aut ubi navigiis violentior incidit Eurus, 110 115 M 120 130 et gens illa quidem sumptis non tarda pharetris. 125 Media fert tristis sucos tardumque saporem felicis mali, quo non prasentius ullum, pocula si quando saevae infecere novercae [miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba,] auxilium venit ac membris agit atra venena. ipsa ingens arbos faciemque simillima lauro (et, si non alium late iactaret odorem, laurus erat); folia haud ullis labentia ventis ; flos ad prima tenax; animas et olentia Medi ora fovent illo et senibus medicantur anhelis. Sed neque Medorum silvae, ditissima terra nec pulcher Ganges atque auro turbidus Hermus 129 (=III. 283) in margin M. 1 Not the herb of which yields a gum. berries. 136 regna M2. 135 Ecl. III. 45, but the Egyptian acacia, Virgil seems to mistake the pods for 2 molli lana, i.e. cotton. the ships, would know how many billows of the Ionian sea roll shoreward. 109 Nor yet can all soils bear all fruits. In rivers grow willows, in _rank fens alders, on rocky hills the barren ash. The shores rejoice most in myrtlegroves. Lastly, Bacchus loves open hills, and the yew-tree the cold of the North-wind. See, too, earth's farthest bounds, conquered by tillage-the Arabs' eastern homes, and the painted Gelonians : trees have their allotted climes. India alone bears black ebony; to the Sabaeans alone belongs the frankincense bough. Why should I tell you of the balsams that drip from the fragrant wood, or of the pods of the ever-blooming acanthus ?1 Why tell of the Aethiopian groves, all white with downy wool,2 or how the Seres comb from leaves their fine fleeces ? 3 Or, nearer the Ocean, of the jungles which India rears, that nook at the world's end where no arrows can surmount the air at the tree-top? And yet not slow is that race in handling the quiver. Media bears the tart juices and lingering flavour of the healthgiving citron-tree, which, if cruel stepdames have ever drugged the cups [mixing herbs and baleful spells], comes as help most potent, and from the limbs drives the deadly venom. The tree itself is large, and in looks very like a bay; and a bay it were, did it not fling abroad another scent. In no winds fall its leaves; its blossom clings most firmly; with it the Mede treats his mouth's noisome breath, and cures the asthma of the old. 136 But neither Media's groves, land of wondrous wealth, nor beauteous Ganges, nor Hermus, thick In Virgil's time the Romans, knowing nothing of the silkworm, supposed that the silk they imported from the East grew on the leaves of trees. MP 140 145 150 laudibus Italiae certent, non Bactra neque Indi totaque turiferis Panchaia pinguis harenis. haec loca non tauri spirantes naribus ignem invertere satis immanis dentibus hydri nec galeis densisque virum seges horruit hastis, sed gravidae fruges et Bacchi Massicus umor implevere; tenent oleae armentaque laeta. hinc bellator equus campo sese arduus infert, hinc albi, Clitumne, greges et maxima taurus victima, saepe tuo perfusi flumine sacro, Romanos ad templa deum duxere triumphos. hic ver adsiduum atque alienis mensibus aestas, bis gravidae pecudes, bis pomis utilis arbos. at rabidae tigres absunt et saeva leonum semina, nec miseros fallunt aconita legentis, nec rapit immensos orbis per humum neque tanto squameus in spiram tractu se colligit anguis. adde tot egregias urbes operumque laborem, tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis fluminaque antiquos subterlabentia muros. an mare, quod supra, memorem, quodque adluit infra? anne lacus tantos? te, Lari maxime, teque, fluctibus et fremitu adsurgens Benace marino? an memorem portus Lucrinoque addita claustra atque indignatum magnis stridoribus aequor, Iulia qua ponto longe sonat unda refuso Tyrrhenusque fretis immittitur aestus Avernis? haec eadem argenti rivos aerisque metalla ostendit venis atque auro plurima fluxit. 144 oleaeque M2. 155 160 165 1 i.e. Italy cannot boast of such mythical glories as Colchis, where Jason yoked the fire-breathing oxen and sowed the teeth of the Theban dragon. with gold, may vie with Italy's glories—not Bactra, nor India, nor all Panchaea, rich in incense-bearing sand. This land no bulls,1 with nostrils breathing flame, ever ploughed for the sowing of the monstrous dragon's teeth; no human crop ever bristled with helms and serried lances; but teeming fruits have filled her and the Vine-god's Massic juice; she is the home of olives and of joyous herds. Hence comes the war-horse, stepping proudly o'er the plain; hence thy snowy flocks, Clitumnus, and the bull, that noblest victim, which, oft steeped in thy sacred stream, have led to the shrines of the gods the triumphs of Rome. Here is eternal spring, and summer in months not her own; twice the cattle breed, twice the tree serves us with fruits. But ravening tigers are far away, and the savage seed of lions; no aconite deludes hapless gatherers, nor does the scaly serpent dart his huge rings over the ground, or with his vast train wind himself into a coil. Think, too, of all the noble cities, the achievement of man's toil, all the towns his handiwork has piled high on steepy crags, and the streams that glide beneath those ancient walls. Shall I tell of the seas, washing the land above and below? 2 Or of our mighty lakes? Of thee, Larius, our greatest; and thee, Benacus, with the roaring, surging swell of the sea? Shall I tell of our havens, and the barrier thrown across the Lucrine, and how Ocean roars aloud in wrath, where the Julian waters echo afar as the sea is flung back, and the Tyrrhenian tide pours into the channels of Avernus ? 3 Yea, and this land has shown silverstreams and copper-mines in her veins, and has flowed The Mare superum or Adriatic, and the Mare inferum or Tyrrhenian. For explanation, see Index under "Lucrinus." 170 haec genus acre virum, Marsos pubemque Sabellam adsuetumque malo Ligurem Volscosque verutos extulit, haec Decios, Marios magnosque Camillos, Scipiadas duros bello et te, maxime Caesar, qui nunc extremis Asiae iam victor in oris imbellem avertis Romanis arcibus Indum. salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus, magna virum: tibi res antiquae laudis et artis ingredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontis, Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen. 175 180 185 Nunc locus arvorum ingeniis, quae robora cuique, quis color et quae sit rebus natura ferendis. difficiles primum terrae collesque maligni, tenuis ubi argilla et dumosis calculus arvis, Palladia gaudent silva vivacis olivae. indicio est tractu surgens oleaster eodem plurimus et strati bacis silvestribus agri. at quae pinguis humus dulcique uligine laeta, quique frequens herbis et fertilis ubere campus (qualem saepe cava montis convalle solemus dispicere; huc summis liquuntur rupibus amnes felicemque trahunt limum) quique editus Austro et filicem curvis invisam pascit aratris : hic tibi praevalidas olim multoque fluentis sufficiet Baccho vitis, hic fertilis uvae, hic laticis, qualem pateris libamus et auro, inflavit cum pinguis ebur Tyrrhenus ad aras, lancibus et pandis fumantia reddimus exta. 174 artem P. 181 gaudet M. 190 1 After his victory at Actium (31 B.C.) Octavian went to Alexandria and later passed in triumph through Palestine and Syria. By imbellem Indum the poet refers generally to the Eastern nations. 2 pandus = patulus, according to one explanation in Servius. |