Then careful farmers sow their lands;
The crazy vessel is hauled ashore,
The sail, the ropes, the rudder and oar
Are all unshipped, and housed in store.
The Shepherd is warned, by the Kite reappearing,
To muster his flock, and be ready for shearing.
You quit your old cloak, at the Swallow's behest,
In assurance of summer, and purchase a vest.715
For Delphi, for Ammon, Dondona, in fine,
For every oracular temple and shrine,
The Birds are a substitute equal and fair,
For on us you depend, and to us you repair
For counsel and aid, when a marriage is made,
A purchase, a bargain, a venture in trade:
Unlucky or lucky, whatever has struck ye,
An Ox or an Ass, that may happen to pass,
A Voice in the street, or a Slave that you meet,
A Name or a Word by chance overheard,
If you deem it an Omen, you call it a Bird;720
And if birds are your omens, it clearly will follow,
That birds are a proper prophetic Apollo.
Then take us as Gods, and you'll soon find the odds,[1]
We'll serve for all uses, as Prophets and Muses;
We'll give ye fine weather, we'll live here together;725
We'll not keep away, scornful and proud, a top of a cloud,
(In Jupiter's way); but attend every day,
To prosper and bless, all you possess,
And all your affairs, for yourselves and your heirs.730
And as long as you live, we shall give
You wealth and health, and pleasure and treasure,
In ample measure;
And never bilk you of pigeon's milk,
Or potable gold; you shall live to grow old,
In laughter and mirth, on the face of the earth,
Laughing, quaffing, carousing, bousing,
Your only distress, shall be the excess735
Of ease and abundance and happiness.
- ↑ The series of short lines at the end of a Parabasis was to be repeated with the utmost volubility and rapidity, as if in a single breath. A comic effect is sometimes produced in this way on our own stage.
