Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/142

DAMÆTAS.

An honest Man may freely take his own;

The Goat was mine, by singing fairly won.30
A solemn Match was made; He lost the Prize,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
Ask Damon, ask if he the Debt denies;
I think he dares not, if he does, he lies.

MENALCAS.

Thou sing with him, thou Booby; never Pipe

Was so profan'd to touch that blubber'd Lip:35
Dunce at the best; in Streets but scarce allow'd
To tickle, on thy Straw, the stupid Crowd.

DAMÆTAS.

To bring it to the Trial, will you dare

Our Pipes, our Skill, our Voices to compare?
My Brinded Heifer to the Stake I lay;40
Two Thriving Calves she suckles twice a day:
And twice besides her Beestings never fail
To store the Dairy, with a brimming Pail.
Now back your Singing with an equal Stake.

MENALCAS.

That shou'd be seen, if I had one to make.45

You know too well I feed my Father's Flock:
What can I wager from the common Stock?
A Stepdame too I have, a cursed she,
Who rules my Hen-peck'd Sire, and orders me.
Both number twice a day the Milky Dams;50
And once she takes the tale of all the Lambs.