Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/39

 

And foaming frantic with impetuous sway 565
O'er all the plains swept herds and stalls away.
Nor did the fibres at that time forbear
In the slain victims menaces to wear:
The wells ran blood; and in the dead of night
Loud-howling wolves fill'd cities with affright. 570
Ne'er did more light'nings thro' a sky serene
Flash; nor so oft were blazing comets seen.
For this a second time with rival rage
Philippi saw the Roman hosts engage;
And twice Emathia, (nor the Gods withstood) 575
And Hæmus' fields were fatten'd with our blood.

The days will come, when in these tracts the swain,
As with his plough he drudges at the plain,
Shall find worn jav'lins, cank'ring in the ground,
Or, as he harrows, hear a tinkling sound 580
From the struck helms, and see with wond'ring eyes
Bones, dug from graves, of more than human size.

Ye guardian Gods! Indigetes! whose care
Tiber, and Rome's imperial grandeur share,
Check not this Youth, who labours to restore 585
A world degenerate; we request no more.
Our blood for past offences may suffice,
Too dear a price for royal perjuries.

Long