ner of the ancient race of mortals, cultivates his paternal lands with his own oxen, disengaged from every kind of usury; he is neither alarmed by the horrible trump, as a soldier, nor dreads he the angry sea; he shuns both the bar and the proud portals of citizens in power. Wherefore he either weds the lofty poplars to the mature branches of the vine; and, lopping off the useless boughs with his pruning-knife, he ingrafts more fruitful ones: or he takes a prospect of the herds of his lowing cattle, wandering about in a lonely vale; or stores his honey, pressed [from the combs], in clean vessels; or shears his tender sheep. Or, when autumn has lifted up in the fields his head adorned with mellow fruits, how does he rejoice, while he gathers the grafted pears, and the grape that vies with the purple, with which he may recompense thee, O Priapus, and thee, father Sylvanus, guardian of his boundaries! Sometimes he delights to lie under an aged holm, sometimes on the matted grass: meanwhile the waters glide along in their deep channels; the birds warble in the woods; and the fountains murmur with their purling streams, which invites gentle slumbers. But when the wintery season of the tempestuous air prepares rains and snows, he either drives the fierce boars, with many a dog, into the intercepting toils; or spreads his thin nets with the smooth pole, as a snare for the voracious thrushes; or catches in his gin the timorous hare, or that stranger the crane,[1] pleasing rewards [for his labor]. Among such joys as these, who does not forget those mischievous anxieties, which are the property of love. But if a chaste wife, assisting on her part [in the management] of the house, and beloved children (such as is the Sabine,[2] or the sun-burned spouse of the industrious Apulian), piles up the sacred hearth with old wood,[3] just at the approach of her weary husband; and, shutting up the fruitful cattle in the
- ↑ Et advenam gruem. Cranes came to Italy and Greece in winter for the warmth of the climate; from whence Pliny calls them Hyemis advenas, the strangers of winter. Lamb.
- ↑ Sabina qualis. The Sabines possessed the middle of Italy. They were a frugal and laborious people, and their wives were remarkable for chastity and modesty, domestic housewifery, and conjugal fidelity. Cruq.
- ↑ Sacrum vetustis extruat. The construction is reversed: Extruere lignis focum, for extruere lignia in foce, or super foco. This fire was called sacred, because it was consecrated to Vesta and the household gods, whose statues were placed round it. Cruq.
