Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/36

 

Their minds too sympathize, and changeful own
An impulse, while the tempest rag'd, unknown:
Hence with the feather'd choir, the fields rejoice, 495
The cattle frisk, and ravens lift their voice.

But if you give to Sol attention due,
And with strict eye the moons successive view,
Securely may you trust the following day,
Nor will the night's serenity betray. 500
When Phœbe first receives her Brother's beam,
If thro' dark air her horns obscurely gleam,
Th' impending show'r on land and ocean dread:
But if her face be flush'd with virgin red,
Expect a tempest; sage observers find, 505
Bright Phœbe reddens with the rising wind.
At her fourth rise, of all the surest sign,
If with sharp horns in air serene she shine,
That day and all, progressive in their train,
To a full month, will want both wind and rain; 510
And the glad mariner, all perils o'er,
Pay to the Gods his off'rings on the shore.

Sol too prognostics of the weather sends,
When he begins his course, and when he ends;
Prognostics certain, both what he supplies 515
At early morn, and when the stars arise.

When