Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/358

184 Their vaulted Roofs are hung in Pumices, And in the rotten Trunks of hollow Trees.
 * But plaister thou the chinky Hives with Clay,

And leafy Branches o'er their Lodgings lay. Nor place them where too deep a Water flows, Or where the Yeugh their pois'nous Neighbour grows: Nor rost red Crabs t'offend the niceness of their Nose. Nor near the steaming Stench of muddy Ground; Nor hollow Rocks that render back the Sound, And doubled Images of Voice rebound.
 * For what remains, when Golden Suns appear,

And under Earth have driv'n the Winter Year: The winged Nation wanders thro' the Skies, And o'er the Plains, and shady Forrest flies: Then stooping on the Meads and leafy Bow'rs; They skim the Floods, and sip the purple Flow'rs. Exhalted hence, and drunk with secret Joy, Their young Succession all their Cares employ: They breed, they brood, instruct and educate, And make Provision for the future State: They work their waxen Lodgings in their Hives, And labour Honey to sustain their Lives. But when thou seest a swarming Cloud arise, That sweeps aloft, and darkens all the Skies: The Motions of their hasty Flight attend; And know to Floods, or Woods, their airy march they bend.