the georgics-第8章
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Whose entrails rich on hazel…spits we'll roast。
This further task again; to dress the vine;
Hath needs beyond exhausting; the whole soil
Thrice; four times; yearly must be cleft; the sod
With hoes reversed be crushed continually;
The whole plantation lightened of its leaves。
Round on the labourer spins the wheel of toil;
As on its own track rolls the circling year。
Soon as the vine her lingering leaves hath shed;
And the chill north wind from the forests shook
Their coronal; even then the careful swain
Looks keenly forward to the coming year;
With Saturn's curved fang pursues and prunes
The vine forlorn; and lops it into shape。
Be first to dig the ground up; first to clear
And burn the refuse…branches; first to house
Again your vine…poles; last to gather fruit。
Twice doth the thickening shade beset the vine;
Twice weeds with stifling briers o'ergrow the crop;
And each a toilsome labour。 Do thou praise
Broad acres; farm but few。 Rough twigs beside
Of butcher's broom among the woods are cut;
And reeds upon the river…banks; and still
The undressed willow claims thy fostering care。
So now the vines are fettered; now the trees
Let go the sickle; and the last dresser now
Sings of his finished rows; but still the ground
Must vexed be; the dust be stirred; and heaven
Still set thee trembling for the ripened grapes。
Not so with olives; small husbandry need they;
Nor look for sickle bowed or biting rake;
When once they have gripped the soil; and borne the breeze。
Earth of herself; with hooked fang laid bare;
Yields moisture for the plants; and heavy fruit;
The ploughshare aiding; therewithal thou'lt rear
The olive's fatness well…beloved of Peace。
Apples; moreover; soon as first they feel
Their stems wax lusty; and have found their strength;
To heaven climb swiftly; self…impelled; nor crave
Our succour。 All the grove meanwhile no less
With fruit is swelling; and the wild haunts of birds
Blush with their blood…red berries。 Cytisus
Is good to browse on; the tall forest yields
Pine…torches; and the nightly fires are fed
And shoot forth radiance。 And shall men be loath
To plant; nor lavish of their pains? Why trace
Things mightier? Willows even and lowly brooms
To cattle their green leaves; to shepherds shade;
Fences for crops; and food for honey yield。
And blithe it is Cytorus to behold
Waving with box; Narycian groves of pitch;
Oh! blithe the sight of fields beholden not
To rake or man's endeavour! the barren woods
That crown the scalp of Caucasus; even these;
Which furious blasts for ever rive and rend;
Yield various wealth; pine…logs that serve for ships;
Cedar and cypress for the homes of men;
Hence; too; the farmers shave their wheel…spokes; hence
Drums for their wains; and curved boat…keels fit;
Willows bear twigs enow; the elm…tree leaves;
Myrtle stout spear…shafts; war…tried cornel too;
Yews into Ituraean bows are bent:
Nor do smooth lindens or lathe…polished box
Shrink from man's shaping and keen…furrowing steel;
Light alder floats upon the boiling flood
Sped down the Padus; and bees house their swarms
In rotten holm…oak's hollow bark and bole。
What of like praise can Bacchus' gifts afford?
Nay; Bacchus even to crime hath prompted; he
The wine…infuriate Centaurs quelled with death;
Rhoetus and Pholus; and with mighty bowl
Hylaeus threatening high the Lapithae。
Oh! all too happy tillers of the soil;
Could they but know their blessedness; for whom
Far from the clash of arms all…equal earth
Pours from the ground herself their easy fare!
What though no lofty palace portal…proud
From all its chambers vomits forth a tide
Of morning courtiers; nor agape they gaze
On pillars with fair tortoise…shell inwrought;
Gold…purfled robes; and bronze from Ephyre;
Nor is the whiteness of their wool distained
With drugs Assyrian; nor clear olive's use
With cassia tainted; yet untroubled calm;
A life that knows no falsehood; rich enow
With various treasures; yet broad…acred ease;
Grottoes and living lakes; yet Tempes cool;
Lowing of kine; and sylvan slumbers soft;
They lack not; lawns and wild beasts' haunts are there;
A youth of labour patient; need…inured;
Worship; and reverend sires: with them from earth
Departing justice her last footprints left。
Me before all things may the Muses sweet;
Whose rites I bear with mighty passion pierced;
Receive; and show the paths and stars of heaven;
The sun's eclipses and the labouring moons;
From whence the earthquake; by what power the seas
Swell from their depths; and; every barrier burst;
Sink back upon themselves; why winter…suns
So haste to dip 'neath ocean; or what check
The lingering night retards。 But if to these
High realms of nature the cold curdling blood
About my heart bar access; then be fields
And stream…washed vales my solace; let me love
Rivers and woods; inglorious。 Oh for you
Plains; and Spercheius; and Taygete;
By Spartan maids o'er…revelled! Oh; for one;
Would set me in deep dells of Haemus cool;
And shield me with his boughs' o'ershadowing might!
Happy; who had the skill to understand
Nature's hid causes; and beneath his feet
All terrors cast; and death's relentless doom;
And the loud roar of greedy Acheron。
Blest too is he who knows the rural gods;
Pan; old Silvanus; and the sister…nymphs!
Him nor the rods of public power can bend;
Nor kingly purple; nor fierce feud that drives
Brother to turn on brother; nor descent
Of Dacian from the Danube's leagued flood;
Nor Rome's great State; nor kingdoms like to die;
Nor hath he grieved through pitying of the poor;
Nor envied him that hath。 What fruit the boughs;
And what the fields; of their own bounteous will
Have borne; he gathers; nor iron rule of laws;
Nor maddened Forum have his eyes beheld;
Nor archives of the people。 Others vex
The darksome gulfs of Ocean with their oars;
Or rush on steel: they press within the courts
And doors of princes; one with havoc falls
Upon a city and its hapless hearths;
From gems to drink; on Tyrian rugs to lie;
This hoards his wealth and broods o'er buried gold;
One at the rostra stares in blank amaze;
One gaping sits transported by the cheers;
The answering cheers of plebs and senate rolled
Along the benches: bathed in brothers' blood
Men revel; and; all delights of hearth and home
For exile changing; a new country seek
Beneath an alien sun。 The husbandman
With hooked ploughshare turns the soil; from hence
Springs his year's labour; hence; too; he sustains
Country and cottage homestead; and from hence
His herds of cattle and deserving steers。
No respite! still the year o'erflows with fruit;
Or young of kine; or Ceres' wheaten sheaf;
With crops the furrow loads; and bursts the barns。
Winter is come: in olive…mills they bruise
The Sicyonian berry; acorn…cheered
The swine troop homeward; woods their arbutes yield;
So; various fruit sheds Autumn; and high up
On sunny rocks the mellowing vintage bakes。
Meanwhile about his lips sweet children cling;
His chaste house keeps its purity; his kine
Drop milky udders; and on the lush green grass
Fat kids are striving; horn to butting horn。
Himself keeps holy days; stretched o'er the sward;
Where round the fire his comrades crown the bowl;
He pours libation; and thy name invokes;
Lenaeus; and for the herdsmen on an elm
Sets up a mark for the swift javelin; they
Strip their tough bodies for the rustic sport。
Such life of yore the ancient Sabines led;
Such Remus and his brother: Etruria thus;
Doubt not; to greatness grew; and Rome became
The fair world's fairest; and wit