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Inur'd to hardship, and to homely fare.
Nor venerable age is wanting there,
In great examples to the youthful train:
Nor are the Gods ador'd with rites profane.
From hence Aftrea took her flight, and here
The prints of her departing fteps appear.

Virgil begins his third book with an invocation to fome of the rural deities, and then, after complimenting Auguftus, addreffes himself to Mecenas, and enters on his fubject; which contains rules for the breeding and management of horses, oxen, fheep, goats, and dogs: and with thefe rules are interwoven defcriptions of cha riot races, of the battle of the bulls, of the force of love, and of the Scythian winter. He then fpeaks of the diseases incident to cattle, and concludes this Georgic with the description of a fatal murrain, which had raged among the Alps.

The whole book is wrought up with great art, and the descriptions in particular are extremely beautiful. His rules for training up young calves to the yoke, and of breaking horfes to the different employments they were intended for, are also very happily expreffed.

The calf by nature and by genius made
To turn the glebe, breed to the rural trade.
Set him betimes to fchool; and let him be
Inftructed there in rules of husbandry;
While yet his youth is flexible and green;
Nor bad examples of the world has feen.
Early begin the ftubborn child to break;
For his foft neck, a fupple collar make
Of bending ofiers; and (with time and care
Inu.'d that easy fervitude to bear)

Thy flatt'ring method on the youth pursue:
Join'd with his fchool fellows by two and two,
Perfuade 'em firft to lead an empty wheel,
That scarce the duft can raise or they can feel :
In length of time produce the lab'ring yoke
And fhining fhares, that make the furrow fmoke.
Ere the licentious youth be thus restrain'd,
Or moral precepts on their minds have gain'd;

Their wanton appetites not only feed
With delicates of leaves, and marshy weed,
But with thy fickle reap the rankest land,
And minifter the blade, with bounteous hand.
Nor be with harmful parfimony won

To follow what our homely fires have done;
Who fill'd the pail with beeflings of the cow,
But all the udder to the calf allow.

If to the warlike fteed thy ftudies bend,
Or for the prize in chariots to contend;
Near Pifa's flood the rapid wheels to guide,
Or in Olympian groves aloft to ride,
The gen'rous labours of the courfer first

Must be with fight of arms and founds of trumpets nurst, Inur'd the groaning axle-tree to bear;

And let him clafhing whips in ftables hear.

Sooth him with praise, and make him understand
The loud applaufes of his master's hand :
This from his weaning, let him well be taught;
And then betimes in a foft fnaffle wrought:
Before his tender joints with nerves are knit ;
Untry'd in arms, and trembling at the bit;
But when to four full Springs his years advance,
Teach him to run the round, with pride to prance;
And (rightly manag'd) equal time to beat,
To turn, to bound in measure, and curvet.
Let him, to this, with eafy pains be brought:
And feem to labour when he labours not.
Thus, form'd to speed he challenges the wind;
And leaves the Scythian arrow far behind :
He fcours along the field, with loosen'd reins;
And treads fo light, he fcarcely prints the plains,
Like Boreas in his race, when rushing forth,

He fweeps the fkies, and clears the cloudy north:
The waving harveft bends beneath his blast;
The foreft shakes, the groves their honours caft;
He flies aloft, and with impetuous roar
Purfues the foaming furges to the fhore.

Thus o'er the Elean plains, thy well-breath'd horfe
Impels the flying carr, and wins the course.
Or, bred to Belgian waggons, leads the way;
Untir'd at night, and chearful all the day.

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When once he's broken, feed him full and high,
Indulge his growth, and his gaunt fides fupply.
Before his training, keep him poor and low
For his ftout ftomach with his food will grow ;
The pamper'd colt will difcipline difdain,
Impatient of the lafh, and reftiff to the rein..

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The description which he has given us of a war horfe is (excepting that contained in the book of Job) the most animated and beautiful that ever was drawn..

The fiery courfer, when he hears from far, The fprightly trumpets and the fhouts of war, Pricks up his ears, and trembling with delight, Shifts place, and paws, and hopes the promis'd fight: On his right fhoulder his thick mane reclin'd, Ruffles at fpeed, and dances in the wind. His horny hoofs are jetty black, and round; His chine is double, ftarting with a bound He turns the turff, and takes the folid ground. Fire from his eyes, clouds from his noftrils flow: He bears his rider headlong on the foe.

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The defcription he has given us of the diftemper among the cattle, and the wonderful change it wrought in the difpofition of animals, by making those who were of contrary natures, and obnoxious to each other grow familiar and herd together, is very finely, and very affectingly expreffed; efpecially this part of it.

Lo! while he toils the galling yoke beneath,
Foaming black blood, the bullock finks in death:
The penfive hind the brother-fteer relieves,
Who faithful for his loft companion grieves,
And the fix'd fhare amid the furrow leaves.
Mean time, nor graffy mead, nor lofty grove,
The mournful mate's afflicted mind can move :
Nor yet from rocks delicious ftreams that roll
As amber clear, can footh his forrowing foul;
His flanks flow loofe, his eyes grow dim and dead;
And low to earth he hangs his heavy head.

Ah! what avails his ceafeless useful toil?
What boots it to have turn'd the ftubborn foil?

Yet ne'er choice maffie wines debauch'd his taste,
Ne'er did he riot in the rich repaft;

His food is leafy browze, and nature's grafs,

His draught fresh rills, that thro' the meadows pass,
Or torrent rufhing from the rocky steep;

Nor care disturbs his falutary fleep.

Then cars were drawn, while fail'd th'accustom'd kine,. By ill-pair'd buffaloes, to Juno's fhrine.

And men with harrows toil'd to till the plain,
And with their nails dug in the golden grain;.
The rattling waggon's galling yoke fuftain'd,.
And up the rocky steep laborious ftrain'd..

The wily wolf, no more by hunger bold,
With fecret step explores the nightly fold.
Deers herd with hounds, and leave their fylvan feat,.
And feek with man to find a fafe retreat.
Thick on the fhores, like fhip-wreck'd corfes caft,
Appear the finny race of ocean vaft;
Th' affrighted Phocae to the rivers hafte.
His cave no more to fhield the fnake avails ;
Th'aftonish'd hydra dies erecting all his scales.
Ev'n their own fkies to birds unfaithful prove,
Headlong they fall, and leave their lives above..

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Virgil lays down the rules of tillage and planting with wonderful art in his two firft books. He has, as the au thor of the effay on his Georgics observes, a sort of ruftic majesty about him, and feems like a Roman dictator at the plough tail. The fecond book has indeed moft wit in it, and abounds with bolder metaphors than are found in any of the reft; for in this the poet attributes the paffions of human life to the vegetable creation. The third book, however, feems more laboured and fpirited, and the defcriptions, in particular, are more animated and lively; efpecially those of the murrain among the cattle, the Scythian winter, and the horfe and chariot races. But

he feems moft delighted with the fubject of his fourth book, where he is got among the bees. In this Georgic he points out the fituation moft proper for bees; tells us when they begin to gather honey, directs how to call them home when they fwarm, and how to part them

when they are engaged in battle. He then fpeaks of their different kinds; and, after a beautiful excurfion, returns again to the hive, gives us an account of their political adminiftration of affairs, and of the feveral difeafes, that often rage among them, with the fymptoms that attend each disease, and prescriptions for its cure. He then lays down a method for raising a new stock, when the whole breed is loft, and concludes with the history of its invention, which is fabulous and extravagant enough, but at the fame time very poetical and pleafing. The nature and government of the bees he thus beautifully describes.

Describe we next the nature of the bees,
Beftow'd by Jove for secret services:

When by the tinkling sound of timbrels led,
The king of heav'n in Cretan caves they fled,
Of all the race of animals, alone.

The bees have common cities of their own,
And common fons, beneath one law they live,
And with one common stock their traffic drive.
Each has a certain home, a fev'ral stall :
All is the ftate's, the state provides for all.
Mindful of coming cold, they fhare the pain:
And hoard for winter's ufe, the fummer's gain.
Some o'er the public magazines prefide,
And fome are fent new forage to provide :
Thefe drudge in fields abroad, and those at home
Lay deep foundations for the labour'd comb.
With dew, Narciffus leaves, and clammy gum.
To pitch the waxen flooring fome contrive;
Some nurse the future nation of the hive:
Sweet honey fome condenfe, fome purge the grout;
The reft, in cells a-part, the liquid nectar shut.
All, with united force, combine to drive
The lazy drones from the laborious hive.
With envy ftung, they view each other's deeds:
With diligence the fragrant work proceeds.
As when the Cyclops, at th' almighty nod,
New thunder haften for their angry God:
Subdu'd in fire the ftubborn metal lies,
One brawny fmith the puffing bellows plies;

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