Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/112

 

Thus, to compare small things with great, of gain
A love instinctive prompts the buzzing train, 206
Each in his function: those of riper age
To guard the towns, secure the combs engage,
And plan the Dedal cells: fatigu'd with toil,
At late eve laden with the fragrant spoil, 210
The youth return: for food they range the field;
Try, what fat teils, what arbutes, Casia, yield;
To ruddy saffron, hoary willows, fly;
And suck the hyacinth of purple die.
At the same instant all obey the hour 215
Of rest and labour: from the gates they pour
At morn; no pause: and to their homes again,
When Vesper warns them from the foodful plain,
Haste, and reflection take; an humming sound 219
The throng'd hive's door and margin runs around:
Crept to their cells silence all night they keep,
And, their tir'd limbs reposing, sink to sleep.
Nor will they far, a show'r impending, stray,
Or, Eurus threat'ning, tempt th' ethereal way:
Beneath their walls for water they repair, 225
Short rambles try, and pebbles lift in air;
As tottering boats take sand to stem the tide:
Thus poiz'd, thro' the void clouds their course they guide.

But