Page:Virgil - The Georgics, Thomas Nevile, 1767.djvu/93

 

Leaps on dry land, by thirst, and heat impel'd, 515
And chases, and burns, and maddens round the field.
May I ne'er then by waving wood be seen,
Lolling at ease, or slumb'ring on the green,
What time, his old slough cast, he shines again
In glossy youth, and glides along the plain, 520
And, leaving in his den his eggs or young,
Rears to the Sun his crest, and darts his forky tongue.

Hear, by what signs diseases are foretold,
And whence they rise: the scab infests the fold,
When the soak'd pores have long imbib'd chill show'rs,
And felt of brumal frosts the piercing pow'rs; 526
Or unregarded sweat to hides fresh-shorn
Has stuck, and prickly briers the skin have torn.
For this in cleansing streams the Masters lave
Their fleecy flocks: plung'd in the flashing wave 530
The ram along the current of the tide
Floats with wet curls: for this their new clipt-hide
Cautious they smear with oil's astringent lees,
Temper'd with living sulphur; and to these
Add litharge, unctuous wax, black tar, and squil, 535
Rank hellebore, and pitch from Ida's hill.
But with such instant ease no cure is crown'd,
As if with steel the sore's ripe top you wound:

While