Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/31

 

Rent from profoundest earth the scatter'd corn
With all it's weight of root aloft is born:
Whirling in rapid circles thro' the sky 375
Before the blast light chaff and stubble fly.
Oft a vast wat'ry throng from Ether pours,
And from the deep clouds thick'ning with black show'rs
Swell the dire storm: the skies burst rushing down,
And the fair fields in one vast deluge drown: 380
The dikes o'erflow; the rivers rise, and roar;
Of boiling ocean steams the straiten'd store.
Thron'd in the centre of dark clouds heav'n's Sire
Wings with his waving arm the forky fire:
Earth shudders at the shock; the beasts are fled, 385
And thro' wide regions mortals sunk with dread;
Or Rhodope, or Athos feels the blow,
Or of Ceraunia the proud tops bow low:
Rage the redoubling winds; with show'rs the ground
Smokes: to the tempest woods and shores resound. 390

This would you shun? the months and stars obey;
Note, in what orbs Cyllenius winds his way;
Where creeps cold Saturn, chief the Gods revere,
And to great Ceres, each revolving year,
Pay grateful off'rings on the grassy plain, 395
When spring succeeds to winter's dreary reign.

Then