WORKS.
59
In one scant basket shall thy harvest lie,
[94]And few shall pass thee, then, with honouring eye.[1]
Now thus, now otherwise is Jove's design;
To men inscrutable the ways divine:
But if thou late upturn the furrow'd field,
One happy chance a remedy may yield.
O'er the wide earth when men the cuckoo hear
From spreading oak-leaves first delight their ear,
Three days and nights let heaven in ceaseless rains
Deep as thy ox's hoof o'erflow the plains;
So shall an equal crop thy time repair
With his who earlier launch'd the shining share.
Lay all to heart: nor let the blossom'd hours
Of spring escape thee; nor the timely showers.
Pass by the brazier's forge[2] where loiterers meet,
Nor saunter in the portico's throng'd heat;
[94]And few shall pass thee, then, with honouring eye.[1]
Now thus, now otherwise is Jove's design;
To men inscrutable the ways divine:
But if thou late upturn the furrow'd field,
One happy chance a remedy may yield.
O'er the wide earth when men the cuckoo hear
From spreading oak-leaves first delight their ear,
Three days and nights let heaven in ceaseless rains
Deep as thy ox's hoof o'erflow the plains;
So shall an equal crop thy time repair
With his who earlier launch'd the shining share.
Lay all to heart: nor let the blossom'd hours
Of spring escape thee; nor the timely showers.
Pass by the brazier's forge[2] where loiterers meet,
Nor saunter in the portico's throng'd heat;
- ↑ And few shall pass thee then with honouring eye.] The Psalmist alludes to a blessing given by the passers-by at harvest: while comparing the wicked to grass withering on the house-top: "Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom: neither do they which go by say, "The blessing of the Lord be upon you." Psalm cxxix. 7, 8.
- ↑ The brazier's forge.] Θακος was properly a seat or bench: and λεσχη, conversation, chit-chat—but they came to be applied to the places where loungers sat and talked: hence the former meant a shop, and the latter a portico, piazza, or public exchange,
