490 495 flumina amem silvasque inglorius. o ubi campi Spercheosque et virginibus bacchata Lacaenis Taygeta! o qui me gelidis convallibus Haemi sistat et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra ! felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, atque metus omnis et inexorabile fatum subiecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari. fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestis, Panaque Silvanumque senem Nymphasque sorores. illum non populi fasces, non purpura regum flexit et infidos agitans discordia fratres, aut coniurato descendens Dacus ab Histro, non res Romanae perituraque regna; neque ille aut doluit miserans inopem aut invidit habenti. quos rami fructus, quos ipsa volentia rura sponte tulere sua, carpsit, nec ferrea iura insanumque forum aut populi tabularia vidit. sollicitant alii remis freta caeca, ruuntque in ferrum, penetrant aulas et limina regum; hic petit excidiis urbem miserosque penatis, ut gemma bibat et Sarrano dormiat ostro; condit opes alius defossoque incubat auro; hic stupet attonitus rostris ; hunc plausus hiantem per cuneos geminatus enim plebisque patrumque corripuit; gaudent perfusi sanguine fratrum, exsilioque domos et dulcia limina mutant atque alio patriam quaerunt sub sole iacentem. 488 in vallibus R. 500 505 510 491 ineluctabile R. waters and the woods, though fame be lost. O for those plains, and Spercheus, and Taygetus, where Spartan girls hold Bacchic rites! O for one to set me in the cool glens of Haemus, and shield me under the branches' mighty shade! 490 Blessed is he who has been able to win knowledge of the causes of things, and has cast beneath his feet all fear and unyielding Fate, and the howls of hungry Acheron! Happy, too, is he who knows the woodland gods, Pan and old Silvanus and the sister Nymphs! Him no honours the people give can move, no purple of kings, no strife rousing brother to break with brother, no Dacian swooping down from his leagued Danube, no power of Rome, no kingdoms doomed to fall: he knows naught of the pang of pity for the poor, or of envy of the rich. He plucks the fruits which his boughs, which his ready fields, of their own free will, have borne; nor has he beheld the iron laws, the Forum's madness, or the public archives.1 Others vex with oars seas unknown, dash upon the sword, or press into courts and the portals of kings. One wreaks ruin on a city and its hapless homes, that he may drink from a jewelled cup and sleep on Tyrian purple; another hoards up wealth and broods over buried gold; one is dazed and astounded by the Rostra; another, open-mouthed, is carried away by the plaudits of princes and of people, rolling again and again along the benches. Gleefully they steep themselves in their brothers' blood; for exile they change their sweet homes and hearths, and seek a country that lies beneath an alien sun. 1 Probably a reference to the Tabularium, or Hall of Records, standing across the west end of the Forum Romanum. 2 i.e. of the theatres, where popular statesmen would be warmly applauded by all classes of citizens. 520 525 agricola incurvo terram dimovit aratro : hinc anni labor, hinc patriam parvosque nepotes sustinet, hinc armenta boum meritosque iuvencos. 515 nec requies, quin aut pomis exuberet annus aut fetu pecorum aut Cerealis mergite culmi, proventuque oneret sulcos atque horrea vincat. venit hiems teritur Sicyonia baca trapetis, glande sues laeti redeunt, dant arbuta silvae; et varios ponit fetus autumnus, et alte mitis in apricis coquitur vindemia saxis. interea dulces pendent circum oscula nati, casta pudicitiam servat domus, ubera vaccae lactea demittunt, pinguesque in gramine laeto inter se adversis luctantur cornibus haedi. ipse dies agitat festos fususque per herbam, ignis ubi in medio et socii cratera coronant, te libans, Lenaee, vocat pecorisque magistris velocis iaculi certamina ponit in ulmo, corporaque agresti nudant praedura palaestrae. hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini, hanc Remus et frater, sic fortis Etruria crevit scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma, septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces. ante etiam sceptrum Dictaei regis et ante impia quam caesis gens est epulata iuvencis, aureus hanc vitam in terris Saturnus agebat; necdum etiam audierant inflari classica, necdum impositos duris crepitare incudibus ensis. Sed nos immensum spatiis confecimus aequor, et iam tempus equum fumantia solvere colla. 513 molitus M. 514 penates M. 518 aut M1. 530 MPRV 531 perdura M1. palaestra PR, Servius, Berne Scholia. 532 vitam veteres P. 542 spumantia PR. 536 540 513 Meanwhile the husbandman has been cleaving the soil with crooked plough; hence comes his year's work, hence comes sustenance for his country and his little grandsons, hence for his herds of kine and faithful bullocks. No respite is there, but the season teems either with fruits, or with increase of the herds, or with the sheaves of Ceres' corn, loading the furrows with its yield and bursting the barns. Winter is come; Sicyon's berry is bruised in the mill, the swine come home gladdened with acorns, the forests yield arbutes, or autumn sheds its varied produce, and high on the sunny rocks basks the mellow vintage. Meanwhile his dear children hang upon his kisses; his unstained home guards its purity; the kine droop milk-laden udders, and on the glad sward, horn to horn, the fat kids wrestle. The master himself keeps holiday, and stretched on the grass, with a fire in the midst and his comrades wreathing the bowl, offers libation and calls on thee, O god of the Wine-press, and for the keepers of the flock sets up a mark on an elm for the contest of the winged javelin, or they bare their hardy limbs for the rustic wrestling-bout. 532 Such a life the old Sabines once lived, such Remus and his brother. Thus, surely, Etruria waxed strong, thus Rome became of all things the fairest, and with a single city's wall enclosed her seven hills. Nay, before the Cretan king1 held sceptre, and before a godless race banqueted on slaughtered bullocks, such was the life golden Saturn lived on earth, while yet none had heard the clarion blare, none the swordblades ring, as they were laid on the stubborn anvil. 541 But in our course we have traversed a mighty plain, and now it is time to unyoke the necks of our smoking steeds. 1 Jupiter. LIBER III TE quoque, magna Pales, et te memorande canemus FMPRV pastor ab Amphryso, vos, silvae amnesque Lycaei. cetera quae vacuas tenuissent carmine mentes, omnia iam volgata : quis aut Eurysthea durum aut inlaudati nescit Busiridis aras? 5 cui non dictus Hylas puer et Latonia Delos Hippodameque umeroque Pelops insignis eburno, acer equis? temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora. primus ego in patriam mecum, modo vita supersit, 10 Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas; primus Idumaeas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas 15 et viridi in campo templum de marmore ponam FMPR propter aquam, tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat Mincius et tenera praetexit harundine ripas. in medio mihi Caesar erit templumque tenebit. illi victor ego et Tyrio conspectus in ostro centum quadriiugos agitabo ad flumina currus. cuncta mihi, Alpheum linquens lucosque Molorchi, cursibus et crudo decernet Graecia caestu. 20 |