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BRITISH POETS.

VOL. XIII.

EDINBURGH:

Printed for A. KINCAID and W, CREECH, and J. BALFOUR. M, DCC, I.XXIII. 3*

^23^; oc'l THE

WORKS

O F

VIRGIL,

TRANSLATED BY

JOHN D R Y D E N, Efq;

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. v.

EDINBURGH:

Printed for A. KINCAID and W. C R E A c and J. BALFOUR. M, DCC, LXXIII. ' VOLUME I.

CONTAINING THE I PASTORALS,

AND THE

G E O R G I C S.

, 1

. I

PREFACE

TO THE PASTORALS,

With a fliort DEF ENCE of VIRGIL,

Againft fome of the Reflexions of Monfieur Fonteneile,

AS the writings of greateft antiquity are in verfe, fo, of all forts of poetry, paftorais feem the mod an- cient; being formed upon the model of the firft inno- cence, and fimplicity, which the moderns, better to difpenfe themfclves from imitating, have wifely thought fit to treat as fabulous, and impracticable; and yet they, ■' by obeying the unfophifticated diftates of nature, en- | joyed the mod valuable blelllngs of life; a vigorous health of body, with a condant ferenity and freedom . of mind ; whild we, with all our fanciful refinements, can fcarcely pafs an autumn without fome accefs of a i fever, or a whole day, not ruffled by fome unquiet padion. He was not then looked upon as a very old man, who reached to a greater number of years, than in thefe times an ancient family Can reafonably pretend to ; . and we know the names of feveral who law, and prac- ! tiled the world for a longer fpace of time, than we can A4 s PREFACE T O

rtad the account of in anyone entire body of hi (lory. In fhort, they invented the mod ufeful arts, Pafturage, Tillage, Geometry, Writing, Mufic, Aftronomy, &c. Whiilt the moderns,- like extravagant heirs, made rich by their indudry, ingratefully deride the good old gentlemen who had left them the eftate. Itis not there- fore to be wondered at, that paftorals are fallen into difefteem, together with that falhion of -life upon which they were grounded. And methinks I fee the reader already unealy at this part of Virgil, count- ing the pages, and podisg to the Atneis; Co delightful an entertainment is the very relation of public mif- chief and fiaughter now become "to mankind: And yet Virgil palled a much different judgement on his own works: He valued mod this part, andhis Georgies, Mid depended upon them for his reputation with poderity: But cenfures himfelf in one of his letters to Augudus, for meddling with heroics, the invention of a degene- rating age. This is the reafon that the rules of pado- ral are fo little known or dudied. Aridotle, Horace, and the Ed'ay of Poetry, take no notice of it. And Mr Boileau, one of the mod accurate of the moderns, becaufe he never lofes the ancients out of his fight, bedovvs fcarce half a page on it. It is the defign therefore cf the few following pa- ges, to clear this fort of writing from vulgar preju- dices ; to vindicate our author from fome unjud impu- tations; to look into fome of the rules of this fort of poetry, and inquire what fort of verfification is mod proper for it; in which point we are fo much inferior to the ancients, that this confideration alone were enough to make fome writers think as they ought, that is, meanly, of their own performances. THE PASTORALS. 0

•! As all forts of poetry confifl in imitation, paftoral is the imitation of a fhe'pherd confi(iere

* The Duke of Shrewfeury. THE PASTORALS. II

hufbamlry has been adorned by the writings and labour of more than twenty kings. It ought not therefore to be matter of furprize to a modern writer, that kings, the (hepherds of the people in Homer, laid down their firft rudiments in tending their mute fubjedls; nor that the wealth of Ulyffes conlifted in flocks and herds, the intendants over which were then in equal efteem with officers of ftate in later times. And therefore Eumaeus is called in Homer: not fo much becaufc Homer was a lover of a country-life, to which he ra- ther feems averfe, but by reafon of the dignity and greatnefs of his trufl, and becaufe he was the fon of a king, flolen away, and fold by the Phenician pirates, f which the ingenious Mr Cowley feems not to have ta- iken notice of. Nor will it feem flrange, that the mafler of the horfe to king Latinus, in the nintii JEneid, was found in the homely employment of cleaving blocks, when news of the firft fkirrr.ifh betwixt the Trojans and Latins was brought to him. Being therefore of fuch quality, they cannot be fup- pofed fo very ignorant and nnpolifhed; the learning and good breeding of the w:orld was then in the hands of fuch people. He who was chofen by the confent of all parties to arbitrate fo delicate an affair as, which was the fairell of the three celebrated beauties of heaven ; he who had the addrefs to debauch away Helen from her hufband, her native country, and from a crown, ' underftood what the French call by the too foft name oigallanterie ; hehad accomplifhments enough,how ill uft foever he made of them. It feems therefore that Mr F. had not duly confidered the matter, when j he refleifted fo feverely upon Virgil, as if he had not obferved the laws of decency in his paflorais, in ma- • PREFACE TO king (hepherds fpeak to things befides their character, and above their capacity. ‘ He ftands amazed, that fhep- « herds fhould thunder out, as he exprefles himfelf, « the formation of the world, and that too according to 1 the fyflem of Epicurus. In truth, fays he, page 176. < I cannot tell what to make of this whole piece; (the ‘ Sixth Part.) I can neither comprehend the defign of * the author, nor the connexion of the parts; firftcomc < the ideas of philofophy, and prefently after thofe in- 4 coherent fables,9 8cc. To expofe him yet more, he fubjoins. ‘ It is Silenus himfelf who makes all this ab- £ furd difcourfe. Virgil fays indeed that he had drank 4 too much the day before ; perhaps the debauch hung ‘ in his head when he compoied this poem,' See. Thus far Mr F. who, to the difgrace of reafon, as himfelf. ingenuonfly owns, firft built his houfe, and then (ludied architecture ; I mean firft compofed his eclogues, and then ftudied the rules. In anfwer to this, we may ob- ferve, firft, that this very paftoral which he fingles out to triumph over, was recited by a famous player on the Roman theatre, with marvellous applaufe ; info- much that Cicero, who had heard part of it only, or- dered the whole to be rehearfed, and, ftruck with admi- ration of it, conferred then upon Virgil the glorious title of ‘ Magnae fpes altera Romae. Nor is it old Donatus only who relates this ; we have the famp account from another very credible and an- cient author: fo that here we have the judgment of Ci- cero, and the people of Rome, to confront the finglc ©pinion of this adventrous critic. A man ought to be THE PASTORALS. well allured'of his own abilities, before he attack an author of eftablifhed reputation. If Mr F. had per- ufed the fragments of the Phenieian antiquity, traced the progrefs of learning through the ancient Greek writers, or fb much as confulted his learned country- man Huetius, he would have found, (which falls out unluckily for him), thata Chaldaean Ihepherd difcovered to the Egyptians and Greeks the creation of the world. And what fubjeft more fit for fuch a palloral, than that great affair which was firft notified to the world by one of that profeilion ? Nor does it appear, (what he takes for granted), that Virgil defcribes the original of the world, according to the hypothelis of Epicurus; he was too well feen in antiquity to commit fuch agrofs miltake ; there is not theleaft mention of chance in that whole paiTage, nor of the clinamen principiorum, fo pe- culiar to Epicurus’s hypothefis. Virgil had not only more piety, but was of too nice a judgement to intro- duce a god denying the power and providence of the Deity, and finging a hymn to the atoms, and blind chance. On the contrary, his defcription agrees very well with that of Mofes ; and the eloquent commenta- tor D’Acier, who is fo confident that Horace had per- ufed the facred hiftory, might with greater reafon have affirmed the fame thing of Virgil. For, befides that famous paflage in the fixth iEneid, (by which this may be illuftrated), where the •word principle/ is ufed in the front of both by Mofes and Virgil, and the feas are firll mentioned, and the fpiritus intns alit, which might not improbably, as Mr D’Acier would fuggeft, allude to the ‘ Spirit moving upon the face of waters;’ but, omitting this parallel place, the fucceffive for- *4 PREFACE TO

mation of the world is evidently defcribed in thefe words, ‘ Rerum paulatim fumere formas; And ’tis hardly poffible to render more literally that verfe of Motes, ‘ Let the waters be gathered into one place, and let ‘ the dry land appear,’ than in this of Virgil, ‘ Jam durare folum, et difcludere Nerea ponto.’ After this the formation of the fun is defcribed (ex- aftly in the Mofaical order,) and next the produdtion of the firtl leaving creatures, and that too in a fmall number, (ftill in the fame method.) ‘ Rara per ignotos errent animalia monies. And here the forefaid author would probably re- mark, that Virgil keeps more exactly the Mofaic fy ftcm, than an ingenious writer, who will by no means allow mountains to be coeval with the world. Thus much will make it probable at leaft, that Virgil had Mofes in his thoughts rather than Epicurus, when he compofed this poem. But it is further remarkable, that this paf- fage was taken from a fong attributed to Apollo, who himfelf too unluckily had been a Ihepherd, and he took it from another yet more ancient, compofed by the fird: inventor of multc, and at that time a (hepherd too; and this is one of the noblelt fragments of Greek antiqui- ty ; and, becaufe I cannot fuppofe the ingenious Mr F. one of their number, who pretend to cenfure the Greeks, without being able to diflinguilh Greek from Ephefian charafters, I fhall here fet down the lines from which Virgil took this palfage, though none of the commentators have obferved it. THE PASTORALS. IS ) 'i, gg&m S’’ ei ’icrTrP.o the liquid dangerous lobking-glafs, for fear of being ill ^lolen by the w'ater-nymphs, that is, falling and being i drowned as Hylas was ? Pafiphae’s monftrous palfion .(•for a bull, is certainly a fuhjcct enough fitted for Bu-

i PREFACE TO colics: Can Mr F. tax Silenus for fetching too far the transformation of the two fiifers of Phaeton into trees, when perhaps they fat at that very time under the ho- fpitable lhade of thofe alders and poplars ? Or the me- tamorphofes of Philomela into that ravifhing bird, which makes the fweetefl: mufic of the groves ? If he had looked into the ancient Greek writers, or fo much as confulted honeff Servius, he -would have difeovered, that, under the allegory of this drunkennefs of Silenus, the refinement and exaltation of mens minds by phi- lofophy was intended. But, if the author of thefe re- fleftions can take fuch flights in his wine, it is almoft pity that drunkennefs Ihould be a fin, or that he fliould ever want good ftore of Burgundy and Champaign. But, indeed, he feems not to have ever drank out of Si- lenus’s tankard, when he compofed either his Critique, or Paftorals. His cenfure on the fourth feems worfe grounded than the other : It is entitled, in fome ancient mauu- feripts, The Hiftory of the Renovation of the World : Hecomplains, ‘that he cannot underfland what is meant ‘ by thofe many figurative expreflions But, if he had confultcd the younger Voflius’s diflertation on this paf- toral, or read the excellent oration of the Emperor Con- flantine, made French by a good pen of their own, he would have found there the plain interpretation of all thofe figurative expreffions ; and, witkall, very (Irong proofs of the truth of the Chriftian religion ; fuch as converted Heathens, as Valerianus, and others: And, upon account of this piece, the mofl learned of all the Latin fathers calls Virgil a Chriflian, even before Chri- ftianity. Cicero takes notice of it in his books of divi- THE PASTORALS. 17 mtion, and Virgil probably had put it in verfe a conli- ■'.derable time before the edition of his paftorals. Nor does he appropriate it to Pollio, or his fon, but com- plimentally dates it from his confullhip. And there- fore fome one, who had not fo kind thoughts of Mr E. ,as I, would be inclined to think him as bad a Catho- lic as a Critic in this place. But, in refpeft to fome books he has wrote fince, I ;rpafs by a great part of this, and (hall only touch briefly dabme of the rules of this fort of poem. The firfl: is, that an dr of piety upon all occafions >r#hould be maintained in the whole poem : This appears tin all the ancient Greek writers; as Homer, Hefiod, uAratus, &c. And Virgil is fo exaft in the obfcrvation If it, not only in this work, but in his fEneis too, that celebrated French writer taxes him for permitting Eneas to do nothing without the affiftance of fome od. But by this it appears, at lead, that Mr St Evr. ):s no Janfenift. , Mr F. feems a little defeflive in this point; he Eirings in a pair of Ibepherdefies difputing very warm- •£, whether Victoria be a goddefs or a woman. Her Meat condefcenfion and compaflion, her affability and -.podnefs, none of the meaneft attributes of the divi- Sfy, pafs for convincing arguments that (he could not . ipflibly be a goddefs. 1 I.es deeffes toujours fieres et meprifantes ‘ Ne raflureroient point les bergeres tremblantes ‘ Par d’ obligeans difcours, des fouris gracieux;, ,■ ‘ Mais tu I’as veu; cette augufte perfonne " c Qui vient de paroiftre en ces lieux Vol. V. S s8 PREFACE TO ‘ Prend foin de rafTurer au moment qu’elle etonne, ‘ Sa bonte defendant fans peine jufqu’a nous.’ In fhort, (he has too many divine perfeftions to be a deity, and therefore fhe is a mortal (which was the thing to be proved.) It is direftly contrary to the prac- tice of all ancient poets, as well as to the rules of de- cency and religion, to make fuch odious preferences. I am much furprized, therefore, that he fliould ufe fuch an argument as this : ‘ Cloris, as-tu veu des deeffes ‘ Avoir un air fi facile et fi doux ?’ Was not Aurora, and Venus, and Luna, and I know not how many more of the heathen deities, too eafy of accefsto Tithonus, to Anchifes, and to Endymion ? Is there any thing more fparkifh and better humoured than Venus’s accofling her fon in the defarts of Libya ? or than the behaviour of Pallas to Diomedes ? one of the mod perfcft and admirable pieces of all the Iliads; where fhe condefcends to raille him fo agreeably; and, notwithdanding her fevere virtue, and all the eufigns of majedy, with which die fo terribly adorns herfelf, condefcends to ride with him in his chariot ? But the Odyfles are full of greater indances of condefcenfion than this. This brings to mind that famous padage of Lucan, in which he prefers Cato to all the gods at once, ‘ Viflrix caufa deis placuit, fed vifla Catoni.’ Which Brebaeuf has rendered fo flatly, and which may be thus paraphrafed. ‘ Heav’n meanly with the conqueror did comply, ‘ But Cato, rather than fubmit, would die. THE PASTORALS. It is an unpardonable preiumption in any fort of i religion to compliment their princes at the expence of (heir dietics. But, letting that pafs, this whole eclogue is but a long paraphrafe of .a trite verfe in Virgil, and Ho- j mcr, ‘ Nec vox hominem fonat, O Dea certe.’ So true is that remark of the admirable E. of Rof- ; common, ifapplied to the Romans, rather, I fear, than Ito the Engliih, fince his own death, , ‘ one fterling line, [foine. ‘ Drawn to French wire, would thro’ whole pages Another rule is, that the charadlers fhould reprefent 1. that ancient innocence, and unpraftifed piainnefs, which was then in the world. P. Rapin has gathered many inftances of this out of Theocritus and Virgil; and the reader can do it as well as himfelf. But Mr F. tranfgreffed this rule, when he hid himfelf in the J; thicket, to Men to the private difoourfe of the two ' fhepherdefles. This is not only ill breeding at Ver- failles; the Arcadian (hepherdeffes themfelves would have fet their dogs upon one for fuch an unpardonable it; piece of rudenefs. A third rule is, that there (hould be fome ordon- : iltance, fome defign, or little plot, which may deferve ti the title of a paftoral foene. This is every where ob- < ferved by Virgil, and particularly remarkable in the t; firft eclogue, the ftandard of all paftorals. A beautiful a; landfcape prefonts itfolf to your view; a foepherd, with it his flock around him, refting focurely under a fpread- t ing beech, which furnilbed the firft food to our ancef- t tors. Another, in quite different fituation of mind and B i 10 PREFACE TO circumfiances, the fun fetting, the hofpitality of the more fortunate fhepherd, &c. And here Mr F. feems not a little wanting. A fourth rule, and of great importance in this de- licate fort of writing, is, that there be choice diverfity of fubje&s; that the eclogue, like a beautiful profpeft, fhould charm by its variety. Virgil is admirable in this point, and far furpaffes Theocritus, as he does every where, when judgment and contrivance have the principal part. The fubject of the firft pafloral is hint- ed above. Thefecond contains the love of Cotydon for Alexis, and the feafonable reproach he gives himfelf, that he left his vines half pruned, (which, according to the Ro- man rituals, derived a curfe upon the fruit that grew upon it), whilft he purfued an objeft undeferving his , paflion. The third, a fliarp contention of two fhepherds for the prize of poetry. The fourth contains the difcourfe of a fhepherd, comforting himfelf in a declining age, that a better was enfuing. The fifth, a lamentation for a dead friend, the firft draught of which is probably more anc'ient than any of the paftorals now extant, his brother being at firft in- 4 tended ; but he afterwards makes his court to Auguf- tus, by turning it into an apotheofis of Julius Cae- far. The fixth is the Silenus. The feventh, another poetical difpute, firft com- pofed at Mantua, f THE PASTORALS. ax The eighth is the defcription of a defpairing lover, and a magical charm. He fets the ninth after all thefe, very modeftly, be- caufe it was particular to himfelf; and here he would . have ended that work, if Callus had not prevailed up- on him to add one more in his favour. Thus curious was Virgil in diverfifying his fubjefts. But Mr F. is a great deal too uniform : Begin where you pleafe, the fubject is ftill the fame. We find it true what he fays of himfelf, ‘ Toujours, toujours de 1’amour.’ Fie feems to take paftorals and love-verfes for the feme thing. Has human nature no other pafiion ? Does not fear, ambition, avarice, pride, a capricio of honour, and lazinefs itfelf, often triumph over love ? But this paffion does all, not only in paftorals, but in modern tragedies too. A hero can no more fight, or be fick, or die, than he can be born, without a woman. But dramatics have been compofed in compliance to the humour of the age, and the prevailing inclination of the great, whofe example has a more powerful influ- ence, not only in the little court behind the feenes, but on the great theatre of the world. However, this inundation of love-verfes is not fo much an efTeft of 'their amoroufnefs, as of immoderate felf-love; this 'being the only fort of poetry, in which the writer can, ‘not only without cenfure, but even with commenda- tion, talk of himfelf. There is generally more of the spaffion of Naj-ciflus, than concern for Chloris and Co- rinna, in this whole affair. Be pleafed to look into ai- 'mofl any of thofe writers, and yon (hall meet every where that Eternal Moy, which the admirable Pafcal lo B 3 Z2, PREFACE TO jiulicioufly condemns. Homer can never be enough ad- mired for this one fo particular quality, that he never fpeaks of himfelf, either in the Iliad, or the Odyfles; and if Horace had never told us his genealogy, but left It to the writer of his life, perhaps he had not been a lofer by it. This confideration might induce thofe great critics, Varius and Tucca, to raze out the four firfl verfes of the JEneis, in great meafure, for the fake of that unlucky ilk ego. But extraordinary geniufes have a fort of prerogative, which may difpenfe them from laws, binding to fubjeft-wits. However, the ladies have the lefs reafon to be pleafed with thofe addreffes, of which the poet takes the greater (hare to himfelf. Thus the beau predes into their dreffing-room, but it is not lb much to adore their fair eyes, as to adjuft his own lleenkirk and peruke, and fet his countenance in their glafs. A fifth rule, (which one may hope will not be con- tefled), is, that the writer (hould fliew, in his compofi- tions, fome competent (kill of the fubjefl-matter, that which makes the charafter of perfons introduced. In this, as in all other points of learning, decency, and oeconomy of a poem, Virgil much cxcells his mailer Theocritus. The poet is better (killed in hu(bandry than thofe that get their bread by it. He defcribes the nature, -the difeafes, the remedies, the proper places, and feafons, of feeding, of watering their flocks ; the furniture, diet ; the lodging and padimes of his (hep- herds. But the perfons brought in by Mr F. are (hep- herds in mafquerade, and handle their (beep-hook as aukwardly as they do their oaten reed. They faunter about with their then moutons; but they relate as little THE PASTORALS. *3 I . to the bufmefsin hand, as the painter’s dog, or a Dutch > 1 lh:p does to the biltory defigned. One would fufpeft I: foine of them, that inftead of leading out their fheep i into the plains of Mount Brifon, and Marcilli, to the l flowry banks of Lignon, or the Charanthe, that they 3, are driving direftly a la boucberie, to make money of 1 them. I hope hereafter Mr F. will chufe his fervants [ better. A fixth rule is, that as the flile ought to be natural, > clear, and elegant, it fliould have fome peculiar rclilh > i of the ancient falhion of writing. Parables in thofe I times were frequently ufed, as they are hill by the i Eaftern nations, philofophicalqueftions,aenigma’s,&c. : ; and of this we find inftances in the facred writings, in Homer,contemporary with king David; in Herodotus; in the Greek tragedians. This piece of antiquity is imi- : tated by Virgil with great judgement and difcretion. He has propofed one riddle which has never yet been folved by any of his commentators. Though he knew the rules of rhetoric, as well as Cicero himfelf, he conceals that (kill in his paftorals, and keeps clofe to the cha- . < racier of antiquity. Nor ought the conneftions and tran- fitions to be very drift and regular; this would give the paftorals an air of novelty : And of this negleft i( of exaft conneftions, we have inftances in the writings of the ancient Chinefes, of the Jews and Greeks, in Pindar, and other writers of dithyrambics, in the chorus’s of iEfchylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. If Mr F. and Ruaeus, had confidefed this, the one would have fpared Tiis critic of the fixth, and the o- ) ther his refleftions upon the ninth paftoral. The o- ‘ ver-fcrupulous care of conneftions makes the modem £ 4 14 PREFACE TO compofitions oftentimes tedious and flat : And by the omilEon of them it comes to pafs, that the peufees of the incomparable Mr Fafcal, and perhaps of Mr ( Bruyere, are two of the mold entertaining books which the modern French can boaft of. Virgil, in this point, was not only faithful to the character of antiquity, but copies after nature herfelf. Thus a meadow, where the beauties of the fpring are profufely blended together, makes a more delightful profpeft than a cu- rious parterre of forted flowers in our gardens ; and we are much more tranfported with the beauty of the heavens, and admiration of their Creator, in a clear night, when we behold ftars of ail magnitudes, pro- j mifcuoufly moving together, than if thofe glorious lights were ranked in their feveral orders, or reduced into the fineft geometrical figures. Another rule omitted by P. Rapin, as fomc of His are by me, (for I do not defign an entire treatife in this preface,) is, that not only the fentences fhould be (hort, and fmart, upon which account, he juftly blames the Italian, and French, as too talkative, but that the whole piece fhould be fo too. Virgil tranfgreffed this rule in his firft paftorals, I mean thofe which he com- pofed at Mantua, but refiified the fault in his riper ■ years. This appears by the Culex, which is as long as five of his paftorals put together. The greater part of thofe he finifhed, have lefs than an hundred verfes, and but two of them exceed that number. But the Si- lenus, which he feems to have defigned for his mafter- piece, in which he introduces a god finging, and he too full of infpiration, (which is intended by that ebriety which Mr F. fo unreafonably ridicules,) though it go through fo yaft a field of matter, and comprizes the , mythology of near two thoufar.d years, conflfts but of ’-fifty lines; fo that its brevity is no Ids admirable, than , the fubjeft-matter, the noble falhion of handling it, ’ end the deity fpeaking. Virgil keeps up his character : in this refpeft too, with the ftrifteft decency. For I poetry and paftime was not the bufinefs of mens lives in thole days, but only their feafonable recreation after neceflary labours. And therefore the length of fome |«of the modern Italian, and Englifh compofitions, is a- jtgainll the rules of this kind of poefy. I I Ihail add lomething very briefly touching the ver- iiification of paflorals, though it be a mortifying confi- iideration to the moderns. Heroic verfe, as it is com- rinonly called, was ufed by the Greeks in this fort of ifeoem, as very ancient and natural. Lyrics, lambics, &c. iabeing invented afterwards : But there is fo great a dif- i rerence in the numbers, of which it may be compound- iid, that it may pafs rather for a than fpecies of ^yerfe. Wbofoever thall compare the numbers of the i'.hree following verfes, will quickly be fenftble of the jruth of this obfervation. ‘ Tityre, tu patulae recubans fub tegmine fagi. j j- The firft of the Georgies, ‘ Quid facial laetas fegetes, quo fydere terram. blind of the iEntis, ■ ‘ Arma, virutnque cano, Trojaequi primus ab oris. 1. The found of the verfes is almoft as different as t |*ie fubjefts. But the Greek writers of paftoral ufual- i ? limited themfelvesto the exampleofthe firfl; which jujrgil found fo exceedingly difficult, that he quitted it, fijjfd left the honour of that part to Theocritus. It is ^l.deed piobaole that w-hat v’e improperly call rhyme, ..1.. the moif ancient fort of poetry ; and learned men a 6 PREFACE TO have given ;good arguments tor it : And therefore a French hitlorian commitsas agrolsmiftake, when heat- tributes that invention to a king of Gaul, as an Eng- glifh gentleman does, when he makes a Roman Empe- ror the inventor of it But the Greeks, who under- fiood fully the force and power of numbers, fbon grew weary of this childilh fort of verfe, as the younger Vof- fius juftly calls it; and, therefore, thofe rhyming hexa- meters, which Plutarch obferves in Homer himfelf, feem to be the remains of a barbarous age. Virgil had them in fuch abhorrence, that he would rather make a falfe fyntax, than (what we call a rhyme,) fuch a verfe as this. ‘ Vir precor uxori, frater fuccurre Sorori, ’ was pafl'able in Ovid; but the nice ears in Augnftus’s court could not pardon Virgil for ‘ At regina pyra,’ So that the principal ornament of modern poetry was accounted deformity by the Latins and Greeks: It was they who invented the different terminations of words, thofe happy compofitions, thofe Ihort monofyllables, thofe tranfpofitions for the elegance of the found and fenfe, which are wanting fo much in modern languages. The French fometimes crowd together ten or twelve monofyllables into one disjointed verfe: They may un- derltand the nature of, but cannot imitate, thofe won- derful fpondees of Pythagoras, by which he could fud- denly pacify a man that was in a violent tranfport of anger; nor thofe fwift numbers of the priefls of Cy- bele, which had the force to enrage the moft fedate and phlegmatic tempers. Nor can any modern put into THE PASTORALS. 17 his own language the energy of that fingle poem of Catullus, ‘ Super alta veftus Atys,’ &c. Latin is but a corrupt dialed! of Greek ; and the French, Spaniih, and Italian, a corruption of Latin; and therefore a man might as well go about to per- fuade me that vinegar is a nobler liquor than wine, as that the modern compofuions can be as graceful and harmonious as the Latin itfelf. The Greek tongue very naturally falls into lambics; and therefore the di- ligent reader may find fix or fieven and twenty of them in thofe accurate orations of Ifocrates. The Latin as naturally falls into heroic ; and therefore the begin- ning of Livy’s hiftory is half an hexameter, and that of Tacitus an entire one. * The Roman hiltorian, de- fcribing the glorious effort of a colonel to break thro’ a brigade of the enemies, juft after the defeat at Cannae, falls, unknowingly, into a verfe not unworthy Virgil himfelf : ‘ Haec ubi didla dedit, ftringit gladium, cuncoq; ‘ Fadfo per medios,’ &c. Ours and the French can at belt but fall into blank verfe, which is a fault in profe. The misfortune in- deed is cbmmon to us both; but we deferve more com- panion, becaufe we are not vain of our barbarities. As age brings men back into the ftate and infirmities of childhood, upon the fall of their empire, the Romans doated into rhyme, as appears fufficiently by the hymns of the Latin church, and yet a great deal of the French poetry does hardly deferve that poor title. I ftiall give * Livy. 26 PREPACK TO an inftance out of a poem which had the good luck to gain the prize in 1685; for the fubjeft deferved a nobler pen. ‘ Tousles jours ce grand roy, des autres roys ‘ I’exemple, ‘ S’ouvre nouveau chemiu au faifte de uu ton ‘ temple,’ &c. The judicious Malherbe exploded this fort of verfc near eighty years ago. Nor can I forbear wondering at that pafiage of a famous academician, in which he, moil compafftonately, cxcufes the ancients for their not being fo cxa£t in their ccmpolitious, as the modern Trench, becauie they wanted a cliftiouary, of which the French are at lath happily provided. It Demofthenes and Cicero had been fo lucky as to have had a didtio- nary, andfuch a patron as Cardinal Richelieu, perhaps they might have afpired to the honour of Balzac’s le- gacy of ten pounds, U frix de 1'eloquence. On the contrary, I dare alien, that there are hardly ten lines in either of thofe great orators, or even in the catalogue of Homer’s (hips, which is not more harmo- nious, more truly rythmical, than mod of the French or Englilh fonnets; and therefore they lofe, at leaft, one half of their native beauty by trar.flation. I cannot hut add one remark on this cccafion, that the French verfe is oftentimes not fo much as rhime, in the loweft ferife; for the childilh repetition of the fame note cannot be called mnlic; fuch inftances are infinite, as in the fort-cited poem. ‘ 'Epris Trophee Cache; ‘ Mepris Orphee Cherche.’ THE PASTORALS. 19 Mr Boileau himfelf basa great deal of this (aovotcvioi, I not by his own negleft, but purely by the faultinefs and poverty of the French tongue. Mr F. at laft goes into the exceffive paradoxesof Mr Perrauit, and boaiis of the vaft number of their excellent fongs, preferring them to the Greek and Latin. But an ancient writer, of as good credit, has affured us, that feven lives would hardly fuffice to read over the Greek odes; but a few weeks would be fuffreient, if a man were ib very idle as to read over all the French. In the mean time, I (hould be very glad to fee a catalogue of but fifty of theirs with ‘ * Exaff propriety of word and thought.’ Notwithftanding all the high encomiums and mu- tual gratulations which they give one another ; (for I am far from cenfuring the whole of that illuftiious fo- ciety, to which the learned world is much obliged) ; af- I ter all thofe golden dreams at the 1’Ouvre, that their pieces will be as much valued ten or twelve ages hence, as the ancient Greek, or Roman, I can no more get it into my head that they will laft fo long, than I could believe the learned Dr H-— K (of the royal fociety,) if he fhould pretend to Ihew me a butterfly that had lived a thoufand winters. When Mr F. wrote his eclogues, he was fo far from equalling Virgil, or Theocritus, that he had fome • pains.to take before he could underftand in what the i principal beauty and graces of their writings do confift. * * Eflay of Poetry, I A N

ESSAY

ON THE

G E O R G I C S.

IRG1L may be reckoned the firit who intro- V duced three new kinds of poetry among the Ro- mans, which he copied after three the greateif mafters cf Greece. Theocritus and Homer have ftill difputed for the advantage over him in Paftoral and Heroics, but I think all are unanimous in giving him the pre- cedence to HeGod in his Georgies. The truth of it is, the fweetnefs and ruflicity of a paftoral cannot be lb wellexpreihed in any other tongue as in the Greek, when rightly mixed and qualified with the Doric dialeft; nor can the majefty of an heroic poem any where ap- pear lb well as in this language, which has a natural greatnefs in it, and can be often rendered more deep and fonorous by the pronounciation of the lonians. But, in the middle ftile, where the writers in both tongues are on a level, we-fee how far Virgil has ex- celled all who have written in the fame way with him. There has been abundance of criticifm fpent on Vir- gil’s Paftorals and iEneids; but the Georgies are a fub- jeft which none of the critics have fufficiently taken into their confidcration ; moft of them palling it over ON THE GEORGICS. 3* in filence, or cafting it under the fame head with pafto- ral; a divifion by no means proper, unlefs we fuppofe the ftile of a hufbandman ought to be imitated in a Georgic, as that of a (hepherd is in paftoral. But tho’ the fcene of both thefe poems lies in the fame place, the fpeakers in them are of a quite different charafler, fince the precepts of hulbandry are not to be delivered with the fimplicity of a ploughman, but with the ad- drefs of a poet. No rules therefore that relate to paf- toral can any way affe£l the Georgies, which fall un- der that clafs of poetry which confifts in giving plain and direct inftructions to the reader; whether they be moral duties, as thofe of Theognis and Pythagoras; or philofophical fpeculations, as thofe of Aratus and Lu- cretius ; or rules of practice, as thofe of Hefiod and Vir- gil. Among thefe different kinds of fubjefts, that which the.Georgic goes upon, is, I think, the meaneft and lead improving, but the mod pleafing and delight- ful. Precepts of morality, befides the natural corrup- tion of our tempers, which makes us averfe to them, are fo ab ft rafted from ideas of fenfe, that they feldom give an opportunity for thofe beautifuideferiptions and images which are the fpirit and life of poetry. Natu- ral philofophy has indeed fenfibleobjefts to work upon; but then it often puzzles the reader with the intricacy of its notions, and perplexes him with the multitude 1 of its difputes. But this kind of poetry I am now fpeaking of, addreffes itfelf wholly to the imagination- it is altogether converfant among the fields and woods, and has the mod delightful part of nature for its pro- . vince : It raifes in our minds a pleafmg variety of feenes • andlandfkips, whilft it teaches us, and makes the drieft 31 an essay of its precepts look like a defcription. A Georgic,. therefore, is fome part of the fciencc of hufbandry put into a pleafing drefs, and fet off with all the beauties and embellilhrnents of poetry. Now, fince this fcience. of hufbandry is of a very large extent, the poet fhows his dull in fingling out fuch precepts to proceed on, as are ufeful, and at the fame time moft capable of orna- ment. Virgil was fo well acquainted with this fecret, that, to fet off his firft Georgic, he has run into a fet of precepts, which are almoft foreign to his fubj.ect, in that beautiful account he gives us of the figns in nature which precede the changes of the weather. And if there be ib much art in the choice of fit pre- cepts, there is much more required in the treating of. them, that they may fall in after each other by a na- tural unforced method, and lliew theipfelves in the belt and molt advantageous light. They Ihould all be fo finely wrought together into the fame piece, that no coarfe feam may dilcover where they join ; as in a cu- rious brede of needle-work, one colour falls away by fuch juft degrees, and another i tfes fo infenfibly, that we fee the variety, without being able to diftinguilh the total van!flung of the one from the firft appearance of the other. Nor is it fufficient to range and difpofe this body of precepts into a clear and cafy method, unlefs they are delivered to us in the moft pleafing and agree- able manner: For there are feveral ways of conveying the fame truth to the mind of man ; and to chufe the pleafanteft of thefe ways, is that which chiefly diftin- guiibes poetry from prole, and makes Virgil's rules of hufbandry pleafanter to read than Varro’s. Where the. profe-writer tells us plainly what ought to be done, the. O N T H 2 G E 0 R G I C S. 35 poet often conceals the precept in a defcription, and reprefents his country-man performing the aftion in which he would inftruft his reader. Where the one fets out as fully and diftinctly as he can, all the parts of the truth, which he would communicate to us; theo- ther Angles out the mod pleafing circumdance of this truth, and fo conveys the whole in a more diverting manner to the underdanding. I diall give one indance out of a multitude of this nature that might be found in the Georgies, where the reader may fee the diffe- rent ways Virgil has taken to exprefs the fame thing, and how much pleafanter every manner of exprefllon is, than the plain and diredt mention of it would have been. It is in the fecond Georgic, where he tells us what trees will bear grafting on each other. ‘ Et faepe alterius ramos impune videmus ‘ Vcrtere in alterius, mutatamque infita mala ‘ Ferre pyrum, et prunis lapidofa rubefcerc corna, ‘ Steriles platani males geflere valentcs, 4 Cadaneae fagos, ornufque incanuit albo 4 Flore pyri, glandemque fues fregere fub ulmis. 4 Nec iongum tempus : Et ingens 4 Exiit ad coelum ramis felicibus arbos ; 4 Miraturque novas frondes, et non fua poma. , Here we fee the poet confidered all the effetts of this pinion between trees of different kinds, and took notice of that effect which had the mod furprife, and iby confequence the mod delight in it, to exprefs the capacity that was in them of being thus united. This i way of writing is every where much in ufe among the jjoets, and is particularly pradtifed by Virgil, who loves to fugged a truth indiredtly, and without giving Vol. V. C 34 AN ESSAY us a full and open view of it: To let us fee juft fo much as will naturally lead the imagination into all • the parts that lie concealed. This is wonderfully di- verting to the underftanding, thus to receive a precept, that enters as it were through a by-way, and to appre- j hend an idea that draws a whole train after it: For here the mind, which is always delighted with its own dif- coveries, only takes the hint from the poet, and feems to work out the reft by the ftrength of her own faculties, j But fince the incultating precept upon precept, will at length prove tirefome to the reader, it he meets withi_ no other entertainment, the poet muft take care not to incumber his poem with too much bufinefs ; but fome- times to relieve the fubjeft with a moral refieftion, or i let it reft a while for the fake of a pleafant and perti- |- neat digreffion. Nor is it fuftkient to runout into beau- - tiiul and diverting digreflions, (as it is generally thought) ^ j ttnlefs they are brought in aptly, and are fomething of a piece with the main defign of the Georgic : Fortney ought to have a remote alliance at leaft to the fubjeff ; ; that fo the whole poem may be more uniform and a- > greeable in all its parts. We fhould never quite lofe light of the country, tho’ we are fometimes entertained! t with a diftant profpeG of it. Of this nature are Vir- . gii’s deferiptions of the original of agriculture, of the i | fruitfulnefs of Italy, of a country-life, and the like ; I „ which are not brought in by force, but naturally rife s 1, out of the principal argument and defign of the poem, i ; I know no one digreffion in the Georgies that may;, feem to contradift this obfervation, befides that in the ; >. latter end of the firft book, where the poet launches out into a difeourfe of the battle of Pharfalia, and the f ON THE GEORGICS. 35 aftions of Auguflus ; but it is worth while to confider how admirably he has turned the courfe of his narra- tion into its proper channel, and made hishufbandman concerned even in what relates to the battle, in thofe inimitable lines, ‘ Scilicet et tempos'veniet, cum finibus illis ‘ Agricola in curvo terram molitus aratro, ‘ Exefa inveniet fcabra rubigine pila: ‘ Aut gravibus raftris galeas pulfabit inanes, ‘ Grandiaque effolfis mirabitur olla fepulchris. And afterward, Ipeaking of Auguftus’sa£Hons, he dill remembers that agriculture ought to be fome way hint- ed at throughout the whole poem. < Non ullus aratro ‘ Dignus honos: Squalent abduftis arva colonis t ‘ Et curvae rigidum falces conflantur in enfem. We now come to the (file which is proper to a Geor- gtc; and indeed this is the part on which the poet , mnft lay out all his fire ngth, that his words may be i warm and glowing, and that every things he defcribes TUay immediately prefent itfelf, and rife up to the read- ; sr’s view. He ought in particular to be careful of not ■etting his fnbjedt debate his ftile, and betray him into i meannefs of expreffion, but every where to keep up jfis verfe in all the pomp of numbers, and dignity of fords. i • I think nothing which is a phrafe or faying in com- mon talk, fhould be admitted into a ferious poem : Be- jaufe it takes off from the lolemnity of the exprellion, jnd gives it too great a turn of familiarity: Much lefs (tight the low phrafes and terms of art, that are adapt- ed to hulbandry, have any place in fuch a work as the Ci 3C A N ESSAY Georgic, which is not to appear in the natural timpii- cityand nakednefs of its fubjeft, but in the pleafanteft tfrefs that poetry can beftow on it. Thus Virgil, to de- viate from the common form of words, would not make ) life oi tempore but fidere in his firft verfe, and every ‘ where elfe abounds with metaphors, Grecifms, and cir- cumlocutions, to give his verfe the greater pomp, and preferve it from finking into a plebeian flile. And herein confifts Virgil’s mafter-piece, who has not only excel- led ail other poets, but even.himfelf, in the language of his Georgies^ where we receive more flrong and lively 1 ideas of things from his words, than we could have ; done from the objects themleives: And find our imagi- nations more affedted by his deferiptions, than they would have been by the very fight of what he deferibes. I lhall now, after this Ihort Icheme of rules, confider the different fuccefs that Hefiod and Virgil have met i with in this kind of poetry, which may give us fo.me further notion of the excellence of . the Georgies. To: begin with Hefiod: If we may guefs at his charadter : from his writings, he had much more of the hufband- man than of the poet in his temper : He was wonder- fully grave, difereet, and frugal: He lived altogether in the country, and was probably, for his great prudence, the oracle of the whole neighbourhood. Theft prin- s ciples of good hulbandry ran through his works, and j, diredted him to the choice of tillage and merchandife, [ for the fubjedt of that which is the moll celebrated of ! them. He is every where bent on inftrudtion, avoids ; all manner of digrellions, and does not ftir out of the field once in the whole Georgic. His method of deferi- bing month after month, with its proper feafons and ON THE GEORGICS. employments, is too grave and Ample; it takes off from the furprize and variety of the poem, and makes the whole look but like a modern almanac in verfe. The reader is carried through a courfe of weather, and may before hand guefs whether he is to meet with fnow or rain, clouds or funfhine, in thejnext defeription. His deferiptions indeed have abundance of nature in them, but then it is nature in her fimplicity and undrefs. Thus, when he fpeaks of January; the wild hearts, lays he, run fhivering through the woods with their heads ; (looping to the ground, and their tails clapt between their legs ; the goats and oxen are almoft flead with cold ; but it is not lb bad with the (keep, becaufe they have a thick coat of wool about them. The old men too are bitterly pinched with the weather, but the young girls feel nothing of it, who fit at home with their mo- • thers by a warm fire-fide. Thus does the old gentle- man give himfelf up to a loofe kind of tattle, rather i than endeavour after a juft poetical defeription. Nor has he (hewn more of art or judgment in the precepts he has given us, which are fovvn fo very thick that they clog the poem too much, and are often fo minute and full of circumftances, that they weaken and un- . , nerve his verfe. But, after all, we are beholden to him for the firft rough (ketch of a Georgic; Where we 1 may dill difeover fomething venerable in the antique- nefs of the work; but, if we would fee the defign en- larged, the figures reformed, the colouring laid on, and the whole piece finifhed, we muft expeft it from a \ greater mafter’s hand. Virgil has drawn out the rules for tillage and plant- ing into two books, which Hefiod has difpatchcd in C 3 3» AN ESSAY half a one; but has fo raifed the natural rudenefs and limplicity of his fubjeft with fuclt a fignificancy of ex- preffion, fuch a pomp of verfe, fuch variety of tranfi- tions, andfuch aiblemn air in his refleftions, that if we look on both poets together, we fee in one the piain- nefs of a downright country-man, and, in the other, fomething of a rultic majefty, like that of a Roman Diftatorat the plough-tail. He delivers the meanelt of his precepts with a kind of grandeur ; he bleaks the clods and toffes the dung about with an air of graceful- nefs. His prognoftications of the weather are taken out of Aratus, where we may fee how judieioufly he has picked out thofe that are moft proper for his hulband- man’s obfervation ; how he has enforced the expreffion, and heightened the images which he found in the ori- ginal. The fecond book has more wit in it, and a greater boldnefs in its metaphors than any of the reft:. The poet with a great beauty applies oblivion, ignorance, wonder, defire and the like to his trees. The laft Georgia has indeed as many metaphors, but not fo daring as this; for human thoughts and paffions may be more naturally aferibed to a bee, than to an inani- mate plant. He who reads over the pleafures of a country-life, as they are deferibed by Virgil in the latter end of this book, can fcarce be of Virgil’s mind, in preferring even the life of a pbilofopher to it. We may 1 think read the poet’s clime in his dc- feription, for he feems to have been in a fweat at the writing of it. ‘ O quis me gelidus fub montibus Haemi ‘ Siftat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra! ON THE GEORGICS. 3» i And is every where metidoning among his chief plea- jfures, the coolnefs of his (hades and rivers, vales and grottoes, which a more northern poet would have omit- ted for the defeription of a funny hill, and fire-fide. The third Georgic feems to be the mod: laboured of them all; there is a wonderful vigour and fpirit in the defeription of the horfe and chariot-race. The force of love is repreiented in noble infiances, and very fublime expreflions. The Scythian winter-piece appears fo very cold and bleak to the eye, that a man can fcarce look > on it without (hivering. The murrain at the end has all the expreflivenefs that words can give. It was here that the poet drained hard to outdo Lucretius in the I defeription of his plague ; and if the reader would fee what fuccefs he had, he may find it at large in Scaliger. but Virgil feems no where fo well pleafed, as when he is got among his bees in the fourth Georgic ; and ennobles the actions of fo trivial a creature, with me- taphors drawn from the mod important concerns of mankind. His verfes are not in a greater noife and hurry in the battles of jEneas and Turnus, than in ' the engagement of two fwarms. And, as in his JE- neis he compares the labours of his Trojans to theft 1'of bees and pifmires, here he compares the labours of the bees to thofe of the Cyclops. In (hort, the lad 'Georgic was a good prelude totheiEneis; and very well (hewed what the poet could do in the defeription of what was really great, by deferibing the mock- grandeur of an infeed with fo good a grace. There is more pleafantnefs in the little platform of a garden, which he gives us about the middle of this book, than C 4 •to AN ESSAY in all the fpacious walks and water-works of RapinV. The fpeech of Proteus at the end can never be enough admired, and was indeed very fit to conclude fo divine a work. After this particular account of the beauties in the Georgies, I fhould, in the next place, endeavour to point out its imperfeftions, if it has any. But, tho’ I* think there are fome few parts in it that are not fb beautiful as the reft, I (hall not prefume to name them, ;.s r.dher fiifpefting my own judgment, than I can be- lie re a fault to be in that poem, which lay lb long un- der Virgil's correction, and had his laft hand put to it. 'j ha frit Georgic was probably burlefqued in the au- thor’s lifetime; for we (till find in the fcholiafts a verfe that ridicules part of a line tranllated from Plefiod. ‘ Ntv;: r.-ra, fere nudus’ And we may eafily guefs at the judgment' of this extraordinary critic, whoever he v.from his ecnfnring this particular precept. We iv.'. r Le fine Virgil would not have tranllated it from Kdiod, had he not difeovered fome beauty in it; and indeed the beauty of it is what I have before ob- itmd to be frequently met with in Virgil, the deliver- ing the precept fo indireftiy, and fingling out the par- ticular clrcnmdance of lowing and ploughing naked, to Ibggeft to us that thefe employments are proper on- ly in the hot ieafbn of the year. i lb all not hers compare the flile of the Georgies with that of Lucretius, whi cb the reader may fee alrea- dy done in the pro: ice to the feco nd volume of Mifcel- lany Poems; hut lhall conclude this poem to be the mofl compleat, elaborate, and finifhed piece of all anti- ON THEGEORGICS. +t quity. The /Eneis indeed is of a nobler kind, but the Georgic is more perfect in its kind. The /Ends has a greater variety of beauties in it, but thole of the Geor- gic are more exquifite. In (hort, the Georgic has all the perfeftion that can be expefted in a poem written by the greatell poet in the flower of his age, when his invention was ready, his imagination warm, his judg- ment fettled, and all his faculties in their full vigour and maturity.

A Golden column next in rank appear’d, On which a flirine of pureft gold was rear’d; finifh’d the whole, and labour’d ev’ry part, With patient touches of unweary’d art : The Mantuan there in fober triumph fate. Compos’d his pollute, and his look, fedate : On Homer dill he fix’d a rev’rend eye, Great without pride, in modeft majefty. In living fculpture on the Tides were fpread The Latian wars, and haughty Turnus dead ; Eliza ftretch’d upon the fun’ral pyre ; Atneas bending with his aged fire : Troy flam’d in burning gold, and o’er the throne Arms and the man in golden cyphers (hone. Pore’s Tempi-e of Fame. ‘ THE

FIRST PASTORAL;

O R,

TITYRUS and MELIBOEUS.

THE ARGUMENT, The occafwn of the firjl faftoral -was this. When Alt' gujitts had fettled himfelf in the Roman empire, that he might re-ward his veteran troops for their paft fervice, ht diftribuUd among them all the lands that lay about Cremona and Mantua ; turning out the right owners for having fided with his enemies. Virgil -was a fuf* ferer among the reft ; who afterwards recovered his eft ate by Mccaenas’s interceffion ; and, as an inftance of his gratitude, compofed the following paftoral ; where he fets out his own good fortune in the perfon of Tityrus, and the calamities of his Mantuan neighbours in the charaBer of Meliboeus. M E I. I B O E U S. BENEATH the ihade which beechen boughs diffufc. You, Tityrus, entertain your fylvan Mufe : Round the wide world in banilhment we rome, 'Forc’d from our pleafing fields and native home : While (tretch’d at eafe you fing your happy loves ; And Amaryllis fills the fliady groves. PASTORAL. I. v. i. Tyt. Thefe bleflings, friend, a deity beftow’d i For never Can I deem him lefs than God. The tender firftlings of my woolly breed Shall on his holy altar often bleed. He gave my kine to graze the flow’ry plain : And to my pipe renew’d the rural flrain. Mel. I envy not your fortune, but admire. That while the raging fword and wafteful fire Heflroy the wretched neighbourhood around, No hoflile arms approach your happy ground. Fardiff’rent is my fate : My feeble goats With pains I drive from their forefaken cotes. And this you fee I fcarcely drag along. Who yeaning on the rocks has left her young ; (The hope and promife of my failing fold :) My lofs by dire portents the gods foretold : For, had I not been blind, I might have feen Yon riven oak, the faireft of the green And the horfe raven, on the blafted bough, By croaking from the left preiag’d the coming blow. But tell me, Tityrus, what heav’nly pow’r Preferv’d your fortunes in that fatal hour? Tyt. Fool that 1 was ! I thought imperial Rome Like Mantua, where on market-days we come, > And thither drive our tender lambs from home. \ So kids and whelps their fires and dams exprefs : And fb the great I meafur’d by the lefs. But country-towns, compar’d with her, appear Like fhrubs, when lofty cyprefles are near. Mel. What great occafion call’d you hence to Rome ? Tyt. Freedom, which came at length, tho’ flow to come: P A S T O R A L I. v. 3S 47 Nor did my fearch of liberty begin, Till my black hairs were chang’d upon my chin. Nor Amaryllis would vouchfafe a look, Till Galatea's meaner bonds I broke. Till then a helplefs, hopelefs, homely Twain, I fought not freedom, nor afpir’d to gain : Tho’ many a viftim from my folds was bought. And many a cheefe to country-markets brought. Yet all the little that I got, I fpent. And ftill return’d as empty as I went. Mel. We flood amaz’d to fee your roiftrefs mourn; Unknowing that fhe pin’d for your return : We wonder’d why fhe kept her fruit fo long. For whom fo late th’ ungather’d apples hung. But now the wonder ceafes, fince I fee She kept them only, Tityrus, for thee : For thee the bubbling fprings appear’d to mourn ; And whifp’ring pines made vows for thy return. T y T. What Ihould I do! while here I was enchain’d ? No glimpfe of godlike liberty remain’d ? Nor could I hope in any place but there, To find a god fo prefent to my pray’r. There firft the youth of heav’nly birth I view’d ; For whom our monthly vidlims are renew’d. He heard my vows, and gracioufly decreed My grounds to be reflor’d, my former flocks to feed. Mel. O fortunate old man! whole farm re-") For you fufficient, and requites your pains; [mains > Tho’ rulhes overfpread the neighb’ring plains, j Tho’ here the marfliy grounds approach your fields, And there the foil a (tony harveft yields, 43 PASTORAL. I. v. 6». Tour teeming ews (hall no ftrange meadows try, Nor fear a rot from tainted company. Behold yon bord’ring fence of fallow trees Is fraught with flow’rs, the flow’rs are fraught with bees: The bufy bees with a foft murm’ring drain Invite to gentle deep the lab’ring twain. While from the neighb'ring rock, with rural fongs. The pruner’s voice the pleafmg dream prolongs ; Stock-doves and turtles tell their am’rous pain, And from the lofty elms of love complain. Tit. Th’ inhabitants of Teas and (kies (hall change. And filh on (hore, and dags in air (hall range. The banilh’d Parthian dwell on Arrar’s brink. And the blue German (hall the Tigris drink ; E’er I, forfaking gratitude and truth, Forget the figure of that god-like youth. Mel. But we mult beg our bread in climes unknown. Beneath thefcorching or the freezing zone. And fome to far Oaxis diall be fold ; Or try the Libyan heat, or Scythian cold. >•' The red among the Britons be confin’d ; A race of men from all the world disjoin’d. O mud the wretched exiles ever mourn, Nor after length of rowling years return ? Are we condemn’d by Fate’s unjud decree. No more our houfes and our homes to fee ? Or (hall we mount again the rural throne. And rule the country kingdoms, once our own? Did we for thefe barbarians plant and low, On thefe, on theie, our happy fields bedow ? > Good heav’n what dire thefts fromcivildifcord flow ? j PASTORAL. I. v. ioo 49 Now let me graff my pears, and prune the vine ; The fruit is theirs, the labour only mine. Farewel my paftures, my paternal flock, My fruitful fields, and my more fruitful flock ! No more, my goats, (hall I behold you climb The fleepy cliffs, or crop the flow’ry thyme ! No more, extended in the grot below, Shall fee you browzing on the mountain’s brow The prickly fhrubs; and after on the bare, Lean down the deep abyfs, and hang in air. No more my ftieep (ball fip the morning dew ; No more my fong fhall pleafe the rural crew : > Adieu my tuneful pipe! and all the world adieu! j T y T. This night, at lead, with me forget your care ; Chef'nuts and curds and cream fhall be your fare : The carpet-ground ftiall be with leaves o’erfpread ; And boughs fhall weave a cov’ring for your head. For fee yon funny hill the lhade extends ; And curling fmoak from cottages afeends.

THE SECOND PASTORAL; O R, ' ALEXIS. THE ARGUMENT. ’ Tin’commentators can by no means agree on the perfon of « silexis, but are all of opinion that fame beautiful youth \ is meant by him, to whom Virgil here makes love in if Cory Jon’s language and fimplicity. Kis Ira's of court- D

. 5» PASTORAL II. ]h:p is ii'holcly paftoral: He complains of the hoy's coy- nefs ; recommends hi mfelf for his beauty and fkill in pi- ping ; invites the youth into the country, svbere hepro- onifes him the diverfons of the place, ivitb a fuitahlc- prefcnt of nuts and apples: But, -when he finds nothing- ■will prevail, he refolv.es to quit his troublefome- amour, and betake hinfelf again to his former bufinefs.

O U N G Corycksn, th’unhappy fhepherdfwsin, The fair Alexis lov’d, but lov’d in vain : And underneath the heechen (hade, alone, Thus to the woods and mountains made his moan. Is this, unkind Alexis, my reward, And muft 1 die unpitied, and unheard ? Now the green lizard in the grove is laid, 1 he (heep enjoy the coolneis of the (hade ; And Theftylis wild thyme and garlic beats For harved-hinds o’erfpent with toil and heats : While in the fcorching fun I trace in vain Thy flying footfleps o’er the burning plain. The creaking locufts with my voice confpire ; They fry’d with heat, and 1 with fierce defire. How much more eafy was it to fudain Proud Amaryllis, and her haughty reign ? The fcorns of young Menalcas, once my care, Tho’ he was black, and thou art heav’nly fair ? Trud not too much to that enchanting face ; Beauty’s a charm, but foon the charm will pafs: White lilies lie neglefted on the plain, While du(ky hyacinths for ufe remain. PASTORAL. II. v. zj. Si My palHon is thy fcorn ; nor wilt thou know What wealth I have, what gifts I can bellow : What fWes my dairies and my folds contain : A thoufand lambs that wander on the plain : New milk that all the winter never fails, And all the fummer overflows the pails. Amphion fung not Tweeter to his herd, When fummon’d flones the Theban turrets rear'd. Nor am I To deform’d; for late I flood Upon the margin of the briny flood : The winds were dill; and, if the glafs be true, With Daphnis I may vie, tho’ judg’d by you. O leave the noifytown, O come and fee Our country cotes, and live content with me ! To wound the flying deer, and from their cotes With me to drive a-field the browzing goats : To pipe and ting, and in our country drain. To copy, or perhaps contend with Pan. Pan taught to join with wax unequal reeds; Pan loves the (hepherds, and their flocks he feeds : Nor fcorn the pipe; Amyntas, to be taught, With all his kifles wou’d my fkill have bought. Of feven fmooth joints a mellow pipe I have. Which with his dying breath Damoetas gave : And faid, this Cory don, I leave to thee ; •For only thou deferv’d it after me. •His eyes Amyntas durd not upward lift, ‘ For much he grudg’d the praife, but more the gift. Befides, two kids, that in the valley dray’d, I found by chance, and to my fold convey’d: .They drain two bagging udders ev’ry day ; ; And thefe fliall be companions of thy play I) z Si PASTORAL. II. v. SS. Both fleck’d with white, the true Arcadian (train, Which Theftylis had often begg’d in vain : And (he (hall have them, if again (he (hews, Since you the giver and the gift refufe. Come to my longing arms, my lovely care, And take the prefents which the nymphs prepare. White lilies in full canifters they bring, With all the glories of tl-.e purple (pring. The daughters of the flood have fearch’d the mead For violets pale, and cropt the poppy’s head : The fhort Narciflus and fair daffodil, Paniies to pleai'e the light, and cafia fweet to fmell: And fet fbft hyacinths with iron blue, To lhade marlh marygolds of (hilling hue. Some bound in order, others loofely (trow’d, To drefs thy bow’r, and trim thy new abode. Myfelf will fearch our planted grounds at home, For downy peaches and the gloffy plum : And thralh the chefnuts in the neighb’ring grove, Such as my Amaryllis us’d to love. The laurel and the myrtle fweets agree; And both in nofegays dial! be bound for thee. Ah, Corydon, ah poor unhappy fwain! Alexis will thy homely gifts difdain : Nor, (honldft thou offer all thy little (lore. Will rich lolas yield, but offer more. What have I done, to name that wealthy fwain ! So powerful are his prefents, mine fo mean ! The boar amidfl my thryftai ((reams I bring; And fouthern winds to blaft my flow’ry fpring. Ah cruel creature ! whom deft thou defpife ? The gods to live in woods have left the (kies. PASTORAL. II. y. 87. si And godlike Paris in th’ Idean grove. To Priam’s wealth preferr’d Oenone’s love. In cities which Ihe built, let Pallas reign ; Tow’rs are for gods, but forefls for the Twain. The greedy lionei's the wolf purfues, The wolf the kid, the wanton kid the browze: Alexis, thou art chas’d by Corydon ; All follow fev’ral games, and each his own. See from afar the fields no longer fmoke, The fweating fleers unharnafs’d from the yoke. Bring, as in triumph, back the crooked plough ; The fhadows lengthen as the fun goes low. Cool breezes now the raging heats remove; Ah, cruel heav’n ! that made no cure for love! I wi(h for balmy deep, but wilh in vain : Love has no bounds in pleafure, or in pain. What frenzy, (hepherd, has thy foul pofTefs’d ? Thy vineyard lies half prun’d, and half undrefs’d. Quench, Cordyon, thy long unanfwer’d fire : Mind what the common wants of life requite. On willow-twigs emp loy thy weaving care : And find an eafier love, tho’ not fo fair.

* l B 3 THETHIRDPASTORAL

O R,

P A L Ri M O N.;

menalcas. d a m o e t a s. P A L M o

THE ARGUMENT. DAMOETAS and Mcnal'cas, after fame fnwrt ftrk of country-raillery, refolve to try who has the tnojl J at a fong ; and accordingly make their neighbour Pd mon judge of their performances : Who, after a ) hearing of both parties, declares himfelf unfit for decifwn of fo weighty a controverfy, and Icatics ■victory undetermined.

Menalcas. HO, fwain ! what (hepherd owns thofe ragged fl’.e Dam. Aegon’s they are, he gave ’em me to k( Men. Unhappy jheep of an unhappy fwain! While he Neatra courts, but courts in vain ; And fears that 1 the darnftl (ball obtain ; Thou, variet, doft thy matter's gain devour : Thou milk’tt his ewes, and often twice an hour ; Of grafs and fodder thou defraud’d the dams ; And of their mother’s dugs the darving lambs. Dam. Good words, young favourite, at lead tom We know who did your bufinefs, how, and when. PASTORAL. III. v. ii. si And in what chapel too you plaid your prize ; And what the goats obferv’d with leering eyes: The nymphs were kind, and laugh’d ; and there your fafety lies. } Men. Yes, when I cropt the hedges of the leys. Cut Mycon’s tender vines, and Hole the flays. Da m. Or rather, when beneath yon ancient oak. The bow of Daphnis and the fhafts you broke : When the fair boy receiv’d the gift of right; And but for mifchief, you had dy’d for fpight. [prate, Men. What nonfenfe wou’d the fool thy mafter When thou, his knave, can’fl talk at fuch a rate i Did I not fee you, rafcal, did I not! When you lay fnug to fhap young Damon’s goat ? His mungrel bark’d, I ran to his relief, And cry’d, There, there he goes ! Hop, (lop the thief? Difcover’d and defeated of your prey, 'fou fkulk’d behind the fence, and fneak’d away. Dam. An honed man may freely take his own ; The goat was mine, by flnging fairly won. A folemn match was made ; he loft the prize, Afk Damon, afk if be the debt denies; I think he dares not, if he does, he lyes. Men. Thou fing with him ! thorn booby ! never pipe Was fo profan’d.to touch that blubber’d lip : Dunce at the bed, in dreets but fcarce allow’d To tickle, on thy draw, the dupid crowd. Dam. To bring it to the trial, will you dare Our pipes, our fkill, our voices to compare ? My brinded heifer to the dake I lay ; Two thriving calves die dickies twice a day : D 4 ss P A S T O R A L. III. v. 43. And twice befides her beeftings never fail To (lore the dairy with a brimming pail. Now back your linging with an equal (lake. Men. That (hou’d be feen, if 1 had one to make. You know too well I feed my father’s flock : What can I wager from the common (lock ? A llcpdame too I have, a curfed Ihe, Who rules my hen-peck’d (ire, and orders me. Both number twice a day the miist) dams; And once (lie takes the tale of ail the lambs. But fince you will be mad, and fince you may Sufpcft my courage, if I fhould not lay ; The pawn I proffer (hall be full as good : Two bowls I have, well turn’d of beechen wood ; Both by divine Alcimedon were made ; To neither of them yet the lip is laid. The lids are ivy, grapes in clufters lurk, Beneath the carving of the curious work. Two figures on the (ides embofs’d appear ; Conon, and what’s his name who made the fpherei v And fiiew’d the feafons of the Aiding year; J Inftrutled in his trade the lab’ring fwain. And when to reap and when to fow the grain ? DA m . And I have two, to match your pair, at home ; The wood the fame, from the fame hand they come ; The kimbo handles feem with bears-foot carv’d ; And never yet to table have been ferv’d : Where Orpheus on his lyre laments his love, With beads encompafs’d, and a dancing grove : But thefe, nor all the proffers you can make Are worth the heifer which I fet to (take. PASTORAL HI. v. 73. SI Men. No more delays, vain boafter, but begin : I prophecy before-hand I (hall win. Palaemon (hall be judge how ill you rhyme ; I’ll teach you how to brag another time. Dam. Rhymer come on, and do the word: you can; I fear not you, nor yet a better man. With filence, neighbour, and attention wait: For ’tis a bulinefs of a high debate. PAL. Sing then ; the (hade affords a proper place ; The trees are cioth’d with leaves, the fields with grafs. The bloffbms blow ; the birds on bulhes fing ; And nature has accomplilh’d all the fpring. The challenge to Damoetas lhall belong ; : Menalcas lhall fuftain his under fong : Each in his turn your tuneful numbers bring ; By turns the tuneful Mufes love to fing. Dam. From the great father of the gods above My Mufe begins; for all is full of Jove ; To Jove the care of heav’n and earth belongs ; My flocks he blefles, and he loves my fongs. Men. Me Phoebus loves; for he my Muteinfpires; And in her fongs the warmth he gave requires. For him, the god of fltepherds and their iheep. My bluihing hyacinths, and my bays I keep. Dam. My Phyllis me with pelted apples plies; } ' Then tripping to the woods the wanton hies : > . And withes to be feen, before the flies. J Men. But fair Amyntas comes una&’d to me ; And offers love; and fits upon my knee : C Not Delia to my dogs is known fo well as he. J Dam. To the dear miffrefs of my love-fick mind, : Her Twain a pretty prefent has defign’d : j8 PASTORAL III. t. ioj. I faw two flock-doves billing, and ere long Will take the neft, and her’s (ball be the young. ■ Men. Ten ruddy wildings in the wood I found, And flood on tip-toes, reaching to the ground. I fent Amyntas all my prefent flore ; - And will, to morrow, fend as many ntore. Dam. The lovely maid lay panting in my arms ; And all fhe faid and all fhe did was full of charms. Winds, on your wings to heav’n her accents bear ; Such words as heav’n alone is fit to hear. Men. Ah! what avails it me, my love’s delight, To call you mine, when abfent from my fight ! I hold the nets while you purfue the prey ; And mufl: not fhare the dangers of the day.- Dam. I keep my birth-day : Send my I’hyllis home; At (heering-time, Idas, you may come. Men. With Phyllis I am more in grace thantan Her forrow did my parting Heps purfue ; [yodu : e- Adieu my dear, fhe faid, a long adieu. Dam. The nightly wolf is baneful to the fold, Storms to the wheat, to buds the bitter cold ; But from my frowning fair more ills I find. Than from the wolves, and florms, and winter-wind, j Men. The kids with pleafure browze thebufiiy plain. The fhow’rs are grateful to the fwelling grain, To teeming ewes the fallow’s tender tree ; But more than all the world my love to me. Dam. Pollio my rural verfe vouchfafes to read : A heifer, Mufes, for your patron breed. Men. My I’ollio writes himfelf: A bull be bred, With fpurning heels, and with a butting head. PASTORAL HI. v. 135. S9 Dam. Who Pollio loves, and who his Mufe admires. Let Pollio’s fortune crown his full defires : Let myrrh inflead of thorn his fences fill : And fhow’rs of honey from his oaks diftill. Men. Who hates not living Bavins, let him he, Dead Maevius, damn’d to love thy works and thee : The fame ill tafte of fenfe wou’d lerve to join Dog-foxes in the yoke, and fheer the fwine. Dam. Ye hoys who pluck the flowers, and fpoil the Beware the fecret fnake that Ihoots a fling. [fpring. Men. Graze not too near the banks, my jolly flieep. The ground is falfe, the running ftreams are deep : See ! they have caught the father of the flock, Who dries his fleece upon the neighb’ring rock. Dam. From rivers drive the kids, and fling your Anon I’ll wafli ’em in the lhallow brook. [hook; Men . To fold, my flock ; when milk is dry’d with in vain the milk-maid tugs an empty teat. [heat, Dam. How lank my bulls from plenteous paftura come! But love, that drains the herd, deflroys the groom. M e N. My flocks are free irom love; yet look fo thin Their bones are barely cover’d with their Ikin. What magic has bewitch’d the wooly dams And what ill eyes beheld the tender lambs ? Dam. Say, where the round ofheav’n, whichall-v contains, ft To three fliort ells on earth our fight reflrains: r" Tell that, and raife a Phoebus for thy pains. J Men. Nay, teil me firft, in what new region Iprings A flow’r, that bears infcrib’d the names of kings : And thou (halt gain a prcfent as divine As Phoebus felf; for Phyllis (hall be thine. <5o PASTORAL IV. r. 167. Pa 1.. So nice a diff’rence in your finging lies. That both have won, or both deferve the prize. Reft equal happy both; and all who prove The bitcer Iweets, and pleafing pains of love. Now dam the ditches, and the floods reftrain; Their moifture has already drench’d the plain.

THE FOURTH PASTORAL;

P O L L I O. THE ARGUMENT. THE Poet celebrates tie birth-day of Salonius, the fon of Pollio, lorn in the confulflrip of his father, after the taking of Salonae, a city in Dalmatia. Many of the verfcs are tranflated from one of the Sybils, -who pro- phefy of our Saviour’s birth. SICILIAN Mufe, begin a loftier ftrain ! Though lowly ftirubs and trees that lhade the plain, Delight not all; Sicilian Mufe, prepare To make the vocal woods deferve a conful’s care. The laft great age, foretold by facred rhymes. Renews its finifh’d courfe ; Saturnian times Rowl round again, and mighty years, begun From their bright orb, in radiant circles run. The bafe degenerate iron-offspring ends ; A golden progeny from heav’n defcends ; PASTORAL IV. y. n. 61 O chafle Lucina, fpeed the mother’s pains, And hade the glorious birth; thy own Apollo reigns! The lovely boy, with his aufpicious face, } Shall Pollio’s confulfhip and triumph grace; [race. > Majeftic months fet out with him to their appointed J The father banilh’d virtue (hall rellore, And crimes (hall threat the guilty world no more. The fon (hall lead the life of gods, and be By gods and heroes feen, and gods and heroes fee. The jarring nations he in peace (hall bind, And with paternal virtues rule mankind. Unbidden earth (hall wreathing ivy bring, T And fragrant herbs (the promifes of fpring) (, i As her firft off’rings to her infant king. \ The goats with (Irutting dugs (hall homeward fpeed, And lowing herds, fecure from lions feed. His cradle (hall with rifing flow’rs be crown’d ; The ferpents brood (hall die: The (acred ground Shall weeds and pois’nous plants refute to bear ; Bach common bufh (hall Syrian rofes wear. But when heroic verfe his youth (hall raife, And form it to hereditary praife ; Unlabour’d harvefts (hall the fields adorn, And cluftcr’d grapes (hall blufh on ev’ry thorn. The knotted oaks (hall Ihow’rs of honey weep, And through the matted grafs the liquid gold (hall creep. • Yet, of old fraud fome footUeps (hall remain, The merchant (till (hall plough the deep for gain : Great cities (hall with wails be compafs’d round ; ; And (harpen’d (hares (hall vex the fruitful ground, i Another Typhis (hall new feas explore, Another Argos land tie chiefs upon th’ Iberian (bore. di PASTORAL IV. v. 45. Another Helen other wars create. And great Achilles urce the Trojan fate. But when to rh en’d n a..hood he (hall grow, The greedy failor fnall the feas forego ; No keel (hall cut the waves for foreign ware ; For ev’ry foil (hall ev’ry product hear. The labouring hind his oxen (hall disjoin ; No plow (hall hurt the glebe, no pruning-hook the Nor wool (hall in diffembled colours ihine : [vine: \ But the luxurious father of the fold. With native purple, or unborrowM gold. Beneath his pompous fleece (hall proudly fweat : And Under Tyrian robes the lamb (hall bleat. The fates, when they this happy web have (pun. Shall bids the (acred clue, and bid it fmoothly run. Mature in years to ready honours move, O of coeleflial feed, O fofter-fon of Jove! See lab’ring nature calls thee to fuftain The nodding frame of heav’n, and earth, and main; See to their bafe reftor’d, earth, feas, and air, And joyful ages from behind, in crowding ranks appear. To fing thy praife wou’d heav’n my breath prolong, Infufing fpirits worthy liich a fong ; Nor Thracian Orpheus (hould tranfcend my lays, Nor Linus crown’d with never-fading bays : Though each his heav’nly parent (hon’d infpire; The Mufe in(lro£t the voice, and Phoebus tune the lyre. Shou’d Pan contend in verfe, and thou my theme, Arcadian judges fhou’d their god condemn. Begin, aufpicious boy, to call about Thy infant eyes, and with afmile thy mother Angle out; Thy mother well deferves that (bore delight, [requite. The naufeous qualms of ten long months and travel to PASTORAL V. v. 75. Then fmile ; the frowning infant’s doom is read; No god fhali crown the board, nor goddefsblefsthe bed.

THE FIFTH PASTORAL; O R, D A P H N I S. THE A R G U M E N T. Mopfus and Mer.alcas, tvio very expert f.epherds at a fong, begin one by confent to the memory of Daphnis ; who is Jnppofed by the heji critics to reprefent Julius Caefar. Mopfus laments his death ; Menalcas pro- claims his divinity : The whole eclogue cenfifting of an elegy and. an apotheofis. Menalc As. I N C E on the downs our flocks together feed, D And fince my voice can match your tuneful reed, t' Why fit we not beneath the grateful (hade, " Which hazles, intermix’d with elms, have made ? * Mop. Whether you pltafe that fylvan feene to take, Where whiftling winds uncertain fiiadows make : Or will you to the cooler cave fucceed, .Whofe mouth the curling vines have overfpread ? t Men. hour merit and your years command the choice { Amyntas only rivals you in voice. 64 PASTORAL V. v. u. Mop. What will not that prefuming (hepherd dare, Who thinks his voice with Phoebus may compare : Men. Begin you firft ; if either Alcon’s praife, Or dying Phyllis have infpired your lays : If her you mourn, or Codrus you commend ; Begin, and Tityrus your flock (hall tend. Mop. Or lhall I rather the fad verfe repeat. Which on the beech’s bark I lately writ: I writ, and fung betwixt; now bring the fwain Whofe voice you boaft, and let him try the drain. Men. Such as the (brubs to the tall olive (hows, Or the pale fallow to the blulhing rofe; Such is his voice, if I can judge aright. Compar’d to thine, in fweetnefs and in height. Mo p. No more, but fit and hear the promis’d lay ; The gloomy grotto makes a doubtful day : The nymphs about the breathlefs body wait Of Daphnis, and lament his cruel fate. The trees and floods were witnefs to their tears: At length the rumour reach’d his mother’s ears. The wretched parent, with a pious hade, Came running, and his lifelefs limbs embrac’d : She figh’d, (he fobb’d; and, furious with defpair, ^ She rent her garments, and (he tore her hair: ( Accufmg all the gods and ev’ry dar. \ The fwains forgot their Creep, nor near the brink Of running waters brought their herds to drink. The thirCy cattle, of themfclves, abllatn’d From water, and their grafiy fare difdain'd. The death of Daphnis woods and hills deplore; They caC the found to Lybia’s defart (bore; C The Lybian lions hear, and hearing roar. S PASTORAL V. v. 43.

THE SIXTH P A S T O II A L ; O R, S I L E N U S. THE ARGUMENT. TIV 0 young Jkepherds, Cbromii and Muafyius, having been often prornijl'd a f:ng by Silenus, chance to catch him afeep in this pajicral ; -where they bind him hand and foot, and then claim his promife. Silenus, finding they -would be put off no longer, begins his fong; in ■which he deferiies the formation of the univerfe, and , the original of animals, according to the Epicurean ; philefophy ; and then runs through the mofi ftrprifeng transformations which have happened in nature fines her birth. This pajhral -was defigned as a compliment to Syro the Epicurean, -who inJtruScd Virgil and Varus in the principles of that pbilofophy. Silenus abh as ' tutor, Chromis and Mnafylus as the two pupils. PASTORAL VI. C,s> IFirft transferr’d to Rome Sicilian drains : Nor bluih’d the Doric mufe to dwell on Mantuan plains. But when I try’d her tender voice, too young 5 And lighting kings, and bloody battles lung, Apollo check’d my pride; and bade me feed My fat’ning flocks, nor dare beyond the reed. Admonifh’d thus, while ev’ry pen prepares To write thy praifes, Varus, and thy wars, My paft’ral Mufe her humble tribute brings; And yet not wholly uninfpir’d (he lings. For all who read, and reading, not difdaih Thefe rural poems, and their lowly drain. The name of Varus, oft infcrib’d (hall fee, In ev’ry grove, and ev’ry vocal tree; ( And all the fylvan reign (hall fmg of thee: J Thy name, to Phoebus and the Mufes known, ^ Shall in the front of ev’ry page be fhown : ( For he who fings thy praife, lecures his own. ^ Proceed, my Mufe : Two fatyrs, on the groundj Stretch’d at his eafe, their fire Silenus found. Doz’d with his fumes, and heavy with his load. They found him fnoring in his dark abode; And feiz'd with youthful arms the drunken god. • His rofy wreath w’as dropt not long before, ’Borne by the tide of wine, and floating on the floor. 'His empty can, with ears half worn away, Was hung on high, to boad the triumph of the day. Invaded thus, for want of better bands, His garland they undring, and bind his hands : fFor by the fraudful god deluded long, They now refolve to have their promis’d fong : E 3 yo PASTORAL VI. v. 31. jVgle came in, to make their party good, The faired Nais of the neighb’ring flood; And, while he frares around with (lupid eyes. His brows with berries and iiis temples dyes. He finds the fraud, and, with a finile, demands On what dcfign the boys had bound his hands. Loofe me, he cry’d; ’tuas impudence to find A lleeping god: ’tis facrilege to bind. To yon the promis’d poem I will pay; The nymph (hall be rewarded in her way. He rais’d his voice; and (iron a num’rous throng Of tripping fatyrs crowded to the fong ; And fylvan fauns, and lavage hearts advanc’d, And nodding forefts to the numbers danc’d Not by Haemonian hills the Thracian bard, Nor awful Phoebus was on Pindus heard. With deeper filence, or with more regard. He Tung the fecret feeds of Nature’s frame ; How Teas, and earth, and air, and atrtive flame, Fell through the mighty void; and, in their fall. Were blindly gather’d in this goodly ball. The tender foil then ftiff’ning'by degrees, Shut from the bounded earth the bounding feas. Then earth and ocean various forms difclole; And a new fun to the new world arofe : And mirts, condens’d to clouds, obfeure the Iky; And clouds ditlolv’d, the thirlly ground fupply. The riling trees the lofty mountains grace : The lofty mountains feed the favage race ; Yet few, and rtrangers, in th’ unpeopl’d place. From thence the birth of man the fong purfu’d ; And how the world was loft, and how renew’d. PASTORAL VI. v. <4- The reign of Saturn, and the golden age; Prometheus’ theft, and Jove’s avenging rage. The cries of Argonauts for Hylas drown’d ; With whofe repeated name the fhores refound. Then mourns the madnefs of the Cretan queen; Happy for her if herds had never been. What fury, wretched woman, faz’d thy bread! The maids of Argos, (though with rage poflefs’d, Their imitated lowings fill’d the grove) Yet fhunn’d the guilt of thy prepoft’rous love. Nor fought the youthful hufhand of the herd, Tho’ lab’ring yokes on their own necks they fear’d And felt for budding horns on their fmooth fore heads rear’d. Ah, wretched queen ! you range the pathlefs wood While on a fiow’ry hank he chaws the cud; Or fleeps in (hades, or through the foreft roves; And roars with anguiih for his abfent loves. Ye nymphs, with toils his-forell-walk furround, And trace his vvand’ring footflcps on the ground. Put, ah! perhaps my paffion he difdains; And courts the milky mothers of the plains. We fearch th’ ungrateful fugitive abroad; While they at home fuftain his happy load. I He fung the lover-’s fraud; the longing maid, With golden fruit, like ail the fex, betray’d. ‘ The fillers mourning for their brother's lofs, Their bodies hid in barks, and furr’d with mofs; , How each a rifing alder now appears; And o’er the Po diftils her gummy tears. * Then fung how Galius, by a Mufe’s hand, Was led and welcom’d to the facred ftrand. E 4 7* P A S T O R A L VI. v. 9i- The fennte riling to falnte their gueft; And Linus thus their gratitude exprefs’d: Receive this prefent, by the Mufes made; Tile pipe on which th’ Afcraean pallor play’d v With which of old he charm’d the favage train, And call’d the mountain-aihes to the plain. Sing thou on this, thy Phoebus ; and the wood Where once his fane of Parian marble flood : On this his antier.t oracles rehcarfe; And with new numbers grace the god of verle. Why fhould I ling the double Scylla’s fate, The firfl by love transform’d, the lalt by hate: A beauteous maid above, but magic arts With barking dogs deform’d her nether parts. What vengeance on the palling fleet Ihe pour’d. The mailer frighted, and the mates devour’d. Then ravifh’d Philomel the fong exprell; The crime reveal’d ; the fillers cruel fealt; And how in fields the lapwing Tereus reigns; The warbling nightingale in woods complains. While Progne makes on chimney tops her moan; And hovers o’er the palace once her own. Whatever fongs bcfides, the Delphian god Had taught the laurels and the Spartan flood, Silenus fung ; the vales his voice rebound ; And carry to the Ikies the facred found. And now the fetting fun had warn’d the fwain To call his counted cattle from the plain : Yet (lill th’ unweary’d fire purfues the tuneful llrain. Till uaperceiv’d the heav’ns with liars were hung : And fudden night furpriz’d the yet unfinilh’d fong. PASTORAL VII. v. i. 7; I

THE SEVENTH PASTORAL; O R, M E L I B OE U S. THE A R G U M E N T. MELIBOEUS here gives ns the relation of a Jbarp po- etical contejl bet-wcen Thyrfis and Cory don ; at -which he himfelf and Daphnis -were prefent ; -who both de- clared for Cory don. BENEATH a holm repair’d two jolly fwains; Their Iheep and goats together graz’d the plains. Both young Arcadians, both alike inlpir’d To ling, and anfwer as the long requir’d. Daphnis, as umpire, took the middle feat; And fortune thither Ld my weary feet. S' Bor while I fenc’d my myrtles from the cold, iThe father of my flock had wander’d from the fold. Of Daphnis I inquir’d; he, fmiling, faid, ‘Difmifs your fear, and pointed where he fed. ■And, if no greater cares diflurb your mind, .Sit here with us, in covert of the wind. Your lowing heifers, of their own accord. At wat’ring lime will leek the neighb’ring ford. 74 PASTORAL VI r, v. 15, Here wanton Mincius winds along the meads, And fliades his happy banks with bending reeds : And lee from yon old oak, that mates the fkies, How black the clouds of fwarming bees arife. What Ihou’d 1 do ! nor was Alcippe nigh, Nor abfent Phyllis cou’d my care fupply, To houfe, and feed by hand my weaning lambs, And drain the flrutting udders of their dams ? Great was the (Irife betwixt the finging fwains : And I preferr’d roy plealure to my gains. Alternate rhyme the ready champions chofe, Thefe Corydon reliears’d, and f'byrlis tliofc. Cor. Ve Mufes, ever fair, and ever young, Affift my numbers, and infpire my fong. With all my Codrus O infpire my breaft ! For Codrus after Phoebus fings the bell. Or if my wilhes have prefum’d too high. And flretch’d their bounds beyond mortality, The praife of artful numbers I refign : And hang my pipe upon the facred pine; Tkyr. Arcadian fwains, your youthful poet crown* With ivy-wreaths ; tho’ furly Codrus frown. Or if he blafl my Mufe with envious praife. Then fence my brows with amulets of bays ; Left his ill arts, or his malicious'tongue, Shou’d poifon, or bew itch my growing fong. Cor. Thefe branches of a flag, this tulky boar (The firft efiay of arms untry’d before) Young Mycon offers, Delia, to thy fhrine ; But fpeed his hunting with thy pow’r divine ; Thy ftatue then of Parian ftone (hall ftand ; Thy legs in bufkins with a purple band. PASTORAL Vil. v. 47- 75 Thyr. This bowl of milk, theie cakes, (our For thee, Priapus, yearly we prepare : [country fare,) C Becaufe a little garden is thy care. J But if the falling lambs increafe my fold. Thy marble flatue (hall be turn’d to gold. Cor. Fair Galatea, with thy filver feet, O, w'hiter than the fwan, and more than Hybla fvvectl Tall as the poplar, taper as the bole, Come charm thy fnepherd, and reftore my foul : Come, when my luted (beep at night return ; And crown the fiient hours, and Hop the rofy morn. Th y R. May I become as abjeft in thy light, As fta-weed on the Ihore, and black as night : Rough as a bur, deform’d like him who chaws Sardinian herbage to contract his jaws ; Such and fo mon(Irons let thy Twain appear, If one day’s abfence looks not like a year. Hence from the field, for fhame : The flock delerves Ko better feeding, while the (hepherd flarves. Cor Ye mofiy fprings, inviting eafy deep, Ye trees, whole leafy fnades thole molly fountains keep, Defend my flock, the fummer heats are near, And blolioms on the Iwelling vines appear. Thyr. With heapy tires onr chearful hearth is crown’d ; And firs for torches in the woods abound : f We fear not more the winds, and wint’ry cold. Than dreams the banks, or wolves the bleating fold. Cor. Our woods, with juniper and chefnuts crown’d, / i With falling fruits and berries paint the ground ; 1 ; And lavilh nature lau Shs» and (trows her (tores around.

: IS PASTORAL VII. v. 77- But if Alexis from our mountains fly, Ev’n running rivers leave their channels dry. Th y R. Parch'd are the plains, and frying is the field, Nor with’ring vines their juicy vintage yield. But if returning Phyllis blefs the plain, The grals revives; the woods are green again ; C And Jove defcends in (how’rs of kindly rain. \ Cor. The poplar is by great Alcides worn; The brows of Phoebus his own bays adorn : The branching vine the jolly Bacchus loves; The Cyprian queen delights in myrtle groves. With hazle Phyllis crowns her flowing hair, - And while (he loves that common wreath to wear; / Nor bays, nor myrtle boughs, with hazle (hall C compare. T H Y r. The towring afh is faired in the woods ; In gardens pines, and poplars by' the floods : But if my Lycidas will cafe my pains. And often vifit our forfaken plains; To him the tow’ring afh (hall yield in woods ; In gardens pines, and poplars by the floods. Mel. Thefe rhymes I did to memory commend. When vanqnilh’d Thyrfis did in vain contend ; Since when, ’tis Corydon among the (wains; Young Corydon without a rival reigns. PASTORAL. VIII. v. x. H i THE EIGHTH PASTORAL;

O R, PHARMACEUTRIAo T H E A R G U M ENT. THIS fiaftoral contains the fongs of Damon and Alphefi- hocus. The firft of the?n bewails the lofs of his miftrefs, and repines at the fuccefs of his rival Mopfus. The '; other repeats the charms of fame enchantrefs, who en- deavoured by herfpells and magic to make Daphnis in love with her. THE mournful Mufe of two defpairing fvvains'. The love rejefted, and the lover’s pains ; To which the favage lynxes lill’ning Hood ; The rivers flood on heaps, and Hop’d the running flood The hungry herd their needful food refufe. Of two defpairing fwains, I ftng the mournful Mufe. 1 Great Pollio, thou for whom thy Rome prepares i ,The ready triumph of thy finilh’d wars, |l Whether Timavus or th’ Illyrian coaft, Whatever land or fea thy prefence bond; Is there an hour in fate referv’d for me. To fing thy deeds in numbers worthy thee? *1 n numbers like to thine, could 1 rehearfe {Thy lofty tragic feenes, thy labour’d verfe; 7^3 PASTORAL VIII. v. ij. The world another Sophocles in thee, Another Homer fliould behold in me : Amidft thy laurels let this ivy twine. Thine was my earlielt Mufe ; my lateft fliall be thine. Scarce from the world the (hades of night withdrew; Scarce were the flocks refrelh’d with morning dew, When Damon, flretch’d beneath an olive fhade, And wildly flaring upwards, thus inveigh’d > Againfl the confcious gods, and curs’d the cruel maid. S Star of the morning, why doft thou delay l Come, Lucifer, drive on the lagging day. While I my Nifa’s perjur’d faith deplore ; Witnefs ye povv’rs, by whom the falfely fwore 1 The gods, alas ! are witnefles in vain ; -y Yet lhall my dying breath to heav’n complain. > Begin with me, my flute, the fweet Maenalian ftraim j The pines of Maenalus, the vocal grove, Are ever full of verle, and lull of love: They hearthehinds, they hear their god complain; Who fufier’d not the reeds to rife in vain. > Begin with me, my flute, the fweet Maenalian flrain. \ Mopfus triumphs ; he weds the willing fa:r ; When fuch is Nila’s choice, what lover can defpair ! Now griffons join with mares ; another age Shall fee the hound and hind their third adivage Promifcuous at the fpring : Prepare the lights, O Mopfus! and perform the bridal rites. Scatter thy nuts among the fcrambiing boys : Thine is the night, and thine the nuptial joys. For thee the fun declines : O happy fwain ! Begin with rne, my flute, the f.veet Maenalian drain. PASTORAL VIII. v. 47. 73 O Nifa ! juftly to thy choice condemn’d ! Whom haft thou taken, whom haft thou condemn’d' For him thou haft refus’d my browzing herd, Scorn’d my thick eye-brows, and my lhaggy beard. Unhappy Damon fighs, and fings in vain : While Nifa thinks no god regards a lover’s pain. Begin with me, my flute, the IweetMaenalian ftrain. I view’d thee firft ; how fatal was the view ! 5 And led thee where the ruddy wildings grew, [dew. High on the planted hedge, and wet with morning Then fcarce the bending branches I could win ; 1 The callow down began to cloath my chin ; I faw, I periih’d; yet indulg’d my pain. Begin with me, my flute, the fweet Maenalian ftrain, i know thee, Love ; in defarts thou wert bred; And at the dugs of favage tigers fed ; Alien of birth, ufurper of the plains. Begin with me, my flute, the fweet Maenalian ftrains. Relentlefs love the cruel mother led, The blood of her unhappy babes to fhed ; Love lent the fword; the mother (truck the blow ; Inhuman (he ; but more inhuman thou. Alien of birth, ufurper of the plains. Begin with me, my flute, the fweet Maenalian ftrains. ( Old floating Nature change thy courfe anew : And let the trembling lamb the wolf purfue : , Let oaks now glitter with Hefperian fruit. And purple daffodils from alders (hoot: Fat amber let the tamarilk diftill ; : And hooting owls contend with fwans in (kill : Hoarfe Tityrus ftrive with Orpheus in the woods ; j. And challenge fam’d Arion on the floods. So PASTORAL VIII. V. HJi Or, oh ! let Nature ceafe ; and Chaos rehjn. Begin with me, my flute, the fweet Maenalian ftrain. Let earth he fea ; and let the ’whelming tide, The lirelefs lia bs of lucklels Damon hide : Farewcl, ye fecret woods, and lhady groves, Haunts of my youth, and confcious of my loves! From yon high cliff 1 plung’d into the main ; Take the laft prelent of thy dying fwain. And ceafe, my fdent flute, thefweet Maenalian ftrain. J Now take your turns, ye Mufes, to rehearfe His friend’s complaints; and mighty magic-verfe. Bring running water ; bind thofe altars round With fillets ; and with vervain flrow the ground : Make fat with frankincenfe the facred fires; To re-inflame my Daphnis with defires. ’Tis done, we want but verfe. Rcfloie, my charms, My ling’ring Daphnis to my longing arms. Pale Phoebe, drawn by verfe from beav’n defcends: And Circe chang’d wdfh charms Uiylles’ friends. Verfe breaks the ground, and penetrates the brake ; And in the winding caverns fplits the fnake : Verfe fires the frozen veins. Reftore, my charms, My lingring Daphnis to my longing arms. Around his waxen image firfl I wind Three woolen fillets, of three colours join’d : Thrice bind about his thrice devoted head, Which round the facred altar thrice is led. Unequal numbers pleafe the gods. My charms, Reftorc my Daphnis to my. longing arms. Knit with three knots the fillets, knit ’em fireight; And fav, thefe knots to love I confccrate. PASTORAL VIII. v. rop. SI Hade, Amaryllis, hade : Redore, my charms. My lovely Daphnis to my longing arms. As fire this figure hardens, made of clay ; And this of wax with fire confumes away ; Such let the foul of cruel Daphnis be ; Hard to the red of women, foft to me. Crumble the facred mole of fait and corn ; Next in the fire the bays with brimdone burn. And while it crackles in the fulphur, fay, This, I for Daphnis burn; thus Dapnis burn away. This laurel is his fate : Redore, my charms, My lovely Daphnis to my longing arms. As when the raging heifer, through the grove, Stung with defire, purfues her wand’ring love; Faint at the lad, the feeks the weedy pools, To quench her third, and on the rulhes rowls ; Carelefs of night, unmindful to return : Such fruitlefs fires perfidious Daphnis burn. While I fo fcorn his love : Redore, my charms, | My ling’ring Daphnis to my longing arms. Thefe garments once were his; and left to me; !,The pledges of his promis’d loyalty : i Which underneath my threlhold I beftow ; ' Thefe pawns, O facred earth! to me my Daphnis owe. i As thefe were his, fo mine is he. My charms, ! Redore their ling’ring lord to my deluded arms. Thefe pois’nous plants for magic ule defign’d, dThe nobled and the bed of all the baneful kind,) -Old Moeris brought me from the Pontic drand : And cull’d the mifchief of a bounteous land. uSmear’d with thefe powerful juices, on the plain, He howls a wolf among the hungry train : Voc. V. F *1 PASTORAL VIII. v. i.;i. And oft the mighty necromancer boafts, With thefe, to call from tombs the ftalking ghofls: j And from the roots to tear the Handing corn ; Which, whirl’d aloft, to diftant fields is born. Such is the (Length of fpells. Reftore, my charms, j: My ling’ring Daphnis to my longing arms. Bear out thefe alhes; call ’em in the brook ; Ca(t backwards o’er your head, nor turn your look : Since neither gods, nor godlike verfe can move, Break out ye fmother’d fires, and kindle (mother’d love Exert your utmoft pow’r, my ling’ring charms, And force my Daphnis to my longing arms. See, while my lall endeavours I delay, The waking alhes rife, and round our altars play! Run to the threlhold, Amaryllis, hark, Our Hylas opens, and begins to bark. Good heav’n ! may lovers what they with believe ; Or dream their wifites, and thofe dieams deceive! No more; my Daphnis comes ; no more, my charm: He comes, be runs, he leaps to my defiring arms.

f

I PASTORAL IX. v. x. *3

THE NINTH PASTORAL; O R, LYCIDAS and MOERIS. THE ARGUMENT. WHEN Virgil, by the favour of Auguftus, had reco- vered his patrimony near Mantua, and -went in hope to take pojfejfion, he was in danger to be fain by Arius the centurion, to whom thofe lands were affigned by the [ emperor, in reward of his fervice againft Brutus and Cajius. This paftoral therefore is filled with com- plaints of his hard vfiage ; and the perfons introduced, are the bailif of Virgil, Moeris, and his friend Ly- cidas. Lycidas. HO Moeris! whither on thy way fo fail ? This leads to town Mo er. O Lycidas, at Jafl The time is come 1 never thought to fee Strange revolution for my faim and me) fyhen the grim captain in a furly tone Dries out, Pack up ye rafeals, and begone, lick’d out, we let the beft face on’t wecou’d; ind thefe two kids, t’ appeafe his angry mood, bear, of which the furies give him good. F i 84 PASTORAL IX. v. ir. Ly c. Your country-friends were told another tal That from the Hoping mountain to the vale, And dodder’d oak, and all the banks along, Menalcas fav’d his fortune with a long. Moer. Such was the news, indeed, but fongs an! Prevail as much in thefe hard iron-times, [rhyme As would a plump of trembling fowl, that rife Againtt an eagle foufmg from the Ikies. And had not Phoebus warn’d me by the croak Of an old raven, from a hollow oak, To Ihun debate, Menalcas had been flain, And Moeris not furviv’d ' im, to complain. [indin I'i Lye. Now heav’n defend! cou’d barb’rous ra| j. The brutal Ion of Mars t’ infult the lacred Mufe ! Who then Ihou’d ling the nymphs, or who rehearfe j i The waters gliding in a fmoother verfe! Or Amaryllis’ praife, that heav’nly lay, That Ihorten’d as wc went, our tedious way. O Tityrus, tend my herd, and fee them fed ; To morning-palhires, evening-waters led : And ’ware the Lybian ridgil’s butting head. Mo er. Or what unfinilh’d he to Varus read ; Thy name, O Varus (if the kinder pow’rs Preferre our plains and Ihield the IVlantuan tow rs, Obnoxious by Cremona’s neighb’ring crime,) The wings of fwans, and ftronger pinion’d rhyme, , j Shall raife aloft, and foaring bear above Th’ immortal gift of gratitude to Jove. Ly c. Sing on, fing on, for I can ne’er be cloy’d - So may thy fwarms the baleful yew avoid : So may thy cows their burden’d bags diftend ; And trees to goats their willing branches bend. PASTORAL. IX. v. 43. Mean as l am, yet have the Mufes made Me free, a member of the tuneful trade : At lead the Ihepherds feem to like my lays ; But I difcern their flatt’ry from their praife : I nor to Cinna’s ears, nor Varus’ dare afpire ; But gabble like a goofe, amidft the fwan-like quire. Moer. ’Tis what I have been conning in my mind : Nor are they verfes of a vulgar kind. Come, Galatea, come, the feas forfake ; [make ? What pleafures can the tides with their hoarfe murmurs See, on the Ihore inhabits purple fpring ; Where nightingales their love-fick ditty ling ; See, meads with purling dreams, with flow’rs the~\ ground, f The grotto’s cool, with Pnady poplars crown’d, C And creeping vines on arbours weav’d around. J Come then and leave the wave’s tumultuous roar, Let the wild forges vainly beat the {bore. L y c. Or that fweet fong I heard with fuch delight; The fame you fung alone one ftarry night; The tune I dill retain, but not the words. Mo er. Why, Daphnis, doft thou fearch in old re- To know the feafons when the liars arife ? [cords, (pee Caefar’s lamp is lighted in the Ikies : The liar, whofe rays the blulhing grapes adorn, And fwell the kindly rip’ning ears of corn, (Under this influence graft the tender fhoot; Thy children’s children (hall enjoy the fruit. The reft I have forgot, for cares and time Change all things, and untune my foul to rhyme : F 3 8 done: My voice grows hoarfe; l feel the notes decay As if the wolves had feen me firll to-day. But thefe, and more than I to mind can bring, Menalcas has not yet forgot to fing. L y c. Thy faint excufes but inflame me more ; And now the waves rowl filent to the Ihore. Hufh’d winds the topmoll branches fcarcely bend. As if thy tuneful fong they did attend: Already we have half our way o’ercome ; Far off I can difeern Bianor’s tomb. Here, where the labourer’s hands have form’d a bow’ Of wreathing trees, in finging wade an hour. Reft here thy weary limbs, thy kids lay down, We’ve day before us yet, to reach the town : Or, if ere night the gath’ring clouds we fear, A fong will help the beating ftorm to bear. And that thou may’ft not be too late abroad. Sing, and I’ll eafe thy (boulders of thy load. Mo e r. Ceafe to requeft me, let us mind our way; Another fong requires another day. When good Menalcas comes, if he rejoice. And find a friend at court, I’ll find a voice. P A S T O R A L. ' X. v. i. 8r

THE TENTH PASTORAL; O R, CALLUS.

THE ARGUMENT. GALLVS a great patron of Virgil, and an excellent po- et, "was very deeply in love 'with one Citheris, 'whom he calh Lycoris, and 'who had forfaken him for the company of a Joldicr. The poet therefore fuppofes his friend Callus retir'd in his heighth of melancholy into the folitudes of Arcadia, (the celebrated fene of pafto- rals ;) where he reprefents him in a very languijhing condition, with all the rural deities about him, pitying his hard tifage, and condoling his misfortune. THY facred fuccour, Arethufa, bring. To crown my labour ; ’tis che I aft I fmg ; Which proud Lycoris may with pity view : ‘The Mufe is mournful, tho’ the numbers few'. > Refufe me not a verfe to grief and Gallus due. J So may thy filver ftreams beneath the tide. Unmix’d with briny feas, fecurely glide. "Sing then, my Gallus, and his hopelefs vows , Sin o', while my cattle crop the tender browze. F 4 83 PASTORAL X. v. ro. The vocal grove (hall anfwer to the found, And Echo, from the vales, the tuneful voice reboun ' What lawns or woods with-held you from his aid, Ye nymphs, when Gallus was to love betray’d ; To love, unpity’d by the cruel maid ? Not (teepy Pindus cou’d retard your courfe. Nor cleft ParnalTus, nor th’ Aonian lource; Nothing that owns the Mufes cou’d fufpend Your aid to Gallus, Gallus is their friend. For him the lofty laurel (lands in tears ; And hung with humid pearls the lowly (hrub appear:' Maenalian pines the godlike fwain bemoan; When fpvead beneath a rock he figh’d alone; And cold Lycaeus wept from every dropping ftone. J The (beep furound their (hepherd, as he lies : Blunt not, fweet poet, nor the name defpife : Along the dreams his flock Adonis fed ; And yet the queen of beauty bled his bed.^ The fvvains and tardy neat-herds came, and lad ] JVIenalcas, wet with beating winter-mad. Wond’ring, they alk’d from whence arofe thy flame; ! Yet, more amaz’d, thy own Apollo came. Flufli’d were his cheeks, and glowing were his eyes : Is (he thy care, is (he thy care, he cries ? Thy falfe Lycpris flies thy love and thee ; "v. And for thy rival tempts the raging fea, k The forms of horrid war, and heav’n’s inclemency. J Sylvanus came : His brows a country-crown Of fennel, and of nodding lilies, drown. Great Pan arriv’d; and we beheld him too, His cheeks and temples of vermilion hue. PASTORAL X. v. 4t. 8* Why, Gallus, this irtimod’rate grief, he cry’d : Think’ft thou that love tvith tears is fatisfy’d ? The meads are fooner drunk with morning-dews; The bees with flow’ry fhrubs, the goats with browze. Unmov’d, and with dejefted eyes, he mourn’d : ; He paus’d, and then thefe broken words return’d. ’Tis part ; and pity gives me no relief : But you, Arcadian fwains, (hall ling my grief And on your hills my lad complaints renew; So fad a fong is only worthy you. How light wou’d lie the turf upon my bread. If you my fuff’rings in your fongs expred ? Ah ! that your birth and bus’nefs had been mine. To penn the (heep, and prefs the fweiling vine ! Had Phyllis or Amyntas caus’d my pain. Or any nymph, or fhepherd on the plain, Tho’ Phyllis brown, tho’ black Amyntas w'ere. Are violets not fweet, becaufc not fair ? Beneath the fallows, and the fhady vine. My loves had mix’d their pliant limbs with mine; Phyllis with myrtle wreaths had crown’d my hair, And foft Amyntas fling away my care. Come, fee what plesfures in onr plains abound ; , The woods, the fountains, and the flow’ry ground. As you are beauteous, were yon half fo true, |i Here cou’d I live, and love, and die with only you. Now I to fighting fields am fent afar. And drive in winter-camps with toils of war; While you, (alas, that I fhou’d find it fo !) *> To Ihun my fight, your native foil forego, [fnow. J And climb the frozen Alps, and tread th’ eternal ' 20 PASTORAL X. v. 73. Ye frofts and fnovvs, her tender body fpare, Thofe are not limbs for icicles to tear. For me, the wilds and delarts are my choice; The Mufes, once my care; my once harmonious voice] There will 1 ling, forfaken and alone, The rocks and hollow caves (hall echo to my moan. The rind of ev’ry plant her name (hall know ; And as the rind extends, the love (hall grow. Then on Arcadian mountains will I chafe (Mix’d with the woodland nymphs) the favage race, j Nor cold (hall hinder me, with horns and hounds. To thrid the thickets, or to leap the mounds. And now methinks o’er fteepy rocks I go : [an bow t, And rulb through founding woods, and bend the Parthi- As if with fports my futferings 1 could eafe, Or by my pains the god of love appeafe. My frenzy changes, I delight no more On mountain-tops to chafe the tulky boar ; No game but hopelefs love my thoughts purfue : [adieu, Once more ye nymphs, and fongs, and (bunding wood? Love alters not for us his hard decrees ; Not tho’ beneath the Thracian clime we freeze ; Or Italy’s indulgent heay’n forego ; And in mid-winter tread Sithonian fnow. Or when tire barks of elnas are-icorch d, we keep On Meroe's burning plains the Lybian iheep. In hell, and earth, and feas, and heav’n above. Love conquers all; and we mud yield to love. My Mufes, here your facred raptures end : The verfe was what I ow’d my fuff ring friend. This w-hile I fung, my forrows I deceiv d, And bending ofiers into balkets weav’d. PASTORAL X. v. ioj. 9, The fong, becaufe infpir'd by you, (hall ihine : And Gallus will approve, becaufe ’tis mine. Gallus, for whom my holy flames renew Each hour, and ev’ry moment riie in view ; As alders, in the fpring, their boles extend ; And heave fo fiercely, that the bark they rend. Now let us rife, for hoaricnefs oft invades The finger’s voice, who fings beneath the (hades. From junipers unwholfome dews diftill, That blaft the footy corn; the with’ringherbage kill; Away, my goats, away; for you have browz’d your fill. ’

- < . 4. «r V I R G I L’s

G E O R G I C S.

BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT. THE foet, in the beginning of this look, propounds the general defign of each Georgic : And, after a folemn invocation of all the gods who are any way related to his fubjeB, he addreffes himfelf in particular to Auguftus, whom he co?npliments with divinity ; and after Jlrikes into his bufinefs. He Jhcws the different kinds of tillage proper to different foils, traces out the original of agri- culture, gives a catalogue of the husbandman s tools, fpecifies the employments peculiar to each jeafon, de- feribes the changes of the weather, with the fgns in heaven and earth that forebode them. Infiances many of the prodigies that happened near the time of Julius Caefar’s death. And Jhuts up all with a fapplication to the gods for the fafety of Augufitis, and the prcfervation f. of Rome. 94 G E O R G I C I.

HAT makes a plenteous harveft, when to turn vv The fruitful foil, and when to fow the corn; The care of fheep, of oxen, and of kine ; And how to raife on elms the teeming vine : The birth and genius of the frugal bee: I fing, Maecenas, and I fing to thee. Ye deities! who fields and plains proteft, Who rule the feafons, and the year diredt; Bacchus and foft’ring Ceres, pow’rs divine, Who gave us corn for maft, for water wine : Ye Fauns, propitious to the rural fwains, Ye Nymphs that haunt the mountains and the plains. Join in my work, and to my numbers bring Your needful fuccour, for your gifts I fing. And thou, whofe trident {truck the teeming earth. And made a pafiage for the courfcr’s birth. And thou, for whom the Caean fhore fuftains Thy milky herds, that graze the fiow’ry plains. And thou, the fitepherd’s tutelary god, Leave, for a while, O Pan! thy lov’d abode : And, if Arcadian fleeces be thy care. From fields and mountains to my fong repair. Inventor, Pallas, of the fat’ning oil, The founder of the plough and ploughman’s toil, And thou, whofe hands the threwd-like cyprefs rear; ■> Come all ye gods and goddefies, that wear ^ The rural honours, and increafe the year. J You, who fupply the ground with feeds of grain; And you, who fwell thofe feeds with kindly rain : And chiefly thou, whofe undetermin’d ftate Is yet the bufinefs of the gods debate : G E O R G I C I. v. 33. PS Whether in after-times to be declar’d The patron of the world, and Rome’s peculiar guard. Or o’er the fruits and feafons to prefide, And the round circuit of the year to guide; Pow’rful of bleffings, which thou ftrew’ft around. And with thy goddefs mother’s myrtle crown’d. Or wilt thou, Caefar, chufe the wat’ry reign, To fmooth the furges, and correft the main ? Then mariners, in florms, to thee fhall pray, Ev’n utmoft Thule (hall thy pow’r obey ; > And Neptune (hall refign the fafces of the fca. j The wat’ry virgins for thy bed ftiall drive, And Tethys all her waves in dowry give. Or wilt thou biefs our fummers with thy rays. And, feated near the Balance, poife the days : Where in the void of heav’n a fpace is free, Betwixt the Scorpion and the Maid for thee. The Scorpion, ready to receive thy laws, 'yields half his region, and contracts his claws. Whatever part of heav’n thou (halt obtain, For let not hell prefume of fuch a reign ; Nor let fo dire a third of empire move Thy mind, to leave thy kindred gods above ; Though Greece admires Elyfium’s blefs’d retreat. Though Proferpine afTedts her liient feat, And, importun’d by Ceres to remove, Prefers the fields below to thofe above. But thou, propitious Caefar, guide my courfe, And to my bold endeavours add thy force. Pity the poet’s and the ploughman’s cares, lut’red thy greatnefs in our mean affairs, And ufe thyfelf betimes to hear and grant our pray’rs- 9Pontus lends her beaver-ltones from far; And naked Spaniards temper (heel for war. Epirus for th’ Elcan chariot breeds, (In hopes of palms), a race of running Heeds. This is the orig’nal contract; thefe the laws Impos’d by Nature, and by Nature’s caufe, On fundry places, where Deucalion hurl’d His mother’s entrails on the defart world : G £ O R G I C I. v. 9S- Whence men, a hard laborious kind, were born. Then borrow part of winter for thy corn; And early with thy team the glebe in furrows turn. That, while the turf lies open and unbound, Succeeding funs may bake the mellow ground. But if the foil be barren, only fear The furface, and but lightly print the lhare, When cold Anftnrus rifes with the fun : Left wicked weeds the corn fhould over-run Jn wat’ry foils ; or, left the barren fand Shou’d fuck the moifture from the thirfty land. Both thefe unhappy foils the fvvain forbears, And keeps a fabbath of alternate years: That the fpent earth may gather heart again; And, better’d by ceffation, bear the grain. At leaft, where vetches, pulfe, and tares have flood; And ftalks of lupines grew (a ftubhorn wood :) Th’ enfuing feafon, in return, may bear The bearded product of the golden year. For flax and oats will burn the tender field, And fleepy poppies harmful harvefts yield. But fweet viciftltudes of reft and toil Make eafy labour, and renew the foil. Yet fprinkle fordid allies all around, And load with fat’ning dung thy fallow ground. Thus change of feeds for meagre foils is befit; 1 And earth manur’d, not idle, though at reft. Long praftice has a fure improvement found, With kindled fires to burn the barren ground; When the light ftubble, to the flames refign’d, > !s driv’n along, and crackles in the wind. Vol. V. G &* G £ O R G I C I. v. US; Whether from hence the hollow womb of earth Is warm’d with fecret ftrength for better birth ; Or when the latent vice is cur’d by fire. Redundant humours through the pores expire; Or that the warmth diftends the chinks, and makes New breathings, whence new nourilhment fhe takes; Or that the heat the gaping ground conllrains. New knits the furface, and new firings the veins; Left fbaking fhow’rs fhou’d pierce her fe«ret feat, Or freezing Boreas chill her genial heat, > ■ Or fcorching funs too violently beat. , Nor is the profit fmall the peafant makes, Who fmooths with harrows, or who pounds with rakes- The crumbling clods : Nor Ceres from on high Regards his labours with a grudging eye : Nor his who ploughs acrofs the furrow’d grounds. And on the back of earth inflicts new wounds : For he with frequent exercife commands Th’ unwilling foil, and tames the ftubbern lands. Ye fwains, invoke the pow’rs who rule the-fky,. For a moift fummer, and a w inter dry : • For winter drought rewards the pcafant’s pain. And broods indulgent on the bury’d grain. Hence Myfia boalts her harvefts, and the tops Of Gargarus admire their happy crops. When firfi the foil receives the fruitful feed, Make no delay, but cover it with fpeed: So, fenc’d from cold, the pliant furrows break,. Before the furly clod refifis the rake; And call the floods from high to rufll amain,, With pregnant ftreams, to fwell the teeming grain. G E O R G I C I. v. isi. 'J? Then when the fiery funs too fiercely play. And (hrivell’d herbs on with’ring ftems decay. The wary ploughman, on the mountain’s brow, Undams his wat’ry ftores; huge torrents flow ; And, rattling down the rocks, large moilture yield, Temp’ring the thirfty fever of the field. And left the ftem, too feeble for the freight, Shou’d fcarce fuftain the head’s unweildy weight, Sends in his feeding flocks betimes t’ invade The rifing bulk of the luxuriant blade; Ere yet th’ afpiring offspring of the grain O’ertops the ridges of the furrow’d plain : And drains the (landing waters, when they yield Too large a bev’rage to the drunken field. But moft in autumn, and the Ibow’ry fpring. When dubious months uncertain weather bring ; When fountains open, when impetuous rain Swells hafty brooks, and pours upon the plain ; When earth with (lime and mud is cover’d o’er; Or hollow places fpue their wat’ry (lore. Nor yet the ploughman, nor the lab’ring (leer, Suftain alone the hazards of the year : But glutton geefe, and the Strymonian crane, With foreign troops invade the tender grain : And tow’ring weeds malignant (hadows yield ; And fpreading fucc’ry choaks the rifing field. The fire of gods and men, with hard decrees, , Forbids our plenty to be bought with eafe; And wills that mortal men, inur’d to toil, : Should exercife, with pains, the grudging foiL tHimfelf invented firft the fhining (hare,. ' And whetted human induftry by care: G 2* G E 0 R O I C I. v. iSj. Ilimfelf did handicrafts and arts ordain; Nor fuffer’d floth to ruft his aftive reign. Ere this, no peafant vex’d the peaceful ground; Which only turfs and greens for altars found; No fences parted fields, nor marks nor bounds Diflinguiih’d acres of litigious grounds: But all was common, and the fruitful earth Was free to give her unexa&xl birth. Jove added venom to the viper’s brood, And iwell’d with raging ftorms the peaceful flood ; Commiflion’d hungry wolves t’ infeft the fold ; And fhook from oaken leaves the liquid gold. Remov’d from human reach the chearful fire. And from the rivers bad the wine retire : That fludious need might ufeful arts explore, From furrow’d fields to reap the foodful ftore : And force the veins of claflfing flints t’ expire The lurking feeds of their celeftial fire. Then firfi on feas the hollow’d alder fwam; Then tailors quarter’d heav’n, and found a name For ev’ry fix’d and ev’ry wand’ring ftar, The 1’leiads, Hyads, and the northern car. Then toils for beads, and lime for birds were found And deep-mouth’d dogs did fored-walks furround And ending nets were fpread in fhallow brooks; Drags in the deep, and baits were hung on hooks. Then faws were tooth’d, and founding axes made; (For wedges fird did yielding wood invade :) And various arts in order did fucceed; (What cannot endlefs labour urg’d by need ?) Fird Ceres taught the ground with grain to fow. And arm’d with iron (hares the crooked plough : G E O R G I C I. iu. IC When now Dodonian oaks no more fupply’d Their maft, and trees their foreft-fvuit deny’d. Soon was his labour doubl’d to the Twain, And blafled mildews blacken’d all his grain. Tough thirties choak’d the fields, and kill’d the corn, And an unthrifty crop of weeds was born. Then burrs and brambles, an unbidden crew Of gracelefs guefts, th’ unhappy field fubdue: And oats unblefs’d, and darnel domineers, And rtioots its head above the fhining ears, i So that, unlefs the land with daily care Is exercis’d, and with an iron war, Of rakes and harrows, the proud foes expell’d, And birds with clamours frighted from the field; Unlefs the boughs are lopp’d that (bade the plain, And heav’n invok’d with vows for fruitful rain, On other crops you may with envy look, And (hake for food the long-abandon’d oak. Nor murt we pafs untold what arms they wield, Who labour tillage and the furrow’d field : Without whofe aid the ground her corn denies, And nothing can be Town, and nothing rife. The crooked plough, the (hare, the tow’ring heigh: Of waggons, and the cart’s unwieldy weight; iThe (led, the tumbril, hurdles, and the flail, The fan of Bacchus, with the flyipg fail : Thefe all muft be prepar’d, if ploughmen hope The promis’d bleffing of a bounteous crop. Young elms with early force in copfes bow, ^Pit for the figure of the crooked plough. 101 G E O R G I C I. v. 151. Of eight foot long a fatten'd beam prepare, On either fide the head produce an ear, And fink a focket for the (hining (hare. Of beech the plough-tail, and the bending yoke; Or fofter linden harden’d in the fmoke. I cou’d be long in precepts ; but 1 fear So mean a fubjeft might offend your car. Delve of convenient depth your threftung-floor ; With temper’d clay then fill and face it o’er ; And let the weighty roller run the round, To fmooth the furfacc of th’ unequal ground : Lett, crack’d with fummer-heats the flooring flics, Or finks, and through the crannies weeds arife. For fundry foes the rural realm furround : The field-moufe builds her garner under ground; For gather’d grain, the blind laborious mole. In winding mazes works her hidden hole. In hollow caverns vermin make abode; The hiding ferpent, and the dwelling toad: The corn-devouring weezle here abides; And the wife ant her wint’ry (lore provides. Mark well the flow’ring almonds in the wood; If od’rous blooms the bearing branches load. The glebe will anfwer to the fylvan reign; Great heats will follow, and large crops of grain. But if a wood of leaves o’erfliade the tree, Such and fo barren will thy harveft be ; In vain the hind (hall vex the threfhing-floor. For empty chaff and draw will be thy (lore. Some deep their feed, and dome in cauldrons boil. With vig’rous nitre, and with lees of oil, G E 0 R G I C I. r. j8x. »o| O’er gentle fire?; th’ exuberant juice to drain. And fwell (he flatt’ring hulks with fruitful grain. Yet is not the fuccefs for years aflur’d, Though chofen is the feed, and fully cur’d ; Unlefs the peafant, with his annual pain, Renews his choice, and culls the largeft grain. Thus all below, whether by nature’s curfe. Or fate’s decree, degen’rate dill to worfe. So the boats brawny crew the current ftem, And, flow advancing, ftruggle with the ftream : But if they flack their hands, or ceafe to drive, Then down the flood with headlong hade they drive. Nor mud the ploughman lefs obferve the Ikies, When the Kids, Dragon, and Arfturus rile, Than failors homeward bent, who cut their way Thro’ Helle’s flormy drcights, and oyder-breeding fea- But when Adrea’s balance, hung on high. Betwixt the nights and days divides the iky, Then yoke your oxen, fow your winter grain ; ’Till cold December comes with driving rain. Linefeed and fruitful poppy bury warm. In a dry feafon, and prevent the derm. Sow beans and clover in a rotten foil. And millet rifmg from your annual toil; j'When with his golden horns, in full career, T The Bull beats down the barriers of the year ; > 1 And Argos and the Dog forfake the northern fphere. j But if your care to wheat alone extend, Let Maia with her fiflers firfl defeend, V. And the bright Gnoflian diadem downward bend, j) before you trufl in earth your future hope ; Or elfe expeft a lidlefs lazy crop. G 4 154 g e o r G r e r. v. ^ Some fwains have fown before, but moft have found bulky harveft from the grudging ground. Vile vetches would you fow, or lentils lean, The growth of Egypt, or the kidney-bean ? Begin when the Slow Waggoner defcends. Nor ceafe your fowing till mid-winter ends: For this, thro’ twelve bright figns Apollo guides The year, and earth in feveral climes divides. Five girdles bind the (kies ; the torrid zone Glows with the palling and repairing fun. Far on the right and left, th’ extremes of heav’n, To frofts and fnows, and bitter blalts are giv’n. Betwixt the midft and thele, the gods affigu’d Two habitable feats of human kind : Andcrofs their limits cut a Hoping way, Which the twelve figns in beauteous order fway. Two poles turn round the globe ; one feen to rife O’er Scythian hills, and one in Lybian (kies. The firll fublime in heav’n, the laft is whirl’d Below the regions of the nether world. Around our pole the fpiry Dragon glides, And like a winding ft ream the Bears divides, The lefs and greater, who by fate’s decree Abhor to dive beneath the fouthern fea : There, as they fay, perpetual night is found In filence brooding on th’ unhappy ground: Or when Aurora leaves our northern fphere, She lights the downward heav’n, and rifes there. And when on us fee breathes the living light, Red vefper kindles there the tapers of the night. From hence uncertain feafor.s we may know ; And when to reap the grain, and when to fow r georgic r. v.346- ioS~ Or when to fell the furzes, when ’tis meet To fpread the flying canvafs for the fleet. Obferve what liars arife or difappear; And the four quarters of the rolling year. But when cold weather, and continu’d rain, The lab’ring hufband in his houfe reltrain : Let him forecaft his work with timely care. Which elfe is huddl’d when the Ikies are fair : Then let him mark the fheep, or whet the Alining fliare, Or hollow t. ees for boats, or number o’er His lacks, or meafure his incrCafing ftore : Or fbarpen flakes, or head the forks, or twine The fallow twigs to tie the ftraggling vine ; Or wieker-balkets weave, or air the corn, Or grinded grain betwixt two marbles turn. No laws, divine or human, can reftrain From neceflkry works, the lab’ring fwain. Lv’n holidays and feafts per million yield, To float the meadows, or to fence the field, To fire the brambles, fnare the birds, and fteep 1 In wholfome water-fails the woolly fheep. And oft the drudging als is driv’n, with toil. To neighb’ring towns with apples and with oil : ’^Returning late, and loaden home with gain ■Of barter’d pitch, and hand-mills for the grain. 1 The lucky days, in each revolving moon. For labour chufe : The fifth be fureto fhun ; That gave the furies and pale Pluto birth, And arm’d, againft the ikies, the fons of earth. AVith mountains pil’d on mountains, thrice they drove To fcale the fteepy battlements of Jove : X06 G E O R G I C. I. v. 37^. And thrice his lightning and red thunder play’dj And their demolilh’d works in ruin laid. The fev’nth is, next the tenth, the bell to join Young oxen to the yoke, and plant the vine. Then weavers ftretch your (lays upon the weft : The ninth is good for travel, bad for theft. Some works in dead of night are better done ; Or when the morning dew prevents the fun. Parch’d meads and ftubble mow by Phcebe’s light; Which both require the coolnefs of the night: For moifture then abounds, and pearly rains Defcend in filence to refrefh the plains. The wife and hulband equally confpire, To work by night, and rake the winter-fire : He iharpens torches in the glimm'ring room. She (hoots the flying (buttle through the loom : Or boils in kettles muft of wine, and (kirns With leaves, the dregs that overflow the brims. And till the watchful cock awakes the day. She lings to drive the tedious hours away. But in warm weather, when the (kies are clear. By day-light reap the produft of the year : And in the fun your golden grain difplay. And threfh it out, and winnow it by day. Plough naked, fwain, and naked fow the land, For lazy winter numbs the lab’ring hand. In genial winter, fwains enjoy their (lore, Forget their hardlhips, and recruit for more. The farmer to full bowls invites his friends ; And what he got with pains, with pleafure fpends So failors, when efcap’d from (lormy feas, Firft crown their veflels, then indulge their cafe. G F. O R G I C I. v. 409. ref Yet that’s the proper time to threrti the wood For mad: of oak, your fathers homely food ; To gather laurel-berries, and the fpoil Of bloody myrtles, and to prefs youroiL For (balking cranes to fet the guileful fnare, T’ inclofe the (lags in toils, and hunt the hare ; With Balearic (lings, or Gnoffian bow. To profecute from far the flying doe. Then, when the fleecy (kies new clothe the wood, And cakes of ruftling ice come rolling down the flood. Now fing w-e (lormy (lars, when autumn w'eigh The year, and adds to nights, and (hortens days; And funs declining (hine with feeble rays : 1 What cares mull then attend the toiling fw'ain; Or when the low’ring fpring, with laviih rain, ' Beats down the (lender ftem and bearded grain: While yet the head is green, or lightly fwell’d With milky moifture, overlooks the field. Ev’n when the farmer, now fecure of fear, Sends in the fwains to (poil the finilh’d year; Fv’n while the reaper fills his greedy hands, And binds the golden (heafs in brittle bands ; Oft have I feen a fudden (lorm arife, From all the warring winds that fweep the (kies : The heavy harveft from the root is torn, ’And whirl’d aloft the lighter (bubble born ; With fuch a force, the flying rack is driv’n ; .And fuch a winter wears the face of heav’n : And oft whole fheets defcend of fluicy rain, .Suck’d by the fpongy clouds from off the main: The lofty (kies at once come pouring down, The promis’d crop and golden labours drown. 108 G E O R G I C I. v. 441, The dikes are fill’d, and with a roaring found The rifing rivers float the nether ground; And rocks the bellowing'voice of boiling feas rebound. The father of the gods his glory ihrowds. Involv’d in tempefta, and a night of clouds. And from the middle darknefs flalhing out. By fits he deals his fiery bolts about. Earth feels the motions of her angry god, Her entrails tremble, and her mountains nod ; And flying beads in forefls feek abode: Deep horror feizes ev’ry human bread ; Their pride is humbled, and their fear confefs’d. While he from high his rowling 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 on heaps are dafh’d againfl the fliore. And now the woods, and now the billows roar. In fear of this, obferve the darry figns, Where Saturn houfes, and where Hermes joins. But fird to heav’n thy due devotions pay. And annual gifts on Ceres’ altars lay. When winter’s rage abates, when chearful hours Awake the fpring, and fpring awakes the fiow’rs. On the green turf thy carelefs limbs difplay, And celebrate the mighty mother’s day. For then the hills with pleafing (hades are crown’d. And fleeps are tweeter on the fiiken ground: With milder beams the fun fecurely (bines; Fat are the lambs, and lufcious are the wines. Let ev’ry Twain adore her pow’r divine, And milk and honey mix with fparkling wine : G E O R G I C I. v. 473. ICj) Let all the choir of clowns attend the fliow, In long proceffion, (houting as they go ; Invoking her to blefs their yearly ftores, Inviting plenty to their crouded floors. Thus in the fpring, and thus in fummer’s heat. Before the Tickles touch the ripening wheat. On Ceres call ; and let the lab’ring hind With oaken wreaths his holy temples bind : On Ceres let him call, and Ceres praife. With uncouth dances, and with country lays. And that by certain figns we may prefage Of heats and rains, and wind’s impetuous rage. The fov’reign of the heav’ns has fet on high The moon, to mark the changes of the fky : When fouthern blafts fhou’d ceafe, and when the Twain Shou’d near their folds his feeding flocks re drain. For, e’er the rifing winds begin to roar, The working feas advance to wa(h the (hore : Soft whifpers run along the leafy woods, And mountains whiftle to the murm’ring floods: Ev’n then the doubtful billows fcarce abftain From the tofs’d veflel on the troubled main : When crying cormorants forfake the fea, And ftretching to the covert wing their way : When fportful coots run Ikimmingo’er the llrand; When watchful herons leave their watry (land, And mounting upward with erefted flight, Gain on the (kies, and (bar above the light. And oft before tempeft’ous winds arile, The feeming liars fall headlong from the Ikies; no G20RGIC I. v.is^. And, fliooting through th« darknefs, gild the night With fweeping glories, and long trails of light : And chaff with eddy winds is whirl’d around. And dancing leaves are lifted from the ground ; And floating feathers on the waters play. But when the winged thunder takes his way From the cold north, and eaft and wed engage, And at their frontiers meet with equal rage, The clouds are crufb’d, a glut of gather’d rain The hollow ditches fills, and floats the plain. And failors furl their dropping flreets amain. Wet weather feldoni hurts the moll unwife ; So plain thefigns, fuch prophets are the ikies. The wary crane forefees it firih, and fails Above the ftcrm, and leaves the lowly vales. The cow' looks up, and from afar can find The change of heav’n, and fnuffs it in the wind; The fwallow flams the river’s wat’ry face : The frogs renew the croaks of their loquacious race. The careful ant her fecret cell forfakes. And drags her eggs along the narrow tracks. At either horn the rainbow drinks the flood. Huge flocks of riling rooks forefake their food, 1 And, crying, feek the ihelter of the wood. Befides, the fev’ral forts of wat’ry fowls. That fwim thefeas, or haunt the (landing pools : The fwans that fail along the filver flood, And dive with (Iretching necks to fearch their food, Then lave their backs with fprinkling dews in vain. And Hem the dream to meet the promis’d rain. The crow with clam’rous cries the Ihow’r demands. And Angle ftalks along the defart fands. G E 0 R G I C I. v. jjj. i'll- The nightly virgin, while her wheel fhe plies, Forefees the florin impending in the ikies. When fparkling lamps their fputt’ring light advance. And in the lockets oily bubbles dance. Then after fhow’rs, ’tis eafy to defcry Returning funs, and a ferener Iky : The flats (hine fmarter, and the moon adorns. As with unborrow’d beams, her (harpen’d horns. The filmy goilamer now flits no more, Nor halcyons balk on the fhort funny fhore : Their litter is not tofs’d by lows unclean ; But a blue droughty mill defcends upon the plain t And owls, that mark the fetting fun, declare A flar-light evening, and a morning fair.. Tow’ring aloft, avenging Nifus flies, While dat’d below the guilty Scylla lies. Wherever frighted ScyBa flies away, Swift Nifus follows, and purfnes his prey. Where injur’d Nifus takes his airy courfe, Thence trembling Scylla flies, and fhuns his force. This punilhment purfues th’ unhappy maid; And thus the purple hair is dearly paid. Then, thrice the ravens rend the liquid air, And croaking notes proclaim the fettled fair. Then, round their airy palaces they fly. To greet the fun ; and feiz’d with ferret joy. When ftorms are over-blown, with food repair To their forfaken nells, and callow care. Not that I think their breafts with heav’nly fouls Infpir’d, as man, who deftiny controuls. Tut with the changeful temper of the ikies. As rains condenfe, and fun-fhine rarifies; Hi G E O R G I C I. v. 457. So turn the fpecics in their alter’d minds, Compos’d by calms, and difoompos’d by winds. From hence proceeds the birds harmonious voice : From hence the cows exult, and friikiug lambs rejoice, Oblerve the daily circle of the fun, And the (hort year of each revolving moon : By them thou fnalt forefee the following day ; Nor lhall a ftarry night thy hopes betray. When firft the moon appears, if then fhe Ihrouds Her filver crefceut, tip’d with fable clouds; Conclude (lie bodes a tempell on the main, And brews for fields impetuous floods of rain. Or if her face with fiery fiulhings glow, Expert the rattling winds aloft to blow. But four nights old, (for that’s the fureft fign,) With (harpen’d horns if glorious then (he Ihine : Next day, nor only that, but all the moon, Till her revolving race be wholly run, Are void of tempells, both by land and fea, And failors in their port their promis’d vow (hall pay. Above the reft, the fun, who never lies, Foretels the change of weather in the Ikies : For if he rife, unwilling to his race, Clouds on his brows, and fpots upon his face ; Or if thro’ mills he fhoots his fullen beams, Frugal of light, in loofe and draggling ftreams} | Sufpert a drifling day, with fouthern rain, Fatal to fruits, and flocks, and promis’d grain. Or if Aurora, with half-open’d eyes. And a pale fickly cheek, falute the Ikies ; G E O R G I C I. 191- 113 How (hall the vine, with tender leaves defend Her teeming cinders, win .1 the dorms defcend; When ridgy roofs and tiies can fcarce avail, To bar the ruin of the rattling hail ? But more than all, the fetting fun furvey, When down the deep of heav’n he drives the day. For oft we find him finishing his race, With various colours erring on his face ; If fiery red his glowing globe defcends. High winds and furious tempeds he portends. But if his checks are fwoln with livid blue, He bodes wet weather by his wat’ry hue. If dulky fpots are vary’d on his brow, And, dreak’d with red, a troubl’d colour Ihow; That fullen mixture lhall at once declare Winds, rain, and dorms, and elemental war. What defp’rate madman then wou’d venture o’er The frith, or haul his cables from the Ihore ? But if with purple rays he brings the light. And a pure heav’n religus to quiet night; No riling winds, or falling dorms, arc nigh : \ But northern breezes through the fored fly : S, And drive the rack, and purge the ruffl'd iky. S Th’ unerring fun by certain figns declares, (What the late ev’n, or early morn prepares : ’’ And when the fouth projedfs a dormy day, ^And when the clearing north will pulfthe clouds away. The fun reveals the fecrets of the Iky ; And who dares give the fource of light the lye ? The change of empires often he declares, '^Fierce tumults, hidden treafons, open wars. t VOL. V. H 114 G E O R G I C I. v. 618. He firft the fate of Caefar did foretel, And pity’d Rome, when Rome in Caefar fell; In iron clouds conceal’d the public light : And impious mortals fear’d eternal night. Nor was the faft foretold by him alone ; Nature herfelf flood forth, and feconded the fun : Earth, air, and fcas, with prodigies were figr.’d, And birds obfcene, and howling dogs divin'd. What rocks did ^Etna’s bellowing mouth expire From her torn entrails ! and what floods of fire! What clanks were heard, in German flues afar. Of arms and armies milling to the war? Dire earthquakes rent the folid Alps below, And from their fummits (hook th’ eternal fnow. Pale fpeftres in the clofe of night were feen; And voices heard of more than mortal men. In fdent groves dumb (beep and oxen fpoke, And dreams ran backward, and their beds forfook : The yawning earth difclos’d th’ abyfs of hell: The weeping ftatues did the wars fortel; C And holy fweat from brazen idols fell. \ Then riling in his might, the king of floods, Rulh'd thro’ the forefts, tore the lofty woods ; And rowling onward, with a fweepy fway, Fore heufes, herds, and lab’ring hinds away. Blood fprang from wells, wolves howl’d in towns by night, And boding victims did the prielts affright. Such peals of thunder never pour’d from high. Nor forky light’nings flafh’d from fuch a fallen Iky. Red meteors ran a-crofs th’ etherial fpace ; Stars difappear’d, and comets took their place. G E O R G I C I. v. 6S9- For this th’ Etnathian plains once more were ftrow’d With Roman bodies, and juft heav’n thought good ( To fatten twice thole fields with Roman blood. J Then, after length of time, the lab’ting fwains. Who turn the turfs of thole unhappy plains, Shall rufty piles from the plough’d furrows take, And over empty helmets pafs the rake ; Amaz’d at antic titles on the Hones, And mighty relics of gigantic bones. Ye home-born deities, of mortal birth ! Thou father Romulus, and mother Earth, Goddefs unmov’d ! whole guardian arms extend O’er Tulcan Tiber’s courfe, and Roman tow’rs defend With youthful Caelar your joint pow’rs engage, Nor hinder him to lave the finking age. O ! let the blood, already fpilt, atone For the pall crimes of curft Laoinedon ! Heav’n wants thee there, and long the gods, we know, Have grudg’d thee, Caefar, to the world below. Where fraud and rapine, right and wrong confound; Where impious arms from ev’ry part refound, V And monftrous crimes in ev’ry drape are crown’d. 3 The peacelul peafant to the wars is preft ; The fields lie fallow in inglorious reft. The plain no pafture to the flock affords, The crooked feythes are ftreighten’d into fwords : And there Euphrates her foft offspring arms ; And here the Rhine rebellows with alarms : The neighb’ring cities range on fev’ral tides ; Perfidious Mars long-plighted leagues divides, ? 1 And o’er tire wafted world in triumph rides. H 1 u<$ G E O R G I C I. v. (Sj>c. So four fierce courfers ftarting to the race, Scour thro’ the plain, and lengthen ev’ry pace; Nor reins, nor curbs, nor threat’ning cries they fear. But force along the trembling charioteer. V I R G I L’s

G E O R G I C S.

BOOK II.

THE ARGUMENT; 'THE fiibjeR of the folio-wing look is planting. In hand- ling of -which argument, the poet fheius all the different methods of raffing trees : Defcribes their variety ; and gives rules for the management of each in particular. He then points out the foils in -which the feveral plants thrive heft ; and thence takes occafwn to run out into the praffes of Italy. After -which he gives fame di- reHions for difeovering. the nature of every foil ; pre- fcrilcs rules for the dreffmg of vines, olives, ire. and concludes the Georgic -with a panegyric on a country- life. THUS far of tillage, and of heav’nly figns ; Now ling, my Mufe,the growth.of gen’rous vines’s The fhady groves, the woodland progeny. And the flow produft of Minerva’s tree. Great father Bacchus ! to my fong repair ; For cluft’ring grapes are thy peculiar care : H 3 118 G E O R G I C II. v. 7. For tliee large bunches load the bending vine. And the lad: bleffings of the year are thine. To thee his joys the jolly Autumn owes, When the fermenting juice the vat o’erflows. Come drip with me, my god, come drench all o’er Thy limbs in mud of wine, and drink at ev’ry pore. Some trees their birth to bounteous Nature owe t For feme without the pains of planting grow. With ofiers thus the banks of brooks abound. Sprung from the watry genius of the ground ; From the fame piinciples grey willows come ; Herculean poplar, and the tender broom. But fome from feeds inclos’d in earth arife : For thus the madful chefnut mates the Ikies. Hence rife the branching beech and vocal oak, Where Jove of old oracuioufiy fpoke. Some from the root a rifing wood difclofe ; Thus elms, and thus the favage cherry grows. Thus the green bays, that bind the poet’s brows. Shoots, and is Ihclter’d by the mother’s boughs. Thefe ways of planting Nature did ordain For trees and dirubs, atul all the fylvan reign. Others there are, by late experience found : Some cut the (boots, and plant in furrow’d ground Some cover rooted dalks in deeper mold : Some cloven dakes, and (wond’rous to behold,) Their (harpen’d ends in earth their footing place. And the dry poles produce a living race. Some bow their vines, which bury’d in the plain, Their tops in didant arches rife again : Others no root require ; the lab'rer cuts Young (lips, and in the foil fecurely puts. G E O R G I C II. v. 39. ! Ev’n flumps of olives, bar’d of leaves, and dead, Revive, and oft redeem their wither’d head. ’Tis ufual now, an inmate grafFto fee With infolence invade a foreign tree : Thus pears and quinces from the crab-tree come ; And thus the ruddy cornel bears the plum. 1 Then let the learned gard’ner mark with care The kinds of flocks, and what thole kinds will bear : Explore the nature of each fev’ral tree; And known, improve with artful induflry : And let no fpot of idle earth be found, i Hut cultivate the genius of the ground : For open Ifmarus will Bacchus pleafe ; Taburnus loves the (hade of olive trees. The virtues of the fev’ral foils 1 ling, ll Maecenas, now thy needful fuccour bring ! O thou! the better part of my renown, Infpire thy poet, and thy poem crown : Em bark with me, while I new tracts explore. With flying fails and breezes from the (bore : Not that my long, in fuch a fcanty (pace. s So large a fubjedt fully can embrace ; Not tho’ I were fupply’d with iron lungs, A hundred mouths fill’d with as many tongues : But fleer my vefiel with a fteady hand. , And coaft along the fhore in fight of land. Nor will I tire thy patience with a train 1 Oi preface, or what ancient poets feign. The trees, which of themlelves advance in air, Are barren kinds, but flrougly built, and fair : Becaufe the vigour of the native earth Maintains the plant, and makes a manly birth. f H4 JiO G E O R G I C II. v. 71. Yet thefe, receiving graffs of other kind, Or thence tranfpianted, change their favage tnind : Their wildnefs lofe. and qiiittii-.g Nature’s part. Obey the rules and difcipiine of art. The fame do trees, that, fprung from barren roots In open fields tranfpianted bear their fruits : For where they grow the native energy Turns all into the fubflap.ee of the tree, Starves and deflroys the fruit, is only made For brawny bulk, and for a barren fhade. The plant that Ihoots from feed, a fullen tree At leifure grows, for late poflerity ; The gen’rous flavour loft, the fruits decay, And favage grapes are made the birds ignoble prey. Much labour is requir’d in trees, to tame Their wild diforder, and in ranks reclaim. Well muft the ground be digg’d, and better drefs’d, New foil to make, and meliorate the reft. Old flakes of olive trees in plants revive ; ISy the fame methods Paphian myrtles live : But nobler vines by propagation thrive. From roots hard hazles, and from feions rife Tall aft), and taller oak, that mates the fkies: Palm, poplar, fir, defeending from the fleep Of hills, to try the dangers of the deep. The thin-leav’d arbute hazle graffs receives; And planes huge apples bear, that bore but leaves. Thus maftful beech the briftly chefnut bears ; And the wild afh is white with blooming pears. And greedy fwine from grafted elms are fed. With falling acorns, that on oaks are bred. G E O R G I C H. v. ioi. nr But various are the ways to change the ftate j Of plants, to oud, to grafT, t' inoculate. If For wliere the tender rinds of trees difclofe Their Ihootiug gems, a fwelling knot there grows; Juft in that fpace a narrow flit we make, j Then other buds from bearing trees we take : Inferted thus, the wounded rind we clofe, In whofe moift womb th’ admitted infant grows. But when the fmoother bole from knots is free, We make a deep incifion in the tree; And in the folid w'ood the flip inclofe; 1 The bat’ning baftard fhoots again, and grows : And in fliort fpace the laden boughs arife, With happy fruit advancing to the Ikies. The mother plant admires the leaves unknown, Of alien trees, and apples not her own. Of vegetable woods are various kinds, And the fame fpecies are of fev’ral minds. Totes, willows, elms, have ditF’rent forms allow’d ; So fun’ral cyprets rifing like a ftirowd. Fat olive trees of fundry forts appear : Of fundry lhapes their unfluous berries bear; Radii, long olives, orchit’s round produce ; And bitter Paufia, pounded for the juice. , Alcinous’ orchard various apples bears : 'I Unlike are bergamots and pounder pears, i Nor our Italian vines produce the fhape, Or tafte, or flavour of the Lefbian grape. 1 he 1 haflan vines in richer foils abound : Fhe Mareotic grow m barren ground. ■’’l Pfythian grape we dry : Lagaean juice, . W ill ftamm ring tongues, and ftagg’ring feet produce. Ill G E O R G I C II. v. 134. Rath ripe are Tome, and Ibme of later kind ; Of golden fome, and fome of purple rind. How (hall I praife the Raethean grape divine. Which yet contends not with Falernian wine! Th’ Amminean many a confullhip furvives. And longer than the Lydian vintage lives, Or high Lhanaeus king of Chian growth : Lut for large quantities, and lading both, Tile lets Argitis bears the prize away. The Rhodian, facred to the folcmn day. In fecond fervices is pour’d to Jove ; And bed accepted by the gods above. Nor mud Bumadus his old honours lofe, In length and largcneft like the dugs of cows. I paft the red, whofe ev’ry race and name, And kinds, are left material to my theme. Which who vvou’d learn, as foon may tell the fands, Driv’n by the wedern wind on Lybian lands: Or number, when the blud’ring Eurus roars, The billows beating on Ionian (bores. Nor ev’ry plant on ev’ry foil will grow ; The fallow loves the watry ground, and low : The marlhes, alders : Nature feems t’ ordain The rocky cliff for the wild afhe’s reign : The baleful yew to northern blafts affigns; To fhores the myrtles, and to mounts the vines. Regard th’ extremed cultivated coad, From hot Arabia to the Scythian frod: All fort of trees their fev’ral countries know : Black ebon only will in India grow : And od’rous frahkincenfe on the Sabaean bough. G E O R. G I C II. v. t6s. ii.; jEalm flowly trickles through the bleeding veins I Of happy (hrubs, in Idumaean plains. 'The green ^Egyptian thorn, for med’cine good ; With Ethiop’s hoary trees and woolly wood. Let others tell: And how the Seres fpin |Their fleecy forefts in a flender twine. | With mighty trunks of trees on Indian (bores, Whofe height above the feather’d arrow foars, Shot from the toughed bough ; and by the braw» Of expert archers with vad vigour drawn. Sharp-taded citrons Median climes produce; 1 Bitter the rind, but gen’rous is the juice : ., A cordial fruit, a prefent antidote Againft the direful depdam’s deadly draught: I Who mixing wicked weeds with words impure, ! The fate of envy’d orphans wou’d procure. 1 Large is the plant, and like a laurel grows, ! And did it not a ditf’rent (cent difclofe, : A laurel were : The fragrant flow’rs contemn The dormy winds, tenacious of their liem. With this the Mcdes, to lab’ring age bequeath ' New lungs, and cure the fourneis of the breath, j But neither Median woods (a plenteous land,) Fair Ganges, Hermus rolling golden land, t^Nor Baftria, nor the richer Indian fields, „Nor all the gummy (lores Arabia yields; ;^Nor any foreign earth of greater name. Can with fweat Italy contend in fame. No bulls whole nofirils breathe a living flame, ' Have turn’d our turf, no teeth of ferpents here Were (own, an armed hofi, and iron crop to Lear. «4 G E O R G I C II. v. ipff. But fruitful tines and the fat olives freight. And harveflv heavy with their fruitful weight. Adorn our fields; and on the chearful green. The grazing flocks and lowing herds are feen. The warrior-horfe here bred, is taught to train ; There flows Clitumnus through the flow’ry plain Whofe waves, for triumphs after profp’rous war, The viflim ox, and fnowy fheep prepare. Perpetual fpring our happy climate fees, Twice breed the cattle, and twice bear the trees; And fummer funs recede by flow degrees. Our land is from the land of tigers freed; Nor nourifhes the lion’s angry feed ; Nor pois’nous aconite is here produc’d, Or grows unknown, or is, when known, refus’d. Nor in fo vafl: a length our ferpents glide Or rais’d on fuch a fpiry volume ride. Next add our cities of illuftrious name. Their coftly labour and flupenduous frame ; Our forts on fteepy hills, that far below See wanton ftreams in winding valleys flow'. Our twofold feas, that walking either fide, A rich recruit of foreign fitores provide. Our fpacious lakes; thee, Larius, firft; and, next, Benacus, with tempeftuous billows vext. Or (hall 1 praife thy ports, or mention make Of the vaft mound that binds the l.ucrine lake ; Or the difdainful fea, that, Ihut from thence, Roars round the ftrufture, and invades the fence. There, where fecure the Julian waters glide, Or w'here Avernus’ jaws admit the Tyrrhene tide. G E O R G I C II. v. M7- i*S 3ur quarries deep in earth, were fam’d of old dr veins of filver, and for ore of gold. Th’ inhabitants themfelves their country grace; lence rofe the Marfian and Sabellian race : Strong limb’d and flout, and to the wars inclin’d; \nd hard Ligurians, a laborious kind. \nd Volfcians arm’d with iron-headed darts: Sefides'an offspring of undaunted hearts; he Decii, Marii, great Camillus came rom hence, and greater Scipio’s double name : \nd mighty Caefar, whole viflorious arms, o fartheft Alia carry fierce alarms ; \vert unwarlike Indians from his Rome ; riumph abroad, fecure our peace at home. Hail, fweet Saturnian foil! of fruitful grain real parent, greater of illuftrious men. or thee my tuneful accents will I raife, \nd treat of arts difclos’d in antient days : nee more unlock for thee the facred fpring,. \nd old Afcraen verfe in Roman cities king. The nature of their fev’ral foils now fee, ITheir flrength, their colour, their fertility : ind, firfl, for heath, and barren hilly ground, iVhere meagre clay and flinty flones abound ; Inhere the poor foil all fuccour feems to want ; ?et this fufiices the PaHadian plant. Undoubted figns of fuch a foil are found ; or here wild olive-fhoots o’trfpread the ground, Ind heaps of berries drew the fields around. But where the foil, with fat’ning moiflure fill’d, ■j cloth’d with grafs, and fuiitful to be till’d; 116 G E O R G I C II. v. jjS. Such as in chearful vales we view from high, Which dripping rocks with rowling dreams fupply, And feed with ouze ; where rifmg hillocks run In length, and open to the fouthern fun ; Where fern fucceeds, ungrateful to the plough. That gentle ground to gen’rous grapes allow. Strong docks of vines it will in time produce. And overflow the vats with friendly juice; Such as our prieds in golden goblets pour To gods, the givers of the chearful hour, Then when the bloated Tufcan blows his horn, And reeking entrails are in chargers born. If herds or fleecy flocks be more thy care. Or goats that graze the field, and burn it bare : Then feck Tarentum’s lawns and farthed coad, Or fuch a field as haplefs Mantua led : Where filver fw'ans fails down the wat’ry road, And graze the floating herbage of the flood. There crydal dreams perpetual tenour keep, Nor food nor fprings are wanting to thy flieep. For what the day devours, the nightly dew Shall to the raorn in pearly drops renew. Fat crumbling earth is fitter for the plough, Putrid and loofe above, and black below : For ploughing is an imitative toil, Relembling nature in an tafy foil. No land for feed like this, no fields afford So large an income to the village-lord : No toiling tea ms from harved-labour come So late at nisht, fo heavv laden home. G E O R G 1 C II. v. iSS. nr The like of foreft-land is underftood, _ ' From whence the furly ploughman grubs the wood, C Which had for length of ages idle Hood. j Then birds forfake the ruins of their feat, And, flying from their nefls, their callow young forget. The courfe lean gravel, on the mountain Tides, Scarce dewy bev’rage for the bees provides: i Nor chalk nor crumbling (tones, the food of fnakes, That work in hollow earth their winding tracks. The foil exhaling clouds of fubtile dews, , Imbibing moifture which with eafe (he fpues. Which rufts not iron, and whofe mold is clean, ! Well cloth’d with chearful grafs, and ever green, ; Is good for olives, and afpiring vines, | Embracing hulband-elms in am’rous twines, Is fit for feeding cattle, fit to fow', And equal to the pafture and the plough. Such is the foil of fat Campanian fields, 'Such large increafe the land that joins Vefuvius yields ; And fuch a country could Acerra boaft, : Fill Clanius overflow’d th’ unhappy coaft. I teach thee next the diff’ring foils to know; The light for vines, the heavier for the plough. Chufe firft a place for fuch a purpofe fit, & here dig the folid earth, and fink a pit : Next fill the hole with its own earth again, And trample with thy feat, and tread it in : 1 hen i( it rile not to the former height l)t fupeifice, conclude that foil is light; A- proper ground for pafturage and vines, slut if the iullen earth, fo prefs’d, repines 1^8 G K O R G I C II. v. 319. Within its native manfion to retire, And ftays without, a heap of heavy mire; ’Tis good for arable, a glebe that alks Tough teams of oxen, and laborious talks. Salt earth and bitter are not fit to fow. Nor will be tam’d or mended with the plough. Sweet grapes degen’rate there, and fruits declin’d From their firlt flav’rous tafte, renounce their kind. This truth by fine experiment is try’d ; For firlt an ofier colendar provide Of twigs thick wrought, (fuch toiling peafants twine When thro’ llrait pallages they (train their wine:) In this clofe veilel place that earth accurs’d, But fill brimful with wholefome water firlt; Then run it through, the drops will rope around. And by the bitter talle difclofe the ground. The fatter earth by handling we may find, With eafe diltinguilh’d from the meagre kind Poor foil will crumble into dull, the rich Will to the fingers cleave like clammy pitch. Moilt earth produces corn and grafs, but both Too rank and too luxuriant in their growth. Let not my land fo large a promife boaft, Left the lank ears in length of ftem be loft. The heavier earth is by her weight betray’d; The lighter in the poifing hand is weigh’d : ’Tis eafy to diftinguilh by the fight The colour of the foil, and black from white. But the cold ground is difficult to know, Yet this the plants that profper there will (how ; Black ivy, pitch-trees, and the baleful yew. G E O R G I C II. v. 3Jo. Thefe rules confider’d well, with early care, The vineyard deltin’d for thy vines prepare: But, long before the planting, dig the ground, With furrows deep that cart a rifing mound : The clods, expos’d to winter-winds, will bake : For putrid earth will befl in vineyards take; And hoary frofts, after the painful toil Of delving hinds, will rot the mellow foil. Some peafants, not t’ omit the niceft care, Of the fame foil their nnrfery prepare , With that of their plantation; left the tree ’Tranflated, ftionld not with the foil agree. Befide, to plant it as it was, they mark The heav’n’s four quarters in the tender bark; ‘And to the north or fouth reftore the'fide. Which at their birth did heat or cold abide. So ftrong is cuftom ; Inch elfefts can ufe In tender fouls of pliant plants produce. Chufe next a province, for thy vineyard’s reign, X)n hills above, or in the lowly plain : If fertile fields or valleys be thy choice, |Tlant thick, for bounteous Bacchus will rejoice In clofe plantations there : But if the vine On rifing ground be plac’d, or hills fupine, iExtend thy loofe battalions largely wide, Ripening thy ranks and files on either fide : But marihall’d all in order as they ftand, And let no foldier ftraggle from his band. As legions in the field their front difplay, >'To try the fortune of fbme doubtful day, Am! move to meet their foes with fober pace, f; Btrift to their figure, though in wider fpace; Vox.. V. I 130 G E O R G I C II. v. jSt, Before the battle joins, while from afar The field yet glitters with the pomp of war. And equal Mars, like an impartial lord, Leaves all to Fortune, and the dint of fword. i So let thy vines in intervals be fet. But not their rural difcipline forget: Indulge their width, and add a roomy fpace, That their extremefi: lines may fcarce embrace : Nor this alone t’ indulge a vain delight. And make a pleafant profpeft for the fight: But for the ground itfelf, this only way. Can equal vigour to the plants convey ; Which, crouded, want the room their branches to: difplay. How deep they muft be planted would’ft thou knov In lhallovv furrows vines fecurely grow. Not fo the refl: of plants ; for Jove’s own tree. That holds the woods in awful fov’reignty, Requires a depth of lodging in the ground; And, next the lower Ikies, a bed profound ; High as his topmoft boughs to heav’n afcend, So low his roots to hell’s dominion tend. Therefore, nor winds, nor winter’s rage o’erthrows His bulky body, but unmov’d he grows : For length of ages lafts his happy reign, And lives of mortal men contend in vain. Full in the midft of his own flrength he (lands, ~r1 Stretching his brawny arms and leafy hands ; His (hade protefts the plains, his head the hills com- £ mands. _j The hurtful hazle in thy vineyard (hun ; Nor plant it to receive the fetting fun; G E O R G I C II. v. 411. • Nor break the topmoft branches from the tree; Nor prune, with blunted knife, the progeny. Root up wild olives from thy labour’d lands ; for fparkling fire, from hinds unwary hands, Is often fcatter’d o’er their undhious rinds, And after fpread abroad by raging winds. For firft the fmouid’ring flame the trunk receives; Afcending thence it crackles in the leaves: At length victorious to the top afpires, Involving all the wood in fmoaky fires. 'But mod when, driv’n by winds, the flaming ft arm, Of the long files deftroys the beauteous form. 1 In allies then th’ unhappy vineyard lies; . Nor will the blafted plants from ruin rife : I Nor will the wither’d (lock be green again; ;But the wild olive (hoots, and fhades th’ ungrateful plain. sBe not feduc’d with wifdom’s empty (hows, To ftir the peaceful ground when Boreas blows. When winter-frofls conftrain the field with cold. The fainty root can take no Heady hold, put when the golden ipring reveals the year, And the white bird returns, whom ferpents fear; That feafon deem the bed to plant thy vines : Next that, is when autumnal warmth declines; Sfcre heat is quite decay’d, or cold begun, Or Capricorn admits the winter-din. ‘ 1 The fpring adorns the woods, renews the leaves; (The womb of earth the genial feed receives. .N For then almighty Jove defeends, and pours , into his buxom bride his fruitful ihow’rs; Tnd, mixing his large limbs with hers, he feeds -ler births with kindly juice, and foders teeming feeds. I j ijl G E O R G I C rr. v. 444. Then joyous birds frequent the lonely grove. And beads, by nature dung, renew their love : Then fields the blades of bury’d corn difclofc, And while the balmy wedern fpirit blows, Earth to the breath her bofom dares expofe. With kindly moidure then the plants abound; The grafs fecurely fprings above the ground : The tender twig fhoots. upward to the Ikies; And on the faith of the new fun relies. The fwerving vines on the tall elms prevail, Unhurt by fouthern fhow’rs, or northern hail : They fpread their gems the genial warmth to (hare And boldly trud their buds in open air. In this foft feafon (let me dare to fing) The world was hatch’d by heav’n’s imperial king: In prime of all tire year, in holidays of I'piing. Then did the new creation fird appear ; Nor other was the tenor of the year: When laughing heav’n did the great birth attend. And eadern winds their wint’ry breath fuipend: Then deep fird iaw the fun in open fields; And favage beads were fent to dock the wilds: And golden dars flew up to light the flues, And man’s releutlefs rice from donny quarries rife. Nor ccu’d the tender, new creation bear Th’ exceffive heats or coldnefs of the year : Eut, chill’d by winter, or by dimmer fir’d, The middle temper of the fpring requir’d ; When warmth and moidure did at once abound, And heav’n’s indulgence brooded on the ground. For what remains, in depth of earth fecure Thy cover’d plants, and dung with hot manure; G E O R O \ C II. v. 47Athens thus old comedy began, When round the dreets the reeling aftors ran ; In country villages, and eroding ways, Contending for the prizes of their plays : And glad with Bacchus, on the graffy foil, Leapt o’er the £kins of goats befmear’d with oil. Thus Roman youth, deriv’d from ruin’d Troy, In rude Saturnian rhimes exprefs their joy: With taunts, and laughter loud, their audience pleafe, Deform’d with vizards cut from barks of trees : In jolly hymns they praife the god of wine, Whofe earthen images adorn the pine; And there are hung on high, in honour of the vine. G E O R G 1 C II. v. jjS. 13s iA madnefs fo devout the vineyard fills, • In hollow valleys and on rifing hills; On whate’er fide he turns his honeft face, And dances in the-wind, thofe fields are in his grace. To Bacchus therefore let us tune our lays. And in our mother-tongue refound his praife. Thin cakes in chargers, and a guilty goat, Dragg’d by the horns, be to his altars brought; Whofe offer’d intrails (hall his crime reproach, f And drip their fatnefs from the hazle broach. ■j To drefs thy' vines new labour is requir’d ; V1 Nor mull the painful hufbandman be tir’d : \; For thrice, at leaf!, in compafs of the year, 1 Thy vineyard muft employ the fhirdy fleer, f To turn the glebe; bcfides thy daily pain j|1 To break the clods, and make the furface plain : i j T’ unload the branches, or the leaves to thin, ; That fuck the vital moiflure of tho vine. Thus in a circle runs the peafant’s pain, And the year rolls within itfclf again. F.v’n in the lowed months, when dorms have fined ' From vines the hairy honours of their head; j Not then the drudging hind his,labour ends, But to the coming year his care extends: k Ev’n then the naked vine he perfecutes; Ft'is pruning-knife at once reforms and cuts. Be fird to dig the ground, be fird to burn The branches lopp’d, and fird the props return ilnto thy houfe, that bore the burden’d vines; But lad to reap the vintage of thy wanes. | Twice in the year luxuriant leaves o’erfhade jt Th’ incumber’d vine; rough brambles twice invade; s j5 G E O R G I C II. v. J7o. Hard labour both ! commend the large excefs Of fpacious -vineyards; cultivate the lefs. Befides, in woods the (lirubs of prickly thorn, Sallows and reeds, on banks of rivers born, Remain to cut; for vineyards ufeful found To llay thy vines, and fence thy fruitful ground. Nor when thy tender trees at length are bound; When peaceful vines from pruning-hooks are free; When hufbai'ds have furvey’d the la!t degree, And utmoft files of plants, and order’d ev’ry tree; Ev’n when they ling at eafe in full content, Infulting o’er the toils they underwent; Yet dill they find a future talk remain. To turn the foil, and break the clods again. And, after all, their joys are unfincere. While falling rains on ripening grapes they fear. Quite oppofite to thefe are olives found; No drclfing they require, and dread no wound : Nor rakes nor harrows need, but, fix’d below. Rejoice in open air, and unconcern’dly grow. The foil itfelf due nourilhment fupplies: Plough but the furrows and the fruits arifo : Content with fmall endeavours, till they fpring. Soft peace they figure, and fweet plenty bring: 1 hen olives plant, and hymns to Pallas ling. Thus apple-trees, whofe trunks are drong to bear Their fpreading boughs, exert themfolves in air: Want no iupply, but Hand focure alone, Not truding foreign forces, but their own : 1 ill, with the ruddy freight,, the bending branches groan. G E O R G I C II. v. 600. i37 Thus lives of nature, and each common bulh, Uncu tated thrive, and with red berries blufli^ Viie fhrubs are (horn for browze : The tow’ring height Of unftuous trees are torches for the night. And (hall we doubt, (indulging eafy floth,) To low, to let, and to reform their growth ? To leave the lofty plants; the lowly kind Are for the Ihepherd, or the (lieep defign’d. Ev’n humble broom and ofiers have their ule. And (hade for deep, and food for flocks produce; Hedges for corn, and honey for the bees: Bcfldes the pkafing profpeft of the trees. How goodly looks Cytorus, ever green With boxen groves ? with what delight are leen Narycian woods of pitch, whofe gloomy (bade. Seems for retreat of heav’nly Mules made! But much more pleafing are thofe fields to fee. That need not ploughs nor human induftry. Ev’n cold Caucafean rocks with trees are fpread, And wear green forefts on their hilly head : Though bending from the blaft of eaftern (forms. Though (bent their leaves, and Ihatter’d are their arms; Yet heav’n their various plants for ufe defigns: For houEs cedars, and for (hipping pines. Cyprefs provides for fpokes and wheels of wains: And ail for keels of (hips that fcour the wat’ry plains, WiHows in twigs are fruitful, elms in leaves: The war from (fubborn myrtle (hafts receives: From cornels jav’lins, and the tougher yew Receives the bending figure of a bow. 138 G E 0 R G I C II. v. 63!. Nor box, nor limes, without their ufe are made; Smooth-grain’d, and proper for the turner s trade : Which curious hands may carve, and lied with eafe invade. Light alder Hems the Po’s impetuous tide: And bees in hollow oaks their honey hide. Now balance, with thofe gifts, the fumy joys Of wine, attended with eternal noife. Wine urg’d to lawlefs lull the Centaur’s train ; Thro’ wine they quarell’d, and thro’ wine were f!ain> Oh happy, if he knew his happy flate ! The fwain, w'bo, free from bufinefs and debate, Receives his eaiy food from Nature’s hand, And juft returns of cultivated land ! No palace, with a lofty gate, he wants T’ admit the tides of early vifitants; With eager eyes devouring, as they pafs. The breathing figures of Corinthian brats. No ftatues threaten, from high pedeftais ; No Perfian arras hides his homely walls, With antic vefts ; which thro’ their flrady fold. Betray the ftveaks of ill-diflembled gold. He boafts no wood, whofe native white is dy’d With purple poifon of Aftyrian pride. No coftly drugs of Araby defile, With foreign {cents, the fweetnefs of his oil. But eafy quiet, a fecure retreat, A harmlefs life that knows not how to cheat. With home-bred plenty the rich owner blefs. And rural pleafttres crown his happinefs. Unvex’d with quarrels, undifturb’d with noife, The country king his peaceful realm enjoys; G E O R G 1 C II. v. 660. Cool grots, and living lakes, the flow’ry pride Of meads, and dreams that thro’ the valley glide. And (hady groves that eafy deep invite; And, after toilfome days, a foft repofe at night. Wild beads of nature in his woods abound ; And youth, of labour patient, plow the ground; Inur’d to hardlhip, and to homely fare. Nor venerable age is wanting there, In great examples to the youthful train : Nor are the gods ador’d with rites profane. From hence Adrea took her flight, and here The prints of her departing fleps appear. Ye lacred Mules, with whole beauty fir’d, My foul is raviih’d, and my brain infpir’d ; Whole pried I am, whofe holy fillets wear; Wan’d you your poets fird petition hear ! Give me the ways of wandring dars to know : The depths of heav’n above, and earth below : Teach me the various labours of the moon ; And w hence proceeds th’ ecliples of the fun : Why flowing tides prevail upon the main ; And in u'hat dark recefs they (brink again : YVhat lhakes the folid earth ; what caufe delays The dimmer nights, and fhortens winter days. But if my heavy blood redrain the flight Of my free foul, afpiring to the height Of nature, and unclouded fields of light : My next defire is, void of care and drife, To lead a foft, dcure, inglorious life. A country cottage near a chrydal flood, A winding valley, and a lofty wood. J40 G E O R G I C II. v. <;pi, Some god conduft me to the facrei. (hades, Where liacctianals are lung by Spartan maids. Or Uit me high to tiaernus’ hilly crown; Or in the plains of I\ pe lay me down : Or lead me to fome folitary place, And cover my retreat from human race. Happy the man, who Undying Nature’s laws. Thro’ known effectj can trace the fecret caufe : His mind pofleding, in a quiet (fate; Fearlefs of fortune, and refign’d to fate. And happy too is he, who decks the bow’rs Of fylvans, and adores the rural pow’rs : Whofe mind, unmov’d, the bribes of courts can fee ; Their glitt’ring baits, and purple flavery. Nor hopes the people’s praife, nor fears their frown; ' Nor, when contending kindred tear the crown, * Will fet up one, or pull another down. Without concern he hears, but hears from far, Of tumults and defeents, and diftant war : Nor with a fuperfntious fear is aw’d, For what befals at home, or what abroad. Nor envies he the rich their heapy (tore ; Nor his own peace difiurbs, with pity for the poor. He feeds on fruits, which of their own accord, The willing ground, and laden trees afford. From his lov’d home no lucre him can draw : The fenate’s mad decrees he never faw ; ^ Nor heard, at bawling bars, corrupted law. Some to the feas, and fome to camps refort; And fome with impudence invade the court : In foreign countries others feck renown ; With w'ars and taxes others wade their own, G E O R G I C II. v. 714. 14^ And houfes burn, and houfhold gods deface, To drink in bowls which glitt’ring gems inchafe : To loll on couches, rich with Cytron fteds, And lay their guilty limbs in Tyrian beds. This wretch in earth intombs his golden ore, Hov’ring and brooding on his bury’d (lore. Some patriot fools to popular praife afpire, Or public fpeeehes, which worfe fools admire ; While from both benches, with redoubl’d founds Th’ applaufe of lords and commoners abounds. Some thro’ ambition, or thro’ third of gold, Have (lain their brothers, or their country fold; And leaving their fweet homes, in exile run To lands that lie beneath another fun. The peafant, innocent of all thefe ills, -v With crooked, ploughs the fertile fallows tills- C And the round year with daily labour fills. C From hence the country-markets are fupply’d : Enough remains for houlhold charge belide His wife, and tender Children to fudain And gratefully to feed his dumb-deferving train. Nor ceafe his labours, till the yellow field A full return of bearded harved yield : A crop fo plenteous, as the land to load, ' O’ercome the crowded barns, and lodge on ricks abroad. Thus ev’ry fev’rai feafon is employ’d ; Some fpent in toil, and fome in eafe enjoy’d. The yeaning ews prevent the fpringing year; I ne laded boughs their fruits in autumn bear, 1 is then the vine her liquid harved yields, Bak’d in the fun-Ihine of alceuding fields. 141 G E O R G I C II. v. 754. The winter comes, and then the falling mad. For greedy fwine, provides a full repaft. Then olives, ground in mills, their fatnefs boaft, And winter fruits are mellow’d by the froft. His cares are eas’d with intervals of blifs ; His little children climbing for a kifs. Welcome their father’s late return at night; His faithful bed is crown’d with chafte delight. His kine with fwelling udders ready (land, And, lowing for the pale, invite the milker’s hand. His wanton kids, with budding horns prepar’d, Fight harmlefs battles in his homely yard : Himfelf in ruftic pomp, on holidays, To rural pow’rs a juft oblation pays; > And on the green his carelels limbs difplays. J The hearth is in the midft ; the herdfmen round The chearful fire, provoke his health in goblets crown’d. Fie calls on Bacchus, and propounds the prize ; The groom his fellow-groom at buts defies ; > And bends his bow, and levels with his eyes. J Or ftript for wreftling, fmears his limbs with oil, And watches with a trip his foe to foil. Such was the life the frugal Sabines led ; So Remus and his brother god were bred : From whom th’ auftere Etrurian virtue rofe, And this rude life our homely fathers choie. Old Rome from fuch a race deriv’d her birth, (The feat of empire, and the conquer’d earth :) Which now on fev’n high hills triumphant reigns. And in that compafs all the world contains. E’er Saturn’s rebel fon ufurp’d the (kies, When beads were only (lain for facrifice : G E O R G I C II. v. SS3. 143 While peaceful Crete enjoy’d her ancient lord. E’er founding hammers forg’d th’ inhuman fword: E’er hollow drums were beat, before the breath Of brazen trumpets rung the peals of death ; The good old god his hunger did affwage With roots and herbs, and gave the golden age. But over-labour’d with fo long a courle, ’Tis time to fet at eafe the fmoaking horfe. •VIRGIL’s

G E O R G I C S.

book III.

T H E A R G U M E N T. I HIS book begins with an invocation of fame rural dei- ties, and a compliment to Auguftus ; after which Vir- gil direBs himfelf to Maecenas, and enters on his ful- jeft. He lays down rules for the breeding and manage- ment ofhorfes, oxen, Jbeep, goats, and dogs ; and inter- weaves fever al pleafant deferiptions of a chariot-race, of the battle of the bulls, of the force of love, and of the Scythian -winter. In the latter part of the book be relates the dijeafes incident to cattle j and ends with the defeription of a fatal murrain that formerly rag’d among the Alps. THY fields, propitious Pales, I rehearfe; And ling thy pallures in no vulgar verle, Amphryfian Ihepherd ; the Rycaean woods; Arcadia’s flow’ry plains, and pleafing Hoods. G E O R G I C III. v. i\ • 4i All other themes, that carelefs minds invite, Are worn with ufe; unworthy me to write. Bufiris’ altars, and the dire decrees Of hard Euriftheus, ev’ry reader fees : Hylas the boy, Latona’s erring ifle, And Pelops’ iv’ry fhoulder, and his toil For fair Hippodame, with all the reft Of Grecian tales, by poets are exprefl: : New ways I muft attempt, my groveling name To raife aloft, and wing my flight to fame. _ I, firft of Romans, fhall in triumph come ■ From conquer’d Greece, and bring her troptpes home : With foreign fpoils adorn my native place ; And with Idume’s palms, my Mantua grace. , Of Parian (tone a temple will I raife. Where the flow Mincius through the valley (trays: Where cooling dreams invite the flocks to drink : ; And reeds defend the winding water’s brink. Full in the midfl (hall mighty Caefar fland : ! Hold the chief honours ; and the dome command. Then I, confpicuous in my Tyrian gown, (Submitting to his godhead my renown) A hundred courfers from the goal will drive ; The rival chariots in the race ihall drive. All Greece fhall flock from far, my games to fee ; ’The whirlbat, and the rapid race, Ihall be Referv’d for Caefar, and ordain’d by me. Myfelfj with olive crown’d, the gifts will bear: Ev’n now methinks the public (houts 1 hear : The palling pageants, and the pomps appear. 1, to the temple will conduft the crew ; ’The facrifice and facrificers view ; Vol. V. K

i I4 by two and two, Perfuade ’em firft to lead an empty wheel, | That fcarce the duff can raife, or they can feel: In length of time produce the labb’ring yoke And Ihining (hares, that make the furrows ffnoke. E’er the licentious youth be thus retrain’d. Or moral precepts on their minds have gain’d ; Their wanton appetites not only feed I„ With delicates of leaves, and marlhy weed; !i Eut with thy fickle reap the ranked land, And minifler the blade, with bounteous hand. Nor be with harmful parfimony won i To follow what our homely fires have done, t Who fill’d the pail with bceftings of the cow; ; But all her udder to the calf allow. IT* G E O R G I C III. v. 28p If to the warlike ftecd thy (Indies bend, Or for the prize in chariots to contend ; Near i‘ifa'-s flood the rapid wheels to guide; Or in Olympian groves aloft to ride; The gen’rous'labours of the courfer, firft, Muft be with fightof arms, and found of trumpetsnurfl Inur’d the groaning axle-tree to bear : And let him clafhing whips in {tables hear. Sooth him with praife, and make him underftand The loud applaufes of his maftir’s hand. This from his weaning, let him well be taught; And then betimes in a foft fnaffle wrought : Before his tender joints with nerves are knit ; Untry’d in arms, and trembling at the bit. But when to four full fprings his years advance, Teach him to run the round, with pride to prance ; • And (rightly manag’d) equal time to beat ; To turn, to bound in meafure, and curvet. Let him to this with eafy pains be brought : And feem to labour, when he labours not. Thus, form’d for {peed, he challenges the wind ; And leaves the Scythian arrow far behind : He fcours along the field with loofen’d reigns; And treads fo light, he fcarcely prints the plains. Like Boreas in his race, when rufhing forth. He fweeps the fkies, and clears the cloudy north r The waving harveft bends beneath his blafl; The forefl: (hakes, the groves their honour cad : He flies aloft, and with impetuous roar Purfues the foaming furges to the Ihore. Thus, o’er th’ Elean plains th’ well-breath’d horic Impels the flying carr, and wins the courfe : t> e o R' g r c in. v. 31 r. Or, bred to Belgian waggons, leads the way ; Untir’d at night, and chearful all the day. When once he’s broken, feed him full and high : Indulge his growth, and his gaunt fides iupply. Before his training, keep him poor and low ; Eor his flout ftomach with his food will grow : The pamper’d colt will difcipline difdain, Impatient of the lalh, and refliff to the rein. Wou’dfl thou their courage and their ftrength improve, Too fooh they mull not feel the flings of love. Whether the bull or courfer be thy care. Let him not leap the cow, nor mount the mare. The youthful bull mult wander in the wood ; Behind the mountain, or beyond the flood : Or, in the (tall at home his fodder find; Far from the charms of that alluring kind. With tw'o fair eyes his miflrefs burns his breaft ; He looks, and languilhes, and leaves his red ; Forfakes his food, and pining for the lais, Is joylels of the grove, and fpurns the growing grafs. The foft feducer, with enticing looks, The bellowing,rivals to the fight provokes. A beauteous heifer in the woods is bred ; The (looping warriors aiming head to head, Engage their ctalhing horns; with dreadful found The forefl ratties, and the rocks rebound. They fence, they pulb, and pufiiing loudly roar; Their dewlaps and their fides are bath’d in gore. Nor, when the war is over, is it peace ; Nor will the vanquish'd bull his claim releafe: But feeding in his breaft his antient fires, And curfing fate, from his proud foe retires. IJS G E O R G I C III. v. 349. Driv’n from his native land to foreign grounds, He with a gen’rous rage refents his wounds; His ignominious flight, the vigor’s boaft. And more than both, the loves, which unreveng’d he Often he turns his eyes, and with a groan. Surveys the pleafing kingdoms once his own. And therefoie, to repair his ftrength he tries; Hard’ning his limbs with painful exercife, And rough upon the flinty rock he lies. On prickly leaves and on lharp herbs he feeds ; Then to the prelude of a war proceeds. His horns, yet fore, he tries againft a tree; And meditates his abfent enemy. He fnuffs the wind, his heels the land excite; But, when he (lands collefted in his might, He roars, and promifes a more fuccefsful fight. Then, to redeem his honour at a blow', He moves his camp, to meet his carelefs foe. Not wdth more madnefs, rolling from afar, The fpumy waves proclaim the wat’ry war; And mounting upwards, with a mighty roar, March onwards, and infult the rocky fhore : They mate the middle reigion with their height; And fall no lefs than with a mountain’s weight : The waters boil, and, belching from below, Black fands, as from a forceful engine, throw. Thus ev’ry creature, and of ev’ry kind, The lecret joys of fweet coition find: Not only man’s imperial race, but they That wing the liquid air, or fwim the fea. Or haunt the defart, ruth into the flame : For love is lord of all, and is in all the fame. G E O R G I C III. v. 381. 'Tis with this rage, the mother-lion flung. Scours o’er the plain, regardleis of her young : Demanding rices of love; Ihc flernly ilalks, And hunts her lover in his lonely walks. ’Tis then the (hapelefs bear his den forfakes; In woods and fields a wild deflruclion makes. Boars whet their tufks; to battle tigers move; Enrag’d with hunger, more enrag’d with love. Then woe to him, that in the defart land Of Libya travels, o’er the burning fand. The ftallion fniilfs the well-known fcent afar; And fnorts and trembles for the dillant mare: Nor bits nor bridles can his rage rellrain ; And rugged rocks are interpos’d in vain: He makes his way o’er mountains, and contemns Unruly torrents, and unforded dreams. The bridled boar, who feels the pleafing wound, . New-grinds his arming tulks, and digs the ground. The fieepy leacher (huts his little eyes; About his churning chops the frothy bubbles rife : He rubs his tides againd a tree ; prepares And hardens both his fhoulders for the wars. What did the youth, when love’s unening dart Transfix’d Ills liver, and inflam’d his heart ? Alone, by night, his wat’ry way be took ; 1,' About him, and above, the billows broke: ' The fluices of the fky were open fpread; 'l And rolling thunder rattl’d o’er his head. The raging tempeds call’d him back in vain ; And ev’ry boding omen of the main. Nor con’d his kindred, nor the kindly force !j Of weeping parents, change his fatal courfe . is* G E O R G I C HI. v. 413. No, not the dying maid, who tnuft deplore His floating carcafs on the Seftian fliore. I pafs the wars that fpotted lynxes make With their fierce rivals, for the females fake : The howling wolves, the martiffs amorous rage; When ev’n the fearful flag dares for his hind engage. But far above the reft, the furious mare, Barr’d from the male, is frantic with defpair. For when her pouting vent declares her pain. She tears the harnefs, and ihe rends the rein ; For this (when Venus gave them rage and pow’r) Their mafters mangl’d members they devour; Of love defrauded in their longing hour. For love they force through thickets of the wood; They climb the fteepy hills, and ftem the flood. When at the fpring’s approach their marrow burns (For with the fpring their genial warmth returns) The mares to cliffs of rugged rocks repair. And with wide noftrils fnuft'thc u'eftern air : When (wondrous to relate) the parent wind, Without the ftallion, propagates the kind. Then, fir’d with amorous rage, they take their flight Through plains, and mount the hill’s unequal height Nor to the north, nor to the riling fun, Nor fouthward to the rainy regions run; But, boring to the weft, and hov’ring there. With gaping mouths they draw prolific air: With which impregnate, from their groins they fhed A flimy juice, by falls conception bred. The fhepherd knows it well, and calls by name Hippomanes, to note the motlter’s flame. This, gather’d in the planetary hour. With noxious weeds, and fpell’d with words of pow GEO R G I C III. v. 44;. Dire ftepdatnes in the magic bow! infufe, And mix, for deadly draughts, the pois’nous juice. But time is loft, which never will renew. While we too far the pleaftng path purftie; Surveying Nature with too nice a view. Let this fuffice for herds: Our following care Shall woolly flocks and ihaggy goats declare. Nor can I doubt what oil I muft beftow. To raife my fubjeft from a ground fo low' : And the mean matter which my theme affords, T’ embelliih with magnificence of w'ords. But the commanding Mnfe my chariot guides', Which o’er the dubious cliff fecurely rides : And pleas’d Lam no beaten road to take; But firft the way to new difcov’ries make. Now, {acred Pales, in a lofty (train, L fing the rural honours of thy reign. Firft with afliduous care from winter keep, Well fodder’d in the flails, thy-teuder (beep. Then fpread with draw the bedding of thy fold With fern beneath, to fend the bitter cold ; That free from gouts thou may’ft preferve thy care And clear from icabs, produc’d by freezing air. Next let thy goats officioully be nurs’d. And led to living dreams to quench their third. Feed ’em with winter-browze, and for their lare A cote that opens to the fouth prepare; Where, balking in the fun-Ihine they may lie. And the fhort remnants of his heat enjoy. This during winter’s drilly reign be done : Till the new Rain recedes.th’ exalted fun: 160 G E O R G I C III. v. 477. For hairy goats of equal profit are With woolly fheep, and alk an equal care. ’Tis true, the fleece, when drunk with Tyrian juice, Is dearly fold; but not for needful ufe : For the falacious goat increafes more. And twice as largely yields her milky (lore. The ftill diftended udders never fail; But, when they feem exhaufled, fwell the pail. Mean time the pallor (hears their hoary beards, And eafes of their hair the loaden herds. Their camelots warm in tents the foldier hold; And fhield the fliiv’ring mariner from cold. On Ihrubs they browze, and on the bleaky top Of rugged hills, the thorny bramble, crop. Attended with their bleeting kids they come At night, unafk’d, and mindful of their home; And fcarce their fwclling bags the threflrold overcome. So much the more thy diligence bellow, In depth of winter, to defend the fnow : By how much lefs the tender helplefs kind, For their own iiis can fit provifion find. Then minifter the browze with bounteous hand, And open let thy (lacks all winter (land. But when the w'eftern winds, with vital pow’r. Call forth the tender grafs and budding flow’r, Then, at the lall, produce in open air Both flocks, and fend ’em to their fummer fare. Before the fun, while Hefperus appears, Firlt let ’em fip from herbs the pearly tears Of morning dews ; and after break their fall < On green-fword ground; (a cool and grateful talte:) G E O R G I C IK. v. so8. But when the day’s fourth hour has drawn the dews And the fun’s fultry heat their third: renews; When creaking grafhoppers on fhrubs complain, Then lead ’em to their wat’ring troughs again. In fummer’s heat, fome bending valley find, Clos’d from the fun, but open to the wind; Or feek fome antient oak, vvhofe arms extend In ample breadth, thy cattle to defend : Or folitary grove, or gloomy glade; To Ihield ’em with its venerable (hade. Once more to wat’ring lead ; and feed again, , When the low fun is finking to the main : When rifing Cynthia (beds her filver dews; And the cool evening-breeze the meads renews When linnets fill the woods with tuneful found. And hollow (hores the halcyon’s voice rebound. Why (hon’d my Mufe enlarge on Lybian fwains | Their fcatter’d cottages, and ample plains; Where oft the flocks, without a leader, ftray; ! Or through continu’d defarts take their way; And, feeding, add the length of night to day ? Whole months they wander, grazing as they go ; Nor folds, nor hofpitable harbour know. Such an extent of plains, fo vail a fpace Of wilds unknown, and of untafled grafs, t' Allures their eyes : The fliepherd laft appears, " And with him all his patrimony bears : His houfe and houlhold-gods; his trade of war, His bow and quiver, and his trufty cur. Thus, under heavy arms, the youth of Rome Their long laborious marches overcome; * VOL. V. L i6i G E 0 R G I C III. v. *4» Cliearly their tedious travels undergo ; And pitch their hidden camp before the foe. Not fo the bcythian fliepherd tends his fold; Nor he who bears in Thrace the bitter cold : Nor he who treads the bleak Meotian (band; Or where proud Ifler rolls his yellow hand. Early they hall their flocks and herds; for there No grafs the fields, no leaves the forefis wear. The frozen earth lies buried there, below A hilly heap, fev’n cubits deep in fnow : And all the w'cft allies of ftormy Boreas blow. The fun from far peeps with a fickly face; Too weak the clouds and mighty fogs to chace; When up the Ikies he (hoots his rofy head; Or in the ruddy ocean feeks his bed. Swift rivers are with hidden ice conftrain’d; And (Kidded wheels are on its back fufiain’d. An hoftry now for waggons, which before Tall (hips of burden on its bofom bore. The brazen cauldrons with the froft are flaw’d ; The garment, ftitf with ice, at hearths is thaw’d. With axes firft they cleave the wine, and thence By weight the folid portions they difpenfe. From locks uncomb’d, and from the frozen beard Long icicles depend, and crackling founds are heard, Meantime, perpetual fleet and driving fnow Obfcure the (kies, and hang on herds below. The flarving cattle perifli in their flails; Huge oxen (land enclos’d in wint’ry walls Of fnow congeal’d ; whole herds are bury’d there Oi mighty flags, and fcarce their horns appear. G E O R G I C III. v. 570, «». No dreadful dreams awak’d him with affright; His pains by day fecur’d his reft by night. ’Twas then that buffaloes, iil-pairM, were feen, To draw the car of Jove's imperial queen, For want of oxen ; and the lab’ring Twain Scratch’d with a rake a furrow for his grain ; > And cover’d, with his hand, the fhallow feed again. S He yokes himfelf, and up the hilly height, With his own fhoulders, draws the waggon’s weight. The nightly wolf^ that round th’ enclofure prowl’d To leap the fcr.ee, now plots not on the fold; Tam’d with a. fharper pain. The fearful doe And flying flag, amidft the greyhounds go-: f And round the dwellings roam of man, their fier- t cer foe. Thefcaly nations of the Tea profound, Hike Ihipwreck’d carcafes are driv’n aground : And mighty phocae, never feen before, In (hallow dreams are ftranded on the fhore. The viper dead within her hole is found ; Defencelefs was the fhclter of the ground. The water-fnake, whom fifh and paddocks fed; With flaring feales lies poifon’d in his bed : To birds their native heav’ns contagions prove. From clouds they fail, and leave their fouls above. Befldes, to change their pafture ’tis in vain ; Or trull to phyfic ; phyfic is their bane. The learned leaches in defpair depart : And fhake their heads, defponding of their art. Tifiphone, let loofe from under ground, Majeftically pale, now trades the round ; G E a R G I C III. v. Szi. 171 Before her drives difeafes, and affright ; And ev’ry moment rifes to the fight : Afpiring to the fkies, encroaching on the light. The rivers and their hanks, and hills around, With lovvings, and with dying bleats refound. At length, (lie (trikes an univerfal blow; To death at once whole herds of cattle go : Sheep, oxen, horfes fall; and, heap’d on high, The ditf’ring fpecies in confufion lie. ’Till warn’d by frequent ills, the way they found To lodge their loathfome carrion under-ground. For, ufelefs to the currier were their hides : Nor could their tainted flefh with ocean tides Be freed from filth; nor could Vulcanian flame The flench abolilh, or the favour tame. Nor fafely could they (hear their fleecy flore ; [(Made drunk with pois’nous juice, and fliff with gore:) Or touch the web : But if the veft they wear, Red blifters rifing on their paps appear, And flaming carbuncles, and noifome fweat, And clammy dews, that loathfome lice beget: ’Till the flow creeping evil cats his way, Confumes the parching limbs, and makes the life his prey. ilk V I R G I L’s

G E O R G I C S.

BOOK IV.

THE ARGUMENT. VIRC IL has taken care to raijc the fubjeft of each Georgia. In the firji, he has only dead matter on -which to -work. In the fccond, he juji Jleps on the -world of life, and tlefcrilcs that degree of it -which is to he found in vegetables. In the third, he advances to animals. And, in the laft, ftnglcs out the lee, -which may be rec- koned the moft fagacious of them, for his fubjeci. In this Georgia he Jhe-ws us -what ftation is moft proper for the lees, and -when they begin to gather honey ; how to call them home when they fwarm ; and how to part them -when they are engaged in battle. From hence he takes occafton to difcover their different kinds ; and, after an excurficn, relates their prudent and politic ad- miniftration of affairs, and the fever al difeafes that often rage in the hives, with the proper fymploms and reme- dies of each difeafe. In the laft place, he lays down a method of repairing their kiiid,fuppofmg their whole breed loft ; and gives at large the hiftory of its in- \ vention. H E gifts of heav’n my following long purlues 1 Aerial honey, and ambrofial dews. Maecenas, read this other part, that fings Embattel’d fquadrons and advent’rous kings ; A mighty pomp, tho’ made of little things. Their arms, their arts, their manners I difclofe, And how they war, and whence the people rofe. Slight is the lubjeft, but the praife not fmall, If heav'n affift, and Phoebns hear my call. Firft, for thy bees, a quiet ftation find, And lodge ’em under covert of the wind : For winds, when homeward they return, will drive The loaded carriers from their ev’ning hive. Far from the cows and goats Lifulting crew. That trample down the flowers and brufii the dew : The painted lizard, and the birds of prey, Foes of the frugal kind, be far away : The titmoufe, and the pecker’s hungry brood ; And Progne with her bofbm llain’d in blood. Thele rob the trading citizens, and bear The trembling captives thro’ the liquid air ; ■ And for their callow young a cruel feall prepare. But near a living dream their manfion place, Edg’d round with mofs, and tufts of matted grafs : , And plant (the winds impetuous rage to flop,) 1 Wild olive-trees, or palms, before the bufy {hop : , That when the youthful prince, with proud alarm. Calls out the vent’rous colony to fwarm ; When firft their way thro’ yielding air they wing, New to the pleafures of their native fpring ; ly* G E 0 R G I C IV. v. St- The banks of brooks may make a cool retreat For the raw foldiers from the fcalding heat: And neighb’ring trees, with friendly (hade Invite The troops unus’d to long laborious flight. Then o’ta the running ftream, or Handing lake, A paiiage for thy weary people make ; With nfkr floats the Handing water (trow; Of mally Hones make bridges, if it flow : That baiking in the fun thy bees may lie, And, refling there, their flaggy pinions dry : When late returning home, the laden hofl. By raging winds is wreck’d upon the coafl. Wild thyme and fav’ry fet around their cell. Sweet to the tafle, and fragrant to the fmell : Set rows of rofemary with flow’ring Hem, And let the purple vi’lets drink the Hream. Whether thou build the palace of thy bees With twifled ofiers, or with barks of trees; Make but a narrow mouth : For as the cold Congeals into a lump the liquid gold ; So 'tis again diflblv’d by fummer’s heat, And the fu'eet labours both extremes defeat. And therefore, not in vain, th’ induflrious kind With dawby wax and flow’rs the chinks have lin’d ; And, with their Hores of gather'd glue, contrive To flop the vents and crannies of their hive. Not birdlime, or Idaean pitch produce A more tenacious mafs of clammy ju’ce. Nor bees are lodg’d in hives alone, but found In chambers of their own, beneath the ground: Their vaulted roofs are hung in pumices. And in the rotten trunks of hollow trees. G E O R G I C IV. v. 53. But plaiflcr thou the ehinky hives with day. And leafy branches o’er their lodgings lay. Nor place then' where too deep a water flows ; Or where the yew, their pois’nous neighbour, grows: > Nor road red crabs, t’offend the nicenefs of tbeirnole. ) Nor near the {learning flench of muddy ground; Nor hollow rocks that render back the {bund, > And doubled images of voice rebound. j For what remains, when golden funs appear. And under earth have driv’n the winter year. The winged nation wanders through the (kies, And o’er the plains and fliady foretl flies : Then Hooping on the meads and leafy bowers. They fkim the floods, and ftp the purple flow’rs. Exalted hence, and drunk with fecret joy. Their young fuccefllon all their cares employ ; They breed, they brood, inflrufl and educate, And make provifion for the future Hate : They work their waxen lodgings in their hives, And labour honey to fuflain their lives. 1 But when thou fee’H a fw arming cloud ariie, That fweeps aloft, and darkens all the {kies. The motions of their haHy flight attend; f And know to floods, or woods, their all y march they bend: : Then melfoil beat, and honey-fuckles pound ; 1 With thefe alluring favours drew the ground ; f j’^And mix with tinkling brafs the cymbal’s droning found. \ jStreight to their antient cells, recall’d from air, The reconcil’d deferters will repair. 'But if inteHine broils alarm the hive, ,'(For two .pretenders oft for empire drive) 176 G E O R G I C IV. *. 94. The vulgar in divided faftions jar, And murm’ring founds proclaim the civil war. Inflam’d with ire, and trembling with difdain, Scarce can their limbs their mighty fouls contain. With Ihouts the coward’s courage they excite; And martial clangors call them out to fight : With hoarfe alarms the hollow camp rebounds, That imitates the trumpet’s angry founds: Then to their common flandard they repair; The nimble horfemen fcour the fields of air. In form of battle drawn they ifiue forth, And ev’ry knight is proud to prove his worth. I’refs’d for their country’s honour, and their kings, On their fharp beaks they whet their pointed flings; Andexercife their arms, and tremble with their wings. Full in the midil the haughty monarchs vide, The trufty guards come up, and clofe the fide; With fhouts the daring foe to battle is defy’d. Thus, in the feafon of unclouded fpring, To war they follow their undaunted king : Croud through their gates, and, in the fields of light, The (hocking fquadrons meet in mortal fight : Headlong they fall from high, and wounded wound; And heaps of flaughter’d foldiers bite the ground. Hard hailftones lie not thicker on the plain; Nor (haken oaks fuch fnowers of acorns rain. With gorgeous wings, the marks of fov’reign fway, The two contending princes make their way ; Intrepid through the midft of dangers go ; Their friends encourage, and amaze the foe. With mighty fouls in narrow bodies prefs’d, They challenge and encounter bread to bread; G E O R G I C IV. v. 12,6. So fix’d on fame, unknowing how to fly, And obfHnately bent to win, or die; That long the doubtful combat they maintain, Till one prevails (for one can only reign.) • Yet all thofe dreadful deeds, this deadly fray, A cad of fcatter’d dud will foon allay, And undecided leave the fortune of the day. When both the chiefs are firnd’red from the fight, Then to the lawful king redore his right: And let the wadeful prodigal be flain, That he who bed deferves alone may reign. With eafe didinguifh’d is the regal race; One monarch wears an honed open face : | Shap’d to his fize, and godlike to behold, His royal body (bines with fpecks of gold, And ruddy fcales; for empire he defign’d, I Is better born, and of a nobler kind. That other looks like nature in difgrace, Gaunt are hi's fides, and fnllen is his face: And like their grifly prince appears his gloomy race Grim, ghadly, rugged, like a thirdy train That long have travell’d through a defart plain, And fpit from their dry chaps the gather’d dud again The better brood, unlike the baflard crew. Are mark’d with royal dreaks of fhining hue; Glitt’ring and ardent, though in body lefs : (From thefe at pointed feafons hope to prefs !Tluge heavy honey-combs of golden juice, jNot only fweet, but pure, and fit for ufe : T’ allay the drength and hardnefs of the wine, And with old Bacchus new metheglin join. | Vol. V. M i78 G E O R. G I C IV. v. i57. But when the fwarms are eager of their play, And loathe their empty hives, and idly ftray; Refttain the wanton fugitives, and take A timely care to bring the truants back. The talk is eafy : But to clip the wings Of their high-flying arbitrary kings: At their command the people fwarm away. Confine the tyrant, and the fiaves will ftay. Sweet gardens, full of faffron flowers invite The wand’ring gluttons, and retard their flight. Befides, the god obfcene, who frights away. With his lath fword, the thieves and birds of prey With his own hand, toe guardian of the bees, For flips of pines, may fearch the mountain trees; And with wild thyme and fav'ry plant the plain, Till his hard horny fingers ake with pain : And deck with fruitful trees the fields around, And with refrefhing waters drench the ground. Now, did I not fo near my labours end. Strike fail, and haft’ning to the harbour tend; My fong to flow’ry gardens might extend. To teach the vegetable arts, to fing The Paeftan rofes, and their double fpring : How fucc’ry drinks the running ftreams, and how Green beds of parfley near the river grow ; How cucumbers along the farface creep, With crooked bodies, and with bellies deep. The late Narciffus, and the winding trail Of bears-foot, myrtles green, and ivy pale. For where with (lately tow’rs Tarentum Hands, And deep Galefus foaks the yellow fands, G E O R G I C IV. -v. i38. 179 I chanc’d an old Corycian fwain to know, ~y Lord of few acres, and tbofe barren too; V Unfit for iheep or vines, and more unfit to fow: \ Yet lab’ring well his little fpot of ground. Some icatt’ring pot-herbs here and there he found : Which cultivated with his daily care, And bruis’d with vervain, were his frugal fare. Sometimes white lilies did their leaves afford, With wholefome poppy-fiow’rs, to mend his homely beard: For late returning home he fupp’d at eafe, And wifely deem’d the wealth of monarchs lefs: > The little of his own, becaufe his own did pleafe. J To quit his care he gather’d firft of all In fpring the rofes, apples in the fall ; And when cold winter fplit the rocks in twain, And ice the running rivers did reftrain. He ftript the bears-foot of its leafy growth; And calling weftern winds, accus’d the fpringof (loth. He therefore firft among the fwains was found, To reap the product of his labour’d ground, > And fquecze the combs with golden liquor crown’d, j His limes were firft in flow’rs, his lofty pines With friendly (bade fecur’d his tender vines. For cv’ry bloom his trees in fpring afford. An autumn apple was by tale reftor’d. He knew to rank his elms in even rows; "Y For fruit the grafted pear-tree to difpofe : > And tame to plums the fournefs of the floes. J With fpreading planes he made a cool retreat. To (hade good fellows from the fummer’s heat. M i 1§0 G E 0 R G 1 C IV. v. nS\ But, ftraiten’d in my fpace, I rouft forfake This talk, for others afterwards to take. Deferibe we next the nature of the bees, Beftow’d by Jove for fecret fervices : When by the tinkling found of timbrels led, The king of heav’n in Cretan caves they fed. Of all the race of animals, alone The bees have common cities of their own : And common fbns, beneath one law they live. And with one common (lock their traffic drive. Each has a certain home, a feveral flail: All is the date’s, the (late provides for all. Mindful of coming cold, they (hare the pain : And hoard, for winter’s life, the fummer’s gain. Some o’er the public magazines prefide; And fome are lent new forage to provide : Thefe drudge in fields abroad, and thole at home Lay deep foundations for the labour’d comb, With clew, NareifTus’ leaves, and clammy gum. To pitch the waxen flooring fome contrive; Some nurfe the future nation of the hive: Sweet honey fome condenfe; fome purge the grout The reft, in cells apart, the liquid neflar (hut. All with united force combine to drive The lazy drones from the laborious hive. With envy (lung, they view each other’s deeds With diligence the fragrant work proceeds. As when the Cyclops, at th’ almighty nod, New thunder haften for their angry god : Subdu’d in fire the ftubborn metal lies; One brawny fmith the puffing bellows plies p And draws and blows reciprocating air. Others to quench tlie hiding mafs prepare: With Sifted arms they order ev’ry blow, And chime their founding hammers in a row: With labour’d anvils iEtna groans below. Strongly they llrike; huge flakes of flames expire: With tongs they turn the fleet, and vex it m the fire. If little things with great we may compare. Such are the bees, and fuch their bufy care ; Studious of honey, each in his degree; The youthful fwain, the grave experienc’d bee: That in the field ; this in affairs of flats, Employ’d at home, abides within the gate: To fortify the combs, to build the wall. To prop the ruins, left the fabric fall: But late at night, with weary pinions come The lab’ring youth, and heavy laden home. Plains, meads, and orchards all the day he plies; The gleans of yellow thyme diftend his thighs : He fpoils the faffron fiow’rs, he flips the blues Of vi’lets, wilding blooms, and willow dews. Their toil is common, common is their ileep; They lhake their wings when morn begins to peep; Ruth through the city-gates without delay ; Nor ends their work but with declining day. Then having flpent the leaft remains of light. They give their bodies due repofe at night: When hollow murmurs of their ev’ning bells, Difmifls the fleepy fwains, and toll ’em to their cells. When once in beds their weary limbs they fteep, No buzzing founds difturb their golden Ileep. M 3 G E O R G I C IV. v. s8o, ’Tls facred filence all. Nor dare they dray, When rain is promis’d, or a fioimy day : But near the city-walls their wat’ring take; Nor forage far, but ihort excurftons make. And as, when empty barks on billows float, With fandy ballad failors trim their boat; So bees bear gravel dones, whofe polling weight Steers through the whidiing winds their deddy flight. But what’s more drange, their moded appetites, Averfe from Venus, fly the nuptial rites. No lufl enervates their heroic mind, Nor wades their drength on wanton womankind. But in their mouths refide their genial pow’rs ; They gather children from the leaves and flow’rs. Thus make they kings to fill the regal feat; And thus their little citizens create : And waxen cities build, and palaces of date. And oft on rocks their tender wings they tear. And link beneath the burthens which they bear. Such rage of honey in their bofom beats, And fuch a zeal they have for flow’ry fweets. Thus, tho’ the race of life they quickly run , Which in the fpace of feven Ihort years is done, Th’ immortal line in fure fucceffion reigns, The fortune of the'family remains : ; And graudlires grandfons the long lid contains. Befides, not Egypt, India, Media more With fervile awe their idol king adore : While he furvives, in concord and content The commons live, by no divifions rent; [ment. But the great monarch’s death didblves the govern- G E O R G I C IV. v. 311. 1S3 All goes to ruin, they themfelves contrive To rob the honey, and 1'ubvert the hive. The king prefides, his fubjefts toil furveys ; The fervile rout their careful Caefar praife ; Him they extol, they worlhip him alone, They croud his levees, and fupport his thronp : They raife him on their (houlders with a fhout : And when their fov’reign’s quarrels call ’em out, His foes to mortal combat they defy, And think it honour at his feet to die. Induc’d by fuch examples, feme have taught That bees have portions of etherial thought : Endu’d with particles of heav’nly fires : For God the whole created mails infpires ; I hro’ heav’n, and earth, and ocean’s depth he throws His influence round, and kindles as he goes. Hence flocks, .and herds, and men, and beads, and fowls, With breath are quicken’d; and attraft their fouls : Hence take the forms his prefcience did ordain, And into him at length refolve again. No room is left for death ; they mount the Iky, And to their own congenial planets fly. ;Now, when thou had decreed to feize their dores, And by prerogative to break their doors : With fprinkl’d water fird the city choak, And then purfue the citizens with fmoak. Two honey-harvefls fall in ev’ry year: rird, when the pleafing Pleiades appear. And fpringing upward fpurn the briny leas : Again, when their affrighted quire furveys M 4 G E 0 R G I C IV. v. 341. The watry Scorpion mend his pace behind, With a black train of (forms, and winter wind; J They plunge into the deep, and fafe protection find. J Prone to revenge, the bees, a wrathful race. When once provok’d, affault th’ aggreflor’s face : And through the purple vein a paflage find ; There fir. their (lings, and leave their fouls behind. But if a pinching winter thou forefee. And wou’dll preferve thy familh’d family; With fragrant thyme the city fumigate, And break the waxen walls to fave the (late. For lurking lizards often lodge, by (health, Within the fuburbs, and purloin their wealth. And lizards (hunning light, a dark retreat Have found in combs, and undermin’d the feat. Or lazy drones, without their (hare of pain, In winter-quarters free, devour the gain : Or wafps invert the camp with loud alarms. And mix in battle with unequal arms ; Or fecret moths are there in filence fed; Or fpiders in the vault their fnary webs have fpread. The more opprefs’d by foes, or famine pin’d, The more increafe thy care to fave the finking kind : With greens and flow’rs recruit their empty hives. And feck frelh forage to furtain their lives. But lince they (hare with man one common fate. In health and ficknefs, and in turns of (hate, Obferve the fymptoms when they fall away. And languifh with infenfible decay. They change their hue, with haggard eyes they (hare, Lean are their looks, and (bagged is their hair: G E O R G I C IV. r. 372. iSs And crowds of dead, that never mud return - To their lov’d hives, in decent pomp are born : / Their friends attend the herfe, the next relations < mourn. The fick, for air, before the portal gafp ; Their feeble legs within each other ciafp : Or idle in their empty hives remain. Benumb’d with cold, and liftlefs of their gain. Soft whii'pers then, and broken founds are heard. As when the woods by gentle winds are ftirr’d. Such ftided noife as the clofe furnace hides. Or dying murmurs of departing tides. This when thou feed, Galbanean odours life, And honey in the frckly hive infute. Thro’ reeden pipes convey the golden Hood, T’ invite the people to their wonted food. Mix it with thicken’d juice of fodden wines. And raifins from the grapes of Pfythian vines : To thefe add pounded galls, and rofes dry, And with Cecropian thyme, drong feented centaury. A flow’r there is, that grows on meadow ground, Amellus call’d, and eafy to be found ; For from one root the riling dem bedovvs A wood of leaves, and vi’let-purple boughs : The flower itfelf is glorious to behold, And fliines on altars like refulgent gold : Sharp to the tade, by thepherds near the dream Of Mella found, and thence they gave the name. Boil this redoring root in gen’rous wine, And fet befule the door, the fickly dock to dine. But if the lab’ring kind be wholly lod, And not to be retriev’d with care or cod 5 iSS GEORG C IV. v. 403. ’Tis time to touch the precepts of an art, Th’ Arcadian matter did of old impart : And how he (hock’d his empty hives again, Renew’d with putrid gore of oxen (lain. An ancient legend 1 prepare to ting, And upward follow Fame’s immortal fpring. For where with lev’n-fold horns mytlerious Nile Surrounds the tkirts of Egypt’s fruitful ille, And where in pomp the fun-burnt people ride On painted barges, o’er the teeming tide, Which pouring down from Ethiopian lands, Makes green the foil with flirne, and black prolific fands: That length of region, and large traftof ground, In this one art a fore relief have found. FirtI, in a place, by nature dofe, they build A narrow flooring, gutter’d, wall’d, and til’d, in this, four windows are contriv’d, that flrike To the four winds oppos’d, their beams oblique. A fleer of two years old they take, whofe head Now firft with burnifh’d horns begins to fpread : They flop his noftrils, while he drives in vain To breathe free air, and ftruggles with his pain. Knock’d down, he dies: Kis bowels bruts d within. Betray no w'onnd on his unbroken tkin. Extended thus, in this obfcene abode, They leave the bead:; but firft fweet flow’rs are ftrow’d Beneath his body, broken boughs and thyme, And pleafing cafia, juft renew’d in prime. This muft be done, ere fpring makes equal day, Whefi weftern winds on curling waters play : Ere painted meads produce their flow ry crops, Or f.vallows twitter on their chimney tops. G E O R G I C IV. v. 434’. 18.7 The tainted blood, in this ciofe prifon pent, Begins to boil and thro’ the bones ferment. Then, vvond’rous to behold, new creatures rife, A moving mafs at firfl, and (hort of thighs ; ’Till fhooting out with legs, and imp’d with wings, The grubs procued to bees with pointed Itings : And more and more arfefting air, they try Their tender pinions, and begin to fly ; At length, like fummer-ftorms from fpreading clouds,- That burl! at once, and pour impetuous floods ; Or flights of arrows from the Parthian bows. When from afar they gall-embattel’d foes; With fuch a tempeft thro’ the Ikies they fleer ; And fuch a form the winged fquadrons bear. What god, O Mufe! this ufeful fcience taught ? Gvr by what man’s experience was it brought ? Sad Ariflaeus from fair Tempe fled, His bees with famine, or difeafes dead : f On Peneus’ banks he flood, and near his holy head. V And while his falling tears the ftream fupply’d, Thus mourning, to his mother goddefs cry’d. Mother Gyrene, mother, whofe abode Is in the depth of this immortal flood ; What boots it, that from Phoebus’ loins I fpring, The third by him and thee from heav’n’s high kingf O ! where is ail thy boafted pity gone, And promife of the ikies to thy deluded fon ? Why didft thou me, unhappy me, create, Odious to gods, and born to bitter fate ? Whom, fcarce my iheep, and fcarce my painful The needful aids of human life allow ; [plough, v So wretched is thy fon, fo hard a mother thou. j 133 G E O R G I C IV. v. 467, Proceed, inhuman parent in thy fcorn; Root up my trees, with blights deftroy my corn ; J My vineyards ruin, and my fheepfoids burn. " Let loofe thy rage, let all tby fpite be fhown, Since thus thy hate purfires the praifes of thy fon. But from her mofly bovv’r below the ground, His careful mother heard the plaintive found ; Encompafs’d with her fea-green fillers round. One common work they ply’d : Their diftalFs full With carded locks of blue Milefian wool. Spio with Drymo brown, and Xanthe fair. And fweet Phyllodoce with long dilhevel’d hair : Cydippe with Licorias, one a maid, And one that once had call’d Lucina’s aid. Clio and Beroe, from one father both. Both girt with gold, and clad in party-colour’d cloth. Opis the meek, and Diopeia proud; Nifaea foftly, with Ligaea loud ; Thalia joyous, Ephyre the fad, And Arethufa once Diana’s maid. But now, her quiver left, to love betray’d. To thefe, Clymene the fweet theft declares. Of Mars, and Vulcan’s unavailing cares ; And all the rapes of gods, and ev’ry love, From ancient Chaos down to youthful Jove. Thus while Ihe fings, the fillers turn the wheel, Empty the wooly rock, and fill the reel. A mournful found again the mother hears; Again the mournful found invades the fillers ears. Starting at once from their green feats, they rife ; Fear in their heart, amazement in their eyes. G E O R G I C IV. v. 495. But Arethufa leaping from her bed, Firfl lifts above the waves her beauteous head; And, rrying from afar, thus to Cyrenc laid. O filler ! not with caufelefs fear poflefl, No ftranger voice diflurbs thy tender breafl, ’Tis Ariftaeus, ’tis thy darling fon. Who to his carelefs mother makes his moan. Near his paternal dream he fadly Hands, With downcaft eyes, wet cheeks, and folded hands Upbraiding heav’n from whence his lineage came, And cruel calls the gods, and cruel thee, by name. Gyrene mov’d with love, and feiz’d with fear. Cries out, condudt my Ion, conduct him here : ’Tis lawful for the youth, deriv’d from gods. To view the fecrets of our deep abodes. At once Ihe wav’d her hand on either fide. At once the ranks of iwelling dreams divide. Two rifing heaps of liquid crydal Hand, And leave afpace betwixt of empty fand. ' Tnus fate receiv’d, the downward track he treads. Which to his mother’s watry palace leads. With wond’ring eyes he views the fecret dore Of lakes, that, pent in hollow caverns,, roar. He hears the crackling found of coral woods, And fees the lecret fource of fubterranean floods : And where, difllnguifli’d in their fev’ral cells. The fount of Phafis, and of Lycus dwells; Where fwift Enipeus in his bed appears,. And Tiber his majedic forehead rears. Whence Anio flows, and Hypanis, profound, Breaks through th’ oppofing rocks with raging found 19s G E O R G I C IV. v. jz* Where Po firft iflues from his dark abodes, And, awful in his cradle, rules the floods : Two golden horns on his large front he wears. And his grim face a bull’s refemblance bears. With rapid courl'e he feeks the lacred main, And fattens, as he runs, the fruitful plain. Now at the court arriv’d, th’ admiring fbn Beholds the vaulted roofs of pory (lone ; Now to his mother-goddefs tells his grief. Which (lie with pity hears, and promifes relief. Th’ officious nymphs, attending in a ring, With waters drawn from their perpetual fpring, From earthly dregs his body purify, And rub his temples, with fine towels, dry: Then load the tables with a lib’ral fealt; And honour with full bowls their friendly gucft. The facred altars are involv’d in fmoke. And the bright quire their kindred gods invoke. Two bowls the mother fills with Lydian wine; Then thus, Let thefe be pour’d, with rites divine, To the great authors of our wat’ry line. To father Ocean, this ; and this, (lie faid. Be to the nymphs his facred fillers paid, [(hade. Who rule the w!at’ry plains, and hold the wmodland She fprinkl’d thrice with wine the veftal fire ; Thrice to the vaulted roof the flames afpire. Rais’d with fo bled an omen, (be begun, Writh words like thefe, to chear her drooping fon. In the Carpathian bottom makes abode The (hepherd of the feas, a prophet and a god : High o’er the main in wat’ry pomp he rides ; His azure car and finny courfers guides : G E O R G I C IV. v. 55:. Proteus his name : To his Palienian port, I lee from far the weary god refort. Him, not alone, we river-gods adore. But aged Nereus hearkens to his lore. With fure fordight, and with unerring doom, He fees what is, and was, and is to come. This Neptune gav- him, when he gave to keep His fcaly flocks that graze the wat’ry deep. Implore his aid, for Proteus only knows The lecret caufe, and cure of all thy woes. But firft the wily wizard muft be caught, For unconftrain’d he nothing tells for naught; Nor is with pray’rs, or bribes, or flatt’ry bought. Surprife him firft, and with hard fetters bind; Then all his frauds will vanifli into wind. I will myfelf conduft thee on thy way, When next the fouthing fun inflames .the day : When the dry herbage thirfts for dews in vain. And Iheep, in (hades, avoid the parching plain. Then will I lead thee to his fecret feat; When, weary with his toil, and fcorch’d with heat. The wayward fire frequents his cool retreat. His eyes with heavy (lumbers overcaft ; With force invade his limbs, and bind him faft. Thus furely bound ; yet be not over bold. The (lip’ry god will try to looie his hold; And various forms aflume, to cheat thy fight; And with vain images of beads affright; With foamy tulks will feem a briftly boar; Or imitate the lion’s angry roar ; Break out in crackling flames, to fhun thy fnares ; Or liifs a dragon, or a tiger (fares : t$x G E O R G I C IV. v. *93. Or with a wile, thy caution to betray, In fleeting dreams attempt to Aide away. But thou, the more he varies forms, beware To drain his fetters with a drifter care : ’Till tiring all his arts, he turns again To his true fhape, in which he firfl was feen. This laid, with neftar (he her fon anoints ; Infufing vigour thro’ his mortal joints : Down from his head the breathing odours ran : He breath’d of heav’n, and look’d above a man. Within a mountain’s hollow womb, there lies A large rccefs, conceal’d from human eyes ; "Where heaps of billows, driv’n by wind and tide, In form of war their wat’ry ranks divide ; And there, like Gentries let, without the mouth abide A dation lafe for ihips, when tempeds roar, A fiient harbour, and a cover’d ihore. Secure within rtfides the various god, And draws a reck upon his dark abode. Hither with fiient deps, fecure from fight, [light; The goddefs guides her fon, and turns him from the Herfelf, involv’d in clouds, precipitates her flight. ’Twas noon ; the fultry dog-dar from the Iky Scorch’d Indian fwains, the fnrivell’d grafs was dry The din with flaming arrows pierc’d the flood. And, darting to the bottom, bak’d the mud : When weary Proteus, from the briny waves, Retir’d for (belter to his wonted caves : His finny flocks about their ftiephcrd play, And rolling round him, fpurt the bitter fea. Unwieldily they wallow fil'd in ooze ; Then in the lhady covert feek repofe. <5 E O R G I C IV. v. 615. ’93 i iimfelf their herdfman, on the middle mount, Takes of his mutter’d flocks a juft account. So, featcd on the rock, a (hepherd’s groom Surveys his ev’ning flocks returning home : When lowing calves, and bleating lambs, from far, Provoke the prowling wolf to nightly war. Th’ occafion offers, and the youth complies : For fearce the weary god had clos’d his eyes. When rulhing on, with fhouts, he binds in chains The drowfy prophet, and his limbs conftrains. He, not unmindful of his ufual art, Firft in diflembled fire attempts to part : Then roaring beafts, and running ftreams he tries, And wearies all his miracles of lies : But having fiiifted ev’ry form to ’icape, Convinc’d of conqueft, he refum’d his (hape : And thus, at length, in human accent fpoke. Audacious youth, what tmdnefs cou’d provoke A mortal man t’ invade a fleeping god What bus’nefs brought thee to my dark abode ? To this, th’ audacious youth : Thou know’ft full well My name, and bus’nefs, god, nor need I tell No man can Proteus cheat; but Proteus leave Thy fraudful arts, and do not thou deceive. Following th’ gods command, I come t’ implore Thy help, my perifti’d people to reftore. The feer, who could not yet his wrath affitage, Roll’d his green eyes, that fparkl’d with his rage; And gnafli’d his teeth, and cry’d, No vulgar god Puifues thy crimes, nor with a common rod. I by great mifdeeds have met a due reward; And Orpheus’ dying pray’rs at length are haard. Vol. V. N JJ4 G E O R G I C IV. v. Csr- For crimes, not his, the lover loft his life ; And at thy hand requires his murder’d wife : Nor (if the fates affift not) canft thou fcape The juft revenge of that intended rape. To fhun thy iawlefs iuft, tlie dying bride. Unwary, took along the river’s fide : Nor, at her heels perceiv’d the deadly fnake. That kept the bank, in covert of the brake. But all her fellow-nymphs the mountains tear With loud laments, and break the yielding air: The realms of Mars remurmur’d all around, And echoes to th’ Athenian ftiores rebound. Th’ ur,happy fcufband, hufband now no more. Did on his tuneful harp his lofs deplore, And fought his mournful mind with mufic to reftore. On thee, dear wife, in defarts all alone, He call’d, figh’d, lung ; his griefs with day begun ; Nor were they finifh’d with the fetting fun. Ev’n to the dark dominions of the night, Fie took his way, thro’ forefts void of light : And dar’d amidft the trembling ghofts to ling, And flood before th’ inexorable king. Th’ infernal troops like palling fhadows glide, And, lift’ning, crowd the fweet mulician’s fide. Not flocks of birds w hen driv’n by dorms, or night, Stretch to the foreft w’ith fo thick a flight. Men, matrons, children, and th’ unmarry’d maid ; * The mighty heroe’s more majeftic iliade ; V And youths on fun’ral piles before their parents laid, j * This whole line is taken from the Marquis of Normanby’s Tranflation. G E 0 S. G 1 C tV. v. «G5. I5S Ail thefe Cocytus bounds with fqualid reeds, i With muddy ditches, aud with deadly weeds; !i And baleful Styx encompafTcs around, ■i With nine Aow circling ftreanvs, th’ unh appy ground. Ev’n from the depths of hell the dam n’d advance; Th’ infernal manftons nodding feem to dance; The gaping three-mouth’d dog forgets to fnarl; l1 The furies hearken, and their fnakes uncurl : Ixion feems no more his pains to feel, But leans attentive on his (landing wheel, f All dangers paft, at length the lovely bride, •In.fafety.goes, with her melodious guide ; , Longing the common light again to Ihtire, And draw the vital breath of upper air : IHe firft, and clofe behind him follow’d the; Tor fuch was Proferpine’s (evere decree. When (Irong defires th’ impatient youth invade; By little caution and much love betray’d, A fault which e?„!y pardon might receive. Were lovers judges, or epu’d hell forgive : For near the confines of etherial light, And longing for the glimm’ring of a fight, Th’ unw'ary lover call his eyes behind, j Forgetful of the law, nor mailer of his mind. Streight all his hopes exhal’d in empty fmoke; And his long toils were forfeit for a look. i I hree flafhes of blue light’ning gave the lign Of cov nants broke; three peals of thunder join. Then thus the bride : What fury feiz’d on thee. Unhappy man ! to lole thyfelf and me ? Dragg’d back again by cruel deftinies, | An iron (lumber (huts my fwimming eyes. IS><5 G E O R G I C IV. v. 718. And now farewel, involv’d in (hades of night, Eorever I am ravifh’d from thy fight. In vain I reach my feeble hands to join In fweet embraces; ah ! no longer thine! She faid, and from his eyes the fleeting fair -y Retir’d, like fubtile fmoke diflblv’d in air; k And left her hopelefs lover in defpair. J In vain, with folding arms, the youth efiay’d To flop her flight, and drain the flying (hade : He prays, he raves, all means in vain he tries, With rage inflam’d, adonilh’d with furprife; > But (he return’d no more to blefs his longing eyes. j Nor wou’d th’ infernal ferryman once more Be brib’d, to waft him to the farther (hore. What (hould he do, who twice had lofl his love ? What notes invent, what new petitions move? Her foul already was confign’d to fate, And fhiv’ring in the leaky fculler fat. For fev’n continu’d months, if Fame fay true, The wretched fwain his forrows did renew: By Strymon’s freezing dreams he fat alone; The rocks were mov’d to pity with his moan: Trees bent their heads to hear him fing his wrongs; Fierce tygers couch’d around, and loll’d their fawning tongues. So, clofe in poplar (hades, her children gone, The mother nightingale laments alone: Whofe ned feme prying churl had found, and thence. By dealth convey’d th’ unfeather’d innocence. But (he fupplies the night with mournful drains; And melancholy mufic fills the plains. G E O R G I C IV. r. 74!. T91 ■Sad Orpheus thus his tedious hours employs, Averfe from Venus and from nuptial joys. Alone he tempts the frozen floods, alone Th’ unhappy climes, where fpring was never known : He mourn’d his wretched wife, in vain reflor’d; And Pluto’s unavailing boon deploi’d. The i'hracian matrons, who the youth accus’d Of love difdain’d, and marriage-rites refus’d: With furies and nocturnal orgies fir’d, At length agamit his facred life confpir’d. Whom even the favage bealts had ipar’d they kill’d. And ftrew’d his mangl’d limbs about the field. Then, when his head, from his fair (boulders torn, Waili’d by the waters, was on Hebrus borne ; Ev’n then his trembling tongue invok’d his bride; With his laft voice, Eurydice, he cry’d ; Eurydice the rocks and river-banks rcply’d. This anfwer Proteus gave; no more he laid, But in the billows plung’d his hoary head; And where he leap’d, the waves in circles widely Ipread. The nymph return’d, her drooping fon to cheer, And bade him banilh his fnperfiuous fear : For now, faid (he, the caufe is known, from whence Thy woe fucceeded, and for what offence : The nymphs, companions of th’ unhappy maid, This puniihmcnt upon thy crimes have laid; And fent a plague among thy thriving bees. With vows and fuppHant pray’rs their pow’rs appeafe; The foft Napaean race will foon repent Their anger, and remit the punifhment. TtpS G E O R G I C IV. v. 778, The fecret in an eafv method lies; Select four brawny bulls for facrifice, Which on Lycaeus graze without a guide; Add four fair heifers yet in yoke untry’d: For thefe four altars in their temple rear ; And then adore the woodland pow’rs with pray’r. From the (lain victims pour the dreaming blood, And leave their bodies'in the fhady wood: Nine mornings thence Lethean poppy bring, T’ appeafe the manes of the poets king: And, to propitiate his offended bride, A fatted calf and a black ewe provide : This finilh’d, to the former woods repair. Flis mother’s precepts he performs with care; The temple vifits, and adores with pray’r. Four altars raifes, from his herd he culls, For daughter, four the faired of his bulls; Four heifers from his female ftore he took, All fair, and all unknowing of the yoke. Nine mornings thence, with iacrifice and pray’rs, The pow’rs aton’d, he to the grove repairs. Behold a prodigy ! for from within The broken bowels, and the bloated fkin, A buzzing noife of bees bis ears alarms, Straight ilfue through the fides afiembling fwarms Dark as a cloud they make a wheeling flight, Then on a neighb’ring tree defeending light: Like a large cluder of black grapes they (how, And make a large dependence from the bough. Thus have I fung of fields, of flocks, and trees, And of the waxen work of lab’iing bees; G E O R G I C IV. v. 810. 15 While mighty Caefar, thund’ring from afar, Seeks on Euphrates’ banks the-fpoils of war: With conqu’ring arts afferts his country’s caufe; With arts of peace the willing people draws: On the glad earth the golden age renews, And his great father’s path to heav’n purfues. While I at Naples pafs my peaceful days, Aflcfting fludics of lefs noify praife; And bold, through youth, beneath the beechen (hade. The lays of (hepherds, and their loves,, have plaid.

The End of the Fifth Volume. :8 .7 .V; I -T <'• ... ,

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