Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/323

Or whom thou shalt to turn thy Glebe allow;255
To smooth the Furrows, and sustain the Plough:
The rest, for whom no Lot is yet decreed,
May run in Pastures, and at Pleasure feed.
The Calf, by Nature and by Genius made
To turn the Glebe, breed to the Rural Trade.260
Set him betimes to School; and let him be
Instructed there in Rules of Husbandry:
While yet his Youth is flexible and green;
Nor bad Examples of the World has seen.
Early begin the stubborn Child to break;265
For his soft Neck, a supple Collar make
Of bending Osiers; and (with time and care
Enur'd that easie Servitude to bear)
Thy flattering Method on the Youth pursue:
Join'd with his School-Fellows, by two and two,270
Perswade 'em first to lead an empty Wheel,
That scarce the dust can raise; or they can feel:
In length of Time produce the lab'ring Yoke
And shining Shares, that make the Furrow smoak.
E'er the licentious Youth be thus restrain'd,275
Or Moral Precepts on their Minds have gain'd;
Their wanton appetites not only feed
With delicates of Leaves, and marshy Weed,
But with thy Sickle reap the rankest land:
And minister the blade, with bounteous hand.280
Nor be with harmful parsimony won
To follow what our homely Sires have done;