Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/26

 

And at the harrows sweat, while earth is dry,
And the clouds hang yet harmless in the sky.
Beans ask the spring; then millet's annual toil; 255
Then for thee, medic! gapes the crumbling soil;
When the Bull's glist'ning horns the year unbar,
And the Dog setting shuns th' opponent star.
But if for wheat and spelt you ply the plain,
Attentive solely to the bearded grain, 260
The due seeds trust not to the furrow'd field,
Nor to earth rashly the year's promise yield,
Till at sol's rise the pleiad choir retires,
And Gnosus' blazing circlet veils her fires.
Many before the fall of Maia sow, 265
But empty ears are all the crop they know.
But if you sow the fasel vile, and tare,
And deem th' Ægyptian lentil worth your care,
Bootes sinking a sure mark will send;
Go! and your labour to mid-frost extend. 270
Hence o'er the portion'd orb with golden ray
Thro' twelve bright signs the sun exerts his sway:
Five zones the heav'ns embrace: one, still the same,
Eternal reddens with the solar flame:
At each extremest end on either side, 275
Stiff with black storms and ice, two more stretch wide:

These