Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/37

 Book I. When, wrapt in clouds, he climbs the eastern height,

Vary'd with spots, and half recedes from sight,

Suspects a show'r; for, rushing from the seas,

The South, pernicious to herds, corn, and trees,

Drives the dark storm; or, when at dawn of day

He here and there darts forth a diverse ray

'Mong thick'ning clouds; or, with wan hue o'erspread,

Aurora rises from Tithonus' bed,

Ah! little will the leaf the grapes avail,

So fast on roofs bounds the rough rattling hail.

This too more useful cautions will supply,

When, having run his round, he quits the sky:

For his bright orb oft diff'ring colours stain:

The fiery storms; the blue denounces rain.

But should the specks with flame be redden'd o'er,

Soon wind and clouds will burst forth in a roar.

That night, ah! tempt me not the seas to dare,

Nor rashly from the coast the cable tear.

But if the Sun, when he rolls down the day,

And when restores it, shine with lucid ray,

In vain the clouds alarm: the woods you'll find

Wave their green tops before the clear north-wind.

Lastly by signs unerring he declares

What late Eve brings, what the moist South prepares, Whence