Georgics

Virgil

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

  1. Even him, when sore disease or sluggish eld
  2. Now saps his strength, pen fast at home, and spare
  3. His not inglorious age. A horse grown old
  4. Slow kindling unto love in vain prolongs
  5. The fruitless task, and, to the encounter come,
  6. As fire in stubble blusters without strength,
  7. He rages idly. Therefore mark thou first
  8. Their age and mettle, other points anon,
  9. As breed and lineage, or what pain was theirs
  10. To lose the race, what pride the palm to win.
  11. Seest how the chariots in mad rivalry
  12. Poured from the barrier grip the course and go,
  13. When youthful hope is highest, and every heart
  14. Drained with each wild pulsation? How they ply
  15. The circling lash, and reaching forward let
  16. The reins hang free! Swift spins the glowing wheel;
  17. And now they stoop, and now erect in air
  18. Seem borne through space and towering to the sky:
  19. No stop, no stay; the dun sand whirls aloft;
  20. They reek with foam-flakes and pursuing breath;
  21. So sweet is fame, so prized the victor's palm.
  22. 'Twas Ericthonius first took heart to yoke
  23. Four horses to his car, and rode above
  24. The whirling wheels to victory: but the ring
  25. And bridle-reins, mounted on horses' backs,
  26. The Pelethronian Lapithae bequeathed,
  27. And taught the knight in arms to spurn the ground,
  28. And arch the upgathered footsteps of his pride.
  29. Each task alike is arduous, and for each
  30. A horse young, fiery, swift of foot, they seek;
  31. How oft so-e'er yon rival may have chased
  32. The flying foe, or boast his native plain
  33. Epirus, or Mycenae's stubborn hold,
  34. And trace his lineage back to Neptune's birth.
  1. These points regarded, as the time draws nigh,
  2. With instant zeal they lavish all their care
  3. To plump with solid fat the chosen chief
  4. And designated husband of the herd:
  5. And flowery herbs they cut, and serve him well
  6. With corn and running water, that his strength
  7. Not fail him for that labour of delight,
  8. Nor puny colts betray the feeble sire.
  9. The herd itself of purpose they reduce
  10. To leanness, and when love's sweet longing first
  11. Provokes them, they forbid the leafy food,
  12. And pen them from the springs, and oft beside
  13. With running shake, and tire them in the sun,
  14. What time the threshing-floor groans heavily
  15. With pounding of the corn-ears, and light chaff
  16. Is whirled on high to catch the rising west.
  17. This do they that the soil's prolific powers
  18. May not be dulled by surfeiting, nor choke
  19. The sluggish furrows, but eagerly absorb
  20. Their fill of love, and deeply entertain.