Georgics

Virgil

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

  1. Nor toward the sunset let thy vineyards slope,
  2. Nor midst the vines plant hazel; neither take
  3. The topmost shoots for cuttings, nor from the top
  4. Of the supporting tree your suckers tear;
  5. So deep their love of earth; nor wound the plants
  6. With blunted blade; nor truncheons intersperse
  7. Of the wild olive: for oft from careless swains
  8. A spark hath fallen, that, 'neath the unctuous rind
  9. Hid thief-like first, now grips the tough tree-bole,
  10. And mounting to the leaves on high, sends forth
  11. A roar to heaven, then coursing through the boughs
  12. And airy summits reigns victoriously,
  13. Wraps all the grove in robes of fire, and gross
  14. With pitch-black vapour heaves the murky reek
  15. Skyward, but chiefly if a storm has swooped
  16. Down on the forest, and a driving wind
  17. Rolls up the conflagration. When 'tis so,
  18. Their root-force fails them, nor, when lopped away,
  19. Can they recover, and from the earth beneath
  20. Spring to like verdure; thus alone survives
  21. The bare wild olive with its bitter leaves.