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第5章

the georgics-第5章

小说: the georgics 字数: 每页4000字

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  Thus far the tilth of fields and stars of heaven;

  Now will I sing thee; Bacchus; and; with thee;

  The forest's young plantations and the fruit

  Of slow…maturing olive。 Hither haste;

  O Father of the wine…press; all things here

  Teem with the bounties of thy hand; for thee

  With viny autumn laden blooms the field;

  And foams the vintage high with brimming vats;

  Hither; O Father of the wine…press; come;

  And stripped of buskin stain thy bared limbs

  In the new must with me。

                         First; nature's law

  For generating trees is manifold;

  For some of their own force spontaneous spring;

  No hand of man compelling; and possess

  The plains and river…windings far and wide;

  As pliant osier and the bending broom;

  Poplar; and willows in wan companies

  With green leaf glimmering gray; and some there be

  From chance…dropped seed that rear them; as the tall

  Chestnuts; and; mightiest of the branching wood;

  Jove's Aesculus; and oaks; oracular

  Deemed by the Greeks of old。 With some sprouts forth

  A forest of dense suckers from the root;

  As elms and cherries; so; too; a pigmy plant;

  Beneath its mother's mighty shade upshoots

  The bay…tree of Parnassus。 Such the modes

  Nature imparted first; hence all the race

  Of forest…trees and shrubs and sacred groves

  Springs into verdure。

                         Other means there are;

  Which use by method for itself acquired。

  One; sliving suckers from the tender frame

  Of the tree…mother; plants them in the trench;

  One buries the bare stumps within his field;

  Truncheons cleft four…wise; or sharp…pointed stakes;

  Some forest…trees the layer's bent arch await;

  And slips yet quick within the parent…soil;

  No root need others; nor doth the pruner's hand

  Shrink to restore the topmost shoot to earth

  That gave it being。 Nay; marvellous to tell;

  Lopped of its limbs; the olive; a mere stock;

  Still thrusts its root out from the sapless wood;

  And oft the branches of one kind we see

  Change to another's with no loss to rue;

  Pear…tree transformed the ingrafted apple yield;

  And stony cornels on the plum…tree blush。

    Come then; and learn what tilth to each belongs

  According to their kinds; ye husbandmen;

  And tame with culture the wild fruits; lest earth

  Lie idle。 O blithe to make all Ismarus

  One forest of the wine…god; and to clothe

  With olives huge Tabernus! And be thou

  At hand; and with me ply the voyage of toil

  I am bound on; O my glory; O thou that art

  Justly the chiefest portion of my fame;

  Maecenas; and on this wide ocean launched

  Spread sail like wings to waft thee。 Not that I

  With my poor verse would comprehend the whole;

  Nay; though a hundred tongues; a hundred mouths

  Were mine; a voice of iron; be thou at hand;

  Skirt but the nearer coast…line; see the shore

  Is in our grasp; not now with feigned song

  Through winding bouts and tedious preludings

  Shall I detain thee。

                         Those that lift their head

  Into the realms of light spontaneously;

  Fruitless indeed; but blithe and strenuous spring;

  Since Nature lurks within the soil。 And yet

  Even these; should one engraft them; or transplant

  To well…drilled trenches; will anon put of

  Their woodland temper; and; by frequent tilth;

  To whatso craft thou summon them; make speed

  To follow。 So likewise will the barren shaft

  That from the stock…root issueth; if it be

  Set out with clear space amid open fields:

  Now the tree…mother's towering leaves and boughs

  Darken; despoil of increase as it grows;

  And blast it in the bearing。 Lastly; that

  Which from shed seed ariseth; upward wins

  But slowly; yielding promise of its shade

  To late…born generations; apples wane

  Forgetful of their former juice; the grape

  Bears sorry clusters; for the birds a prey。

    Soothly on all must toil be spent; and all

  Trained to the trench and at great cost subdued。

  But reared from truncheons olives answer best;

  As vines from layers; and from the solid wood

  The Paphian myrtles; while from suckers spring

  Both hardy hazels and huge ash; the tree

  That rims with shade the brows of Hercules;

  And acorns dear to the Chaonian sire:

  So springs the towering palm too; and the fir

  Destined to spy the dangers of the deep。

  But the rough arbutus with walnut…fruit

  Is grafted; so have barren planes ere now

  Stout apples borne; with chestnut…flower the beech;

  The mountain…ash with pear…bloom whitened o'er;

  And swine crunched acorns 'neath the boughs of elms。

    Nor is the method of inserting eyes

  And grafting one: for where the buds push forth

  Amidst the bark; and burst the membranes thin;

  Even on the knot a narrow rift is made;

  Wherein from some strange tree a germ they pen;

  And to the moist rind bid it cleave and grow。

  Or; otherwise; in knotless trunks is hewn

  A breach; and deep into the solid grain

  A path with wedges cloven; then fruitful slips

  Are set herein; and… no long time… behold!

  To heaven upshot with teeming boughs; the tree

  Strange leaves admires and fruitage not its own。

    Nor of one kind alone are sturdy elms;

  Willow and lotus; nor the cypress…trees

  Of Ida; nor of self…same fashion spring

  Fat olives; orchades; and radii

  And bitter…berried pausians; no; nor yet

  Apples and the forests of Alcinous;

  Nor from like cuttings are Crustumian pears

  And Syrian; and the heavy hand…fillers。

  Not the same vintage from our trees hangs down;

  Which Lesbos from Methymna's tendril plucks。

  Vines Thasian are there; Mareotids white;

  These apt for richer soils; for lighter those:

  Psithian for raisin…wine more useful; thin

  Lageos; that one day will try the feet

  And tie the tongue: purples and early…ripes;

  And how; O Rhaetian; shall I hymn thy praise?

  Yet cope not therefore with Falernian bins。

  Vines Aminaean too; best…bodied wine;

  To which the Tmolian bows him; ay; and king

  Phanaeus too; and; lesser of that name;

  Argitis; wherewith not a grape can vie

  For gush of wine…juice or for length of years。

  Nor thee must I pass over; vine of Rhodes;

  Welcomed by gods and at the second board;

  Nor thee; Bumastus; with plump clusters swollen。

  But lo! how many kinds; and what their names;

  There is no telling; nor doth it boot to tell;

  Who lists to know it; he too would list to learn

  How many sand…grains are by Zephyr tossed

  On Libya's plain; or wot; when Eurus falls

  With fury on the ships; how many waves

  Come rolling shoreward from the Ionian sea。

    Not that all soils can all things bear alike。

  Willows by water…courses have their birth;

  Alders in miry fens; on rocky heights

  The barren mountain…ashes; on the shore

  Myrtles throng gayest; Bacchus; lastly; loves

  The bare hillside; and yews the north wind's chill。

  Mark too the earth by outland tillers tamed;

  And Eastern homes of Arabs; and tattooed

  Geloni; to all trees their native lands

  Allotted are; no clime but India bears

  Black ebony; the branch of frankincense

  Is Saba's sons' alone; why tell to thee

  Of balsams oozing from the perfumed wood;

  Or berries of acanthus ever green?

  Of Aethiop forests hoar with downy wool;

  Or how the Seres comb from off the leaves

  Their silky fleece? Of groves which India bears;

  Ocean's near neighbour; earth's remotest nook;

  Where not an arrow…shot can cleave the air

  Above their tree…tops? yet no laggards they;

  When girded with the quiver! Media yields

  The bitter juices and slow…lingering taste

  Of the blest citron…fruit; than which no aid

  Comes timelier; when fierce step…dames drug the cup

  With simples mixed and spells of baneful power;

  To drive the deadly poison from the limbs。

  Large the tree's self in semblance like a bay;

  And; showered 

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