Georgics

Virgil

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

  1. Winter is come: in olive-mills they bruise
  2. The Sicyonian berry; acorn-cheered
  3. The swine troop homeward; woods their arbutes yield;
  4. So, various fruit sheds Autumn, and high up
  5. On sunny rocks the mellowing vintage bakes.
  6. Meanwhile about his lips sweet children cling;
  7. His chaste house keeps its purity; his kine
  8. Drop milky udders, and on the lush green grass
  9. Fat kids are striving, horn to butting horn.
  10. Himself keeps holy days; stretched o'er the sward,
  11. Where round the fire his comrades crown the bowl,
  12. He pours libation, and thy name invokes,
  13. Lenaeus, and for the herdsmen on an elm
  14. Sets up a mark for the swift javelin; they
  15. Strip their tough bodies for the rustic sport.
  16. Such life of yore the ancient Sabines led,
  17. Such Remus and his brother: Etruria thus,
  18. Doubt not, to greatness grew, and Rome became
  19. The fair world's fairest, and with circling wall
  20. Clasped to her single breast the sevenfold hills.
  21. Ay, ere the reign of Dicte's king, ere men,
  22. Waxed godless, banqueted on slaughtered bulls,
  23. Such life on earth did golden Saturn lead.
  24. Nor ear of man had heard the war-trump's blast,
  25. Nor clang of sword on stubborn anvil set.