the georgics-第4章
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About their shoulders dash the plenteous spray;
Now duck their head beneath the wave; now run
Into the billows; for sheer idle joy
Of their mad bathing…revel。 Then the crow
With full voice; good…for…naught; inviting rain;
Stalks on the dry sand mateless and alone。
Nor e'en the maids; that card their nightly task;
Know not the storm…sign; when in blazing crock
They see the lamp…oil sputtering with a growth
Of mouldy snuff…clots。
So too; after rain;
Sunshine and open skies thou mayst forecast;
And learn by tokens sure; for then nor dimmed
Appear the stars' keen edges; nor the moon
As borrowing of her brother's beams to rise;
Nor fleecy films to float along the sky。
Not to the sun's warmth then upon the shore
Do halcyons dear to Thetis ope their wings;
Nor filthy swine take thought to toss on high
With scattering snout the straw…wisps。 But the clouds
Seek more the vales; and rest upon the plain;
And from the roof…top the night…owl for naught
Watching the sunset plies her 'lated song。
Distinct in clearest air is Nisus seen
Towering; and Scylla for the purple lock
Pays dear; for whereso; as she flies; her wings
The light air winnow; lo! fierce; implacable;
Nisus with mighty whirr through heaven pursues;
Where Nisus heavenward soareth; there her wings
Clutch as she flies; the light air winnowing still。
Soft then the voice of rooks from indrawn throat
Thrice; four times; o'er repeated; and full oft
On their high cradles; by some hidden joy
Gladdened beyond their wont; in bustling throngs
Among the leaves they riot; so sweet it is;
When showers are spent; their own loved nests again
And tender brood to visit。 Not; I deem;
That heaven some native wit to these assigned;
Or fate a larger prescience; but that when
The storm and shifting moisture of the air
Have changed their courses; and the sky…god now;
Wet with the south…wind; thickens what was rare;
And what was gross releases; then; too; change
Their spirits' fleeting phases; and their breasts
Feel other motions now; than when the wind
Was driving up the cloud…rack。 Hence proceeds
That blending of the feathered choirs afield;
The cattle's exultation; and the rooks'
Deep…throated triumph。
But if the headlong sun
And moons in order following thou regard;
Ne'er will to…morrow's hour deceive thee; ne'er
Wilt thou be caught by guile of cloudless night。
When first the moon recalls her rallying fires;
If dark the air clipped by her crescent dim;
For folks afield and on the open sea
A mighty rain is brewing; but if her face
With maiden blush she mantle; 'twill be wind;
For wind turns Phoebe still to ruddier gold。
But if at her fourth rising; for 'tis that
Gives surest counsel; clear she ride thro' heaven
With horns unblunted; then shall that whole day;
And to the month's end those that spring from it;
Rainless and windless be; while safe ashore
Shall sailors pay their vows to Panope;
Glaucus; and Melicertes; Ino's child。
The sun too; both at rising; and when soon
He dives beneath the waves; shall yield thee signs;
For signs; none trustier; travel with the sun;
Both those which in their course with dawn he brings;
And those at star…rise。 When his springing orb
With spots he pranketh; muffled in a cloud;
And shrinks mid…circle; then of showers beware;
For then the South comes driving from the deep;
To trees and crops and cattle bringing bane。
Or when at day…break through dark clouds his rays
Burst and are scattered; or when rising pale
Aurora quits Tithonus' saffron bed;
But sorry shelter then; alack I will yield
Vine…leaf to ripening grapes; so thick a hail
In spiky showers spins rattling on the roof。
And this yet more 'twill boot thee bear in mind;
When now; his course upon Olympus run;
He draws to his decline: for oft we see
Upon the sun's own face strange colours stray;
Dark tells of rain; of east winds fiery…red;
If spots with ruddy fire begin to mix;
Then all the heavens convulsed in wrath thou'lt see…
Storm…clouds and wind together。 Me that night
Let no man bid fare forth upon the deep;
Nor rend the rope from shore。 But if; when both
He brings again and hides the day's return;
Clear…orbed he shineth;idly wilt thou dread
The storm…clouds; and beneath the lustral North
See the woods waving。 What late eve in fine
Bears in her bosom; whence the wind that brings
Fair…weather…clouds; or what the rain South
Is meditating; tokens of all these
The sun will give thee。 Who dare charge the sun
With leasing? He it is who warneth oft
Of hidden broils at hand and treachery;
And secret swelling of the waves of war。
He too it was; when Caesar's light was quenched;
For Rome had pity; when his bright head he veiled
In iron…hued darkness; till a godless age
Trembled for night eternal; at that time
Howbeit earth also; and the ocean…plains;
And dogs obscene; and birds of evil bode
Gave tokens。 Yea; how often have we seen
Etna; her furnace…walls asunder riven;
In billowy floods boil o'er the Cyclops' fields;
And roll down globes of fire and molten rocks!
A clash of arms through all the heaven was heard
By Germany; strange heavings shook the Alps。
Yea; and by many through the breathless groves
A voice was heard with power; and wondrous…pale
Phantoms were seen upon the dusk of night;
And cattle spake; portentous! streams stand still;
And the earth yawns asunder; ivory weeps
For sorrow in the shrines; and bronzes sweat。
Up…twirling forests with his eddying tide;
Madly he bears them down; that lord of floods;
Eridanus; till through all the plain are swept
Beasts and their stalls together。 At that time
In gloomy entrails ceased not to appear
Dark…threatening fibres; springs to trickle blood;
And high…built cities night…long to resound
With the wolves' howling。 Never more than then
From skies all cloudless fell the thunderbolts;
Nor blazed so oft the comet's fire of bale。
Therefore a second time Philippi saw
The Roman hosts with kindred weapons rush
To battle; nor did the high gods deem it hard
That twice Emathia and the wide champaign
Of Haemus should be fattening with our blood。
Ay; and the time will come when there anigh;
Heaving the earth up with his curved plough;
Some swain will light on javelins by foul rust
Corroded; or with ponderous harrow strike
On empty helmets; while he gapes to see
Bones as of giants from the trench untombed。
Gods of my country; heroes of the soil;
And Romulus; and Mother Vesta; thou
Who Tuscan Tiber and Rome's Palatine
Preservest; this new champion at the least
Our fallen generation to repair
Forbid not。 To the full and long ago
Our blood thy Trojan perjuries hath paid;
Laomedon。 Long since the courts of heaven
Begrudge us thee; our Caesar; and complain
That thou regard'st the triumphs of mankind;
Here where the wrong is right; the right is wrong;
Where wars abound so many; and myriad…faced
Is crime; where no meet honour hath the plough;
The fields; their husbandmen led far away;
Rot in neglect; and curved pruning…hooks
Into the sword's stiff blade are fused and forged。
Euphrates here; here Germany new strife
Is stirring; neighbouring cities are in arms;
The laws that bound them snapped; and godless war
Rages through all the universe; as when
The four…horse chariots from the barriers poured
Still quicken o'er the course; and; idly now
Grasping the reins; the driver by his team
Is onward borne; nor heeds the car his curb。
GEORGIC II
Thus far the tilth of fields and stars of heaven;
Now will I sing thee; Bacchus; and; wi