Reflections after reading "Pastoral (Part 1) Virgil"

Meliber

Titulu, you lie high under the canopy of the zelkova tree,

Use your slender reed pipe to play the music of the mountains and fields. Qingge;

And I am about to leave my hometown and lovely countryside.

I fled to another country; you rested in the shade of the trees,

Let the mountains and forests echo your praise of the beautiful Amarelle.

Titulu

Merib, a god has given me this convenience,

I will always worship him as my god, and his Altar

I will always stain it with the blood of my own lamb.

As you can see, he allows my cattle and sheep to roam freely,

so that I can play the wild flute and play as I please.

Meliber

I am not jealous, I am just surprised. The whole countryside

is so chaotic. Look, even though I am sick,

We still have to drive the sheep, and this one simply can’t keep up.

Because it just gave birth to a pair of lambs in the bushes.

What we said Hope, but abandoned to the bare stone;

If I had not been foolish, I should have anticipated this disaster,

Remember that time the thunderbolt from the sky broke the oak tree Harbinger of trees.

But who is that god? Titulu, please tell me.

Titurus

Meliber, I once thought that in a foolish way,

I thought that Rome was similar to our town,

It’s the market where we shepherds often drive lambs.

Just like puppies are like big dogs and lambs are like big sheep.

I am used to treating small animals like big dogs. The big ones and the big ones are of the same kind,

But this capital city is outstanding among other cities,

Just like the pine and cypress compared with the humble bramble and hazel.

MELIBE

What urgent matter led you to visit Rome?

Titurulu

Freedom finally took pity on my lazy life,

When I trimmed my beard, the gray hair had fallen off,

Though I am old, freedom has finally come to me,

When Galatea is gone and Amarelle is the master,

For I admit, When Galatea took possession of my time,

I had no intention of getting rich and no hope of freedom;

No matter how many godly sacrifices were taken from my sheepfold,

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Or how much cheese to squeeze for that heartless city,

I have never come home with a heavy load of money.

Meliber

I was surprised by why the Amari pear was sad,

She left the apple on the branch without picking it, calling the name of the god:

This is all because you are not around, even these pines and cypresses,

This clear spring and fruit trees are calling you.

Titurulu

What can I do? Neither free from slavery,

nor could I find any god to protect me,

Meriber, just then I met the man,

I offer sacrifices to Him twelve days a year,

This is the first time God has granted my request:

“You can feed your sheep as before, Raise your cattle. ”

Melibo

Good luck, old man, that your land can be kept,

That’s enough for you, even The barren sand and gravel

and the swamp mud and cattails invade all the fields.

The pregnant ewe does not need to eat the grass of a foreign land,

nor They may get close to other people's sheep and contract diseases.

Old man, you are so lucky. This is the waterside you are familiar with.

Next to the holy spring, you can enjoy the cool air;

Here, on Cong Zhen The flowers are as luxuriant as before

Heber's bees come to collect the nectar from the flowers,

and often lull people to sleep with their soft murmur;

The grape growers under the high rocks sing loudly in the wind,

Your beloved pigeons also coo non-stop,

The turtle doves on the elm trees also echo each other constantly.

Titurulu

Even if the wild deer are nomadic in the sky and fly in the air,

Even if the sea water dries up, leaving the fish on the bare shore,

p>

Even if the Parthian people in the East and the Germanic people in the West drink water from opposite rivers and change their regions,

I cannot forget that person’s memory in my heart. Appearance.

Melibe

And now some of us are going to the thirsty northern coast of Africa,

Some of us are going to Sogdia, to the Wuhu River crashing against the gravel. ,

Some of them want to go to the British Isles, to the ends of the earth?

Ah, in what distant future will I be able to return to my hometown,

See thatch piled on the roof of my cottage again,

Come and admire my little house again A small harvest, your own kingdom?

The cultivated land will be captured by the rude troops,

The foreigners will take possession of our fruits, these are all disasters brought by war

Give your land to these people.

What kind of pears are you picking now, and what kind of grapes are you planting?

Let's go, my sheep, you were once my pride,

I will never see you protruding among the green caves again,

Or stay among the tree-covered cliffs;

I will no longer sing, O sheep, I can no longer take you

To eat the flowering lilacs and the bitter brambles .

Titurulu

But you can rest here all night,

Use green leaves as a bed, I also have ripe apples,

p>

Soft chestnuts and many cheeses are also available,

Now the smoke has begun to rise on the cottage roofs,

Longer shadows have fallen from the mountains .

(Translated by Yang Xianyi)

Appreciation

Virgil was the most important poet in the Augustan period of ancient Rome. His most important work is the epic poem "Aeneid", but the pastoral and agricultural poems he wrote in his early years are also outstanding. His first collection of poems, "Pastoral", contains 10 poems, which mainly fictionalize the lives and loves of some shepherds. They express pastoral joy through dialogue or duet, and sometimes also involve some political issues.

This poem is the first one in "Pastoral". It uses beautiful words to describe the beauty and harmony of the simple rural life in ancient Rome and the suffering caused by the war to the working people, and expresses the poet's love for the country. The praise and gratitude of the Roman rulers.

Although Virgil is famous for his epic poems, he was first and foremost an excellent pastoral poet. Because he has lived in the countryside of northern Italy since he was a child, and because of his keen poetic temperament, he has a deep and detailed feeling for the beauty of nature. In his works, the scenery of the countryside is so beautiful, the flowers on the hazel bushes, the pigeons that keep cooing, the sheep outcropping among the green rock caves, and the smoke on the thatched roofs, The long shadows of the mountains at dusk are all intoxicating; the life of the shepherds is so leisurely, playing the wild flute, enjoying the coolness next to the holy spring, and singing in the wind under the high rocks, all of which are so enviable; human beings So harmonious with nature: the shepherd lying high under the canopy of the beech tree, the old man sleeping in the soft sound of bees, and the love songs echoing in the mountains and forests are all so yearning. It makes people read as if they have the mood of Tao Yuanming's poetry, but it is less noble and more innocent.

It can be said that literature is always inevitably related to politics in some way, and like love, politics is also an eternal theme in literary works. Virgil lived during a period when Octavian entered the political arena, fought civil wars and unified Rome. During the 43 years of Octavian's rule, it was the most prosperous era economically in ancient Rome, and it was also the "golden age" in ancient Roman literature. It is said that during the civil war, Virgil's farm was confiscated by Augustus to reward veterans. Later, with the help of Macenas, he regained the land. From then on, Virgil became a member of the Macenas literary group and a house owner. Big fan of David. This pastoral expresses both Virgil's aversion to war and his support for the Roman rulers.

First of all, the poet expressed the suffering caused by the war to people through the fictional shepherd "Meliber". The sick old shepherd driving his sheep, the poor newly born lamb abandoned on the bare rocks, and the cultivated land occupied by the garrison troops all illustrate the tyranny and cruelty of war.

The war not only broke the peaceful life of herdsmen and destroyed agricultural and animal husbandry production, but also forced people to leave their hometowns, suffering from the sorrow of living and millet and the pain of homesickness. The war will drive "us" to remote and remote places such as the northern coast of Africa, Sogdia, Wuhu River, and the British Isles. It will no longer be possible for "we" to return to our homeland, to see "thatch piled on the roof of my cottage", or to take the sheep "to eat the flowering lilacs and the bitter brambles". The feeling of leaving home and abroad is beyond words.

Secondly, the poet euphemistically expressed the poet's praise, gratitude and loyalty to the Roman rulers through the mouth of the lucky "Titurulu".

Titurus praises Rome: Rome is not "similar to our towns" as "I" once imagined, "but it is outstanding among other cities, / Like the pine and cypress and the humble bramble and hazel." Better than the same.”

Tituru praises Amarelli: "Although I am old, freedom has finally come to me, / When Galadia leaves, Amarelli is the master"; Tituru talks to Galadia Dissatisfaction with the life together: "When Galatea took over my time,/I had no intention of getting rich and no hope of freedom"; no matter how many sacrifices and cheese "I" put out, "I never had to carry a heavy Money goes home”. Titurru loves the free life he has now, so he is extremely grateful to the "god" and "that person" who gave him this life: "even if the wild deer roams in the sky", "even if the sea water dries up", "even if the rest of the east and the peace of the west Germany, / all went to the opposite river to drink water, changing the regions, / and I can’t forget the face of that person in my heart.” The wild deer here are nomadic in the sky, the sea water has dried up, and the races in the East and West have changed their habitats. It is impossible to say that it is impossible. It is similar to the words in our ancient Yuefu poems: "The mountains have no edges, the rivers are exhausted, and the winter thunder shakes. "Xia Yuxue, heaven and earth are in harmony, so I dare to be with you." It expresses a kind of loyalty, which can refer to the lover or the monarch.

This poem is not a love poem, and the names of Titurulu’s two lovers appear only twice in the poem. Therefore, Rome and Amarelli in the poem should refer to the Roman regime and the good life under Roman rule, the "god" and "that person" should be the Roman rulers, and Galatia represents the life before the arrival of the Roman rulers. Life. It can be seen that this poem is a euphemistic praise of the Roman ruler Augustus, and it should be an ode with a beautiful pastoral style.

Virgil was influenced by the Greek pastoral poet Theocritos in terms of artistic techniques. The writing is beautiful, the emotions are sincere, and the characters and situations are described delicately and vividly. Virgil not only won the crown of early Latin poetry, but also represented the highest achievement of European poetry in the following centuries.

(Ci Liyan)