Georgics

Virgil

Vergil. The Poems of Vergil. Rhoades, James, translator. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.

  1. Thus far the tilth of fields and stars of heaven;
  2. Now will I sing thee, Bacchus, and, with thee,
  3. The forest's young plantations and the fruit
  4. Of slow-maturing olive. Hither haste,
  5. O Father of the wine-press; all things here
  6. Teem with the bounties of thy hand; for thee
  7. With viny autumn laden blooms the field,
  8. And foams the vintage high with brimming vats;
  9. Hither, O Father of the wine-press, come,
  10. And stripped of buskin stain thy bared limbs
  11. In the new must with me.
  1. First, nature's law
  2. For generating trees is manifold;
  3. For some of their own force spontaneous spring,
  4. No hand of man compelling, and possess
  5. The plains and river-windings far and wide,
  6. As pliant osier and the bending broom,
  7. Poplar, and willows in wan companies
  8. With green leaf glimmering gray; and some there be
  9. From chance-dropped seed that rear them, as the tall
  10. Chestnuts, and, mightiest of the branching wood,
  11. Jove's Aesculus, and oaks, oracular
  12. Deemed by the Greeks of old. With some sprouts forth
  13. A forest of dense suckers from the root,
  14. As elms and cherries; so, too, a pigmy plant,
  15. Beneath its mother's mighty shade upshoots
  16. The bay-tree of Parnassus. Such the modes
  17. Nature imparted first; hence all the race
  18. Of forest-trees and shrubs and sacred groves
  19. Springs into verdure. Other means there are,
  20. Which use by method for itself acquired.
  21. One, sliving suckers from the tender frame
  22. Of the tree-mother, plants them in the trench;
  23. One buries the bare stumps within his field,
  24. Truncheons cleft four-wise, or sharp-pointed stakes;
  25. Some forest-trees the layer's bent arch await,
  26. And slips yet quick within the parent-soil;
  27. No root need others, nor doth the pruner's hand
  28. Shrink to restore the topmost shoot to earth
  29. That gave it being. Nay, marvellous to tell,
  30. Lopped of its limbs, the olive, a mere stock,
  31. Still thrusts its root out from the sapless wood,
  32. And oft the branches of one kind we see
  33. Change to another's with no loss to rue,
  34. Pear-tree transformed the ingrafted apple yield,
  35. And stony cornels on the plum-tree blush.
  1. Come then, and learn what tilth to each belongs
  2. According to their kinds, ye husbandmen,
  3. And tame with culture the wild fruits, lest earth
  4. Lie idle. O blithe to make all Ismarus
  5. One forest of the wine-god, and to clothe
  6. With olives huge Tabernus! And be thou
  7. At hand, and with me ply the voyage of toil
  8. I am bound on, O my glory, O thou that art
  9. Justly the chiefest portion of my fame,
  10. Maecenas, and on this wide ocean launched
  11. Spread sail like wings to waft thee. Not that I
  12. With my poor verse would comprehend the whole,
  13. Nay, though a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths
  14. Were mine, a voice of iron; be thou at hand,
  15. Skirt but the nearer coast-line; see the shore
  16. Is in our grasp; not now with feigned song
  17. Through winding bouts and tedious preludings
  18. Shall I detain thee.
  1. Those that lift their head
  2. Into the realms of light spontaneously,
  3. Fruitless indeed, but blithe and strenuous spring,
  4. Since Nature lurks within the soil. And yet
  5. Even these, should one engraft them, or transplant
  6. To well-drilled trenches, will anon put of
  7. Their woodland temper, and, by frequent tilth,
  8. To whatso craft thou summon them, make speed
  9. To follow. So likewise will the barren shaft
  10. That from the stock-root issueth, if it be
  11. Set out with clear space amid open fields:
  12. Now the tree-mother's towering leaves and boughs
  13. Darken, despoil of increase as it grows,
  14. And blast it in the bearing. Lastly, that
  15. Which from shed seed ariseth, upward wins
  16. But slowly, yielding promise of its shade
  17. To late-born generations; apples wane
  18. Forgetful of their former juice, the grape
  19. Bears sorry clusters, for the birds a prey.
  20. Soothly on all must toil be spent, and all
  21. Trained to the trench and at great cost subdued.
  22. But reared from truncheons olives answer best,
  23. As vines from layers, and from the solid wood
  24. The Paphian myrtles; while from suckers spring
  25. Both hardy hazels and huge ash, the tree
  26. That rims with shade the brows of Hercules,
  27. And acorns dear to the Chaonian sire:
  28. So springs the towering palm too, and the fir
  29. Destined to spy the dangers of the deep.
  30. But the rough arbutus with walnut-fruit
  31. Is grafted; so have barren planes ere now
  32. Stout apples borne, with chestnut-flower the beech,
  33. The mountain-ash with pear-bloom whitened o'er,
  34. And swine crunched acorns 'neath the boughs of elms.
  1. Nor is the method of inserting eyes
  2. And grafting one: for where the buds push forth
  3. Amidst the bark, and burst the membranes thin,
  4. Even on the knot a narrow rift is made,
  5. Wherein from some strange tree a germ they pen,
  6. And to the moist rind bid it cleave and grow.
  7. Or, otherwise, in knotless trunks is hewn
  8. A breach, and deep into the solid grain
  9. A path with wedges cloven; then fruitful slips
  10. Are set herein, and—no long time—behold!
  11. To heaven upshot with teeming boughs, the tree
  12. Strange leaves admires and fruitage not its own.
  1. Nor of one kind alone are sturdy elms,
  2. Willow and lotus, nor the cypress-trees
  3. Of Ida; nor of self-same fashion spring
  4. Fat olives, orchades, and radii
  5. And bitter-berried pausians, no, nor yet
  6. Apples and the forests of Alcinous;
  7. Nor from like cuttings are Crustumian pears
  8. And Syrian, and the heavy hand-fillers.
  9. Not the same vintage from our trees hangs down,
  10. Which Lesbos from Methymna's tendril plucks.
  11. Vines Thasian are there, Mareotids white,
  12. These apt for richer soils, for lighter those:
  13. Psithian for raisin-wine more useful, thin
  14. Lageos, that one day will try the feet
  15. And tie the tongue: purples and early-ripes,
  16. And how, O Rhaetian, shall I hymn thy praise?
  17. Yet cope not therefore with Falernian bins.
  18. Vines Aminaean too, best-bodied wine,
  19. To which the Tmolian bows him, ay, and king
  20. Phanaeus too, and, lesser of that name,
  21. Argitis, wherewith not a grape can vie
  22. For gush of wine-juice or for length of years.
  23. Nor thee must I pass over, vine of Rhodes,
  24. Welcomed by gods and at the second board,
  25. Nor thee, Bumastus, with plump clusters swollen.
  26. But lo! how many kinds, and what their names,
  27. There is no telling, nor doth it boot to tell;
  28. Who lists to know it, he too would list to learn
  29. How many sand-grains are by Zephyr tossed
  30. On Libya's plain, or wot, when Eurus falls
  31. With fury on the ships, how many waves
  32. Come rolling shoreward from the Ionian sea.
  1. Not that all soils can all things bear alike.
  2. Willows by water-courses have their birth,
  3. Alders in miry fens; on rocky heights
  4. The barren mountain-ashes; on the shore
  5. Myrtles throng gayest; Bacchus, lastly, loves
  6. The bare hillside, and yews the north wind's chill.
  7. Mark too the earth by outland tillers tamed,
  8. And Eastern homes of Arabs, and tattooed
  9. Geloni; to all trees their native lands
  10. Allotted are; no clime but India bears
  11. Black ebony; the branch of frankincense
  12. Is Saba's sons' alone; why tell to thee
  13. Of balsams oozing from the perfumed wood,
  14. Or berries of acanthus ever green?
  15. Of Aethiop forests hoar with downy wool,
  16. Or how the Seres comb from off the leaves
  17. Their silky fleece? Of groves which India bears,
  18. Ocean's near neighbour, earth's remotest nook,
  19. Where not an arrow-shot can cleave the air
  20. Above their tree-tops? yet no laggards they,
  21. When girded with the quiver! Media yields
  22. The bitter juices and slow-lingering taste
  23. Of the blest citron-fruit, than which no aid
  24. Comes timelier, when fierce step-dames drug the cup
  25. With simples mixed and spells of baneful power,
  26. To drive the deadly poison from the limbs.
  27. Large the tree's self in semblance like a bay,
  28. And, showered it not a different scent abroad,
  29. A bay it had been; for no wind of heaven
  30. Its foliage falls; the flower, none faster, clings;
  31. With it the Medes for sweetness lave the lips,
  32. And ease the panting breathlessness of age.
  1. But no, not Mede-land with its wealth of woods,
  2. Nor Ganges fair, and Hermus thick with gold,
  3. Can match the praise of Italy; nor Ind,
  4. Nor Bactria, nor Panchaia, one wide tract
  5. Of incense-teeming sand. Here never bulls
  6. With nostrils snorting fire upturned the sod
  7. Sown with the monstrous dragon's teeth, nor crop
  8. Of warriors bristled thick with lance and helm;
  9. But heavy harvests and the Massic juice
  10. Of Bacchus fill its borders, overspread
  11. With fruitful flocks and olives. Hence arose
  12. The war-horse stepping proudly o'er the plain;
  13. Hence thy white flocks, Clitumnus, and the bull,
  14. Of victims mightiest, which full oft have led,
  15. Bathed in thy sacred stream, the triumph-pomp
  16. Of Romans to the temples of the gods.
  17. Here blooms perpetual spring, and summer here
  18. In months that are not summer's; twice teem the flocks;
  19. Twice doth the tree yield service of her fruit.
  20. But ravening tigers come not nigh, nor breed
  21. Of savage lion, nor aconite betrays
  22. Its hapless gatherers, nor with sweep so vast
  23. Doth the scaled serpent trail his endless coils
  24. Along the ground, or wreathe him into spires.
  25. Mark too her cities, so many and so proud,
  26. Of mighty toil the achievement, town on town
  27. Up rugged precipices heaved and reared,
  28. And rivers undergliding ancient walls.
  29. Or should I celebrate the sea that laves
  30. Her upper shores and lower? or those broad lakes?
  31. Thee, Larius, greatest and, Benacus, thee
  32. With billowy uproar surging like the main?
  33. Or sing her harbours, and the barrier cast
  34. Athwart the Lucrine, and how ocean chafes
  35. With mighty bellowings, where the Julian wave
  36. Echoes the thunder of his rout, and through
  37. Avernian inlets pours the Tuscan tide?
  38. A land no less that in her veins displays
  39. Rivers of silver, mines of copper ore,
  40. Ay, and with gold hath flowed abundantly.
  41. A land that reared a valiant breed of men,
  42. The Marsi and Sabellian youth, and, schooled
  43. To hardship, the Ligurian, and with these
  44. The Volscian javelin-armed, the Decii too,
  45. The Marii and Camilli, names of might,
  46. The Scipios, stubborn warriors, ay, and thee,
  47. Great Caesar, who in Asia's utmost bounds
  48. With conquering arm e'en now art fending far
  49. The unwarlike Indian from the heights of Rome.
  50. Hail! land of Saturn, mighty mother thou
  51. Of fruits and heroes; 'tis for thee I dare
  52. Unseal the sacred fountains, and essay
  53. Themes of old art and glory, as I sing
  54. The song of Ascra through the towns of Rome.
  1. Now for the native gifts of various soils,
  2. What powers hath each, what hue, what natural bent
  3. For yielding increase. First your stubborn lands
  4. And churlish hill-sides, where are thorny fields
  5. Of meagre marl and gravel, these delight
  6. In long-lived olive-groves to Pallas dear.
  7. Take for a sign the plenteous growth hard by
  8. Of oleaster, and the fields strewn wide
  9. With woodland berries. But a soil that's rich,
  10. In moisture sweet exulting, and the plain
  11. That teems with grasses on its fruitful breast,
  12. Such as full oft in hollow mountain-dell
  13. We view beneath us—from the craggy heights
  14. Streams thither flow with fertilizing mud—
  15. A plain which southward rising feeds the fern
  16. By curved ploughs detested, this one day
  17. Shall yield thee store of vines full strong to gush
  18. In torrents of the wine-god; this shall be
  19. Fruitful of grapes and flowing juice like that
  20. We pour to heaven from bowls of gold, what time
  21. The sleek Etruscan at the altar blows
  22. His ivory pipe, and on the curved dish
  23. We lay the reeking entrails. If to rear
  24. Cattle delight thee rather, steers, or lambs,
  25. Or goats that kill the tender plants, then seek
  26. Full-fed Tarentum's glades and distant fields,
  27. Or such a plain as luckless Mantua lost
  28. Whose weedy water feeds the snow-white swan:
  29. There nor clear springs nor grass the flocks will fail,
  30. And all the day-long browsing of thy herds
  31. Shall the cool dews of one brief night repair.
  32. Land which the burrowing share shows dark and rich,
  33. With crumbling soil—for this we counterfeit
  34. In ploughing—for corn is goodliest; from no field
  35. More wains thou'lt see wend home with plodding steers;
  36. Or that from which the husbandman in spleen
  37. Has cleared the timber, and o'erthrown the copse
  38. That year on year lay idle, and from the roots
  39. Uptorn the immemorial haunt of birds;
  40. They banished from their nests have sought the skies;
  41. But the rude plain beneath the ploughshare's stroke
  42. Starts into sudden brightness. For indeed
  43. The starved hill-country gravel scarce serves the bees
  44. With lowly cassias and with rosemary;
  45. Rough tufa and chalk too, by black water-worms
  46. Gnawed through and through, proclaim no soils beside
  47. So rife with serpent-dainties, or that yield
  48. Such winding lairs to lurk in. That again,
  49. Which vapoury mist and flitting smoke exhales,
  50. Drinks moisture up and casts it forth at will,
  51. Which, ever in its own green grass arrayed,
  52. Mars not the metal with salt scurf of rust—
  53. That shall thine elms with merry vines enwreathe;
  54. That teems with olive; that shall thy tilth prove kind
  55. To cattle, and patient of the curved share.
  56. Such ploughs rich Capua, such the coast that skirts
  57. Thy ridge, Vesuvius, and the Clanian flood,
  58. Acerrae's desolation and her bane.
  1. How each to recognize now hear me tell.
  2. Dost ask if loose or passing firm it be—
  3. Since one for corn hath liking, one for wine,
  4. The firmer sort for Ceres, none too loose
  5. For thee, Lyaeus?—with scrutinizing eye
  6. First choose thy ground, and bid a pit be sunk
  7. Deep in the solid earth, then cast the mould
  8. All back again, and stamp the surface smooth.
  9. If it suffice not, loose will be the land,
  10. More meet for cattle and for kindly vines;
  11. But if, rebellious, to its proper bounds
  12. The soil returns not, but fills all the trench
  13. And overtops it, then the glebe is gross;
  14. Look for stiff ridges and reluctant clods,
  15. And with strong bullocks cleave the fallow crust.
  16. Salt ground again, and bitter, as 'tis called—
  17. Barren for fruits, by tilth untamable,
  18. Nor grape her kind, nor apples their good name
  19. Maintaining—will in this wise yield thee proof:
  20. Stout osier-baskets from the rafter-smoke,
  21. And strainers of the winepress pluck thee down;
  22. Hereinto let that evil land, with fresh
  23. Spring-water mixed, be trampled to the full;
  24. The moisture, mark you, will ooze all away,
  25. In big drops issuing through the osier-withes,
  26. But plainly will its taste the secret tell,
  27. And with a harsh twang ruefully distort
  28. The mouths of them that try it. Rich soil again
  29. We learn on this wise: tossed from hand to hand
  30. Yet cracks it never, but pitch-like, as we hold,
  31. Clings to the fingers. A land with moisture rife
  32. Breeds lustier herbage, and is more than meet
  33. Prolific. Ah I may never such for me
  34. O'er-fertile prove, or make too stout a show
  35. At the first earing! Heavy land or light
  36. The mute self-witness of its weight betrays.
  37. A glance will serve to warn thee which is black,
  38. Or what the hue of any. But hard it is
  39. To track the signs of that pernicious cold:
  40. Pines only, noxious yews, and ivies dark
  41. At times reveal its traces.
  1. All these rules
  2. Regarding, let your land, ay, long before,
  3. Scorch to the quick, and into trenches carve
  4. The mighty mountains, and their upturned clods
  5. Bare to the north wind, ere thou plant therein
  6. The vine's prolific kindred. Fields whose soil
  7. Is crumbling are the best: winds look to that,
  8. And bitter hoar-frosts, and the delver's toil
  9. Untiring, as he stirs the loosened glebe.
  10. But those, whose vigilance no care escapes,
  11. Search for a kindred site, where first to rear
  12. A nursery for the trees, and eke whereto
  13. Soon to translate them, lest the sudden shock
  14. From their new mother the young plants estrange.
  15. Nay, even the quarter of the sky they brand
  16. Upon the bark, that each may be restored,
  17. As erst it stood, here bore the southern heats,
  18. Here turned its shoulder to the northern pole;
  19. So strong is custom formed in early years.
  20. Whether on hill or plain 'tis best to plant
  21. Your vineyard first inquire. If on some plain
  22. You measure out rich acres, then plant thick;
  23. Thick planting makes no niggard of the vine;
  24. But if on rising mound or sloping bill,
  25. Then let the rows have room, so none the less
  26. Each line you draw, when all the trees are set,
  27. May tally to perfection. Even as oft
  28. In mighty war, whenas the legion's length
  29. Deploys its cohorts, and the column stands
  30. In open plain, the ranks of battle set,
  31. And far and near with rippling sheen of arms
  32. The wide earth flickers, nor yet in grisly strife
  33. Foe grapples foe, but dubious 'twixt the hosts
  34. The war-god wavers; so let all be ranged
  35. In equal rows symmetric, not alone
  36. To feed an idle fancy with the view,
  37. But since not otherwise will earth afford
  38. Vigour to all alike, nor yet the boughs
  39. Have power to stretch them into open space.
  1. Shouldst haply of the furrow's depth inquire,
  2. Even to a shallow trench I dare commit
  3. The vine; but deeper in the ground is fixed
  4. The tree that props it, aesculus in chief,
  5. Which howso far its summit soars toward heaven,
  6. So deep strikes root into the vaults of hell.
  7. It therefore neither storms, nor blasts, nor showers
  8. Wrench from its bed; unshaken it abides,
  9. Sees many a generation, many an age
  10. Of men roll onward, and survives them all,
  11. Stretching its titan arms and branches far,
  12. Sole central pillar of a world of shade.
  1. Nor toward the sunset let thy vineyards slope,
  2. Nor midst the vines plant hazel; neither take
  3. The topmost shoots for cuttings, nor from the top
  4. Of the supporting tree your suckers tear;
  5. So deep their love of earth; nor wound the plants
  6. With blunted blade; nor truncheons intersperse
  7. Of the wild olive: for oft from careless swains
  8. A spark hath fallen, that, 'neath the unctuous rind
  9. Hid thief-like first, now grips the tough tree-bole,
  10. And mounting to the leaves on high, sends forth
  11. A roar to heaven, then coursing through the boughs
  12. And airy summits reigns victoriously,
  13. Wraps all the grove in robes of fire, and gross
  14. With pitch-black vapour heaves the murky reek
  15. Skyward, but chiefly if a storm has swooped
  16. Down on the forest, and a driving wind
  17. Rolls up the conflagration. When 'tis so,
  18. Their root-force fails them, nor, when lopped away,
  19. Can they recover, and from the earth beneath
  20. Spring to like verdure; thus alone survives
  21. The bare wild olive with its bitter leaves.
  1. Let none persuade thee, howso weighty-wise,
  2. To stir the soil when stiff with Boreas' breath.
  3. Then ice-bound winter locks the fields, nor lets
  4. The young plant fix its frozen root to earth.
  5. Best sow your vineyards when in blushing Spring
  6. Comes the white bird long-bodied snakes abhor,
  7. Or on the eve of autumn's earliest frost,
  8. Ere the swift sun-steeds touch the wintry Signs,
  9. While summer is departing. Spring it is
  10. Blesses the fruit-plantation, Spring the groves;
  11. In Spring earth swells and claims the fruitful seed.
  12. Then Aether, sire omnipotent, leaps down
  13. With quickening showers to his glad wife's embrace,
  14. And, might with might commingling, rears to life
  15. All germs that teem within her; then resound
  16. With songs of birds the greenwood-wildernesses,
  17. And in due time the herds their loves renew;
  18. Then the boon earth yields increase, and the fields
  19. Unlock their bosoms to the warm west winds;
  20. Soft moisture spreads o'er all things, and the blades
  21. Face the new suns, and safely trust them now;
  22. The vine-shoot, fearless of the rising south,
  23. Or mighty north winds driving rain from heaven,
  24. Bursts into bud, and every leaf unfolds.
  25. Even so, methinks, when Earth to being sprang,
  26. Dawned the first days, and such the course they held;
  27. 'Twas Spring-tide then, ay, Spring, the mighty world
  28. Was keeping: Eurus spared his wintry blasts,
  29. When first the flocks drank sunlight, and a race
  30. Of men like iron from the hard glebe arose,
  31. And wild beasts thronged the woods, and stars the heaven.
  32. Nor could frail creatures bear this heavy strain,
  33. Did not so large a respite interpose
  34. 'Twixt frost and heat, and heaven's relenting arms
  35. Yield earth a welcome.
  1. For the rest, whate'er
  2. The sets thou plantest in thy fields, thereon
  3. Strew refuse rich, and with abundant earth
  4. Take heed to hide them, and dig in withal
  5. Rough shells or porous stone, for therebetween
  6. Will water trickle and fine vapour creep,
  7. And so the plants their drooping spirits raise.
  8. Aye, and there have been, who with weight of stone
  9. Or heavy potsherd press them from above;
  10. This serves for shield in pelting showers, and this
  11. When the hot dog-star chaps the fields with drought.
  1. The slips once planted, yet remains to cleave
  2. The earth about their roots persistently,
  3. And toss the cumbrous hoes, or task the soil
  4. With burrowing plough-share, and ply up and down
  5. Your labouring bullocks through the vineyard's midst,
  6. Then too smooth reeds and shafts of whittled wand,
  7. And ashen poles and sturdy forks to shape,
  8. Whereby supported they may learn to mount,
  9. Laugh at the gales, and through the elm-tops win
  10. From story up to story.
  1. Now while yet
  2. The leaves are in their first fresh infant growth,
  3. Forbear their frailty, and while yet the bough
  4. Shoots joyfully toward heaven, with loosened rein
  5. Launched on the void, assail it not as yet
  6. With keen-edged sickle, but let the leaves alone
  7. Be culled with clip of fingers here and there.
  8. But when they clasp the elms with sturdy trunks
  9. Erect, then strip the leaves off, prune the boughs;
  10. Sooner they shrink from steel, but then put forth
  11. The arm of power, and stem the branchy tide.
  1. Hedges too must be woven and all beasts
  2. Barred entrance, chiefly while the leaf is young
  3. And witless of disaster; for therewith,
  4. Beside harsh winters and o'erpowering sun,
  5. Wild buffaloes and pestering goats for ay
  6. Besport them, sheep and heifers glut their greed.
  7. Nor cold by hoar-frost curdled, nor the prone
  8. Dead weight of summer upon the parched crags,
  9. So scathe it, as the flocks with venom-bite
  10. Of their hard tooth, whose gnawing scars the stem.
  11. For no offence but this to Bacchus bleeds
  12. The goat at every altar, and old plays
  13. Upon the stage find entrance; therefore too
  14. The sons of Theseus through the country-side—
  15. Hamlet and crossway—set the prize of wit,
  16. And on the smooth sward over oiled skins
  17. Dance in their tipsy frolic. Furthermore
  18. The Ausonian swains, a race from Troy derived,
  19. Make merry with rough rhymes and boisterous mirth,
  20. Grim masks of hollowed bark assume, invoke
  21. Thee with glad hymns, O Bacchus, and to thee
  22. Hang puppet-faces on tall pines to swing.
  23. Hence every vineyard teems with mellowing fruit,
  24. Till hollow vale o'erflows, and gorge profound,
  25. Where'er the god hath turned his comely head.
  26. Therefore to Bacchus duly will we sing
  27. Meet honour with ancestral hymns, and cates
  28. And dishes bear him; and the doomed goat
  29. Led by the horn shall at the altar stand,
  30. Whose entrails rich on hazel-spits we'll roast.
  1. This further task again, to dress the vine,
  2. Hath needs beyond exhausting; the whole soil
  3. Thrice, four times, yearly must be cleft, the sod
  4. With hoes reversed be crushed continually,
  5. The whole plantation lightened of its leaves.
  6. Round on the labourer spins the wheel of toil,
  7. As on its own track rolls the circling year.
  8. Soon as the vine her lingering leaves hath shed,
  9. And the chill north wind from the forests shook
  10. Their coronal, even then the careful swain
  11. Looks keenly forward to the coming year,
  12. With Saturn's curved fang pursues and prunes
  13. The vine forlorn, and lops it into shape.
  14. Be first to dig the ground up, first to clear
  15. And burn the refuse-branches, first to house
  16. Again your vine-poles, last to gather fruit.
  17. Twice doth the thickening shade beset the vine,
  18. Twice weeds with stifling briers o'ergrow the crop;
  19. And each a toilsome labour. Do thou praise
  20. Broad acres, farm but few. Rough twigs beside
  21. Of butcher's broom among the woods are cut,
  22. And reeds upon the river-banks, and still
  23. The undressed willow claims thy fostering care.
  24. So now the vines are fettered, now the trees
  25. Let go the sickle, and the last dresser now
  26. Sings of his finished rows; but still the ground
  27. Must vexed be, the dust be stirred, and heaven
  28. Still set thee trembling for the ripened grapes.
  1. Not so with olives; small husbandry need they,
  2. Nor look for sickle bowed or biting rake,
  3. When once they have gripped the soil, and borne the breeze.
  4. Earth of herself, with hooked fang laid bare,
  5. Yields moisture for the plants, and heavy fruit,
  6. The ploughshare aiding; therewithal thou'lt rear
  7. The olive's fatness well-beloved of Peace.