dwelt by Anapus, on a time, the strong Polyphemus who hurled at ships
with mountains? Had these ever such a draught as ye nymphs bade flow
for us by the altar of Demeter of the threshing-floor?

Ah, once again may I plant the great fan on her corn-heap, while she
stands smiling by, with sheaves and poppies in her hands.



IDYL VIII



The scene is among the high mountain pastures of Sicily:-

'On the sword, at the cliff top
Lie strewn the white flocks,'

and far below shines and murmurs the Sicilian sea. Here Daphnis and
Menalcas, two herdsmen of the golden age, meet, while still in their
earliest youth, and contend for the prize of pastoral. Their songs,
in elegiac measure, are variations on the themes of love and
friendship (for Menalcas sings of Milon, Daphnis of Nais), and of
nature. Daphnis is the winner,- it is his earliest victory, and the
prelude to his great renown among nymphs and shepherds. In this
version the strophes are arranged as in Fritzsche's text. Some
critics take the poem to be a patchwork by various hands.

As beautiful Daphnis was following his kine, and Menalcas shepherding
his flock, they met, as men tell, on the long ranges of the hills.