Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

EINSIEDELN ECLOGUES[The personages are Thamyras and Ladas ascontending shepherds, and Midas as umpire.]Th. Long have our contests called for you, my handsomeMidas ; lend a leisured ear to competingswains.Mi. I am ready : the sequestered charm of theholy wood is an invitation to pipings : lay skillupon your minstrelsy.Th. If prizes are lacking, the confidence of skill isdumb.La. Xay, two stakes will make our confidence endureeither yonder he-goat, whose forehead is deckedwith the white mark, or this light pipe setround with moveable knobs,*^ the memorablegift of Faunus, denizen of the woods.Th. Whether you prefer to stake the he-goat orFaunus' gift, choose which of the two you are tolose ; but the surer omen, I fancy, will be thepipe which, instead of being a stake, is as goodas taken away from the rejected competitor.° The bullae might control the musical notes by closing oropening the perforations ; but they might merely be decorative.Hubaux [Les thenifs bucoliques, p. 230) thinks of " unafliite ornee de verroteries."