staeus says that his
nymph loves melody. He urges Mopsus:

"Forth from thy wallet take thy pipe and we
Will sing awhile beneath the leafy trees;
For well my nymph is pleased with melody."

Now follows a number which the author calls a "canzona"--song. The first
stanza of the Italian text will serve to show the form.

"Udite, selve, mie dolce parole,
Poi che la ninfa mia udir non vole.
La bella ninfa e sorda al mio lamento
E'l suon di nostra fistula non cura:
Di cio si lagna il mio cornuto armento,
Ne vuol bagnare il grifo in acqua pura
Ne vuol toccar la tenera verdura;
Tanto del suo pastor gl'incresce e dole."

The two introductory lines preface each stanza. This first one is thus
translated by Symonds,[16] whose English version is here used
throughout.

"Listen, ye wild woods, to my roundelay;
Since the fair nymph will hear not, though I pray.

The lovely nymph is deaf to my lament,
Nor heeds the music of this rustic reed;
Wherefore my flocks and herds are ill content,
Nor bathe the hoof where grows the water weed,
Nor touch the tender herbage on the mead;
So sad because their shepherd grieves are they."

[Footnote 16: In "Sketches and Studies in Italy," pp. 217-224.]

There are four stanzas. The nymph who has bewitched Aristaeus is Euridice
and the second scene shows us the shepherd pursuing her. It appears that
in trying to escape from the shepherd she was bitten by a deadly snake,
for in the third scene a dryad tells the story of the tragedy to her
sisters. In the first edition, "dei codici chigiano e Riccardiano," the
next scene introduces Orpheus, who sings a song with Latin text
beginning thus:

"O meos longum modulata lusus
Quos amor primam docuit juventam,
Flecte nunc mecum numeros novumque
Dic, lyra, carmen."

The most significant matter connected with this scene in the early
version of the poem is the stage direction, which reads thus: "Orfeo
cantando sopra il monte in su la lira e seguente versi latini fu
interotto da un pastore nunciatore della morte di Euridice." The name of
the actor of Orfeo is mentioned as Baccio Ugolino. This stage "business"
in English reads: "Orpheus singing on the hill to his lyre the following
Latin verses is interrupted by a shepherd announcing the death of
Euridice." Thirteen verses of the song are given before the entrance of
the shepherd, and immediately after the announ