Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/344

174 And thoughtless of his Eggs, forgets to rear The hopes of Poison, for the following Year. The Causes and the Signs shall next be told, Of ev'ry Sickness that infects the Fold. A scabby Tetter on their pelts will stick, When the raw Rain has pierc'd 'em to the quick: Or searching Frosts, have eaten through the Skin, Or burning Isicles are lodg'd within: Or when the Fleece is shorn, if sweat remains Unwash'd, and soaks into their empty Veins: When their defenceless Limbs, the Brambles tear; Short of their Wool, and naked from the Sheer. Good Shepherds after sheering, drench their Sheep, And their Flocks Father (forc'd from high to leap) Swims down the Stream, and plunges in the deep. They oint their naked Limbs with mother'd Oyl, Or from the Founts where living Sulphurs boil, They mix a Med'cine to foment their Limbs; With Scum that on the molten Silver swims. Fat Pitch, and black Bitumen, add to these, Besides, the waxen labour of the Bees: And Hellebore, and Squills deep rooted in the Seas, Receits abound; but searching all thy Store, The best is still at hand, to launch the Sore: And cut the Head; for till the Core be found, The secret Vice is fed, and gathers Ground: While making fruitless Moan, the Shepherd stands, And, when the launching Knife requires his hands, Vain help, with idle Pray'rs from Heav'n demands.