the georgics-第15章
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From whom flocks; herds; men; beasts of every kind;
Draw each at birth the fine essential flame;
Yea; and that all things hence to Him return;
Brought back by dissolution; nor can death
Find place: but; each into his starry rank;
Alive they soar; and mount the heights of heaven。
If now their narrow home thou wouldst unseal;
And broach the treasures of the honey…house;
With draught of water first toment thy lips;
And spread before thee fumes of trailing smoke。
Twice is the teeming produce gathered in;
Twofold their time of harvest year by year;
Once when Taygete the Pleiad uplifts
Her comely forehead for the earth to see;
With foot of scorn spurning the ocean…streams;
Once when in gloom she flies the watery Fish;
And dips from heaven into the wintry wave。
Unbounded then their wrath; if hurt; they breathe
Venom into their bite; cleave to the veins
And let the sting lie buried; and leave their lives
Behind them in the wound。 But if you dread
Too rigorous a winter; and would fain
Temper the coming time; and their bruised hearts
And broken estate to pity move thy soul;
Yet who would fear to fumigate with thyme;
Or cut the empty wax away? for oft
Into their comb the newt has gnawed unseen;
And the light…loathing beetles crammed their bed;
And he that sits at others' board to feast;
The do…naught drone; or 'gainst the unequal foe
Swoops the fierce hornet; or the moth's fell tribe;
Or spider; victim of Minerva's spite;
Athwart the doorway hangs her swaying net。
The more impoverished they; the keenlier all
To mend the fallen fortunes of their race
Will nerve them; fill the cells up; tier on tier;
And weave their granaries from the rifled flowers。
Now; seeing that life doth even to bee…folk bring
Our human chances; if in dire disease
Their bodies' strength should languish… which anon
By no uncertain tokens may be told…
Forthwith the sick change hue; grim leanness mars
Their visage; then from out the cells they bear
Forms reft of light; and lead the mournful pomp;
Or foot to foot about the porch they hang;
Or within closed doors loiter; listless all
From famine; and benumbed with shrivelling cold。
Then is a deep note heard; a long…drawn hum;
As when the chill South through the forests sighs;
As when the troubled ocean hoarsely booms
With back…swung billow; as ravening tide of fire
Surges; shut fast within the furnace…walls。
Then do I bid burn scented galbanum;
And; honey…streams through reeden troughs instilled;
Challenge and cheer their flagging appetite
To taste the well…known food; and it shall boot
To mix therewith the savour bruised from gall;
And rose…leaves dried; or must to thickness boiled
By a fierce fire; or juice of raisin…grapes
From Psithian vine; and with its bitter smell
Centaury; and the famed Cecropian thyme。
There is a meadow…flower by country folk
Hight star…wort; 'tis a plant not far to seek;
For from one sod an ample growth it rears;
Itself all golden; but girt with plenteous leaves;
Where glory of purple shines through violet gloom。
With chaplets woven hereof full oft are decked
Heaven's altars: harsh its taste upon the tongue;
Shepherds in vales smooth…shorn of nibbling flocks
By Mella's winding waters gather it。
The roots of this; well seethed in fragrant wine;
Set in brimmed baskets at their doors for food。
But if one's whole stock fail him at a stroke;
Nor hath he whence to breed the race anew;
'Tis time the wondrous secret to disclose
Taught by the swain of Arcady; even how
The blood of slaughtered bullocks oft has borne
Bees from corruption。 I will trace me back
To its prime source the story's tangled thread;
And thence unravel。 For where thy happy folk;
Canopus; city of Pellaean fame;
Dwell by the Nile's lagoon…like overflow;
And high o'er furrows they have called their own
Skim in their painted wherries; where; hard by;
The quivered Persian presses; and that flood
Which from the swart…skinned Aethiop bears him down;
Swift…parted into sevenfold branching mouths
With black mud fattens and makes Aegypt green;
That whole domain its welfare's hope secure
Rests on this art alone。 And first is chosen
A strait recess; cramped closer to this end;
Which next with narrow roof of tiles atop
'Twixt prisoning walls they pinch; and add hereto
From the four winds four slanting window…slits。
Then seek they from the herd a steer; whose horns
With two years' growth are curling; and stop fast;
Plunge madly as he may; the panting mouth
And nostrils twain; and done with blows to death;
Batter his flesh to pulp i' the hide yet whole;
And shut the doors; and leave him there to lie。
But 'neath his ribs they scatter broken boughs;
With thyme and fresh…pulled cassias: this is done
When first the west winds bid the waters flow;
Ere flush the meadows with new tints; and ere
The twittering swallow buildeth from the beams。
Meanwhile the juice within his softened bones
Heats and ferments; and things of wondrous birth;
Footless at first; anon with feet and wings;
Swarm there and buzz; a marvel to behold;
And more and more the fleeting breeze they take;
Till; like a shower that pours from summer…clouds;
Forth burst they; or like shafts from quivering string
When Parthia's flying hosts provoke the fray。
Say what was he; what God; that fashioned forth
This art for us; O Muses? of man's skill
Whence came the new adventure? From thy vale;
Peneian Tempe; turning; bee…bereft;
So runs the tale; by famine and disease;
Mournful the shepherd Aristaeus stood
Fast by the haunted river…head; and thus
With many a plaint to her that bare him cried:
〃Mother; Cyrene; mother; who hast thy home
Beneath this whirling flood; if he thou sayest;
Apollo; lord of Thymbra; be my sire;
Sprung from the Gods' high line; why barest thou me
With fortune's ban for birthright? Where is now
Thy love to me…ward banished from thy breast?
O! wherefore didst thou bid me hope for heaven?
Lo! even the crown of this poor mortal life;
Which all my skilful care by field and fold;
No art neglected; scarce had fashioned forth;
Even this falls from me; yet thou call'st me son。
Nay; then; arise! With thine own hands pluck up
My fruit…plantations: on the homestead fling
Pitiless fire; make havoc of my crops;
Burn the young plants; and wield the stubborn axe
Against my vines; if there hath taken the
Such loathing of my greatness。〃 But that cry;
Even from her chamber in the river…deeps;
His mother heard: around her spun the nymphs
Milesian wool stained through with hyaline dye;
Drymo; Xantho; Ligea; Phyllodoce;
Their glossy locks o'er snowy shoulders shed;
Cydippe and Lycorias yellow…haired;
A maiden one; one newly learned even then
To bear Lucina's birth…pang。 Clio; too;
And Beroe; sisters; ocean…children both;
Both zoned with gold and girt with dappled fell;
Ephyre and Opis; and from Asian meads
Deiopea; and; bow at length laid by;
Fleet…footed Arethusa。 But in their midst
Fair Clymene was telling o'er the tale
Of Vulcan's idle vigilance and the stealth
Of Mars' sweet rapine; and from Chaos old
Counted the jostling love…joys of the Gods。
Charmed by whose lay; the while their woolly tasks
With spindles down they drew; yet once again
Smote on his mother's ears the mournful plaint
Of Aristaeus; on their glassy thrones
Amazement held them all; but Arethuse
Before the rest put forth her auburn head;
Peering above the wave…top; and from far
Exclaimed; 〃Cyrene; sister; not for naught
Scared by a groan so deep; behold! 'tis he;
Even Aristaeus; thy heart's fondest care;
Here by the b