Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/48

 36 Thy praise, O Rhætica! yet rashly vain

Cope not with wine Falernian vaults contain.

Amminean vines of generous juice why sing,

Rever'd by Tmolus' and Phanæus' King;

Or less Argitis, yet unmatch'd in song,

For flowing largely, and for lasting long?

Nor shall I leave in silence thee, of Rhodes,

To men delicious, grateful to the Gods!

Nor thee, Bumastus, of protuberant size!

But who their names and numbers can comprise?

And what avails it? who would learn, as well

Whirl'd by the West the Libyan sands might tell,

Or, by the furious East when ships are tost,

Count ev'ry wave, that beats th' Ionian coast.

Nor yet all trees alike all lands approve:

The willow rivers, alders marshes love;

The barren ash in rocky mountain-ground

Rejoices; myrtles on sea-shores abound:

Bacchus affects the breezy hilly height;

Yews in the cold and Boreal blasts delight.

The cultur'd globe's extremest ends survey,

The Scythian wilds, and realms of rising Day,

Trees separate nations: Indian climes alone

Bear the black Eben; frankincense her own Soft