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第8节

the georgics-第8节

小说: the georgics 字数: 每页4000字

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  His herds of cattle and deserving steers。

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

  Or young of kine; or Ceres' wheaten sheaf;

  With crops the furrow loads; and bursts the barns。

  Winter is come: in olive…mills they bruise

  The Sicyonian berry; acorn…cheered

  The swine troop homeward; woods their arbutes yield;

  So; various fruit sheds Autumn; and high up

  On sunny rocks the mellowing vintage bakes。

  Meanwhile about his lips sweet children cling;

  His chaste house keeps its purity; his kine

  Drop milky udders; and on the lush green grass

  Fat kids are striving; horn to butting horn。

  Himself keeps holy days; stretched o'er the sward;

  Where round the fire his comrades crown the bowl;

  He pours libation; and thy name invokes;

  Lenaeus; and for the herdsmen on an elm

  Sets up a mark for the swift javelin; they

  Strip their tough bodies for the rustic sport。

  Such life of yore the ancient Sabines led;

  Such Remus and his brother: Etruria thus;

  Doubt not; to greatness grew; and Rome became

  The fair world's fairest; and with circling wall

  Clasped to her single breast the sevenfold hills。

  Ay; ere the reign of Dicte's king; ere men;

  Waxed godless; banqueted on slaughtered bulls;

  Such life on earth did golden Saturn lead。

  Nor ear of man had heard the war…trump's blast;

  Nor clang of sword on stubborn anvil set。

    But lo! a boundless space we have travelled o'er;

  'Tis time our steaming horses to unyoke。

  GEORGIC III



  Thee too; great Pales; will I hymn; and thee;

  Amphrysian shepherd; worthy to be sung;

  You; woods and waves Lycaean。 All themes beside;

  Which else had charmed the vacant mind with song;

  Are now waxed common。 Of harsh Eurystheus who

  The story knows not; or that praiseless king

  Busiris; and his altars? or by whom

  Hath not the tale been told of Hylas young;

  Latonian Delos and Hippodame;

  And Pelops for his ivory shoulder famed;

  Keen charioteer? Needs must a path be tried;

  By which I too may lift me from the dust;

  And float triumphant through the mouths of men。

  Yea; I shall be the first; so life endure;

  To lead the Muses with me; as I pass

  To mine own country from the Aonian height;

  I; Mantua; first will bring thee back the palms

  Of Idumaea; and raise a marble shrine

  On thy green plain fast by the water…side;

  Where Mincius winds more vast in lazy coils;

  And rims his margent with the tender reed。

  Amid my shrine shall Caesar's godhead dwell。

  To him will I; as victor; bravely dight

  In Tyrian purple; drive along the bank

  A hundred four…horse cars。 All Greece for me;

  Leaving Alpheus and Molorchus' grove;

  On foot shall strive; or with the raw…hide glove;

  Whilst I; my head with stripped green olive crowned;

  Will offer gifts。 Even 'tis present joy

  To lead the high processions to the fane;

  And view the victims felled; or how the scene

  Sunders with shifted face; and Britain's sons

  Inwoven thereon with those proud curtains rise。

  Of gold and massive ivory on the doors

  I'll trace the battle of the Gangarides;

  And our Quirinus' conquering arms; and there

  Surging with war; and hugely flowing; the Nile;

  And columns heaped on high with naval brass。

  And Asia's vanquished cities I will add;

  And quelled Niphates; and the Parthian foe;

  Who trusts in flight and backward…volleying darts;

  And trophies torn with twice triumphant hand

  From empires twain on ocean's either shore。

  And breathing forms of Parian marble there

  Shall stand; the offspring of Assaracus;

  And great names of the Jove…descended folk;

  And father Tros; and Troy's first founder; lord

  Of Cynthus。 And accursed Envy there

  Shall dread the Furies; and thy ruthless flood;

  Cocytus; and Ixion's twisted snakes;

  And that vast wheel and ever…baffling stone。

  Meanwhile the Dryad…haunted woods and lawns

  Unsullied seek we; 'tis thy hard behest;

  Maecenas。 Without thee no lofty task

  My mind essays。 Up! break the sluggish bonds

  Of tarriance; with loud din Cithaeron calls;

  Steed…taming Epidaurus; and thy hounds;

  Taygete; and hark! the assenting groves

  With peal on peal reverberate the roar。

  Yet must I gird me to rehearse ere long

  The fiery fights of Caesar; speed his name

  Through ages; countless as to Caesar's self

  From the first birth…dawn of Tithonus old。

    If eager for the prized Olympian palm

  One breed the horse; or bullock strong to plough;

  Be his prime care a shapely dam to choose。

  Of kine grim…faced is goodliest; with coarse head

  And burly neck; whose hanging dewlaps reach

  From chin to knee; of boundless length her flank;

  Large every way she is; large…footed even;

  With incurved horns and shaggy ears beneath。

  Nor let mislike me one with spots of white

  Conspicuous; or that spurns the yoke; whose horn

  At times hath vice in't: liker bull…faced she;

  And tall…limbed wholly; and with tip of tail

  Brushing her footsteps as she walks along。

  The age for Hymen's rites; Lucina's pangs;

  Ere ten years ended; after four begins;

  Their residue of days nor apt to teem;

  Nor strong for ploughing。 Meantime; while youth's delight

  Survives within them; loose the males: be first

  To speed thy herds of cattle to their loves;

  Breed stock with stock; and keep the race supplied。

  Ah! life's best hours are ever first to fly

  From hapless mortals; in their place succeed

  Disease and dolorous eld; till travail sore

  And death unpitying sweep them from the scene。

  Still will be some; whose form thou fain wouldst change;

  Renew them still; with yearly choice of young

  Preventing losses; lest too late thou rue。

    Nor steeds crave less selection; but on those

  Thou think'st to rear; the promise of their line;

  From earliest youth thy chiefest pains bestow。

  See from the first yon high…bred colt afield;

  His lofty step; his limbs' elastic tread:

  Dauntless he leads the herd; still first to try

  The threatening flood; or brave the unknown bridge;

  By no vain noise affrighted; lofty…necked;

  With clean…cut head; short belly; and stout back;

  His sprightly breast exuberant with brawn。

  Chestnut and grey are good; the worst…hued white

  And sorrel。 Then lo! if arms are clashed afar;

  Bide still he cannot: ears stiffen and limbs quake;

  His nostrils snort and roll out wreaths of fire。

  Dense is his mane; that when uplifted falls

  On his right shoulder; betwixt either loin

  The spine runs double; his earth…dinting hoof

  Rings with the ponderous beat of solid horn。

  Even such a horse was Cyllarus; reined and tamed

  By Pollux of Amyclae; such the pair

  In Grecian song renowned; those steeds of Mars;

  And famed Achilles' team: in such…like form

  Great Saturn's self with mane flung loose on neck

  Sped at his wife's approach; and flying filled

  The heights of Pelion with his piercing neigh。

    Even him; when sore disease or sluggish eld

  Now saps his strength; pen fast at home; and spare

  His not inglorious age。 A horse grown old

  Slow kindling unto love in vain prolongs

  The fruitless task; and; to the encounter come;

  As fire in stubble blusters without strength;

  He rages idly。 Therefore mark thou first

  Their age and mettle; other points anon;

  As breed and lineage; or what pain was theirs

  To lose the race; what pride the palm to win。

  Seest how the chariots in mad rivalry

  Poured from the barrier grip the course and go;

  When youthful hope is highest; and every heart

  Drained with each wild pulsation? How they ply

  The circling lash; and reaching forward let

  The reins hang free! Swift spins the glowing wheel;

  And now they stoop; and now erect in air

  Seem borne through space and towering to the sky:

  No stop; no stay; the dun sand whirls aloft;

  They reek with foam…flakes and pursuing breath;

  So sweet is fame; so prized the victor's palm。

  'Twas Ericthonius first took heart to yoke

  Four horses to his car; and rode above

  The whirling wheels to victory: but the ring

  And bridle…reins; mounted on horses' backs;

  The Pelethronian Lapithae bequeathed;

  And taught the knight in arms to spurn the ground;

  And arch the upgathered footsteps of his pride。

  Each task alike is arduous; and for each

  A horse young; fiery; swift of foot; they seek;

  How oft so…e'er yon rival may have chased

  The flying foe; or boast his native plain

  Epirus; or Mycenae's stubborn hold;

  And trace his lineage back to Neptune's birth。

    These points regarded; as the time draws nigh;

  With instant zeal they lavish all their care

  To plump with solid fat the chosen chief

  And designated husband of the herd:

  And flowery herbs they cut; and serve him well

  With corn and running water; that his strength

  Not fail him for that labour of delight;

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