§3.404Nec tibi cura canum fuerit postrema, sed una §3.405velocis Spartae catulos acremque Molossum §3.406pasce sero pingui.
Nor should the care of dogs be your last concern, but together feed the swift puppies of Sparta and the fierce Molossian on rich whey.
Numquam custodibus illis §3.407nocturnum stabulis furem incursusque luporum §3.408aut impacatos a tergo horrebis Hiberos.
With those as guardians, you will never dread the nightly thief in your stalls, or the attacks of wolves, or the unsubdued Iberians at your back.
§3.409Saepe etiam cursu timidos agitabis onagros §3.410et canibus leporem, canibus venabere dammas, §3.411saepe volutabris pulsos silvestribus apros §3.412latratu turbabis agens montisque per altos §3.413ingentem clamore premes ad retia cervum.
Often too you will chase the timid wild asses in flight, and with dogs you will hunt the hare, with dogs the drakes; often you will rouse and drive with barking the wild boars started from their forest wallows, and through the high mountains you will press the huge stag with shouting into the nets.
§3.414Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum §3.415galbaneoque agitare gravis nidore chelydros.
Learn also to burn scented cedar in the stalls, and to drive away the noxious water-snakes with the fume of galbanum.
§3.416saepe sub immotis praesepibus aut mala tactu §3.417vipera delituit caelumque exterrita fugit, §3.418aut tecto adsuetus coluber succedere et umbrae, §3.419pestis acerba boum, pecorique aspergere virus, §3.420fovit humum.
Often under unmoved mangers either the viper, deadly to the touch, has hidden and fled the light in terror, or the snake, accustomed to creep under shelter and shade— a bitter plague of oxen, and wont to sprinkle virus on the cattle— has nested in the ground.
Snatch stones in your hand, snatch clubs, shepherd, and strike down the beast as it rears in threat and swells its hissing neck.
Iamque fuga timidum caput abdidit alte, §3.423cum medii nexus extremaeque agmina caudae §3.424solvuntur, tardosque trahit sinus ultimus orbis.
And now in flight it has hidden its fearful head deep in the ground, while the central coils and the line of the tail-tip are unraveled, and the last fold drags its slow curves.
§3.425Est etiam ille malus Calabris in saltibus anguis, §3.426squamea convolvens sublato pectore terga §3.427atque notis longam maculosus grandibus alvum §3.428qui, dum amnes ulli rumpuntur fontibus et dum §3.429vere madent udo terrae ac pluvialibus austris §3.430stagna colit, ripisque habitans hic piscibus atram §3.431improbus ingluviem ranisque loquacibus explet; §3.432postquam exusta palus, terraeque ardore dehiscunt, §3.433exsilit in siccum et flammantia lumina torquens §3.434saevit agris asperque siti atque exterritus aestu.
There is also that evil serpent in the Calabrian glades, writhing its scaly back with breast erect, and speckled over its long belly with large spots, which, as long as any rivers burst from their springs, and while the lands are wet with damp spring and rainy south winds, haunts the pools, and dwelling on the banks, here greedily fills its black maw with fish and talkative frogs; but when the marsh is burnt up and the earth cracks with heat, it leaps forth onto the dry land, and rolling its flaming eyes, rages through the fields, fierce with thirst and maddened by the heat.
§3.435Ne mihi tum mollis sub divo carpere somnos §3.436neu dorso nemoris libeat iacuisse per herbas, §3.437cum positis novus exuviis nitidusque iuventa §3.438volvitur, aut catulos tectis aut ova relinquens §3.439arduus ad solem et linguis micat ore trisulcis.
May it not please me then to court soft slumbers under the open sky, nor to lie upon the grass on the forest ridge, when, having cast its skin, fresh and shining with youth, it rolls along, leaving either its young or its eggs in the nest, and rearing itself high toward the sun, flickers with three-forked tongue from its mouth.
§3.440Morborum quoque te causas et signa docebo.
Of diseases also will I teach you the causes and the signs.
§3.441Turpis ovis temptat scabies, ubi frigidus imber §3.442altius ad vivum persedit et horrida cano §3.443bruma gelu, vel cum tonsis inlotus adhaesit §3.444sudor et hirsuti secuerunt corpora vepres.
The foul scab attacks sheep, when the cold rain has sunk deep into the quick, and winter, rough with hoary frost, or when the unwashed sweat has clung to them after shearing, and prickly briars have torn their bodies.
§3.445Dulcibus idcirco fluviis pecus omne magistri §3.446perfundunt, udisque aries in gurgite villis §3.447mersatur missusque secundo defluit amni; §3.448aut tonsum tristi contingunt corpus amurca §3.449et spumas miscent argenti et sulfura viva §3.450Idaeasque pices et pinguis unguine ceras §3.451scillamque elleborosque gravis nigrumque bitumen.
For this reason the masters bathe the whole flock in sweet rivers, and the ram with wet fleece is plunged in the pool and, released, floats down the stream; or they smear the shorn body with bitter olive-dregs, and mix litharge, virgin sulfur, Idaean pitch, wax rich with oil, squill, heavy hellebore, and black bitumen.
§3.452Non tamen ulla magis praesens fortuna laborum est, §3.453quam si quis ferro potuit rescindere summum §3.454ulceris os: alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, §3.455dum medicas adhibere manus ad volnera pastor §3.456abnegat et meliora deos sedet omnia poscens.
Yet no remedy of their troubles is more effective than if one has been able to cut open the top of the ulcer with steel; the mischief is fed and lives by being covered, while the shepherd refuses to apply healing hands to the wounds, and sits asking the gods for all better things.
§3.457Quin etiam, ima dolor balantum lapsus ad ossa §3.458cum furit atque artus depascitur arida febris, §3.459profuit incensos aestus avertere et inter §3.460ima ferire pedis salientem sanguine venam, §3.461Bisaltae quo more solent acerque Gelonus; §3.462cum fugit in Rhodopen atque in deserta Getarum §3.463et lac concretum cum sanguine potat equino.
Nay even, when the pain has sunk into the deep bones of the bleating flock and rages, and a parching fever feeds on their limbs, it has been found useful to drive away the fiery heat and strike a vein throbbing with blood between the lowest parts of the foot, after the manner of the Bisaltae and the fierce Gelonian, when he flees to Rhodope and the deserts of the Getae, and drinks milk curdled with horse's blood.
§3.464Quam procul aut molli succedere saepius umbrae §3.465videris aut summas carpentem ignavius herbas §3.466extremamque sequi aut medio procumbere campo §3.467pascentem et serae solam decedere nocti: §3.468continuo culpam ferro compesce, prius quam §3.469dira per incautum serpant contagia volgus.
If from afar you see any sheep either withdrawing too often to the soft shade, or cropping the tops of the grass too listlessly, or following behind the rest, or lying down in the middle of the field while grazing, and returning home alone late at night: immediately check the evil with the steel, before the dread contagion creeps through the unwary flock.
Not so frequent does the whirlwind that drives the storm rush from the sea, as the many plagues of cattle.
Nec singula morbi §3.472corpora corripiunt, sed tota aestiva repente, §3.473spemque gregemque simul cunctamque ab origine gentem.
Nor do diseases seize single bodies only, but whole summer pastures at once, both the hope and the flock, and the entire breed from its origin.
§3.474Tum sciat, aerias Alpis et Norica si quis §3.475castella in tumulis et Iapydis arva Timavi §3.476nunc quoque post tanto videat desertaque regna §3.477pastorum et longe saltus lateque vacantis.
Then he would know, if anyone, even now after so long a time, should view the towering Alps, and the Noric hill-forts on the hills, and the fields of Iapydian Timavus, and the deserted realms of the shepherds, and the glades empty far and wide.
§3.478Hic quondam morbo caeli miseranda coorta est §3.479tempestas totoque autumni incanduit aestu §3.480et genus omne neci pecudum dedit, omne ferarum, §3.481corrupitque lacus, infecit pabula tabo.
Here once from a tainted sky a miserable plague arose, and glowed with the full heat of autumn, and gave over to death every kind of cattle, every kind of wild beast, and poisoned the lakes, and infected the pastures with corruption.
§3.482Nec via mortis erat simplex, sed ubi ignea venis §3.483omnibus acta sitis miseros adduxerat artus, §3.484rursus abundabat fluidus liquor omniaque in se
Nor was the way of death simple; but when burning thirst, driven through all the veins, had shriveled their wretched limbs, again a watery fluid overflowed, and into itself...