or flowers. Would that I could become a pipe, that he might
play upon me! or a goat, that I might pasture under his care! Ο cruel
fountain, thou madest Daphnis alone beautiful; my bathing has been all
in vain! Dear Nymphs, ye see me perishing, yet neither do ye endeavour
to save the maiden brought up among you! Who will crown you with
flowers when I am gone? Who will take care of my poor lambs? Who will
attend to my chirping locust, which I caught with so much trouble, that
its song might lull me to rest in the grotto; but now I am sleepless,
because of Daphnis, and my locust chirps in vain! "
Such were the feelings, and such the words of Chloe, while as yet
ignorant of the name of love. But Dorco the cowherd (the same who had
drawn Daphnis and the goat out of the pit), a young fellow who already
boasted of some beard upon his chin, and who knew not merely the name
but the realities of love, had become enamoured of Chloe, from the
first time of meeting her. Feeling his passion increase day by day, and
despising Daphnis, whom he looked upon as a mere boy, he determined to
effect his purpose either by gifts or by dint of force. At first he
made presents to them both; he gave Daphnis a shepherd's pipe, having
its nine reeds[12] connected with metal in lieu of wax. He presented
Chloe with a fawn skin, spotted all over, such as is worn by the
Bacchantes. Having thus insinuated himself into their friendship, he by
degrees neglected Daphnis, but every day brought something to Chloe,
either a delicate cheese, or a chaplet of flowers, or a ripe apple. On
one occasion he brought her a mountain calf, a gilt drinking cup, and
the nestlings[13] of a wild bird. She, ignorant as she was of love's
artifices, received his gifts with pleasure;[14] chiefly pleased,
however, at having something to give Daphnis. One day it happened that
Dorco and he (for he likewise was destined to experience the pains and
penalties of love) had an argument on the subject of their respective
share of beauty. Chloe was to be umpire, and the victor's reward was to
be a kiss from her. Dorco, thus began--
"Maiden," said he, "I am taller than Daphnis, I am also a cowherd,
he, a goatherd, I therefore excel him as far as oxen are superior to
goats; I am fair as milk, and my hair brown as the ripe harvest field;
moreover, I had a mother to bring me up, not a goat. He, on the other
hand is short, beardless as a woman, and has a skin as tawny as a wolf;
while, from tending he-goats, he has contracted a goatish smell; he is
also so poor, that he cannot afford to keep even a dog; and if it be
true that a nanny gave him suck, he is no better[15] than a nanny's
son. "
Such was Dorco's speech; it was next the turn of Daphnis--
"It is true," said he, "that a she-goat suckled me, and so did a
she-goat suckle Jove; I tend he-goats and will bring them into better
condition than his oxen, but I smell of them no more than Pan does,
who has in him more of a goat than any thing else. I am content with
cheese, coarse bread,[16] and white wine, the food suitable for
country folk. I am beardless, so is Bacchus; I am dark complexioned,
so is the hyacinth; yet Bacchus is preferred before the satyr and the
hyacinth[17] before the lily. Now look at him, he is as sandy haired
as a fox, bearded as a goat, and smock-faced as any city wench. If you
have to bestow a kiss, it will be given to my mouth, whereas it will
be thrown away upon his bristles. Remember also, maiden, that you owe
_your_ nurture to a sheep, and yet this has not marred your beauty. "
Chloe could restrain herself no longer, but partly from pleasure at
his praising her, partly from a desire of kissing him, she sprang
forward and bestowed upon him the prize; an artless and unsophisticated
kiss,[18] but one well calculated to set his heart on fire. Upon this,
Dorco, in great disgust, took himself off, determined to seek some
other way of wooing. Daphnis, as though he had been stung instead of
kissed, became suddenly grave, felt a shivering all over, and could not
control the beating of his heart. He wished to gaze upon Chloe, but at
the first glance his face was suffused with blushes. For the first time
he admired her hair, because it was auburn; and her eyes, because they
were large[19] and brilliant; her countenance, because it was fairer
than even the milk of his own she-goats. One might have supposed that
he had just received the faculty of sight, having had till then, "no
speculation" in his eyes. [20]
From this moment, he took no food beyond the merest morsel, no drink
beyond what would just moisten his lips. Formerly more chattering than
the locusts, he became mute; he was now dull and listless, whereas
he had been more nimble than the goats. His flock was neglected, his
pipe was thrown aside; his face became paler than the summer-parched
herbage. Chloe alone could rouse his powers of speech; whenever he was
absent from her, he would thus fondly soliloquize:--
"What will be the result of this kiss of Chloe? her lips are softer
than rose-buds, and her mouth is sweeter than the honeycomb, but
this kiss has left a sting sharper than the sting of a bee! --I have
frequently kissed the kids, and the young puppies, and the calf which
Dorco gave me, but this kiss of Chloe is something quite new and
wonderful! My breath is gone, my heart pants, my spirit sinks within me
and dies away; and yet I wish to kiss again! [21] My victory has been
the source of sorrow and of a new disease, which I know not how to
name. Could Chloe have tasted poison before she permitted me to kiss
her? If so, how is it that she survives? How sweetly the nightingales
sing, while my pipe is mute! How gaily the kids skip and play, while
I sit listlessly by! The flowers are in full beauty, yet I weave no
garlands! The violets and the hyacinths are blooming, while Daphnis
droops and fades away. Alas! shall Dorco ever appear more beautiful in
Chloe's eyes, than I do! "
Such were the sensations of the worthy Daphnis, and thus he vented
his feelings. He now first felt the power, and now first uttered the
language of--LOVE.
In the mean time Dorco, the cowherd, who entertained a passion for
Chloe, watched an opportunity of addressing Dryas on the subject;
and finding him one day employed in planting a tree near one of his
vines, he approached carrying with him some fine cheeses. [22] First
of all he begged Dryas to accept of the cheeses as a present from an
old acquaintance and fellow herdsman; and then informed him of the
affection which he cherished towards his daughter Chloe. He promised
that, if he should be so happy as to obtain her for his wife, he was
prepared to offer him gifts, many and handsome, as a cowherd could
bestow,--a yoke of oxen fit for the plough, four hives of bees, fifty
young apple trees for planting, the hide of an ox, suitable for shoe
leather, and a weaned calf annually.
Dryas was almost tempted by these promises to give his assent to
the marriage; but on the other hand, reflecting that the maiden was
deserving of a better match, and fearing lest if ever discovered, he
might get himself into great trouble, he refused his assent, at the
same time intreating Dorco not to be affronted, and declining to accept
the gifts which he had enumerated.
Dorco being thus a second time disappointed of his hope, and having
given his cheese away to no purpose, conceived a plan of attacking
Chloe by force, whenever he should find her alone; and having observed
that she and Daphnis, on alternate days, conducted the herds to drink,
he contrived a scheme, worthy of a neatherd's brain. A large wolf had
been killed by his bull, who fought in defence of the herd; Dorco[23]
threw this wolf's skin over him, so that it completely covered his
back, reaching to the ground, and he adjusted it in such a manner, that
the skins of the fore feet were fitted over his hands, while those of
the hind feet spread down his legs to the very heels. The head, with
its gaping jaws, encased him as completely as a soldier's helmet.
Having thus "be-wolfed" himself as much as possible, he withdrew to
the spring, where the sheep and goats usually drank as they returned
from pasture. The spring was in a hollow, and around it the furze,
brambles, junipers, and thistles were so thick, that a real wolf
might easily choose it as a lair. Here Dorco concealed himself, and
anxiously waited for the time when the flocks should come to drink,
and when Chloe, as he hoped, would be so startled and terrified by his
appearance that he might easily seize her.
He had not remained long, when Chloe conducted the flock to the spring,
leaving Daphnis employed in cutting green leaves as fodder for the
kids in the evening. The dogs (the guardians of the sheep and goats)
accompanied Chloe, and scenting[24] about with their usual sagacity,
discovered Dorco, who was in the act of moving. Taking him for a wolf
they burst into full cry, rushed upon him, and seizing him before he
could recover from his astonishment, fixed their teeth in the skin.
This covering for a time protected him, and the shame of a discovery
operated so strongly that he lay quiet in the thicket; but when Chloe,
in her alarm at the first onset of the dogs, had called Daphnis to her
aid, and when the skin was torn off by his assailants, so that they
at length seized his flesh, he bawled out, entreating the assistance
of the maiden and of Daphnis, who had now arrived at the spot. The
dogs were easily appeased by the well-known voices of their master and
mistress, who took Dorco and conveyed him to the spring (soundly bitten
in the thighs and shoulders), where they washed his wounds, and chewing
some fresh elm bark spread it as a salve. Innocent themselves, and
totally ignorant of the desperate enterprizes of lovers, they imagined
that Dorco's disguise was a mere piece of rustic sport, and, so far
from being angry with him, they did their best to comfort him, led him
by the hand, part of the way home--and bade him farewell.
Dorco, after his narrow escape from the dog's, and not (according to
the old adage) from the wolf's mouth, retired home to nurse his wounds.
Daphnis and Chloe had great trouble during the remainder of the day in
collecting their sheep and goats, which, terrified at the sight of the
wolf, and by the barking of the dogs, had fled in different directions:
some had climbed the rocks, others had run down to the shore. They had,
indeed, been instructed to obey their master's call; in any alarm the
pipe was usually sufficient to soothe them, and if they were scattered,
a clapping of the hands would collect them; but the late sudden alarm
had made them forget their former discipline, so that Daphnis and
Chloe were compelled to track them, as they do hares; and with much
difficulty and trouble they brought them back to their cottages. That
night only the young man and maiden enjoyed sound sleep, their fatigue
furnishing a remedy for the pains of love. But with the morning their
usual sensations returned. When they met,--they rejoiced; when they
parted,--they were sad. They pined with grief. They wished for a
something, but they knew not what. This only they were aware of, that
the one had lost peace of mind by a kiss, the other by a bath.
The season,[25] moreover, added fuel to their fire; it was now the end
of spring; the summer had begun, and all things were in the height of
their beauty. The trees were covered with fruit; the fields with corn.
Charming was the chirp of the grasshoppers; sweet was the smell of the
fruit; and the bleating of the flocks was delightful. You might fancy
the rivers[26] to be singing, as they gently flowed along, the winds
to be piping, as they breathed[27] through the pines; and the apples
to be falling to the ground, sick of love; and that the sun, fond of
gazing upon natural beauty, was forcing every one to throw off their
garments. Daphnis felt all the warmth of the season, and plunged into
the rivers; sometimes he only bathed himself; sometimes he amused
himself with pursuing the fish, which darted in circles around him;
and sometimes he drank of the stream, as if to extinguish the flame
which he felt within. Chloe, when she had milked the goats and the
sheep, had great difficulty in setting her cream, for the flies were
very troublesome, and if driven away, they would bite her; after her
work was done, she washed her face, crowned herself with a garland of
pine-leaves, put on her girdle of fawn-skin, and filled a pail with
wine and milk as a beverage for herself and Daphnis. As mid-day heat
came on, the eyes of both were fascinated; she, beholding the naked
and faultless figure of Daphnis, was ready to melt with love; Daphnis,
on the other hand, beholding Chloe in her fawn-skin girdle and with
the garland of pine-leaves on her head, holding out the milk-pail
to him, fancied he beheld one of the Nymphs of the Grot, and taking
the garland from her head, he placed it on his own, first covering
it with kisses; while she, after often kissing it, put on his dress,
which he had stripped off in order to bathe. Sometimes they began in
sport to pelt[28] each other with apples, and amused themselves with
adorning each other's hair, carefully dividing it. She compared the
black hair of Daphnis to myrtle-berries; while he likened her cheeks to
apples,[29] because the white was suffused with red. He then taught her
to play on the pipe;--when she began to breathe into it, he snatched it
from her, ran over the reeds with his own lips, and under pretence of
correcting her mistakes, he in fact kissed her through the medium of
his pipe.
While he was thus playing in the heat of the noon-day, and their
flocks around them were reposing in the shade, Chloe imperceptibly
fell asleep. Daphnis laid down his pipe, and while gazing upon her
whole person with insatiable eyes, there being no one to inspire him
with shame; he thus murmured, directing his words to her:--"What eyes
are those, which are now closed in sleep! what a mouth is that, which
breathes so sweetly! no apples, no thickets, exhale so delicious a
scent! Ah! but I fear to kiss her! a kiss consumes me, and like new
honey,[30] maddens me! besides, a kiss would wake her! A plague upon
those chirping grasshoppers, their shrill notes will disturb my Chloe!
those vexatious goats, too, are clashing their horns together; surely
the wolves are grown more cowardly than foxes, that they do not come
and seize them! "
As he was thus soliloquizing, he was interrupted by a grasshopper,
which in springing from a swallow which pursued it, fell into Chloe's
bosom. The swallow was unable to take its prey, but hovered over
Chloe's cheek and touched it with its wings. The maiden screamed and
started; but seeing the swallow still fluttering near her, and Daphnis
laughing at her alarm, her fear vanished, and she rubbed her eyes,
which were still disposed to sleep. The grasshopper chirped from her
bosom, as if in gratitude for his deliverance. At the sound Chloe
screamed again; at which Daphnis laughed, and availing himself of the
opportunity, put his hand into her bosom and drew the happy chirper
from its place, which did not cease its note even when in his hand;
Chloe was pleased at seeing the innocent cause of her alarm, kissed it,
and replaced it, still singing, in her bosom.
At this moment they were delighted with listening to a ring-dove
in the neighbouring wood, and upon Chloe's inquiring what the bird
meant by its note, Daphnis told her the legend, which was commonly
current:--"There was a maiden, my love, who, like yourself, was
beautiful; like yourself, she tended large herds of cattle; and, like
yourself, she was in the flower of youth. She sang sweetly;--so
sweetly, that the herds were delighted with her song, and needed
neither the crook nor the goad to manage them; they obeyed her voice;
and remaining near listened to the maid, as she sat under the shade of
the pine crowned with a garland of its leaves, and singing the praises
of Pan,[31] and the nymph Pitys. A youth, who pastured his herds at a
little distance, and who was handsome, and fond as herself of melody,
vied with her in singing; as he was a man, his tones were deeper, but
as he was young, they were very sweet. He sang, and charmed away eight
of her best cows to his own pastures. The maiden was mortified at the
loss of her cattle, and at being so much surpassed in song; and, in her
despair, prayed the gods to convert her into a bird before she reached
her home. The gods assented to her prayer, and metamorphosed her into
a bird; under which form, as of old, she frequents the mountains, and
delights in warbling. Her note bespeaks her misfortune, for she is
calling her wandering cows. "
Such were the delights of summer. --Autumn was now advanced, and the
black grapes were ripening; when some pirates of Tyre, in a light
Carian bark,[32] that they might not appear to be foreigners, touched
at that coast and came on shore, armed with coats of mail and swords,
and plundered everything which fell in their way. They carried off
fragrant wine,[33] corn in great plenty, honey in the comb. They also
drove off some of Dorco's oxen, and seized Daphnis, who was musing
in a melancholy mood, and rambling alone by the sea-shore. For Chloe
being but young, was afraid of the insults of some of the saucy
shepherds, and therefore had not led out her flock so early from the
fold of Dryas. When the pirates saw this stout and handsome youth,
who, they knew, would be a prize of greater value than the plunder of
the fields, they took no more trouble about the goats, not did they
proceed farther, but carried off the unlucky Daphnis to their vessel,
weeping as he was hurried along, at a loss what to do, and calling
loudly upon Chloe. When they had put him on board, they slipped their
cable, and rowed from the shore. Chloe, in the mean time, who was still
driving her flock, and carrying in her hand a new pipe as a present for
Daphnis, when she saw the goats running about in confusion, and heard
Daphnis calling out to her every moment in a louder voice, quitted her
sheep, threw down the pipe, and ran to Dorco beseeching him to assist
her. --He had been severely wounded by the pirates, and was lying upon
the ground still breathing, the blood flowing from him in streams. At
the sight of Chloe, reviving a little owing to the force of his former
love, he exclaimed, "I shall shortly be no more, dear Chloe; I fought
in defence of my oxen, and some of the rascally pirates have beaten me
as they would have done an ox. Save your beloved Daphnis, revenge me,
and destroy them. I have taught my cows to follow the sound of this
pipe, and to obey its melody, even if they be feeding at the greatest
distance. Take this pipe; breathe in it those notes, in which I once
instructed Daphnis, and in which Daphnis instructed you. Do this, and
leave the issue to the pipe and the cows. Moreover I make you a present
of the pipe; with it I have obtained the prize from many a shepherd and
many a herdsman. In return give me but one kiss, while I yet live; and
when I am dead, shed a tear over me: and when you see another tending
my flocks, remember Dorco. "
Here he ceased, gave her a last kiss, and with the kiss resigned his
breath. Chloe put the pipe to her lips, and blew with all her might.
The cows began to low at hearing the well-known note, and leaped all at
once into the sea. As they all plunged from the same side, and caused
a mighty chasm in the waters the vessel lurched, the waves closed over
it, and it sank. The crew and Daphnis fell into the sea, but they had
not equal chances for preservation. The pirates were encumbered with
their swords, scaled breast-plates, and greaves reaching to mid-leg:
whereas Daphnis, who had been feeding his flocks in the plains, had
not even his sandals on; and the weather being still very warm, he
was half-naked. All swam for a little time, but their armour soon sunk
the foreigners to the bottom. Daphnis easily threw off the garments
which remained to encumber him, but, accustomed to swim only in
rivers, buoyed himself up with great difficulty: at length, taught by
necessity, he struck forward between two of the cows, grasped a horn of
each of them, and was carried along as securely and as easily, as if
he had been riding in his own wain. Oxen, be it observed, are better
swimmers than men, or indeed than any animals, except aquatic birds and
fish, nor are they in any danger of drowning unless their hoofs become
softened by the water. The fact of many places being still called
_Ox-fords_,[34] will bear out the truth of my assertion.
Thus was Daphnis delivered from two perils--from the pirates and from
shipwreck, and in a manner beyond all expectation. When he reached the
shore, he found Chloe smiling through her tears: he fell on her bosom,
and inquired, what had led her to play that particular tune. --She
related everything which had occurred--her running to Dorco--the habit
of his cows--HIS ordering her to pipe that tune, and finally his death,
but through a feeling of shame she said nothing of the kiss.
They now determined to pay the last honours to their benefactor;
accordingly they came with the neighbours and relatives of the
deceased, and buried him. They then threw up over his grave a large
pile of earth, and planted about it various trees, and suspended
over it[35] the emblems of their calling; in addition to which they
poured libations of milk and of juice expressed from the grapes, and
broke many pastoral pipes. Mournful lowings of the cattle were heard,
accompanied with unwonted and disorderly movements, which the shepherds
believed to be lamentations and tokens of sorrow on the part of the
herd for their departed herdsman. [36]
After the funeral of Dorco, Chloe led Daphnis to the grotto of the
Nymphs, where she washed him; and then, for the first time in his
presence, bathed her own person, fair and radiant with beauty, and
needing no bath to set off its comeliness. Then, after gathering the
flowers which the season afforded, they crowned the statues with
garlands, and suspended Dorco's pipe as a votive offering to the
Nymphs. Having done this they returned to look for their flocks, which
they found lying on the ground neither feeding nor bleating, but
looking about, as if waiting in suspense for their re-appearance. When
they came in view of them, and called to them in their usual manner,
and sounded their pipes, the sheep got up, and began to feed, while the
goats skipped about, and bleated as if exulting at the safety of their
herdsman. But Daphnis could not attune his soul to joy; after seeing
Chloe naked, and her formerly concealed beauties unveiled, he felt an
inward pain as though preyed upon by poison. His breath went and came
as though he were flying from some pursuer; and then it failed, as
though he were exhausted with running. Chloe had come from the bath
with redoubled charms, and the bath was thus more fatal to Daphnis
than the ocean. As for himself, he attributed his feelings to being,
in fancy, still among the thieves,[37]--rustic as he was, and as yet
ignorant of the thievish tricks of love.
[Footnote 1: Compare the description of the Grotto of the Nymphs in
Ithaca. Odys. B. xiii.
----"A pleasant cave
Umbrageous, to the Nymphs devoted, nam'd
The Naiads--Beakers in that cave and jars
Of stone are found; bees lodge their honey there;
And there on slender spindles of the rock
The nymphs of rivers weave their wondrous robes,
Perennial springs rise in it. "--Cowper.
]
[Footnote 2:
Kένταυρoς ζαμενής,
ἀγᾶνᾳ χλαρὸν γελάσσαις ὀφρύῖ. --Pindar.
]
[Footnote 3: ἡ ὧα--rendered by the Latin translation, "fastigium;" by
the Italian, "giro;" by the French, "voûte"--is not to be found, in
that sense, in Liddell and Scott's Lexicon. ]
[Footnote 4: Theoc. Idyll, xx. 28. enumerates these instruments:--
Άδὺ δέ μοι τὸ μέλισμα, καὶ ἢv σύριγγι μελίσδω,
Κἤν αὐλῶ λαλεώ, κἢν δώνακι, κἢν πλαγιαύλῳ--
The πλαγίαύλος resembled the German flute. ]
[Footnote 5: The περισκέλις (in Latin, Periscelis--see Hor. Epist.
1. xvii. 56,) was an anklet or bangle, commonly worn not only by the
Orientals, the Egyptians, and the Greeks, but by the Roman ladies also.
It is frequently represented in the paintings of Greek figures on the
walls of Pompeii. --Dict. of Greek and Rom. Antiq. ]
[Footnote 6: See Theoc. Idyl. 1. 52. --
"Αὐτὰρ ὃy' ανθερίκίσσι καλάν πλέκει ἀκριδοθήκαv. "
]
[Footnote 7: σπουδὴν ἀνέπλaσε. ]
[Footnote 8: ἐδίωκε τὸν διῶκοντα. ]
[Footnote 9: ταινιάν--either a head-band or breast-band. ]
[Footnote 10: What now follows, as far as the soliloquy on Chloe's
kiss, is a translation of the fragment discovered by M. Courier, in
the Laurentian Library at Florence, in 1809, which supplies the hiatus
deflendus which till then interrupted the narrative. ]
[Footnote 11:
----"οῖστροπληξ δ' ἐγὼ
μάστιγι θείᾳ γῆν πρὸ γῆς ελαύνομαι. "
Æsch. P. V. 681. See also Virg. G. iii. 145-151.
]
[Footnote 12: So, Theocritus--"Σύριγγ' ἔχω εννεάφωνον. " Idyl. viii. 21.
The shepherd's pipe was in general composed of seven unequal reeds
compacted with wax, and consequently was only seven-toned.
"Est mihi disparibus _septem_ compacta cicutis
Fistula. "--Virg. Ec. ii. 36.
]
[Footnote 13: "Parta meæ Veneri sunt præmia; namque notavi, Ipse locum
aëriæ quo congessere palumbes. " Virg. Ec. "I have found out a gift for
my fair, I have found where the wood-pigeons breed. " Shenstone. ]
[Footnote 14: ἔχαιρε--ἔχαιρεν. ]
[Footnote 15: oὐδὲν ἔριφων διαφέρει. ]
[Footnote 16: ἄρτoς ὀβελίας--Bread baked or toasted on a spit. ]
[Footnote 17:
"Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur. "
Virg. Ec. ii. 18.
]
[Footnote 18: No doubt she took him by the tips of his ears. This mode
of salutation was called χύτρα, the pot-kiss, (alluding to the double
handles of a pot. ) In after times it took the name of the Florentine
kiss. "Warton quotes an old gentleman, who says, that when disposed
to kiss his wife with unusual tenderness, he always gave her the
Florentine kiss. --Chapman's Theocritus. "
Όὐκ ἕραμ' Άλκίππας, ὃτι με πράν ὀυκ ἐφιλασεν
Τῶν ὤτων καθελοῖσ'. "--Idyl. v. 135.
]
[Footnote 19: διαυγεῖς. Another reading is,--καθάπερ βοὸς,--equivalent
to the βoῶπις of Homer. Sappho uses the same comparison. ]
[Footnote 20:
"But love first learned in a lady's eyes,
Lives not alone immured in the brain.
. . . . . .
It adds a precious _seeing to the eye_. "--Shaks.
]
[Footnote 21:
"Αλλὰ καμμὲν γλῶσσ' ἔαγ', ἄν δἐ λεπτὸν
Αὐτίκα χρῶ πῦρ ὺποδεδρόμακεν,
Όμμάτεσσιν δ' σὐδὲν ὄρημι, βομβεῦσιν δ' ακοαί μοι·
Καδ' δ' ἱδρὠς ψυχρὸς χεἐται τρόμος δὲ
Πᾶσαν αἱρεῖ· χρωροτέρη δὲ ποίας
Έμμί· τεθνᾶναι δ' ὀλίγου δἐοισα
Φαίνομαι ἄπνους. "--Sappho.
]
[Footnote 22: The reading in Courier's edition, μετά τυρίσκων τινῶν
γενικῶν, has been here followed, instead of the common one, which
yields no very clear sense--συρίγγων τινῶν γαμικῶν. ]
[Footnote 23:
"Εσσατο δ' ἔκτοσθε' ῥινὸν πoλιθῖο λύκοιο
Κρατὶ δ' ἔπι κτιδέην κυνέην. "--Iliad, x. 334.
From the example of Dorco, this became a favourite stratagem among
pastoral characters. In the Pastor Fido (act iv. sc. 2) Dorinda
disguises herself as a wolf, and the troubadour Vidal was hunted down
in consequence of a similar experiment. --Dunlop. ]
[Footnote 24: "odora canum vis. "--Virg. Æn. iv. 132. ]
[Footnote 25:
"Flush'd by the spirit of the genial year,
Now from the virgin's cheeks, a fresher bloom
Shoots, less and less, the live carnation round;
Her lips blush deeper sweets; she breathes of youth;
The shining moisture swells into her eyes
In brighter flow; her wishing bosom heaves
With palpitation wild; kind tumults seize
Her veins, and all her yielding soul is love.
From the keen gaze her lover turns away
Full of the dear ecstatic power, and sick
With sighing languishment. "--Thomson.
]
[Footnote 26:
"A noise like that of a hidden brook
In the leafy month of June,
That to the sleeping woods all night
Singeth a quiet tune. "--Coleridge.
]
[Footnote 27:
"Αδύ τι τὸ ψιθύρισμα, καὶ ἁ πίτυς αἰπόλε, τήνα,
Ἃ ποτὶ ταῖς παγαῖσi μελίσδεται. "--Theoc. Idyll. i. 1.
]
[Footnote 28: A favourite amusement with lovers:--
"Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella. "--Virg. Ec. iii. 64.
"Βάλλει καὶ μάλοισι τὸν αἰπόλον ἁ Κλεαρίστα. "
Theoc. Idyl. v. 36.
]
[Footnote 29:
"Her cheeks so rare a white was on,
No daisy makes comparison,
(Who sees them is undone);
For streaks of red are mingled there,
Such as are on a Cath'rine pear,
(The side that's next the sun). "--Suckling.
]
[Footnote 30: Xenophon (Anab. iv. 8, 20), gives an account of the
Greeks in their retreat eating new honey; they were for a time, he
says, frantic, were seized with vomiting and purging, and were unable
to stand upon their feet; some died from its effects. ]
[Footnote 31:
. . . . "Pan
Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans. "--Lucret. iv. 589.
Pan fell in love with the nymph Pitys; his rival Boreas blew the nymph
from a rock and killed her. Pan, unable to save, changed her into a
pine tree--πίτυς. ]
[Footnote 32: ἡμιoλία, a light vessel with one and a half banks of
oars. ]
[Footnote 33: οἶνος ἀνθοσμίας, either fine old wine, or wine scented
with the juices of flowers. See a note of Cookesley on Arist. Plut.
788; also a passage in Xen. Hell. vi. 11. 6. ]
[Footnote 34: In the P. V. of Æschylus, l. 732, Prometheus tells Io;
"Ἔσται δὲ θνητοΐς εἰσαεὶ λόγος μέγας
Tῆς σῆς πορείας, Βόσπορος δ' ἐπώνυμος
Κεκλήσεται. "
The true etymology however is to be found in the signification of βοῦς
and ἵππος--which in composition means size. ]
[Footnote 35: See ch. 2. ]
[Footnote 36: θρῆνος τῶν βοῶν ἐπὶ βουκόλῳ.
Theocritus in Idyll, i. 74, represents the herds as mourning their
master's death--
"Πολλαί oι πὰρ ποσσί βόες, πολλοὶ δέ τε ταῦροι,
Πολλαὶ δ' αὖ δαμάλαι καὶ πόρτιες ὠδύραντο--"
]
[Footnote 37: παρὰ τοῖς λησταὶς, . . . τὸ ἔρωτος ληστήριον--]
BOOK II.
It was now the middle of autumn:--the vintage[1] was at hand, and every
one was busy in the fields. One[2] prepared the wine-presses, another
cleansed the casks, and another twisted the osiers into baskets.
Each had a separate employ--in providing short pruning hooks, to cut
the grapes; or a heavy stone, to pound them; or dry vine branches,
previously well bruised, to serve as torches, so that the must might be
carried away at night.
Daphnis and Chloe neglected for a time their flocks and mutually
assisted one another. He carried the clusters in baskets, threw them
into the wine-presses, trod them, and drew off the wine into casks;
she prepared their meals for the grape-gatherers, brought old wine
for their drink, and plucked off the lowest bunches. Indeed, all the
vines in Lesbos were of lowly growth, and instead of shooting upwards,
or twining around trees, they spread their branches downwards, which
trailed along, like ivy, so close to the ground, that even an infant
might reach the fruit.
The women, who, according to the custom at this festival of Bacchus,
and birth of the vine, were called from the neighbouring villages to
lend their assistance, all cast their eyes upon Daphnis, and exclaimed
that he was equal in beauty to Bacchus himself. One of the most forward
of these wenches gave him a kiss, which inflamed Daphnis, but sadly
grieved poor Chloe.
On the other hand, the men who were treading the wine-press indulged
in all manner of jests about Chloe, they danced round her as furiously
as so many Bacchanals round a Bacchante, and exclaimed that they would
gladly become sheep to be fed by her hand. These compliments delighted
Chloe, but tormented poor Daphnis.
Each of them wished the vintage over, that they might return to their
usual haunts, and instead of this discordant din might hear the sound
of their pipe, and the bleating of their sheep. In a few days the vines
were stript,--the casks were filled,--there was no longer any need of
more hands, they therefore drove their flocks to the plain. In the
first place, with sincere delight they went to pay their adoration
to the Nymphs, and carried vine-branches with clusters of grapes on
them, as first-fruit offerings from the vintage. Indeed, they never
had hitherto passed by the Grotto without some token of respect, but
always saluted them as they passed by with their flocks to their
morning pasture, and when they returned in the evening, they paid their
adoration, and presented, as an offering, either a flower, or some
fruit, or a green leaf, or a libation of milk. This piety, as we shall
see, had in the end its due reward. At the time we speak of, like young
hounds just let loose, they leaped about, they piped, they sang, and
wrestled and played with their goats and sheep.
While thus sporting and enjoying themselves, an old man, clothed in a
coarse coat of skin, with shoes of undressed leather on his feet, and
with a wallet (which, by the by, was a very old one) at his back, came
up, seated himself near them, and addressed them as follows:--
"I who now address you, my children, am Philetas. I have often sung
the praises of the Nymphs of yonder Grotto--I have often piped in
honour of Pan, and have guided my numerous herd by the music of my
voice. I come to acquaint you with what I have seen and heard. I have
a garden[3] which I cultivate with my own hands, and in which I have
always worked, since I became too old to tend my herds. In it is every
production of the different seasons; in spring it abounds with roses,
lilies, hyacinths, and either kind of violets; in summer with poppies,
pears, and apples of every sort; and now in autumn, with grapes, figs,
pomegranates, and green myrtles. A variety of birds fly into it every
morning, some in search of food, and some to warble in the shade; for
the over-arching boughs afford thick shade, and three fountains water
the cool retreat. Were it not inclosed with a wall, it might be taken
for a natural wood. As I entered it to-day, about noon, I espied a
little boy under my pomegranates and myrtles, some of which he had
gathered; and was holding them in his hands. His complexion was white
as milk, his hair a bright yellow, and he shone as if he had just been
bathing. He was naked and alone, and amused himself with plucking
the fruit with as much freedom as if it had been his own garden.
Apprehensive that in his wantonness he would commit more mischief and
break my plants, I sprang forward to seize him, but the urchin lightly
and easily escaped from me, sometimes running under rose-trees, and
sometimes hiding himself like a young partridge under the poppies.
"I have frequently been fatigued with catching my sucking kids, or my
new-dropt calves; but as to this mischievous creature, in perpetual
motion, it was utterly impossible to lay hold of him. Old as I am I
was soon weary with the pursuit; so, leaning on my staff for support,
and keeping my eyes on him lest he should escape, I asked him to what
neighbour he belonged, and what he meant by gathering what grew in
another person's garden.
"He made no reply, but approaching very near me, smiled sweetly in my
face, and pelted me with myrtle-berries, and (I know not how) so won
upon me, that my anger was appeased. I intreated him to come close
to me, and assured him that he need not be afraid, swearing by the
myrtles, by the apples, and by the pomegranates of my garden, that I
wished only to give him one kiss, for which he should ever afterwards
have liberty to gather as much fruit, and to pluck as many flowers as
he pleased.
"Upon hearing me thus address him, he burst into a merry laugh, and
with a voice sweeter than that of the swallow or the nightingale, or
of the swan when grown aged like myself, he replied: 'I grudge you
not a kiss, Philetas, for I have more pleasure in being kissed, than
you would have in growing young again; but consider whether the gift
would suit your time of life; for, old as you are, one kiss would not
satisfy you, nor prevent you from running after me, while if even a
hawk, an eagle, or any other swifter bird, were to pursue me, it would
pursue in vain. I am not the child which I appear to be; but I am older
than Saturn, ay, older than Time himself. I knew you well, Philetas,
when you were in the flower of your youth, and when you tended your
widely-scattered flock in yonder marsh. I was near you, when you sat
beneath those beech-trees, and were wooing your Amaryllis: I was close
to the maiden, but you could not discern me. I gave her to you, and
some fine boys, who are now excellent husbandmen and herdsmen, are the
pledges of your love. At this present time I am tending Daphnis and
Chloe like a shepherd; and when I have brought them together in the
morning, I retire to your garden: here I disport myself among your
flowers and plants, and here I bathe in your fountain. Through me it is
that your flowers and shrubs are so beauteous, for the waters, which
have bathed me, refresh them. Look now, if any of your plants be broken
down! --see, if any of your fruit be plucked! --examine whether the stalk
of any flower be crushed--or the clearness of any one of your fountains
be disturbed! and rejoice that you alone, in your old age, have had
the privilege of beholding the boy who is now before you. ' With these
words he sprang like the youngling of a nightingale among the myrtles,
and climbing from bough to bough, ascended through the foliage to the
summit of the tree. I observed wings upon his shoulders, and between
them a tiny bow and arrows; but in a moment I could neither see him
nor them. Unless I have grown grey in vain, unless I have got into my
dotage in growing old, you may rely on me, when I assure you, that you
are consecrate to LOVE, and that you are under his peculiar care. "
Daphnis and Choe were delighted, but they regarded what they had heard
as an amusing story rather than a sober fact; and inquired of Philetas
who and what this LOVE could be? whether he were a boy or a bird? and
of what powers he was possessed? "My young friends," said Philetas,
"he is a god, young, beautiful, and ever on the wing. He rejoices,
therefore, in the company of youth, he is ever in search of beauty, and
adds wings to the souls of those he favours. [4] He has power far beyond
that of Jove himself. He commands the elements, he rules the stars, and
even the gods themselves, who are otherwise his equals;[5] your power
over your flocks is nothing compared to his. All these flowers are
the works of love: these plants are effects produced by him. Through
him these rivers flow, and these zephyrs breathe. I have seen a bull
smitten by his power, who bellowed as though breeze-stung. [6] I have
seen the goat enamoured of the female, and following her everywhere.
I myself was once young, I felt his influence, I loved Amaryllis. I
thought not of my food, I cared not for my drink; I could take no rest,
for sleep was banished from my eyelids. My soul was sad--my heart beat
quick--my limbs felt a deadly chill. Now I cried aloud, as if I had
been beaten; now I was as silent as if I were dead; and now I plunged
into the rivers, as if to extinguish the flame which consumed me. I
invoked Pan to assist me, inasmuch as he had known what it was to love
his Pitys. I poured forth praises to the Nymph Echo for repeating the
name of my Amaryllis: in anger I broke my pipe because it could soothe
my herds, but could not prevail over Amaryllis; for there is no mighty
magic against love; no medicine, whether in food or drink: nothing, in
short, save kisses[7] and embraces, and the closest union of the naked
body. "
Philetas, having given them this information, bade them farewell; but
before permitting him to depart, they presented him with a cheese, and
a kid with newly budding horns.
Daphnis and Chloe, left to themselves, mused in silence upon the name
of Love, which they had now heard for the first time. Sorrow seemed to
have stupified them, till at night, as they returned home, they began
to compare their own sensations with what they had heard from Philetas.
"According to Philetas, lovers are sad--so are we; they neglect their
calling--so do we; they cannot sleep--no more can we. A fire appears
to burn within them--we feel this fire; they long for the sight of one
another--we, too, are always wishing for the day to dawn. Our disorder
must be love, and we have loved each other without being aware of it.
If this be not love, and if we be not mutually lovers, why are we
thus sad? why do we so eagerly seek each other? All that Philetas has
told us is true. The boy, whom he saw in the garden, is the same who
appeared to our parents in the dream, and commanded that we should
follow the pastoral life. How is it possible to catch the urchin? He
is little and will escape from us. At the same time, who can escape
from him? He has wings, and will pursue us. We must away to the Nymphs
and implore their assistance. And yet Pan could not assist Philetas
when in love with Amaryllis. We must seek the remedies which the old
man suggested--kisses and embraces, and lying naked upon the grass;
we shall feel it very cold, but we will bear what Philetas has borne
before us. " Thus were their thoughts employed during the night. The
next morning, after driving their flocks to pasture, they for the first
time kissed each other upon meeting, and afterwards mutually embraced.
The third remedy they were afraid of; the lying naked upon the grass
appeared too bold a step for a maiden, nay, even for a youthful
goatherd. Again, therefore, they passed a sleepless night, calling to
mind what they had done, regretting what they had omitted. "We kissed,"
said they, "and are none the better; we embraced, and have found no
relief. This lying side by side must needs be the sole remedy for
love; assuredly it will prove more efficacious than the kiss and the
embrace. " As might have been expected, their dreams were akin to their
daily thoughts. In sleep they kissed and they embraced; in sleep they
did that which they had omitted to do during the day. Next morning they
rose more than ever inflamed with passion, and hissed[8] along their
flocks, all the while in anticipation of the kiss. They came in sight
of one another, their faces mutually beaming with delight.
her eyes from gazing upon him, nor her mouth from often pronouncing
his name. She took no food, she lay awake at night, she neglected
her flock, she laughed and wept by turns; now she would doze, then
suddenly start up; at one moment her face became pale, in another
moment it burnt with blushes. Such irritation is not felt even by
the breeze-stung heifer. [11] Upon one occasion, when alone, she thus
reasoned with herself. --"I am no doubt ill, but what my malady is I
know not; I am in pain, and yet I have no wound; I feel grief, and yet
I have lost none of my flock; I burn, and yet am sitting in the shade:
how often have brambles torn my skin, without my shedding a single
tear! how often have the bees stung me, yet I could still enjoy my
meals! Whatever it is which now wounds my heart, must be sharper than
either of these. Daphnis is beautiful, so are the flowers; his pipe
breathes sweetly, so does the nightingale; yet I take no account either
of birds or flowers. Would that I could become a pipe, that he might
play upon me! or a goat, that I might pasture under his care! Ο cruel
fountain, thou madest Daphnis alone beautiful; my bathing has been all
in vain! Dear Nymphs, ye see me perishing, yet neither do ye endeavour
to save the maiden brought up among you! Who will crown you with
flowers when I am gone? Who will take care of my poor lambs? Who will
attend to my chirping locust, which I caught with so much trouble, that
its song might lull me to rest in the grotto; but now I am sleepless,
because of Daphnis, and my locust chirps in vain! "
Such were the feelings, and such the words of Chloe, while as yet
ignorant of the name of love. But Dorco the cowherd (the same who had
drawn Daphnis and the goat out of the pit), a young fellow who already
boasted of some beard upon his chin, and who knew not merely the name
but the realities of love, had become enamoured of Chloe, from the
first time of meeting her. Feeling his passion increase day by day, and
despising Daphnis, whom he looked upon as a mere boy, he determined to
effect his purpose either by gifts or by dint of force. At first he
made presents to them both; he gave Daphnis a shepherd's pipe, having
its nine reeds[12] connected with metal in lieu of wax. He presented
Chloe with a fawn skin, spotted all over, such as is worn by the
Bacchantes. Having thus insinuated himself into their friendship, he by
degrees neglected Daphnis, but every day brought something to Chloe,
either a delicate cheese, or a chaplet of flowers, or a ripe apple. On
one occasion he brought her a mountain calf, a gilt drinking cup, and
the nestlings[13] of a wild bird. She, ignorant as she was of love's
artifices, received his gifts with pleasure;[14] chiefly pleased,
however, at having something to give Daphnis. One day it happened that
Dorco and he (for he likewise was destined to experience the pains and
penalties of love) had an argument on the subject of their respective
share of beauty. Chloe was to be umpire, and the victor's reward was to
be a kiss from her. Dorco, thus began--
"Maiden," said he, "I am taller than Daphnis, I am also a cowherd,
he, a goatherd, I therefore excel him as far as oxen are superior to
goats; I am fair as milk, and my hair brown as the ripe harvest field;
moreover, I had a mother to bring me up, not a goat. He, on the other
hand is short, beardless as a woman, and has a skin as tawny as a wolf;
while, from tending he-goats, he has contracted a goatish smell; he is
also so poor, that he cannot afford to keep even a dog; and if it be
true that a nanny gave him suck, he is no better[15] than a nanny's
son. "
Such was Dorco's speech; it was next the turn of Daphnis--
"It is true," said he, "that a she-goat suckled me, and so did a
she-goat suckle Jove; I tend he-goats and will bring them into better
condition than his oxen, but I smell of them no more than Pan does,
who has in him more of a goat than any thing else. I am content with
cheese, coarse bread,[16] and white wine, the food suitable for
country folk. I am beardless, so is Bacchus; I am dark complexioned,
so is the hyacinth; yet Bacchus is preferred before the satyr and the
hyacinth[17] before the lily. Now look at him, he is as sandy haired
as a fox, bearded as a goat, and smock-faced as any city wench. If you
have to bestow a kiss, it will be given to my mouth, whereas it will
be thrown away upon his bristles. Remember also, maiden, that you owe
_your_ nurture to a sheep, and yet this has not marred your beauty. "
Chloe could restrain herself no longer, but partly from pleasure at
his praising her, partly from a desire of kissing him, she sprang
forward and bestowed upon him the prize; an artless and unsophisticated
kiss,[18] but one well calculated to set his heart on fire. Upon this,
Dorco, in great disgust, took himself off, determined to seek some
other way of wooing. Daphnis, as though he had been stung instead of
kissed, became suddenly grave, felt a shivering all over, and could not
control the beating of his heart. He wished to gaze upon Chloe, but at
the first glance his face was suffused with blushes. For the first time
he admired her hair, because it was auburn; and her eyes, because they
were large[19] and brilliant; her countenance, because it was fairer
than even the milk of his own she-goats. One might have supposed that
he had just received the faculty of sight, having had till then, "no
speculation" in his eyes. [20]
From this moment, he took no food beyond the merest morsel, no drink
beyond what would just moisten his lips. Formerly more chattering than
the locusts, he became mute; he was now dull and listless, whereas
he had been more nimble than the goats. His flock was neglected, his
pipe was thrown aside; his face became paler than the summer-parched
herbage. Chloe alone could rouse his powers of speech; whenever he was
absent from her, he would thus fondly soliloquize:--
"What will be the result of this kiss of Chloe? her lips are softer
than rose-buds, and her mouth is sweeter than the honeycomb, but
this kiss has left a sting sharper than the sting of a bee! --I have
frequently kissed the kids, and the young puppies, and the calf which
Dorco gave me, but this kiss of Chloe is something quite new and
wonderful! My breath is gone, my heart pants, my spirit sinks within me
and dies away; and yet I wish to kiss again! [21] My victory has been
the source of sorrow and of a new disease, which I know not how to
name. Could Chloe have tasted poison before she permitted me to kiss
her? If so, how is it that she survives? How sweetly the nightingales
sing, while my pipe is mute! How gaily the kids skip and play, while
I sit listlessly by! The flowers are in full beauty, yet I weave no
garlands! The violets and the hyacinths are blooming, while Daphnis
droops and fades away. Alas! shall Dorco ever appear more beautiful in
Chloe's eyes, than I do! "
Such were the sensations of the worthy Daphnis, and thus he vented
his feelings. He now first felt the power, and now first uttered the
language of--LOVE.
In the mean time Dorco, the cowherd, who entertained a passion for
Chloe, watched an opportunity of addressing Dryas on the subject;
and finding him one day employed in planting a tree near one of his
vines, he approached carrying with him some fine cheeses. [22] First
of all he begged Dryas to accept of the cheeses as a present from an
old acquaintance and fellow herdsman; and then informed him of the
affection which he cherished towards his daughter Chloe. He promised
that, if he should be so happy as to obtain her for his wife, he was
prepared to offer him gifts, many and handsome, as a cowherd could
bestow,--a yoke of oxen fit for the plough, four hives of bees, fifty
young apple trees for planting, the hide of an ox, suitable for shoe
leather, and a weaned calf annually.
Dryas was almost tempted by these promises to give his assent to
the marriage; but on the other hand, reflecting that the maiden was
deserving of a better match, and fearing lest if ever discovered, he
might get himself into great trouble, he refused his assent, at the
same time intreating Dorco not to be affronted, and declining to accept
the gifts which he had enumerated.
Dorco being thus a second time disappointed of his hope, and having
given his cheese away to no purpose, conceived a plan of attacking
Chloe by force, whenever he should find her alone; and having observed
that she and Daphnis, on alternate days, conducted the herds to drink,
he contrived a scheme, worthy of a neatherd's brain. A large wolf had
been killed by his bull, who fought in defence of the herd; Dorco[23]
threw this wolf's skin over him, so that it completely covered his
back, reaching to the ground, and he adjusted it in such a manner, that
the skins of the fore feet were fitted over his hands, while those of
the hind feet spread down his legs to the very heels. The head, with
its gaping jaws, encased him as completely as a soldier's helmet.
Having thus "be-wolfed" himself as much as possible, he withdrew to
the spring, where the sheep and goats usually drank as they returned
from pasture. The spring was in a hollow, and around it the furze,
brambles, junipers, and thistles were so thick, that a real wolf
might easily choose it as a lair. Here Dorco concealed himself, and
anxiously waited for the time when the flocks should come to drink,
and when Chloe, as he hoped, would be so startled and terrified by his
appearance that he might easily seize her.
He had not remained long, when Chloe conducted the flock to the spring,
leaving Daphnis employed in cutting green leaves as fodder for the
kids in the evening. The dogs (the guardians of the sheep and goats)
accompanied Chloe, and scenting[24] about with their usual sagacity,
discovered Dorco, who was in the act of moving. Taking him for a wolf
they burst into full cry, rushed upon him, and seizing him before he
could recover from his astonishment, fixed their teeth in the skin.
This covering for a time protected him, and the shame of a discovery
operated so strongly that he lay quiet in the thicket; but when Chloe,
in her alarm at the first onset of the dogs, had called Daphnis to her
aid, and when the skin was torn off by his assailants, so that they
at length seized his flesh, he bawled out, entreating the assistance
of the maiden and of Daphnis, who had now arrived at the spot. The
dogs were easily appeased by the well-known voices of their master and
mistress, who took Dorco and conveyed him to the spring (soundly bitten
in the thighs and shoulders), where they washed his wounds, and chewing
some fresh elm bark spread it as a salve. Innocent themselves, and
totally ignorant of the desperate enterprizes of lovers, they imagined
that Dorco's disguise was a mere piece of rustic sport, and, so far
from being angry with him, they did their best to comfort him, led him
by the hand, part of the way home--and bade him farewell.
Dorco, after his narrow escape from the dog's, and not (according to
the old adage) from the wolf's mouth, retired home to nurse his wounds.
Daphnis and Chloe had great trouble during the remainder of the day in
collecting their sheep and goats, which, terrified at the sight of the
wolf, and by the barking of the dogs, had fled in different directions:
some had climbed the rocks, others had run down to the shore. They had,
indeed, been instructed to obey their master's call; in any alarm the
pipe was usually sufficient to soothe them, and if they were scattered,
a clapping of the hands would collect them; but the late sudden alarm
had made them forget their former discipline, so that Daphnis and
Chloe were compelled to track them, as they do hares; and with much
difficulty and trouble they brought them back to their cottages. That
night only the young man and maiden enjoyed sound sleep, their fatigue
furnishing a remedy for the pains of love. But with the morning their
usual sensations returned. When they met,--they rejoiced; when they
parted,--they were sad. They pined with grief. They wished for a
something, but they knew not what. This only they were aware of, that
the one had lost peace of mind by a kiss, the other by a bath.
The season,[25] moreover, added fuel to their fire; it was now the end
of spring; the summer had begun, and all things were in the height of
their beauty. The trees were covered with fruit; the fields with corn.
Charming was the chirp of the grasshoppers; sweet was the smell of the
fruit; and the bleating of the flocks was delightful. You might fancy
the rivers[26] to be singing, as they gently flowed along, the winds
to be piping, as they breathed[27] through the pines; and the apples
to be falling to the ground, sick of love; and that the sun, fond of
gazing upon natural beauty, was forcing every one to throw off their
garments. Daphnis felt all the warmth of the season, and plunged into
the rivers; sometimes he only bathed himself; sometimes he amused
himself with pursuing the fish, which darted in circles around him;
and sometimes he drank of the stream, as if to extinguish the flame
which he felt within. Chloe, when she had milked the goats and the
sheep, had great difficulty in setting her cream, for the flies were
very troublesome, and if driven away, they would bite her; after her
work was done, she washed her face, crowned herself with a garland of
pine-leaves, put on her girdle of fawn-skin, and filled a pail with
wine and milk as a beverage for herself and Daphnis. As mid-day heat
came on, the eyes of both were fascinated; she, beholding the naked
and faultless figure of Daphnis, was ready to melt with love; Daphnis,
on the other hand, beholding Chloe in her fawn-skin girdle and with
the garland of pine-leaves on her head, holding out the milk-pail
to him, fancied he beheld one of the Nymphs of the Grot, and taking
the garland from her head, he placed it on his own, first covering
it with kisses; while she, after often kissing it, put on his dress,
which he had stripped off in order to bathe. Sometimes they began in
sport to pelt[28] each other with apples, and amused themselves with
adorning each other's hair, carefully dividing it. She compared the
black hair of Daphnis to myrtle-berries; while he likened her cheeks to
apples,[29] because the white was suffused with red. He then taught her
to play on the pipe;--when she began to breathe into it, he snatched it
from her, ran over the reeds with his own lips, and under pretence of
correcting her mistakes, he in fact kissed her through the medium of
his pipe.
While he was thus playing in the heat of the noon-day, and their
flocks around them were reposing in the shade, Chloe imperceptibly
fell asleep. Daphnis laid down his pipe, and while gazing upon her
whole person with insatiable eyes, there being no one to inspire him
with shame; he thus murmured, directing his words to her:--"What eyes
are those, which are now closed in sleep! what a mouth is that, which
breathes so sweetly! no apples, no thickets, exhale so delicious a
scent! Ah! but I fear to kiss her! a kiss consumes me, and like new
honey,[30] maddens me! besides, a kiss would wake her! A plague upon
those chirping grasshoppers, their shrill notes will disturb my Chloe!
those vexatious goats, too, are clashing their horns together; surely
the wolves are grown more cowardly than foxes, that they do not come
and seize them! "
As he was thus soliloquizing, he was interrupted by a grasshopper,
which in springing from a swallow which pursued it, fell into Chloe's
bosom. The swallow was unable to take its prey, but hovered over
Chloe's cheek and touched it with its wings. The maiden screamed and
started; but seeing the swallow still fluttering near her, and Daphnis
laughing at her alarm, her fear vanished, and she rubbed her eyes,
which were still disposed to sleep. The grasshopper chirped from her
bosom, as if in gratitude for his deliverance. At the sound Chloe
screamed again; at which Daphnis laughed, and availing himself of the
opportunity, put his hand into her bosom and drew the happy chirper
from its place, which did not cease its note even when in his hand;
Chloe was pleased at seeing the innocent cause of her alarm, kissed it,
and replaced it, still singing, in her bosom.
At this moment they were delighted with listening to a ring-dove
in the neighbouring wood, and upon Chloe's inquiring what the bird
meant by its note, Daphnis told her the legend, which was commonly
current:--"There was a maiden, my love, who, like yourself, was
beautiful; like yourself, she tended large herds of cattle; and, like
yourself, she was in the flower of youth. She sang sweetly;--so
sweetly, that the herds were delighted with her song, and needed
neither the crook nor the goad to manage them; they obeyed her voice;
and remaining near listened to the maid, as she sat under the shade of
the pine crowned with a garland of its leaves, and singing the praises
of Pan,[31] and the nymph Pitys. A youth, who pastured his herds at a
little distance, and who was handsome, and fond as herself of melody,
vied with her in singing; as he was a man, his tones were deeper, but
as he was young, they were very sweet. He sang, and charmed away eight
of her best cows to his own pastures. The maiden was mortified at the
loss of her cattle, and at being so much surpassed in song; and, in her
despair, prayed the gods to convert her into a bird before she reached
her home. The gods assented to her prayer, and metamorphosed her into
a bird; under which form, as of old, she frequents the mountains, and
delights in warbling. Her note bespeaks her misfortune, for she is
calling her wandering cows. "
Such were the delights of summer. --Autumn was now advanced, and the
black grapes were ripening; when some pirates of Tyre, in a light
Carian bark,[32] that they might not appear to be foreigners, touched
at that coast and came on shore, armed with coats of mail and swords,
and plundered everything which fell in their way. They carried off
fragrant wine,[33] corn in great plenty, honey in the comb. They also
drove off some of Dorco's oxen, and seized Daphnis, who was musing
in a melancholy mood, and rambling alone by the sea-shore. For Chloe
being but young, was afraid of the insults of some of the saucy
shepherds, and therefore had not led out her flock so early from the
fold of Dryas. When the pirates saw this stout and handsome youth,
who, they knew, would be a prize of greater value than the plunder of
the fields, they took no more trouble about the goats, not did they
proceed farther, but carried off the unlucky Daphnis to their vessel,
weeping as he was hurried along, at a loss what to do, and calling
loudly upon Chloe. When they had put him on board, they slipped their
cable, and rowed from the shore. Chloe, in the mean time, who was still
driving her flock, and carrying in her hand a new pipe as a present for
Daphnis, when she saw the goats running about in confusion, and heard
Daphnis calling out to her every moment in a louder voice, quitted her
sheep, threw down the pipe, and ran to Dorco beseeching him to assist
her. --He had been severely wounded by the pirates, and was lying upon
the ground still breathing, the blood flowing from him in streams. At
the sight of Chloe, reviving a little owing to the force of his former
love, he exclaimed, "I shall shortly be no more, dear Chloe; I fought
in defence of my oxen, and some of the rascally pirates have beaten me
as they would have done an ox. Save your beloved Daphnis, revenge me,
and destroy them. I have taught my cows to follow the sound of this
pipe, and to obey its melody, even if they be feeding at the greatest
distance. Take this pipe; breathe in it those notes, in which I once
instructed Daphnis, and in which Daphnis instructed you. Do this, and
leave the issue to the pipe and the cows. Moreover I make you a present
of the pipe; with it I have obtained the prize from many a shepherd and
many a herdsman. In return give me but one kiss, while I yet live; and
when I am dead, shed a tear over me: and when you see another tending
my flocks, remember Dorco. "
Here he ceased, gave her a last kiss, and with the kiss resigned his
breath. Chloe put the pipe to her lips, and blew with all her might.
The cows began to low at hearing the well-known note, and leaped all at
once into the sea. As they all plunged from the same side, and caused
a mighty chasm in the waters the vessel lurched, the waves closed over
it, and it sank. The crew and Daphnis fell into the sea, but they had
not equal chances for preservation. The pirates were encumbered with
their swords, scaled breast-plates, and greaves reaching to mid-leg:
whereas Daphnis, who had been feeding his flocks in the plains, had
not even his sandals on; and the weather being still very warm, he
was half-naked. All swam for a little time, but their armour soon sunk
the foreigners to the bottom. Daphnis easily threw off the garments
which remained to encumber him, but, accustomed to swim only in
rivers, buoyed himself up with great difficulty: at length, taught by
necessity, he struck forward between two of the cows, grasped a horn of
each of them, and was carried along as securely and as easily, as if
he had been riding in his own wain. Oxen, be it observed, are better
swimmers than men, or indeed than any animals, except aquatic birds and
fish, nor are they in any danger of drowning unless their hoofs become
softened by the water. The fact of many places being still called
_Ox-fords_,[34] will bear out the truth of my assertion.
Thus was Daphnis delivered from two perils--from the pirates and from
shipwreck, and in a manner beyond all expectation. When he reached the
shore, he found Chloe smiling through her tears: he fell on her bosom,
and inquired, what had led her to play that particular tune. --She
related everything which had occurred--her running to Dorco--the habit
of his cows--HIS ordering her to pipe that tune, and finally his death,
but through a feeling of shame she said nothing of the kiss.
They now determined to pay the last honours to their benefactor;
accordingly they came with the neighbours and relatives of the
deceased, and buried him. They then threw up over his grave a large
pile of earth, and planted about it various trees, and suspended
over it[35] the emblems of their calling; in addition to which they
poured libations of milk and of juice expressed from the grapes, and
broke many pastoral pipes. Mournful lowings of the cattle were heard,
accompanied with unwonted and disorderly movements, which the shepherds
believed to be lamentations and tokens of sorrow on the part of the
herd for their departed herdsman. [36]
After the funeral of Dorco, Chloe led Daphnis to the grotto of the
Nymphs, where she washed him; and then, for the first time in his
presence, bathed her own person, fair and radiant with beauty, and
needing no bath to set off its comeliness. Then, after gathering the
flowers which the season afforded, they crowned the statues with
garlands, and suspended Dorco's pipe as a votive offering to the
Nymphs. Having done this they returned to look for their flocks, which
they found lying on the ground neither feeding nor bleating, but
looking about, as if waiting in suspense for their re-appearance. When
they came in view of them, and called to them in their usual manner,
and sounded their pipes, the sheep got up, and began to feed, while the
goats skipped about, and bleated as if exulting at the safety of their
herdsman. But Daphnis could not attune his soul to joy; after seeing
Chloe naked, and her formerly concealed beauties unveiled, he felt an
inward pain as though preyed upon by poison. His breath went and came
as though he were flying from some pursuer; and then it failed, as
though he were exhausted with running. Chloe had come from the bath
with redoubled charms, and the bath was thus more fatal to Daphnis
than the ocean. As for himself, he attributed his feelings to being,
in fancy, still among the thieves,[37]--rustic as he was, and as yet
ignorant of the thievish tricks of love.
[Footnote 1: Compare the description of the Grotto of the Nymphs in
Ithaca. Odys. B. xiii.
----"A pleasant cave
Umbrageous, to the Nymphs devoted, nam'd
The Naiads--Beakers in that cave and jars
Of stone are found; bees lodge their honey there;
And there on slender spindles of the rock
The nymphs of rivers weave their wondrous robes,
Perennial springs rise in it. "--Cowper.
]
[Footnote 2:
Kένταυρoς ζαμενής,
ἀγᾶνᾳ χλαρὸν γελάσσαις ὀφρύῖ. --Pindar.
]
[Footnote 3: ἡ ὧα--rendered by the Latin translation, "fastigium;" by
the Italian, "giro;" by the French, "voûte"--is not to be found, in
that sense, in Liddell and Scott's Lexicon. ]
[Footnote 4: Theoc. Idyll, xx. 28. enumerates these instruments:--
Άδὺ δέ μοι τὸ μέλισμα, καὶ ἢv σύριγγι μελίσδω,
Κἤν αὐλῶ λαλεώ, κἢν δώνακι, κἢν πλαγιαύλῳ--
The πλαγίαύλος resembled the German flute. ]
[Footnote 5: The περισκέλις (in Latin, Periscelis--see Hor. Epist.
1. xvii. 56,) was an anklet or bangle, commonly worn not only by the
Orientals, the Egyptians, and the Greeks, but by the Roman ladies also.
It is frequently represented in the paintings of Greek figures on the
walls of Pompeii. --Dict. of Greek and Rom. Antiq. ]
[Footnote 6: See Theoc. Idyl. 1. 52. --
"Αὐτὰρ ὃy' ανθερίκίσσι καλάν πλέκει ἀκριδοθήκαv. "
]
[Footnote 7: σπουδὴν ἀνέπλaσε. ]
[Footnote 8: ἐδίωκε τὸν διῶκοντα. ]
[Footnote 9: ταινιάν--either a head-band or breast-band. ]
[Footnote 10: What now follows, as far as the soliloquy on Chloe's
kiss, is a translation of the fragment discovered by M. Courier, in
the Laurentian Library at Florence, in 1809, which supplies the hiatus
deflendus which till then interrupted the narrative. ]
[Footnote 11:
----"οῖστροπληξ δ' ἐγὼ
μάστιγι θείᾳ γῆν πρὸ γῆς ελαύνομαι. "
Æsch. P. V. 681. See also Virg. G. iii. 145-151.
]
[Footnote 12: So, Theocritus--"Σύριγγ' ἔχω εννεάφωνον. " Idyl. viii. 21.
The shepherd's pipe was in general composed of seven unequal reeds
compacted with wax, and consequently was only seven-toned.
"Est mihi disparibus _septem_ compacta cicutis
Fistula. "--Virg. Ec. ii. 36.
]
[Footnote 13: "Parta meæ Veneri sunt præmia; namque notavi, Ipse locum
aëriæ quo congessere palumbes. " Virg. Ec. "I have found out a gift for
my fair, I have found where the wood-pigeons breed. " Shenstone. ]
[Footnote 14: ἔχαιρε--ἔχαιρεν. ]
[Footnote 15: oὐδὲν ἔριφων διαφέρει. ]
[Footnote 16: ἄρτoς ὀβελίας--Bread baked or toasted on a spit. ]
[Footnote 17:
"Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur. "
Virg. Ec. ii. 18.
]
[Footnote 18: No doubt she took him by the tips of his ears. This mode
of salutation was called χύτρα, the pot-kiss, (alluding to the double
handles of a pot. ) In after times it took the name of the Florentine
kiss. "Warton quotes an old gentleman, who says, that when disposed
to kiss his wife with unusual tenderness, he always gave her the
Florentine kiss. --Chapman's Theocritus. "
Όὐκ ἕραμ' Άλκίππας, ὃτι με πράν ὀυκ ἐφιλασεν
Τῶν ὤτων καθελοῖσ'. "--Idyl. v. 135.
]
[Footnote 19: διαυγεῖς. Another reading is,--καθάπερ βοὸς,--equivalent
to the βoῶπις of Homer. Sappho uses the same comparison. ]
[Footnote 20:
"But love first learned in a lady's eyes,
Lives not alone immured in the brain.
. . . . . .
It adds a precious _seeing to the eye_. "--Shaks.
]
[Footnote 21:
"Αλλὰ καμμὲν γλῶσσ' ἔαγ', ἄν δἐ λεπτὸν
Αὐτίκα χρῶ πῦρ ὺποδεδρόμακεν,
Όμμάτεσσιν δ' σὐδὲν ὄρημι, βομβεῦσιν δ' ακοαί μοι·
Καδ' δ' ἱδρὠς ψυχρὸς χεἐται τρόμος δὲ
Πᾶσαν αἱρεῖ· χρωροτέρη δὲ ποίας
Έμμί· τεθνᾶναι δ' ὀλίγου δἐοισα
Φαίνομαι ἄπνους. "--Sappho.
]
[Footnote 22: The reading in Courier's edition, μετά τυρίσκων τινῶν
γενικῶν, has been here followed, instead of the common one, which
yields no very clear sense--συρίγγων τινῶν γαμικῶν. ]
[Footnote 23:
"Εσσατο δ' ἔκτοσθε' ῥινὸν πoλιθῖο λύκοιο
Κρατὶ δ' ἔπι κτιδέην κυνέην. "--Iliad, x. 334.
From the example of Dorco, this became a favourite stratagem among
pastoral characters. In the Pastor Fido (act iv. sc. 2) Dorinda
disguises herself as a wolf, and the troubadour Vidal was hunted down
in consequence of a similar experiment. --Dunlop. ]
[Footnote 24: "odora canum vis. "--Virg. Æn. iv. 132. ]
[Footnote 25:
"Flush'd by the spirit of the genial year,
Now from the virgin's cheeks, a fresher bloom
Shoots, less and less, the live carnation round;
Her lips blush deeper sweets; she breathes of youth;
The shining moisture swells into her eyes
In brighter flow; her wishing bosom heaves
With palpitation wild; kind tumults seize
Her veins, and all her yielding soul is love.
From the keen gaze her lover turns away
Full of the dear ecstatic power, and sick
With sighing languishment. "--Thomson.
]
[Footnote 26:
"A noise like that of a hidden brook
In the leafy month of June,
That to the sleeping woods all night
Singeth a quiet tune. "--Coleridge.
]
[Footnote 27:
"Αδύ τι τὸ ψιθύρισμα, καὶ ἁ πίτυς αἰπόλε, τήνα,
Ἃ ποτὶ ταῖς παγαῖσi μελίσδεται. "--Theoc. Idyll. i. 1.
]
[Footnote 28: A favourite amusement with lovers:--
"Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella. "--Virg. Ec. iii. 64.
"Βάλλει καὶ μάλοισι τὸν αἰπόλον ἁ Κλεαρίστα. "
Theoc. Idyl. v. 36.
]
[Footnote 29:
"Her cheeks so rare a white was on,
No daisy makes comparison,
(Who sees them is undone);
For streaks of red are mingled there,
Such as are on a Cath'rine pear,
(The side that's next the sun). "--Suckling.
]
[Footnote 30: Xenophon (Anab. iv. 8, 20), gives an account of the
Greeks in their retreat eating new honey; they were for a time, he
says, frantic, were seized with vomiting and purging, and were unable
to stand upon their feet; some died from its effects. ]
[Footnote 31:
. . . . "Pan
Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans. "--Lucret. iv. 589.
Pan fell in love with the nymph Pitys; his rival Boreas blew the nymph
from a rock and killed her. Pan, unable to save, changed her into a
pine tree--πίτυς. ]
[Footnote 32: ἡμιoλία, a light vessel with one and a half banks of
oars. ]
[Footnote 33: οἶνος ἀνθοσμίας, either fine old wine, or wine scented
with the juices of flowers. See a note of Cookesley on Arist. Plut.
788; also a passage in Xen. Hell. vi. 11. 6. ]
[Footnote 34: In the P. V. of Æschylus, l. 732, Prometheus tells Io;
"Ἔσται δὲ θνητοΐς εἰσαεὶ λόγος μέγας
Tῆς σῆς πορείας, Βόσπορος δ' ἐπώνυμος
Κεκλήσεται. "
The true etymology however is to be found in the signification of βοῦς
and ἵππος--which in composition means size. ]
[Footnote 35: See ch. 2. ]
[Footnote 36: θρῆνος τῶν βοῶν ἐπὶ βουκόλῳ.
Theocritus in Idyll, i. 74, represents the herds as mourning their
master's death--
"Πολλαί oι πὰρ ποσσί βόες, πολλοὶ δέ τε ταῦροι,
Πολλαὶ δ' αὖ δαμάλαι καὶ πόρτιες ὠδύραντο--"
]
[Footnote 37: παρὰ τοῖς λησταὶς, . . . τὸ ἔρωτος ληστήριον--]
BOOK II.
It was now the middle of autumn:--the vintage[1] was at hand, and every
one was busy in the fields. One[2] prepared the wine-presses, another
cleansed the casks, and another twisted the osiers into baskets.
Each had a separate employ--in providing short pruning hooks, to cut
the grapes; or a heavy stone, to pound them; or dry vine branches,
previously well bruised, to serve as torches, so that the must might be
carried away at night.
Daphnis and Chloe neglected for a time their flocks and mutually
assisted one another. He carried the clusters in baskets, threw them
into the wine-presses, trod them, and drew off the wine into casks;
she prepared their meals for the grape-gatherers, brought old wine
for their drink, and plucked off the lowest bunches. Indeed, all the
vines in Lesbos were of lowly growth, and instead of shooting upwards,
or twining around trees, they spread their branches downwards, which
trailed along, like ivy, so close to the ground, that even an infant
might reach the fruit.
The women, who, according to the custom at this festival of Bacchus,
and birth of the vine, were called from the neighbouring villages to
lend their assistance, all cast their eyes upon Daphnis, and exclaimed
that he was equal in beauty to Bacchus himself. One of the most forward
of these wenches gave him a kiss, which inflamed Daphnis, but sadly
grieved poor Chloe.
On the other hand, the men who were treading the wine-press indulged
in all manner of jests about Chloe, they danced round her as furiously
as so many Bacchanals round a Bacchante, and exclaimed that they would
gladly become sheep to be fed by her hand. These compliments delighted
Chloe, but tormented poor Daphnis.
Each of them wished the vintage over, that they might return to their
usual haunts, and instead of this discordant din might hear the sound
of their pipe, and the bleating of their sheep. In a few days the vines
were stript,--the casks were filled,--there was no longer any need of
more hands, they therefore drove their flocks to the plain. In the
first place, with sincere delight they went to pay their adoration
to the Nymphs, and carried vine-branches with clusters of grapes on
them, as first-fruit offerings from the vintage. Indeed, they never
had hitherto passed by the Grotto without some token of respect, but
always saluted them as they passed by with their flocks to their
morning pasture, and when they returned in the evening, they paid their
adoration, and presented, as an offering, either a flower, or some
fruit, or a green leaf, or a libation of milk. This piety, as we shall
see, had in the end its due reward. At the time we speak of, like young
hounds just let loose, they leaped about, they piped, they sang, and
wrestled and played with their goats and sheep.
While thus sporting and enjoying themselves, an old man, clothed in a
coarse coat of skin, with shoes of undressed leather on his feet, and
with a wallet (which, by the by, was a very old one) at his back, came
up, seated himself near them, and addressed them as follows:--
"I who now address you, my children, am Philetas. I have often sung
the praises of the Nymphs of yonder Grotto--I have often piped in
honour of Pan, and have guided my numerous herd by the music of my
voice. I come to acquaint you with what I have seen and heard. I have
a garden[3] which I cultivate with my own hands, and in which I have
always worked, since I became too old to tend my herds. In it is every
production of the different seasons; in spring it abounds with roses,
lilies, hyacinths, and either kind of violets; in summer with poppies,
pears, and apples of every sort; and now in autumn, with grapes, figs,
pomegranates, and green myrtles. A variety of birds fly into it every
morning, some in search of food, and some to warble in the shade; for
the over-arching boughs afford thick shade, and three fountains water
the cool retreat. Were it not inclosed with a wall, it might be taken
for a natural wood. As I entered it to-day, about noon, I espied a
little boy under my pomegranates and myrtles, some of which he had
gathered; and was holding them in his hands. His complexion was white
as milk, his hair a bright yellow, and he shone as if he had just been
bathing. He was naked and alone, and amused himself with plucking
the fruit with as much freedom as if it had been his own garden.
Apprehensive that in his wantonness he would commit more mischief and
break my plants, I sprang forward to seize him, but the urchin lightly
and easily escaped from me, sometimes running under rose-trees, and
sometimes hiding himself like a young partridge under the poppies.
"I have frequently been fatigued with catching my sucking kids, or my
new-dropt calves; but as to this mischievous creature, in perpetual
motion, it was utterly impossible to lay hold of him. Old as I am I
was soon weary with the pursuit; so, leaning on my staff for support,
and keeping my eyes on him lest he should escape, I asked him to what
neighbour he belonged, and what he meant by gathering what grew in
another person's garden.
"He made no reply, but approaching very near me, smiled sweetly in my
face, and pelted me with myrtle-berries, and (I know not how) so won
upon me, that my anger was appeased. I intreated him to come close
to me, and assured him that he need not be afraid, swearing by the
myrtles, by the apples, and by the pomegranates of my garden, that I
wished only to give him one kiss, for which he should ever afterwards
have liberty to gather as much fruit, and to pluck as many flowers as
he pleased.
"Upon hearing me thus address him, he burst into a merry laugh, and
with a voice sweeter than that of the swallow or the nightingale, or
of the swan when grown aged like myself, he replied: 'I grudge you
not a kiss, Philetas, for I have more pleasure in being kissed, than
you would have in growing young again; but consider whether the gift
would suit your time of life; for, old as you are, one kiss would not
satisfy you, nor prevent you from running after me, while if even a
hawk, an eagle, or any other swifter bird, were to pursue me, it would
pursue in vain. I am not the child which I appear to be; but I am older
than Saturn, ay, older than Time himself. I knew you well, Philetas,
when you were in the flower of your youth, and when you tended your
widely-scattered flock in yonder marsh. I was near you, when you sat
beneath those beech-trees, and were wooing your Amaryllis: I was close
to the maiden, but you could not discern me. I gave her to you, and
some fine boys, who are now excellent husbandmen and herdsmen, are the
pledges of your love. At this present time I am tending Daphnis and
Chloe like a shepherd; and when I have brought them together in the
morning, I retire to your garden: here I disport myself among your
flowers and plants, and here I bathe in your fountain. Through me it is
that your flowers and shrubs are so beauteous, for the waters, which
have bathed me, refresh them. Look now, if any of your plants be broken
down! --see, if any of your fruit be plucked! --examine whether the stalk
of any flower be crushed--or the clearness of any one of your fountains
be disturbed! and rejoice that you alone, in your old age, have had
the privilege of beholding the boy who is now before you. ' With these
words he sprang like the youngling of a nightingale among the myrtles,
and climbing from bough to bough, ascended through the foliage to the
summit of the tree. I observed wings upon his shoulders, and between
them a tiny bow and arrows; but in a moment I could neither see him
nor them. Unless I have grown grey in vain, unless I have got into my
dotage in growing old, you may rely on me, when I assure you, that you
are consecrate to LOVE, and that you are under his peculiar care. "
Daphnis and Choe were delighted, but they regarded what they had heard
as an amusing story rather than a sober fact; and inquired of Philetas
who and what this LOVE could be? whether he were a boy or a bird? and
of what powers he was possessed? "My young friends," said Philetas,
"he is a god, young, beautiful, and ever on the wing. He rejoices,
therefore, in the company of youth, he is ever in search of beauty, and
adds wings to the souls of those he favours. [4] He has power far beyond
that of Jove himself. He commands the elements, he rules the stars, and
even the gods themselves, who are otherwise his equals;[5] your power
over your flocks is nothing compared to his. All these flowers are
the works of love: these plants are effects produced by him. Through
him these rivers flow, and these zephyrs breathe. I have seen a bull
smitten by his power, who bellowed as though breeze-stung. [6] I have
seen the goat enamoured of the female, and following her everywhere.
I myself was once young, I felt his influence, I loved Amaryllis. I
thought not of my food, I cared not for my drink; I could take no rest,
for sleep was banished from my eyelids. My soul was sad--my heart beat
quick--my limbs felt a deadly chill. Now I cried aloud, as if I had
been beaten; now I was as silent as if I were dead; and now I plunged
into the rivers, as if to extinguish the flame which consumed me. I
invoked Pan to assist me, inasmuch as he had known what it was to love
his Pitys. I poured forth praises to the Nymph Echo for repeating the
name of my Amaryllis: in anger I broke my pipe because it could soothe
my herds, but could not prevail over Amaryllis; for there is no mighty
magic against love; no medicine, whether in food or drink: nothing, in
short, save kisses[7] and embraces, and the closest union of the naked
body. "
Philetas, having given them this information, bade them farewell; but
before permitting him to depart, they presented him with a cheese, and
a kid with newly budding horns.
Daphnis and Chloe, left to themselves, mused in silence upon the name
of Love, which they had now heard for the first time. Sorrow seemed to
have stupified them, till at night, as they returned home, they began
to compare their own sensations with what they had heard from Philetas.
"According to Philetas, lovers are sad--so are we; they neglect their
calling--so do we; they cannot sleep--no more can we. A fire appears
to burn within them--we feel this fire; they long for the sight of one
another--we, too, are always wishing for the day to dawn. Our disorder
must be love, and we have loved each other without being aware of it.
If this be not love, and if we be not mutually lovers, why are we
thus sad? why do we so eagerly seek each other? All that Philetas has
told us is true. The boy, whom he saw in the garden, is the same who
appeared to our parents in the dream, and commanded that we should
follow the pastoral life. How is it possible to catch the urchin? He
is little and will escape from us. At the same time, who can escape
from him? He has wings, and will pursue us. We must away to the Nymphs
and implore their assistance. And yet Pan could not assist Philetas
when in love with Amaryllis. We must seek the remedies which the old
man suggested--kisses and embraces, and lying naked upon the grass;
we shall feel it very cold, but we will bear what Philetas has borne
before us. " Thus were their thoughts employed during the night. The
next morning, after driving their flocks to pasture, they for the first
time kissed each other upon meeting, and afterwards mutually embraced.
The third remedy they were afraid of; the lying naked upon the grass
appeared too bold a step for a maiden, nay, even for a youthful
goatherd. Again, therefore, they passed a sleepless night, calling to
mind what they had done, regretting what they had omitted. "We kissed,"
said they, "and are none the better; we embraced, and have found no
relief. This lying side by side must needs be the sole remedy for
love; assuredly it will prove more efficacious than the kiss and the
embrace. " As might have been expected, their dreams were akin to their
daily thoughts. In sleep they kissed and they embraced; in sleep they
did that which they had omitted to do during the day. Next morning they
rose more than ever inflamed with passion, and hissed[8] along their
flocks, all the while in anticipation of the kiss. They came in sight
of one another, their faces mutually beaming with delight.
