Georgics

Virgil

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

  1. So Proteus ending plunged into the deep,
  2. And, where he plunged, beneath the eddying whirl
  3. Churned into foam the water, and was gone;
  4. But not Cyrene, who unquestioned thus
  5. Bespake the trembling listener: “Nay, my son,
  6. From that sad bosom thou mayst banish care:
  7. Hence came that plague of sickness, hence the nymphs,
  8. With whom in the tall woods the dance she wove,
  9. Wrought on thy bees, alas! this deadly bane.
  10. Bend thou before the Dell-nymphs, gracious powers:
  11. Bring gifts, and sue for pardon: they will grant
  12. Peace to thine asking, and an end of wrath.
  13. But how to approach them will I first unfold—
  14. Four chosen bulls of peerless form and bulk,
  15. That browse to-day the green Lycaean heights,
  16. Pick from thy herds, as many kine to match,
  17. Whose necks the yoke pressed never: then for these
  18. Build up four altars by the lofty fanes,
  19. And from their throats let gush the victims' blood,
  20. And in the greenwood leave their bodies lone.
  21. Then, when the ninth dawn hath displayed its beams,
  22. To Orpheus shalt thou send his funeral dues,
  23. Poppies of Lethe, and let slay a sheep
  24. Coal-black, then seek the grove again, and soon
  25. For pardon found adore Eurydice
  26. With a slain calf for victim.”
  1. No delay:
  2. The self-same hour he hies him forth to do
  3. His mother's bidding: to the shrine he came,
  4. The appointed altars reared, and thither led
  5. Four chosen bulls of peerless form and bulk,
  6. With kine to match, that never yoke had known;
  7. Then, when the ninth dawn had led in the day,
  8. To Orpheus sent his funeral dues, and sought
  9. The grove once more. But sudden, strange to tell
  10. A portent they espy: through the oxen's flesh,
  11. Waxed soft in dissolution, hark! there hum
  12. Bees from the belly; the rent ribs overboil
  13. In endless clouds they spread them, till at last
  14. On yon tree-top together fused they cling,
  15. And drop their cluster from the bending boughs.
  1. So sang I of the tilth of furrowed fields,
  2. Of flocks and trees, while Caesar's majesty
  3. Launched forth the levin-bolts of war by deep
  4. Euphrates, and bare rule o'er willing folk
  5. Though vanquished, and essayed the heights of heaven.
  6. I Virgil then, of sweet Parthenope
  7. The nursling, wooed the flowery walks of peace
  8. Inglorious, who erst trilled for shepherd-wights
  9. The wanton ditty, and sang in saucy youth
  10. Thee, Tityrus, 'neath the spreading beech tree's shade.