Columella: DE RE RUSTICA LIBRI XII

Faenoris tui, Silvine, quod stipulanti spoponderam tibi, reliquam pensiunculam percipe. Nam superioribus novem libris hac minus parte debitum, quod nunc persolvo, reddideram. Superest ergo cultus hortorum segnis ac neglectus quondam veteribus agricolis, nunc vel celeberrimus.

Silvinus, receive the remaining little installment of your loan, which I had promised you when you were stipulating. For in the previous nine books I had paid back the debt short by this portion, which I now discharge. Therefore there remains the cultivation of gardens—sluggish and neglected once by the old farmers, now even the most celebrated.

Siquidem cum parcior apud priscos esset frugalitas, largior tamen pauperibus fuit usus epularum, lactis copia ferinaeque ac domesticarum pecudum carne velut aqua frumentoque summis atque humillimis victum tolerantibus.

Since frugality was more sparing among the ancients, yet the poor had a more liberal use of banquets, and a supply of milk and the flesh of wild and domestic herd-animals, like water and grain, sustained the living of both the highest and the lowliest.

[2] Mox cum sequens et praecipue nostra aetas dapibus libidinosa pretia constituerit cenaeque non naturalibus desideriis sed censibus aestimentur, plebeia paupertas summota pretiosioribus cibis ad vulgares compellitur.

[2] Presently, when the succeeding and especially our own age, libidinous for banquets, has set prices, and dinners are appraised not by natural desires but by census-wealth, plebeian poverty, removed from costlier foods, is compelled to common fare.

[3] Quare cultus hortorum, quorum iam fructus magis in usu est, diligentius nobis, quam tradidere maiores, praecipiendus est, isque, sicut institueram, prorsa oratione prioribus subnecteretur exordiis, nisi propositum meum expugnasset frequens postulatio tua, quae praecepit, ut poeticis numeris explerem georgici carminis omissas partis, quas tamen et ipse Vergilius significaverat posteris se memorandas relinquere. Neque enim aliter istud nobis fuerat audendum quam ex voluntate vatis maxime venerandi;

[3] Wherefore the cultivation of gardens—whose fruit is now more in use—must be prescribed by us more diligently than our ancestors handed it down; and this, just as I had established, would have been subjoined in straightforward prose to the earlier beginnings, had not your frequent petition overmastered my plan, which commanded that I should fill up in poetic numbers the omitted parts of the georgic song—parts which even Vergil himself had indicated that he left to posterity to be commemorated. For indeed in no other way would that have been to be dared by us than by the will of the bard most venerable;

[4] cuius quasi numine instigante pigre sine dubio propter difficultatem operis, verumtamen non sine spe prosperi successus adgressi sumus tenuem admodum et paene viduatam corpore materiam, quae tam exilis est, ut in consummatione quidem totius operis adnumerari veluti particula possit laboris nostri, per se vero et quasi suis finibus terminata nullo modo speciose conspici. Nam etsi multa sunt eius quasi membra, de quibus aliquid possumus effari, tamen eadem tam exigua sunt, ut, quod aiunt Graeci, ex inconprehensibili parvitate harenae funis effici non possit.

[4] by whose, as it were, numen instigating us, we have, sluggishly without doubt on account of the difficulty of the work, yet not without hope of a prosperous success, undertaken a very tenuous and almost body-bereft material, which is so slender that, in the consummation of the whole work, it can be counted as, so to speak, a particle of our labor, but taken by itself, and as though bounded by its own limits, can in no way be seen with any specious show. For although there are many of its, as it were, members, about which we can utter something, nevertheless these same are so minute that, as the Greeks say, from the incomprehensible smallness a rope of sand cannot be wrought.

[5] Quare quicquid est istud, quod elucubravimus, adeo propriam sibi laudem non vindicat, ut boni consulat, si non sit dedecori prius editis a me scriptorum monumentis. Sed iam praefari desinamus.

[5] Wherefore, whatever this is which we have elucubrated, it so little claims praise as its own that let it take it in good part if it be not a disgrace to the written monuments previously published by me. But now let us cease prefacing.

Hortorum quoque te cultus, Silvine, docebo,
atque ea quae quondam spatiis exclusus iniquis,
cum caneret laetas segetes et munera Bacchi,
et te, magna Pales, necnon caelestia mella,
Vergilius nobis post se memoranda reliquit.                    5
Principio sedem numeroso praebeat horto
pinguis ager putris glebae resolutaque terga
qui gerit, et fossus gracilis imitatur harenas,
atque habilis natura soli, quae gramine laeto
parturit, et rutilas ebuli creat uvida bacas.                    10
Nam neque sicca placet, nec quae stagnata palude
perpetitur querulae semper convicia ranae.
Tum quae sponte sua frondosas educat ulmos
palmitibusque feris laetatur, et aspera silvis
achradis, aut pruni lapidosis obruta pomis                    15

I will teach you also the cultivation of gardens, Silvine,
and those things which once, excluded by unequal spaces,
when he sang of joyful grain-fields and the gifts of Bacchus,
and you, great Pales, and likewise the celestial honey,
Vergil left to us, to be remembered after him.                    5
At the outset let a site be supplied for a well-stocked garden
a rich field that bears crumbling clod and loosened surfaces,
and, when dug, fine, imitates sands,
and a soil apt by nature, which with cheerful grass
brings forth, and, being moist, creates the ruddy berries of the ebulus.                    10
For neither does a dry one please, nor that which, stagnant with marsh,
endures the perpetual railings of the querulous frog.
Then that which of its own accord brings up leafy elms
and rejoices in wild vine-shoots, and, rough with wild-pear thickets
in the woods, or weighed down with the stone-bearing fruits of the plum,                    15

gaudet, et iniussi consternitur ubere mali;
sed negat elleboros, et noxia carbasa suco,
nec patitur taxos, nec strenua toxica sudat,
quamvis semihominis vesano gramine feta
mandragorae pariat flores maestamque cicutam               20
nec manibus mitis ferulas nec cruribus aequa
terga rubi spinisque ferat paliuron acutis.
Vicini quoque sint amnes, quos incola durus
attrahat auxilio semper sitientibus hortis,
aut fons inlacrimet putei non sede profunda,                    25
ne gravis hausuris tendentibus ilia vellat.
Talis humus vel parietibus vel saepibus hirtis
claudatur, ne sit pecori neu pervia furi.
Neu tibi Daedaliae quaerantur munera dextrae,
nec Polyclitea nec Phradmonis aut Ageladae                   30

it rejoices, and, unbidden, is strewn with the rich abundance of apple;
but it refuses hellebores, and linens noxious with sap,
nor does it endure yews, nor sweat out strenuous toxins,
although, teeming with the mad herb of the half-human
mandrake, it may bring forth flowers and the mournful hemlock;               20
nor let it bear fennel-staves gentle to the hands, nor, level to the shins,
the backs of the bramble and the paliurus with sharp spines.
Let there also be neighboring rivers, which the hardy inhabitant
may draw to the aid of gardens ever athirst,
or let a spring weep into a well not of deep seat,                    25
lest a heavy load wrench the flanks of those stretching to draw.
Let such soil be enclosed either with walls or with shaggy hedges,
lest it be accessible to cattle nor pervious to a thief.
Nor let the gifts of the Daedalian right hand be sought for you,
nor those of Polyclitus nor of Phradmon or Ageladas.                   30

arte laboretur, sed truncum forte dolatum
arboris antiquae numen venerare Priapi
terribilis membri, medio qui semper in horto
inguinibus puero, praedoni falce minetur.
Ergo age nunc cultus et tempora quaeque serendis           35
seminibus, quae cura satis, quo sidere primum
nascantur flores Paestique rosaria gemment,
quo Bacchi genus aut aliena stirpe gravata
mitis adoptatis curvetur frugibus arbos,
Pierides tenui deducite carmine Musae.                    40
Oceani sitiens cum iam Canis hauserit undas,
et paribus Titan orbem libraverit horis,
cum satur Autumnus quassans sua tempora pomis
sordidus et musto spumantis exprimet uvas,
tum mihi ferrato versetur robore palae                    45

let there be toil by art, but worship the numen of Priapus, roughly hewn from the trunk of an ancient tree,
of the terrible member, who always in the middle of the garden
threatens the boy with his loins, the robber with a sickle.
Therefore come now the cultivations and the seasons for sowing           35
seeds, what care is sufficient, under what star first
flowers are born and the rose-beds of Paestum will bud,
under what the race of Bacchus or, weighed down by an alien stock,
the gentle tree is bent with adopted fruits—
Pierides, Muses, draw it out with slender song.                    40
When the Dog-star, thirsty, has now drained the waves of Ocean,
and Titan has balanced the orb with equal hours,
when sated Autumn, shaking his temples with apples,
grimy and with must, presses out the foaming grapes,
then for me let the iron-shod oaken haft of the spade be plied.                    45

dulcis humus, si iam pluviis defessa madebit.
At si cruda manet caelo durata sereno,
tum iussi veniant declivi tramite rivi,
terra bibat fontis et hiantia compleat ora.
Quod si nec caeli nec campi competit humor, 50
ingeniumque loci vel Iuppiter abnegat imbrem,
exspectetur hiemps dum Bacchi Gnosius ardor
aequore caeruleo celetur vertice mundi,
solis et adversos metuant Atlantides ortus.

the soil is sweet, if now, wearied by rains, it will grow moist.
But if it remains raw, hardened by a serene sky,
then, as ordered, let little streams come by a sloping path,
let the earth drink of the spring and fill its gaping mouths.
But if the moisture of neither sky nor field is fitting, 50
and either the nature of the place or Jupiter denies rain,
let winter be awaited until the Gnossian ardor of Bacchus
is hidden beneath the blue sea at the vertex of the world,
and the Atlantids fear the adverse risings of the sun.

Atque ubi iam tuto necdum confisus Olympo 55
sed trepidus profugit chelas et spicula Phoebus
dira Nepae tergoque Croti festinat equino,
nescia plebs generis matri ne parcite falsae.
Ista Prometheae genetrix fuit altera cretae;
altera nos enixa parens, quo tempore saevos 60
tellurem ponto mersit Neptunus, et imum
concutiens barathrum Lethaeas terruit undas.
Tumque semel Stygium regem videre trementem
Tartara, cum pelagi streperent sub pondere Manes.

And when now, not yet secure in his trust of Olympus, 55
but trembling, Phoebus flees the claws and darts of dire Nepa and hastens to the equine back of Crotus,
O plebs unknowing of your genus, do not spare the false mother.
That one was a second genitrix of Promethean clay;
another parent bore us, at the time when savage Neptune sank
the earth in the sea, and, shaking the lowest abyss, terrified the Lethean waves.
And then once Tartarus saw the Stygian king trembling,
when the Manes rattled beneath the weight of the sea.

Nos fecunda manus viduo mortalibus orbe 65

We, a fecund band, with the orb widowed of mortals 65

progenerat, nos abruptae tum montibus altis
Deucalioneae cautes peperere. Sed ecce
durior aeternusque vocat labor: eia age segnis
pellite nunc somnos, et curvi vomere dentis
iam viridis lacerate comas, iam scindite amictus.                 70
Tu gravibus rastris cunctantia perfode terga,
tu penitus latis eradere viscera marris
ne dubita, et summo ferventia cespite mixta
ponere, quae canis iaceant urenda pruinis,
verberibus gelidis iraeque obnoxia Cauri,                    75
alliget ut saevus Boreas Eurusque resolvat.
Post ubi Riphaeae torpentia frigora brumae
candidus aprica Zephyrus regelaverit aura
sidereoque polo cedet Lyra mersa profundo,
veris et adventum nidis cantabit hirundo,                    80

begets; us then the Deucalionian crags, torn off from lofty mountains,
brought forth. But behold, a harder and everlasting labor calls: come now, up, sluggard,
drive away sleep now, and with the ploughshare of the curved tooth
now lacerate the green tresses, now rend the coverings.                 70
You, with heavy rakes, pierce through the lingering backs;
you, do not hesitate to scrape out the innards deep with broad hoes,
and to lay down things mixed with the seething sod on the top,
so that they may lie to be burned by hoary frosts,
exposed to the icy lashings and to the wrath of the Caurus,                    75
that savage Boreas may bind and Eurus may unloose.
Afterwards, when the numbing colds of Riphaean winter
the shining Zephyr shall have relaxed with its sun-warmed breeze,
and in the starry pole the Lyre, plunged in the deep, will give way,
and the swallow will sing the arrival of spring in its nests,                    80

rudere tum pingui, solido vel stercore aselli,
armentive fimo saturet ieiunia terrae
ipse ferens holitor diruptos pondere qualos,
pabula nec pudeat fisso praebere novali
immundis quaecumque vomit latrina cloacis.                    85
Densaque iam pluviis durataque summa pruinis
aequora dulcis humi repetat mucrone bidentis.
Mox bene cum glebis vivacem cespitis herbam
contundat marrae vel fracti dente ligonis,
putria maturi solvantur ut ubera campi.                    90
Tunc quoque trita solo splendentia sarcula sumat
angustosque foros adverso limite ducens,
rursus in obliquum distinguat tramite parvo.
Verum ubi iam puro discrimine pectita tellus
deposito squalore nitens sua semina poscet,                    95

then let him sate the fasts of the earth with rich rubble, or with the solid dung of the little donkey, or with the herd’s manure,
the holitor himself, bearing baskets burst by their weight, nor let it shame him to offer nourishment to the cleft fallow
whatever the latrine spews from filthy cloaca-sewers.                    85
And now let him revisit with the edge of the bident the surfaces of the sweet soil, dense with rains and hardened on top by frosts.
Soon, together with the clods, let him pound the lively grass of the turf with the mattock or with the tooth of a broken hoe,
so that the teeming udders of the ripe field may be loosed to friability.                    90
Then too let him take little hoes polished by the ground and gleaming,
and, drawing narrow furrows with a counter-running boundary line,
let him again mark them out obliquely with a small track. But when now the earth, carded with a clean distinction,
shining with its squalor laid aside, shall ask for its own seeds,                    95

pingite tunc varios, terrestria sidera, flores,
candida leucoia, et flaventia lumina caltae,
narcissique comas, et hiantis saeva leonis
ora feri, calathisque virentia lilia canis,
nec non vel niveos vel caeruleos hyacinthos.                    100
Tum quae pallet humi, quae frondens purpurat auro,
ponatur viola, et nimium rosa plena pudoris.
Nunc medica panacem lacrima, sucoque salubri
glaucea, et profugos vinctura papavera somnos
spargite, quaeque viros acuunt armantque puellis,               105
iam Megaris veniant genitalia semina bulbi,
et quae Sicca legit Getulis obruta glebis,
et quae frugifero seritur vicina Priapo,
excitet ut Veneri tardos eruca maritos.
Iam breve chaerepolum et torpenti grata palato                   110

then paint diverse things, the terrestrial stars, the flowers,
white leucoia, and the yellow-glowing lights of the marigold,
and the tresses of Narcissus, and the gaping mouths
of the savage lion, the fierce beast, and dog-lilies green in their flower-baskets,
and likewise hyacinths, whether snowy or cerulean.                    100
Then let the violet be set, which grows pale upon the soil, which, in leaf, purples with gold,
and the rose, too full of modesty. Now the medicinal tear of panacea,
and the glaucous herb with healthful juice, and poppies that will bind
fugitive sleeps, scatter, and those which sharpen men and arm girls;               105
now let the generative seeds of the bulb come from Megara,
and those which Sicca gathers, buried in Getulian clods,
and that which is sown near frugiferous Priapus,
so that rocket may rouse for Venus the tardy husbands.
Now the short chaerepolum, too, pleasing to a torpid palate,                   110

intiba, iam teneris frondens lactucula fibris
aliaque infractis spicis et olentia late
ulpica quaeque fabis habilis fabrilia miscet.
Iam siser Assyrioque venit quae semine radix
sectaque praebetur madido sociata lupino,                    115
ut Pelusiaci proritet pocula zythi.
Tempore non alio vili quoque salgama merce
capparis et tristes inulae ferulaeque minaces
plantantur, nec non serpentia gramina mentae
et bene odorati flores sparguntur anethi                   120
rutaque Palladiae bacae iutura saporem
seque lacessenti fletum factura sinapis,
atque holeris pulli radix lacrimosaque caepa
ponitur et lactis gustus quae condiat herba,
deletura quidem fronti data signa fugarum,                    125

endive, now the little lettuce budding with tender fibers,
and garlic too with its unbroken spikes, and the widely-odorous
ulpica, which, handy for beans, mixes craftsmen’s relishes.
Now skirret and that root which comes with Assyrian seed
are served sliced, joined with moist lupine,                    115
so as to spur the cups of Pelusiac zythum.
At this same time, too, salt-pickles at a cheap price—
capers, and the grim inula, and the menacing ferulae—
are planted; and the creeping grasses of mint as well,
and the well-scented flowers of dill are strewn,                  120
and rue, a seasoning to the flavor of Pallas’s berry (the olive),
and mustard, which will bring on weeping to whoever provokes it;
and the root of young colewort, and the tear-bringing onion
are set, and the herb that seasons the taste of milk,
one that will indeed blot out the marks of flight branded on the brow.                    125

vimque suam idcirco profitetur nomine Graio.
Tum quoque conseritur, toto quae plurima terrae
orbe virens pariter plebi regique superbo
frigoribus caules et veri cymata mittit:
quae pariunt veteres cesposo litore Cumae,                    130
quae Marrucini, quae Signia monte Lepino,
pinguis item Capua, et Caudinis faucibus horti,
fontibus et Stabiae celebres et Vesuvia rura,
doctaque Parthenope Sebethide roscida lympha,
quae dulcis Pompeia palus vicina salinis                   135
Herculeis vitreoque Siler qui defluit amni,
quae duri praebent cymosa stirpe Sabelli,
et Turni lacus et pomosi Tiburis arva,
Bruttia quae tellus et mater Aricia porri.
Haec ubi credidimus resolutae semina terrae,                    140

and therefore it professes its power by a Greek name.
Then too it is sown, which, most plentiful through the whole orb of the earth,
flourishing alike for the common folk and for the proud king,
sends out stalks in the cold and the spring’s cymes of shoots:
which the old Cumae on the turf-covered shore bring forth,                    130
which the Marrucini, which Signia on Mount Lepinus,
and fat Capua too, and the gardens in the Caudine gorges,
and the fields of Stabiae famed for springs and of Vesuvius,
and learned Parthenope with the dewy water of the Sebethus,
which the sweet Pompeian marsh, near the salt-pans,                   135
and the Siler which flows down into the glassy Herculean river,
which the hardy Sabellians supply with cymose stock,
and the lake of Turnus and the fruit-rich fields of Tibur,
and the Bruttian land, and Aricia, mother of the leek.
When we have entrusted these seeds to loosened earth,                    140

adsiduo gravidam cultu curaque fovemus,
ut redeant nobis cumulato fenore messes.
Et primum moneo largos inducere fontis,
ne sitis exurat concepto semine partum.
At cum feta suos nexus adaperta resolvit, 145
florida cum soboles materno pullulat arvo,
primitiis plantae modicos tum praebeat imbres
sedulus inrorans holitor ferroque bicorni
pectat, et angentem sulcis exterminet herbam.

with assiduous culture and care we nurture the pregnant soil,
so that harvests may return to us with cumulated interest.
And first I advise to lead in copious springs,
lest thirst parch the offspring conceived from the seed.
But when the pregnant one, once opened, unlooses her own bonds, 145
when the blooming progeny sprouts in the maternal field,
then at the plant’s first beginnings let the gardener, diligently sprinkling, provide modest showers,
and with the two-horned iron he combs, and let him exterminate the choking weed from the furrows.

At si dumosis positi sunt collibus horti 150
nec summo nemoris labuntur vertice rivi,
aggere praeposito cumulatis area glebis
emineat, sicco ut consuescat pulvere planta,
nec mutata loco sitiens exhorreat aestus.
Mox ubi nubigenae Phrixi nec portitor Helles 155

But if the gardens are positioned on bushy hills 150
and rills do not slip from the topmost summit of the grove,
let the area, with an agger set before it and the clods cumulated,
stand out, so that the plant may grow accustomed to dry dust,
and, when its place is changed, not shrink in thirst from the heat.
Soon, when neither the ferryman of cloud-born Phrixus nor of Helle 155

signorum et pecorum princeps caput efferet undis,
alma sinum tellus iam pandet adultaque poscens
semina depositis cupiet se nubere plantis:
invigilate, viri; tacito nam tempora gressu
diffugiunt nulloque sono convertitur annus.                    160
Flagitat ecce suos genetrix mitissima fetus,
et, quos enixa est partus iam quaerit alendos
privignasque rogat proles. Date nunc sua matri
pignora, tempus adest; viridi redimite parentem
progenie, tu cinge comas, tu dissere crinis.                    165
Nunc apio viridi crispetur florida tellus,
nunc capitis porri longo resoluta capillo
laetetur mollemque sinum staphylinus inumbret.
Nunc et odoratae peregrino munere plantae
Sicaniis croceae descendant montibus Hyblae,                    170

the leader of the signs and of the flocks will lift its head from the waves,
the nurturing earth will now open her bosom, and, asking for grown
seeds, will desire to wed herself to the plants once they are set down:
keep watch, men; for with silent step the times
flee away, and without any sound the year is turned.                    160
Lo, the most gentle mother demands her own offspring,
and the births she has brought forth she now seeks to nourish,
and she asks also for stepchild-progeny. Give now to the mother
her pledges, the time is at hand; wreathe the parent with green
progeny; you, gird the hair, you, part the locks.                    165
Now let the blooming earth be crinkled with green parsley,
now let her rejoice, loosened with the long hair of the leek’s head,
and let the parsnip shade her soft bosom.
Now too let saffron-hued plants, a foreign gift of fragrance,
descend from the Sicanian mountains of Hybla,                    170

nataque iam veniant hilaro sampsucha Canopo,
et lacrimas imitata tuas, Cinyreia virgo,
sed melior stactis ponatur Achaia murra,
et male damnati maesto qui sanguine surgunt
Aeacii flores inmortalesque amaranti                   175
et quos mille parit dives natura colores
disponat plantis holitor, quos semine sevit.
Nunc veniat quamvis oculis inimica coramble,
iamque salutari properet lactuca sapore,
tristia quae relevat longi fastidia morbi.                    180
Altera crebra viret, fusco nitet altera crine,
utraque Caecilii de nomine dicta Metelli;
tertia, quae spisso sed puro vertice pallet,
haec sua Cappadocae servat cognomina gentis.
Et mea, quam generant Tartesi litore Gades,                    185

and now let the sampsucha from cheerful Canopus come, full-grown,
and, imitating your tears, Cinyrean maiden,
but let Achaean myrrh, better than stacte-drops, be set down,
and the Aeacian flowers, who rise from the mournful blood
of the ill-condemned, and the immortal amaranth;                   175
and let the vegetable-gardener arrange those which rich nature bears in a thousand colors
for the plants, which he has sown by seed.
Now let the coramble come, although hostile to the eyes,
and now let the lettuce hasten with its health-giving savor,
which relieves the sad distastes of a long illness.                    180
One is thickly verdant, another gleams with dark tresses;
both are called by the name of Caecilius Metellus;
a third, which is pale at the thick yet pure crown,
keeps the surnames of its Cappadocian nation.
And mine too, which Gades on the Tartessian shore produces,                    185

candida vibrato discrimine, candida thyrso est.
Cypros item Paphio quam pingui nutrit in arvo,
punicea depexa coma, sed lactea crure est.
Quot facies, totidem sunt tempora quamque serendi.

white with a wavy parting, the thyrsus is white.
Likewise the cypros which the Paphian nurtures in the rich field,
with crimson, combed-down hair, but with a milky shank.
As many forms as there are, just so many are the times of sowing for each.

Caeciliam primo deponit Aquarius anno,                    190
Cappadocamque premit ferali mense Lupercus.
Tuque tuis, Mavors, Tartessida pange kalendis,
tuque tuis Paphien, Cythereia, pange kalendis;
dum cupit et cupidae quaerit se iungere matri
et mater facili mollissima subiacet arvo,                    195
ingenera; nunc sunt genitalia tempora mundi,
nunc amor ad coitus properat, nunc spiritus orbis
bacchatur Veneri stimulisque cupidinis actus
ipse suos adamat partus et fetibus implet.
Nunc pater aequoreus, nunc et regnator aquarum,                    200

Aquarius sets down the Caecilian at the year’s first,                    190
and Lupercus presses the Cappadocian in the funereal month.
And do you, Mavors, plant the Tartessian on your Kalends,
and you too, Paphian Cythereia, plant on your Kalends;
while he desires and seeks to join himself to his desiring mother,
and the mother lies most soft beneath the easy field,                    195
engender; now are the genital times of the world,
now love hastens to coitus, now the spirit of the orb
raves for Venus, and driven by the goads of desire
he himself loves his own births and fills with fetuses.
Now the sea-father, now also the ruler of the waters,                    200

ille suam Tethyn, hic polluit Amphitriten,
et iam caeruleo partus enixa marito
utraque nunc reserat pontumque natantibus implet.
Maximus ipse deum posito iam fulmine fallax
Acrisioneos veteres imitatur amores, 205
inque sinus matris violento depluit imbre.
Nec genetrix nati nunc aspernatur amorem,
et patitur nexus flammata cupidine tellus.

that one pollutes his own Tethys, this one pollutes Amphitrite,
and now, having borne offspring to her cerulean husband,
each of the two now unbars the sea and fills it with swimmers.
the greatest of the gods himself, his thunderbolt now set aside, deceitful,
imitates the ancient Acrisionean loves, 205
and into the mother's bosom he rains down in a violent shower.
nor does the mother now spurn the love of her offspring,
and the earth, inflamed by desire, endures the couplings.

Hinc maria, hinc montes, hinc totus denique mundus
ver agit, hinc hominum pecudum volucrumque cupido 210
atque amor ignescit menti saevitque medullis,
dum satiata Venus fecundos compleat artus,
et generet varias soboles semperque frequentet
prole nova mundum, vacuo ne torpeat aevo.
Sed quid ego infreno volitare per aethera cursu 215

Hence the seas, hence the mountains, hence at last the whole world
sets spring in motion; hence the desire of men, of herds, and of birds, 210
and love, ignites in the mind and rages in the marrow,
while sated Venus fills fruitful limbs,
and begets diverse offspring and ever frequents
the world with new progeny, lest it grow torpid in an empty age.
But why do I fly through the aether with an unbridled course 215

passus equos audax sublimi tramite raptor?
Ista canit, maiore deo quem Delphica laurus
impulit ad rerum causas et sacra moventem
orgia naturae secretaque foedera caeli
exstimulat vatem per Dindyma casta Cybeles                   220
perque Cithaeronem, Nyseia per iuga Bacchi,
per sua Parnasi, per amica silentia Musis
Pierii nemoris, Bacchea voce frementem
Delie te Paean, et te Euhie Euhie Paean.
Me mea Calliope cura leviore vagantem                   225
iam revocat parvoque iubet decurrere gyro,
et secum gracili conectere carmina filo,
quae canat inter opus Musa modulante putator
pendulus arbustis, holitor viridantibus hortis.
Quare age, quod sequitur, parvo discrimine sulci                   230

having let loose the horses, a bold driver on the lofty track?
Those themes he sings, whom the Delphic laurel has impelled to the causes of things, and, as he moves the sacred orgies of Nature and the secret covenants of heaven,
the chaste Cybele stirs the seer through the Dindyma                   220
and through Cithaeron, through the Nysaean ridges of Bacchus,
through his own haunts of Parnassus, through the friendly silences for the Muses
of the Pierian grove, roaring with Bacchic voice,
you, Delian Paean, and you, Euhie, Euhie, Paean.
Me my Calliope now calls back, wandering with a lighter care,                   225
and bids me run down in a small circle,
and to weave songs with her on a slender thread,
such as the pruner may sing amid his work, the Muse modulating, hanging among the trellised trees,
and the kitchen-gardener in the green gardens.
Therefore come, what follows, with a small change of the furrow                   230

spargantur caecis nasturcia dira colubris,
indomito male sana cibo quas educat alvus,
et satureia thymi referens thymbraeque saporem,
et tenero cucumis fragilique cucurbita collo.
Hispida ponatur cinara, quae dulcis Iaccho                   235
potanti veniat nec Phoebo grata canenti.
Haec modo purpureo surgit glomerata corymbo,
murteolo modo crine viret deflexaque collo
nunc adaperta manet, nunc pinea vertice pungit,
nunc similis calatho spinisque minantibus horret,                    240
pallida nonnumquam tortos imitatur acanthos.
Mox ubi sanguineis se floribus induit arbos
Punica, quae rutilo mitescit tegmine grani,
tempus aris satio famosaque tunc coriandra
nascuntur gracilique melanthia grata cumino,                    245

let dire nasturtiums be scattered for the dark-hidden snakes,
whom the belly rears on untamed, unhealthy food,
and savory recalling thyme and the flavor of thymbra,
and the cucumber and the gourd with tender, fragile neck.
Let the bristly cynara be set down, which comes welcome to sweet Bacchus                   235
as he drinks, nor is pleasing to Phoebus as he sings.
This now rises, massed, in a purple corymb,
now greens with myrtle-like hair and, bent at the neck,
now lies open, now pricks with a pine-like summit,
now, like a basket, it bristles with menacing spines,                    240
sometimes pale it imitates twisted acanthuses.
Soon, when the Punic tree clothes itself with blood-red flowers,
which ripens with the ruddy covering of the grain,
then is the time for the fields; then sowing, and the famed corianders
spring up, and melanthium, pleasing to slender cumin,                    245

et baca asparagi spinosa prosilit herba,
et moloche, prono sequitur quae vertice solem,
quaeque tuas audax imitatur, Nysie, vitis,
nec metuit sentis; nam vepribus improba surgens
achradas indomitasque bryonias alligat alnos.                    250
Nomine tum Graio, ceu littera proxima primae
pangitur in cera docti mucrone magistri,
sic et humo pingui ferratae cuspidis ictu
deprimitur folio viridis, pede candida beta.
Quin et odoratis messis iam floribus instat,                    255
iam ver purpureum, iam versicoloribus anni
fetibus alma parens pingi sua tempora gaudet.
Iam Phrygiae loti gemmantia lumina promunt,
et coniventis oculos violaria solvunt;
oscitat et leo, et ingenuo confusa rubore                   260

and the berry-bearing asparagus, the spiny herb, springs forth,
and the mallow, which with bowed crown follows the sun,
and the vine too, bold, which imitates your own, O Nysian,
nor does it fear brambles; for, shameless, rising among briers
it binds wild pears and untamed bryonies to alders.                    250
Then with a Greek name, as the letter next to the first
is driven into wax by the point of the learned master,
so too into rich soil, by the stroke of an iron-tipped point,
the green beta is pressed in with the leaf, the white beta with the foot.
Indeed the harvest already presses on with fragrant flowers,                    255
now purple spring, now the nourishing parent of the year
rejoices to paint her temples with the variegated offspring of the seasons.
Now the Phrygian lotuses bring forth their gemming eyes,
and the violet-beds unseal the eyes of those who were blinking;
and even the lion yawns, and, confused with an ingenuous blush,                   260

virgineas adaperta genas rosa praebet honores
caelitibus templisque Sabaeum miscet odorem.
Nunc vos Pegasidum comites Acheloidas oro
Maenaliosque choros Dryadum nymphasque Napaeas,
quae colitis nemus Amphrysi, quae Thessala Tempe,                   265
quae iuga Cyllenes et opaci rura Lycaei
antraque Castaliis semper rorantia guttis,
et quae Sicanii flores legistis Halaesi,
cum Cereris proles vestris intenta choreis
aequoris Hennaei vernantia lilia carpsit                   270
raptaque Lethaei coniunx mox facta tyranni
sideribus tristis umbras et Tartara caelo
praeposuit Ditemque Iovi letumque saluti
et nunc inferno potitur Proserpina regno;
vos quoque iam posito luctu maestoque timore                   275

the rose, its maidenly cheeks laid open, offers honors
to the celestials and mixes Sabaean fragrance for the temples.
Now I beseech you, Acheloids, companions of the Pegasidae,
and the Maenalian choruses of Dryads and Napaean nymphs,
you who tend the grove of Amphrysus, you who [tend] Thessalian Tempe,                   265
you who [tend] the ridges of Cyllene and the shadowy fields of Lycaeus,
and the caverns ever dripping with Castalian drops,
and you who gathered the flowers of Sicanian Halaesus,
when the offspring of Ceres, intent on your choruses,
plucked the springing lilies of the Hennaean plain,                   270
and, having been snatched, soon became the consort of the Lethean tyrant,
and, sorrowful, preferred the shades to the stars and Tartarus to heaven,
and Dis to Jove, and death to salvation,
and now Proserpina possesses the infernal realm;
you also now, with grief set down and gloomy fear,                   275

huc facili gressu teneras advertite plantas
tellurisque comas sacris aptate canistris.
Hinc nullae insidiae nymphis, non ulla rapina,
casta Fides nobis colitur sanctique Penates.
Omnia plena iocis, securo plena cachinno, 280
plena mero laetisque virent convivia pratis.

hither, with easy step, turn your tender soles,
and fit the earth’s tresses to sacred canisters.
Hence no ambushes for nymphs, no ravishment at all,
chaste Faith is worshiped among us and the holy Penates.
All things are full of jests, full of carefree laughter, 280
full of pure wine, and the banquets thrive, green, on joyful meadows.

Nunc ver egelidum, nunc est mollissimus annus,
dum Phoebus tener, ac tenera decumbere in herba
suadet, et arguto fugientis gramine fontis
nec rigidos potare iuvat, nec sole tepentis. 285
Iamque Dionaeis redimitur floribus hortus,
iam rosa mitescit Sarrano clarior ostro.
Nec tam nubifugo Borea Latonia Phoebe
purpureo radiat vultu, nec Sirius ardor
sic micat, aut rutilus Pyrois, aut ore corusco 290

Now spring is tepid, now the year is most soft,
while Phoebus is tender, and to recline in the tender grass
he urges, and by the tuneful grass of a running spring
it pleases to drink waters neither rigid-chill nor warmed by the sun. 285
And now the garden is wreathed with Dionean flowers,
now the rose mellows, brighter than Sarranian purple-dye.
Nor does Latonian Phoebe, with clouds in flight by Boreas,
radiate with so purple a visage, nor does the ardor of Sirius
thus glitter, nor ruddy Pyroeis, nor with a coruscant face 290

Hesperus, Eoo remeat cum Lucifer ortu,
nec tam sidereo fulget Thaumantias arcu,
quam nitidis hilares conlucent fetibus horti.
Quare age vel iubare exorto iam nocte suprema,
vel dum Phoebus equos in gurgite mersat Hibero, 295
sicubi odoratas praetexit amaracus umbras,
carpite narcissique comas sterilisque balausti.
Et tu, ne Corydonis opes despernat Alexis,
formoso Nais puero formosior ipsa
fer calathis violam et nigro permixta ligustro 300
balsama cum casia nectens croceosque corymbos
sparge mero Bacchi; nam Bacchus condit odores.

Hesperus, when Lucifer returns with his Eoan rising,
nor does the Thaumantian shine so with her sidereal bow
as the gardens, cheerful, gleam with their shining births.
Wherefore come, either when the radiance has risen, with night now at her last,
or while Phoebus plunges his horses in the Iberian whirlpool, 295
wherever marjoram has veiled the fragrant shades,
pluck the locks of narcissus and of the barren pomegranate-blossom.
And you, lest Alexis disdain Corydon’s resources,
a Nais fairer than the fair boy himself,
bring in baskets the violet and balms mixed with black privet, 300
twining balsams with cassia and saffron-yellow clusters,
sprinkle with Bacchus’s unmixed wine; for Bacchus seasons perfumes.

Et vos, agrestes, duro qui pollice mollis
demetitis flores, cano iam vimine textum
sirpiculum ferrugineis cumulate hyacinthis. 305

And you too, rustics, who with hard thumb pluck the soft flowers,
heap up the little basket, woven now of hoary wicker,
with ferruginous hyacinths. 305

Iam rosa distendat contorti stamina iunci,
pressaque flammeola rumpatur fiscina calta,
mercibus ut vernis dives Vortumnus abundet,
et titubante gradu multo madefactus Iaccho
aere sinus gerulus plenos gravis urbe reportet.                    310
Sed cum maturis flavebit messis aristis
atque diem gemino Titan extenderit astro,
hauserit et flammis Lernaei brachia Cancri,
alia tunc caepis, Cereale papaver anetho
iungite, dumque virent, nexos deferte maniplos                   315
et celebres Fortis Fortunae dicite laudes
mercibus exactis hilarisque recurrite in hortos.
Tunc quoque proscisso riguoque inspersa novali
ocima comprimite et gravibus densate cylindris,
exurat sata ne resoluti pulveris aestus,                    320

Now let the rose swell the warp-threads of the twisted rush,
and let the little flame-colored marigold, when pressed, burst the small basket,
so that rich Vertumnus may abound with vernal wares,
and, with a staggering step, soaked with much Bacchus,
let the peddler, heavy, carry back to the city folds full with bronze.                    310
But when the harvest will glow with ripe ears
and Titan will have stretched the day with the twin star,
and with flames has drawn up the arms of the Lernaean Crab,
then yoke garlic to onions, the Cereal poppy to dill,
and while they are green, carry down bound handfuls,                   315
and proclaim the famous praises of Fortis Fortuna,
the merchandises transacted, and run back merrily into the gardens.
Then also, upon the new-ploughed and well-watered fallow sprinkled,
compress the basils and pack them with heavy rollers,
lest the heat of loosened dust scorch the sown.                    320

parvulus aut pulex inrepens dente lacessat,
neu formica rapax populari semina possit.
Nec solum teneras audent erodere frondes
implicitus conchae limax hirsutaque campe,
sed cum iam valido pinguescit lurida caule                   325
brassica cumque tument pallentia robora betae
mercibus atque holitor gaudet securus adultis
et iam maturis quaerit supponere falcem,
saepe ferus duros iaculatur Iuppiter imbres,
grandine dilapidans hominumque boumque labores;             330
saepe etiam gravidis inrorat pestifer undis,
e quibus infestae Baccho glaucisque salictis
nascuntur volucres serpitque eruca per hortos,
quos super ingrediens exurit semina morsu,
quae capitis viduata comas spoliataque nudo                   335

a little one or a creeping flea let not assail with its tooth,
nor let the rapacious ant be able to ravage the seeds.
Nor do only the tender leaves dare to be eroded
by the slug entangled with a shell and the shaggy caterpillar,
but when already on a sturdy stalk the sallow cabbage grows fat                   325
and when the pale timbers of the beet swell,
and the greengrocer rejoices, carefree, in his grown wares
and now seeks to put the sickle under the ripe things,
often wild Jupiter hurls hard showers,
pelting with hail and shattering the labors of men and oxen;             330
often too he bedews with pestiferous heavy waters,
from which are born winged creatures hostile to Bacchus and to the bluish willows,
and the caterpillar creeps through the gardens,
and going over them from above it sears the seeds with its bite,
which, of the head bereft of its hair and stripped to the bare                   335

vertice trunca iacent tristi consumpta veneno.
Haec ne ruricolae paterentur monstra, salutis
ipsa novas artis varia experientia rerum
et labor ostendit miseris ususque magister
tradidit agricolis ventos sedare furentis 340
et tempestatem Tuscis avertere sacris.
Hinc mala Rubigo viridis ne torreat herbas,
sanguine lactentis catuli placatur et extis.

truncated at the crown they lie, consumed by grim poison.
Lest the country-dwellers endure these monsters, safety
itself—the varied experience of things and toil—showed new arts to the wretched, and use as a teacher
handed down to the farmers to calm raging winds 340
and to turn aside the tempest with Tuscan rites.
Hence, that evil Rubigo may not parch the green herbs,
she is appeased with the blood and entrails of a suckling whelp.

Hinc caput Arcadici nudum cute fertur aselli
Tyrrhenus fixisse Tages in limite ruris, 345
utque Iovis magni prohiberet fulgura Tarchon,
saepe suas sedes praecinxit vitibus albis.
Hinc Amythaonius, docuit quem plurima Chiron,
nocturnas crucibus volucres suspendit et altis
culminibus vetuit feralia carmina flere. 350

Hence it is reported that Tyrrhenian Tages fixed the head of an Arcadian donkey, bare of hide, on the boundary of a field, 345
and that Tarchon, to keep off the lightnings of great Jove, often girded his dwellings with white vines.
Hence too the Amythaonian, whom Chiron taught very many things, hung nocturnal birds on crosses and on high
rooftops, and forbade the funereal chants to wail. 350

Sed ne dira novas segetes animalia carpant,
profuit interdum medicantem semina pingui
Palladia sine fruge salis conspargere amurca,
innatave laris nigra satiare favilla.
Profuit et plantis latices infundere amaros                   355
marruvii multoque sedi contingere suco.
At si nulla valet medicina repellere pestem,
Dardaniae veniunt artes nudataque plantas
femina, quae iustis tum demum operata iuvencae
legibus obsceno manat pudibunda cruore,                    360
sed resoluta sinus, resoluto maesta capillo,
ter circum areolas et saepem ducitur horti.
Quem cum lustravit gradiens, mirabile visu,
non aliter quam decussa pluit arbore nimbus
vel teretis mali vel tectae cortice glandis,                    365

But lest dire animals pluck at the new crops,
it has sometimes profited to sprinkle the seeds, as you medicate them, with rich Palladian amurca without a grain of salt,
or to satiate them with the hearth’s black ash inborn there.
It has also profited to pour bitter liquors upon the plants                   355
of horehound, and to touch them with much juice of houseleek.
But if no medicine avails to drive off the blight,
Dardanian arts come into play, and a woman with the soles laid bare,
who, only after having performed the just laws for a heifer,
drips, modest, with obscene gore, her bosom unloosed, her hair unbound in sadness,                    360
is led three times around the garden-beds and the hedge of the garden.
When she has lustrated it as she goes—wonderful to see—
the rain falls down no otherwise than a storm shaken from a tree,
either of a rounded apple or of an acorn sheathed in bark.                    365

volvitur in terram distorto corpore campe.
Sic quondam magicis sopitum cantibus anguem
vellere Phrixeo delapsum vidit Iolcos.
Sed iam prototomos tempus decidere caules
et Tartesiacos Paphiosque revellere thyrsos 370
atque apio fasces et secto cingere porro.

it rolls to the ground, the caterpillar with a twisted body.
Thus once Iolcos saw a serpent, lulled asleep by magic songs,
slip down from the Phrixean fleece. But now it is time to lop the first-cut stalks
and to pluck up the Tartessian and Paphian thyrsi, 370
and to bind bundles with parsley and further to gird them with cut parsley.

Iamque eruca salax fecundo provenit horto,
lubrica iam lapathos, iam thamni sponte virescunt
et scilla, hirsuto saepes nunc horrida rusco
prodit et asparagi corruda simillima filo 375
umidaque andrachle sitientis protegit antes
et gravis atriplici consurgit longa phaselos.
Tum modo dependens trichilis, modo more chelydri
sole sub aestivo gelidas per graminis umbras
intortus cucumis praegnasque cucurbita serpit. 380

And now the lusty rocket sprouts in the fertile garden,
already the slippery dock, already the shrubs green of their own accord,
and the squill; now the hedge, rough with shaggy ruscus,
comes forth, and the corruda, most similar to a thread of asparagus, 375
and the moist andrachle covers the thirsty posts,
and the long phaselos-bean, heavy, climbs up the orach.
Then now hanging from the trellis-bower, now in the manner of a chelydrus-
snake, beneath the summer sun through the cool shades of the grass
the twisted cucumber and the pregnant gourd creep. 380

Vna neque est illis facies: nam si tibi cordi
longior est, gracili capitis quae vertice pendet,
e tenui collo semen lege; sive globosi
corporis atque utero nimium quae vasta tumescit,
ventre leges medio; sobolem dabit illa capacem                   385
Naryciae picis aut Actaei mellis Hymetti
aut habilem lymphis hamulam Bacchove lagoenam,
tum pueros eadem fluviis innare docebit.
Lividus at cucumis, gravida qui nascitur alvo
hirtus et ut coluber nodoso gramine tectus                    390
ventre cubat flexo semper collectus in orbem,
noxius exacuit morbos aestatis iniquae.
fetidus hic suco, pingui quoque semine fartus.
At qui sub trichila manantem repit ad undam
labentemque sequens nimium tenuatur amore,                    395

Nor is there one single form for them: for if the longer kind is to your heart, which hangs from the slender summit of the head, choose seed from a thin neck; or if the one of a globose body and which swells too vastly in the womb, you will choose from the middle belly; that one will give offspring capacious for Narycian pitch or for the Actaean honey of Hymettus, or a handy little ladle for the waters or a Bacchic flagon, then the same will teach boys to float in rivers. But the livid cucumber, which is born with a pregnant belly, shaggy and, like a snake covered in knotted grass, lies with its belly bent, always gathered into a circle, 385
sharpens, noxious, the diseases of the iniquitous summer. This one is fetid in juice, and also stuffed with fat seed. But the one which under a trellis creeps toward the trickling wave and, following the gliding stream, is overly attenuated by love, 390

candidus, effetae tremebundior ubere porcae,
mollior infuso calathis modo lacte gelato,
dulcis erit riguoque madescit luteus arvo
et feret auxilium quondam mortalibus aegris.
Cum canis Erigones flagrans Hyperionis aestu 400
arboreos aperit fetus cumulataque moris
candida sanguineo manat fiscella cruore,
tunc praecox bifera descendit ab arbore ficus
Armeniisque et cereolis prunisque Damasci
stipantur calathi et pomis, quae barbara Persis 405
miserat, ut fama est, patriis armata venenis.
At nunc expositi parvo discrimine leti
Ambrosios praebent sucos, oblita nocendi.

white, more tremulous than the udder of a spent sow,
softer than milk just now poured into baskets and curdled,
it will be sweet, and the yellow field grows moist with irrigation,
and it will bring aid someday to ailing mortals.
When the Dog of Erigone, blazing with Hyperion’s heat, 400
opens the arboreal fruits, and the basket heaped with mulberries
white runs with blood-red gore,
then the early, twice-bearing fig descends from the tree,
and the baskets are packed with Armenian and waxen plums and with the plums of Damascus,
and with fruits which barbarian Persia, as the report goes, had sent, armed with native poisons. 405
But now, though set at only a small remove from death,
they offer ambrosial juices, forgetful of harming.

Quin etiam eiusdem gentis de nomine dicta
exiguo properant mitescere Persica malo. 410

Nay even peaches, called from the name of that same nation,
hasten to ripen on a small Persian apple-tree. 410

Tempestiva madent quae maxima Gallia donat,
frigoribus pigro veniunt Asiatica fetu.
At gravis Arcturi sub sidere parturit arbos
Livia, Chalcidicis et caunis aemula Chiis,
purpureaeque Chelidoniae pinguesque Mariscae 415
et callistruthis, roseo quae semine ridet,
albaque, quae servat flavae cognomina cerae,
scissa Libyssa simul, picto quoque Lydia tergo.
Quin et Tardipedi sacris iam rite solutis
nube nova seritur, caeli pendentibus undis, 420
gongylis, inlustri mittit quam Nursia campo,
quaeque Amiterninis defertur bunias arvis.

Those early-season fruits grow moist which greatest Gaul bestows,
Asiatic breeds come with sluggish fruitage in cold.
But under the star of Arcturus the tree Livia labors in bearing,
emulous of the Chians, whether Chalcidian or Caunian,
and the purple Chelidoniae and the plump Mariscae, 415
and the callistruthis, which smiles with rosy seed,
and the white one, which keeps the surnames of yellow wax,
the split Libyssa as well, and the Lydia too with painted back.
Nay even, when the rites of Tardipes are now duly loosed,
it is sown under a new cloud, the waves of the sky hanging, 420
the gongylis, which Nursia sends to the illustrious plain,
and the bunias which is borne to the Amiternine fields.

Sed iam maturis nos flagitat anxius uvis
Euhius excultosque iubet claudamus ut hortos.
Claudimus imperioque tuo paremus agrestes, 425

But now, with the ripe grapes, the anxious Euhius demands us,
and bids that we close the cultivated gardens.
We close them, and at your command the rustics obey, 425

ac metimus laeti tua munera, dulcis Iacche,
inter lascivos Satyros Panasque biformes,
brachia iactantes vetulo marcentia vino.
Et te Maenalium, te Bacchum teque Lyaeum
Lenaeumque patrem canimus sub tecta vocantes, 430
ferveat ut lacus et multo completa Falerno
exundent pingui spumantia dolia musto.
Hactenus hortorum cultus, Silvine, docebam,
siderei vatis referens praecepta Maronis,
qui primus veteres ausus recludere fontis 435
Ascraeum cecinit Romana per oppida carmen.

and we reap joyfully your gifts, sweet Iacchus,
among frolicsome Satyrs and two-formed Pans,
tossing arms languishing with old wine.
And you, the Maenalian, you Bacchus and you Lyaeus,
and the Lenaean father we sing, calling beneath our roofs, 430
so that the vat may seethe and, filled with much Falernian,
the casks, foaming, may overflow with rich must.
Thus far the cultivation of gardens, Silvinus, I was teaching,
recounting the precepts of the starry vates Maro,
who first, daring to reopen the ancient springs, 435
sang an Ascraean song through the Roman towns.