from the Idylls (translated by Robert Wells)

Idyll 3

I am going to serenade Amaryllis. My goats
Graze on the hill. Tityrus is there to guard them.
Tityrus, do me a favour, look after the goats,
Drive them to water, Tityrus. Watch out for the billy,
The yellow one from Libya, or he will butt you.

*

'I am here, Amaryllis. What has become of your love?
Where is the glance that would call me into your cave?

Tell me what fault you found when you saw me close.
Must I hang for a hairy chin or turned-up nose?

I have brought you a gift, ten apples. There, you can see!
Tomorrow I'll bring ten more from your chosen tree.'

*

'Lucky the bee as it flits through the curtain drawn
Across the cave, dark ivy and maidenhair fern.
O pity my restless heart! Look how I pine!

Now I know Love as he is, an angry god
...