§2.1Hactenus arvorum cultus et sidera caeli, §2.2nunc te, Bacche, canam, nec non silvestria tecum §2.3virgulta et prolem tarde crescentis olivae. §2.4Huc, pater o Lenaee—tuis hic omnia plena §2.5muneribus, tibi pampineo gravidus autumno §2.6floret ager, spumat plenis vindemia labris— §2.7huc, pater o Lenaee, veni nudataque musto §2.8tingue novo mecum direptis crura cothurnis. §2.9Principio arboribus varia est natura creandis. §2.10namque aliae nullis hominum cogentibus ipsae §2.11sponte sua veniunt camposque et flumina late §2.12curva tenent, ut molle siler lentaeque genestae, §2.13populus et glauca canentia fronde salicta; §2.14pars autem posito surgunt de semine, ut altae §2.15castaneae nemorumque Iovi quae maxima frondet §2.16aesculus atque habitae Grais oracula quercus. §2.17Pullulat ab radice aliis densissima silva, §2.18ut cerasis ulmisque; etiam Parnasia laurus §2.19parva sub ingenti matris se subicit umbra. §2.20Hos natura modos primum dedit, his genus omne §2.21silvarum fruticumque viret nemorumque sacrorum. §2.22Sunt aliae, quas ipse via sibi repperit usus. §2.23Hic plantas tenero abscindens de corpore matrum §2.24deposuit sulcis, hic stirpes obruit arvo §2.25quadrifidasque sudes et acuto robore vallos; §2.26silvarumque aliae pressos propaginis arcus §2.27exspectant et viva sua plantaria terra; §2.28nil radicis egent aliae summumque putator §2.29haud dubitat terrae referens mandare cacumen. §2.30Quin et caudicibus sectis—mirabile dictu— §2.31truditur e sicco radix oleagina ligno. §2.32Et saepe alterius ramos inpune videmus §2.33vertere in alterius mutatamque insita mala §2.34ferre pirum et prunis lapidosa rubescere corna. §2.35Quare agite o proprios generatim discite cultus, §2.36agricolae, fructusque feros mollite colendo, §2.37neu segnes iaceant terrae.
Thus far the cultivation of fields and the stars of heaven; now you, Bacchus, I will sing, and with you the woodland shrubbery and the offspring of the slowly growing olive. Hither, O father Lenaeus—here everything is full of your gifts, for you the field flourishes heavy with the leafy autumn, the vintage foams at the full brims— hither, O father Lenaeus, come, and having stripped off your buskins, tinge your bare shins with new must with me. In the first place, the nature for creating trees is diverse. For some, with no constraint from men, come of their own accord and occupy the fields and far-winding rivers, like the soft osier and the pliant broom, the poplar and the willow-beds whitening with hoary leaf; but a part rise from sown seed, such as the lofty chestnuts, and the esculus, which buds most huge of groves for Jove, and the oaks held as oracles by the Greeks. For others, a very dense forest sprouts from the root, as with cherries and elms; even the small Parnassian laurel submits itself under the immense shade of its mother. Nature first gave these modes; by these every kind of forests and shrubs and sacred groves flourishes. There are others, which experience itself has found out for itself by practice. This man, cutting off suckers from the tender body of the mothers, has placed them in furrows; another buries stems in the field, both four-cleft stakes and poles with sharpened wood; and some of the forest trees expect the bent arches of a layer and living nurseries in their own soil; others need no root at all, and the pruner does not hesitate to entrust the topmost shoot, returning it to the earth. Nay, even when the trunks are cut—wonderful to tell— an olive root is pushed out from the dry wood. And often we see the branches of one tree turn harmlessly into those of another, and the changed pear bear grafted apples, and stony cornel-berries grow red on plum trees. Therefore come, O farmers, learn their proper cultivations class by class, and soften the wild fruits by tilling, nor let idle lands lie.
Iuvat Ismara Baccho §2.38conserere atque olea magnum vestire Taburnum. §2.39Tuque ades inceptumque una decurre laborem, §2.40O decus, o famae merito pars maxima nostrae, §2.41Maecenas, pelagoque volans da vela patenti; §2.42non ego cuncta meis amplecti versibus opto, §2.43non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum, §2.44ferrea vox; ades et primi lege litoris oram. §2.45In manibus terrae; non hic te carmine ficto §2.46atque per ambages et longa exorsa tenebo. §2.47Sponte sua quae se tollunt in luminis oras, §2.48infecunda quidem, sed laeta et fortia surgunt; §2.49quippe solo natura subest.
It is a joy to plant Ismarus with Bacchus and to clothe great Taburnus with olive. And you, be present and run through the begun labor together, O my honor, O justly the greatest part of my fame, Maecenas, and spread the flying sails to the open sea; I do not wish to embrace all things in my verses, no, not if I had a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths, and an iron voice; be present, and skirt the edge of the nearest shore. The lands are in hand; I will not hold you here with a feigned song and through digressions and long preambles. Those which raise themselves of their own accord into the borders of light rise unfruitful indeed, but gladsome and strong; for natural force underlies the soil.
Tamen haec quoque, si quis §2.50inserat aut scrobibus mandet mutata subactis, §2.51exuerint silvestrem animum cultuque frequenti §2.52in quascumque voles artis haud tarda sequentur. §2.53Nec non et sterilis, quae stirpibus exit ab imis, §2.54hoc faciat, vacuos si sit digesta per agros; §2.55nunc altae frondes et rami matris opacant §2.56crescentique adimunt fetus uruntque ferentem. §2.57Iam quae seminibus iactis se sustulit arbos §2.58tarda venit seris factura nepotibus umbram, §2.59pomaque degenerant sucos oblita priores §2.60et turpis avibus praedam fert uva racemos. §2.61Scilicet omnibus est labor inpendendus et omnes §2.62cogendae in sulcum ac multa mercede domandae. §2.63Sed truncis oleae melius, propagine vites §2.64respondent, solido Paphiae de robore myrtus; §2.65plantis et durae coryli nascuntur et ingens §2.66fraxinus Herculeaeque arbos umbrosa coronae §2.67Chaoniique patris glandes, etiam ardua palma §2.68nascitur et casus abies visura marinos. §2.69Inseritur vero et fetu nucis arbutus horrida, §2.70et steriles platani malos gessere valentis; §2.71castaneae fagus, ornusque incanuit albo §2.72flore piri glandemque sues fregere sub ulmis. §2.73Nec modus inserere atque oculos inponere simplex. §2.74Nam qua se medio trudunt de cortice gemmae §2.75et tenuis rumpunt tunicas, angustus in ipso §2.76fit nodo sinus: huc aliena ex arbore germen §2.77includunt udoque docent inolescere libro.
Yet these too, if anyone should graft them or commit them, shifted, to well-worked trenches, will strip off their wild spirit and by frequent cultivation will follow, not slowly, into whatever arts you wish. And also the sterile sucker, which comes out from the lowest roots, would do this, if it were distributed through the open fields; now the lofty leaves and branches of the mother overshadow it, and take away fruit from it as it grows, and wither it as it bears. Now the tree which has raised itself from cast seeds comes slowly, destined to make shade for late posterity, and the fruits degenerate, forgetting their former juices, and the grape brings ugly clusters as a prey for birds. To be sure, labor must be spent on all, and all must be forced into the furrow and tamed with much cost. But olives respond better from truncheons, vines from layers, myrtles of Paphos from the solid wood; from suckers are born both hardy hazelnuts, and the huge ash, and the shady tree of the Herculean crown, and the acorns of the Chaonian father; also the lofty palm is born, and the fir destined to see marine misfortunes. But the rough arbutus is grafted with the offspring of the walnut, and sterile planes have borne strong apple trees; the beech has whitened with chestnut, and the mountain-ash with the white flower of the pear, and swine have crushed acorns under elms. Nor is the method of grafting and of putting in eyes simple. For where the buds push themselves out from the middle of the bark and break the thin tunics, a narrow slit is made in the very knot; hither they enclose a bud from another tree and teach it to grow into the wet bark.