Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/111

 Book IV. They for the winter toil, while summer reigns,

And hoard for all the produce of their pains.

By pact these watch for food, a busy crew,

And range the circuit; those bark's viscous glue,

Steept in Narcissus' tear, arrange at home,

The first foundation of the future comb;

This done, the ductile wax they next suspend:

Hope of the state the rising youth part tend;

Others the purest honey knead, and swell

With juice nectareous each distended cell:

Others by lot the portals guard, espy

By turns the clouds and vapours of the sky,

Or from the comers take the loads, or drive,

In firm array embody'd, from the hive

The lazy drone: the waxen labours glow;

The breathing sweets around rich odours throw.

As when in haste the black Cyclopean band

Forge from the molten mass the forky brand;

With bull-hide bellows these receive the blast,

And forceful send it; those in water cast

The metal hissing; Ætna gives a groan,

As the vast anvils on her back are thrown:

With mighty sway their arms in time they raise,

And turn with tongs the red ore various ways. Thus