Georgics
Virgil
Vergil. The Poems of Vergil. Rhoades, James, translator. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.
- If wool delight thee, first, be far removed
- All prickly boskage, burrs and caltrops; shun
- Luxuriant pastures; at the outset choose
- White flocks with downy fleeces. For the ram,
- How white soe'er himself, be but the tongue
- 'Neath his moist palate black, reject him, lest
- He sully with dark spots his offspring's fleece,
- And seek some other o'er the teeming plain.
- Even with such snowy bribe of wool, if ear
- May trust the tale, Pan, God of Arcady,
- Snared and beguiled thee, Luna, calling thee
- To the deep woods; nor thou didst spurn his call.