Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/89

 Book III. Proud Rhodope returns; the prudent hind

There keeps the cattle in close stalls confin'd:

The fields no grass, the trees no foliage boast;

Deep-hid in hills of snow, and bound in frost,

Earth joyless lies; eternal Winter there

Reigns, and northwinds for ever chill the air.

Nor the pale gloom does Sol with golden ray

Dispel, or when he climbs th' ethereal way

Rapt by his steeds, or when in western waves

Glist'ring with red his headlong Car he laves.

On running rivers sudden crusts congeal;

The water's top sustains the griding wheel;

Where the broad vessels sail'd, now waggons pass;

This is the time, when oft burst bowls of brass:

The furry vestures, their pinch'd limbs receive,

Stiffen: with steel the fluent wine they cleave.

The lakes one shining sheet of ice extend;

From uncomb'd beards rough icicles depend:

Perpetual snows fall fleecy on the land;

The cattle die: with rime thick-cover'd stand

Large steers; beneath new loads the close-wedg'd deer

Torpid with tips of antlers just appear.

No toils insnare them, and no dogs pursue;

Nor crimson feathers, fluttering in their view, Stir