He sharpens torches in the glimmering room:
She shoots the flying shuttle through the loom ;
Or boils in kettles must of wine, and skims
With leaves the dregs that overflow the brims.
And, till the watchful cock awakes the day,
She sings to drive the tedious hours away.
SUMMER EMPLOYMENTS AND WINTER PLEASURES.SAILORS AND FARMERS.
But in warm weather, when the skies are clear, By daylight reap the product of the year: And in the sun your golden grain display, And thresh it out, and winnow it by day. Plough naked, swain, and naked sow the land, For lazy Winter numbs the laboring hand. In genial Winter swains enjoy their store, Forget their hardships, and recruit for more. The farmer to full bowls invites his friends, And what he got with pains, with pleasure spends. So sailors, when escaped from stormy seas, First crown their vessels, then indulge their ease.
Yet that's the proper time to thresh the wood For mast of oak, your father's homely food; To gather laurel-berries, and the spoil Of bloody myrtles, and to press your oil: For stalking cranes to set the guileful snare, To enclose the stags in toils, and hunt the hare : With Balearic slings, or Gnossian bow, To persecute from far the flying doe, Then, when the fleecy skies new-clothe the wood, And cakes of rustling ice come rolling down the flood.
FARMER'S WORK FOR AUTUMN AND SPRING; RAINS.
Now sing we stormy stars, when Autumn weighs
The year, and adds to nights, and shortens days;
And suns declining shine with feeble rays:
What cares must then attend the toiling swain;
Or when the lowering Spring, with lavish rain,
Beats down the slender stem and bearded grain :
While yet the head is green, or, lightly swelled
With milky moisture, overlooks the field.
TEMPEST IN HARVEST; FLOODS; THUNDER AND LIGHTNING ;
FRIGHT OF ANIMALS AND MEN; NOISES.
Ev'n when the farmer, now secure of fear,
Sends in the swains to spoil the finished year:
Ev'n while the reaper fills his greedy hands,
And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands:
Oft have I seen a sudden storm arise,
From all the warring winds that sweep the skies :
The heavy harvest from the root is torn,
And whirled aloft the lighter stubble borne ;
With such a force the flying rack is driven,
And such a winter wears the face of heaven:
And oft whole sheets descend of sluicy rain,
Sucked by the spongy clouds from off the main :
The lofty skies at once come pouring down,
The promised crop and golden labors drown.
The dikes are filled, and with a roaring sound
The rising rivers float the nether ground; [bound.
And rocks the bellowing voice of boiling seas re-
The father of the gods his glory shrouds ;
Involved in tempests, and a night of clouds.
And from the middle darkness flashing out,
By fits he deals his fiery bolts about.
Earth feels the motion of her angry god,
Her entrails tremble, and her mountains nod;
And flying beasts in forests seek abode :
Deep horror seizes every human breast,
Their pride is humbled, and their fear confessed;
While he from high his rolling thunder throws,
And fires the mountains with repeated blows:
The rocks are from their old foundations rent;
The winds redouble, and the rains augment:
The waves in heaps are dashed against the shore,
And now the woods, and now the billows roar.
PROTECTIVE RELIGIOUS RITES TO CERES IN SPRING AND
SUMMER.
In fear of this, observe the starry signs; Where Saturn houses, and where Hermes joins. But first to heaven thy due devotions pay, And annual gifts on Ceres' altars lay. When Winter's rage abates, when cheerful hours Awake the Spring, and Spring awakes the flowers, On the green turf thy careless limbs display, And celebrate the Mighty Mother's day. For then the hills with pleasing shades are crowned, And sleeps are sweeter on the silken ground: With milder beams the sun securely shines; Fat are the lambs, and luscious are the wines. Let every swain adore her power divine, And milk and honey mix with sparkling wine : Let all the choir of clowns attend the show, In long processions, shouting as they go; Invoking her to bless their yearly stores, Inviting plenty to their crowded floors. Thus in the Spring, and thus in Summer's heat, Before the sickles touch the ripening wheat, On Ceres call; and let the laboring hind With oaken wreaths his hollow temples bind : On Ceres let him call, and Ceres praise, With uncouth dances, and with country lays.
SIGNS OF HEAT, RAIN, WIND, ETC. THE MOON; SIGNS OF A COMING STORM, THE SEA, THE WOODS, CORMORANTS, COOTS, HERONS, SHOOTING-STARS, CHAFF, THUNDER FROM
And that by certain signs we may presage
Of heats and rains, and wind's impetuous rage,
The Sovereign of the heavens has set on high
The moon, to mark the changes of the sky: [swain
When southern blasts should cease, and when the
Should near their folds his feeding flocks restrain.
For ere the rising winds begin to roar,
The working seas advance to wash the shore :
Soft whispers run along the leafy woods,
And mountains whistle to the murmuring floods :
Ev'n then the doubtful billows scarce abstain
From the tossed vessel on the troubled main :
When crying cormorants forsake the sea,
And stretching to the covert wing their way;
When sportful coots run skimming o'er the strand;
When watchful herons leave their watery stand,
And, mounting upward with erected flight,
Gain on the skies, and soar above the sight.
And oft, before tempestuous winds arise,
The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies;
And, shooting through the darkness, gild the night
With sweeping glories, and long trails of light:
And chaff with eddy winds is whirled around,
And dancing leaves are lifted from the ground;
And floating feathers on the waters play.
But when the wingéd thunder takes his way
From the cold north, and east and west engage,
And at the frontiers meet with equal rage,
The clouds are crushed, a glut of gathered rain
The hollow ditches fills, and floats the plain,
And sailors furl their dropping sheets amain.
SIGNS OF WET WEATHER; CRANES, COWS, SWALLOWS, FROGS,
ANTS, ROOKS, SWANS, CROWS, LAMPS.
Wet weather seldom hurts the most unwise,
So plain the signs, such prophets are the skies :
The wary crane foresees it first, and sails
Above the storm, and leaves the lowly vales:
The cow looks up, and from afar can find
The change of heaven, and snuffs it in the wind.
The swallow skims the river's watery face;
The frogs renew the croaks of their loquacious race.
The careful ant her secret cell forsakes,
And drags her eggs along the narrow tracks.
At either horn the rainbow drinks the flood;
Huge flocks of rising rooks forsake their food,
And, crying, seek the shelter of the wood.
Besides the several sorts of watery fowls,
That swim the seas, or haunt the standing pools :
The swans that sail along the silver flood;
Dive without stretching necks to search their food,
Then lave their backs with sprinkling dews in vain,
And stem the stream to meet the promised rain.
The crow with clamorous cries the shower demands,
And single stalks along the desert sands.
The nightly virgin, while her wheel she plies,
Foresees the storm impending in the skies,
When sparkling lamps their sputtering light advance,
And in the sockets oily bubbles dance.
SIGNS OF FAIR WEATHER IN THE STARS; GOSSAMER, SOWS,
OWLS, NISUS AND SCYLLA (HAWK AND LARK), RAVENS; A
THEORY.
Then, after showers, 't is easy to descry Returning suns, and a serener sky: The stars shine smarter, and the moon adorns, As with unborrowed beams, her sharpened horns. The filmy gossamer now flits no more, Nor halcyons bask on the short, sunny shore: Their litter is not tossed by sows unclean; But a blue, droughty mist descends upon the plain. And owls, that mark the setting sun, declare A star-light evening, and a morning fair. Towering aloft, avenging Nisus flies,
While dared below the guilty Scylla lies.
Wherever frightened Scylla flies away,
Swift Nisus follows, and pursues his prey.
Where injured Nisus takes his airy course,
Thence trembling Scylla flies, and shuns his force.
This punishment pursues the unhappy maid,
And thus the purple hair is dearly paid.
Then, thrice the ravens rend the liquid air,
And croaking notes proclaim the settled fair.
Then, round their airy palaces they fly,
To greet the sun; and, seized with secret joy,
When storms are over-blown, with food repair
To their forsaken nests, and callow care.
Not that I think their breasts with heavenly souls
Inspired, as man, who destiny controls.
But with the changeful temper of the skies,
As rains condense, and sunshine rarefies;
So turn the species in their altered minds,
Composed by calms, and discomposed by winds.
From hence proceeds the birds' harmonious voice :
From hence the cows exult, and frisking lambs
rejoice.
WEATHER SIGNS BY THE MOON.
Observe the daily circle of the sun, And the short year of each revolving moon: By them thou shalt foresee the following day; Nor shall a starry night thy hopes betray. When first the moon appears, if then she shrouds Her silver crescent, tipped with sable clouds, Conclude she bodes a tempest on the main, And brews for fields impetuous floods of rain. Or if her face with fiery flushing glow, Expect the rattling winds aloft to blow. But four nights old (for that's the surest sign), With sharpened horns if glorious then she shine; Next day, nor only that, but all the moon, Till her revolving race be wholly run, Are void of tempests, both by land and sea, And sailors in the port their promised vows shall pay.
WEATHER SIGNS BY THE RISING SUN.
Above the rest, the sun, who never lies,
Foretells the change of weather in the skies :
For if he rise unwilling to his race,
Clouds on his brow, and spots upon his face;
Or if through mists he shoots his sullen beams,
Frugal of light, in loose and straggling streams :
Suspect a drizzling day, with southern rain,
Fatal to fruits, and flocks, and promised grain.
Or if Aurora, with half-opened eyes,
And a pale sickly cheek, salute the skies;
How shall the vine, with tender leaves, defend
Her teeming clusters, when the storms descend?
When ridgy roofs and tiles can scarce avail
To bar the ruin of the rattling hail.
WEATHER SIGNS BY THE SETTING SUN.
But, more than all, the setting sun survey, When down the steep of heaven he drives the day. For oft we find him finishing his race, With various colors erring on his face;
If fiery red his glowing globe descends,
High winds and furious tempests he portends :
But if his cheeks are swoln with livid blue,
He bodes wet weather by his watry hue;
If dusky spots are varied on his brow,
And streaked with red, a troubled color show;
That sullen mixture shall at once declare
Winds, rain, and storms, and elemental war.
What desperate madman then would venture o'er
The frith, or haul his cables from the shore?
But if with purple rays he brings the light,
And a pure heaven resigns to quiet night;
No rising winds, or falling storms, are nigh;
But northern breezes through the forest fly,
And drive the rack, and purge the ruffled sky.
The unerring sun by certain signs declares
What the late ev'n, or early morn, prepares :
And when the south projects a stormy day, [away.
And when the clearing north will puff the clouds
PORTENTS AT CESAR'S DEATH; THE SUN, NATURE, ÆTNA,
NOISES, SPECTRES, SWEATING IDOLS, ETC.
The sun reveals the secrets of the sky;
And who dares give the source of light the lie?
The change of empires often he declares,
Fierce tumults, hidden treasons, open wars.
He first the fate of Cæsar did foretell,
And pitied Rome, when Rome in Cæsar fell;
In iron clouds concealed the public light;
And impious mortals feared eternal night.
Nor was the fact foretold by him alone:
Nature herself stood forth, and seconded the sun.
Earth, air, and seas, with prodigies were signed,
And birds obscene, and howling dogs divined.
What rocks did Etna's bellowing mouth expire
From her torn entrails; and what floods of fire!
What clanks were heard, in German skies afar,
Of arms and armies, rushing to the war!
Dire earthquakes rent the solid Alps below,
And from their summits shook the eternal snow :
Pale spectres in the close of night were seen,
And voices heard of more than mortal men.
In silent groves, dumb sheep and oxen spoke,
And streams ran backward, and their beds forsook :
The yawning earth disclosed the abyss of hell:
The weeping statues did the wars foretell ;
And holy sweat from brazen idols fell.
AT DEATH FLOODS, THUNDER ; SLAUGHTER OF ROMANS AT PHARSALUS AND PHILIPPI, IN MACEDONIA; PLOUGHING UP OF BATTLE RELICS.
Then, rising in his might, the king of floods Rushed through the forests, tore the lofty woods; And rolling onward, with a sweepy sway, Bore houses, herds, and laboring hinds, away. Blood sprang from wells, wolves howled in towns by And boding victims did the priests affright. [night, Such peals of thunder never poured from high, Nor forky lightnings flashed from such a sullen sky. Red meteors ran across the ethereal space; Stars disappeared, and comets took their place. For this the Emathian plains once more were strewed
With Roman bodies, and just Heaven thought good
To fatten twice those fields with Roman blood.
Then, after length of time, the laboring swains,
Who turn the turfs of those unhappy plains,
Shall rusty piles from the ploughed furrows take,
And over empty helmets pass the rake.
Amazed at antique titles on the stones,
And mighty relics of gigantic bones.
ADULATION OF AUGUSTUS AS A GOD.
Ye home-born deities, of mortal birth! Thou, father Romulus, and mother Earth, Goddess unmoved! whose guardian arms extend O'er Tuscan Tiber's course, and Roman towers defend; With youthful Cæsar your joint powers engage, Nor hinder him to save the sinking age. O! let the blood, already spilt, atone For the past crimes of curst Laomedon! Heaven wants thee there, and long the gods, we Have grudged thee, Cæsar, to the world below: Where fraud and rapine right and wrong confound; Where impious arms from every part resound, And monstrous crimes in every shape are crowned.
THE HORRORS OF WAR; IT DRAGS NATIONS TO RUIN.
The peaceful peasant to the wars is prest; The fields lie fallow in inglorious rest: The plain no pasture to the flock affords, The crooked scythes are straightened into swords : And there Euphrates her soft offspring arms, And here the Rhine rebellows with alarms : The neighboring cities range on several sides, Perfidious Mars long plighted leagues divides, And o'er the wasted world in triumph rides. So four fierce coursers, starting to the race, Scour through the plain, and lengthen every pace: Nor reins, nor curbs, nor threatening cries, they fear, But force along the trembling charioteer.
The subject of the following book is planting. In handling of which argument the poet shows all the different methods of raising trees; describes their variety; and gives rules for the management of each in particular. He then points out the soils in which the several plants thrive best; and thence takes occasion to run out into the praises of Italy. After which he gives some directions for discovering the nature of every soil; prescribes rules for dressing vines, olives, etc. And concludes the Georgic with a panegyric on a country life.
THE SUBJECT.—THE VINE, TREES, THE olive.
Thus far of tillage, and of heavenly signs; Now sing, my muse, the growth of generous vines : The shady groves, the woodland progeny, And the slow product of Minerva's tree.
Great father Bacchus! to my song repair; For clustering grapes are thy peculiar care : For thee large bunches load the bending vine, And the last blessings of the year are thine ;
To thee his joys the jolly Autumn owes,
When the fermenting juice the vat o'erflows.
Come, strip with me, my god, come drench all o'er
Thy limbs in must of wine, and drink at every pore.
ORIGIN OF VARIOUS TREES; SPONTANEOUS; FROM SEEDS;
OAK, ELM, CHERRY, BAYS.
Some trees their birth to bounteous nature owe; For some without the pains of planting grow. With osiers thus the banks of brooks abound, Sprung from the watery genius of the ground: From the same principle gray willows come; Herculean poplar, and the tender broom. But some from seeds enclosed in earth arise; For thus the mastful chestnut mates the skies. Hence rise the branching beech and vocal oak, Where Jove of old oraculously spoke. Some from the root a rising wood disclose; Thus elms and thus the savage cherry grows : Thus the green bay, that binds the poet's brows, Shoots, and is sheltered by the mother's boughs.
MODES OF PROPAGATING PLANTS AND TREES.
These ways of planting Nature did ordain, For trees and shrubs, and all the sylvan reign. Others there are, by late experience found: Some cut the shoots, and plant in furrowed ground : Some cover rooted stalks in deeper mould : Some cloven stakes, and (wondrous to behold) Their sharpened ends in earth their footing place, And the dry poles produce a living race. Some bow their vines, which, buried in the plain, Their tops in distant arches rise again. Others no root require, the lab'rer cuts Young slips, and in the soil securely puts. Even stumps of olives, bared of leaves, and dead, Revive, and oft redeem their withered head. "T is usual now an inmate graff to see With insolence invade a foreign tree : Thus pears and quinces from the crab-tree come; And thus the ruddy cornel bears the plum.
ADVANTAGES OF BOTANICAL KNOWLedge.
Then let the learned gardener mark with care The kinds of stocks, and what those kinds will bear; Explore the nature of each several tree; And known, improve with artful industry; And let no spot of idle earth be found, But cultivate the genius of the ground. For open Ismarus will Bacchus please; Taburnus loves the shade of olive-trees.
ADDRESS TO MECENAS, VIRGIL'S PATRON. The virtues of the several soils I sing, Mæcenas, now thy needful succor bring! O, thou! the better part of my renown, Inspire thy poet, and thy poem crown; Embark with me while I new tracks explore, With flying sails and breezes from the shore : Not that my song, in such a scanty space, So large a subject fully can embrace : Not though I were supplied with iron lungs, A hundred mouths, filled with as many tongues :
But steer my vessel with a steady hand,
And coast along the shore in sight of land.
Nor will I tire thy patience with a train
Of preface, or what ancient poets feign.
SPONTANEOUS TREES TO BE CORRECTED BY CULTURE; GRAFT-
ING; TRANSPLANTING; WILD SEEDLINGS.
The trees which of themselves advance in air
Are barren kinds, but strongly built and fair :
Because the vigor of the native earth
Maintains the plant, and makes a manly birth.
Yet these, receiving grafts of other kind,
Or thence transplanted, change their savage mind;
Their wildness lose, and, quitting nature's part,
Obey the rules and discipline of art.
The same do trees, that, sprung from barren roots
In open fields, transplanted bear their fruits.
For where they grow, the native energy
Turns all into the substance of the tree,
Starves and destroys the fruit, is only made
For brawny bulk, and for a barren shade.
The plant that shoots from seed a sullen tree
At leisure grows, for late posterity;
The generous flavor lost, the fruits decay,
And savage grapes are made the birds' ignoble prey.
CULTURE OF TREES; THE OLIVE, VINE, HAZEL, ASH,
ARBUTE, ETC.
Much labor is required in trees, to tame
Their wild disorder, and in ranks reclaim.
Well must the ground be digged, and better dressed,
New soil to make, and meliorate the rest.
Old stakes of olive-trees in plants revive;
By the same methods Paphian myrtles live :
But nobler vines by propagation thrive.
From roots hard hazels, and from scions rise
Tall ash and taller oak that mates the skies;
Palm, poplar, fir, descending from the steep
Of hills, to try the dangers of the deep.
The thin-leaved arbute hazel-graffs receives,
And planes huge apples bear, that bore but leaves.
Thus mastful beech the bristly chestnut bears,
And the wild ash is white with blooming pears;
And greedy swine from grafted elms are fed
With falling acorns, that on oaks are bred.
BUDDING, GRAFTING, INOCULATION, ETC.
But various are the ways to change the state Of plants, to bud, to graff, t' inoculate. For where the tender rinds of trees disclose Their shooting gems, a swelling knot there grows; Just in that space a narrow slit we make, Then other buds from bearing trees we take : Inserted thus, the wounded rind we close, In whose moist womb th' admitted infant grows. But when the smoother bole from knots is free, We make a deep incision in the tree; And in the solid wood the slip enclose, The battening bastard shoots again and grows; And in short space the laden boughs arise, With happy fruit advancing to the skies. The mother-plant admires the leaves unknown, Of alien trees, and apples not her own.
VARIETIES OF WILLOWS, ELMS, OLIVES, APPLE-TREES, ETC.
Of vegetable woods are various kinds,
And the same species are of sev'ral minds.
Lotes, willows, elms, have different forms allowed,
So funeral cypress, rising like a shroud.
Fat olive-trees of sundry sorts appear,
Of sundry shapes their unctuous berries bear.
Radii long olives, Orchites round produce,
And bitter Pausia, pounded for the juice.
Alcinous' orchard various apples bears:
Unlike are bergamots and pounder pears.
VARIETIES OF THE VINE; ITALIAN, LESBIAN, THASIAN, MA-
REOTIC, PSYTHIAN, LAGEAN, RETHEAN, FALERNIAN, AMI-
NEAN, LYDIAN, CHIAN, ARGITIS, RHODIAN, BUMASTUS.
Nor our Italian vines produce the shape,
Or taste, or flavor, of the Lesbian grape.
The Thasian vines in richer soils abound;
The Mareotic grow in barren ground.
The Psythian grape we dry: Lagæan juice
Will stamm'ring tongues and stagg'ring feet pro-
Rath ripe are some, and some of later kind,
Of golden some, and some of purple rind.
How shall I praise the Ræthean grape divine,
Which yet contends not with Falernian wine!
The Aminean many a consulship survives,
And longer than the Lydian vintage lives,
Or [of Phanæus high] of Chian growth:
But for large quantities and lasting both
The less Argitis bears the prize away.
The Rhodian, sacred to the solemn day,
In second services is poured to Jove;
And best accepted by the gods above.
Nor must Bumastus his old honors lose,
In length and largeness like the dugs of cows.
I pass the rest, whose every race and name,
And kinds, are less material to my theme.
Which who would learn, as soon may tell the sands,
Driven by the western wind on Libyan lands;
Or number, when the blust'ring Eurus roars,
The billows beating on Ionian shores.
EACH PLANT HAS ITS PROPER SOIL, HABITAT, AND COUNTRY;
EBON, BALM, ETC. — SILK, TALL TREES; USE OF CITRONS.
Nor every plant on every soil will grow :
The sallow loves the watery ground, and low;
The marshes, alders; Nature seems t' ordain
The rocky cliff for the wild ash's reign;
The baleful yew to northern blasts assigns;
To shores the myrtles, and to mounts the vines.
Regard th' extremest cultivated coast,
From hot Arabia to the Scythian frost :
All sorts of trees their several countries know;
Black ebon only will in India grow:
And od'rous frankincense on the Sabæan bough.
Balm slowly trickles through the bleeding veins
Of happy shrubs in Idumæan plains.
The green Egyptian thorn, for med'cine good,
With Ethiop's hoary trees and woolly wood,
Let others tell; and how the Seres spin
Their fleecy forests in a slender twine.
With mighty trunks of trees on Indian shores,
Whose height above the feathered arrow soars,
Shot from the toughest bow, and by the brawn
Of expert archers with vast vigor drawn.
Sharp-tasted citrons Median climes produce:
Bitter the rind, but generous is the juice:
A cordial fruit, a present antidote
Against the direful stepdame's deadly draught:
Who mixing wicked weeds with words impure,
The fate of envied orphans would procure.
Large is the plant, and like a laurel grows,
And, did it not a different scent disclose,
A laurel were the fragrant flowers contemn
The stormy winds, tenacious of their stem.
With this the Medes to laboring age bequeath
New lungs, and cure the sourness of the breath.
ITALY; ITS CLIMATE AND PRODUCTS PREFERRED.
But neither Median woods (a plenteous land),
Fair Ganges, Hermus rolling golden sand,
Nor Bactria, nor the richer Indian fields,
Nor all the gummy stores Arabia yields;
Nor any foreign earth of greater name,
Can with sweet Italy contend in fame.
No bulls, whose nostrils breathe a living flame,
Have turned our turf, no teeth of serpents here
Were sown, an armed host and iron crop to bear.
But fruitful vines, and the fat olives' freight,
And harvests heavy with their fruitful weight,
Adorn our fields; and on the cheerful green
The grazing flocks and lowing herds are seen.
The warrior horse here bred is taught to train :
There flows Clitumnus through the flowery plain ;
Whose waves, for triumphs after prosperous war,
The victim ox, and snowy sheep, prepare.
Perpetual spring our happy climate sees ;
Twice breed the cattle, and twice bear the trees;
And summer suns recede by slow degrees.
Our land is from the rage of tigers freed,
Nor nourishes the lion's angry seed;
No poisonous aconite is here produced,
Or grows unknown, or is, when known, refused.
Nor in so vast a length our serpents glide,
Or raised on such a spiry volume ride.
THE CITIES, SEAS, LAKES, AND MINES OF ITALY LAUDED;
LAKES COMO, GARDA, LUCRINUS, AVERNUS; PORT JULIUS.
Next add our cities of illustrious name,
Their costly labor and stupendous frame :
Our forts on steepy hills, that far below
See wanton streams in winding valleys flow.
Our two-fold seas, that, washing either side,
A rich recruit of foreign stores provide.
Our spacious lakes: thee, Larius, first; and next
Benacus, with tempestuous billows vext.
Or shall I praise thy ports, or mention make
Of the vast mound that binds the Lucrine lake:
Or the disdainful sea, that, shut from thence,
Roars round the structure, and invades the fence.
There, where secure the Julian waters glide,
Or where Avernus' jaws admit the Tyrrhene tide.
Our quarries, deep in earth, were famed of old
For veins of silver, and for ore of gold.
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