§3.1Te quoque, magna Pales, et te memorande canemus §3.2pastor ab Amphryso, vos, silvae amnesque Lycaei. §3.3Cetera, quae vacuas tenuissent carmine mentes, §3.4omnia iam volgata: quis aut Eurysthea durum §3.5aut inlaudati nescit Busiridis aras? §3.6Cui non dictus Hylas puer et Latonia Delos §3.7Hippodameque umeroque Pelops insignis eburno,
You also, great Pales, and you, memorable shepherd from Amphrysus, we shall sing, and you, woods and rivers of Lycaeus. Other themes, which might have held empty minds with song, are all now common knowledge: who does not know harsh Eurystheus or the altars of the unpraised Busiris? By whom has not the boy Hylas been told of, and Latonian Delos, and Hippodame, and Pelops distinguished by his ivory shoulder, fierce with his horses?
§3.8acer equis? Temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim §3.9tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora. §3.10Primus ego in patriam mecum, modo vita supersit, §3.11Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas; §3.12primus Idumaeas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas, §3.13et viridi in campo templum de marmore ponam §3.14propter aquam. Tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat §3.15Mincius et tenera praetexit arundine ripas. §3.16In medio mihi Caesar erit templumque tenebit: §3.17illi victor ego et Tyrio conspectus in ostro §3.18centum quadriiugos agitabo ad flumina currus. §3.19Cuncta mihi Alpheum linquens lucosque Molorchi §3.20cursibus et crudo decernet Graecia caestu. §3.21Ipse caput tonsae foliis ornatus olivae §3.22dona feram.
A way must be tried, by which I too may raise myself from the ground and fly victorious through the mouths of men. I, first, returning to my homeland, if only life remains, shall bring down the Muses with me from the Aonian peak; first I shall bring back Idumaean palms to you, Mantua, and in the green plain I shall build a temple of marble near the water, where the mighty Mincius wanders with slow windings and fringes the banks with tender reeds. In the midst I shall have Caesar, and he shall possess the temple: for him, I, victorious and conspicuous in Tyrian purple, shall drive a hundred four-horse chariots by the rivers. All Greece, leaving Alpheus and the groves of Molorchus, shall contend for me in races and with the raw hide boxing-glove. I myself, my head adorned with leaves of the shorn olive, shall bring gifts.
Iam nunc sollemnis ducere pompas §3.23ad delubra iuvat caesosque videre iuvencos, §3.24vel scaena ut versis discedat frontibus utque §3.25purpurea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni. §3.26In foribus pugnam ex auro solidoque elephanto §3.27Gangaridum faciam victorisque arma Quirini, §3.28atque hic undantem bello magnumque fluentem §3.29Nilum ac navali surgentis aere columnas. §3.30Addam urbes Asiae domitas pulsumque Niphaten §3.31fidentemque fuga Parthum versisque sagittis, §3.32et duo rapta manu diverso ex hoste tropaea §3.33bisque triumphatas utroque ab litore gentes. §3.34Stabunt et Parii lapides, spirantia signa, §3.35Assaraci proles demissaeque ab Iove gentis §3.36nomina, Trosque parens et Troiae Cynthius auctor. §3.37Invidia infelix Furias amnemque severum §3.38Cocyti metuet tortosque Ixionis anguis §3.39immanemque rotam et non exsuperabile saxum. §3.40Interea Dryadum silvas saltusque sequamur §3.41intactos, tua, Maecenas, haud mollia iussa. §3.42Te sine nil altum mens incohat; en age segnis §3.43rumpe moras; vocat ingenti clamore Cithaeron §3.44Taygetique canes domitrixque Epidaurus equorum §3.45et vox adsensu nemorum ingeminata remugit. §3.46Mox tamen ardentis accingar dicere pugnas §3.47Caesaris et nomen fama tot ferre per annos, §3.48Tithoni prima quot abest ab origine Caesar. §3.49Seu quis Olympiacae miratus praemia palmae §3.50pascit equos seu quis fortis ad aratra iuvencos, §3.51corpora praecipue matrum legat.
Even now it is a joy to lead solemn processions to the shrines and to see the slaughtered bullocks, or how the scene withdraws with turning fronts and how the woven Britons raise the purple curtains. On the doors I shall fashion in solid gold and ivory the battle of the Gangaridae and the arms of victorious Quirinus, and here the Nile surging with war and flowing mightily, and columns rising with naval bronze. I shall add the conquered cities of Asia and defeated Niphates, and the Parthian trusting in flight and reversed arrows, and two trophies snatched by hand from different enemies, and nations twice triumphed over from either shore. Parian stones shall also stand, breathing statues, the offspring of Assaracus and the names of the race descended from Jove, and father Tros and the Cynthian founder of Troy. Wretched Envy shall fear the Furies and the harsh river of Cocytus, and the twisted snakes of Ixion, and the monstrous wheel, and the insuperable stone. Meanwhile, let us follow the Dryads' woods and untouched glades, Maecenas, your by no means easy commands. Without you my mind begins nothing lofty; come, break slow delays; Cithaeron calls with a mighty cry, and the hounds of Taygetus, and Epidaurus tamer of horses, and the voice redoubled by the assent of the groves echoes back. Yet soon I shall gird myself to tell of the burning battles of Caesar, and to carry his name in fame through as many years as Caesar is distant from the first origin of Tithonus. Whether anyone, admiring the rewards of the Olympic palm, breeds horses, or anyone strong bullocks for the ploughs, let him choose especially the bodies of the mothers.
Optuma torvae §3.52forma bovis, cui turpe caput, cui plurima cervix, §3.53et crurum tenus a mento palearia pendent; §3.54tum longo nullus lateri modus; omnia magna, §3.55pes etiam; et camuris hirtae sub cornibus aures. §3.56Nec mihi displiceat maculis insignis et albo, §3.57aut iuga detractans interdumque aspera cornu §3.58et faciem tauro propior, quaeque ardua tota, §3.59et gradiens ima verrit vestigia cauda, §3.60Aetas Lucinam iustosque pati hymenaeos §3.61desinit ante decem, post quattuor incipit annos; §3.62cetera nec feturae habilis nec fortis aratris. §3.63Interea, superat gregibus dum laeta iuventas, §3.64solve mares; mitte in Venerem pecuaria primus, §3.65atque aliam ex alia generando suffice prolem. §3.66Optuma quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi §3.67prima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus §3.68et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis. §3.69Semper erunt, quarum mutari corpora malis: §3.70semper enim refice ac, ne post amissa requiras, §3.71ante veni et subolem armento sortire quotannis. §3.72Nec non et pecori est idem dilectus equino. §3.73Tu modo, quos in spem statues submittere gentis, §3.74praecipuum iam inde a teneris impende laborem. §3.75Continuo pecoris generosi pullus in arvis §3.76altius ingreditur et mollia crura reponit; §3.77primus et ire viam et fluvios temptare minaces §3.78audet et ignoto sese committere ponti §3.79nec vanos horret strepitus.
The best form of a grim cow is one which has an ugly head, a massive neck, and whose dewlaps hang from the chin down to her legs; then there is no limit to her long side; all things are large, even the foot; and there are shaggy ears under crooked horns. Nor would a cow distinguished by spots and white displease me, or one refusing the yoke and sometimes fierce with her horn, and closer to a bull in face, and one who is entirely tall, and sweeps her tracks with the tip of her tail as she walks. The age to endure Lucina and just bridal rites ends before ten years, and begins after four; the rest is neither fit for breeding nor strong for ploughs. Meanwhile, while joyful youth abounds in the herds, loose the males; be the first to send your herds into love, and supply stock after stock by breeding. Every best day of life for wretched mortals is the first to flee; diseases and sad old age creep on, and labor, and the severity of harsh death snatches them away. There will always be some whose bodies you would prefer to be changed: therefore always replace them, and lest you require them afterwards when lost, anticipate and choose a stock for the herd every year. Nor indeed is there any different choice for the horse herd. Only you, those whom you decide to rear for the hope of the race, bestow chief labor on them right from their tender age. From the first, the colt of a noble breed in the fields steps higher and sets down his supple legs; he is the first to dare to go the way, and to try threatening rivers, and to trust himself to an unknown bridge, nor does he dread empty noises.
Illi ardua cervix §3.80argutumque caput, brevis alvus obesaque terga, §3.81luxuriatque toris animosum pectus.
His is a lofty neck, a clean-cut head, a short belly, and a plump back, and his spirited breast swells with muscles.
Honesti
Desirable