Garcilaso de la Vega

Egloga Tercera

    Egloga Tercera 33-48

  1. En tanto, no te offenda ni te harte
  2. tratar del campo y soledad que amaste,
  3. ni desdeñes aquesta inculta parte
  4. de mi estilo, que'n algo ya estimaste;
  5. entre las armas del sangriento Marte,
  6. do apenas ay quien su furor contraste,
  7. hurté del tiempo aquesta breve suma,
  8. tomando ora la espada, ora la pluma.
  9. Aplica, pues, un rato los sentidos
  10. al baxo son de mi zampoña ruda,
  11. indigna de llegar a tus oydos,
  12. pues d'ornamento y gracia va desnuda;
  13. mas a las vezes son mejor oídos
  14. el puro ingenio y lengua casi muda,
  15. testigos limpios d'ánimo inocente,
  16. que la curiosidad del eloqüente.

    Egloga Tercera 49-64

  1. Por aquesta razón de ti escuchado,
  2. aunque me falten otras, ser merezco;
  3. lo que puedo te doy, y lo que é dado,
  4. con recebillo tú, yo me 'nrriquezco.
  5. De quatro nymphas que del Tajo amado
  6. salieron juntas, a cantar me offrezco:
  7. Phillódoce, Dinámene y Climene.
  8. Nise, que en hermosura par no tiene.
  9. Cerca del Tajo, en soledad amena,
  10. de verdes sauzes ay una espessura
  11. toda de yedra revestida y llena,
  12. que por el tronco va hasta el altura
  13. y assí la texe arriba y encadena
  14. que'l sol no halla passo a la verdura;
  15. el agua baña el prado con sonido,
  16. alegrando la yerva y el oydo.

PreviousNext

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.