University of Virginia Library

The second booke of Virgils Georgiks written to Mecenas, &c.

Thus for the husbanding of fal-low feelds, and stars of heauen,
Now thee O Bacchus will I sing, and with thee trees in woods,
And frute of oliues growing slowe O father [Bacchus thou
Lenæus [named so of wine-presses which thou mainteinst]
Come hither: all things heere are full replenisht with thy gifts,
The feelds well stord and chargd with har-uest vinetree boughs and leaues,
Doth flourish for thy sake, the vin-tage fomes with filled lips;
Come hither father O Lenæus and dip in with me
Thy naked legs in sweet new wine, thy buskins pulled off.
In primis trees already growne [in making trees to grow]
Nature is diuerse: for some [trees] come vp themselues [alone]
Euen of their owne accord, no man compelling them [thereto]
And they [possesse and] hold at large the feelds and crooked streames
[Or water banks:] as namely the soft willow, bending broome,
Poplar and horie osier sets, with leaue of greenish graie:
Some [other] sort of trees also rise vp out of the seed,
As chestnuts tall and Esculus which beareth leaues for Ioue,
The greatest trees in all the woods [or growing most in woods]
And okes accounted oracles of and amongst the Greekes.
A very thicke wood springeth vp of others from the root
As cherrie trees and elms and baies of Parnasse hill [for Phæbe]
[Which] being litle [or but yoong] doth cast [or list it selfe]
Up vnder shadow great of mo-ther [namely beggers baies]
Nature gaue first these meanes of trees [to make them spring & sprowt.]
All sortes of woods and shrubs likewise, and hollow groues also,
Doe greenely grow with these [same means of natures owne prouiding.]
Some other [means] also there be which [proofe or] vse it selfe
Hath found by way [of reasons rule.] This man from tender body
Of mothers [elder trees] cutting [some plants or imps hath laid
Or put them into furrows [fit, but yet] another man
Hath buried in the ground the stocks or truncks [with roots and all,]
And trunchions cleft in peeces foure, and stakes of sharpened oke.
Some other woods doo looke [to haue] the strained bendings of
The vine, and quicksets in or with their owne [or natiue] soile;
Some other need no root at all. The lopper of the tree
He bearing home [a twig or impe from] highest top of tree,
Doubts not to put it in the ground. Moreouer th' oliue root
Is thrust [vp also in the growth] euen out of wood so drie,
The stocks or truncks being cut: a thing most woonderfull to tell.
And oftentimes we see the boughs of one tree turne into
[The nature] of another with-out perill [hurt or losse]
The peare tree changed for to beare apples grafted thereon,
And stonie cornells to wax red with damsens or with plums.
Wherfore go to O husbandmen and learne the proper dressing
[Of trees] in genrall [or each one in his especiall kind]
And so often [or make pleasant] their wild frutes by skilfull trimming,
Ne let your grounds lie idle [waste.] Yet doth [a man] delight
To plant [mount] Ismarus with Bacchus [vinetrees vowd to him]
And for to cloath great Taburne [hill] with frutefull] oliue trees.
And thou O my Mecenas [thou most worthie gentleman]
My honor, and by thy desert most part of our renowme,
Assist me, aid me, and run through together [now] with me
This labour new begun, and flieng giue the wide sea sailes
[Thou flieng, making hast with me, giue this my worke good speed]
(I wish not to conteine all things within these verses mine,
Not if to me a hundred toongs, and mouths a hundred were,
An iron voice) and gather vp the waues of the first shore
In th' hands of th' earth [euen now at my] beginning enter thou
Into this great discourse of trees with me, wherin we will
Not treat of euery thing at large, but touch them all in breefe.
I will not hold thee heere with fai-ned verses, ne [keepe thee]
With doubtfull words, nor with begin-nings large [and full of length]
[Those things] which of their owne accord lift vp themselues [& spring]
Into the aire of light [or light-some aire] arise and grow
Indeed vnfrutefull; neretheles they are both ranke and strong,
Bicause [the force of] nature is within the soile or ground:
Howbeit if that any man doo these same also graft,
Or being changed put them in to diches digd [or made]
They will cast off their nature wilde, and so with trimming oft
Will follow nothing slowe vnto what practise thou canst call them.
The barren [tree] also which goes and growes from roots below
Will doo the same, if it be drest in void [and sunnie] feeldes.
Sometimes high leaues and branches of the mother [or old tree]
Doo ouer shadow and beereaue the growing [plant] of fruite,
And bearing mares it vtterly. For why, a tree that hath
Heau'd vp it selfe [and risen] out of seeds cast [in the ground]
Coms slowly vp to make a shade for lateward Nephues [sake]
[It will be long yer they beare frute, and longer time before
[There come from them large spreding boughs wherewith to make a shade.]
And apples grow quite out of kind, forgetting former iuce,
And grapes [or vines] a prey doo beare for birds euen clusters fowle
Know therefore that vpon all [trees] labour must be bestowd,
And all trees to be brought into a trench, and to be tam'd,
[Or trimd] with great reward [or gaine to him that takes the pains.]
But oliue trees content [vs] best with [their owne proper] stocks,
Uines with their former stocke [well prund the better grapes to beare]
Mirtles of Paphos ile, [or giuen to Venus Paphian queene]
Out of the verie maine stocke grow, and hazell trees so hard,
[Or hardles and soone broken grow] of plants or tendersets.
The mightie ash, and shadie tree of Hercles garland [greene]
[The poplar tree] and father Cha-on [Ioue] his wallnut trees,
The palme [or date tree] high [all these] spring vp of plants or sets:
So doth the fir tree, which shall see the falls of wauing seas.
But yet the rugged wilding [or the crab stocke rough] is grafted
With th' impe or plant of nut tree, and the barren planetree [stocks]
Haue carried apple trees much woorth, [profitable and good]
And chestnuts [stocks] haue borne the grafts of] beech; and ashen [stocke]
Hat horie waxt with blossome white of peare tree [planted on]
And swine haue also crasht and bro-ken akorns vnder elmes.
Ne is there but one fashion or one way alone to graft
And to inoculat or set yoong imps into the stocke,
For in what part the budds thrust out themselues amidst the barke,
And breake the thin and tender rinde [in place where it appears]
There is a little narow hole made [like vnto an ey]
Euen in the very knot, into this hole they [put] the impe
[Cut] from another tree, and close it vp within the same
And teach it to begin to grow with [th' inward] rind so moist:
Or else the knotles trunks are cut againe, and way with wedges
Is deeply clift into the maine stocke, and then afterwards
The frutefull sets are put therein; and long time [being past]
A mightie tree hath sproong thereout to heauen with frutefull branches
And wondreth at her new greene leaues, and frutes none of hir owne.
Beside all this, there is not one [but diuers] kind [of grafting]
Upon strong elms nor willow [stocks] nor Lotus nor vpon
The cypresses of Ida [hill:] ne doo fat oliue berries
Grow all alike, or after one and selfe same sort [on trees]
The codlike oliues, with the long and rounded oliues, and
The fleshie oliue [full of meat] with bitter berrie, and
[All frutes or] apples, and the woods of king Alcinous,
[The king of the Pheacians, they grow not all alike]
Ne is there one and selfe same impe for Crustume peares, and eeke
For Syrian peares, and [peares so] great [which wardens we doo call]
Not one and selfe same vintager hangs on our [Italian] trees,
[The grapes] which Lesbian [vintager] doth crop from Methym vine,
The Thasian vines, the vine tree white of Mareotides,
These able are for rankish soile, those fit for leaner ground:
And Psythian vines more profita-ble be for raisons [sweet]
Lageos grape subtill and thin will trie, the [tasters] feet,
And tie his toong in time [the iuce so persing is and strong]
And there be purple coloured grapes and sooner ripe than others,
And grapes of Rhetia vine, of thee in what verse shall I speake?
Contend not then with cellars [full] of Falerne [plesant] wines.
There be likewise Aminian vines, wines very strong [they yeeld]
Unto with vines mount Tmolus doth [most reuerently] arise
And king Phaneus his owne selfe [with all his wines of cheife.]
There is a litle whitish grape, wherwith none will contend
Either to yeeld so much [of iuce] or last so many years.
And O thou grape of Rhodos [ile] receiued of the gods
In second seruice [all among their dishes banketting]
I may not ouerpasse thee; nor O thee Bumasthe [vine]
With clusters of thy grapes big blowne, puft vp and fully swolne
But it is to no purpose [here to shew] how many sorts
[Of vines or wines] there he, nor what the names of them might be.
There is a number of them, but it makes not any matter
In number to conteine them: which he that [so faine] would know,
The selfe same fellow [faine] would learne how many sands [on shore]
Of Lybian sea are tost and turnd with [puffing] westerne wind:
Or else to know how many waues of the Ionian sea
Doo come to shore when violent ea-sterne wind doth follow ships,
Ne truly can all grounds [bring forth and] beare all [kind of] things;
The willows grow in riuers, and in fens full thicke grow alns
The barren ash on stonie hills, and shores are passing glad
Of places set with mirtle trees: and to be short [the vine]
Bacchus doth loue well open hills [open against the sun]
Ewgh trees [doo loue] the northerne wind and wether that is cold.
Behold the world like to a ball [the earth in compasse round]
Tamed by the husbandmen which dwell in furthest parts thereof,
And eeke th' Arabians easterne hou-ses, and the painted [folks
Of Scythia calld] Geloni and thou shalt perceiue and see
That natiue soiles diuided be [and sorted] vnto trees.
For India only and alone doth beare blacke Hebenum,
And twigs of frankincense [belong] to the Sabeis alone,
Wherto should I rehearse to thee balme sweating out of wood
Most sweet in smells? and berries of [the shrub] Achantus al-
Waies bearing [greenish] leaues? wherto should I rehearse likewise]
Th' Aethiopian woods growne horie gray with [cotton] soft [or] wooll,
And how the [people] Seres doo both combe and card away
Fine fleeces from the leaues [fine stuffe whereof our silke is made]
Or what thicke woods the neerer Inde vnto the Ocean sea,
A coast [or portion] of the world hense furthest off doth beare,
Where arows none could ouer come by casting [out of bowe]
The aire most hie with trees [whose tops no shaft could flie vnto,]
And sure that people is not slowe with quiuers caught [to shoot.]
The countrie Media beareth sowre and sharpish iuces, and
A taste vntoothsome blunt and dull of wholsome cytron pome,
Than which no readier [remedie] more present come [to hand]
If cruell stepdames poisoned haue the pots at any time,
And mingled herbs and witching words [or hurtfull charms withall]
And this [pome citron] doth [expell and] driue out of the lims
And members [of infected folks] vile venem blacke [like cole:]
The tree it selfe is great, and is in fashion like the bay,
And if it did not cast farre off another kind of smell
It were a bay, the leaues not fal-ling off with any windes:
The floure thereof is passing fast. The Medians nourish life,
[Or vse it for a comfort when they swoone or chance to faint]
And stinking breaths doo helpe, and heale old broken winded men.
But yet the Medians woods, a ground [or countrie] verie rich,
Nor Ganges faire [of India land a riuer great of name]
Nor Hermus [streame in Meonie] troubled with gold [en sands]
May not contend or striue in prai-ses [due to] Italie.
Not Bactra [soile in Scythia] nor yet the Indies [twaine]
And all Panchaia fat with sands which frankincense doo beare,
Bulls breathing at their nosetrils fire haue not allowd these places,
Nor with the teeth of Hydra huge [fowle adders teeth] them fowne,
Ne haue the feeld of corne growne rough [or hideous to behold]
With helmets thicke and speares of men [in armor fitt to fight]
But frutes abundant, and of Bac-chus [wine] the Massike iuce
[Or liquor of Campania hill] haue filled Italie:
The oliue trees and lustie herds of cattell do possesse it.
From hense the tall and warlike horsse betakes him to the feeld,
And O Clitumnus [riuer cleere] white flocks [of cattell fat]
The bull, the greatest sacrifice [in triumphs made to Ioue]
Well washed and clensd through with thy sacred [holie water]
Haue often brought from hense vnto the temples of the gods
The Roman triumphs: heere the spring continuall is, and heere
Is summer time in others months [when winter is elswhere]
The cattell twise are great with yoong, the tree is twise [a yeere]
For apples [and for other frutes] profitable [and good.]
But tigers swift [or rauenous and raging mad] from hense
Are far away; so be the cru-ell seed [or whelps] of lions,
Nor Aconites doo not deceiue the sillie gatherers,
Nor skaled snake doth force vpon the ground great rounds or rings,
Ne gathers vp himselfe in com-passe with so great a length
[As other where, in Affrica in Aegypt, and] such like.]
Ioine [thereunto] so many ci-ties rare and excellent,
And labour too of workes [that is of handicrafts and trades]
So many townes heapt vp with hand of rough and broken stones,
And floods or riuers vnder flow-eng th' old and ancient walls
Why should I reckon vp the sea [surnamed Adrian]
Which washeth [Italie] aboue, [eastward to Uenice] or
[The sea surnamed Tyrrhen] which doth wet the same beelow,
[Westward to Anne? Italie betweene two seas doth lie]
Or [should I recon] lakes so great? O Larius greatest [lake]
And thee Benacus rising vp with flouds and sea-like rage?
Or should I hauens heere recount, or closures, [stops and letts]
Ioyned and set to Lucrine lake by Iulius Cæsar drift?]
Or [tell how] that the sea became displeasd and moued sore
[Bicause his current was cut short] with noise and rorings great,
[Euen there] where Iulian streams sound far with sea powrd in againe,
And where the flowing Tyrrhen sea is let into' Auerne streicts.
This selfe same [Italie] doth shew [faire] draines of siluer, and
In vains [of th' earth] meatals of brasse, and floweth much with gold.
This [Italie] aduanced hath an egar kind of men
The Marses and the Sabell youths; and the Ligurians
Accustomed to wickednes [enur'd to labour hard]
The Volces also bearing darts [or sppuds in shape like spits]
The Decies, Maries, and the great Camillies [gentlemen]
The Scipios hardie [stowt] in warre, and the most mightie Cæsar,
Who being conqueror euen now in Asias furthest coasts,
Doost turne away th' unwarlike Inde from territors of Rome
O Saturns land [our Italie] great mother thou of fruites,
Great [mother thou] of men, all haile: [Salue, well maist thou fare,]
I enter for thy sake on things of old and ancient praise,
And of good skill, being bold t'vnshut or open holie springs,
[Or founteins of the Muses, or of sacred things the secrets,]
And through the townes of Rome I sing th' Ascrean [poets] verse.
Now place [is fit] for qualities of fallows [to be showne]
What strength in euery one there is what colour [they they be of]
And what their [proper] nature is in bringing forth of things.
In primis hard and barren grounds, and naughtie hillocks too,
Where clay is thin and weake, [and in] the bushie [thornie] fields,
Where [many] grauell stones [be thwackt] take pleasure and delight,
[Reioise] in woods of long liu'd O-liue tree by Pallas [found]
The wild or bastard Oliue tree rising most plentifull
In selfe same coast [for tract of land] a token is hereof:
So are the feelds scattered and spred with [o-liue] beries wild.
But ground thats fat and also ranke with iuce or moisture sweet,
And feelds well stored with greene grasse, and fruitfull with increase,
(Such as we woonted are to see in mounteins hollow dales)
Hither [to them] are streams draind downe from hie & steepie rocks,
And they draw prosperous mud with them [into the vallies low.]
A feeld also which lies aloft against the southerne wind,
And which doth feede and cherish ferne, enuide of crooked plow;
This [feeld] sometimes shall giue to thee sufficiently strong vines,
And flowing with much wine: this [feeld] is frutefull of the grape
And of the liquor [in the grape] such as we offer in
Brode drinking bols and gold [of gold or golden drinking cups]
When Tyrhen [piper] fat hath blowne his yuorie pipe by th' altar,
And when we do present the smo-king bowels in brode platters.
But if so be thy mind be more to take a charge to keepe
[Some] heards of beasts and calues, or else the yoonglings of the sheepe
Or little gotes burning thy sets of vines or other trees,
[Bicause what thing soeuer they do bite it dries and dies]
Then get thee vnto vplands [and to grounds] a great way hense
Of Tarent [towne in Italie] exceeding plentifull;
Or such a feeld as Mantua infortunat hath lost:
[A feeld] feeding in grassie floud or riuer snow white swans;
Cleere running water springs, for sheepe nor pastures [there] do want,
And where the coldish dew restores so much in shortest night,
As heards of beasts will crop and eat in longest [summers] day.
Earth almost blacke and fat [withall] vnder the plow prest in,
Whose moold also is rotten (for we follow this in plowing)
Is best for corne: thou shalt not see more wains depart [or go]
From any feeld [or champion ground] home with their oxen slow.
Or else [that land is good for graine] from whense the [husbandman
Or] plowman being angry [with the barren trees there growing]
Hath carried quite away the woods, and vtterly destroid
The idle groues [vnthriftie and vnfrutefull] many yeares:
And he hath turned vp and wa-sted by the lowest roots
The houses old of birds, the same haue fled aloft [in th' aire]
Their nests being left. But land vntild, or barren ground and leane
Hath had good liking [or hath loo-ked horie white] a while
After the plow hath beene thrust in [and driuen thereinto]
For truly hungry grauell ground of vpland country soile
Doth scarse afford low Casia [flours] and dew vnto the bee.
The rough [and hollow] Tophie [stone] the chalkie [soile likewise]
Eaten with [vermins] Chelidres blacke [skind, are such vile things
As diuers writers] do deny that any other feelds
Beare food as well for serpents as yeeld crooked holes to them.
That [ground] which breatheth out a va-por thin [or little mist]
And [reeking] smokes soone vanishing, and drinketh moisture vp,
And of it selfe doth giue againe [or waxeth wet and moist]
And which doth alwaies cloth it selfe with greene grasse of it owne,
Ne hurts the yron [of the plow] with scabbednesse and with
Salt rustinesse [for rust and yron is as it were the scab]
That ground hath wrapt & wrought in it elmetrees with pleasant vines,
The same is frutefull of the o-liue tree, and thou shalt trie
By tilling it [how] kindly both for castell, and [withall]
[How] patient of the culture knife or crooked shares [it is.]
Rich Capüa [countrie] ploweth such [a soile] so doth the coast
Neere neighbor to Ueseuus hill, and so doth Clanius [streame]
Iniurious too Acerre void [of people there to dwell.]
Now will I tell thee how thou maist know euery kind of ground.
If thou doost seeke to vnderstand if it be thin, or else
Aboue and out of measure thicke: because the one doth loue
And fauour corne, th' other Bac-chus [vine trees yeelding wine]
The thickest fauours Ceres more, each thinnest likes Lycus,
First and afore [all other thinges] thou oft shalt take the place
In [both thine] eies [thou shalt suruey or view it ouer all]
And shalt command a pit to be digd deepe in firmest ground,
And shalt put in the mould againe, and with thy feet shalt plane
Or euen make [and tread] the sands] which vppermost [do lie]
If sands shall want to fill it vp, then is the soile but] thin,
And fitter yeeld it is for beasts and nourishable vines.
But if they shall denie [and say] they cannot go againe
Into their places, and the di-ches filled vp againe
There shall remaine earth ouerplus [then sure] the soile is thicke,
[There] looke for lingring clods [for clods requiring labour long.]
In ridges grosse cut vp or plow this ground with oxen strong.
But saltish soile and that which is auouched [to be] bitter
Unfrutefull is for corne; the same by plowing doth not wax
The milder [or the handsommer] nor doth preserue and saue
A stocke for Bacchus [for the vine] nor other frutes their names.
That soile shall giue [thee] such a signe, and [therefore] take them downe
From smokie house tops baskets of thicke wicker, and likewise
The cullinders or strayners of the presses [crushing grapes.]
Here let that naughtie soile and wa-ters sweet from out of springs
Be troden brimfull: then know this, the water euery whit
Will struggle or gush out, the big-ger drops will go betweene
Or through the wickers. But the tast [so] plaine and manifest
[Of soile] will make or giue a shew [what qualitie it hath:]
The bitternesse [thereof] also shall writh the triers mouths
Displeasd with seeking it; [and shall with bitter smacke thereof
Uncomfortable make the lookes of people tasting it.]
What ground also is battable [or fat and lustie soile]
By this means to be short we learne: it neuer crumbs away
Being tost and turned much with hands [much handled moolders not]
But waxeth clammy [and doth cleaue] with handling to the fingers
In maner of [or like to] pitch. Wet ground doth feed much grasse,
And is more ranke than needs or ought; fie, let not the same be
Too frutefull or too battable for me [to serue my turne,]
Ne let it shew [or want] it selfe [too free] or ouerstrong
In first appearing-ears of corne [or comming vp in blade.]
[Ground] which is heauie, and [the ground] that's light bewraies it selfe
Being silent, by the very weight: an easie thing it is
To learne a forehand [or foretell] the blacke [earth] by the eye,
And what soeuer colour is [thereon.] But to search out
The cold most mischeefous, it is a matter very hard:
Only the pitch-trees and the noi-some Ewghtrees, or sometimes
The iuies blacke shew openly the tokens of the cold
[What ground is cold: and thus far of the qualities of grounds.]
These [former] things considered, remember thou to season
[With heat and cold] the moold, and in-to diches [for] to cut
Great hils, and [for] to shew vnto the northerne wind the clods
Of earth turnd vpward, long before thou dig or put in ditch
The pleasant kind of vine. The fal-low fields are best, the mould
[Thereof] being rotten: this do winds and cold hore frosts procure,
And deliuer sturdie stirring fur-longe [acres] made to fall.
But if that any watchfulnesse hath not escap't some men,
They seeke a likely place wherein the planting first for trees
May be prouided, and whereto the same growne vp in order
May be remooued by and by; least that the sets being shifted
Upon the sudden should not know their dam or mother soile.
Moreouer [skilfull graffers] print or make vpon the barke
Of tree to be displast, the coast or quarter of the heauen,
How euery [tree] should stand, and on what side it should abide
The southerne heats, and which should turne his backe against the north:
Let [grafters] as they tooke it vp, so set it new againe,
Sith it is much in tender [years] to grow into a custome.
First secke if it be best on hils or planes to plant thy vines,
If thou shalt measure feelds of fat and lustie champion grounds,
[Then] set them thicke, in thicker yeeld the vine is not the slower,
[It answereth the nature of the soile where it is set.]
But if [thou measure] vpland ground with hillocks [therevpon]
And mounteins steepe and clambering; take heed and see to order,
[That in due order they be set] nor otherwise should all
And euery way [or row of trees] in quadrant maner set
[Foure square like to a quadrangle] the trees being placed so
With passage ouerthwart cut out [or made betweene each row:]
As when an armie long hath oft inlargd in battell maine
Their bands, and in the open feeld a warlike troupe hath stood,
The hosts directed be [the campe is pitcht] and all the ground
Quakes all abrode with brasen wea-pons fighting face to face,
[Shine all abrode with glistering ar-mor made of copper, brasse]
Ne meddle not as yet with dread-full skirmishes, but doubt-
full Mars [or war vncerteine] wan-ders in the midst of arms.
Let all [your] plants be measured by euen counts of rows,
Not that the sight [thereof] alone might feed vaine [idle] minds,
But for bicause th' earth otherwise will not giue equall force
[Or nourishment] vnto all trees, ne will their boughs be able
To spread and stretch themselues vnto a void and empty place.
Thou maist perhaps demaund what depths in diches there should be?
I may be bold in furrow small to plant or set a vine:
But deeper and within the ground a tree is fastned downe,
The Escul first which reacheth with his roots as far as hell,
As with hir top to airie skies: therefore not winters [cold]
Not wind nor raine do plucke it vp, vnstird it doth remaine,
And conquereth or ouercoms by lasting many yeares,
Rolling [before it and outgrowing] many an age of men.
She middlemost bears vp the sha-dow great [of branches big]
Ne plant thou hazels among vines, ne take the highest twigs,
Nor breake away from tree the lof-tiest shouts or sprigs of all.
The loue of th' earth it is so great [that nearer things do grow
The frutefuller they be,] nor do thou any hurt vnto
The grafts with blunted yron toole, ne plant thou stocks so wild
Of oliue tree [among the vines and other trees of frute.]
For fire doth happen oftentimes when shepheards heedlesse [be]
Which hidden first vnder the fat barke [of the oliue tree]
Doth stealingly catch hold vpon the trunke or stocke [thereof]
And scaping out into the leaues aloft, hath giuen a great
And mightie noise vp to the aire: from thense it followes on
[Preuailing or] a conqueror through boughs, and rules [the rost]
Through highest tops of trees, and wraps the whole wood in his flames,
And being thicke with pitchie soot, flings vp into the aire
A blackish cloud [of smoke] espe-cially if that a storme
From [northerne] pole [or ouerhead] hath lien vpon the woods,
And blowing blasts doth wind the flames [in roundels like a ring.]
Where or when as this coms to passe th' oliues are not able
To spring againe out of the stocke, and being cut cannot
Restored be [or rise afresh] in low ground [as before]
And so th' vnfrutefull oliue wild [or bastard oliue tree]
Dooth ouergrow with bitter leaues [the right ones being kild.]
Nor let not any maister of experience so wise
Persuade thee for to stir the stiffe soile, when the northwind blowes;
Then winter shuts and closeth vp with frost the countrie ground,
Ne suffereth the root growne whole to fasten in the moold,
[After] the seed [is] cast [abrode, or sowne in the same.]
Best planting is for vinetrees in the ruddie time of spring,
When whitish bird [the storke is come] hated of adders long,
Or else a while before the first cold dews of haruest [come]
When as the sun so swift [or draw-ing waterish vapors vp]
Hath not as yet toucht winter with his horsses [is not entred
Into the line or signes of heauen, which bring in winter season]
And when hot summer now is past. The spring is passing good
For leaues [of trees] the spring is pas-sing kindly for the woods,
And in the spring [all] grounds do well and couet breeding seeds,
Bicause th' almightie father [Ioue, or comfortable aire]
Dooth then come downe into the lap or bosome of his wife
Glad [Iuno, or the cheerefull earth] with frutefull showres of raine:
And he great [Ioue] being ioyned with his body great to th' earth]
Doth nourish all the yoong [increase and broode of euery thing.]
Then wailesse twigs [in woods] doo ring or sound with singing birds,
And cattell then on certaine daies ingender with their kind,
The nourishable field brings foorth, and fallowes slacke their laps
[Or open their close passages] to lukewarme westerne winds,
Soft iuice or moisture ther's enough remayning for all things,
And grasse plots dare commit themselues in trust to new sun [shines:]
Ne doth the vine tree branch or leafe feare rising southerne winds,
Or driuen showres of raine from heauen with big north blustring blasts;
But thrusteth out the buds, and all the leaues it yeeldeth out,
I might suppose none other daies [or suns than these] t'haue shone
In first beginning of th' increa-sing world, or to haue had
Another course: that which was then was springtime, then the great
Huge world kept holy day the spring; and then the easterne winds
Did spare their winters blasts, when first beasts drew [or saw] the light,
And th' yron ofspring [age] of men lift vp or heau'd the head
Out of the fallowes [stonie] hard: wild beasts were put in woods,
And stars in heauen; neither could things tender and but young
Abide this labour, if so great a quietnesse went not
Twixt cold and hot, and that the calm-nesse of the gentle aire
Did not receiue and interteine the earth [from hurts and harms.]
That which remains [is to be markt] what imps soeuer thou
Shalt plant or set, spread thou the same with the fat doong [of beasts]
And mindfull [of thy worke] them hide and couer much with moold,
And burie or put in [with] vines into the selfe same trench]
Some soking grauell stones, or else foule slimie shels [of fish]
For water will betweene them fall, and airie breathings thin
Will downward go or sinke therein; and so the sets or imps
Will lift vp courage [or take hart:] now [men] are [redie] found
Who should with stones and with the weight of [broken] shards great [store]
Upon it, force it downe: this is a safegard or defense
Against the raine pourd out [of clouds:] this is [a good defense]
When dogstar bringing heat doth cleaue the gaping grounds with drought
The plants being placed orderly to resteth downe to draw
Earth oftentimes vnto [their] heads, and [therevpon] to cast
Or hit the pickforks hard [with yron to breake the lumps of earth]
Or till and t'occupie the ground vnder the plow thrust in,
And guide the strugling oxen iust betweene the vinetree plots,
Then [afterwards] to fit [thereto] smooth canes and poles of byrch
Peeld or vnbarkt, and ashen stakes, and also two hornd forks.
By strength whereof the [vines] may vse [or practise] vp to clime,
And to despise the winds, and trace or follow woodden spars
Through tops of elms [upon which spars the vine might shoot & spread]
And whiles ye first age grows wt new leaues [whiles the vines be yong]
[Then] must you spare the tender twigs: & whiles the rankish branch
Doth raise it selfe aloft to heauen, shot vp through aire so cleare
With raines or bridle loose: the edge of hedgebill may not yet
Be tride or vsde, but branches to be cropt with crooked hands
[Or fingers bowed like a hooke] and to be gathered in
The very midst [not by ad-uenture but by speciall choise.]
Then afterwards when as the boughs hauing imbrast and wrapd
With stronger sprigs the trees of Line, shall ranklie flourish out,
Then plucke away hir leaves, and pare away hir arms [or boughs]
They feare before [they spring] the knife of yron: to be short
Then practise thou hard gouernment, and branches shooting out
Restraine, keepe vnder bridle them [with vse of grafting knife.]
Moreouer hedges must be made and wouen in and out,
And cattell of all kinds within the same are to be kept,
Especially whiles that the [vine] leaues tender be and yoong,
And ignorant [vnexercisd] of inconueniences,
[As winds and haile, bitings of beasts, breakings, and other like]
The which vineleaues wild buffes and per-secuting gotes also
Annoy and hurt; beside th' vngentle winter [season sharpe]
And sun [in summer] vehement. Sheepe feed [vpon the vines]
And so doo greedie heifers too: the cold growne hard together
With hory frost, or extreame heat lieng on thirstie rocks,
Haue not done so much hurt [to vines] as those same flocks haue done,
And as the venim of their teeth so hard, and as the skar
Markt in the bitten stocke [which is the very spoile thereof.]
The gote is kild on altars all to Bacchus, for this fault,
And ancient plaies which enter on the scaffold or the stage,
And also the Athenians about their bigger towns
And meetings of the common waies haue set downe a reward,
[Namely a gote] and merry they among their quaffing cups
Haue danst in medowes soft among their bottels sokt [with wine.]
Th' Ausonian [or Italian] hus-band men, a nation sent
From Troy, make sport with homely rimes and laughter lowd vnstaid,
They take ilfauourd vizards made of hollow barks of trees,
And call vpon thee Bacchus with their merrie songs and tunes
And hang vp little [counterfets] soft faces [made of clay]
Upon a tall pineapple tree. Then herevpon [when as
The sacrifices ended be] the vineyard all doth spring
And flourisheth with great increase: the hollow vallies and
The mountains tall are filled full [of vines and places all]
Which way soeuer god hath turnd his honourable head.
Wherefore to Bacchus we will sing his praise and glory duly
In natiue countrie songs [and tunes all in the Latine toong]
And sacrificing vessels we will bring, and holy cakes:
A gote also lead by the horne for sacrifice shall stand
At thalter, and will rost his bow-els fat on hazell spits.
Moreouer that same toile in trimming vines is otherwise,
Upon the which enough of pains is neuer [ill] bestowd:
For euery soile must euery yeare be plowd three times or foure,
And clods must alwaies broken be with pickforks turnd therein;
And euery groue or wood must be disburthend of his boughs,
Labour returns to husbandmen in compasse driuen round,
As is the yeares rold in it selfe by traces of it owne:
[First spring, then summer, haruest, win-ter last; then spring againe.
And now when as the vine at last hath cast his lateward leaues,
And cold northwind hath beaten off the beautie from the woods;
Euen then doth sturdie countriman reach out his du regard
Unto the yeare next comming; and doth persecute or proine
With crooked tooth of Saturne [with a hooked graffing knife]
The vinetree let alone awhile, by shredding of the same,
And fashions it or makes it trim by cutting [off the wast.]
First dig the ground, first burne the twigs conueid and borne away,
And first beare home into thy house the [vinetree] props or stakes,
Gather thy grapes or vintage last: the shadow [of the leaues]
[Inuadeth] commeth forceably on vines twise in the yeare,
And weeds do hide or couer twise the yoong or tender sets
With brambles thicke: [each toyle is great] both labours hard & sore.
Commend and praise large countrie grounds, plow little land [for crop]
Moreouer sharpish twigs or rods of Ruscum [that same shrub.]
Is lopt or cut throughout the woods, and reeds on riuers sides,
And care of willow plots vnset keepes husbandmen at worke.
Now vines are bound [to poles] and trees lay graffing knife aside,
[And will be proind no more] now saplesse [lustlesse] vintager,
Dooth praise in song his outmost rowes of vinetrees downe at last.
But yet the soile must tempered be, and stird must be the dust,
And Iupiter [the wether] is of ripe grapes to be feared.
Contrariwise no trimming is on oliue trees [bestowd]
Ne looke they for vs [or wish to haue] the crooked grafting knife,
Nor weeding hookes hauing sure hold when once they sticke in ground
And can abide the wether [or the wind] the earth it selfe
When it is opened with a croo-ked toole [mattocke or spade]
Moisture it giues sufficient to tender planted imps,
And when [the same is tild] with plow, great store of corne [it yeelds]
Nourish herewith the peaceable and fattish oliue tree,
And apple [trees] also so soone as they haue felt their stocks
Able ynough and haue their strength; they suddenly shoot vp
By their owne force vnto the stars, not needing [once] our helpe.
No lesse doth all the groue wax great with frute in the meane while,
And birds abidings all vntrimd are red with bloudie berries;
The Cythise shrub shall lopped be for cattell, and the wood
So hie affoordeth gummie sticks or chips [in sted of candels]
[Wherwith] night fiers are fed and kept, and cast out glittering lights;
And men doo doubt to set those trees, and care on them bestow.
What should I follow greater things? the willowes and lowe broome
Giue largely either vnto beasts greene leaues, or shades to shepherds,
And hedges, vnto planted plots, and meat [to bees for] honie.
It doth also delight to looke vpon Cytorus hill
Abounding all with box and woods of Narice pitchtrees [too]
And eeke to see the feelds be hol-den neither to the rakes
Or harrowes of the husbandmen, nor anie care of theirs.
The barren woods themselues on Cau-case [loftie mounteine] top,
Which violent east wind breake and shake, doo daily render frute,
Some this, some that; and they dod yeeld most profitable timber.
Pinetrees for ships, reders and cy-pres trees for dwelling houses.
Hense [out of these] haue husbandmen framed by torners tools
Spokes for their wheels, & eeke from hense [haue] couerings for their carts,
And ther haue put bowd bottoms. [crooked keels] in botes or ships.
With oziers are the willowes full: with leaues doo elms [abound]
But mirtle with strong speares or poles, and Cornell good for warre,
Ewghs wrought and wrested be into Ithyrian [shooting] bowes;
The tilces smooth or box tree wood with torners toole soone shauen.
Take fashion, and are hollow made with sharpened iron toole.
Moreouer th' alnetree light being sent from Padus [riuer] banke
Doth flote or swim on wauing streames; and bees doo also hide
Their swarms in th' hollow barkes and bel-lie of the rotten holme.
What other thing as well worthie to be rehearst and told
Haue Bacchus gifts [the vinetrees] borne? Bacchus [or wine] hath giuen
Occasion of offense and blame, he tamed hath with death
The Centaurs droonken mad, Rhetus, Pholus, and Hyleus
Threatning the Lapiths with a mightie wineball [in his hand.]
O too too happie husbandmen if they their goods could know
To whome the earth most iust dooth yeeld farr off from discords arms
Out of the ground on easie life [or vittels lightly got:]
Though loftie house with stately doors spews out of euery roome.
A streame most huge [or prease] of folks them greeting in the morning,
Ne gape they greedie after posts in diuerse order deckt,
With arched roofe [or seeling] faire, and garments guilefully
Wouen with gold, and Ephyre-an [or Corinthian] place;
Neither is white wooll stained with Assirian purple die,
Nor vse of clarified oile with Casie is corrupt;
But careles quietnes, and life vnskilfull to deceiue,
Wealthie and rich in sundrie goods, and ease in plow lands large,
Caues, liuely [running] lakes, and coldish Tempe shades,
The bellowing or moouing noise of open, pleasant steeps
In shadowes vnderneath a tree, hills, and dens of wild beasts,
Are not away or wanting there [among the countrie folks]
Youth bearing or abiding worke, and so vs'de to little charge,
The sacrifices of the gods, and holie fathers too,
And iustice parting from the earth hath made hir last [abode]
Or set hir footsteps last of all among those [countrie folks;]
But let the Muses sweet aboue all things, with mightie loue
Of whome I smitten [wounded] doo their sacrifices beare,
[Let them I say] take and possesse me principally [first]
And let them shew the wayes of heauen and stars likewise to me,
Th' eclipses diuerse of the sun and labours of the moone,
Whereof comes quaking in the earth, by what force hie seas swell,
Their bounds being broken, and returne within themselues againe,
Thy winter suns should make such haste to dip or wash themselues
In Ocean sea, or what delay should let slowe [winter] nights.
But if cold bloud about the hart shall hinder me, that I
May not come neere these parts of na-ture [them to vnderstand]
Let countrie soile and watering streams please me in vallies low,
Let men loue riuers, yea and woods clown like. O what can set
Or place me where be [pleasant] feelds and Sperohius [riuer runs].
And Taiget [hills] hawnted with Bac-chus ghests the Lacen maids!
O who can set me in the val-lies coole of Hemus mount,
And couer me with shadows great of branches [full of leaues.]
Happie is he that could of things the causes vnderstand,
And hath cast vnder feet all feare, and destnie not intreatable,
And noise of greedie Acheron [that floud or feend of hell.]
Happie likewise is he which dooth acknowledge countrie gods,
Pan [god of shepheards] and Sylua-nus old [the god of woods]
The nymphs neere sisters [goddesses of hills and waters all:]
Not office or authoritie of people [giuing it]
Nor purple robe of kings hath stird or moou'd the countriman,
And disagrement vexing bre-thren faithles and vntrustie,
Nor Danish people comming downe from Istrian streams conspirde
[Or people dwelling neere the same] nor Romanish affairs
And realms about to perish quite [haue not diseased him,]
Ne hath he sorrowd pittieng the helples, or repinde
And grudged at him that hath enough [but kept him in a meane]
He gathered hath the frutes which boughes haue borne of own accord,
Which countrie grounds themselues well wil-ling [not constraind haue borne]
Ne hath he seene [hard] yron lawes, nor pleadinges at the bar
Unsober mad and quarellous, nor courts or offices
Where peoples euidences are recorded and inrolld.
Some men doo force the blind [and vn-seene] seas [with sails &] ores,
And rush int'armor, they doo pearse [or prease] into the courts
And palace gates of kings [thereby to purchase some aduancement:]
One forceth and assalteth towns with vtter ouerthrowes,
And miserable houshold gods that he might drinke in pearle,
And sleepe in Sarran purple clothes: another hoords vp goods
And grouelling lies vpon his gold hid in a digged hole:
This [man] amazed is made to muse at th' oratorie pulpit,
Clapping of hands hath rauisht that man gaping [after praise]
(For it is doubted by the throngs of people and of fathers.)
[Others] all dropping wet with bloud of brethren doo reioise,
And change their houses and abodes so sweet for banishment,
And seeke a countrie lieng vn-derneath another sun.
The husbandman hath turnd two waies the ground with crooked plow,
His labour of the yeare by this, releeueth and mainteins
By this his natiue soile and lit-tle nephues [kinred poore,]
By this his herds of oxen and his well deseruing bullocks
[Are kept] ne is there any rest, but that the yeare abounds
Either with frutes of trees, or brood of beasts, or handfull gripes
Of corne straw, and dooth burthen the plowd furrows with increase
[Or crop], and ouercoms the barns [that they can hold no more]
[When] winter coms, the Cicyo-nian berrie [oliues thense]
Is prest and drest in oliue mills, and swine come lustie home
[Fat fed] with akorns, and the woods doo yeeld their wildings [crabs,]
And haruest layes downe [storeth vp thincrease of] diuerse frutes,
And vintage milde [or pleasant grape] is made full ripe aloft
On stonie [hills or rockie bancks] wide open to the sun.
In the meane time sweet babes about [their mothers] dugs doo hang,
And honest house keepes honestie [chast huswife, houshold chaste]
Kine downward stretch their milkful vd-ders, and fat kids doo fight
Or wrestle twixt themselues with [bowd] hornes butting against horns.
He [namely the good husbandman] keeps often holidayes,
And groueling laid vpon the grasse, where fire is in the midst,
And [whereas] his companions crowne a great wineboll about,
O Lene [Bacchus] sacrifi-cing he doth call on thee,
And sets the maisters of the beasts [or cheefest shepherds] games
Or pastimes of the arrow swift in elme [to hit the marke,]
And they their bodies very hart [with sun with raine and wind]
Strip naked [bare, and out of cloths] for countrie wrestling game,
[They strip their bodies hard & tongs with wrestling countrie games.]
The old Sabine people honoured and lou'd this life long since,
This [life did] Ramus [loue, so did] his brother [Romulus]
[The countrie] strong Hetruria, marke ye, increased so,
And Rome was made [and so became] the fairest thing of things,
Which rounded hath as with one wall seuen hills vnto it selfe,
And golden Saturne lead this [countrie] life vpon the earth
Before the scepter [gouernement] of the Dictæan king,
[Yet Iupiter tooke rule of Creet, and put his father downe,]
Before bad people banketted with bullocks staine [to eat.]
Men had not yet heard trumpets blowne; nor yet swords layd vpon
Hard anuils [stithies] make a noise [while smiths did hammer them.]
But we haue rid with spaces [large] plaine ground nigh measureles,
And now it's time t'vnlose the smo-king necks of sweating horsses.