QUID faciat lætas segetes, quo sidere terram
Vertere, Mæcenas, ulmisque adjungere vites,
Conveniat: quæ cura boum, qui cultus habendo
Sit pecori, atque apibus quanta experientia parcis;
Hinc canere incipiam. Vos, o clarissima mundi
Lumina, labentem cœlo quæ ducitis annum,
Liber, et alma Ceres, vestro si munere tellus
Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista,
Poculaque inventis Acheloïa miscuit uvis;
Et vos, agrestum præsentia numina, Fauni,
Ferte simul, Faunique, pedem, Dryadesque puellæ ;
Munera vestra cano. Tuque o, cui prima frementem
Fudit equum magno tellus percussa tridenti,
Neptune et cultor nemorum, cui pinguia Cææ
Ter centum nivei tondent dumeta juvenci;
Ipse, nemus linquens patrium, saltusque Lycæi,
Pan, ovium custos, tua si tibi Mænala curæ,
WHAT may make corn-fields joyous; 'neath what sign, Mæcenas, it were right to turn the soil,
And train the vines to elms; what care of kine;
What pasturage fit for sheep; and how much skill
In tending frugal bees, I now will sing.
Ye brightest luminaries of the world,
That guide the fleeting year along the sky,
Bacchus and fost'ring Ceres, since by your aid
Earth changed Chaonian acorns for plump corn,
And mingled draughts of Achelous with
The juices of the fresh-discover'd grape;
Ye Fauns, the favourers of husbandmen,
Both Fauns and Dryad nymphs, together come ;
I celebrate your gifts. And, Neptune, thou,
To whom, by thy great trident struck, the Earth
First pour'd the neighing courser forth; and thou,
Tenant of groves, for whom three hundred steers.
Of snow-white hue crop Cæa's fertile brakes;
And thou, Tegeæan Pan, sheeps' guardian,
If thine own Mænalus be (still) thy care,
Adsis, o Tegeæe, favens: oleæque Minerva
Inventrix, uncique puer monstrator aratri,
Et teneram ab radice ferens, Silvane, cupressum:
Diique, Deæque, omnes, studium quibus arva tueri,
Quique novas alitis nonnullo semine fruges,
Quique satis largum cœlo demittitis imbrem.
Tuque, adeo, quem mox quæ sint habitura deorum
Concilia, incertum est, urbesne invisere, Cæsar,
Terrarumque velis curam, et te maximus orbis
Auctorem frugum, tempestatumque potentem
Accipiat, cingens materna tempora myrto :
An Deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautæ
Numina sola colant, tibi serviat ultima Thule,
Teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis;
Anne novum tardis sidus te mensibus addas,
Qua locus Erigonen inter Chelasque sequentes
Panditur ipse tibi jam brachia contrahit ardens
Scorpius, et cœli justa plus parte reliquit.
Quidquid eris-nam te nec sperent Tartara regem,
Nec tibi regnandi veniat tam dira cupido,
Quamvis Elysios miretur Græcia campos,
Nec repetita sequi curet Proserpina matrem
Leaving thy native groves and parks Lycæan,
Approach, propitious! And, Minerva, thou,
Discoverer of the olive; and thou boy,
Instructor in the crooked plough-share's (use),
And thou, Silvanus, a young cypress bearing,
Uprooted, in thy hands, and all ye gods,
And goddesses, whose occupation 'tis
To guard the fields; and ye who rear fresh fruits
(Arising) from no seed; and ye who send
From heaven on seedlings copious showers down.
And thou, too, Cæsar, whom 'tis not yet known
What councils of the gods anon may have;
Whether thou wish the care of countries, or
To visit cities; and the vast globe own
Thee powerful lord of seasons and of fruits,
Binding thy mother's myrtle on thy brow;
Or whether god of the vast deep thou come,
And sailors worship thee, sole deity;
And Tethys purchase thee with all her waves,
As son-in-law; or whether thou may'st add
Thyself a new sign to the slow-paced months,
Where open space lies 'twixt Erigone
And the pursuing claws of Scorpio,
Who, anxious, now contracts his arms, and leaves
A more than equal space of sky for thee.
Whate'er thou'lt be-let Tartarus not hope
Thee for its king; nor such dire thirst of sway
Be thine; though Greece admire Elysian fields,
And Proserpine, besought, feels no desire
To join her mother-grant an easy course,
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