Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 1.pdf/370

Now when thou hast decreed to seize their Stores,
And by Prerogative to break their Doors:
With sprinkl'd Water first the City choak,335
And then pursue the Citizens with Smoak.
Two Honey Harvests fall in ev'ry Year:
First, when the pleasing Pleiades appear,
And springing upward spurn the briny Seas:
Again, when their affrighted Quire surveys340
The watry Scorpion mend his Pace behind,$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$
With a black Train of Storms, and Winter Wind,
They plunge into the Deep, and safe Protection find.
Prone to Revenge, the Bees, a wrathful Race,
When once provok'd assault th' Agressor's Face:345
And through the purple Veins a passage find;
There fix their Stings, and leave their Souls behind.
But if a pinching Winter thou foresee,
And would'st preserve thy famish'd Family;
With fragant Thyme the City fumigate,350
And break the waxen Walls to save the State.
For lurking Lizards often lodge, by Stealth,
Within the Suburbs, and purloin their Wealth.
And Lizards shunning Light, a dark Retreat
Have found in Combs, and undermin'd the Seat.355
Or lazy Drones, without their Share of Pain;
In Winter Quarters free, devour the Gain:
Or Wasps infest the Camp with loud Alarms,
And mix in Battel with unequal Arms: