FRUIT OF OLD.
19
The winds and storms with tenfold fury pour,
And now the woodlands, now the waters roar.
In fear of this, observe the month and star,
Where Saturn's freezing planet roves afar, 390
To which of heaven's broad trackways shall retire,
In circling travel the Cyllenian fire.
Especially adore the gods, and now
To mighty Ceres pay thy yearly vow;
Amid glad crops present thy gift and prayer, 395
When Winter vanishes and Spring is fair:
Then lambs are fat, and wine most mellow found,
Then sleep is sweet, and mountain shades abound.
Let all your farm-lads bow at Ceres' shrine, 399
And mix her cakes with honey, milk, and wine:
Thrice round the crops the goodly victim bear,
While all the choir and merry neighbours share,
And Ceres' visit with a shout invoke;
Let no man lay a sickle to the grain
Or ere in Ceres' honour, crown'd with oak, 405
He foot the unstudied dance and chant the strain.
And that we may by certain signs foreknow
The heat, the rain, the winds that drive the snow,
The Father of the world himself decreed 409
And now the woodlands, now the waters roar.
In fear of this, observe the month and star,
Where Saturn's freezing planet roves afar, 390
To which of heaven's broad trackways shall retire,
In circling travel the Cyllenian fire.
Especially adore the gods, and now
To mighty Ceres pay thy yearly vow;
Amid glad crops present thy gift and prayer, 395
When Winter vanishes and Spring is fair:
Then lambs are fat, and wine most mellow found,
Then sleep is sweet, and mountain shades abound.
Let all your farm-lads bow at Ceres' shrine, 399
And mix her cakes with honey, milk, and wine:
Thrice round the crops the goodly victim bear,
While all the choir and merry neighbours share,
And Ceres' visit with a shout invoke;
Let no man lay a sickle to the grain
Or ere in Ceres' honour, crown'd with oak, 405
He foot the unstudied dance and chant the strain.
And that we may by certain signs foreknow
The heat, the rain, the winds that drive the snow,
The Father of the world himself decreed 409
