Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/130

 

Won by your vows their fury they'll forbear:
But first the rites in order I'll declare.
Select four steers, the stateliest of the breed,
Of ungall'd neck as many heifers lead, 640
That now on green Lycæus' summit graze,
At the Nymphs' shrines for these four altars raise;
Next from their throats the sacred torrent pour,
And leave the bodies in the branchy bow'r.
When the ninth Morn shall give her early ray, 645
To Orpheus' Ghost lethæan poppies pay;
With a slain calf hail the relenting maid;
A black ewe offer'd, seek once more the shade.
The youth strait executes, what she ordains;
Hastes, and erects four altars in the fanes; 650
Pride of the herd four stately steers he took;
Four heifers, all unconscious of the yoke;
And when the ninth Morn shone, due off'rings pay'd
To Orpheus' Ghost, he sought once more the shade.
When, strange to tell! a prodigy he sees; 655
Thro' all the victims' putrid entrails bees
Hum far within; from the rent ribs the throng
Burst forth, and sweep in length'ning clouds along;
To a tree's top in close array they tend,
And clust'ring from the pliant boughs depend. 660

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