Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/31

 Book I. Rent from profoundest earth the scatter'd corn

With all it's weight of root aloft is born:

Whirling in rapid circles thro' the sky

Before the blast light chaff and stubble fly.

Oft a vast wat'ry throng from Ether pours,

And from the deep clouds thick'ning with black show'rs

Swell the dire storm: the skies burst rushing down,

And the fair fields in one vast deluge drown:

The dikes o'erflow; the rivers rise, and roar;

Of boiling ocean steams the straiten'd store.

Thron'd in the centre of dark clouds heav'n's Sire

Wings with his waving arm the forky fire:

Earth shudders at the shock; the beasts are fled,

And thro' wide regions mortals sunk with dread;

Or Rhodope, or Athos feels the blow,

Or of Ceraunia the proud tops bow low:

Rage the redoubling winds; with show'rs the ground

Smokes: to the tempest woods and shores resound.

This would you shun? the months and stars obey;

Note, in what orbs Cyllenius winds his way;

Where creeps cold Saturn, chief the Gods revere,

And to great Ceres, each revolving year,

Pay grateful off'rings on the grassy plain,

When spring succeeds to winter's dreary reign. Then