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.
  1. Let none persuade thee, howso weighty-wise,
  2. To stir the soil when stiff with Boreas' breath.
  3. Then ice-bound winter locks the fields, nor lets
  4. The young plant fix its frozen root to earth.
  5. Best sow your vineyards when in blushing Spring
  6. Comes the white bird long-bodied snakes abhor,
  7. Or on the eve of autumn's earliest frost,
  8. Ere the swift sun-steeds touch the wintry Signs,
  9. While summer is departing. Spring it is
  10. Blesses the fruit-plantation, Spring the groves;
  11. In Spring earth swells and claims the fruitful seed.
  12. Then Aether, sire omnipotent, leaps down
  13. With quickening showers to his glad wife's embrace,
  14. And, might with might commingling, rears to life
  15. All germs that teem within her; then resound
  16. With songs of birds the greenwood-wildernesses,
  17. And in due time the herds their loves renew;
  18. Then the boon earth yields increase, and the fields
  19. Unlock their bosoms to the warm west winds;
  20. Soft moisture spreads o'er all things, and the blades
  21. Face the new suns, and safely trust them now;
  22. The vine-shoot, fearless of the rising south,
  23. Or mighty north winds driving rain from heaven,
  24. Bursts into bud, and every leaf unfolds.
  25. Even so, methinks, when Earth to being sprang,
  26. Dawned the first days, and such the course they held;
  27. 'Twas Spring-tide then, ay, Spring, the mighty world
  28. Was keeping: Eurus spared his wintry blasts,
  29. When first the flocks drank sunlight, and a race
  30. Of men like iron from the hard glebe arose,
  31. And wild beasts thronged the woods, and stars the heaven.
  32. Nor could frail creatures bear this heavy strain,
  33. Did not so large a respite interpose
  34. 'Twixt frost and heat, and heaven's relenting arms
  35. Yield earth a welcome.
  1. For the rest, whate'er
  2. The sets thou plantest in thy fields, thereon
  3. Strew refuse rich, and with abundant earth
  4. Take heed to hide them, and dig in withal
  5. Rough shells or porous stone, for therebetween
  6. Will water trickle and fine vapour creep,
  7. And so the plants their drooping spirits raise.
  8. Aye, and there have been, who with weight of stone
  9. Or heavy potsherd press them from above;
  10. This serves for shield in pelting showers, and this
  11. When the hot dog-star chaps the fields with drought.
  1. The slips once planted, yet remains to cleave
  2. The earth about their roots persistently,
  3. And toss the cumbrous hoes, or task the soil
  4. With burrowing plough-share, and ply up and down
  5. Your labouring bullocks through the vineyard's midst,
  6. Then too smooth reeds and shafts of whittled wand,
  7. And ashen poles and sturdy forks to shape,
  8. Whereby supported they may learn to mount,
  9. Laugh at the gales, and through the elm-tops win
  10. From story up to story.