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 Georgics of V{rail, 
 
 3 1924 026 571 731 * 
 
Cornell University 
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THE 
 
 GEORGICS OF VIRGIL. 
 
THE 
 
 GEORGICS OF VIRGIL 
 
 IN FOUR BOOKS, 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 THE REV. J. M. KING, 
 
 VICAR OF CUTCOMBE, SOMERSET ; 
 LATE SCHOLAR OF BALL. COLL. OXFORD. 
 
 LONDON: 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 13 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 1871. 
 
 All right a reserved. 
 
 A 
 
LONDON : 
 
 Strangewavs and Walden, Printers, 
 
 Castle St. Leicester Sq, 
 
Dear Mr. Blackett, 
 
 As this reprint is issued mainly with 
 a view to those, who, from kindly recollections of 
 social intercourse or from a stronger tie, have ex- 
 pressed a wish to have some memorial of me, 
 1 have, not- without your permission, placed your 
 name upon the title-page, in token that I enjoy 
 the privilege of counting you amongst that number. 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 J. M. KING. 
 
 To Henry Blackett, Esq. 
 
TO HENRY MORLEY, Esq. 
 
 Professor of English Literature, University College, London. 
 
 Dear Mr. Professor, — To you I am under an 
 obligation which your ability only could have 
 enabled, and your kind heart have prompted you 
 to lay upon me. I allude to the encouragement 
 which you have given to my child, who, beneath the 
 crushing weight of perpetual blindness, has struggled 
 to win for herself an honourable name in English 
 literature. If in any degree she may succeed, to you 
 very principally she will owe her reward. To the 
 world your generous aid never can be known : by me 
 it can never be forgotten. To you, a master of the 
 Saxon tongue, I offer this attempt to display the 
 flexibility and copiousness, and, in some instances, I 
 
viii Dedication. 
 
 hope, the terse comprehensiveness of our country's 
 language. To me one of the greatest pleasures 
 throughout life, certainly not grown less keen in old 
 age, has been to grapple with words and mould them 
 to my purpose; specially, to draw up before me a 
 word-army of vigorous Saxons, and drill them to 
 keep step with the Grecian phalanx or Roman 
 cohort. 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 J. M. KING. 
 Christinas, 1870. 
 
BOOK THE FIRST. 
 GRAIN. 
 
BOOK I. 
 
 I 
 
 SING of grain, of honey-bees, of kine, 
 To thee, Maecenas, and the purple vine. 
 
 The subject 
 proposed. 
 
 Dryads and 
 Fauns. 
 
 Neptune. 
 
 Invocation ; 
 
 Ye orbs of light, who bless mankind, and guide The sun and 
 
 Through time the seasons that alternate glide ; 
 
 Parent of fruits, who from the wondering earth, Ccres. 
 
 With acorns strewed, gavest golden harvests birth ; 
 
 Thou god, whose art first pressed the ruddy vine, 5 Bacchus. 
 
 And dyed the streamlet with the gushing wine ; 
 
 Ye virgin Dryads, who, with tripping feet. 
 
 The Fauns propitious to our labours meet ; 
 
 Great power, whose trident, with almighty force, 
 
 Cleft the firm earth, forth sprang, and neighed the horse. 
 
 Thou, for whose pasture thrice one hundred kine 1 1 Arista:us. 1 
 
 Through Cea's groves in silvery whiteness shine ; 
 
 Pan, tuneful guardian of the bleating sheep, 
 
 God of Arcadia and Lycjeus' steep, 
 
 Whose pipe may well a minstrel's labours share, 
 
 If those blest spots enjoy thy pastoral care ; 
 
 Ye powers, whose emblem is the crooked plough, 
 
 The olive berry, and the cypress bough ; 
 
 ' Son of Apollo and Cyrene : educated by the Nymphs, who taught 
 him the arts of curdling milk, bee-keeping, and the culture of olives. 
 He retired to Cea on the death of his son ActEeon. 
 
 Pan. 
 
 Triptolemus. 
 
 Minerva. 
 
 Sylvanus. 
 
4 Georgics. 
 
 And all ye nymphs and deities whose care ^ 
 Fosters the fruits our soils spontaneous bear, 20 
 
 Or to the seed supplies the kindly shower. 
 Which drops down fatness on our annual store ; 
 Yours are the gifts, your praise the lines rehearse. 
 Descend harmonious, and exalt the verse. 
 
 Cstiar.'"^ Unconquered Caesar, round whose brow divine 25 
 
 The myrtle wreath proclaims thy god-like line ; 
 Whether wide earth expectant waits thy nod, 
 To bow before thee as her guardian god ; 
 Or the wrecked sailor, from his yawning grave, 
 Invokes thy succour, and escapes the wave, 30 
 
 While sea-lashed Thule sees her storms subside, 
 And Thetis waits thee with her fairest bride ; 
 Or at thy light the ancient stars retire, 
 And heaven in thine expects a purer fire ; '^ 
 Whiche'er thy choice — for not, o'er hell to reign, 35 
 Shall Caesar's spirit tread hell's spectral plain,^ 
 Prosper our course, our bold endeavour bless. 
 For on the bard's depends the plough's success. 
 Unlettered swains to thee address the vow : 
 Enact the god, and make the future now. 40 
 
 Active in- Soon as young Spring, bright harbinger of toil. 
 
 Dissolves the snow-wreath, and unbinds the soil, 
 
 ' " The poet liere invokes first those deities who take care of spon- 
 taneous plants, and then those who shed their influence on such as are 
 sown." — Dr. Martyn. 
 
 '■ There is something highly poetical in thus representing the ancient 
 constellations as receding to welcome the star of CEEsar. 
 
 ' Here again great art is shown, the mightiest heroes of the Iliad 
 and the yEneid passed from earth, to reappear as shades in the region of 
 shadows ; butCjesarmay not descend there, even to be king over them. 
 
Book the First. — Grain. 
 
 I '11 spare them not, what though my bullocks groan, 
 But strain the yoke, and force the coulter down. 
 That fallow best repays the farmer's care, 45 
 
 Which, well worked out, has worn the polished share ; 
 There double labour reaps a double gain, 
 And bursting barns proclaim a teeming plain. 
 
 What fruits by nature various regions choose, ciimate and 
 
 With care consider, and what each refuse. 50 
 
 Here grain prevails ; there flourishes the vine ; 
 Here orchards bloom ; wide plains invite the kine. 
 Strong-scented saffron climbs to Tmolus' height ; 
 Arabia's plains in frankincense delight ; 
 Calybians naked forge the warrior's steel ; 55 
 
 Pontus has drugs to poison or to heal ; 
 In India ivory forms the native.'s store; 
 The swiftest coursers graze Epirus' shore. 
 'Tis thus we see throughout her varying round 
 By nature's laws all nature's works are bound, 60 
 
 From when Deucalion by a wondrous birth 
 Raised stone-born people, and re-quickened earth. 
 
 Soon as its course the opening year renews, Treatment of 
 
 His strongest bullocks let the master choose, lofkT^'""^ 
 
 Stir the rich glebe, and work with patient toil, 65 
 
 That summer suns may dry the heavy soil. 
 Fail'st thou in this, full soon the rampant weed 
 Unchecked will flourish, and o'erpower the seed. 
 But if thy farm abound with lighter land. 
 Till mellow autumn stay the ploughman's haijd : 70 
 Soon will the thinner soil its juices lose. 
 And needful moisture to the fruits refuse. 
 
6 Georgics. 
 
 In years alternate sow the yellow grain, 
 The next with rest indulge the grateful plain ; 
 Or change your crop, and let to grain succeed 75 
 
 Green vetches, and the pulse with hollow reed. 
 For oats, or flax, or drowsy poppies burn 
 The land unless you fallow in its turn. 
 Much will a change recruit th' exhausted field. 
 But clean-worked fallows heaviest harvests yield. 80 
 O'er all thy farm the dung enriching bear, 
 Nor filthy ashes in the furrow spare. 
 Some thankless soils will swains by burning tame. 
 And give the stubble to the crackling flame ; 
 Fresh powers unknown the altered soil receives, 85 
 Rank weeds are killed, superfluous moisture leaves 
 The finer surface, and. its pores imbibe 
 More healthful juices for the cereal tribe. 
 Then waits the glebe all ready to retain 
 Each passing shower that irrigates the plain, 90 
 
 And to the seed affords a safe retreat 
 From winter's storm or summer's scorching heat. 
 Nor less shall Ceres bless his patient toil. 
 Who with strong harrows breaks a sluggish soil. 
 And ploughs the ridge across, and stirs the land, 95 
 And o'er the glebe exerts a stern command. 
 worsh'rp"' '^o-^ pay thy vows : be this the ploughman's prayer : 
 
 ' Moist be my summer days, my winters fair.' 
 Then on long stems luxuriant waves the corn. 
 And golden harvests smiling fields adorn : 100 
 
 E'en Gargarus' heights instinctively rejoice. 
 Full strains of gladness swell e'en Mysia's voice. 
 
Book the First. — Grain. 
 
 Who, when the seed has left the sower's hand, Various pre- 
 
 CCDtS 
 
 Rolls down the clods, and smooths the stubborn land, 
 Why need the muse commend ? or those who bring 
 The silver streamlet from the bubbling spring ? io6 
 O'er the smooth pebbles, down the sloping hills, 
 Lo, the swain's ear the murmuring cadence fills ; 
 The gasping turf the soft refreshment feels, 
 And the parched earth the sparkling river heals, no 
 Who from weak shoots the early harvests keep, 
 And fold with prescient care the nibbling sheep, 
 No praise require ; nor he whose skilful hand 
 Opens wide channels, and relieves the land. 
 And stands secure, when through his neighbour's grain 
 The torrent sweeps, and floods the level plain. ii6 
 Nor deem that now, all painful labour o'er, 
 The ox may rest, the swain enjoy his store. 
 The crane invades, the goose tears up the root. 
 Wild succory spreads, the shade destroys the fruit. , 
 For so great Jove, the sire of all, decreed, 121 
 
 No works save those that task us should succeed, 
 Nor wills his gifts should unimproved remain. 
 While man inactive slumbers on the plain. 
 
 Ere Jove no ploughman vexed the willing field ; The Coiden 
 No jealous boundary bade a neighbour yield 126 
 
 His right to thine ; all sought the open plain, 
 And earth, most lavish, teemed with fruits and grain. 
 
 Jove to the serpent poisonous juices gave, passes away. 
 
 Bade the wolf plunder, and upheaved the wave. 1 30 
 Now fails sweet honey on the forest bough, 
 Now streams no more with generous liquor flow, 
 
8 Georgics. 
 
 Man seeks for fire concealed within the veins 
 Of flints, and labour groans upon the plains ; 
 Till, one by one, worked out by frequent thought, 135 
 Are crude inventions to perfection brought. 
 Now waves astonished feel the alder float, 
 As the rude hatchet shapes the ruder boat ; 
 And sailors, mindful whence the tempest came. 
 Give to each star a number and a name. 140 
 
 Slight sprynges now the cunning trappers set ; 
 Dogs bay, beasts trembling plunge into the net. 
 The Naiad, slumbering in her watery cave. 
 Starts as the fishers lash the dimpled wave ; 
 Or seek the deep, and in some open bay 145 
 
 Heave their wet lines, and drag them through the spray. 
 Smiths from the fire the pliant metal draw. 
 Harden the iron blade, and file the saw ; 
 For erst, unskilled in tools, in customs rude. 
 Men with rough wedges cleft the forest wood. 150 
 
 Thus stern Necessity inventive tried 
 Fresh arts,' which life's increasing wants supplied ; 
 While Ceres watched and taught mankind to plough, 
 As failed ripe berries on the autumn bough. 
 ilboun^"*^ Henceforth unceasing care all crops demand ; 155 
 Rust eats the stalk, rough weeds invade the land. 
 The hand must work, lop boughs, scare birds away ; 
 The lips for fertilising moisture pray : 
 
 ' ' Ingenious art, with her expressive face, 
 Steps forth to fashion and refine the race ; 
 Not only fills" Necessity's demand, 
 But overcharges her capacious hand.' 
 
 Cowper's Charity. 
 
Book the First. — Grain. 
 
 Else whilst thy neighbour feasts on harvest grain. 
 Content must thou with woodland fruits remain. i6o 
 
 Proceed my song, the rustic arms explain, implements. 
 
 The plough's firm timbers, and the ponderous wane. 
 The heavy drags, the harrow's lighter frame. 
 The woven osiers stamped with Celeus' name, 
 Strong threshing rollers, and, our toil to close, 165 
 The mystic fan which great lacchus knows. 
 He in whose heart the love of Nature glows. 
 Who all the glories of the country knows, 
 Long ere he needs them will these arms prepare. 
 Admire and guard them with a lover's. care. 170 
 
 Watch the strong elm when first the saplings spring, 
 Bend the young stem, and to your purpose bring. 
 This forms the stilts, from these projects the beam. 
 Eight feet extended ere you yoke the team : 
 Two ears' stretch out to clear the coulter's track, 175 
 Joined to the share-beam with its double back : 
 Beech for the plough-staff, lime-tree for the yoke. 
 Hung by the fire, and seasoned in the smoke. 
 
 Much might we now in olden books explore, various prc- 
 
 And many a precept cull from ancient lore, 1 80 
 
 Unless, perchance, such trifling cares you deem 
 May turn to weariness a pleasant theme. 
 
 With chalk tenacious tread the thresher's floor. Prevention of 
 Through open chinks weeds rise and vermin pour, 
 
 ' The tenii ' ears ' applies to the extreme parts of the mould-board, 
 and is still used in some districts : ' two ' evidently alludes to the shift- 
 ing mould-board of the plough used in steep fields, which is called the 
 shifting, or double plough. 
 
 vermin. 
 
Walnuts. 
 
 I o Georgics. 
 
 Moles grope below, mice plunder for their young, 185 
 With all the reptiles that to earth belong ; 
 But weavels worst whole heaps of corn devour. 
 And the small ant still fearing to be poor. 
 
 Where in the grove strong-scented walnuts rise, 
 Observe the lesson which the year supplies : 190 
 
 When frequent clusters weigh the branches down, 
 Like heaviest ears the harvest labours crown ; 
 But if the leaves conceal no woodland store, 
 Then empty husks encumber all the floor. 
 Preparation Some, ere committed to the fruitful earth, 195 
 
 of seed-corn. 
 
 Soak the ripe seed, and aid the ling' ring birth. 
 With lees of oil or pungent brine, and sweat 
 The moistened sample with a gentle heat ; 
 Yet not shall theirs like his nice care succeed, 
 Whose patient hand selects the largest seed. 200 
 
 So fate decrees all human things should fail. 
 And man by constant toil alone prevail. 
 Example of So if the boatmau, who with sinewy force 
 
 the boatmen. 
 
 'Gainst some strong stream impels his shallop's course, 
 Stop for one instant : while his efforts slack, 205 
 
 The rapid current whirls the pinnace back.i 
 Observation Each Star the swain's experienced eye should know 
 
 of the stars. ^ -' ' 
 
 Which sunny days, which fouler storms foreshow. 
 As he who sails o'er Pontus' waters dark, 
 Or past Abydos steers his homeward bark. 210 
 
 Seasons for When Libra's scales with nice-poised justice keep 
 
 sowmg. ^ -^ ^ 
 
 ' Dr. Beattie, in his ' Theory of Language, '.part 2, cap. ii., observes 
 thai ' atque ' in this passage is read in the antique sense, and denotes 
 ' immediately, ' is instantly borne away. 
 
Book the First. — Grain. 
 
 1 1 
 
 An equal time for labour and for sleep, 
 
 Then work the plough, with barley sow the plain, 
 
 Nor stop till hindered by the winter rain ; 
 
 And flax and poppies, Ceres' sacred flower, 215 
 
 Whilst in the sky still hangs the downward shower. 
 
 The millet-seed, an annual sowing, bring. 
 
 With beans and medick, in the early spring. 
 
 When the bright Bull his golden front uprears, 
 
 The Dog retiring as his horn appears.' 220 
 
 But if thy produce be the bearded wheat, 
 
 Wait till the Pleiades quit their morning seat,^ 
 
 And the bright gem on Ariadne's brow 
 
 Pales as the lesser stars succeed and glow ;'' 
 
 Nor trust thy hopes with over-hasty hand 225 
 
 Before unwilling earth the seed demand. 
 
 Some, ere the Pleiades set, their course begin — 
 
 Their ear is empty, and their harvest thin. 
 
 Who sows the lentil or the common tare. 
 
 With early frosts his homelier toil may share. 230 
 
 In twice six parts the golden Sun divides The months 
 
 The year, and all our annual labour guides. 
 Five zones the heaven surround : in one of those 
 His fierce hot ray with constant ardour glows : 
 In two dark clouds and never-ceasing cold 
 Round earth's extremes perpetual empire hold ; 
 
 The five 
 zones. 
 The torrid 
 zone. 
 
 235 The arctic 
 circles. 
 
 ' According to Columella, as quoted by Martyn, the Sun enters 
 Taurus about the middle of April, and Canis sets with the Sun about 
 the end of that month. 
 
 ^ The Pleiades set at sun-rising about the 20th October. 
 
 3 In this constellation one star, brighter than the others, rises about 
 the lOLh, the rcbt about the 20th 'of October. 
 
12 
 
 Georgics. 
 
 The temper- Betwcen thcsc zones the gods a middle space 
 
 ate zones. <5 r 
 
 Assign, in mercy, to man's feeble race. 
 The zodiac. Here its broad belt the zodiac spreads, and here 
 
 The signs successive in their course appear. 240 
 
 High to the north the Scythian hills ascend, 
 In answering line earth's southern limits end : 
 One Pole sublime above us rears its head ; 
 One 'neath their feet the Stygian shadows spread. 
 There, like some river that its stream unfolds, 245 
 His spiral course the scaly Dragon holds 
 Between the Bears reluctant still to lave 
 Their blazing foreheads in old Ocean's wave. 
 Here, as Fame tells, arrayed in sable vest 
 Night holds one empire of eternal rest ; 250 
 
 Or when on us the evening-shadows lie. 
 Dawn wakes new splendours in their morning sky ; 
 And when for us the steeds with golden mane 
 A flood of glory pour on hill and plain. 
 For them the evening-star with golden light 255 
 
 Kindles in heaven's blue arch the fires of night. 
 In doubrful seasons learn we hence to know 
 The time for harvest and the time to sow. 
 When the smooth sea with trustful oars to ply, 
 When fleets to launch, when fell the forest high ; 260 
 For every star invites us to explore 
 The golden legends of its wondrous lore ;' 
 
 The two 
 Poles. 
 
 The North 
 Pole. 
 
 The South 
 Pole. 
 
 The lesson 
 deduced. 
 
 ' Italy, from its position, brought so many of its inhabitants into 
 contact with the sea, that the husbandman was frequently, to some ex- 
 tent, a mariner also ; and hence the population generally were led to 
 observe the heavenly bodies. 
 
Book the First. — Grain. \ 1 3 
 
 And not in vain successive seasons teach 
 To man the labour that 's assigned to each. 
 
 In stormy winter to perfection bring 265 ^^^Xte™ 
 
 Those tasks oft sUghted in the busier spring. 
 Sharpens the ploughman, then, his blunted share, 
 Then herdsmen troughs from hollow trees prepare ; 
 The careful master cotmts and marks his sheep, 
 Measures his corn, and numbers every heap. 270 
 
 Some shape strong poles, some pliant osiers bend — ■ 
 These clasp the vine, those upright succour lend. 
 Now parch with fire, now break with forceful blow • 
 The grain : weave baskets from the bramble bough. 
 
 Some works there are which festal days admit, 275 for holidays 
 
 No law forbids them, and the gods permit : 
 
 To drain the fields, to fence the rising corn. 
 
 To snare the birds, with nre consume the thorn. 
 
 And, if thy flock its healing virtues claim. 
 
 To bathe the bleating sufferer in the stream, 280 
 
 Oft the strong ass receives its destined load 
 
 Of oil and fruits, plods on the dusty road, 
 
 And from the city brings the bartered weight 
 
 Of pond'rous mill-stones or a pitchy freight. 
 
 The monthly moon revolving in the skies 285 Fortunate 
 
 . , , -- , and unfortun- 
 
 Tells how the days with different lessons rise. ate days. 
 
 The fifth avoid, on that ill-omened night 
 Pale Orcus and the Furies saw the light. 
 Terra, convulsed, her giant brood brought forth 
 With horrid labour and unnatural birth. 290 
 
 ' A weak rendering of 'frangite saxo,' where tlie line ends with an 
 audible bang. 
 
1 4 Georgics. 
 
 Thrice did the impious band their oath repeat, 
 To hurl great Jove from his celestial seat. 
 Upheaved on Pelion Ossa tottering stood ; 
 All vast Olympus, with its nodding wood. 
 With impious boldness thrice the daring race 295 
 
 Roll, labouring, forward, and on Ossa place. 
 Jove from the spheres his awful thunder hurled, 
 Struck down the monsters, and restored the world. 
 Dawns the seventeenth, propitious to the vine ; 
 Then yoke the ox ; then, busy maidens, twine 300 
 Your flaxen thread ; the ninth the foot protects 
 That flies oppression, but the thief detects. 
 in-doorwork Somc through the winter nights long vigils make, 
 
 at night. ° _ ° & & ' 
 
 And for the blazing torches point the stake. 
 Then thrifty dames their midnight task prolong, 305 
 Weave the strong web, and hum their cheerful song. 
 Boil down sweet must still bubbling to the brim. 
 And with broad leaves the seething cauldron skim. 
 Out-door Meadows and stubbles cut while eve the blade 
 
 Helps with damp dew, and lends a grateful shade. 310 
 But plough or sow while glows with heat the plain. 
 Reap the red harvest, and thresh out the grain. 
 
 Inactive winter idle sees the swains 
 Enjoy their store, and count their well-earned gains; 
 Warm hearts, warm hearts with honest welcome greet, 
 Round the full board the mirthful neighbours meet. 
 So where the vessel woos the homeward gale, 317 
 Bounds o'er the waves, and strikes at length her sail. 
 As in the port secure she proudly rides. 
 The votive garlands deck her painted sides. 320 
 
 night. 
 
 Work at 
 noon. 
 
 Winter. 
 
Book the First. — Grain. 1 5 
 
 Nor want there labours for the wintei" day, 
 
 While oaks yield acorns, berries crown the bay. 
 
 When broken ice whirls down the stream amain, 
 
 And the deep snow encumbers all the plain, 
 
 The snare is set : the hare the tumult flies ; 325 
 
 The wounded quarry shuns the net, and dies. 
 
 Why need the Muse the shortening days declare Autumn. 
 Of stormy autumn and its annual care. 
 When spiky corn-stems bristle on the plain, 
 And milky juices swell the harvest grain .'' 330 
 
 Oft have I seen contending tempests rise, a storm. 
 
 And whirl the flying harvest to the skies. 
 Through the dense air the watery vapours sweep, 
 And pile on pile dark clouds forsake the deep. 
 From the rent mass pours down the sluicy rain, 335 
 Till the whole sky dissolves upon the plain. 
 O'er fertile fields the torrents madly roar. 
 The billows burst resounding on the shore. 
 Throned on the storm eternal Jove hath hurled 
 His fiery bolt, and quakes the solid world. 340 
 
 Men's hearts for fear have failed, wild beasts have fled ;' 
 Swift through the air the coruscations spread ; 
 The mountain tottering nods its shaggy head. 
 The storm redoubles, tempests howl around, 
 The forests now, and now the shores resound. 345 
 
 Prescient of these, what storms the stars presage observe the 
 
 stars. 
 
 ' ' The earth is trembling, and, therefore, that circumstance is 
 present, quakes ; but when you look around you, you find the wild 
 beasts have disappeared, and, therefore, have fled away before you 
 lifted your eyes.' — Dr. Beattie's 'Theory of Language,' part z, cajj. ii. 
 See also pp. 621 and 622, 4to edition of his ' Essay on the Sublime.' 
 
1 6 Georgics. 
 
 Observe revealed upon the heavenly page, 
 Or where the cold Saturnian orb retires. 
 Or Mercury wanders with his golden^fires. 
 
 Sacrifice. With pious hastc thy grateful offerings lay 350 
 
 On the green altar, and to Ceres pray. 
 Cold winter's gone : 'tis Spring's delicious hour : 
 Fat are thy lambs and rich thy Chian store. 
 Cool mountain shades afford a soft retreat. 
 The skies are cloudless, and our slumbers sweet. 355 
 Now let thy youth at Ceres' grassy shrine 
 Sweet cakes present, and pour the mellow wine ; 
 Thrice round the altar be the victim led. 
 And the warm blood in streams propitious shed. 
 While shouting crowds the glad procession share, 360 
 And call the goddess with their frequent prayer. 
 Nor thrust the sickle in the harvest grain 
 Till oaken chaplets crown each willing swain. 
 Where uncouth dances and the artless song 
 Till dewy night the rustic feast prolong. 365 
 
 wStLn*^ What signs the ceasing of the storm foretell. 
 For folding sheep what forms the rustic spell. 
 How heat, and rain, and driving winds succeed, 
 In nature's book unlettered herdsmen read. 
 Taught by that lore which, with prophetic skill, 370 
 Reads in the moon her great Creator's will. 
 
 Fouiweather. Ere tcmpcsts rage, the billows swelling rise, 
 A crackling noise along the mountain flies. 
 Or hollow gusts sweep o'er the howling shore. 
 And mix their murmur with the forests roar. 375 
 
 The hern deserts the marsh, and seeks the sky ; 
 
Book the First. — Grain. 1 7 
 
 To shore the cormorant and the sea-coot fly, 
 
 Wheeling from cHff to cliff discordant scream, 
 
 Or bathe and flutter in the shallow stream : 
 
 Then groans the vessel labouring on the main, 380 
 
 And scarce their jaws the greedy waves restrain. 
 
 Stars shooting through the sky high winds portend ; 
 
 Leave a white track, and to the earth descend. 
 
 Slight straws and falling leaves are whirled away, 
 
 And in light circles airy feathers play. 385 
 
 When lurid flashes in the north appear, 
 
 And thunder shakes from east to west the sphere, 
 
 Down the full dykes the foaming torrent pours. 
 
 His tapering spar the watchful sailor lowers. 
 
 The crane observant sees the storm increase,' 390 
 
 Then downward wheels, and seeks the valley's peace ; 
 
 The heifer snuffs the gale, and rears her head. 
 
 Her aspect anxious, and her nostrils spread ; 
 
 The swallow twittering flits the mere around ; 
 
 The croaking frogs awake their ancient sound ; 395 
 
 Ants in long files along the pathway creep. 
 
 Their eggs, removing ; and the bow drinks deep.^ 
 
 With wings loud clapping in their evening flight 
 
 Rooks seek deep shelter, and avoid the night. 
 
 Birds of the fens, that with discordant scream 400 
 
 In frequent flocks disturb Cayster's stream. 
 
 Run on the waves, in watery circles play, 
 
 Then dive and splash their plumage with the spray. 
 
 ' At the commencement of the storm the same bird, or its congener, 
 rises from the marsh ; v. 374- 
 
 ^ The rainbow was supposed to suck up the water which returned 
 in rain. 
 
 C 
 
1 8 Georgics. 
 
 Stalking along the solitary plain 
 With boding voice the crow invites the rain ; 405 
 
 While maidens, busy cit their evening toil, 
 Read the same omen in the sputtering oil. 
 Signs of fair With eoual ease observant eyes descry 
 
 weather. ^ 
 
 A cloudless season and an open sky. 
 
 No blunted ray makes dim the stars of night, 410 
 
 The moon resplendent owns no borrowed light. 
 
 No fleecy clouds the firmament obscure ; 
 
 No halcyon timorous basks upon the shore. 
 
 On the calm sea the birds securely float — 
 
 Soft heaves the wave, light sways the mimic boat.^ 
 
 No filthy swine unbind with greedy snout 416 
 
 The harvest sheaves, and toss the straws about. 
 
 The mountain mists no more a storm portend. 
 
 But in soft vapours to the vale descend. 
 
 No screams discordant scare the realms of night, 
 
 Where wings the solemn owl her silent flight. 421 
 
 Nisus aloft in airy circles wheels. 
 
 Her purple^ theft the guilty Scylla feels ; 
 
 Swift through the sky her wheeling circles go. 
 
 Swift on her track pursues the feathered foe, 425 
 
 And claps his wings : swift swoops the feathered foe. 
 
 Swift through the sky her flying circles go. 
 
 The solemn rook, with clownish glee possest, 
 
 ' I must ask indulgence for this superadded image. 
 
 ° Scylla cut off the purple hair, on which his fate depended, from the 
 head of her father Nisus, and delivered it to Minos, her lover and his 
 enemy, who nobly refused the treacherous gift. As a punishment the 
 gods changed Scylla into a lark, ever trembling before Nisus, trans- 
 formed into a hawk.' 
 
Book the First. — Grain. 19 
 
 In awkward gambols sports around his nest, 
 
 Caws out his welcome, clears his husky throat, 430 
 
 And woos his partner with a softer note. 
 
 Not that I think the gods their souls inspire. 
 
 Or fate endows them with a prescience higher 
 
 Than we possess, but when the fickle air 
 
 Lightens thick vapours, or condenses rare, 435 
 
 These on their nerves distinct impressions leave. 
 
 Distinct the images their minds receive. 
 
 Hence birds in concert swell their little throats. 
 
 And cattle frisk, and rooks caw livelier notes. 439 
 
 Mark the red sun, nor days too bright believe : signs from 
 
 T-* 1 1 » 1 1 1 • 1 t • ^^ Moon, 
 
 Read the moon s lore, nor let the night deceive. 
 
 If her new orb with dusky horn arise. 
 
 And her young face be veiled by cloudy skies. 
 
 Descending rains shall deluge all the plain. 
 
 And drench the sailor on a stormy main. 445 
 
 When virgin blushes o'er her disk diffuse, 
 
 She tells of wind, and reddens with the news. 
 
 If her fourth rising be in cloudless light, 
 
 Bright is the day, and still the peaceful night 449 
 
 Through all her course : the peasant knows no care, 
 
 And Melicerta grants the sailor's prayer. 
 
 The sun, or setting tells to-morrow's day, from the Sun. 
 
 Or when he rises on the shepherd's way, 
 Who knows full well, if mists obscure the dawn, 
 A showery day confirms a gloomy morn : 45 5 
 
 Scouring the waves the south wind sweeps the plain, 
 Adverse to vines, to cattle, and to grain. 
 But if his rays a thousand ways divide, 
 
20 Georgics. 
 
 Or pale Aurora quits Tithonus' side, 
 In vain the vine-leaves shade the tender shoot, 460 
 Large hail-stones wreck the promise of the fruit. 
 Let none to mark his evening colours fail. 
 But watch what lines upon his orb prevail ; 
 Blue warmer showers, wind fiery red foreshows. 
 The storm increases as the brightness glows : 465 
 Rough comes the night : then, mariner, forbear 
 To loose thy cable, and of wreck beware. 
 But if with cloudless ray and equal light 
 He rise all-glorious, and sink down at night, 469 
 
 No tempest bursts, no whirlwind shakes the scene, 
 Cool breezes gently wave the woodland scene. 
 Alike the sun by signs prophetic shows 
 The storms of nature and our countrj''s foes. 
 How secret treason arms the traitor's hand, 
 And civil strife pollutes a guilty land. 475 
 
 The death of When CjEsar falls, grief shrouds his glorious head, 
 
 Julius Cffisar. ... 111 
 
 And impious men eternal darkness dread : 
 Fierce ban-dogs howl : loud scream all birds obscene : 
 Earth rocks : seas heave, in wild confusion seen. 
 From Etna's caves, where flames imprisoned roar. 
 The riven sides a molten deluge pour. 481 
 
 The clang of squadrons and the clash of arms. 
 Heard in the sky, Germania's tribes alarms. 
 Struck with mysterious awe the forests quake, 
 And Alps' rude mountains to their centre shake. 485 
 An awful voice disturbs the groves at night ; 
 Pale spectres walk and vanish with the light. 
 Dumb cattle speak, dire omen to the land ; 
 
Book the First. — Grain. 2 1 
 
 Swift streams arrested in their channels stand ; 
 Earth gapes ; the ivory weeps at Caesar's fate, 490 
 The brazen image reeks with bloody sweat. 
 The king of floods his angry torrent pours. The river Po. 
 
 And tears whole forests from their wonted shores, 
 Swells into waves, and past the trembling swain 494 
 Whirls flocks and folds, and foams along the plain. 
 The slaughtered sheep ill-omened entrails shows ; 
 With streams of blood the crystal fountain flows ; 
 Gaunt wolves familiar round the city prowl, 
 Disturb the night, and ominously howl. 
 Strange sight, through cloudless skies the lightnings 
 play, 500 
 
 Strange comets fill the people with dismay. 
 
 So twice on Grsecia's plains our squadrons wheel, 
 And Roman legions feel the Roman steel ; 
 So twice, by Jove's decree, a hostile shore 
 Drinks in, and fattens on our kinsmen's gore. 505 
 
 Nay, time shall come, when on Pharsalia's plain 
 The ploughman stirs the furrow for the grain, 
 'Gainst Roman arms the iron teeth shall strike. 
 The empty helmet and the rusty pike; 
 And dead men's bones by their gigantic size 5 10 
 
 His gaze arrest, and fix his wond'ring eyes. 
 
 Gods of our fathers, ye who dwell on high, 
 Heroic chiefs, translated to the sky. 
 Ye who o'er Latium's palaces preside, 
 Still guard our country, and her counsels guide. 515 
 One hand alone can save a sinking world, Augustus. 
 
 In wild confusion from its balance hurled ; 
 
2 2 Georg 
 
 ics. 
 
 That hand support, nor all our race destroy 
 Pursued by vengeance for the crimes of Troy. 
 To halls of rapture and celestial life 520 
 
 The deifica- Hcavcn summons C^sar from a world of strife, 
 
 tion of Cffisar, 
 
 Where wrong with right an impious race confound. 
 
 War stalks, and tumults through the earth resound ; 
 
 Guilt turns its hateful course a thousand ways. 
 
 And man no honour to the ploughshare pays. 525 
 
 Fields lie neglected while the peasants fight, 
 
 The peaceful sickle gleams a falchion bright. 
 
 Euphrates here draws out her marshalled band, 
 
 Germania's legions there in armour stand. 
 
 Their ancient faith discordant cities break, 5 30 
 
 And guilty nations martial thunders shake. 
 
 So when the chariots from the barriers bound, 
 
 The speed increases as the wheels whirl round. 
 
 On, on, the fiery courser mocks the rein. 
 
 And rushes headlong o'er the wide champagne. 535 
 
BOOK THE SECOND. 
 TREES. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 I'VE sung the stars, I 've sung the yellow grain ; invocation. 
 The vine, the olive, and the copse remain, 
 Hail, Bacchus, hail : earth's choicest gifts are thine, 
 The foaming wine vat, and the luscious wine. 
 Hail, father, hail : thy buskins cast aside, 5 
 
 And with thy votary tread th' empurpling tide. 
 
 See how, without the cultivator's art, Trees of 
 
 spontaneous 
 
 On plain and valley into being start growth. 
 
 The limber broom, the poplar's lofty crown, 
 
 The pliant osier, and the willow's down. 10 
 
 Self-sown ' the oak - to Jove its branches rears. 
 
 Where fate's deep voice the Grecian augur hears ; 
 
 So lofty chestnuts burst their outer ring. 
 
 And future forests from the kernels spring. 
 
 The elm, the cherry, and the laurel shoot i S 
 
 In wild luxuriance from the parent root. 
 
 And thus each tree in grove or forest grew, 
 
 Ere man fresh methods by experience knew. 
 
 One cuttings plants,, and draws the furrow round ; Propagation 
 One trenches larger branches in the ground, 20 
 
 ' I take this to be the true meaning of ' posito ;' we have not yet 
 come to artificial propagation by man. 
 •* ' ^sculus,' the broad-leaved oak. 
 
26 Georgics. 
 
 Sharpens the point, or, with still nicer art. 
 
 Draws lines across, and splits the lower part. 
 
 These love to bend their boughs in arches down. 
 
 Rejoiced to see a nursery of their own. 
 
 Here the bold planter lops the topmost shoot, 25 
 
 To seek a home, and strike itself a root. 
 
 Nay, if you cut the olive trunk in twain. 
 
 E'en the dry stem puts forth fresh roots again. 
 
 Grafting. More wondrous change : ripe apples grow on pears : 
 
 The grafted sloe vermilion cherries bears. 30 
 
 Advantage Thus leam wild fruits to swell with richer juice, 
 
 01 science 
 
 And rugged grounds a kindlier race produce. 
 Rich vineyards blush upon the mountain soil 
 Of Thrace, Taburnus flows with olive oil. 
 
 To Macenas. Do thou, MsEcenas, in the labour join, 35 
 
 And be the glory as the merit thine. 
 Wide is the space : shake out the swelling sail, 
 Launch the light bark, and catch the^favouring gale ; 
 Yet, wisely prudent, eye the winding shore. 
 Nor waste on boundless seas the muse's power. 40 
 No ceaseless voice is hers, no iron tongue, 
 Nor wandering fancy that retards the song. 
 
 To make Some trces their boughs in wild luxuriance spread. 
 
 With leaves abounding, and a branching head : 
 In native richness^ these too rudely spring, 45 
 
 And no ripe clusters to perfection bring. 
 Oft a changed soil will fruitful branches grant ; 
 Or graft its vigour with a kindlier plant : 
 
 ' ' Solo natuva subest.' 
 
 trees fruitful. 
 
Book the Second. — Trees. 
 
 27 
 
 Repress their faults, their energies command — 
 
 Rich is the product that awaits thy hand. 50 
 
 Unfruitful thuswill suckers oft arise, 
 
 Till man the aid of art inventive tries. 
 
 And by transplanting a fresh power supplies. 
 
 Art quickens all : for seeds but slowly spring, 
 And tardy shade to future ages bring. 5 5 
 
 Wild apples fail in flavour and in juice, 
 And sorry grapes uncultured vines produce. 
 Thus skill and care one general law demands, 
 Directing science, and industrious hands, 
 
 The olives best from solid truncheons shoot ; 
 By layers the vines, by sets the myrtles root : 
 Hazel, and ash, and oak, and poplar, crown 
 i Of great Alcides, bend in suckers down ; 
 \ I So springs the fir, which hardy sailors launch, 64 
 
 ' And palm, that towering rears his graceful branch. 
 
 Grafted the plane no more its barren root 
 Bewails, but glories in Pomona's fruit ; 
 Its own soft pulp the arbutus rejects. 
 And the strong walnut's progeny expects : 
 Transformed themselves the chestnuts scarcely 
 
 know "JO 
 
 Beneath the foliage of the beechen bough : 
 White with the bursting blossoms of the pear 
 The mountain-ash no bright red berries bear : 
 While the old elm astonished shakes his head. 
 And bristly swine are now with acorns fed.' 75 
 
 Advantages 
 of culture. 
 
 go Methods of 
 propagation 
 
 Grafting 
 
 ^, I acknowledge lo some prolixity in setting forth the marvels of 
 grafting. ' 
 
28 
 
 Georgics. 
 
 Budding, 
 its difference 
 from graft- 
 ing. 
 
 Varieties in 
 trees and 
 fruits. 
 
 Varieties of 
 vines and 
 wines. 
 
 By the same law, though in a different way. 
 The budded stems the master's knife obey. 
 Just where the shoots their tender vestments break. 
 In the green bark a sHght incision make, 
 A foreign bud from other branches choose, 80 
 
 And the thin covering round the stranger close. 
 But he who grafts cuts through, with bolder art, 
 The rising stem, and cleaves the solid heart ; 
 New sap, ascending through the grafted shoot, 
 Bursts in fresh leaves and unaccustomed fruit. 85 
 
 Now learn what vast varieties divide 
 The gloomy cypress, fountful Ida's pride,. 
 The lotus tree, and olives, where abound 
 The Pausian rough, the oval, and the round ; 
 How apples sport ; how Schyria's' happy soil 90 
 
 With rich variety the peasant's toil 
 Repays ; and how our native gardens bear, 
 Each rivalling each, the rich and luscious pear. 
 
 Italia's vineyards grow a different vine 
 From those whose juices yield the Lesbian wine. 95 
 The Thasian peasants, as their draught they make, 
 Heed not the vine of Mareotis' lake ; 
 This in a heavy soil luxuriant grows, 
 A lighter tilth best suited is for those. 99 
 
 Sweet must when dried- the Psythian grapes produce; 
 Purple and early ripe burst out with juice ; 
 Sparkles the light Lageos, till men feel 
 Their words come double, and their footsteps reel ; 
 
 ' Another name for Phoenicia. 
 
 '^ The darker-coloured and sweeter varieties of sherry are made from 
 the grapes half-dried. 
 
Book the Second. — Trees. 29 
 
 The Rhastian grape, which needs no poet's lays, 
 
 And yet to thee, Falernian, yields the praise ; 105 
 
 Aminian vines that cups so potent pour, 
 
 They rival Chios in her generous store ; 
 
 Small grapes from which full vats to Argos flow, 
 
 That through long years increasing fragrance know ; 
 
 Rhodes' fruit far-famed, that gives to gods their 
 
 wine, no 
 
 To man libations ; and the cluster-vine. 
 But vain the task, and who such task would claim ? 
 To cite their number, and repeat their name. 
 What curious gaze each drifting atom knows. 
 When the strong wind on Afric's desert blows .' 115 
 Their foaming crests what straining vision counts, 
 When the white billow upon billow mounts .-' 
 
 With soils trees vary : deep the alder's root varieties of 
 
 soil and cli- 
 
 Sinks in the marsh : by streamlets willows shoot : '"^"=- 
 The mountain-ash climbs up the barren moor : 1 20 
 The Paphian myrtle loves the sunny shore : 
 Bacchus, to thee warm genial slopes are due : 
 Cold winds and northern climes befit the yew. 
 Survey the earth through all its wide extent, 
 From painted Scythians to the Arabs' tent : 125 
 
 Trees lands divide : dark ebony declares 
 India its home ; rich gums Sabaea bears : 
 Sweet unguents sweat from Syria's balsam shoot : 
 Th' Acanthus" speaks with medicated fruit : 
 
 ' The true acanthus of the east, the fruit of which grows in pods, 
 and is gathered for medicinal purposes. 
 
30 " Georgics. 
 
 Libyans have groves as flocks with fleeces white : 
 And Seres leaves with silken tissue bright : ' 131 
 
 High 'midst the clouds the Indian's arrow flies — 
 No laggard he to claim the bowman's prize — 
 Higher and higher still his giant forests rise. 
 On Media's shores there grows a pungent fruit, 135 
 Whose buds ne'er fall, though tempests shake the root. 
 If jealous hate has worked its victim harm, 
 And deadly poison mixed with potent charm, 
 Man's swollen veins the healing fruits reduce, 
 And the black poison flies the generous juice. 140 
 These stately trees the bay's smooth foliage bear, 
 But with a scent their own perfume the air. 
 Hence aromatic sweets embalm the breath ; 
 And age and asthma vainly league with death. 
 Praiieof But neither Media's groves, nor Ganges' tide, 145 
 
 Nor India's woods, nor streams that golden glide, 
 Nor sweet Arabia's perfume-laden air. 
 Can with thy glories, Italy, compare. 
 No bulls fire-breathing here alarmed the swain, 
 No crested harvest, horrent on the plain, 1 50 
 
 Reared spear and pike instead of yellow grain ; 
 But waving crops present a peaceful spoil. 
 And Bacchus revels in a genial soil ; 
 The olive drops its unctuous berries down. 
 And joyful herds the smiling landscape crown. 155 
 With crest erect, and glory in his mane. 
 The generous courser wantons on the plain. 
 
 ' The silk thread was supposed to be a portion of the leaf itself 
 
Book the Second. — Trees. 31 
 
 Here sacred flocks in peaceful plenty browse, 
 And crown the issue of a nation's vows ; 
 The lordly victim from Clitumnus' wave 160 
 
 Shows guardian Jove omnipotent to save, 
 When civic pomp that leads our heroes home 
 Proclaims the triumphs and the gods of Rome. 
 Warm Spring prevails through seasons not its own : 
 Twice breed the flocks, twice fruits the orchard crown : 
 Wild beasts are not : the field no poison holds : 1 66 
 No scaly monster drags its giant folds. 
 
 Vast works of art men's wondering gaze command ; 
 Firm based on rocky clifis fair cities stand ; 
 Their strong foundations flowing waters lave ; 1 70 
 And north and south proud vessels ride the wave. 
 Here lovely Larius washes Comurn's shore ; 
 Benace's waves with mimic tempest roar : 
 Lucrinus there displays its wondrous mound — 
 The seas upheaved indignantly rebound — 175 
 
 Where Tuscan waters in Avernus' lake, 
 A peaceful haven for our navies make. 
 
 Rich veins with silver and with copper glow, 
 And over sands of gold bright waters flow. 
 
 Patient of labour, hardy, bold, and free, 1 80 
 
 Ligurians, Marsians, Sabines, Volsci, see. 
 Camilli, Marii, Decii, here unite. 
 With Scipios twain, invincible in fight. 
 And thou, great Caesar, through the world renowned. 
 By Asia honoured to earth's utmost bound, 185 
 
 On whom disarmed all India's chieftains wait 
 In savage grandeur and barbaric state. 
 
32 
 
 Georgics. 
 
 Different 
 soils : 
 
 For vines. 
 
 For herds 
 and flocks. 
 
 Grain. 
 
 Land rich in fruits, and in heroic men, 
 
 In whom the age of Saturn lives again, 
 
 For thee I open founts of ancient lore, 1 90 
 
 And catch the echoes from Boeotia's shore. 
 
 First learn observant how each different soil 
 Directs our labour to a different toil. 
 On the hill-side with clay and gravel spread 
 Minerva's olive rears its ancient head ; 195 
 
 On such a soil wild olive-trees abound. 
 And woodland berries strew the bushy ground. 
 
 Where the thick grass in rich luxuriance grows. 
 And verdant turf a happy moisture shows. 
 Where streams enriching leave the mountain's side. 
 And the fern turns the crooked share aside, 201 
 
 There future husbandmen behold the vine. 
 With clusters laden, pour a fragrant wine ; 
 Such as men see in golden goblets foam. 
 As prostrate crowds adore the gods of Rome, 205 
 When the sleek Tuscan sounds the note of praise. 
 And victims crumble in the altar's blaze. 
 
 For flocks or herds seek far Tarentum's plain. 
 Or fields which thou hast lost, poor Mantuan swain. 
 Where the white swan green pastures sails between. 
 And bubbling rills refresh the verdant scene, 2 1 1 
 
 Where what through all the day's long summer hour 
 The flocks consume, the night's cool dews restore. 
 
 Blest is his lot, whose harvest crowns a soil 
 Which rich yet crumbles 'neath the ploughman's toil. 
 There swains rejoice, there groans the laden wane. 
 And pant strong bullocks on the dusty plain. 217 
 
Book the Second. — Trees. 33 
 
 So when some bold adventurer fells the wood, 
 
 Which through long ages unmolested stood, 
 
 Grubs up the roots which raise the ploughman's wrath, 
 
 And calls its unexhausted treasures forth, 221 
 
 Where, lingering still, the plaintive birds return, 
 
 Wheel round the ruins, and their dwellings mourn. 
 
 Soon heaviest crops wave o'er the level space. 
 
 And cultivation shows a smiling face. 225 
 
 But hungry gravel on the steep hill-side 
 
 Will scarce ' sprigged rosemary' ^ for bees provide. 
 
 Where in corroded chalk the serpent lies. 
 
 And the rank weed its poisonous food supplies. 
 
 But chief a light free-working furrow note, 230 
 
 Where flying vapours on the surface float. 
 
 Whose veins the fertilising dew restore 
 
 With open breast imbibed through every pore. 
 
 Where native pastures bear the sweetest grass, 
 
 And free from salt and scurf the ploughshares pass. 235 
 
 There round tall elms strong vines luxuriant twine. 
 
 There the green olive's richest berries shine. 
 
 There sleekest herds the pasture land adorn. 
 
 And smiling Plenty fills her golden horn. 
 
 Such Capua crown, on such Vesuvius gleams, 240 
 
 Such Clanius waters with its brawling streams. 
 
 Now learn by fresh experiment to know Different 
 
 Where flourish vines, where grains luxuriant grow ; soils. 
 For fruits of Ceres stifl'er glebes require. 
 Thy grapes, great Bacchus, lighter soils desire. 245 
 
 In some smooth spot upon the level ground Bycomprep- 
 
 ' ' Sprigged rosemary the lads and lasses bore.' — Gray. 
 
 D 
 
34 Georgics. 
 
 Deep sink a pit, and pile the earth around ; 
 
 This done, the earth with careful hand replace. 
 
 And tread it firmly in its former space. 
 
 If sinks the soil, for vines select the plain ; 250 
 
 The rising glebe demands the labouring swain, 
 
 Let your stout bullocks in the furrow toil, 
 
 Crush the stiff ridge, and break the sluggish soil. 
 
 By taste. Thus may a salt and bitter soil be known, 
 
 Whose niggard breast scarce yields what man has 
 sown, 255 
 
 Where juicy apples hang a withered fruit. 
 And the best vines confess a poisoned root. 
 In osier sieves, suspended from a beam. 
 Mix the loose earth, and catch the trickling stream ; 
 Then, while the bitter draught another takes, 260 
 
 Watch the wry faces which the taster makes. 
 
 By handling. A richcr soil that speaks of heavier land. 
 
 When rubbed still clings adhesive to the hand. 
 
 Anundrained In the wet marsh too rank the blade may spring, 
 
 And the tall stalk no answering harvest bring. 265 
 
 weightT Poised in the balance all their weight declare : 
 
 These sink depressed, those mount into the air. 
 
 By colour. The cyc at once will different colours trace. 
 
 Bythena- Short, stunted firs betray a barren place, 
 
 tive trees. ' -' jr ' 
 
 Where poisonous yews and straggling ivy show 270 
 A climate bleak, a worthless soil below. 
 The vine- Thcsc rulcs observed : again with prescient care 
 
 yard. 
 
 For the young vine its future home prepare. 
 ofThe^round. Trcnch deep the ground, and to the frozen > north 
 
 ' To destroy the weeds and pulverise the soil. 
 
Book the Second. — Trees. 3 5 
 
 Turn the dull clods; and stir the sluggish earth. 275 
 
 Nay more : where'er the future vine must grow, Quaner of 
 
 the heavens. 
 
 Like soil and climate let the cutting know, 
 
 Lest the young plant reject the sudden change. 
 
 And deem its new adopted mother strange. 
 
 E'en have I known some careful planters mark 280 
 
 The different quarters on the tender bark, 
 
 So, as at first the early branches stood, 
 
 A like position meets the ripened wood. 
 
 If strong your soil, let frequent ranks be found ; uJeSTtL'"' 
 If light, indulgent spare the poorer ground. 285 p'^"''' 
 
 But still your lines marl^ out with nicest care, ^eTankf '" 
 
 And each to each with strict exactness square. 
 So when in war our marshalled legions stand, as in an 
 
 army drawn 
 
 And range their cohorts at the chief s command, out. 
 
 Exactly formed, in beautiful array, 290 
 
 One even front their steady ranks display. 
 
 And targe and helm along the level line 
 
 Like one wide sea of gleaming metal shine. 
 
 While Mars admiring shows his awful form. 
 
 The stern disposer of the iron storm. 295 
 
 E'en thus the planter, ere he sets his vines, 
 
 Marks out his vineyard with diverging lines. 
 
 An equal space assigns to every root. 
 
 And equal freedom to each tender shoot. 
 
 Though forest trees a deeper trench demand, 300 Depth. 
 I plant my vineyard with a gentler hand ; 
 Unlike the oak, whose roots as deep descend. Longevity of 
 
 the oalc. 
 
 As high its branches to the heaven ascend. 
 When tempests rage, and falling forests rock, 
 
36 
 
 Georgics. 
 
 Aspect for a 
 vineyard, and 
 freedom from 
 other trees. 
 
 Selection and 
 care of cut- 
 ings. 
 
 Danger of 
 fir3, and of 
 the olive. 
 
 Time for 
 vineyard 
 cultivation. 
 
 The stork. 
 
 Spring 
 
 Its sturdy might defies the puny shock, 305 
 
 Firm in its strength, unconscious of decay. 
 
 Sees children's children rise and pass away, 
 
 Still stands unmoved, gnarled monarch of the plains, 
 
 And the vast shade with giant strength sustains. 
 
 Where the first sun-beam earliest warmth supplies. 
 Unmixed with other shrubs let vineyards rise : 311 
 The evening sun to grapes ungenial shines, 
 And the brown hazel robs the fruitful vines. 
 
 Soon pines a cutting from the topmost shoot. 
 The lowest branches strike the readiest root. 315 
 
 And, oh, forbear to bruise with blunted knife 
 The tender bark, or wound the source of life. 
 
 Oft will a spark from careless shepherd's hand 
 Wide ruin spread, if unctuous olives stand 
 To nurse the flame ; the fiery vengeance pours 320 
 Through all the branches, and the vine devours, 
 Scorched up the vineyard languishes and dies, 
 Whilst the wild olives o'er the ruin rise. 
 
 Let none persuade, howe'er reputed wise. 
 To stir the soil when northern winds arise, 325 
 
 When the cold frost would nip the tender birth. 
 And iron winter shuts the womb of earth. 
 In early spring, when first the stranger bird 
 To snakes destructive, on our shores is heard. 
 Then plant thy vines ; or when the summer ray 330 
 Is quenched, and yields to autumn's milder day ; 
 Before the sun, in rapid circles whirled. 
 To winter's icy gripe yields up the world. 
 
 Green leaves unfold, the woods in spring rejoice ; 
 
4> 
 
 , Book the Second. — Trees. 37 
 
 Swells the warm glebe, and with impatient voice 335 
 
 The seed demands ; the God who fills all space, 
 
 All earth compresses in one vast embrace ; 
 
 All earth, now conscious of Almighty power. 
 
 Waits the glad advent of the genial shower. 
 
 The tuneful birds in lonely thickets sing • 340 
 
 Their amorous descant, and proclaim the spring ; 
 
 The lowing herd the soft infection feels ; 
 
 Earth teems prolific as the warm breath steals 
 
 Of zephyr o'er her ; dews refreshing rise ; 
 
 The tender grasses dare the sunny skies. 345 
 
 Secure the vine puts forth each polished gem, 
 
 Hope of the vintage, from the bursting stem. 
 
 Then rose, the tenants of Saturnian earth, 
 
 Men, beasts, and cattle at a wondrous birth. 
 
 When heaven, with unaccustomed ■ splendours bright. 
 
 Enfolded all in new-created light. 351 
 
 Rough winds were hushed, sweet .Spring's refreshing 
 
 power. 
 Smiled on the weakness of that infant hour, 
 Till, hardened by the strength experience gives. 
 The young creation in full vigour lives. 355 
 
 In rich, deep loam embed the vine's young shoot, Careofthe 
 
 Vine. 
 
 Where the warm vapours nurse the tender root ; 
 Then on the surface spread broad stones, the rain 
 Runs off, the scorching sun beats down in vain. 
 Through all thy vineyard guide, with patient toil, 360 
 Rank after rank, the plough, and lift the soil. 
 
 ' ' Cum prima; 
 
 . et sidera ccclo.' 
 
38 
 
 Georgics. 
 
 Early reli- 
 gious rites 
 
 still con- 
 tinued. 
 
 Now busy hands the various props prepare, 
 
 Peel the smooth rod, and point the ashen spear ; 
 
 His surly blast in vain rude Boreas tries, 
 
 From branch to branch upheld the tendrils rise. 365 
 
 Whilst the young limbs with eager effort try 
 
 And loosened reins to climb the summer sky. 
 
 Oh, check not yet their first sweet taste of life 
 
 With the rude edges of the ruthless knife, 
 
 Till the strong branches, waving in the air, 370 
 
 A vigorous grasp require and sterner care ; 
 
 But where the crowded shoots more space demand, 
 
 Nip off the stragglers with a gentle hand. 
 
 Watch well your fence, for wild or wandering kine, 
 
 Than storm or hail more hurtful, wound the vine ; 375 
 
 Where'er the tooth injurious leaves a mark. 
 
 Wide spreads the poison, and corrodes the bark. 
 
 Doomed for this crime, before the rustic shrine 
 Goats slain appease the guardian of the vine ; 
 And bleating kids at Attic feasts reward 380 
 
 The first rude actors and the tragic bard, 
 Where jesters dancing, 'mid their laughter loud, 
 On greasy wine-skins charm the gaping crowd. 
 
 Still to the god, whose images are hung 
 The trees amongst, are mystic verses sung ; 385 
 
 And rustic hands some rude resemblance trace 
 In masks of bark to man's or demon's face. 
 
 Thus fruitful vines to men large produce bear. 
 Valley and grove the rich luxuriance share. 
 And teeming plenty all our care repays, 390 
 
 Where'er the god his honest face displays. 
 
Book the Second. — Trees. 39 
 
 To Bacchus raise the hymn, and to the stake worship of 
 
 The victim bind, the sacrificial cake 
 Grateful present, let smoking entrails rise 
 In clouds of adoration to the skies. 395 
 
 Still labour calls thee : to her call attend ; Returns to 
 
 ' the labour 
 
 By Jove ordained, but not ordained to end. "[^'^.^ ™°" 
 
 Again, again, the stubborn glebe must feel 
 
 The ponderous harrow and the ploughshare's steel ; 
 
 Round every branch the careful hand must run, 400 
 
 And through the leaves admit the genial sun. 
 
 Thus all our labours in a circle go. 
 
 And the same tasks succeeding summers know. 
 
 When the last vine has laid its leaves aside, ^[(^ ^ ^^^^ 
 
 The sere remainder of its summer pride, 405 yelJ.'"^"" 
 
 To future years the prudent peasants look, 
 And prune the naked branch with Saturn's hook, 
 Stems too luxuriant wantoning repress. 
 And all the shoots in nicest order dress. 
 
 First dig, first prune,.first store the stakes away ; 410 Promptness 
 
 at work. 
 
 These labours speed : the vintage hour delay. Patience at 
 
 Twice prune the vines, twice cleanse from weeds Sunimer and' 
 
 autumn. 
 
 the sou. 
 Hard task in summer, hard the autumn toil. Pruning and 
 
 weeding. 
 
 On the large vineyard feast thine eyes, but spare size of the 
 
 *=* •> J ' 1. vuieyard. 
 
 Thyself to tax with so severe a care. 415 
 
 As the lithe broom and pliant willows bend Tying in the 
 
 ^ shoots the 
 
 Round every stem, the annual labours end. tion."'"^"^^" 
 
 His hook aside the weary dresser flings. 
 
 Approves his work, and down the alley sings ; 
 
 In prospect sees another vintage flow, 420 
 
40 Georgics. 
 
 And Jove propitious to his toil below. 
 
 The olive. Content with what the loosened earth- supplies, 
 
 Of care regardless, olive groves arise. 
 Deep fix their roots, and with a large increase 
 Bear the rich berries and the branch of peace. 425 
 
 Fruit-trees. Grafted all fruit-trees rear a vigorous head, 
 And ask no succour as their boughs outspread. 
 
 Forest?. Nor Icss cach wood its warbling tenants feeds, 
 
 Where teeming nature's wondrous birth proceeds. 
 The forest yields pine-torches for the night, 430 
 
 Feeds our home fires, and spreads a cheerful light. 
 Shall man, then, fail to plant with careful hand, 
 Or greater blessings from the earth demand .■' 
 See humble broom and willow-trees afford 
 Browse to the cattle, shelter to their lord, 435 
 
 Rise as a fence around the standing corn, 
 And feast the honey-bee at fragrant morn. 
 Great is the charm to view with wondering eyes. 
 Dark woods of pine on Locrian Naryx rise ; 
 To watch how lavish earth her stores unlocks, 440 
 And all Cytorus waves with groves of box ; 
 No harrow needs to wound her willing breast. 
 But to her offspring freely gives her best. 
 
 The woods of Caucasus, by tempests torn, 
 Or navies build, or palaces adorn, 445 
 
 Yield spokes revolving in the chariot-wheels. 
 Light spars for tilts, and crooked trunks for keels. 
 The peasant's hand cheap willow baskets weaves, 
 The elm gives browse with dried ' or tender leaves, 
 ' For this we liave the authority of our own countryman, Evelyn. 
 
Book the Second. — Trees. 41 
 
 Bristles the cornel in the ranks of war, 450 
 
 The bent yew strikes its victim from afar, 
 To the smooth lime and box the turner's art 
 Doth polish give, and useful form impart, 
 The Po's broad stream floats down the alder wood. 
 Launched as a pinnace on the brawling flood, 455 
 Whilst for the frugal bee and honey-comb 
 E'en in decay the ilex finds a home. 
 
 What gifts compared with these can Bacchus boast, "^^^^ '^^^ 
 Who sees all sense in drunken revel lost. 
 And bade the Centaurs, mad with lust and wine, 460 
 In deadly struggle at the banquet join ? 
 
 O happy ye, to whom the grateful plain V^^t ° n'fe - 
 
 With lavish plenty gives the harvest grain ! 
 Thrice happy ye, who in your homes rejoice. 
 And know the blessings of your peaceful choice ! 465 
 What though no palace from resplendent doors 
 Obsequious crowds of morning clients pours ; 
 Inlaid with art, and in unbroken line. 
 Gorgeous with brass, no clustering columns shine ; 
 Nor stiff with gold, nor rich with Tyrian dyes 470 
 Your fleece ; no perfumed fount your oil supplies ; 
 Calm peace is yours ; and yours the busy day. 
 Whose toil soft slumbers by the mere repay ; 
 The dusky copse ; the dewy breath of morn ; 
 The low of cattle ; and the upland lawn. 475 
 
 Patient of toil a frugal youth are here, 
 Their parents honour, and the gods revere ; 
 
 ' With this compare the conclusion of Gay's Rural Sports, canto ii. 
 V- 395' 
 
42 Georgics. 
 
 When ancient faith corrupted earth forsook, 
 'Midst you she paused and cast a lingering look. 
 
 Me let the muse with varied knowledge crown, 
 I wear her fillets, and her worship own, 481 
 
 Warm in my heart I feel the passion glow. 
 Inspire each thought, through every artery flow ; 
 Teach me the stars to know, the skies to read. 
 Why fails the sun, and how the moons succeed, 485 
 Whence quakes the earth, by what almighty force 
 The forward tide resumes its ebbing course, 
 Why winter suns to ocean swift descend. 
 And summer days slow linger to an end.' 
 If the chill blood which creeps around the heart 490 
 In sluggish pulses fit an humbler part. 
 Then let the fields and running streams delight 
 My unambitious ^ verse, and charm my sight. 
 
 Oh, for that hill, or for those sacred plains 
 Where Spartan virgins chant impassioned strains ! 495 
 O that my head in Tempe's vale were laid. 
 Cooled by her breeze, and sheltered by her shade ! 
 
 Happy the man who knows the secret cause. 
 How nature works, and reads creation's laws. 
 Whose soul to fortune can superior rise, 500 
 
 ' O could the Muse in loftier strains rehearse 
 The glorious Author of the Universe, 
 Who reins the winds, gives the vast ocean bounds, 
 And circumscribes the floating worlds their rounds.' 
 
 Gay's Rural Sports, canto i. v. 1 15. 
 ''■ ' Inglorious,' i.e. 'not desirous of glory.' So Milton, — 
 ' Wept that he had lived so long inglorious.' 
 
 Paradise Regained, iii.41. 
 
Book the Second. — Trees. 43 
 
 And death, dark minister of fate, despise. 
 And happy he who wins with artless prayer 
 Pan's, and Sylvanus', and the wood-nymphs' care. 
 Nor tyrant's frown, nor monarch's radiant smile. 
 Can daunt with terror, or with hope beguile. 505 
 
 The Dacian league conspired by Ister's wave, 
 Who Rome will ruin, or who Rome can save, 
 The wreck of kingdoms, and the shock of arms. 
 His peace invades not, nor his soul alarms. 
 A neighbour's wealth no envious wish inspires, 510 
 His frugal meal no starving wretch desires ; 
 His food the fruits which earth unbidden bears. 
 He hears no forum, and no Jictor fears. 
 
 These dare the ocean, and invite the storm. 
 This rage, and this the courtier's wiles deform ; 515 
 All faith, all right the traitor's acts defy. 
 From gems to drink, on Tyrian purple lie ; 
 One broods in misery o'er his hoarded gold, 
 And one in chains the people's plaudits hold. 
 There stains of blood pollute a brother's hand, 520 
 And he in terror flies his fathers' land. 
 
 Not such his life who guides the crooked share. 
 And on the glebe bestows his annual care. 
 With sturdy steers breaks up the stubborn plain, 
 And to his countr>' gives the harvest grain. 525 
 
 The furrows now demand the early seed, 
 Now pregnant cattle to his care succeed ; 
 With change still varying the prolific year 
 Now teems with apples or the wheaten ear ; 
 Each mellow fruit ripe autumn plenteous yields, 530 
 
44 Georgics. 
 
 And purple vintage clothes the sunny fields. 
 
 Rough winter comes : then work the olive mill, 
 And bristly swine with woodland berries fill. 
 The lisping infant climbs upon his sire. 
 While the chaste housewife trims the evening fire. 535 
 
 The milky heifers home at evening wend, 
 And wanton kids in harmless strife contend. 
 In happy ease, extended on the grass. 
 Each festive day the merry herdsmen pass, 
 Crown the full bowl with many a rustic joke, 540 
 
 And pouring wine the god of wine invoke. 
 Aim the swift arrow from the nervous string, 
 Or strip, and wrestle in the village ring. 
 
 Such life of old the ancient Sabines knew. 
 Such our first kings, thus bold Etruria grew, 545 
 
 Thus Rome, wall-girdled, glory of all lands. 
 Rose on seven hills, and without rival stands ; 
 And ere dread Jove enforced his iron reign, 
 Ere for the feast the fattest steer was slain, 
 Thus golden Saturn sways the peaceful plain ; 5 50 
 No trumpet note the herdsman's rest alarms, 
 Nor rings the anvil with the clink of arms. 
 
 But night descends, we've run a lengthened course. 
 Unbind the yoke, and loose the smoking horse. 
 
BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 ANIMALS. 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 5 
 
 THOU, mighty Pales, thou, Amphrysian' god, 
 Ye founts that bubble, and ye groves that nod 
 On Lyce's steep, to you I turn, nor praise 
 Oft sung our old traditionary lays. 
 Busiris, Hylas, famed Latona's isle. 
 The Elian maid,^ but claim a passing smile. 
 Be mine the glory to ascend to fame 
 By paths untrodden, and for Mantua claim 
 The palm, as through Italian valleys sing 
 The tuneful sisters from Aonia's spring. 
 
 Where the broad Mincius rolls along the plain 
 His flood, and winds majestic to the main, 
 A marble fane shall meet men's wond'ring eyes. 
 And Caesar's statue in the centre rise. 
 In purple splendour chief I stand, and pour 
 One hundred chariots on the winding shore. 
 The Grecian athlete for such crown disdains 
 Nemseus' caestus and Olympia's plains. 
 
 ' Apollo, when banished from heaven, kept the flocks of Admetus, 
 king of Thessaly, on the banks of the Amphrysus. 
 
 ■■^ Hippodamia, or the Horse-tamer, daughter of the King of Ehs, 
 for whose hand the suitors contended with her father in the chariots' 
 
 Invocation, 
 
 lO 
 
 Imagines 
 a temple 
 built and 
 games insti- 
 tuted in 
 honour of 
 Caesar, over 
 which Virgil 
 
 J f, himself is to 
 
 ^ 5 preside. 
 
48 Georgics. 
 
 With olive chaplet to the shrine I lead 
 The long procession,' and the victims bleed. 20 
 
 The decora- On vondcr side, with purple hangings bright, 
 
 tions. "^ 
 
 Inwoven Britons show barbaric might. 
 
 Here carved in ivory, and embossed in gold. 
 
 By Ganges' wave is Roman prowess told, 
 
 On Nile's broad stream her stately galleys ride, 25 
 
 Whose brazen prows- increase the Romans' pride. 
 
 Asia bows down, and flying Parthians pour 
 
 ' Against the face sharp sleet of arrowy shower.' 
 
 Two trophies, snatched by the same hand, are there. 
 
 Twice-conquered nations in his train appear.* 30 
 
 Instinct with life the Parian statues glow, 
 
 From Jove to Csesar in unbroken row. 
 
 The Furies' lash let hateful Envy feel. 
 Eternal whirling on Ixion's wheel. 
 The dismal river dread, and hear his groan 35 
 
 Who pants exhausted as he heaves the stone. 
 ToMfficenas. Meantime the bard his tuneful way pursues. 
 And wakes the Dryads with his woodland muse. 
 Do thou, for thou canst best his song inspire, 
 Sage lore impart, and breathe poetic fire. 40 
 
 Soft-lowing kine, Boeotia's milky pride, 
 Call us, Maecenas, from Cithseron's side ; 
 From Epidaurus neighs the noble horse. 
 And paws impatient to commence his course ; 
 
 ' The images of Victory, Neptune, Ceres, and otlier deities were 
 carried in these ' pompa, ' or processions. 
 
 ^ Triumphal cohimns made from these were erected at Rome. 
 ' The victories alluded to are uncertain. 
 
Book the Third. — Animals 
 
 M 
 
 Laudatory 
 of Caesar. 
 
 so 
 
 B. ceding- 
 
 Selection of 
 the dam. 
 
 Bullocks. 
 
 55 Size. 
 
 While all the groves with one consent resound 45 
 
 To the deep baying of the Spartan hound. 
 
 This done, the muse, inspired for nobler song 
 By Caesar's deeds, shall Caesar's fame prolong. 
 Throughout all time its course undimmed to run, 
 With Jove coeval, as from Jove begun. 
 
 Wouldst thou the honours of Olympia gain. 
 Or break with lusty steers the stubborn plain. 
 The dam regard : that cow observant prize 
 Which shows in all her points an ample size. 
 Full from the chest a brawny neck extends, 
 The swelling dewlap to her knees descends. 
 Large is her head, nor will the breeder scorn 
 Large hoofs, large ears beneath a curling horn. 
 I would not blame, if all her points be right, 
 A heifer speckled with some spots of white, 60 
 
 Nor one that 's somewhat stubborn in the yoke, 
 Fierce with her horn, and masculine in look, 
 With sweeping tail, erect and lofty head. 
 And something almost stately in her tread. 
 From four to ten, when nature seeks for rest 65 Age. 
 
 With powers worn out, a heifer breeds the best. 
 Whilst the full strength of vigorous youth remains. 
 And rich the life-blood courses through the veins. 
 Fast flies our prime : old age comes on apace : 
 The goal is death, and all too swift the race. 70 
 
 Each year the young with careful eye select, 
 Preserve the strong, the weakly stock reject. 
 
 With equal care regard when young the steed, The Horse. 
 
 The future parent of a generous breed. 
 
 E 
 
so Georgics. 
 
 E'en in the colt the eye observant sees 75 
 
 The hmbs' proud movement and the graceful ease. 
 
 When his quick sense the gathering tumult hears, 
 
 No sudden start betrays ignoble fears, 
 
 The unknown bridge he tries with conscious pride. 
 
 Or foremost plunges in the foaming tide. 80 
 
 Broad back, short side, neat head, and lofty crest, 
 
 Fire swells the muscles of his brawny chest. 
 
 To the soft white prefer the dappled grey. 
 
 The dun reject, but choose the shining bay. 
 
 When swells the sound of battle from afar, 85 
 
 With ears erect he snuffs the coming war. 
 
 Rolls from wide nostrils streams of fire around. 
 
 Snorts in his pride, and restless paws the ground. 
 
 Devours the earth, and as he 's headlong borne 
 
 Sharp rings the champagne with his solid horn. 90 
 
 Such Cyllarus, whom Leda's offspring rein, 
 
 Such great Achilles whirled along the plain. 
 
 Such Mars compels reluctant in his car. 
 
 Untamed, and fearless 'mid the ranks of war. 
 
 Transformed, thus Saturn shook his glossy mane ; 95 
 
 Loud neighings filled the mountain and the plain. 
 
 When old. But c'cn such horse when age his power impairs. 
 Though eager still, the prudent master spares : 
 Through driest stubble flames the swiftest fly, 
 Blaze fiercely up, and ineffectual die. 100 
 
 Stock, vigour, age observe with careful eyes. 
 What pain defeat, what joy attests the prize. 
 
 The chariot Swift from the barriers see the chariots bound — 
 
 They 've gained the course, the twisted thongs resound, 
 
 race. 
 
Book the Third. — Atiinmls. 51 
 
 Through clouds of dust the glowing axle flies, 105 
 Now fears depress, now hopes exulting rise, 
 High o'er his steeds the driver breathless stands, 
 Shakes the loose rein, their utmost speed commands ; 
 Now seem the smoking wheels, so swift they fly, 
 Bounding from earth to whirl along the sky ; no 
 
 Pressed by his rival pants the foremost steed, 
 Feels the hot breath, and doubles all his speed. 
 So great the generous passion for renown, 
 So toils the victor for the olive crown. 
 
 Raised on the lofty wheels' revolving round 1 1 1; invention of 
 
 ■' o _» onanots, and 
 
 Four harnessed steeds first Ericthonius bound ; of riding. 
 
 First grasped the Lapithae strong bits of steel. 
 
 Leaped on his back, and taught the horse to wheel. 
 
 Curvet obedient to the horseman's rein. 
 
 Spring to the spur, or halt upon the plain. 120 
 
 Alike these labours youthful vigour need, 
 
 A docile temper, yet a mettled steed. 
 
 Though firm thy charger in the battle stood, caution 
 
 Noble his sire, and pure his Grecian blood, theowiiorse. 
 
 Traced to the horse the gift of Neptune's care, 125 
 
 Yet e'en of him in weak old age beware. 
 
 Now when the time by nature marked draws nigh, Care of the 
 With generous food the sinewy sires supply, 
 Lest the weak male thy future stock disgrace, 
 And show his leanness in a puny race. 1 30 
 
 Not so the dams : to these scant fodder bring. The dams ; 
 
 And drive them thirsty from the grateful spring ; 
 Some in the course their bodies labouring sweat. 
 Fatigued and wasted with the fiery heat, 
 
5 2 Georgics. 
 
 When their hot task the weary threshers ply, 1 35 
 
 And the light straws before warm zephyrs fly, 
 Lest the rich soil, with over-fatness rife. 
 Thy hopes deceive, and check the germ of life, 
 at fo.-iiing Swift roll the months : and now with gentler care, 
 
 time. 
 
 Loosed from the yoke their failing efforts spare, 140 
 Restrain their gambols in the flowery mead. 
 And near some stream in quiet pastures feed. 
 Where sheltering caves resist the tempest's power. 
 And cliffs project, and shade the noonday hour. 
 
 The gadfly. Along the banks where Silarus rolls his waves. 
 
 Round old Alburnus, green with ilex leaves,' 146 
 
 A fly prevails, Asilus is its name. 
 
 The Grecian CEstron is to Greeks the same. 
 
 Soon as the beasts perceive the whirring sound. 
 
 Whole herds affrighted through the thicket bound ; 
 
 Tanagrus hears the tumult as they fly, 151 
 
 And bellowing shake the forest and the sky. 
 
 In such dire plague of old to lo sent 
 
 Did Juno all her jealous fury vent. 
 
 Protect from When insccts wake, and revel in the heat 1 5 5 
 
 Of noonday suns, in some secure retreat 
 The herds protect ; but in the early light, 
 Or when cool mists enshroud the dewy night. 
 No insects buzz, no hum the cattle hear, 
 Wander at will, and graze released from fear. 160 
 
 Young kine. The calves now born, be all thy care transferred, 
 With nice selection, to the future herd. 
 
 Selection. The lot of each their brands distinctive show. 
 Or for the breed, the altar, or the plough. 
 
Book the Third. — Animals. 
 
 53 
 
 In happy ease the former pass their days, 165 Those for 
 
 And in green pastures unmolested graze. sacrifice ; 
 
 But the strong bullock marked the yoke to take, or labour. 
 
 E'en as a yearling to thy purpose break, Training. 
 
 And teach, while yet- obedient to command. 
 
 The docile beast to own the master's hand. 170 
 
 Round their young necks slight willow-branches bend, 
 
 Shaped like a yoke, and twisted at the end ; 
 
 Then teach a pair together joined to stand. 
 
 The pole between them, and to pace the sand 
 
 With even step before unladen wheels, 175 
 
 Where the light waggon scarce a track reveals. 
 
 Till creaking onv/ard with a heavier load 
 
 The beechen axle groans upon the road. 
 
 Long as their youth more ample food demands. Food. 
 Not browse alone bestow with niggard hands ; 1 80 
 
 The careful swain fresh blades of corn supplies, 
 
 To swell their muscles, and incense their size. 
 
 Home to their dames of old our fathers bore 
 
 Foaming in snow-white pails the milky store : 
 
 Let thou thy kine with unpressed udders go, 185 
 
 And on the calves the nourishment bestow. 
 But dost thou sigh for glory's high renown 
 
 'Midst serried squadrons, or the victor's crown 
 
 By Pisa's stream, or where the olive grove 
 
 Rises in honour of Olympian Jove, 190 
 
 Teach the young courser unalarmed to hear 
 
 The brazen trumpets and the din of war. 
 
 To bear the rattling harness, and the wheels 
 
 With noisy speed revolving at his heels. 
 
 The charge 
 or chariot 
 horse ; 
 
 his training ; 
 
54 Georgics. 
 
 With gentle bits should colts submissive play, 195 
 While conscious weakness prompts them to obey. 
 Trained by his voice the steed his master knows, 
 And feels the pleasure which applause bestows. 
 The signal of his rider's will expects, 
 To halt, to turn, as hand or heel directs ; 200 
 
 The mobile ear his conscious pride displays. 
 The patted neck acknowledges the praise. 
 With measured steps his limbs the circle tread, 
 Insensibly to swifter labour led : 
 his speed On, on he flies, as if without a rein 205 
 
 He bid the winds defiance on the plain, 
 So lightly skimming, eye may scarcely tell 
 Where on the sands his flying footsteps fell. 
 
 like the -' " ^ 
 
 wind. So the North wind from Scythia's frozen waste 
 
 O'er the dark waters sweeps in furious haste, 210 
 
 On the wide plain the trembling harvest heaves. 
 Drives the light clouds, and rustles in the leaves, 
 Pursues the waves, and scours alike amain 
 The watery ocean and the firm champaign. 
 Trained to confront the bristling ranks of war 2 1 5 
 Such steed to battle whirls the Belgic car; 
 Or bounds, unlashed, o'er Elis' crowded plain. 
 Tosses the foam, and struggles with the rein. 
 
 Feed 'veil When once subdued with patience to submit, 
 
 after he is 
 
 broken in. Xo feel the thong, to bear the sharper bit, 220 
 
 Increasing strength the generous grain supplies. 
 His form expands, his swelling muscles rise. 
 
 The bull. Alike the bull, alike the horse restrain 
 
 From loosely wandering o'er the open plain. 
 
Book the Third. — Animals, 55 
 
 The bulls should feed where mountains intervene. 
 
 In fields apart, where rivers run between ; 226 . 
 
 Or else pent up at home in stalls remain, 
 
 With luscious forage and abundant grain. 
 
 If but some heifer in the distance lows, 
 
 They hear the echo, and forget to browse. 230 
 
 Fired by her charms, and maddened at the sight, 
 
 Each seeks his rival, and provokes the fight.* 
 
 Whilst she secure in some wide upland feeds, The fight. 
 
 The dreadful champion to the battle speeds : 
 
 Loud rings the bellowing from the mountain-side : 
 
 Fast from wide gashes wells the purple tide, 236 
 
 Till faint and weak the vanquished lover yields, 
 
 And quits with sullen look his native fields ; 
 
 His wounds in some sequestered forest heals. 
 
 Laments his fortune, and his shame conceals. 240 
 
 Fed on coarse browse beneath the dews of night 
 
 He seeks fresh vigour to renew the fight, 
 
 Hardens his frame, proves 'gainst some trunk his horns. 
 
 Enacts the combat, and the furrow spurns. 
 
 His strength recruited, with collected force 245 
 
 And stern resolve he takes his onward course. 
 
 And ere the rude attack the victor fears. 
 
 On, on, in headlong charge the vanquished bears. 
 
 So crowned with foam, yet distant from the land. 
 
 Huge billows tower, then thunder to the strand ; 250 
 
 ' ' The dew-lapped bull now chafes along the plain, 
 While burning love ferments in every vein ; 
 His well-armed front against his rival aims, 
 And by the dint of war his mistress claims. ' 
 
 Gay's Rural Sports, canto i. v. 77. 
 
56 Georgics. 
 
 Old ocean's depths with mighty tumult roar, 
 And heave whole mountains on the trembling shore. 
 The force of Thus all alike the slaves of love remain, 
 
 love. 
 
 That haunt the woodland, or that graze the plam. 
 To carnage prone the lioness forsakes 255 
 
 Her whelps ; the shapeless bear dire havoc makes 
 Through all the woods ; more fell the tiger stands, 
 111 fares the wanderer on the Libyan sands. 
 See how the courser snuffs the gale, and shows 
 In every nerve how deep the passion glows, 260 
 
 Bursts from the stall, and in his h-eadlong course 
 Bounds over rocks, and mocks the torrent's force.' 
 The savage boar for bloody deeds prepares. 
 Whets his curved tusk, and in his fury tears 
 The solid earth, then rubs his bristly back, 265 
 
 And waits with tougher hide the fierce attack. 
 What does the youth .'' Though tempests howl and 
 
 roar, 
 And bursts the midnight thunder on the shore. 
 One voice he hears, in vain his parents chide, 
 One form he sees, and breasts the foaming tide ; 270 
 The love-sick maid, consumed with equal fire, 
 
 ' ' Neither age cor force 
 Can quell the love of freedom in the horse : 
 He breaks the cord that held him to the rack, 
 And, conscious of an unencumbered back, 
 Snuffs up the morning air, forgets the rein, 
 Loose flows his forelock and his ample mane, 
 Responsive to the distant neigh he neighs,' 
 Nor stops, till, overleaping all delays. 
 He finds the pasture where his fellows graze.' 
 
 Cowper's Ckarilv. 
 
Book the Third. — Animals. 57 
 
 Falls, at his side contented to expire. 
 
 The lynx, the wolf, the dog, disturb the night ; 
 
 The timid deer provoke th' unwonted fight. 
 
 But chief the mares, since when with furious hate 275 
 
 The Potnian team avenged its virgin state.' 
 
 The rocks of Gargarus and the raging flood 
 
 Nor check their course, nor cool their throbbing blood. 
 
 In the warm spring, when western breezes rise. 
 
 Through every nerve the soft infection flies ; 280 
 
 To some high cliff the conscious herd repair. 
 
 Turn to the west, and snuff the subtle air. 
 
 Till some — 'tis hard the legend to believe — 
 
 From the warm breath of Zephyrus conceive. 
 
 Far from the east, far from the frozen north, 285 
 
 Far from the tempests of a southern birth, 
 
 O'er hills, rocks, vales, with speed untiring fly 
 
 The mares enamoured of the western sky. 
 
 Hence from their loins distils a slimy juice, 
 
 Hippomanes the name, for mystic use, 290 
 
 Prepared with muttered spell by hands obscene. 
 
 And mixed with herbs that midnight witches glean. 
 
 But lo ! while we of love seductive singj 
 
 Time onward flies, nor stays his restless wing. 
 
 Of herds enough : arranged on either hand, 201; sheep and 
 
 ■ ■'■^ goats. 
 
 Here fleecy sheep, there goats our care demand. 
 With bleating cry invoke the hardy swain, 
 His toil require, but recompense his pain. 
 
 What though not slight the labour to rehearse to Paies. 
 
 ' The four chariot mares of Glaucus, who, instigated by Venus, lore 
 their master to pieces. 
 
58 Georgics. 
 
 Such humble subjects in harmonious verse, 300 
 
 O'er trackless heights the Muse delighted strays 
 And seeks Castalia by untrodden ways. 
 Pales, adored by peaceful shepherds, bring 
 Thy aid : thy glory peaceful shepherds sing. 
 
 Sheep. Your flocks at home in sheltered cots restrain 305 
 
 Till spring returns, nor trust the wintry plain ; 
 'Gainst the keen blast the northern entrance close, 
 Spread the light litter, and invite repose. 
 
 Goats. Nor less the goats, though hardy, shield in turn 
 
 From cold Aquarius and his watery urn ; 310 
 
 Fresh arbute leaves, a grateful browse, supply 
 Through the long nights, nor healthful draughts deny. 
 What though the fleece, when tinged with Tyrian dye. 
 With costlier splendour meets the curious eye ; 
 In young more fruitful, goats unfailing pour 315 
 
 Their milky wealth, and swell the household store. 
 On chin, throat, back, large weight of shaggy hair 
 Cinyphian ' goats for rougher fabrics bear ; 
 Folded in these the sailor sleeps content. 
 Secure the soldier watches in his tent. 320 
 
 Nibbling each -shrub that crowns the shaggy steep. 
 From cliff to cliff" they bound with fearless leap ; 
 Bring home their young, and at the evening hour 
 Scarce drag their bursting udders to the door. 
 These gifts, when winter comes, with browse repay. 
 Nor grudge with niggard hand thy stores of hay ; 
 Projecting sides and slanting roofs extend, 327 
 
 ' The same with the region now called Tripoli : the goats of which 
 are celebrated at this day for the length and quality of their hair. 
 
Book the Third. — Animals. 59 
 
 From snows protect them, and from storms defend. 
 
 The winter ended, seek the upland lawn Summer pas- 
 
 With the first opening of the cheery dawn ; 330 mom. ' 
 
 But when the copse, which late in silence lay, 
 
 With insect life beneath advancing day As day ad- 
 
 vances. 
 Resounds, thy flocks' impatient fever slake 
 
 Where flows through open troughs the living lake. 
 
 High noon is now, and fiercer beats the heat, 335 Noon. 
 
 To some dark vales obscurer depths retreat, 
 
 Where the old oaks, with widely branching head, 
 
 A leafy screen for weary shepherds spread. 
 
 Or the dark ilex of eternal Jove 
 
 Lets fall the shadows of its sacred grove. 340 
 
 Then, ere again the shades of evening close. Evening. 
 
 Lead them to where the streamlet sparkling flows. 
 
 When dewy mists descend from night's fair queen, 
 
 And clothe the pastures with a deeper green, 
 
 When all the shores with halcyon notes resound, 345 
 
 And chirps the goldfinch as he flits around. 
 
 Why Libya's shepherds, why her flocks explain, Africa. 
 Her scattered dwellings and her boundless plain .? 
 No fold, no fence the flock unfettered knows. 
 Wanders at will, and pastures as it goes. 350 
 
 House, gods, and arms, where'er he moves are found. 
 His Cretan quiver, and his Spartan hound. 
 So full equipped the Roman legions go. 
 Halt unexpected, and confront the foe. 
 
 Not so her waves where lake Maeotis pours, 355 Scytiiia. 
 And northern tempests howl on Scythia's shores, ' 
 Where turbid Ister's muddy waters roll, 
 
6o Georgics. 
 
 And Rhodope returning ' meets the pole. 
 
 The cattle there confined within the fold 
 
 Seek food at once and shelter from the cold. 360 
 
 No blade of grass the glistening surface shows, 
 
 No fodder there the leafless branch bestows, 
 
 The very earth benumbed and lifeless lies. 
 
 And mounds of snow to seven full ells arise. 
 
 Cold nipping winds the stunted trees deform, 365 
 
 Eternal winter, and eternal storm. 
 
 Through murky mists the golden coursers rise 
 
 With panting nostrils, and ascend the skies ; 
 
 Through murky mists descend in headlong flight, 
 
 Crimson the ocean, and are veiled in night. 370 
 
 The running stream, the deeper wave congeals, 
 
 Once ploughed by ships, now bruised by iron wheels : 
 
 Men's garments stiff'en, flakes conceal the sky, 
 
 Brass vessels burst, dead frozen cattle lie. 
 
 Whole lakes grow solid ; wines no longer flow, 375 
 
 The purple mass resists the frequent blow. 
 
 Beards hang with icicles ; and stiffness locks 
 
 The unwieldy carcase of the patient ox. 
 
 Benumbed the deer crowd huddled in a row, 
 
 And scarce their branching heads o'ertop the snow ; 
 
 No baying hounds need urge the timid spoil, 381 
 
 No purple feathers scare them to the toil. 
 
 While they loud bellowing, with the drift oppressed, 
 
 Thrust 'gainst the mound of snow their bafiled beast. 
 
 The well-known sound the wakeful hunters hear, 
 
 ' The line of this mountain, after running fast till it joins Mount 
 Iloemus, then turns to the north. 
 
Book the Third. — Animals. 6i 
 
 And in the quarry plunge the ruthless spear. 386 
 
 Where piles of wood in deep-dug caverns glow, 
 Feast the wild natives 'mid their walls of snow 
 Through the long night, and, imitating wine, 
 Fermented barley with the service join ; 390 
 
 Clad in rough skins the freezing blast defy, 
 And dwell contented 'neath their northern sky. 
 
 Is wool thy wealth .-' remove with careful hand wooi. 
 
 All prickly shrubs, if such infest thy land ; 
 Too rich a soil with prudent thought reject; 395 
 
 And a white ram with softest fleece select ; 
 E'en a black tongue some dusky spots may bring, 
 And wool is coarse where pastures richest spring. 
 
 Thus with soft fleece, if you with faith explore The legend 
 
 ' ■' ^ of Pan and 
 
 The mystic page of legendary lore, 400 Luna. 
 
 Fair queen of night. Pan lured thee to the grove. 
 Coyly consenting to his woodland love. 
 
 Is milk thy care } with juicy plants prolong Miik, 
 
 The grateful feast, and spread salt herbs along. 
 Provoked to thirst deep draughts the cattle take, 405 
 Deep draughts in turn distended udders make. 
 Thus a salt relish on the taste will dwell. 
 So slight you scarce its origin can tell. 
 
 One round the young, now grown to larger size, Weaningof 
 
 •1 1 • 1 • • the kids or 
 
 A leathern muzzle spiked with iron ties ; 410 'amts. 
 
 Soon as they suck, the dam resents the pain. 
 Starts at the wound, and moves along the plain. 
 
 What morning yields, and what the noon-tide hours, ^^y "^ *^ 
 At night they press ; but what the evening pours. 
 Or as salt curd the winter's store repairs, 415 
 
62 Georgics, 
 
 Or to the town the early shepherd bears.* 
 Dogs. Xo these the dogs, a needful race, succeed ; 
 
 Epirus' mastiff, Sparta's swifter breed, 
 The felon wolf, and, lurking in the dark. 
 The swarth Iberian shuns their wakeful bark : 420 
 The wild ass, startled at the hunter's ciy. 
 Shuns the encounter, and prepares to fly : 
 Outstripped in speed the leveret yields the race, 
 The timid hind just hears, and flies the chase : 
 The wild boars wallowing by the marshy lake 425 
 Crash through the trees, and plunge into the brake : 
 Trusting his speed the stag in terror flies. 
 The net arrests him, and the quarry dies. 
 Snakes. And now the cotes with snakes infested claim 
 
 The pungent gum's and cedar's odorous flame. 430 
 Where the foul crib has stood unmoved through years. 
 Lurks the dark viper that the daylight fears. 
 Or swiftly glides the poisonous snake away — 
 Quick, shepherd, quick, attack the speckled prey 
 With stone, with stick : quick, strike the reptile's head. 
 Foe to thy flock : quick : shepherd he has fled : 436 
 Coil after coil their tortuous length prolong ; 
 And now his tail's last folds are dragged along. 
 More deadly still, its back with scales o'erspread, 
 Calabria's serpent lifts its threatening head ; 440 
 
 Marked with large spots along the belly's edge 
 It lurks in pools, or winds among the sedge 
 Through watery months ; there strikes with rapid jaw 
 
 ' As he may be now seen in almost any Italian town, especially in 
 Rome, offering for sale slices of slightly salted curd. 
 
Book the Third. — Animals. 63 
 
 The passing fish, or fills its greedy maw 
 
 With frogs loquacious : when a fiercer beam 445 
 
 Scorches the marshes, and exhausts the stream, 
 
 Goaded by thirst, and maddened by the pain 
 
 Of inward fires, it glares upon the plain. 
 
 Then let me not beneath a summer sky 
 
 Stretched on the turf in listless leisure lie, 450 
 
 'Neath shades soft whispering, when in speckled pride 
 
 It shines, its dingy mantle cast aside. 
 
 Impelled by rage deserts its slimy young. 
 
 Rears a bright crest, and brandishes its tongue. 
 
 Wise precepts next the healing Muse prepares. Disease ; 
 Tends the sick fold, and lightens all thy cares. 456 
 If long the flock in driving storms has stood, '=''"»= °f- 
 
 Or winter's cold congeals the sluggish blood. 
 If sweat uncleansed hangs round the newly shorn. 
 Or branches wound, the filthy scab will burn 460 
 
 Their ulcered frames : Oh, let the cooling wave cieanse by 
 
 washing. 
 
 Each bleating sufferer from his anguish save ! 
 
 Plunge the strong ram still struggling to the shore — 
 
 Swift-running streams the hidden grief explore. 
 
 With litharge, sulphur, pitch from Ida's shore, 465 ointment. 
 
 Bitumen, pounded squills, and hellebore 
 
 Anoint the sore : or, with experienced hand. Lay open 
 
 with the 
 
 Deep probe the ulcer, and success command. knife. 
 
 In vain the shepherd lifts his prayer for aid — 
 
 Wide spreads the poison while the knife's delayed. 
 
 But when, consuming every vital part, 47 1 Bleed in the 
 
 foot. 
 
 The inmost marrow feels the burning smart. 
 Between the hoof at once divide the vein, 
 
64 
 
 Georrics. 
 
 475 
 
 Symptoms of 
 disease. 
 
 Cool the hot fever, and assuage the pain. 
 E'en as the Scythian hordes, a wandering race, 
 Or the wild tribes that climb the hills of Thrace, 
 Open a vein to quench their thirst, and pour 
 Warm streams of milk to curdle in the gore. 
 
 If from the flock apart one sheep has strayed, 
 Scarce crops the grass, or lingers in the shade. 
 Hangs its dull head, and on the plain lies down, 
 Or homeward late at night returns alone. 
 
 480 
 
 Stop the con- Armed with a knife at once uplift thy hand, 
 
 ta§^ion at 
 
 """^e- Lest dire contagion fly through all the band ; 
 
 48S 
 
 The CTreat 
 pestilence. 
 
 For not more swift descends the winter rain. 
 Than spreads the pestilence which sweeps the plain. 
 And, all regardless of the shepherd's cares. 
 Destroys whole flocks, nor age nor numbers spares. 
 Once white with flocks men saw the Alpine steep. 
 Past the sleek herds they saw Timavus sweep : 490 
 Flocks, herds, are gone : o'er yon deserted plains. 
 On those lone steeps wide desolation reigns. 
 The tainted air a dire disorder bred. 
 Which raged, and with the heat of autumn spread. 
 Wild beasts and cattle met an equal death ; 495 
 
 Each pool, each pasture, felt the poisonous breath. 
 No common death was theirs, through every vein 
 Flow streams of fire, and rack the Hmbs with pain : 
 A loathsome humour spreads the swift decay. 
 Till bone on bone corrupted rots away. 500 
 
 E'en while the brow the snowy bands conceal. 
 Oft would the victim at the altar reel ; 
 Aghast the priests in sacred horror stand, 
 
Book the Third. — Animals. 65 
 
 Death comes, and waits not the upHfted hand. 
 If stabbed, so wasted is the stream of life, 505 
 
 The blood scarce dyes the sacrificial knife ; 
 Thin and corrupted drips the tainted gore, 
 And hardly trickles to the temple floor. 
 No more the entrails on the altar burn, 
 And startled augurs no response return. 510 
 
 Calves, frisking once, in greenest pastures pine, 
 At the full manger sink the haggard kine. 
 Madness distorts the watch-dog's gentle eye ; 
 Wheezes the hog half strangled in the stye. 
 The noble horse, exhausted in his toil, 515 The horse. 
 
 Loathes the sweet grass, and frequent paws the soil ; 
 Harsh feels the skin, fixed hang the drooping ears, 
 A clammy sweat death's sure approach declares. 
 Such are the milder tokens of disease ; 
 Oft fiercer symptoms on the victims seize. 520 
 
 The eyes grow red, the respiration drawn 
 Deep from the chest comes laden with a groan, 
 The flank with long and frequent sobbing heaves. 
 Parched is the tongue, and to the palate cleaves, 
 Gore dark and thick or from the nostril flows, 525 
 Or gouts congealed obstruct the clotted jaws. 
 A generous drench at first would leeches give, 
 In hopes the horse might stimulated live ; 
 But after, this would sure destruction bring. 
 And direr fury from the medicine spring; 530 
 
 Till mad with pain (may heaven such passion send 
 On impious men, and righteous souls defend !) 
 With their own teeth their quivering flesh they tear, 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 Georgics. 
 
 Cattle. 
 
 Conse- 
 quences : 
 in religious 
 rites, 
 
 in agricul- 
 ture, 
 
 to beasts of 
 prey, 
 and the 
 chase, 
 
 to fish, 
 
 sea-calves, 
 
 reptiles, 
 
 More furious raging as their death draws near. 
 
 Watch the strong bulls that in the tackle smoke ; 
 One stops, and reels, and hangs upon the yoke, 536 
 Vomits dark gore, then falls and faintly moans, 
 Rolls in the furrow, and expiring groans. 
 E'en the dull beast his mate's misfortune feels. 
 E'en the rough plowman scarce a tear conceals, 540 
 Then homeward turns, his breast oppressed with care, 
 And in the furrow leaves the useless share. 
 Green meads the ox delight not, to his ear 
 Whisper deep groves in vain, ' Cool shades are near;' 
 Vain music all the amber streamlet's sound. 545 
 
 His neck unwieldy droops upon the ground. 
 What value now does all his service bear, 
 And earth made fertile by the crooked share ? 
 His blood's pure course no Massic juice impaired. 
 He in no banquet that enervates shared ; 550 
 
 His food the simple herbs that nature gave. 
 His cup clear fountains and the crystal wave 
 That flows refreshing ; and no care his breast 
 Racked with vain tortures, or disturbed his rest. 
 The untrained urus drags the car where late 555 
 
 The fatted oxen paced in sacred state. 
 Men with their nails for harrows scrape the soil. 
 And up steep hills in creaking waggons toil. 
 Gaunt from disease the famished wolves were tame ; 
 'Midst powerless dogs the reeling quarry came. 560 
 Like shipwrecked hosts dead fish in numbers lie ; 
 Unwonted sea-calves to the rivers fly ; 
 The watei'-snake no longer strikes its prey, 
 
Book the Third. — Animals. 67 
 
 The shrivelled viper slowly crawls away ; 
 
 Birds headlong falling in the furrow die, 565 and bMs. 
 
 Or swifter fate arrests them in the sky. 
 
 To change the pasture no relief conferred. Remedies 
 
 vain. 
 
 All medicine only sooner killed the herd ; 
 
 Sage Chiron's skill no respite could impart, 
 
 Nor great Melampus, though divine in art. 570 
 
 Hell's dreaded fury leaves the shores of night, Conclusion. 
 
 And with dire plagues invades the realms of light ; 
 Higher each day uprears her greedy head, 
 And wide through mortal hearts pale fear is spread. 
 The rivers hear the cattle's plaintive cry, 575 
 
 The withered banks and blasted hills reply. 
 And now by heaps she deals dire slaughter round ; 
 Dead in their stalls the stricken herds are found ; 
 Aghast men earth on putrid bodies spread, 
 And pile in pits the dead upon the dead. 580 
 
 Vain purest waves, and vain the fiercest flame. 
 So foul an odour from the entrails came : 
 The hides were useless : none would dare receive, 
 Or in the loom the poisonous fleeces weave ; 
 For raging heat, that reigns the web within, 585 
 
 With burning ulcers covers all the skin ; 
 A clammy dew, each limb that trickles o'er. 
 Taints the pure air, and sweats from every pore ; 
 Swift creep through all the frame consuming fires. 
 Till scorched and shrunk the tortured wretch expires. 
 
BOOK THE FOURTH. 
 
 BEES. 
 
AERIAL ' honey hence my verse pursues, Prorem. 
 
 Do thou, Maecenas, aid the daring muse. 
 Whose voice great deeds of tiny nations sings, 
 Chiefs, people, battles, commonwealths, and kings. 
 Where heaven consents, and tuneful Phoebus joins, 5 
 Harmonious cadences exalt the lines. 
 
 In sites secure from every ruffling wind The proper 
 
 A home should insects honey-laden, find. apiary. 
 
 Drive far the sheep ; chase gamesome kids away ; 
 They break the flower-stems in their wanton play. 10 
 Let no fair heifer o'er the herbage pass. 
 She taints the dew, and wounds the feathery grass, 
 Nor painted lizard with its shining side 
 Near your rich hives its scaly brightness hide. 
 Forbid the bee-eater, scare off the breed 1 5 
 
 Of birds voracious that on insects feed. 
 With Procne,^ on whose feathers still remain 
 The purple traces of a guilty £tain. 
 With cruel rapine through the liquid air 
 Homeward their prey the feathered plunderers bear. 
 
 ' Virgil calls honey aerial or celestial, because it was supposed to be 
 drawn from the dew of heaven. 
 
 " Changed into a swallow, according to the fable. 
 
72 Georgics. 
 
 Clear welling fountains much they love to see, 2 1 
 
 And mossy margins charm the honey-bee, 
 Where streams pellucid o'er bright pebbles bound. 
 Like silver fillet, through the smiling ground. 
 Unchecked by us wild olives rear their head, 25 
 
 And palms ambitious graceful tresses spread 
 Our hives above : so when in balmy spring, 
 File after file, young swarms attend their king. 
 And gallant youth come sporting in the rays 
 Of golden light, green branches shade the blaze 30 
 Where gentle murmurs of the stream invite, 
 Or crystal pools attract the wanderer's flight, 
 Bridge o'er the rivulet with slender wand. 
 Or place broad stones : on these the insects stand. 
 And to warm suns their storm-drenched wings expand. 
 Round let green cacias flourish in a row, 36 
 
 Strong scented savory and the wild thyme grow. 
 And purple violets their odours bring. 
 Which gain fresh sweetness from the bubbling spring. 
 Hives form from cork, or pliant osiers weave ; 40 
 Whiche'er it be, a narrow entrance leave : 
 Cold blasts that penetrate their sweets congeal : 
 Hot winds which melt alike the insects feel. 
 For this the bees, impressed with prescient care. 
 Sucked from the flowers adhesive glue prepare 45 
 As pitch tenacious, and exclude the air. 
 Nay, oft will swarms concealed, so legends tell. 
 In trees and caverns subterranean dwell. 
 Then aid the bee, all chinks external stop, 
 And spread some leafy branches on the top. 50 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. 73 
 
 No poisonous yew-tree near the hive should grow. 
 
 Nor crab shells burnt • unwholesome vapours throw. 
 
 Where in broads fens no resting-place receives 
 
 The bee, or mud a foetid odour leaves, 
 
 Trust not your hives ; or where men's shouts rebound, 
 
 And echo speaks, and multiplies the sound. 56 ^' 
 
 Soon as the golden sun hath chased away SoursUfthe 
 
 Cold winter,_and restored the summer day, ^^' 
 
 On gladsome wings the busy insects rove, IZ^- ■^" ' ' 
 
 Skim the clear lake, or linger in the grove, 60 
 
 From purple flowers their dewy sweetness glean, 
 And with light hum whirr ^ through the leafy screen, 
 With fond_delig^ht now watch their young, and build , - 
 The waxen cells with sweets pellucid filled. 
 
 But when the swarm disporting leaves the hive The swarm. 
 
 In spring, and all the summer air 's alive, 66 
 
 Observe their movements ; straight their way they wing 
 To where leaves wave, and bubbling waters spring. 
 Here sprinkle odours which the troop may charm ; 
 Bruised baum and honeywort allure the swarm. 70 
 With bells pursuing wake a tinkling sound. 
 And beat the drums of Cybele around. ^ 
 
 ' Dr. Martin tells that the Roman housewives used to burn the crab- 
 shells to powder as a remedy for bums or scalds. Virgil deprecates the 
 doing this near the hives, as the vapour is offensive to bees. 
 
 ' ' Whirring,' adjective : a word formed in imitation of the sound 
 expressed by it. — JOHNSON. I can offer no other excuse for forming 
 the adjective into the verb ' whir. ' 
 
 ' ' So swarming bees, that on a summer day 
 In airy rings and wild meanders play, 
 Charmed with the brazen sound their wanderings end, 
 And gently circling on a bough descend.' 
 
 Young's Last Day, book ii. 
 
74 Georgics. 
 
 The bees will seize the medicated seat, 
 And to their home in lengthened files retreat. ^ 
 The rival If mightv discord 'twixt two Hvals grow, '"^ 75 
 
 chiefs. o J a \ 
 
 And adverse factions to the battle go, 
 thf hivr''"" Tumultuous crowds the coming storm foretell, 
 And tiny hearts, with martial ardour swell ; 
 Sharp sounds of brass ring forth, and laggards chide. 
 And mimic trumpets wake a warlike pride. 80 
 
 With eager hearts they wait the fight to share, 
 Brandish their pinions, and their stings prepare, 
 Their claws examine, and in crowds await 
 Their kingly leaders round the royal gate ; 
 Shouts of defiance now ascend the skies, 85 
 
 And cheers in triumph from the lines arise. 
 They go Then, when the plains of heaven above are clear, 
 
 forth to the ^ 
 
 battle. And lulled in stillness floats the liquid air, 
 
 Forth from the gates they rush, they meet, they ply 
 Their stings, till heaps of wounded insects lie 90 
 
 Rolled on the earth ; not thicker falls the rain, 
 Nor shower of acorns on the woodland plain. 
 The kings all glorious, and with stately tread, 
 March down the ranks, their glittering pinions 
 spread ; ' 
 
 ' ' Things, as well as sentiments, may be made sublime by some 
 artifice,' i.e. an apt comparison with loftier objects. ' Bees are animals 
 of wonderful sagacity, but of too diminutive a form to captivate our 
 imagination. But Virgil describes their economy with so many fine 
 allusions to the more elevated parts of nature, as raise our astonishment, 
 both at the skill of the poet and the genius of his favourite insect, whose 
 little size becomes matter of admiration, when we consider those noble 
 instincts wherewith the Creator has endowed it.' — Beattie On the 
 Sublime. 
 
Book the Fottrth. — Bees. 75 
 
 Though small their forms, their breasts undaunted bear 
 
 A mighty soul, and high achievements dare, 96 
 
 Firmly resolved, and ignorant to yield 
 
 Till fate declares the victor of the field. 
 
 But throw some dust, and all this fierce array 
 
 Hushed into stillness vanishes away. 100 
 
 When thus the rival chieftains you recall, one Wi™.'^ 
 
 Let one alone enjoy the royal hall ; 
 To instant death the vanquished warrior doom, 
 Left only stores of honey to consume. 
 
 Comely in shape, and bright with spots of gold, 105 ^.^5"^^ 
 His scales all glittering, and his carriage bold. 
 One treads a king : dingy and dull his breast, 
 The other shapeless crawls with drooping crest. 
 So, like their kings, two forms the people wear : people. 
 
 Sordid and rough the baser crowds appear, no 
 
 As when some traveller, choked with dust and heat, 
 Along the road laborious drags his feet ; 
 Bright equal lines adorn the other's breast. 
 In blazing gold and gorgeous spangles drest. 
 True honey-bees, in time will these produce 1 1 5 
 
 A full supply of Hybla's fragrant juice, 
 Pellucid, rich, whose softer virtues join 
 In fragrant nectar, blent with potent wine. 
 
 But when the swarms the waxen cells disdain. Treatment 
 
 of the 
 
 Quit the full hive, and sport upon the plain, 1 20 ^w^™- 
 
 From idle play their wandering niinds restrain. ^ 
 
 'Tis quickly done, if simply from the kings 
 
 A ready finger separates the wings. 
 
 The chief at home, no subject dares to sound 
 
76 Georgics. 
 
 To arms, or lifts the standard from the ground. 125 ~~> 
 Let perfumed flowers, with shining petals bright. 
 Attract their senses and arrest their flight, 
 In gardens, where, assisting human cares. 
 The birds with wooden sword Priapus scares. 129 
 
 Plant beds of thyme, and mountain pines around, 
 And with fresh streamlets irrigate the ground. 
 The episode But that the muse, her labours well-nigh o'er, 
 
 of the old 
 
 Corycian, Now strikcs her sail, and turns her prow to shore, 
 
 marvellous in ^ 
 
 a^''beim -^^'^ would I all the wealth of gardens sing. 
 
 And autumn gladdened by the rose of spring;' 135 
 Tell how the endive and the smallage drink 
 The running streamlet, and refresh the brink 
 With greenest verdure ; how full-swelling grows 
 The cucumber ; how daffodils the close 
 Of summer brighten j'^ how the acanthus twines 140 
 Its stems, suggestive of Corinthian lines ;^ 
 How climbs the ivy ; how each sunny shore 
 Exhales sweet perfume from the myrtle flower. 
 
 Well I remember 'neath CEbalia's towers. 
 Where his dark tide the dull Galsesus pours, 145 
 
 ' ' Biferique rosaria Psesti.' Psestum was a town of Calabria, where 
 the roses bloomed twice in the year, in spring and autumn. 
 
 ' The same plant that with us flowers in the spring. 
 
 ■^ I have been thus diffuse in rendering the words of Virgil, ' flexi 
 vimen acanthi,' 'the stalk of the bending acanthus,' in order to convey 
 to the reader the probable meaning as given by Dr. Martyn, in his ad- 
 mirable notes on the authority of a passage in Vitruvius, who states that 
 the famous architect Callimachus took his idea for surmounting the 
 capitals of pillars of the Corinthian order from seeing some stems and 
 leaves of this species of the acanthus, or brank-ursine, spreading them- 
 selves accidentally round a bushel. 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. 77 
 
 An old Corycian peasant once I knew, 
 
 His soil was barren, and his acres few ; 
 
 No mellow clusters there the vine displayed. 
 
 Crops failed in growth, and sheep refused the blade. 
 
 Yet here and there, in every vacant space, 150 
 
 Between each bush would thrifty labour place 
 
 Or dainty pot-herb, or some modest flower, 
 
 Nor envy all the pageantry of power. 
 
 The lily there her virgin petals spread, 
 
 The vervain thrived, the poppy reared its head. 1 5 5 
 
 When evening called him, in a home well-stored 
 
 With unbought fruits he heaped the bounteous board. 
 
 Spring's earliest rose for him its petals spread. 
 
 And autumn's apple first was tinged with red. 
 
 Nay, when the very rocks would split with cold, 160 
 
 And icy fetters streams reluctant hold. 
 
 Acanthus leaves he 'd cull with happy pride. 
 
 And the slow step of loitering zephyrs chide. 
 
 Prolific swarms his care would earliest bless, 
 
 He first rich honey from the comb express, 165 
 
 Where pines were frequent ; and each bud of spring 
 
 Would golden offerings to Pomona bring. 
 
 Tall elms, the plum to fruitful stature grown. 
 
 Long-grafted pears his skill transplanting own ; 
 
 Broad planes where other swains carousal made, 170 
 
 To him transfer their hospitable shade. 
 
 But space forbids the too seductive theme, 
 And bees again the tuneful numbers claim. _____—-- \ 
 
 As round the cave where new-born Ammon lies Preseryation 
 
 of the infant 
 
 The Corybantes drown his infant cries 175 ^^^^^"'°^ 
 
78 Georgics. 
 
 With tinkling cymbals, bees mysterious pour 
 Through every chink, and with their luscious store ^. 
 glft^if s'ifpe'?' The god supply : upon each tiny breast '" 
 
 nor instinct, ji^^ gratcful god z. wondrous lore impressed. 
 
 One hope, one interest, one united town, i8o 
 
 One commonwealth the bees consentient own ; 
 Unchanging still to home and country hold, 
 And grow beneath established customs old. 
 Prescient of winter all industrious strive 
 With summer sweets to store the foodful hive. 185 
 Each has his task : these seek the fragrant spoil, 
 These close within the waxen chambers toil : 
 The floweret's cup, the tree's green bark supplies 
 Tenacious glue : secure the galleries rise. 
 Some to the young impart long-treasured lore, 190 
 Some into cells pellucid honey pour. 
 These take the post assigned them at the gate. 
 And for the laden troop expectant wait ; 
 Now watch where clouds, dark stormy heralds, float, 
 And all the signs of coming tempests note ; 19S 
 
 Now form a line, and from the busy hive 
 The drones, a sluggish race, indignant drive. 
 Through glowing ranks the frequent workmen pass, 
 Where fragrant thyme perfumes the luscious mass.^ 
 Comparison As whcu the Cyclops in the womb of earth 200 
 
 with tlie •" '■ 
 
 Cyclops. Forge the red lightning for its fiery birth, 
 
 ' The whole of this passage is thus imitated by Gray : 
 ' The careful insect midst his works I view, 
 Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew, 
 With golden treasure lade his little thiglis, 
 And steer his distant journey through the skies ; 
 
Book the Foti.rth. — Bees. 79 
 
 Some blasts of wind from dingy prisons pour, 
 Some weld the metal, and some melt the ore. 
 And blow on blow, with tuneful force descends. 
 While groans the mountain ere the labour ends ; 205 
 So bees, if bees with giants may compare, 
 Their tasks apportion, and their labours share. 
 Age with nice skill the waxen wall restores, 
 Youth seeks for wealth, and rifles all the flowers. 
 The crocus glittering through the early dew, 210 
 
 Cacia, and hyacinth of purple hue, 
 Willow, and lime, and arbutus supply 
 Food to the busy insects as they fly 
 From lawn to thicket, till, oppressed with sweets. 
 The thrifty pilferer to his home retreats. 2 1 5 
 
 All wake to labour, and prevent the dawn ; The domestic 
 
 ' ^ ' economy of 
 
 All watch the shadows, and ere night return, "'^ '^"''• 
 
 A buzzing noise the coming troop proclaims, 
 They seek the hive, and rest their weary frames ; 
 Sweet sleep o'er all the mastery obtains, 220 
 
 Hushed is the camp, and one wide stillness reigns. 
 
 When the east winds a gathering storm foreshow, fifg^^g^J °^ 
 Not far from home the prudent insects go. 
 Just seek the water of the nearest spring. 
 Observant where dark clouds a tempest bring, 225 
 Round their own walls a short excursion try. 
 Balanced with tiny pebbles as they fly ; 
 
 Some against hostile drones the hive defend, 
 
 Others with sweets the waxen cells distend, 
 
 Each in his toil hig destined office bears, 
 
 And in his little bulk a mighty soul appears.' — Rural Sports, i. 80. 
 
8o 
 
 Georgics. 
 
 The birth of 
 the bee. 
 
 Their pel 
 verance. 
 
 Their loy- 
 ally. 
 
 E'en as some pinnace, tossed upon the waves, 
 Its hull from wreck with even balance saves : 
 Steadied by this it sails securely on, — 230 
 
 Remove the ballast, and the vessel 's gone. 
 
 Now mark how nature's wondrous power supplies 
 A future race, and youthful nations rise. 
 The bee no passion that enervates knows. 
 Nor ever shudders with maternal throes ; 235 
 
 Deep in some floweret's cup their young they find, 
 Fed by the dew, and fondled by the wind. 
 Thus without effort kings and people bear, 
 Rebuild their walls, their waxen cells repair. 
 
 Oft, as they skim along the rocks, and bring 240 
 Their burden home, the wanderers bruise their wing ; 
 True to their charge their lives the wounded yield. 
 And die contented on some fragrant field ; 
 Such is the charm by dewy flowers possest, 
 Such love of honey rules the little breast. 245 
 
 Though short the term of life each insect knows. 
 Through seven brief summers hastening to a close, 
 From age to age e'en bees their lineage trace, 
 Obedient subjects to one royal race. 
 No eastern people round Hj'daspes' spring 250 
 
 Like them all reverence render to their king. 
 Justice and right, their chieftain safe, prevail ; 
 Their chieftain dead, all right and justice fail : 
 A lawless lust for phjnder seizes all. 
 Hive, honey, comb, in one wide ruin fall. 255 
 
 He guards their works, him all the swarm reveres, 
 Attends his steps, and welcomes him with cheers. 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. 8 r 
 
 Aloft they bear him ; and his person shield, 
 
 Their lives the forfeit, on the battle-field. 
 
 Such wondrous instincts in the insect soul, 260 The one ani- 
 
 mating prin- 
 
 Attest the god' who animates the whole, '^'p'e- 
 
 To all alike the breath of life supplies, 
 
 That people earth, or revel in the skies ; 
 
 Death finds no place through all his vast domain. 
 
 Amid the stars the spirit lives again. 265 
 
 Ere from the hive you snatch the fragrant store. Taking tiie 
 
 honey. 
 
 Spirt water in, and stifling vapours pour. 
 
 Twice in the year the bees their honey hoard. 
 
 And twice a harvest from their sweets afford. 
 
 First when the Pleiads spring from ocean's tide, 270 
 
 And o'er the earth with radiant star preside; 
 
 Next when before the rising fish they fly. 
 
 And sink more sadly in the wintry sky. 
 
 Beware their rage when high their passions swell, 
 
 And venomed stings the plunderer repel, 275 
 
 Provoked by man's cupidity : the wound 
 
 Spreads the hot poison in a circle round. 
 
 Deep runs the dart, nor does the bee refuse. 
 
 Of vengeance sure, both sting and life to lose. 
 
 But would thy prudence, with a prescient care 280 Careofthe 
 
 i-« 1 1 1 11 1 hives that 
 
 For colder days, a weakened people spare, are left. 
 
 Use thyme's strong odours, trim the empty comb. 
 The drone's, the lizard's, and the beetle's home. 
 Where the fierce hornet hides his hostile wing, 
 And wages battle with unequal sting, 285 
 
 Where moths off"end, and at the entrance spread 
 Hangs the slight curtain of Arachne's thread. 
 
 G 
 
82 Georgics. 
 
 The bee laborious only toils the more, 
 Repairs the cells, and heaps the fragrant store. 
 Diseases. gjjj- -^vjign disease attacks the insect frame 290 
 
 (For man's mischances are to bees the same). 
 No doubtful symptoms the sad change foreshow ; 
 Lean looks the face, more dim the colours grow : 
 At last the dead with decent pomp are borne 
 Forth from the hive, and long processions mourn. 295 
 Some weak and languid scarce the entrance gain. 
 Or all at home benumbed with cold remain. 
 Hoarse is the buzz then heard the hive within, 
 A drawling hum, as when the winds begin 
 To murmur through the groves, or when the tide 300 
 Sounds in its reflux from the mountain's side. 
 Or as pent flame within a furnace roars. 
 Now through the hive the anxious muster pours 
 Strong-scented gums of aromatic fume ; 
 The sickly bees their wonted strength resume, 305 
 And from slight reeds the proffered sweets consume. 
 Bruised gall-nuts added may their taste disclose, 
 With the dried petals of the garden rose. 
 Boil down new wine, and spice the luscious juice. 
 Dried Psythian raisins from your stores produce, 310 
 Round the weak hives the thyme Cecropian' 
 
 spread. 
 And let strong centaury its odours shed. 
 
 ' Dr. Martyn observes that the thyme whicli rendered the honey of 
 Attica so famous was not the common thyme, but the Thymus capi- 
 tatus, which grew in great plenty about Athens and on Mount 
 Hymettus. Cecrops was the first king of Athens. 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. 
 
 A flower there is, in all our meadows found, TheAmeiius, 
 
 Known as Amellus by the peasants round, thus. 
 
 And soon discovered, for its flower-stems shoot 315 
 In numerous clusters from a fibrous root ; 
 Bright is the eye, and golden is its hue, 
 By leaves surrounded of a purple blue, 
 Dark like the violet ; from whence the swain 
 May festive garlands for his gods obtain ; 320 
 
 Rough to the taste ; by wandering shepherds seen 
 In vales where Mella winds through margins green : 
 In fragrant wine the bitter fibres steep, 
 And near the hives in wicker-baskets keep. 
 
 Should all thy swarms at once infected die, 325 The legend 
 And no succeeding stocks their place supply, 
 Let Aristaeus from Arcadia tell 
 
 How bees sprang up where slaughtered bullocks 
 fell. 
 
 Strange is the legend, and may well deserve 
 
 The muse its earliest records should preserve. 330 
 
 Where by Canopus' mouth a happy race S.'^*^™'' 
 
 Their homes high-raised on Nile's rich island place. 
 
 Securely gliding with their painted prows 
 
 On the dull water that enriching flows ; 
 
 Where the full river that derives its source 335 
 
 From swarthy India holds a northward course, 
 
 Till the seven channels of the stream divide. 
 
 With quivered Persia' on their eastern side, 
 
 ' Not strictly so called, but so designated by Virgil as being a por- 
 tion of the empire of Cyrus, which extended as far as the Eastern or 
 Pelusian branch of the Nile. 
 
84 Georgics. 
 
 And over Egypt's wide and sunny shore 
 The slimy waters fertilising pour, 34° 
 
 Known is this art : the experienced peasants 
 choose, 
 
 SXi^'ro-" -^'^'^ ^'^'^ ^^S^ walls some narrow space enclose ; 
 
 '^^' Four windows pierce, a roof compacted rear ; 
 
 Then bring a bullock of the second year, 
 And, while he struggles 'gainst the early death, 345 
 Close up each channel of the labouring breath ; 
 Assailed with blows the victims bruised expire, 
 The bowels putrid, though the skin 's entire. 
 Soon as a steaming vapour fills the space. 
 Men sprigs of thyme beneath the carcase place. 350 
 This work is done when first warm zephyrs blow, 
 Ere yet with golden flowers the meadows glow ; 
 Before the swallow skims our Latian streams. 
 Or hangs her tiny nest beneath the beams. 
 Meantime the juice within the tender bones, 355 
 
 Sweating with heat, strong fermentation owns. 
 Full soon in wondrous forms the insects spring 
 (First without feet, then buzzing on the wing), 
 From the pent mass ; and now the air they crowd. 
 Like summer drops descending from a cloud ; 360 
 Or as when Parthian troops the battle try. 
 And showers of arrows from the bowmen fly. 
 
 Declare, my muse, the secret long concealed. 
 Whence use derived it, and what god revealed. 
 
 The story. When AHstasus fled from Tempe's plain, 365 
 
 And stood by Peneus' fountain to complain 
 How in the winter famine and disease 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. 85 
 
 His hives had ravaged, and destroyed his bees ; 
 
 Where from its source the sacred river flowed, 
 
 He thus his sorrows to his parent showed : 370 
 
 ' Mother, Cyrene, mother wont to dwell 
 
 Within the basin of this crystal well. 
 
 Why didst thou bear a child abhorred of fate, 
 
 Sprung from the gods, and yet of gods the hate. 
 
 If, as men say, his blood enrich my veins, 375 
 
 In Thymbra's temple who effulgent reigns ? 
 
 Say, how can he to heavenly courts ascend. 
 
 Whose labours all in disappointment end ? 
 
 Come, and my groves with cruel hand uproot. 
 
 Ply the rude axe, and bruise my vineyard's shoot, 
 
 With hostile flame invade the peaceful stall, 381 
 
 Consume my harvests, seeds, plantations, all ; 
 
 If true it be, my mother envious hears 
 
 My fame increasing with succeeding years.' 
 
 His mother heard, as ranged around her stood 385 
 Beneath the channel of the rolling flood 
 Her nymphs, who spun Milesian fleeces dyed 
 To match the sea-green colour of the tide. 
 Drymo, and Xanthe, and renowned for song, 
 Ligea, and Phyllodoce prolong 390 
 
 Their task ; whose necks more white than marble shine, 
 Where clustering tresses wantonly recline. 
 Nessee, Spio, and Cydippe there 
 Watch with Lycorias of the golden hair, 
 A virgin that, this knows a mother's care. 395 
 
 Thalia bright, fair nymph of mirth and joy, 
 Cymodoce whose care the waves employ. 
 
86 Georgics. 
 
 Deiopea of an ardent race, 
 
 And Ops, a maid with grave and thoughtful face. 
 
 Clio and Beroe, sisters of the tide, 400 
 
 In golden ceinture, and in all the pride 
 
 Of painted skins ; and Ephyre, who came 
 
 From ancient Corinth, and bestowed its name. 
 
 Last Arethusa, who in rapid race 
 
 Fled through the grove, and shunned a god's embrace. 
 
 To these the tuneful Clymene declares 406 
 
 The arts of Mars, and laughs at Vulcan's cares ; 
 
 Along time's stream the sportive numbers flow. 
 
 And all the loves of warm Olympus show. 
 
 The song seductive occupies the whole, 410 
 
 While the soft threads around the spindle roll. 
 
 Again the words of Aristaeus fall 
 With mournful cadence on the ears of all ; 
 All on their crystal seats their awe confessed. 
 But through the waters swift before the rest 415 
 
 Rose Arethusa of the golden hair, 
 And gazing round addressed the anxious fair : 
 ' Sister Cyrene, not in vain that cry 
 Sounds 'neath our waves, and tells of trouble nigh : 
 The boy himself, his mother's darling, pours 420 
 
 Large drops of sorrow, and thy aid implores.' 
 ' O swift conduct him,' loud the goddess cried. 
 And cleave a pathway through our sacred tide ; 
 A mother's arms may sure a child unfold. 
 What though he must the hall of gods behold.' 425 
 With this she bids the rolling stream divide. 
 And stand a crystal wall on either side : 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. 8 7 
 
 The waves receive him in their vast embrace, ' 
 
 And safe beneath the flood the stranger place. 429 
 
 Awe-struck through all the watery realm he moves. 
 
 Sees lakes in caverns pent, wide-sounding groves, 
 
 And ever heaving the unmeasured tide. 
 
 Where earth's vast rivers at their source divide ; 
 
 Phasis and Lycus, great Enipeus' fount, 
 
 Old Tiber washing the Tarpeian mount, 435 
 
 Warm Anio's waters, and Cal'cus deep. 
 
 And rushing noisy down the rocky steep 
 
 The Hypanis, and last, with gilded horn,^ 
 
 Eridanus, through fields of yellow corn 
 
 To purple ocean all impetuous borne. 440 
 
 Where its wide span a fretted archway throws. 
 From the groined roof decline in pendent rows 
 Bosses of stone ; there stands the youth : the dame 
 Swift to his succour with her sisters came. 
 With ready hand some softest napkins bring, 445 
 Some ewers of water sparkling from the spring ; 
 This choicest viands on the board displays. 
 And brimming goblets these in order raise. 
 An odorous blaze along the altars ran. 
 As thus Cyrene to her son began : 450 
 
 ' Full cups of rich Maeonian vintage take. 
 And to great Ocean due libations make.' 
 To father Ocean straight her prayers arise, 
 
 ' ' Commands the peaceful waters to give place, 
 Or kindly fold him in a soft embrace. ' 
 
 Young's Last Day, book i. 
 ' The ancient poets not unusually represent a majestic river under 
 the image of a mighty bull with gilded horns. 
 
88 Georgics. 
 
 The god whose care the universe supplies,* 454 
 
 And all the nymphs, of whom one hundred guide 
 The streams, one hundred o'er the woods preside. 
 Thrice on the flame the purple wine she throws, 
 Thrice to the roof the flickering omen rose. 
 
 She speaks : ' In deep Carpathia's gulf resides 
 Proteus, whose power compels the angry tides. 460 
 Borne by sea-horses, lo ! he seeks once more 
 His native haunts and fair Pallene's shore. 
 Him aged Nereus, him each nymph adores. 
 Whose mind prophetic reads the future hours. 
 Through Neptune he to such high lore succeeds, 465 
 And 'neath the sea his herds mishapen feeds. 
 His strength reluctant must thy cunning bind : 
 Once bound the seer will open all his mind, ' 
 The hidden cause of this disease declare. 
 And, mute till forced, when forced relieve thy care. 
 Firm be the chain round forms elusive coiled, 471 
 Each change is harmless, and each effort foiled. 
 I lead to where the aged prophet laid 
 At listless length enjoys the secret shade, 
 An easy prey when at the noon-day hour 475 
 
 Exhausted nature owns the oppressive power. 
 His bonds once felt, will Proteus instant take 
 Strange shapes at will, and monstrous changes make : 
 A tiger now, a lion next he'll roar, 
 A scaly dragon, and a bristly boar. 480 
 
 ' According to the opinion that water was the origin of all things ; 
 an opinion that might have been gathered from traditions that had their 
 beginning in the Mosaic account of the Creation. 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. 89 
 
 Now as of flame you'll hear a crackling sound. 
 
 Now waves elusive glide along the ground. 
 
 But soon he'll lie exhausted on the plain. 
 
 Resume his shape, nor struggle with his chain.' 484 
 
 She ceased : then with ambrosial scents anoints 
 His care-worn frame, and rubs his stiffened joints : 
 His limbs fresh strength and pliant ease assume. 
 And from his hair exhales a sweet perfume. 
 
 Deep in a mountain's hollow side is seen. 
 Where cliffs projecting form a friendly screen, 490 
 A vast recess, where boats securely ride. 
 And into quiet bays smooth waters glide. 
 Oft in this cave the god extended lies. 
 And shuns the fervour of the noon-day skies. 
 Here, where the friendly shade his figure shrouds. 
 Her son she placed, herself involved in clouds. 496 
 His star now Sirius in the sky displays. 
 And thirsty India pants beneath his blaze ; 
 The fiery sun through half his course has sped. 
 The scanty herbage droops its withered head ; 500 
 Shrunk 'neath his rays exhausted rivers lie. 
 Their waters wasted and their channels dry ; 
 When Proteus, flying from the fervent heat. 
 The waters leaves, and seeks his old retreat. 
 Showers of salt spray huge monsters rolling round 
 Fling up, and sea-calves slumber on the ground. 506 
 And as some shepherd, at the evening hour. 
 With folded herds defies the lion's power. 
 So now, reclining on a central rock. 
 The listless god reviews his watery flock. 510 
 
go Georgics. 
 
 Then, ere his hmbs in soft repose were laid, 
 
 Loud rang the shout, and swift the spring was made. 
 
 So great his art, the transformations seem 
 
 Swifter than thought, flame, monster, flowing stream.' 
 
 Flame, monster, flowing stream, all vainly tried, 5 1 S 
 
 With human voice the vanquished prophet cried : 
 
 ' Who bade thee to a god's retreat repair, 
 
 And what thou seek'st, too daring youth, declare } ' 
 
 To whom the boy : ' Thou needest none to show. 
 
 None can deceive, none more than Proteus know. 520 
 
 Counsel from thee a ruined swain expects. 
 
 And to a god a god his steps directs.' 
 
 In Proteus' breast tumultuous thoughts arise, 
 And fury flashes from his rolling eyes, 
 As thus his tongue, by force compelled, revealed 525 
 What fate had else from human ears concealed. 
 ' Not mortal hand alone on thee is laid, 
 To injured ghosts is retribution made ; 
 Maddened with grief the widowed Orpheus stands. 
 Invoking vengeance with his suppliant hands. 530 
 Through the dark shade that tangled bushes make. 
 Where the dire hydra guards the watery brake. 
 Thy loathed embrace the maid doom-stricken ^ flies. 
 The poisoned wound arrests her, and she dies. 
 
 ' The swiftness of these transformations is showii by Virgil, who has 
 comprised them in a single line. In the parallel passage of Homer they 
 occupy three. Pope has amplified them into eight, with much elegance 
 undoubtedly, but not with that judgment which never fails to indicate 
 to the Roman poet the peculiar excellence of those passages which he so 
 successfully imitates. 
 
 '' ' Moritura. ' 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. g i 
 
 Her sister Dryads wake with mournful wail 535 
 
 The echoing hills, and fill the distant vale, 
 The cliffs of Rhodope distil with tears 
 And, inly shuddering, high Pangsea hears. 
 While a deep murmur stirs the martial race 
 Along the Hebrus and the plains of Thrace. 540 
 
 On thee, sweet wife, in mournful cadence dwell 
 His love-sick notes on Hermes' tuneful shell ;' 
 Thy spirit breathes through all his morning lays, 
 Thy inspiration tunes his evening praise. 
 Through hell's dark jaws th' impatient lover flies, 545 
 Where gloomy groves and hideous spectres rise, 
 To hearts ne'er melted yet by human prayers 
 Melodious sings, nor death's grim monarch fears. 
 Moved by the power of his entrancing art 
 Straight from their seat the shadowy spectres start. 
 Countless as birds, that, urged by storm or night, 5 5 1 
 Home to the woodland speed their evening flight. 
 Matrons, their lords, and disembodied shades 
 Of mighty heroes, boys, unwedded maids. 
 And youths whom fates inexorable place 555 
 
 On funeral pyres before their parents' face. 
 Round these black mud and stagnant waters close, 
 And hoarse Cocytus,^ sluggish stream that flows 
 Through sedgy banks, and Styx, whose winding tide 
 Nine times returns, and puts all hope aside. 560 
 
 The depths of Orcus wait in deep amaze, 
 
 ' Mercury formed the first lyre from the shell of a tortoise found on 
 the banks of the Nile. 
 
 '' The name of the river signifies, to weep, to lament. 
 
92 Georgics. 
 
 The Furies cease to twine their snakes, and gaze, 
 
 Ixion's wheel declares the power of song, 
 
 And lulled to rest lies Cerberus' triple tongue. 
 
 All danger passed, the reunited pair 565 
 
 Retrace their way, and seek the upper air ; 
 
 To Orpheus' steps Eurydice's succeed, 
 
 The order such which Pluto's queen decreed. 
 
 When lo ! his love unable to restrain, 
 
 He looks, and asks love's answering look again. 570 
 
 O then, could pity move a Stygian breast. 
 
 Sure hell's dark rulers had its power confessed. 
 
 Close on earth's confines, when one moment more 
 
 .Would to his arms Eurydice restore, 
 
 His own Eurydice. Vain now the spell 575 
 
 Of music 'gainst inexorable hell. 
 
 Thrice a deep groan the lake's dull silence broke, 
 
 As, wild with terror, thus his loved one spoke : 
 
 " What madness thine ! and, oh, what anguish this ! 
 
 Oh, who hath ruined our expected bliss .■' 580 
 
 Again, again the cruel fates recall 
 
 My soul : dark shadows on my eyelids fall : 
 
 Farewell, farewell ! involved in darkest shroud 
 
 Again I join the visionary crowd. 
 
 These hands I raise, but none their ears incline, 585 
 
 These powerless hands, alas ! no longer thine." 
 
 She ceased, and vanished from his longing eyes. 
 
 As the thin smoke dissolves into the skies. 
 
 Nor saw she all his frantic efforts vain 
 
 To grasp her form, nor heard his voice again. 590 
 
 Wildly he strove to reach the spectral shore, 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. 93 
 
 The surly ferryman refused his oar. 
 
 Will hell's stern gods or him twice-widowed save, 
 
 Or the pale ghost that shivers on the wave ? 
 
 For seven long months, so chroniclers relate, 595 
 By Stymon's stream he wept his lonely fate. 
 Pleased the fell tigers listened to his song. 
 Dark forests moved in measured steps along. 
 E'en so among the poplar's whispering leaves 
 For her lost young poor Philomela grieves, 600 
 
 Dragged from the nest by rugged clown away, 
 And through the night trills out her mournful lay ; 
 On forest bough she wails her fate alone, 
 And fills the woodland with her tuneful moan. 
 In northern climes, amid eternal snows, 605 
 
 His heart, once crushed, no second passion knows ; 
 His harp but sounds one melancholy strain. 
 Fair Thracian dames display their charms in vain, 
 Then, stung to madness, 'mid their orgies tear 
 His limbs apart, and scatter them in air. 610 
 
 Torn from the trunk, and down the Hebrus borne, 
 Still his pale lips the hapless virgin mourn ; 
 Eurydice his fleeting spirit cries, 
 The vocal bank Eurydice replies.' 
 
 He ceased : and, as he plunged the water through, 
 Round his blue locks the dashing sea-foam flew. 616 
 
 And now Cyrene to her son drew near. 
 And whispered words of comfort in his ear : 
 ' The nymphs, companions of her woodland bower. 
 Thy rashness punish, and their loss deplore. 620 
 
 Suppliant appease their not vindictive ire. 
 
94 Geor^ics 
 
 i> ' 
 
 Those rites performing which thy vows require. 
 
 On steep Lycoeus' verdant summit catch 
 
 Four fattest bulls, four equal heifers match 
 
 That ne'er were yoked : four altars raise, and pour 
 
 Their sacrificial blood the shrine before. 626 
 
 Then in the grove their slaughtered bodies lay. 
 
 And patient watch the putrid limbs decay. 
 
 When the ninth morn its glowing front shall rear. 
 
 To Orpheus' ghost Lethsean poppies bear, 630 
 
 With fatted calf Eurydice appease. 
 
 Slay a black sheep, and seek the sacred trees.' 
 
 He straight four altars to the wood-nymphs rears. 
 In due obedience to his mother's prayers. 
 Four fattest bulls, four equal heifers takes, 635 
 
 That ne'er were yoked, and supplication makes 
 To Orpheus' shade : then, when Aurora rose 
 On the ninth morning, to the forest goes. 
 Strange is the sight his wondering eyes behold, 
 Strange to the boy, and wondrous to be told. 640 
 
 In every bullock's putrid form he sees 
 Whole buzzing swarms of new-created bees : 
 Swift through the trees they mount in frequent rows. 
 Then hang in clusters from the laden boughs. 
 Conclusion. I've suug of grain, of honey-bees, of kine, 645 
 
 Of fruits, of forests, and the purple vine ! 
 While Caesar, victor by Euphrates' flow. 
 Enacts the god, and makes the future now. 
 Bids justice reign, and jarring discord cease, 
 And gives to grateful tribes the arts of peace. 650 
 
Book the Fourth. — Bees. 95 
 
 Meanwhile, 'mid flowers, Parthenope,^ how sweet. 
 Thy nursHng I, unchronicled, retreat : 
 Rhymes had I once for swains ; Nay, Tityrus, thou 
 Canst test my venturous youth beneath the beechen 
 bough.'^ 
 
 ' Now Naples. 
 
 ^ To those who remember the Rev. Noel Thos. Ellison, the Chris- 
 tian, the scholar, and the gentleman. Fellow of Balliol College, and 
 afterwards Rector of Huntspill and Nettlecombe, it may not be without 
 interest to know, that when the original MS. was submitted to him, 
 incomplete as to the last four verses, he returned it with the four lines 
 now given written in pencil. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 Strani;eways and Walden, Printeks, 
 
 Castle St. Leicester Sq. 
 
I CANNOT let these pages leave the Press without 
 acknowledging the njany valuable and pleasant criti- 
 cisms the MSS. received, as I conversed with my 
 old neighbour the Rev. Russell Richards, Rector of 
 Wooten Courtenay, one of those good men who have 
 passed from among us loved and regretted.