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第7节

the georgics-第7节

小说: the georgics 字数: 每页4000字

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  From story up to story。

                         Now while yet

  The leaves are in their first fresh infant growth;

  Forbear their frailty; and while yet the bough

  Shoots joyfully toward heaven; with loosened rein

  Launched on the void; assail it not as yet

  With keen…edged sickle; but let the leaves alone

  Be culled with clip of fingers here and there。

  But when they clasp the elms with sturdy trunks

  Erect; then strip the leaves off; prune the boughs;

  Sooner they shrink from steel; but then put forth

  The arm of power; and stem the branchy tide。

    Hedges too must be woven and all beasts

  Barred entrance; chiefly while the leaf is young

  And witless of disaster; for therewith;

  Beside harsh winters and o'erpowering sun;

  Wild buffaloes and pestering goats for ay

  Besport them; sheep and heifers glut their greed。

  Nor cold by hoar…frost curdled; nor the prone

  Dead weight of summer upon the parched crags;

  So scathe it; as the flocks with venom…bite

  Of their hard tooth; whose gnawing scars the stem。

  For no offence but this to Bacchus bleeds

  The goat at every altar; and old plays

  Upon the stage find entrance; therefore too

  The sons of Theseus through the country…side…

  Hamlet and crossway… set the prize of wit;

  And on the smooth sward over oiled skins

  Dance in their tipsy frolic。 Furthermore

  The Ausonian swains; a race from Troy derived;

  Make merry with rough rhymes and boisterous mirth;

  Grim masks of hollowed bark assume; invoke

  Thee with glad hymns; O Bacchus; and to thee

  Hang puppet…faces on tall pines to swing。

  Hence every vineyard teems with mellowing fruit;

  Till hollow vale o'erflows; and gorge profound;

  Where'er the god hath turned his comely head。

  Therefore to Bacchus duly will we sing

  Meet honour with ancestral hymns; and cates

  And dishes bear him; and the doomed goat

  Led by the horn shall at the altar stand;

  Whose entrails rich on hazel…spits we'll roast。

    This further task again; to dress the vine;

  Hath needs beyond exhausting; the whole soil

  Thrice; four times; yearly must be cleft; the sod

  With hoes reversed be crushed continually;

  The whole plantation lightened of its leaves。

  Round on the labourer spins the wheel of toil;

  As on its own track rolls the circling year。

  Soon as the vine her lingering leaves hath shed;

  And the chill north wind from the forests shook

  Their coronal; even then the careful swain

  Looks keenly forward to the coming year;

  With Saturn's curved fang pursues and prunes

  The vine forlorn; and lops it into shape。

  Be first to dig the ground up; first to clear

  And burn the refuse…branches; first to house

  Again your vine…poles; last to gather fruit。

  Twice doth the thickening shade beset the vine;

  Twice weeds with stifling briers o'ergrow the crop;

  And each a toilsome labour。 Do thou praise

  Broad acres; farm but few。 Rough twigs beside

  Of butcher's broom among the woods are cut;

  And reeds upon the river…banks; and still

  The undressed willow claims thy fostering care。

  So now the vines are fettered; now the trees

  Let go the sickle; and the last dresser now

  Sings of his finished rows; but still the ground

  Must vexed be; the dust be stirred; and heaven

  Still set thee trembling for the ripened grapes。

    Not so with olives; small husbandry need they;

  Nor look for sickle bowed or biting rake;

  When once they have gripped the soil; and borne the breeze。

  Earth of herself; with hooked fang laid bare;

  Yields moisture for the plants; and heavy fruit;

  The ploughshare aiding; therewithal thou'lt rear

  The olive's fatness well…beloved of Peace。

    Apples; moreover; soon as first they feel

  Their stems wax lusty; and have found their strength;

  To heaven climb swiftly; self…impelled; nor crave

  Our succour。 All the grove meanwhile no less

  With fruit is swelling; and the wild haunts of birds

  Blush with their blood…red berries。 Cytisus

  Is good to browse on; the tall forest yields

  Pine…torches; and the nightly fires are fed

  And shoot forth radiance。 And shall men be loath

  To plant; nor lavish of their pains? Why trace

  Things mightier? Willows even and lowly brooms

  To cattle their green leaves; to shepherds shade;

  Fences for crops; and food for honey yield。

  And blithe it is Cytorus to behold

  Waving with box; Narycian groves of pitch;

  Oh! blithe the sight of fields beholden not

  To rake or man's endeavour! the barren woods

  That crown the scalp of Caucasus; even these;

  Which furious blasts for ever rive and rend;

  Yield various wealth; pine…logs that serve for ships;

  Cedar and cypress for the homes of men;

  Hence; too; the farmers shave their wheel…spokes; hence

  Drums for their wains; and curved boat…keels fit;

  Willows bear twigs enow; the elm…tree leaves;

  Myrtle stout spear…shafts; war…tried cornel too;

  Yews into Ituraean bows are bent:

  Nor do smooth lindens or lathe…polished box

  Shrink from man's shaping and keen…furrowing steel;

  Light alder floats upon the boiling flood

  Sped down the Padus; and bees house their swarms

  In rotten holm…oak's hollow bark and bole。

  What of like praise can Bacchus' gifts afford?

  Nay; Bacchus even to crime hath prompted; he

  The wine…infuriate Centaurs quelled with death;

  Rhoetus and Pholus; and with mighty bowl

  Hylaeus threatening high the Lapithae。

    Oh! all too happy tillers of the soil;

  Could they but know their blessedness; for whom

  Far from the clash of arms all…equal earth

  Pours from the ground herself their easy fare!

  What though no lofty palace portal…proud

  From all its chambers vomits forth a tide

  Of morning courtiers; nor agape they gaze

  On pillars with fair tortoise…shell inwrought;

  Gold…purfled robes; and bronze from Ephyre;

  Nor is the whiteness of their wool distained

  With drugs Assyrian; nor clear olive's use

  With cassia tainted; yet untroubled calm;

  A life that knows no falsehood; rich enow

  With various treasures; yet broad…acred ease;

  Grottoes and living lakes; yet Tempes cool;

  Lowing of kine; and sylvan slumbers soft;

  They lack not; lawns and wild beasts' haunts are there;

  A youth of labour patient; need…inured;

  Worship; and reverend sires: with them from earth

  Departing justice her last footprints left。

    Me before all things may the Muses sweet;

  Whose rites I bear with mighty passion pierced;

  Receive; and show the paths and stars of heaven;

  The sun's eclipses and the labouring moons;

  From whence the earthquake; by what power the seas

  Swell from their depths; and; every barrier burst;

  Sink back upon themselves; why winter…suns

  So haste to dip 'neath ocean; or what check

  The lingering night retards。 But if to these

  High realms of nature the cold curdling blood

  About my heart bar access; then be fields

  And stream…washed vales my solace; let me love

  Rivers and woods; inglorious。 Oh for you

  Plains; and Spercheius; and Taygete;

  By Spartan maids o'er…revelled! Oh; for one;

  Would set me in deep dells of Haemus cool;

  And shield me with his boughs' o'ershadowing might!

  Happy; who had the skill to understand

  Nature's hid causes; and beneath his feet

  All terrors cast; and death's relentless doom;

  And the loud roar of greedy Acheron。

  Blest too is he who knows the rural gods;

  Pan; old Silvanus; and the sister…nymphs!

  Him nor the rods of public power can bend;

  Nor kingly purple; nor fierce feud that drives

  Brother to turn on brother; nor descent

  Of Dacian from the Danube's leagued flood;

  Nor Rome's great State; nor kingdoms like to die;

  Nor hath he grieved through pitying of the poor;

  Nor envied him that hath。 What fruit the boughs;

  And what the fields; of their own bounteous will

  Have borne; he gathers; nor iron rule of laws;

  Nor maddened Forum have his eyes beheld;

  Nor archives of the people。 Others vex

  The darksome gulfs of Ocean with their oars;

  Or rush on steel: they press within the courts

  And doors of princes; one with havoc falls

  Upon a city and its hapless hearths;

  From gems to drink; on Tyrian rugs to lie;

  This hoards his wealth and broods o'er buried gold;

  One at the rostra stares in blank amaze;

  One gaping sits transported by the cheers;

  The answering cheers of plebs and senate rolled

  Along the benches: bathed in brothers' blood

  Men revel; and; all delights of hearth and home

  For exile changing; a new country seek

  Beneath an alien sun。 The husbandman

  With hooked ploughshare turns the soil; from hence

  Springs his year's labour; hence; too; he sustains

  Country and cottage homestead; and from hence

  His herds of cattle and deserving steers。

  No respite! still the year o'erflows with fruit;

  Or young of kine; or C

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