Georgics

Virgil

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

  1. And now, both leaders from the field recalled,
  2. Who hath the worser seeming, do to death,
  3. Lest royal waste wax burdensome, but let
  4. His better lord it on the empty throne.
  5. One with gold-burnished flakes will shine like fire,
  6. For twofold are their kinds, the nobler he,
  7. Of peerless front and lit with flashing scales;
  8. That other, from neglect and squalor foul,
  9. Drags slow a cumbrous belly. As with kings,
  10. So too with people, diverse is their mould,
  11. Some rough and loathly, as when the wayfarer
  12. Scapes from a whirl of dust, and scorched with heat
  13. Spits forth the dry grit from his parched mouth:
  14. The others shine forth and flash with lightning-gleam,
  15. Their backs all blazoned with bright drops of gold
  16. Symmetric: this the likelier breed; from these,
  17. When heaven brings round the season, thou shalt strain
  18. Sweet honey, nor yet so sweet as passing clear,
  19. And mellowing on the tongue the wine-god's fire.
  1. But when the swarms fly aimlessly abroad,
  2. Disport themselves in heaven and spurn their cells,
  3. Leaving the hive unwarmed, from such vain play
  4. Must you refrain their volatile desires,
  5. Nor hard the task: tear off the monarchs' wings;
  6. While these prove loiterers, none beside will dare
  7. Mount heaven, or pluck the standards from the camp.
  8. Let gardens with the breath of saffron flowers
  9. Allure them, and the lord of Hellespont,
  10. Priapus, wielder of the willow-scythe,
  11. Safe in his keeping hold from birds and thieves.
  12. And let the man to whom such cares are dear
  13. Himself bring thyme and pine-trees from the heights,
  14. And strew them in broad belts about their home;
  15. No hand but his the blistering task should ply,
  16. Plant the young slips, or shed the genial showers.