Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/109

 

Haply the care of gardens I would here
Sing, and the rose-beds, bloomy twice a year,
Of Pæstum; celery's green banks describe; 135
How they and endive sparkling rills imbibe;
How cucumbers, as with curl'd stem they go
Crawling along the grass, protuberant grow:
Nor of late leaves Narcissus would pass by,
Nor thee, Acanthus! twining to the eye; 140
Nor shory myrtle; ivy, pale of hue:
Yes; I remember, when before my view,
Beneath Oebalia's tow'rs, where yellow meads
With fatt'ning moisture black Galesus feeds,
An old Corycian came, with little blest; 145
Of land a few waste acres he possest,
A spot, that render'd the vine's culture vain,
Unfit for flocks, nor arable for grain:
Yet he ev'n here white lilies planting round,
And potherbs scattering o'er the shrubby ground, 150
With poppy, vervain, added to his store,
Deem'd that the wealth of Kings could give no more;
And, late returning from his daily care,
Heap'd high his homely board with unbought fare.
In Spring he first the flow'r, in Autumn first 155
He gather'd fruits; and, when stern Winter burst

With