Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/33

 

Then scarce the waves forbear the crooked ship,
When from the middle of the surgy deep
Speed the swift Corm'rants screaming to the strand,
And sooty sea-coots gambol on the sand;
And herons, quitting their known marshes fly 425
Above the clouds, high-soaring in the sky.
Oft, wind impending, sudden to the sight
The stars shoot headlong from th' ethereal height,
Leaving behind long trails of light, that shine
Thro' night's gloom, dreaming in a silv'ry line. 430
Oft fluttering feathers on the pool's top play,
And chaff and falling foliage flit away.

But when from Boreas' quarter lightnings fly,
And East and West with thunders rend the sky,
O'er all the floated region foaming sweep 435
The dikes, and ev'ry sailor in the deep
Furls his wet sails: unwarn'd none rues the rain;
Either the cranes, who wing th' aerial plain,
Have shun'd it from the low vales, as it rose;
Or heifer, with look lifted and curl'd nose, 440
Snuffd the dank vapours; or with twitt'ring sound
O'er the lake's brim the swallow took her round;
Or, at the show'r's approach the croaking throng
Tun'd in the mud their melancholy song.

Oft