Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/17

 Book I. Rever'd at Thule's utmost shores, and won

By Tethys' treasures to be styl'd her son:

Or the celestial arch you mean to grace,

Where Scorpio's claws and Virgo leave a space:

His arms contracted, lo! the burning sign

Makes of the sky a larger portion thine.

Whate'er thy purpose; nor be Hell so vain

To nourish hopes of thy expected reign;

Nor may such lust of rule thy bosom fire,

Tho' Greece Elysium's blissful scenes admire,

And ravish'd Proserpine for these disdain'd

The proffer'd boon her mother's suit obtain'd:

In pity to the guideless swains incline

A willing ear, and aid my bold design;

Learn to assert thy tutelary care,

Assume the God, and listen to our pray'r!

On the loose clod when vernal gales first blow,

And down the white hills glides the melting snow,

At the prest plough then let the bullock toil,

And the share brighten, as it breaks the soil.

That land shall thicken with ripe crops untold,

Which twice has felt the sun, and twice the cold:

A secret joy shall touch the greedy swain,

As his full barns distend with golden grain. Ere