Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/25

 Book I. Some I have seen indeed, who ere they dare

To sow, first medicate their seeds with care,

Soak them in nitre, and oil's lees distil,

That fruit more just the treacherous pods may fill.

Yet spite of industry and nicest art,

Tho' a mild heat it's quick'ning pow'rs impart,

The seeds grow worse, unless with pains severe

You cull the largest each revolving year:

Sure fate of human things that never stay,

But rolling backward hasten to decay.

Just so the man, who scarce with oars can guide

His vessel, struggling with the adverse tide,

If his tir'd arms relax, with sudden sweep

Snatcht by the stream drives headlong down the deep.

Nor should we mark with less observant care

The Kids, bright Dragon, and the northern Bear,

Than, who, thro' boist'rous seas returning, brave

Abydos' straits, and Pontus' whelming wave.

When Libra day and night has equal made,

And half the globe is light, and half is shade,

Then work your oxen, sow your barley grain,

Ev'n to the winter-solstices' last rain.

This too the fittest season has been found

To bury flax and poppy in the ground: And