the georgics-第3章
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With driving oars; when launch the fair…rigged fleet;
Or in ripe hour to fell the forest…pine。
Hence; too; not idly do we watch the stars…
Their rising and their setting…and the year;
Four varying seasons to one law conformed。
If chilly showers e'er shut the farmer's door;
Much that had soon with sunshine cried for haste;
He may forestall; the ploughman batters keen
His blunted share's hard tooth; scoops from a tree
His troughs; or on the cattle stamps a brand;
Or numbers on the corn…heaps; some make sharp
The stakes and two…pronged forks; and willow…bands
Amerian for the bending vine prepare。
Now let the pliant basket plaited be
Of bramble…twigs; now set your corn to parch
Before the fire; now bruise it with the stone。
Nay even on holy days some tasks to ply
Is right and lawful: this no ban forbids;
To turn the runnel's course; fence corn…fields in;
Make springes for the birds; burn up the briars;
And plunge in wholesome stream the bleating flock。
Oft too with oil or apples plenty…cheap
The creeping ass's ribs his driver packs;
And home from town returning brings instead
A dented mill…stone or black lump of pitch。
The moon herself in various rank assigns
The days for labour lucky: fly the fifth;
Then sprang pale Orcus and the Eumenides;
Earth then in awful labour brought to light
Coeus; Iapetus; and Typhoeus fell;
And those sworn brethren banded to break down
The gates of heaven; thrice; sooth to say; they strove
Ossa on Pelion's top to heave and heap;
Aye; and on Ossa to up…roll amain
Leafy Olympus; thrice with thunderbolt
Their mountain…stair the Sire asunder smote。
Seventh after tenth is lucky both to set
The vine in earth; and take and tame the steer;
And fix the leashes to the warp; the ninth
To runagates is kinder; cross to thieves。
Many the tasks that lightlier lend themselves
In chilly night; or when the sun is young;
And Dawn bedews the world。 By night 'tis best
To reap light stubble; and parched fields by night;
For nights the suppling moisture never fails。
And one will sit the long late watches out
By winter fire…light; shaping with keen blade
The torches to a point; his wife the while;
Her tedious labour soothing with a song;
Speeds the shrill comb along the warp; or else
With Vulcan's aid boils the sweet must…juice down;
And skims with leaves the quivering cauldron's wave。
But ruddy Ceres in mid heat is mown;
And in mid heat the parched ears are bruised
Upon the floor; to plough strip; strip to sow;
Winter's the lazy time for husbandmen。
In the cold season farmers wont to taste
The increase of their toil; and yield themselves
To mutual interchange of festal cheer。
Boon winter bids them; and unbinds their cares;
As laden keels; when now the port they touch;
And happy sailors crown the sterns with flowers。
Nathless then also time it is to strip
Acorns from oaks; and berries from the bay;
Olives; and bleeding myrtles; then to set
Snares for the crane; and meshes for the stag;
And hunt the long…eared hares; then pierce the doe
With whirl of hempen…thonged Balearic sling;
While snow lies deep; and streams are drifting ice。
What need to tell of autumn's storms and stars;
And wherefore men must watch; when now the day
Grows shorter; and more soft the summer's heat?
When Spring the rain…bringer comes rushing down;
Or when the beards of harvest on the plain
Bristle already; and the milky corn
On its green stalk is swelling? Many a time;
When now the farmer to his yellow fields
The reaping…hind came bringing; even in act
To lop the brittle barley stems; have I
Seen all the windy legions clash in war
Together; as to rend up far and wide
The heavy corn…crop from its lowest roots;
And toss it skyward: so might winter's flaw;
Dark…eddying; whirl light stalks and flying straws。
Oft too comes looming vast along the sky
A march of waters; mustering from above;
The clouds roll up the tempest; heaped and grim
With angry showers: down falls the height of heaven;
And with a great rain floods the smiling crops;
The oxen's labour: now the dikes fill fast;
And the void river…beds swell thunderously;
And all the panting firths of Ocean boil。
The Sire himself in midnight of the clouds
Wields with red hand the levin; through all her bulk
Earth at the hurly quakes; the beasts are fled;
And mortal hearts of every kindred sunk
In cowering terror; he with flaming brand
Athos; or Rhodope; or Ceraunian crags
Precipitates: then doubly raves the South
With shower on blinding shower; and woods and coasts
Wail fitfully beneath the mighty blast。
This fearing; mark the months and Signs of heaven;
Whither retires him Saturn's icy star;
And through what heavenly cycles wandereth
The glowing orb Cyllenian。 Before all
Worship the Gods; and to great Ceres pay
Her yearly dues upon the happy sward
With sacrifice; anigh the utmost end
Of winter; and when Spring begins to smile。
Then lambs are fat; and wines are mellowest then;
Then sleep is sweet; and dark the shadows fall
Upon the mountains。 Let your rustic youth
To Ceres do obeisance; one and all;
And for her pleasure thou mix honeycombs
With milk and the ripe wine…god; thrice for luck
Around the young corn let the victim go;
And all the choir; a joyful company;
Attend it; and with shouts bid Ceres come
To be their house…mate; and let no man dare
Put sickle to the ripened ears until;
With woven oak his temples chapleted;
He foot the rugged dance and chant the lay。
Aye; and that these things we might win to know
By certain tokens; heats; and showers; and winds
That bring the frost; the Sire of all himself
Ordained what warnings in her monthly round
The moon should give; what bodes the south wind's fall;
What oft…repeated sights the herdsman seeing
Should keep his cattle closer to their stalls。
No sooner are the winds at point to rise;
Than either Ocean's firths begin to toss
And swell; and a dry crackling sound is heard
Upon the heights; or one loud ferment booms
The beach afar; and through the forest goes
A murmur multitudinous。 By this
Scarce can the billow spare the curved keels;
When swift the sea…gulls from the middle main
Come winging; and their shrieks are shoreward borne;
When ocean…loving cormorants on dry land
Besport them; and the hern; her marshy haunts
Forsaking; mounts above the soaring cloud。
Oft; too; when wind is toward; the stars thou'lt see
From heaven shoot headlong; and through murky night
Long trails of fire white…glistening in their wake;
Or light chaff flit in air with fallen leaves;
Or feathers on the wave…top float and play。
But when from regions of the furious North
It lightens; and when thunder fills the halls
Of Eurus and of Zephyr; all the fields
With brimming dikes are flooded; and at sea
No mariner but furls his dripping sails。
Never at unawares did shower annoy:
Or; as it rises; the high…soaring cranes
Flee to the vales before it; with face
Upturned to heaven; the heifer snuffs the gale
Through gaping nostrils; or about the meres
Shrill…twittering flits the swallow; and the frogs
Crouch in the mud and chant their dirge of old。
Oft; too; the ant from out her inmost cells;
Fretting the narrow path; her eggs conveys;
Or the huge bow sucks moisture; or a host
Of rooks from food returning in long line
Clamour with jostling wings。 Now mayst thou see
The various ocean…fowl and those that pry
Round Asian meads within thy fresher…pools;
Cayster; as in eager rivalry;
About their shoulders dash the plenteous spray;
Now duck their head beneath the wave; now r