Georgics

Virgil

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

  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.