Georgics

Virgil

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

  1. Nor steeds crave less selection; but on those
  2. Thou think'st to rear, the promise of their line,
  3. From earliest youth thy chiefest pains bestow.
  4. See from the first yon high-bred colt afield,
  5. His lofty step, his limbs' elastic tread:
  6. Dauntless he leads the herd, still first to try
  7. The threatening flood, or brave the unknown bridge,
  8. By no vain noise affrighted; lofty-necked,
  9. With clean-cut head, short belly, and stout back;
  10. His sprightly breast exuberant with brawn.
  11. Chestnut and grey are good; the worst-hued white
  12. And sorrel. Then lo! if arms are clashed afar,
  13. Bide still he cannot: ears stiffen and limbs quake;
  14. His nostrils snort and roll out wreaths of fire.
  15. Dense is his mane, that when uplifted falls
  16. On his right shoulder; betwixt either loin
  17. The spine runs double; his earth-dinting hoof
  18. Rings with the ponderous beat of solid horn.
  19. Even such a horse was Cyllarus, reined and tamed
  20. By Pollux of Amyclae; such the pair
  21. In Grecian song renowned, those steeds of Mars,
  22. And famed Achilles' team: in such-like form
  23. Great Saturn's self with mane flung loose on neck
  24. Sped at his wife's approach, and flying filled
  25. The heights of Pelion with his piercing neigh.