Dum sedet et gracili fiscellam texit hibiscō,
Pierides; vōs haec faciētis māxima Gallō,
Gallō cuius amor tantum mihi crescit in hōrās,
Quantum vēre novo viridis se subicit alnus.
Surgāmus solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra;
Iūniperi gravis umbra; nocent et frūgibus umbrae.
Ite domum saturae, venit Hesperus, īte capellae.

75, 76. The shade is hurtful, either as conveying the damp and chill of the now gathering evening, or for some reason not mentioned. There was, however, a superstition about certain trees. Cf. Lucretius, VI. 783:

Arboribus primum certis gravis umbra tributa

Usque adeo, capitis faciant ut saepe dolores,

75

Siquis eas subter iacuit prostratus in herbis.

Est etiam magnis Heliconis montibus arbos

Floris odore hominem taetro consueta

necare.

77. Thus naturally the curtain falls on the scene, and thus gracefully the poet closes his volume of Eclogues.

Now thy Forum roars no longer; fallen every purple Caesar's dome. Tennyson.

VOCABULARY