DAPHNIS ECLOGUE.

Because he wore down the broken earth with the hard plowshare,
Pitying her The earth, personified so strong, he draws deep sighs;
And he addresses the ox-kind with a useless lament:
"Ah, unhappy cattle, the herd! There were ages
When you did not groan under the hard weight of the plow,
Nor did the sailor constantly call the stars by your name.
Then the faithful, pious Virgin The constellation Virgo, often identified with Justice (Astraea) had not yet left the lands—
She who carries the ear of grain Ceres' grain; the star Spica in her hand;
Whether she be Erigone, daughter of Icarus original: "Icariotis", whose faithful little dog
Showed her her father, slain by an unworthy slaughter, as she sought him;
And she, a companion to her mistress, found a companion for her master Orion original: "Oarioni"
Among the stars, a smaller ally among the greater:
Or whether she be more likely born of the blood of Astraeus,
Who bestowed an eternal name upon the stars from her own father:
Or whether she be the most just offspring of ancient Themis,
Who, having turned away, loathed to see you burdened by the yoke,
While the Bronze Age rose up, the better times having been driven out:
Or whether she be nourishing Ceres; shuddering, a fugitive, to see
You also being slaughtered; the Iron race The current, most corrupt age of man leaves nothing worse undared,
Being the enemy of the Gods themselves:
Whom—as if it were too little to have driven them from the earth
(For you, O Gods, inhabited that as well)—it attempted to drive from heaven."
Then he curses the Giants supported by snakes;
Porphyrion, terrifying all things with his menacing stature;
And Rhoecus; and the immense Gyges, and the mighty Mimas;
And Enceladus; and Aegeon, whirling a hundred hands;
And, whom no one equals in ferocity, dread Typhoeus,
Who dared to attack the Gods when they were put to flight from the earth,
And filled the whole heaven with a great tumult,
Grimly hurling mountain-ashes torn up from everywhere
From the mounds of mountains heaped up from piles.
He adds how the High Ones sought to deceive with a false face
The earth-born youth The Giants as they broke into the holy inner-sanctuaries
Of the Gods; and with fear being distributed:
Until, by the waters of the widely-stagnant Nile,
Pan took on the horrific appearance of the Goat-Horned One Capricorn; original: "Aegocerotis";
And with an ambiguous sound he encouraged the Gods to arms,
And forced all the snake-footed ones to turn their backs in fear:
And how the Donkeys, destined to be gifted to heaven, increased the terror
With a mass of voices and a fear-inducing, rattling crash.