Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/72

 

Yes, first of Romans, should long life be mine,
From their Aonian mount I'll lead the Nine,
Returning home, and, Mantua! first to thee 15
Triumphant bear the palm of victory.
Yet more; of marble I'll erect a fane
Close by the water on the grassy plain,
Where the vast Mincius in meanders lost
Creeps slow, and shades with rustling reeds the coast.
In the mid temple Cæsar shall preside, 21
God of the dome: myself, in purple pride,
Victor, to him will whirl along the strand
An hundred cars: all Greece at my command
Molorchus' groves and Alpheus shall forsake, 25
And of the race and cestus here partake.
With the clipt olive's twine my temples bound,
I'll bring the prizes to the lifted ground:
Ev'n now transported to the shrine I lead
The solemn pomps, and see the victims bleed, 30
See a new front the shifting scene unfold,
And pictur'd Britons the rich veils uphold.
With gold and ivory where the portals shine,
Of Ganges' sons the battle I'll design,
And of Quirinus the victorious arms: 35
Here too Nile, foamy with wars dire alarms,

Rolling