P. Vergilius Maro, Georgics, ed. J. B. Greenough, 4

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Protinus aerii mellis caelestia dona

exsequar: hanc etiam, Maecenas, adspice partem.

Admiranda tibi levium spectacula rerum

magnanimosque duces totiusque ordine gentis

mores et studia et populos et proelia dicam.

In tenui labor; at tenuis non gloria, si quem

numina laeva sinunt auditque vocatus Apollo.

Principio sedes apibus statioque petenda,

quo neque sit ventis aditus—nam pabula venti

ferre domum prohibent—neque oves haedique petulci

floribus insultent aut errans bucula campo

decutiat rorem et surgentes atterat herbas.

Absint et picti squalentia terga lacerti

pinguibus a stabulis meropesque aliaeque volucres

et manibus Procne pectus signata cruentis;

omnia nam late vastant ipsasque volantes

ore ferunt dulcem nidis immitibus escam.

At liquidi fontes et stagna virentia musco

adsint et tenuis fugiens per gramina rivus,

palmaque vestibulum aut ingens oleaster inumbret,

ut, cum prima novi ducent examina reges

vere suo ludetque favis emissa iuventus,

vicina invitet decedere ripa calori,

obviaque hospitiis teneat frondentibus arbos.

In medium, seu stabit iners seu profluet umor,

transversas salices et grandia conice saxa,

pontibus ut crebris possint consistere et alas

pandere ad aestivum solem, si forte morantes

sparserit aut praeceps Neptuno immerserit Eurus.

Haec circum casiae virides et olentia late

serpylla et graviter spirantis copia thymbrae

floreat inriguumque bibant violaria fontem.

Ipsa autem, seu corticibus tibi suta cavatis,

seu lento fuerint alvaria vimine texta,

angustos habeant aditus: nam frigore mella

cogit hiems, eademque calor liquefacta remittit.

Utraque vis apibus pariter metuenda; neque illae

nequiquam in tectis certatim tenuia cera

spiramenta linunt fucoque et floribus oras

explent collectumque haec ipsa ad munera gluten

et visco et Phrygiae servant pice lentius Idae.

Saepe etiam effossis, si vera est fama, latebris

sub terra fovere larem, penitusque repertae

pumicibusque cavis exesaeque arboris antro.

Tu tamen et levi rimosa cubilia limo

ungue fovens circum et raras superinice frondes.

Neu propius tectis taxum sine, neve rubentes

ure foco cancros, altae neu crede paludi,

aut ubi odor caeni gravis aut ubi concava pulsu

saxa sonant vocisque offensa resultat imago.

Quod superest, ubi pulsam hiemem sol aureus egit

sub terras caelumque aestiva luce reclusit,

illae continuo saltus silvasque peragrant

purpureosque metunt flores et flumina libant

summa leves. Hinc nescio qua dulcedine laetae

progeniem nidosque fovent, hinc arte recentes

excudunt ceras et mella tenacia fingunt.

Hinc ubi iam emissum caveis ad sidera caeli

nare per aestatem liquidam suspexeris agmen

obscuramque trahi vento mirabere nubem,

contemplator: aquas dulces et frondea semper

tecta petunt. Huc tu iussos adsperge sapores,

trita melisphylla et cerinthae ignobile gramen,

tinnitusque cie et Matris quate cymbala circum.

ipsae consident medicatis sedibus, ipsae

intima more suo sese in cunabula condent.

Sin autem ad pugnam exierint, nam saepe duobus

regibus incessit magno discordia motu,

continuoque animos vulgi et trepidantia bello

corda licet longe praesciscere; namque morantes

Martius ille aeris rauci canor increpat et vox

auditur fractos sonitus imitata tubarum;

tum trepidae inter se coeunt pennisque coruscant

spiculaque exacuunt rostris aptantque lacertos

et circa regem atque ipsa ad praetoria densae

miscentur magnisque vocant clamoribus hostem.

Ergo ubi ver nactae sudum camposque patentes,

erumpunt portis; concurritur, aethere in alto

fit sonitus, magnum mixtae glomerantur in orbem

praecipitesque cadunt; non densior aere grando,

nec de concussa tantum pluit ilice glandis.

ipsi per medias acies insignibus alis

ingentes animos angusto in pectore versant,

usque adeo obnixi non cedere, dum gravis aut hos

aut hos versa fuga victor dare terga subegit.

Hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta

pulveris exigui iactu compressa quiescent.

Verum ubi ductores acie revocaveris ambo,

deterior qui visus, eum, ne prodigus obsit,

dede neci; melior vacua sine regnet in aula.

Alter erit maculis auro squalentibus ardens;

nam duo sunt genera: hic melior, insignis et ore

et rutilis clarus squamis, ille horridus alter

desidia latamque trahens inglorius alvum.

Ut binae regum facies, ita corpora plebis.

Namque aliae turpes horrent, ceu pulvere ab alto

cum venit et sicco terram spuit ore viator

aridus; elucent aliae et fulgore coruscant

ardentes auro et paribus lita corpora guttis.

Haec potior suboles, hinc caeli tempore certo

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dulcia mella premes, nec tantum dulcia, quantum

et liquida et durum Bacchi domitura saporem.

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At cum incerta volant caeloque examina ludunt

contemnuntque favos et frigida tecta relinquunt,

instabiles animos ludo prohibebis inani.

105

Nec magnus prohibere labor: tu regibus alas

eripe; non illis quisquam cunctantibus altum

ire iter aut castris audebit vellere signa.

Invitent croceis halantes floribus horti

et custos furum atque avium cum falce saligna

110

Hellespontiaci servet tutela Priapi.

Ipse thymum pinosque ferens de montibus altis

tecta serat late circum, cui talia curae;

ipse labore manum duro terat, ipse feraces

figat humo plantas et amicos inriget imbres.

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Atque equidem, extremo ni iam sub fine laborum

vela traham et terris festinem advertere proram,

forsitan et, pingues hortos quae cura colendi

ornaret, canerem, biferique rosaria Paesti,

quoque modo potis gauderent intiba rivis

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et virides apio ripae, tortusque per herbam

cresceret in ventrem cucumis; nec sera comantem

narcissum aut flexi tacuissem vimen acanthi

pallentesque hederas et amantes litora myrtos.

Namque sub Oebaliae memini me turribus arcis,

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qua niger umectat flaventia culta Galaesus,

Corycium vidisse senem, cui pauca relicti

iugera ruris erant, nec fertilis illa iuvencis

nec pecori opportuna seges nec commoda Baccho.

Hic rarum tamen in dumis olus albaque circum

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lilia verbenasque premens vescumque papaver

regum aequabat opes animis seraque revertens

nocte domum dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis.

Primus vere rosam atque autumno carpere poma,

et cum tristis hiems etiamnum frigore saxa

135

rumperet et glacie cursus frenaret aquarum,

ille comam mollis iam tondebat hyacinthi

aestatem increpitans seram Zephyrosque morantes.

Ergo apibus fetis idem atque examine multo

primus abundare et spumantia cogere pressis

140

mella favis; illi tiliae atque uberrima pinus,

quotque in flore novo pomis se fertilis arbos

induerat, totidem autumno matura tenebat.

Ille etiam seras in versum distulit ulmos

eduramque pirum et spinos iam pruna ferentes

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iamque ministrantem platanum potantibus umbras.

Verum haec ipse equidem spatiis exclusus iniquis

praetereo atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo.

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Nunc age, naturas apibus quas Iuppiter ipse

addidit, expediam, pro qua mercede canoros

150

Curetum sonitus crepitantiaque aera secutae

Dictaeo caeli regem pavere sub antro.

Solae communes natos, consortia tecta

urbis habent magnisque agitant sub legibus aevum,

et patriam solae et certos novere penates,

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venturaeque hiemis memores aestate laborem

experiuntur et in medium quaesita reponunt.

Namque aliae victu invigilant et foedere pacto

exercentur agris; pars intra saepta domorum

Narcissi lacrimam et lentum de cortice gluten

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prima favis ponunt fundamina, deinde tenaces

suspendunt ceras: aliae spem gentis adultos

educunt fetus, aliae purissima mella

stipant et liquido distendunt nectare cellas.

Sunt quibus ad portas cecidit custodia sorti,

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inque vicem speculantur aquas et nubila caeli

aut onera accipiunt venientum aut agmine facto

ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent.

Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella.

ac veluti lentis Cyclopes fulmina massis

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cum properant, alii taurinis follibus auras

accipiunt redduntque, alii stridentia tingunt

aera lacu; gemit impositis incudibus Aetna;

illi inter sese magna vi bracchia tollunt

in numerum versantque tenaci forcipe ferrum:

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non aliter, si parva licet componere magnis,

Cecropias innatus apes amor urget habendi,

munere quamque suo. Grandaevis oppida curae

et munire favos et daedala fingere tecta.

At fessae multa referunt se nocte minores,

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crura thymo plenae; pascuntur et arbuta passim

et glaucas salices casiamque crocumque rubentem

et pinguem tiliam et ferrugineos hyacinthos.

Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus:

mane ruunt portis; nusquam mora; rursus easdem

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vesper ubi e pastu tandem decedere campis

admonuit, tum tecta petunt, tum corpora curant;

fit sonitus, mussantque oras et limina circum.

Post, ubi iam thalamis se composuere, siletur

in noctem fessosque sopor suus occupat artus.

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Nec vero a stabulis pluvia impendente recedunt

longius aut credunt caelo adventantibus Euris,

sed circum tutae sub moenibus urbis aquantur,

excursusque breves temptant et saepe lapillos,

ut cumbae instabiles fluctu iactante saburram,

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tollunt, his sese per inania nubila librant.

Illum adeo placuisse apibus mirabere morem,

quod neque concubitu indulgent nec corpora segnes

in Venerem solvunt aut fetus nixibus edunt:

verum ipsae e foliis natos, e suavibus herbis

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ore legunt, ipsae regem parvosque Quirites

sufficiunt aulasque et cerea regna refigunt.

saepe etiam duris errando in cotibus alas

attrivere ultroque animam sub fasce dedere:

tantus amor florum et generandi gloria mellis.

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Ergo ipsas quamvis angusti terminus aevi

excipiat, neque enim plus septima ducitur aestas,

at genus immortale manet multosque per annos

stat fortuna domus et avi numerantur avorum.

Praeterea regem non sic Aegyptus et ingens

210

Lydia nec populi Parthorum aut Medus Hydaspes

observant. Rege incolumi mens omnibus una est;

amisso rupere fidem constructaque mella

diripuere ipsae et crates solvere favorum.

Ille operum custos, illum admiruntur et omnes

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circumstant fremitu denso stipantque frequentes

et saepe attollunt umeris et corpora bello

obiectant pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem.

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His quidam signis atque haec exempla secuti

esse apibus partem divinae mentis et haustus

220

aetherios dixere; deum namque ire per omnes

terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum.

Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum,

quemque sibi tenues nascentem arcessere vitas;

scilicet huc reddi deinde ac resoluta referri

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omnia nec morti esse locum, sed viva volare

sideris in numerum atque alto succedere caelo.

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Si quando sedem angustam servataque mella

thesauris relines, prius haustu sparsus aquarum

ora fove fumosque manu praetende sequaces.

230

Bis gravidos cogunt fetus, duo tempora messis,

Taygete simul os terris ostendit honestum

Pleas et Oceani spretos pede reppulit amnes,

aut eadem sidus fugiens ubi Piscis aquosi

tristior hibernas caelo descendit in undas.

235

Illis ira modum supra est, laesaeque venenum

morsibus inspirant et spicula caeca relinquunt

adfixae venis animasque in vulnere ponunt.

Sin duram metues hiemem parcesque futuro

contunsosque animos et res miserabere fractas,

240

at suffire thymo cerasque recidere inanes

quis dubitet? nam saepe favos ignotus adedit

stellio et lucifugis congesta cubilia blattis

immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus

aut asper crabro imparibus se immiscuit armis,

245

aut dirum tiniae genus, aut invisa Minervae

laxos in foribus suspendit aranea casses.

Quo magis exhaustae fuerint, hoc acrius omnes

incumbent generis lapsi sarcire ruinas

complebuntque foros et floribus horrea texent.

250

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Si vero, quoniam casus apibus quoque nostros

vita tulit, tristi languebunt corpora morbo—

quod iam non dubiis poteris cognoscere signis:

continuo est aegris alius color, horrida vultum

deformat macies, tum corpora luce carentum

255

exportant tectis et tristia funera ducunt;

aut illae pedibus conexae ad limina pendent,

aut intus clausis cunctantur in aedibus, omnes

ignavaeque fame et contracto frigore pigrae.

Tum sonus auditur gravior, tractimque susurrant,

260

frigidus ut quondam silvis immurmurat Auster,

ut mare sollicitum stridit refluentibus undis,

aestuat ut clausis rapidus fornacibus ignis:

hic iam galbaneos suadebo incendere odores

mellaque harundineis inferre canalibus, ultro

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hortantem et fessas ad pabula nota vocantem.

Proderit et tunsum gallae admiscere saporem

Arentesque rosas aut igni pinguia multo

defruta vel psithia passos de vite racemos

Cecropiumque thymum et grave olentia centaurea.

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Est etiam flos in pratis, cui nomen amello

fecere agricolae, facilis quaerentibus herba;

namque uno ingentem tollit de caespite silvam,

aureus ipse, sed in foliis, quae plurima circum

funduntur, violae sublucet purpura nigrae;

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saepe deum nexis ornatae torquibus arae

asper in ore sapor; tonsis in vallibus illum

pastores et curva legunt prope flumina Mellae.

Huius odorato radices incoque Baccho

pabulaque in foribus plenis adpone canistris.

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Sed siquem proles subito defecerit omnis,

nec genus unde novae stirpis revocetur habebit,

tempus et Arcadii memoranda inventa magistri

pandere, quoque modo caesis iam saepe iuvencis

insincerus apes tulerit cruor. Altius omnem

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expediam prima repetens ab origine famam.

Nam qua Pellaei gens fortunata Canopi

accolit effuso stagnantem flumine Nilum

et circum pictis vehitur sua rura phaselis,

quaque pharetratae vicinia Persidis urget,

290

et viridem Aegyptum nigra fecundat harena,

et diversa ruens septem discurrit in ora

usque coloratis amnis devexus ab Indis

omnis in hac certam regio iacit arte salutem.

Exiguus primum atque ipsos contractus in usus

295

eligitur locus; hunc angustique imbrice tecti

parietibusque premunt artis et quattuor addunt,

quattuor a ventis obliqua luce fenestras.

Tum vitulus bima curvans iam cornua fronte

quaeritur; huic geminae nares et spiritus oris

300

multa reluctanti obstruitur, plagisque perempto

tunsa per integram solvuntur viscera pellem.

Sic positum in clauso linquunt et ramea costis

subiciunt fragmenta, thymum casiasque recentes.

Hoc geritur Zephyris primum impellentibus undas,

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ante novis rubeant quam prata coloribus, ante

garrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo.

Interea teneris tepefactus in ossibus umor

aestuat et visenda modis animalia miris,

trunca pedum primo, mox et stridentia pennis,

310

miscentur tenuemque magis magis aera carpunt,

donec, ut aestivis effusus nubibus imber,

erupere aut ut nervo pulsante sagittae,

prima leves ineunt si quando proelia Parthi.

315

Quis deus hanc, Musae, quis nobis extudit artem?

315

Unde nova ingressus hominum experientia cepit?

Pastor Aristaeus fugiens Peneia Tempe,

amissis, ut fama, apibus morboque fameque,

tristis ad extremi sacrum caput adstitit amnis

multa querens atque hac adfatus voce parentem:

320

“Mater, Cyrene mater, quae gurgitis huius

ima tenes, quid me praeclara stirpe deorum,

si modo, quem perhibes, pater est Thymbraeus Apollo,

invisum fatis genuisti? aut quo tibi nostri

pulsus amor? quid me caelum sperare iubebas?

325

En etiam hunc ipsum vitae mortalis honorem,

quem mihi vix frugum et pecudum custodia sollers

omnia temptanti extuderat, te matre relinquo.

Quin age et ipsa manu felices erue silvas,

fer stabulis inimicum ignem atque interfice messes,

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ure sata et validam in vites molire bipennem,

tanta meae si te ceperunt taedia laudis.”

333

At mater sonitum thalamo sub fluminis alti

sensit. Eam circum Milesia vellera Nymphae

carpebant hyali saturo fucata colore,

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drymoque Xanthoque Ligeaque Phyllodoceque,

caesariem effusae nitidam per candida colla,

Nesaee Spioque Thaliaque Cymodoceque,

Cydippeque et flava Lycorias, altera virgo,

altera tum primos Lucinae experta labores,

340

Clioque et Beroe soror, Oceanitides ambae,

ambae auro, pictis incinctae pellibus ambae,

atque Ephyre atque Opis et Asia Deiopea

et tandem positis velox Arethusa sagittis.

Inter quas curam Clymene narrabat inanem

345

Vulcani Martisque dolos et dulcia furta,

aque Chao densos divum numerabat amores

carmine quo captae dum fusis mollia pensa

devolvunt, iterum maternas impulit aures

luctus Aristaei, vitreisque sedilibus omnes

350

obstipuere; sed ante alias Arethusa sorores

prospiciens summa flavum caput extulit unda

et procul: “O gemitu non frustra exterrita tanto,

Cyrene soror, ipse tibi, tua maxima cura,

tristis Aristaeus Penei genitoris ad undam

355

stat lacrimans et te crudelem nomine dicit.”

Huic percussa nova mentem formidine mater,

“duc, age, duc ad nos; fas illi limina divum

tangere,” ait. Simul alta iubet discedere late

flumina, qua iuvenis gressus inferret. At illum

360

curvata in montis faciem circumstetit unda

accepitque sinu vasto misitque sub amnem.

Iamque domum mirans genetricis et umida regna

speluncisque lacus clausos lucosque sonantes

ibat et ingenti motu stupefactus aquarum

365

omnia sub magna labentia flumina terra

spectabat diversa locis, Phasimque Lycumque

et caput, unde altus primum se erumpit Enipeus

unde pater Tiberinus et unde Aniena fluenta

saxosusque sonans Hypanis Mysusque Caicus,

370

et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu

Eridanus, quo non alius per pinguia culta

in mare purpureum violentior effluit amnis.

Postquam est in thalami pendentia pumice tecta

perventum et nati fletus cognovit inanes

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Cyrene, manibus liquidos dant ordine fontes

germanae tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis;

pars epulis onerant mensas et plena reponunt

pocula, Panchaeis adolescunt ignibus arae;

et mater, “Cape Maeonii carchesia Bacchi:

380

Oceano libemus,” ait. Simul ipsa precatur

Oceanumque patrem rerum Nymphasque sorores

centum quae silvas, centum quae flumina servant.

Ter liquido ardentem perfundit nectare Vestam,

ter flamma ad summum tecti subiecta reluxit.

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Omine quo firmans animum sic incipit ipsa:

387

“Est in Carphatio Neptuni gurgite vates

caeruleus Proteus, magnum qui piscibus aequor

et iuncto bipedum curru metitur equorum.

Hic nunc Emathiae portus patriamque revisit

390

Pallenen, hunc et Nymphae veneramur et ipse

grandaevus Nereus; novit namque omnia vates,

quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox ventura trahantur;

quippe ita Neptuno visum est, immania cuius

armenta et turpes pascit sub gurgite phocas.

395

Hic tibi, nate, prius vinclis capiendus, ut omnem

expediat morbi causam eventusque secundet.

Nam sine vi non ulla dabit praecepta, neque illum

orando flectes; vim duram et vincula capto

tende; doli circum haec demum frangentur inanes.

400

Ipsa ego, te, medios cum sol accenderit aestus,

cum sitiunt herbae et pecori iam gratior umbra est,

in secreta senis ducam, quo fessus ab undis

se recipit, facile ut somno adgrediare iacentem.

Verum ubi correptum manibus vinclisque tenebis,

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tum variae eludent species atque ora ferarum

Fiet enim subito sus horridus atraque tigris

squamosusque draco et fulva cervice leaena,

aut acrem flammae sonitum dabit atque ita vinclis

excidet, aut in aquas tenues dilapsus abibit.

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Sed quanto ille magis formas se vertet in omnes,

tanto, nate, magis contende tenacia vincla,

donec talis erit mutato corpore, qualem

videris, incepto tegeret cum lumina somno.”

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Haec ait et liquidum ambrosiae defundit odorem,

415

quo totum nati corpus perduxit; at illi

dulcis compositis spiravit crinibus aura

atque habilis membris venit vigor. Est specus ingens

exesi latere in montis, quo plurima vento

cogitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos,

420

deprensis olim statio tutissima nautis;

intus se vasti Proteus tegit obice saxi.

Hic iuvenem in latebris aversum a lumine Nympha

collocat; ipsa procul nebulis obscura resistit.

Iam rapidus torrens sitientes Sirius Indos

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ardebat, caelo et medium sol igneus orbem

hauserat; arebant herbae et cava flumina siccis

faucibus ad limum radii tepefacta coquebant:

cum Proteus consueta petens e fluctibus antra

ibat; eum vasti circum gens umida ponti

430

exsultans rorem late dispergit amarum.

Sternunt se somno diversae in litore phocae.

Ipse, velut stabuli custos in montibus olim,

vesper ubi e pastu vitulos ad tecta reducit,

auditisque lupos acuunt balatibus agni,

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considit scopulo medius numerumque recenset.

Cuius Aristaeo quoniam est oblata facultas,

vix defessa senem passus componere membra

cum clamore ruit magno manicisque iacentem

occupat. Ille suae contra non immemor artis

440

omnia transformat sese in miracula rerum,

ignemque horribilemque feram fluviumque liquentem.

Verum ubi nulla fugam reperit fallacia, victus

in sese redit atque hominis tandem ore locutus:

“Nam quis te, iuvenum confidentissime, nostras

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iussit adire domos? Quidve hinc petis?” inquit. At ille:

“Scis, Proteu, scis ipse; neque est te fallere quicquam

sed tu desine velle. Deum praecepta secuti

venimus hinc lapsis quaesitum oracula rebus.”

Tantum effatus. Ad haec vates vi denique multa

450

ardentes oculos intorsit lumine glauco

et graviter frendens sic fatis ora resolvit.

453

“Non te nullius exercent numinis irae;

magna luis commissa: tibi has miserabilis Orpheus

haudquaquam ob meritum poenas, ni fata resistant,

455

suscitat et rapta graviter pro coniuge saevit.

Illa quidem, dum te fugeret per flumina praeceps,

immanem ante pedes hydrum moritura puella

servantem ripas alta non vidit in herba.

At chorus aequalis Dryadum clamore supremos

460

implerunt montes; flerunt Rhodopeiae arces

altaque Pangaea et Rhesi mavortia tellus

atque Getae atque Hebrus et Actias Orithyia.

Ipse cava solans aegrum testudine amorem

te, dulcis coniunx, te solo in litore secum,

465

te veniente die, te decedente canebat.

Taenarias etiam fauces, alta ostia Ditis,

et caligantem nigra formidine lucum

ingressus manesque adiit regemque tremendum

nesciaque humanis precibus mansuescere corda.

470

At cantu commotae Erebi de sedibus imis

umbrae ibant tenues simulacraque luce carentum,

quam multa in foliis avium se milia condunt

vesper ubi aut hibernus agit de montibus imber,

matres atque viri defunctaque corpora vita

475

magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae,

impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum,

quos circum limus niger et deformis harundo

Cocyti tardaque palus inamabilis unda

alligat et noviens Styx interfusa coercet.

480

Quin ipsae stupuere domus atque intima Leti

tartara caeruleosque implexae crinibus angues

Eumenides, tenuitque inhians tria Cerberus ora

atque Ixionii vento rota constitit orbis.

Iamque pedem referens casus evaserat omnes;

485

redditaque Eurydice superas veniebat ad auras,

pone sequens, namque hanc dederat Proserpina legem,

cum subita incautum dementia cepit amantem,

ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere manes.

Restitit Eurydicenque suam iam luce sub ipsa

490

immemor heu! victusque animi respexit. Ibi omnis

effusus labor atque immitis rupta tyranni

foedera, terque fragor stagnis auditus Avernis.

494

Illa, “Quis et me,” inquit, “miseram et te perdidit, Orpheu,

quis tantus furor? En iterum crudelia retro

495

Fata vocant, conditque natantia lumina somnus.

Iamque vale: feror ingenti circumdata nocte

invalidasque tibi tendens, heu non tua, palmas!”

dixit et ex oculis subito, ceu fumus in auras

commixtus tenues, fugit diversa, neque illum,

500

prensantem nequiquam umbras et multa volentem

dicere, praeterea vidit, nec portitor Orci

amplius obiectam passus transire paludem.

Quid faceret? Quo se rapta bis coniuge ferret?

Quo fletu Manis, quae numina voce moveret?

505

Illa quidem Stygia nabat iam frigida cumba.

Septem illum totos perhibent ex ordine menses

rupe sub aeria deserti ad Strymonis undam

flesse sibi et gelidis haec evolvisse sub antris

mulcentem tigres et agentem carmine quercus;

510

qualis populea maerens philomela sub umbra

amissos queritur fetus, quos durus arator

observans nido implumes detraxit; at illa

flet noctem ramoque sedens miserabile carmen

integrat et maestis late loca questibus implet.

515

Nulla Venus, non ulli animum flexere hymenaei.

Solus Hyperboreas glacies Tanaimque nivalem

arvaque Rhipaeis numquam viduata pruinis

lustrabat raptam Eurydicen atque inrita Ditis

dona querens; spretae Ciconum quo munere matres

520

inter sacra deum nocturnique orgia Bacchi

discerptum latos iuvenem sparsere per agros.

Tum quoque marmorea caput a cervice revulsum

gurgite cum medio portans Oeagrius Hebrus

volveret, Eurydicen vox ipsa et frigida lingua

525

“ah miseram Eurydicen!” anima fugiente vocabat:

“Eurydicen” toto referebant flumine ripae.”

528

Haec Proteus, et se iactu dedit aequor in altum,

quaque dedit, spumantem undam sub vertice torsit.

At non Cyrene; namque ultro adfata timentem:

530

“Nate, licet tristes animo deponere curas.

Haec omnis morbi causa; hinc miserabile Nymphae,

cum quibus illa choros lucis agitabat in altis,

exitium misere apibus. Tu munera supplex

tende petens pacem et faciles venerare Napaeas;

535

namque dabunt veniam votis irasque remittent.

Sed modus orandi qui sit, prius ordine dicam.

Quattuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros,

qui tibi nunc viridis depascunt summa Lycaei,

delige et intacta totidem cervice iuvencas.

540

Quattuor his aras alta ad delubra dearum

constitue et sacrum iugulis demitte cruorem,

corporaque ipsa boum frondoso desere luco.

Post, ubi nona suos Aurora ostenderit ortus,

inferias Orphei Lethaea papavera mittes

545

et nigram mactabis ovem lucumque revises:

placatam Eurydicen vitula venerabere caesa.”

548

Haud mora; continuo matris praecepta facessit;

ad delubra venit, monstratas excitat aras,

quattuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros

550

ducit et intacta totidem cervice iuvencas.

Post, ubi nona suos Aurora induxerat ortus,

inferias Orphei mittit lucumque revisit.

Hic vero subitum ac dictu mirabile monstrum

adspiciunt, liquefacta boum per viscera toto

555

stridere apes utero et ruptis effervere costis,

immensasque trahi nubes, iamque arbore summa

confluere et lentis uvam demittere ramis.

559

Haec super arvorum cultu pecorumque canebam

et super arboribus, Caesar dum magnus ad altum

560

fulminat Euphraten bello victorque volentes

per populos dat iura viamque adfectat Olympo.

Illo Vergilium me tempore dulcis alebat

Parthenope studiis florentem ignobilis oti,

carmina qui lusi pastorum audaxque iuventa,

565

Tityre, te patulae cecini sub tegmine fagi.

Georgics. P. Vergilius Maro. ed. J. B. Greenough. Boston. 1881.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Georgicon (Latin) (Vergil. The Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics Of Virgil. Greenough, J.B., editor. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1881.)

Translations (1)

Georgics Perseus (Vergil. The Poems of Vergil. Rhoades, James, translator. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.) — 4 focus

Of air-born honey, gift of heaven, I now

Take up the tale. Upon this theme no less

Look thou, Maecenas, with indulgent eye.

A marvellous display of puny powers,

High-hearted chiefs, a nation's history,

Its traits, its bent, its battles and its clans,

All, each, shall pass before you, while I sing.

Slight though the poet's theme, not slight the praise,

So frown not heaven, and Phoebus hear his call.

First find your bees a settled sure abode,

Where neither winds can enter (winds blow back

The foragers with food returning home)

Nor sheep and butting kids tread down the flowers,

Nor heifer wandering wide upon the plain

Dash off the dew, and bruise the springing blades.

Let the gay lizard too keep far aloof

His scale-clad body from their honied stalls,

And the bee-eater, and what birds beside,

And Procne smirched with blood upon the breast

From her own murderous hands. For these roam wide

Wasting all substance, or the bees themselves

Strike flying, and in their beaks bear home, to glut

Those savage nestlings with the dainty prey.

But let clear springs and moss-green pools be near,

And through the grass a streamlet hurrying run,

Some palm-tree o'er the porch extend its shade,

Or huge-grown oleaster, that in Spring,

Their own sweet Spring-tide, when the new-made chiefs

Lead forth the young swarms, and, escaped their comb,

The colony comes forth to sport and play,

The neighbouring bank may lure them from the heat,

Or bough befriend with hospitable shade.

O'er the mid-waters, whether swift or still,

Cast willow-branches and big stones enow,

Bridge after bridge, where they may footing find

And spread their wide wings to the summer sun,

If haply Eurus, swooping as they pause,

Have dashed with spray or plunged them in the deep.

And let green cassias and far-scented thymes,

And savory with its heavy-laden breath

Bloom round about, and violet-beds hard by

Sip sweetness from the fertilizing springs.

For the hive's self, or stitched of hollow bark,

Or from tough osier woven, let the doors

Be strait of entrance; for stiff winter's cold

Congeals the honey, and heat resolves and thaws,

To bees alike disastrous; not for naught

So haste they to cement the tiny pores

That pierce their walls, and fill the crevices

With pollen from the flowers, and glean and keep

To this same end the glue, that binds more fast

Than bird-lime or the pitch from Ida's pines.

Oft too in burrowed holes, if fame be true,

They make their cosy subterranean home,

And deeply lodged in hollow rocks are found,

Or in the cavern of an age-hewn tree.

Thou not the less smear round their crannied cribs

With warm smooth mud-coat, and strew leaves above;

But near their home let neither yew-tree grow,

Nor reddening crabs be roasted, and mistrust

Deep marish-ground and mire with noisome smell,

Or where the hollow rocks sonorous ring,

And the word spoken buffets and rebounds.

What more? When now the golden sun has put

Winter to headlong flight beneath the world,

And oped the doors of heaven with summer ray,

Forthwith they roam the glades and forests o'er,

Rifle the painted flowers, or sip the streams,

Light-hovering on the surface. Hence it is

With some sweet rapture, that we know not of,

Their little ones they foster, hence with skill

Work out new wax or clinging honey mould.

So when the cage-escaped hosts you see

Float heavenward through the hot clear air, until

You marvel at yon dusky cloud that spreads

And lengthens on the wind, then mark them well;

For then 'tis ever the fresh springs they seek

And bowery shelter: hither must you bring

The savoury sweets I bid, and sprinkle them,

Bruised balsam and the wax-flower's lowly weed,

And wake and shake the tinkling cymbals heard

By the great Mother: on the anointed spots

Themselves will settle, and in wonted wise

Seek of themselves the cradle's inmost depth.

But if to battle they have hied them forth—

For oft 'twixt king and king with uproar dire

Fierce feud arises, and at once from far

You may discern what passion sways the mob,

And how their hearts are throbbing for the strife;

Hark! the hoarse brazen note that warriors know

Chides on the loiterers, and the ear may catch

A sound that mocks the war-trump's broken blasts;

Then in hot haste they muster, then flash wings,

Sharpen their pointed beaks and knit their thews,

And round the king, even to his royal tent,

Throng rallying, and with shouts defy the foe.

So, when a dry Spring and clear space is given,

Forth from the gates they burst, they clash on high;

A din arises; they are heaped and rolled

Into one mighty mass, and headlong fall,

100

Not denselier hail through heaven, nor pelting so

Rains from the shaken oak its acorn-shower.

Conspicuous by their wings the chiefs themselves

Press through the heart of battle, and display

A giant's spirit in each pigmy frame,

105

Steadfast no inch to yield till these or those

The victor's ponderous arm has turned to flight.

Such fiery passions and such fierce assaults

A little sprinkled dust controls and quells.

And now, both leaders from the field recalled,

110

Who hath the worser seeming, do to death,

Lest royal waste wax burdensome, but let

His better lord it on the empty throne.

One with gold-burnished flakes will shine like fire,

For twofold are their kinds, the nobler he,

115

Of peerless front and lit with flashing scales;

That other, from neglect and squalor foul,

Drags slow a cumbrous belly. As with kings,

So too with people, diverse is their mould,

Some rough and loathly, as when the wayfarer

120

Scapes from a whirl of dust, and scorched with heat

Spits forth the dry grit from his parched mouth:

The others shine forth and flash with lightning-gleam,

Their backs all blazoned with bright drops of gold

Symmetric: this the likelier breed; from these,

125

When heaven brings round the season, thou shalt strain

Sweet honey, nor yet so sweet as passing clear,

And mellowing on the tongue the wine-god's fire.

But when the swarms fly aimlessly abroad,

Disport themselves in heaven and spurn their cells,

130

Leaving the hive unwarmed, from such vain play

Must you refrain their volatile desires,

Nor hard the task: tear off the monarchs' wings;

While these prove loiterers, none beside will dare

Mount heaven, or pluck the standards from the camp.

135

Let gardens with the breath of saffron flowers

Allure them, and the lord of Hellespont ,

Priapus, wielder of the willow-scythe,

Safe in his keeping hold from birds and thieves.

And let the man to whom such cares are dear

140

Himself bring thyme and pine-trees from the heights,

And strew them in broad belts about their home;

No hand but his the blistering task should ply,

Plant the young slips, or shed the genial showers.

And I myself, were I not even now

145

Furling my sails, and, nigh the journey's end,

Eager to turn my vessel's prow to shore,

Perchance would sing what careful husbandry

Makes the trim garden smile; of Paestum too,

Whose roses bloom and fade and bloom again;

150

How endives glory in the streams they drink,

And green banks in their parsley, and how the gourd

Twists through the grass and rounds him to paunch;

Nor of Narcissus had my lips been dumb,

That loiterer of the flowers, nor supple-stemmed

155

Acanthus, with the praise of ivies pale,

And myrtles clinging to the shores they love.

For 'neath the shade of tall Oebalia's towers,

Where dark Galaesus laves the yellowing fields,

An old man once I mind me to have seen—

160

From Corycus he came—to whom had fallen

Some few poor acres of neglected land,

And they nor fruitful' neath the plodding steer,

Meet for the grazing herd, nor good for vines.

Yet he, the while his meagre garden-herbs

165

Among the thorns he planted, and all round

White lilies, vervains, and lean poppy set,

In pride of spirit matched the wealth of kings,

And home returning not till night was late,

With unbought plenty heaped his board on high.

170

He was the first to cull the rose in spring,

He the ripe fruits in autumn; and ere yet

Winter had ceased in sullen ire to rive

The rocks with frost, and with her icy bit

Curb in the running waters, there was he

175

Plucking the rathe faint hyacinth, while he chid

Summer's slow footsteps and the lagging West.

Therefore he too with earliest brooding bees

And their full swarms o'erflowed, and first was he

To press the bubbling honey from the comb;

180

Lime-trees were his, and many a branching pine;

And all the fruits wherewith in early bloom

The orchard-tree had clothed her, in full tale

Hung there, by mellowing autumn perfected.

He too transplanted tall-grown elms a-row,

185

Time-toughened pear, thorns bursting with the plum

And plane now yielding serviceable shade

For dry lips to drink under: but these things,

Shut off by rigorous limits, I pass by,

And leave for others to sing after me.

190

Come, then, I will unfold the natural powers

Great Jove himself upon the bees bestowed,

The boon for which, led by the shrill sweet strains

Of the Curetes and their clashing brass,

They fed the King of heaven in Dicte's cave.

195

Alone of all things they receive and hold

Community of offspring, and they house

Together in one city, and beneath

The shelter of majestic laws they live;

And they alone fixed home and country know,

200

And in the summer, warned of coming cold,

Make proof of toil, and for the general store

Hoard up their gathered harvesting. For some

Watch o'er the victualling of the hive, and these

By settled order ply their tasks afield;

205

And some within the confines of their home

Plant firm the comb's first layer, Narcissus' tear,

And sticky gum oozed from the bark of trees,

Then set the clinging wax to hang therefrom.

Others the while lead forth the full-grown young,

210

Their country's hope, and others press and pack

The thrice repured honey, and stretch their cells

To bursting with the clear-strained nectar sweet.

Some, too, the wardship of the gates befalls,

Who watch in turn for showers and cloudy skies,

215

Or ease returning labourers of their load,

Or form a band and from their precincts drive

The drones, a lazy herd. How glows the work!

How sweet the honey smells of perfumed thyme

Like the Cyclopes, when in haste they forge

220

From the slow-yielding ore the thunderbolts,

Some from the bull's-hide bellows in and out

Let the blasts drive, some dip i' the water-trough

The sputtering metal: with the anvil's weight

Groans Etna : they alternately in time

225

With giant strength uplift their sinewy arms,

Or twist the iron with the forceps' grip—

Not otherwise, to measure small with great,

The love of getting planted in their breasts

Goads on the bees, that haunt old Cecrops' heights,

230

Each in his sphere to labour. The old have charge

To keep the town, and build the walled combs,

And mould the cunning chambers; but the youth,

Their tired legs packed with thyme, come labouring home

Belated, for afar they range to feed

235

On arbutes and the grey-green willow-leaves,

And cassia and the crocus blushing red,

Glue-yielding limes, and hyacinths dusky-eyed.

One hour for rest have all, and one for toil:

With dawn they hurry from the gates—no room

240

For loiterers there: and once again, when even

Now bids them quit their pasturing on the plain,

Then homeward make they, then refresh their strength:

A hum arises: hark! they buzz and buzz

About the doors and threshold; till at length

245

Safe laid to rest they hush them for the night,

And welcome slumber laps their weary limbs.

But from the homestead not too far they fare,

When showers hang like to fall, nor, east winds nigh,

Confide in heaven, but 'neath the city walls

250

Safe-circling fetch them water, or essay

Brief out-goings, and oft weigh-up tiny stones,

As light craft ballast in the tossing tide,

Wherewith they poise them through the cloudy vast.

This law of life, too, by the bees obeyed,

255

Will move thy wonder, that nor sex with sex

Yoke they in marriage, nor yield their limbs to love,

Nor know the pangs of labour, but alone

From leaves and honied herbs, the mothers, each,

Gather their offspring in their mouths, alone

260

Supply new kings and pigmy commonwealth,

And their old court and waxen realm repair.

Oft, too, while wandering, against jagged stones

Their wings they fray, and 'neath the burden yield

Their liberal lives: so deep their love of flowers,

265

So glorious deem they honey's proud acquist.

Therefore, though each a life of narrow span,

Ne'er stretched to summers more than seven, befalls,

Yet deathless doth the race endure, and still

Perennial stands the fortune of their line,

270

From grandsire unto grandsire backward told.

Moreover, not Aegyptus , nor the realm

Of boundless Lydia , no, nor Parthia 's hordes,

Nor Median Hydaspes, to their king

Do such obeisance: lives the king unscathed,

275

One will inspires the million: is he dead,

Snapt is the bond of fealty; they themselves

Ravage their toil-wrought honey, and rend amain

Their own comb's waxen trellis. He is the lord

Of all their labour; him with awful eye

280

They reverence, and with murmuring throngs surround,

In crowds attend, oft shoulder him on high,

Or with their bodies shield him in the fight,

And seek through showering wounds a glorious death.

Led by these tokens, and with such traits to guide,

285

Some say that unto bees a share is given

Of the Divine Intelligence, and to drink

Pure draughts of ether; for God permeates all—

Earth, and wide ocean, and the vault of heaven—

From whom flocks, herds, men, beasts of every kind,

290

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.

295

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,

300

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,

305

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

310

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

315

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;

320

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,

325

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—

330

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

335

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

340

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

345

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.

350

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.

355

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,

360

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

365

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,

370

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,

375

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,

380

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,

385

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,

390

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

395

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,

400

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,

405

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:

410

“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

415

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,

420

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

425

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

430

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

435

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,

440

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.

445

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

450

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,

455

Here by the brink of the Peneian sire

Stands woebegone and weeping, and by name

Cries out upon thee for thy cruelty.”

To whom, strange terror knocking at her heart,

“Bring, bring him to our sight,” the mother cried;

460

“His feet may tread the threshold even of Gods.”

So saying, she bids the flood yawn wide and yield

A pathway for his footsteps; but the wave

Arched mountain-wise closed round him, and within

Its mighty bosom welcomed, and let speed

465

To the deep river-bed. And now, with eyes

Of wonder gazing on his mother's hall

And watery kingdom and cave-prisoned pools

And echoing groves, he went, and, stunned by that

Stupendous whirl of waters, separate saw

470

All streams beneath the mighty earth that glide,

Phasis and Lycus, and that fountain-head

Whence first the deep Enipeus leaps to light,

Whence father Tiber , and whence Anio's flood,

And Hypanis that roars amid his rocks,

475

And Mysian Caicus, and, bull-browed

'Twixt either gilded horn, Eridanus ,

Than whom none other through the laughing plains

More furious pours into the purple sea.

Soon as the chamber's hanging roof of stone

480

Was gained, and now Cyrene from her son

Had heard his idle weeping, in due course

Clear water for his hands the sisters bring,

With napkins of shorn pile, while others heap

The board with dainties, and set on afresh

485

The brimming goblets; with Panchaian fires

Upleap the altars; then the mother spake,

“Take beakers of Maconian wine,” she said,

“Pour we to Ocean.” Ocean, sire of all,

She worships, and the sister-nymphs who guard

490

The hundred forests and the hundred streams;

Thrice Vesta's fire with nectar clear she dashed,

Thrice to the roof-top shot the flame and shone:

Armed with which omen she essayed to speak:

“In Neptune's gulf Carpathian dwells a seer,

495

Caerulean Proteus, he who metes the main

With fish-drawn chariot of two-footed steeds;

Now visits he his native home once more,

Pallene and the Emathian ports; to him

We nymphs do reverence, ay, and Nereus old;

500

For all things knows the seer, both those which are

And have been, or which time hath yet to bring;

So willed it Neptune, whose portentous flocks,

And loathly sea-calves 'neath the surge he feeds.

Him first, my son, behoves thee seize and bind

505

That he may all the cause of sickness show,

And grant a prosperous end. For save by force

No rede will he vouchsafe, nor shalt thou bend

His soul by praying; whom once made captive, ply

With rigorous force and fetters; against these

510

His wiles will break and spend themselves in vain.

I, when the sun has lit his noontide fires,

When the blades thirst, and cattle love the shade,

Myself will guide thee to the old man's haunt,

Whither he hies him weary from the waves,

515

That thou mayst safelier steal upon his sleep.

But when thou hast gripped him fast with hand and gyve,

Then divers forms and bestial semblances

Shall mock thy grasp; for sudden he will change

To bristly boar, fell tigress, dragon scaled,

520

And tawny-tufted lioness, or send forth

A crackling sound of fire, and so shake of

The fetters, or in showery drops anon

Dissolve and vanish. But the more he shifts

His endless transformations, thou, my son,

525

More straitlier clench the clinging bands, until

His body's shape return to that thou sawest,

When with closed eyelids first he sank to sleep.”

So saying, an odour of ambrosial dew

She sheds around, and all his frame therewith

530

Steeps throughly; forth from his trim-combed locks

Breathed effluence sweet, and a lithe vigour leapt

Into his limbs. There is a cavern vast

Scooped in the mountain-side, where wave on wave

By the wind's stress is driven, and breaks far up

535

Its inmost creeks—safe anchorage from of old

For tempest-taken mariners: therewithin,

Behind a rock's huge barrier, Proteus hides.

Here in close covert out of the sun's eye

The youth she places, and herself the while

540

Swathed in a shadowy mist stands far aloof.

And now the ravening dog-star that burns up

The thirsty Indians blazed in heaven; his course

The fiery sun had half devoured: the blades

Were parched, and the void streams with droughty jaws

545

Baked to their mud-beds by the scorching ray,

When Proteus seeking his accustomed cave

Strode from the billows: round him frolicking

The watery folk that people the waste sea

Sprinkled the bitter brine-dew far and wide.

550

Along the shore in scattered groups to feed

The sea-calves stretch them: while the seer himself,

Like herdsman on the hills when evening bids

The steers from pasture to their stall repair,

And the lambs' bleating whets the listening wolves,

555

Sits midmost on the rock and tells his tale.

But Aristaeus, the foe within his clutch,

Scarce suffering him compose his aged limbs,

With a great cry leapt on him, and ere he rose

Forestalled him with the fetters; he nathless,

560

All unforgetful of his ancient craft,

Transforms himself to every wondrous thing,

Fire and a fearful beast, and flowing stream.

But when no trickery found a path for flight,

Baffled at length, to his own shape returned,

565

With human lips he spake, “Who bade thee, then,

So reckless in youth's hardihood, affront

Our portals? or what wouldst thou hence?”—But he,

“Proteus, thou knowest, of thine own heart thou knowest;

For thee there is no cheating, but cease thou

570

To practise upon me: at heaven's behest

I for my fainting fortunes hither come

An oracle to ask thee.” There he ceased.

Whereat the seer, by stubborn force constrained,

Shot forth the grey light of his gleaming eyes

575

Upon him, and with fiercely gnashing teeth

Unlocks his lips to spell the fates of heaven:

“Doubt not 'tis wrath divine that plagues thee thus,

Nor light the debt thou payest; 'tis Orpheus' self,

Orpheus unhappy by no fault of his,

580

So fates prevent not, fans thy penal fires,

Yet madly raging for his ravished bride.

She in her haste to shun thy hot pursuit

Along the stream, saw not the coming death,

Where at her feet kept ward upon the bank

585

In the tall grass a monstrous water-snake.

But with their cries the Dryad-band her peers

Filled up the mountains to their proudest peaks:

Wailed for her fate the heights of Rhodope ,

And tall Pangaea, and, beloved of Mars,

590

The land that bowed to Rhesus, Thrace no less

With Hebrus ' stream; and Orithyia wept,

Daughter of Acte old. But Orpheus' self,

Soothing his love-pain with the hollow shell,

Thee his sweet wife on the lone shore alone,

595

Thee when day dawned and when it died he sang.

Nay to the jaws of Taenarus too he came,

Of Dis the infernal palace, and the grove

Grim with a horror of great darkness—came,

Entered, and faced the Manes and the King

600

Of terrors, the stone heart no prayer can tame.

Then from the deepest deeps of Erebus,

Wrung by his minstrelsy, the hollow shades

Came trooping, ghostly semblances of forms

Lost to the light, as birds by myriads hie

605

To greenwood boughs for cover, when twilight-hour

Or storms of winter chase them from the hills;

Matrons and men, and great heroic frames

Done with life's service, boys, unwedded girls,

Youths placed on pyre before their fathers' eyes.

610

Round them, with black slime choked and hideous weed,

Cocytus winds; there lies the unlovely swamp

Of dull dead water, and, to pen them fast,

Styx with her ninefold barrier poured between.

Nay, even the deep Tartarean Halls of death

615

Stood lost in wonderment, and the Eumenides,

Their brows with livid locks of serpents twined;

Even Cerberus held his triple jaws agape,

And, the wind hushed, Ixion's wheel stood still.

And now with homeward footstep he had passed

620

All perils scathless, and, at length restored,

Eurydice to realms of upper air

Had well-nigh won, behind him following—

So Proserpine had ruled it—when his heart

A sudden mad desire surprised and seized—

625

Meet fault to be forgiven, might Hell forgive.

For at the very threshold of the day,

Heedless, alas! and vanquished of resolve,

He stopped, turned, looked upon Eurydice

His own once more. But even with the look,

630

Poured out was all his labour, broken the bond

Of that fell tyrant, and a crash was heard

Three times like thunder in the meres of hell.

‘Orpheus! what ruin hath thy frenzy wrought

On me, alas! and thee? Lo! once again

635

The unpitying fates recall me, and dark sleep

Closes my swimming eyes. And now farewell:

Girt with enormous night I am borne away,

Outstretching toward thee, thine, alas! no more,

These helpless hands.’ She spake, and suddenly,

640

Like smoke dissolving into empty air,

Passed and was sundered from his sight; nor him

Clutching vain shadows, yearning sore to speak,

Thenceforth beheld she, nor no second time

Hell's boatman brooks he pass the watery bar.

645

What should he do? fly whither, twice bereaved?

Move with what tears the Manes, with what voice

The Powers of darkness? She indeed even now

Death-cold was floating on the Stygian barge!

For seven whole months unceasingly, men say,

650

Beneath a skyey crag, by thy lone wave,

Strymon, he wept, and in the caverns chill

Unrolled his story, melting tigers' hearts,

And leading with his lay the oaks along.

As in the poplar-shade a nightingale

655

Mourns her lost young, which some relentless swain,

Spying, from the nest has torn unfledged, but she

Wails the long night, and perched upon a spray

With sad insistence pipes her dolorous strain,

Till all the region with her wrongs o'erflows.

660

No love, no new desire, constrained his soul:

By snow-bound Tanais and the icy north,

Far steppes to frost Rhipaean forever wed,

Alone he wandered, lost Eurydice

Lamenting, and the gifts of Dis ungiven.

665

Scorned by which tribute the Ciconian dames,

Amid their awful Bacchanalian rites

And midnight revellings, tore him limb from limb,

And strewed his fragments over the wide fields.

Then too, even then, what time the Hebrus stream,

670

Oeagrian Hebrus, down mid-current rolled,

Rent from the marble neck, his drifting head,

The death-chilled tongue found yet a voice to cry

‘Eurydice! ah! poor Eurydice!’

With parting breath he called her, and the banks

675

From the broad stream caught up ‘Eurydice!’”

So Proteus ending plunged into the deep,

And, where he plunged, beneath the eddying whirl

Churned into foam the water, and was gone;

But not Cyrene, who unquestioned thus

680

Bespake the trembling listener: “Nay, my son,

From that sad bosom thou mayst banish care:

Hence came that plague of sickness, hence the nymphs,

With whom in the tall woods the dance she wove,

Wrought on thy bees, alas! this deadly bane.

685

Bend thou before the Dell-nymphs, gracious powers:

Bring gifts, and sue for pardon: they will grant

Peace to thine asking, and an end of wrath.

But how to approach them will I first unfold—

Four chosen bulls of peerless form and bulk,

That browse to-day the green Lycaean heights,

Pick from thy herds, as many kine to match,

Whose necks the yoke pressed never: then for these

Build up four altars by the lofty fanes,

And from their throats let gush the victims' blood,

695

And in the greenwood leave their bodies lone.

Then, when the ninth dawn hath displayed its beams,

To Orpheus shalt thou send his funeral dues,

Poppies of Lethe, and let slay a sheep

Coal-black, then seek the grove again, and soon

700

For pardon found adore Eurydice

With a slain calf for victim.”

No delay:

The self-same hour he hies him forth to do

His mother's bidding: to the shrine he came,

705

The appointed altars reared, and thither led

Four chosen bulls of peerless form and bulk,

With kine to match, that never yoke had known;

Then, when the ninth dawn had led in the day,

To Orpheus sent his funeral dues, and sought

710

The grove once more. But sudden, strange to tell

A portent they espy: through the oxen's flesh,

Waxed soft in dissolution, hark! there hum

Bees from the belly; the rent ribs overboil

In endless clouds they spread them, till at last

715

On yon tree-top together fused they cling,

And drop their cluster from the bending boughs.

So sang I of the tilth of furrowed fields,

Of flocks and trees, while Caesar's majesty

Launched forth the levin-bolts of war by deep

720

Euphrates , and bare rule o'er willing folk

Though vanquished, and essayed the heights of heaven.

I Virgil then, of sweet Parthenope

The nursling, wooed the flowery walks of peace

Inglorious, who erst trilled for shepherd-wights

725

The wanton ditty, and sang in saucy youth

Thee, Tityrus, 'neath the spreading beech tree's shade.

P. Vergilius Maro Georgics 4

ed. J. B. Greenough

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