Eclogues

Virgil

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

the sturdy ploughman shall loose yoke from steer,

nor wool with varying colours learn to lie;

but in the meadows shall the ram himself,

now with soft flush of purple, now with tint

of yellow saffron, teach his fleece to shine.

While clothed in natural scarlet graze the lambs.

“Such still, such ages weave ye, as ye run,”

sang to their spindles the consenting Fates

by Destiny's unalterable decree.