Garcilaso de la Vega
Egloga Tercera
Egloga Tercera 33-48
- En tanto, no te offenda ni te harte
- tratar del campo y soledad que amaste,
- ni desdeñes aquesta inculta parte
- de mi estilo, que'n algo ya estimaste;
- entre las armas del sangriento Marte,
- do apenas ay quien su furor contraste,
- hurté del tiempo aquesta breve suma,
- tomando ora la espada, ora la pluma.
- Aplica, pues, un rato los sentidos
- al baxo son de mi zampoña ruda,
- indigna de llegar a tus oydos,
- pues d'ornamento y gracia va desnuda;
- mas a las vezes son mejor oídos
- el puro ingenio y lengua casi muda,
- testigos limpios d'ánimo inocente,
- que la curiosidad del eloqüente.
Egloga Tercera 49-64
- Por aquesta razón de ti escuchado,
- aunque me falten otras, ser merezco;
- lo que puedo te doy, y lo que é dado,
- con recebillo tú, yo me 'nrriquezco.
- De quatro nymphas que del Tajo amado
- salieron juntas, a cantar me offrezco:
- Phillódoce, Dinámene y Climene.
- Nise, que en hermosura par no tiene.
- Cerca del Tajo, en soledad amena,
- de verdes sauzes ay una espessura
- toda de yedra revestida y llena,
- que por el tronco va hasta el altura
- y assí la texe arriba y encadena
- que'l sol no halla passo a la verdura;
- el agua baña el prado con sonido,
- alegrando la yerva y el oydo.
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Notes
- ·inculta parte The verse of
pastoral was regarded in classical times (Quintilian) as a low
(infimi), in contrast to the heroic verses (summi) of the epic.
Minturno repeats the classification. Garcilaso may not, here, be
expressing modesty, but exercising due regard for aesthetic
propriety.
- ·baxo son Again, the poet
expresses an attitude towards the style of pastoral, describing it
as baxo [not, of course, to imply its pitch, but its modest, humble
nature]. You may question the sincerity of the description, but
remember that the eclogue deals, above all, with poetry itself, and
Garcilaso is conscious of the low style traditionally attributed to
pastoral.
- zampoña The instrument that
accompanies the human voice in pastoral. It is translated sometimes
into English as the oaten flute. In Sannazzaro it is
la sampogna. Notice that the poet identifies himself as
a shepherd playing the zampoña, blending his own identity and
his poetry with the pastoral fiction, so that there is no apparent
tension or distance between the poet and his artefact.
- ·con recebillo tú, yo me
'nrrezco These lines seem to describe an ideal relationship
that is based on reciprocity. The act of giving is enriched by the
act of receiving. This small gesture of mutuality between the poet
and someone who may be his patroness harmonises with the fine
relationships which characterise the shepherds of Arcadia.
- ·espessura The locus amoenus
has been described by Rosenmeyer as a highly selective arrangement
of stage properties, determined not by the needs or ideas of men but
in order to create a sense of ease. The shaded grove, with its
origins in Theocritus and in Virgil, is part of the effortless
pleasure of the pleasance. Nature is a scene in the pastoral, not a
philosophy or a lesson.