Titulu, you are lying high under the beech tree.
Try to play Shan Ye's Qingge with that slender reed flute;
I will leave my hometown and lovely countryside.
I fled to other countries; You are leisurely in the shade,
Let the mountains echo your praise of the beautiful ammari pear.
Titulu
Meliber, God gave me this convenience,
I will always worship him as a god, his altar.
I will always pollute it with the blood of my own lamb.
As you can see, he allowed my cattle and sheep to roam freely.
So I can play the wild flute at will.
Meliber
I'm not jealous, I'm just surprised at the whole countryside.
What a mess. Look, I'm sick,
I want to drive the sheep, but this one can't keep up.
Because it just gave birth to a pair of lambs in the hazel bush,
What we hoped for was abandoned on bare rocks;
If I hadn't been confused, I should have foreseen this disaster.
Remember the omen that lightning breaks the oak tree?
But who is that god, Titulu? Please tell me.
Titulu
Meliber, that's what I thought before,
I think people say that Rome is very similar to our town.
This is the market where our shepherds often drive lambs.
Just as a puppy is like a big dog and a lamb is like a big sheep,
I am used to treating the small and the big as the same kind.
This capital is the most outstanding of all cities,
Just like pine and cypress compared with humble hazelnut.
Meliber
What's so important that you should visit Rome?
Titulu
Freedom finally pitied my lazy life,
I lost my gray hair when I trimmed my beard.
Although I am old, freedom has finally come to me.
When Galatia left, when Amari pear was Lord,
Because I admit, when Galatia takes up my time,
I have no intention of getting rich, and I have no hope of freedom;
No matter how much I sacrificed from the sheepfold,
Or how much cheese to squeeze for that heartless city,
I have never come home with heavy money.
Meliber
Why Ganli pear is sad once surprised me.
She called the name of God and left the apple on the branch:
It's all because you're not around, even this pine and cypress,
This clear spring and fruit tree are also calling you.
Titulu
what can I do? Can neither be free from slavery,
I can't find any god to protect me,
Meliber, that's when I met that man,
I sacrifice to him for twelve days every year,
This is the first time that my request has been approved:
"You can feed your sheep and raise your cattle as before."
Meliber
The old man is so lucky that your land can still be saved.
That's enough for you, even in barren sand.
Mudflats in swamps invade all fields,
Pregnant ewes never have to graze in a foreign land.
Nor will it spread diseases near other people's sheep.
The old man is really lucky. This is the waterfront you are familiar with.
Beside the holy spring, you can enjoy the cool;
Here, the flowers on hazelnuts are the same as before.
Some bees collect honey water from flowers,
And often use soft voice to make people fall asleep;
People pruning grapes under high rocks are singing in the breeze.
Your favorite pigeon is also cooing,
The turtledoves on the elm tree constantly echo each other.
Titulu
Even if wild deer wander in the sky and fly in the air,
Even if the sea dries up and leaves the fish on the bare shore,
Even in other parts of the east and western Germanic countries,
Let's drink by the opposite river and change the area.
I can't forget that man's face in my heart.
Meliber
Now some of us are going to the thirsty north shore of Africa,
Have a plenty of go to Sogdian, go to Wuhu water that collides with gravel.
Some people are going to England, to the end of the world?
Ah, in what distant future can I return to my hometown,
Seeing thatch piled on the roof of my hut again,
Enjoy my little harvest, my own kingdom?
The cultivated land will be occupied by rude troops,
Aliens will take our fruits. This is all war.
Give us disaster and give our land to these people.
What pears do you pick and grapes do you grow now?
Go, my sheep, you were my pride,
I'll never see you in a green cave again,
Or stay between the wooded cliffs;
I'll never sing again, sheep. I can't take you away anymore.
To eat blooming lilacs and bitter hazelnuts.
Titulu
But you can stay with me for one night,
Make a bed with green leaves. I have ripe apples.
Soft chestnuts and many cheeses can also be eaten.
Now the thatched roof of the hut is beginning to smoke.
Longer shadows fell from the mountains.
(translated by Yang)
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Virgil was the most important poet in the period of Augustus in ancient Rome. His most important work is the epic Aeneas, but his pastoral poems and agricultural poems written in his early years are also excellent. His first book of poetry, Pastoral, contains 10 poems, which mainly fictionalize the life and love of some shepherds, express pastoral happiness through dialogue or duet, and sometimes involve some political issues.
This poem is the first pastoral poem, which depicts the beautiful harmony of simple rural life in ancient Rome and the suffering brought by the war to the working people with beautiful words, and expresses the poet's praise and gratitude to the Roman rulers.
Although Virgil is famous for his epic, he is first and foremost an excellent pastoral poet. Because he lived in the countryside of northern Italy since childhood, and because of his keen poet temperament, he has a profound and meticulous feeling for the beauty of nature. In his works, the rural scenery is so beautiful. Flowers on hazel bushes, pigeons cooing incessantly, sheep exposed in green caves, smoke from thatched roofs, and long shadows of mountains in the evening are all intoxicating. The shepherd's life is so carefree, playing the wild flute, enjoying the cool by the holy spring and singing in the wind under the high rocks, all of which are so enviable; Man and nature are so harmonious: the shepherd lying high under the beech tree, the old man sleeping in the soft voice of bees, and the love songs echoing in the mountains are all so desirable. It makes people read as if they have the taste of Tao Yuanming's poems, but they are less lofty and more naive.
It can be said that literature is always inevitably related to politics, and like love, politics is also the eternal theme of literary works. Virgil lived in the era when Octavian entered the political arena, engaged in civil war and unified Rome. The 43 years of Octavian's rule was the richest era of ancient Roman economy and the "golden age" of ancient Roman literature. It is said that during the Civil War, Virgil's grange was confiscated by Augustus to reward veterans. Later, with the help of MacDonald, he regained the land. From then on, Virgil became a member of MacDonald Literature Group and a loyal supporter of Octavian. This pastoral not only shows Virgil's aversion to war, but also expresses his support for the Roman rulers.
First of all, the poet shows the suffering brought by the war through the fictional shepherd "Meliber". The old shepherd who drove the sheep sick, the poor little lamb who was abandoned on the bare rock at birth, and the planting land occupied by the station troops all showed the hegemony and cruelty of the war.
The war not only broke the peaceful life of shepherds, but also destroyed the production of agriculture and animal husbandry, forcing people to leave their homes and suffering from the sadness and homesickness of Lebanon and Xiaomi. The war will drive "us" to remote places such as the north shore of Africa, Sogdian, Wuhu Water and the British Isles. It will be difficult for us to return to our native land and see thatch piled on the roof of my hut, taking the sheep "to eat blooming lilacs and bitter hazelnuts". The feeling of leaving home is beyond words.
Secondly, the poet euphemistically expressed his praise, gratitude and loyalty to the Roman rulers through Titulu's lucky mouth.
Titulu praised Rome: Rome is not "similar to our town" as I once imagined, but "outstanding in many cities,/like pines and cypresses compared with humble hazelnuts". Titulu praised Amari pear: "Although I am old and dying, freedom finally came to me,/when Galatia left and Amari pear was the main thing"; Titulu was dissatisfied with his life with Galatia: "When Galatia occupied my time,/I had no intention of getting rich and had no hope of freedom"; No matter how much sacrifice and cheese "I" took out, "I didn't go home with heavy money". Titulu loves today's free life, so he is grateful to the "gods" and "people" who gave him this life: "Even if wild deer roam in the sky", "Even if the sea dries up" and "Even if the rest of the East and the Germans in the West/drink water on the opposite river and change places,/I can't forget that man's face in my heart". The wild deer here are nomadic in the sky and the sea is dry. It is impossible for eastern and western races to change their places of residence. Similar to our ancient Yuefu poem, "The mountains have no edges, the water runs out, the winter thunder earthquake, the summer rain and snow, the harmony between heaven and earth, but dare to die with you", it shows a kind of loyalty, which can refer to both the lover and the gentleman.
This poem is not a love poem, and the names of Titulu's two lovers have only appeared twice. Therefore, Rome and the lonely flower in the poem should refer to the good life under the Roman regime and Roman rule, "God" and "Man" should be Roman rulers, and Galatia represents the life before the arrival of Roman rulers. It can be seen that this poem euphemistically praised the Roman ruler Augustus, and it should be an ode with a beautiful pastoral style.
Virgil was influenced by the Greek pastoral poet Theo Cretors in artistic skills. Beautiful writing, sincere feelings, delicate and vivid description of characters and scenes. Virgil not only won the laurel of early Latin poetry, but also represented the highest achievement of European poetry in the following centuries.
(Ci Liyan)