Georgics

The Georgics (29 BC) is a poem in four books, the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil, following his Eclogues and preceding the Aeneid.

Book I

 * Audacibus annue coeptis.
 * Look with favor upon a bold beginning.
 * Line 40


 * Unde homines nati, durum genus.
 * Whence men, a hard laborious kind, were born.
 * Line 63 (tr. John Dryden)

agricolae.''
 * ''Umida solstitia atque hiemes orate serenas,
 * O farmers, pray that your summers be wet and your winters clear.
 * Lines 100–101

paulatim.''
 * ''Ut varias usus meditando extunderet artis
 * Practice and thought might gradually forge many an art.
 * Lines 133–134

improbus et duris urgens in rebus egestas.''
 * ''Labor omnia vicit
 * Toil conquered the world, unrelenting toil, and want that pinches when life is hard.
 * Lines 145–146 (tr. H. Rushton Fairclough)
 * Compare: Labor omnia vincit ("Work conquers all"), the state motto of Oklahoma.

In peius ruere ac retro sublapsa referri.''
 * ''Sic omnia fatis
 * Thus by law of fate all things speed towards the worst, and slipping away fall back.
 * Lines 199–200 (tr. Fairclough)


 * In primis venerare Deos.
 * Above all, worship the gods.
 * Line 338 (tr. Fairclough)

audeat?''
 * ''Solem quis dicere falsum
 * Who dare say the Sun is false?
 * Lines 463–464 (tr. Fairclough)

Book II
In quascunque voces artes haud tarda sequentur.'' Their wildness lose, and, quitting nature's part, Obey the rules and discipline of art.
 * ''Exuerint sylvestrem animum, cultuque frequenti
 * [They] change their savage mind,
 * Lines 51–52 (tr. Dryden)

Bacchus amat collis.''
 * ''Apertos
 * Bacchus loves open hills.
 * Lines 112–113 (tr. Fairclough)


 * Hic ver adsiduum, atque alienis mensibus aestas.
 * Here is eternal spring, and summer in months not her own.
 * Line 149 (tr. Fairclough)


 * Salve, magna parens.
 * Hail, mighty parent!
 * Line 173

discimus: haud umquam manibus iactata fatiscit, Sed picis in morem ad digitos lentescit habendo.'' With ease distinguished from the meagre kind: Poor soil will crumble into dust; the rich Will to the fingers cleave like clammy pitch.
 * ''Pinguis item quae sit tellus, hoc denique pacto
 * The fatter earth by handling we may find,
 * Lines 248–250 (tr. Dryden)


 * Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est.
 * So strong is habit in tender years.
 * Line 272 (tr. Fairclough)


 * James Rhoades' translation:
 * So strong is custom formed in early years.
 * Compare:
 * Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.
 * Alexander Pope, Moral Essays: Epistle I (1734), line 150

Agricolas, quibus ipsa, procul discordibus armis, Fundit humo facilem victum justissima tellus!'' Are farmers, more than lucky, they for whom, Far from the clash of arms, the earth herself, Most fair in dealing, freely lavishes An easy livelihood.
 * ''O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint
 * How lucky, if they know their happiness,
 * Lines 458–460 (tr. L. P. Wilkinson)

Dives opum variarum.''
 * ''At secura quies et nescia fallere vita,
 * Yet theirs is repose without care, and a life that knows no fraud, but is rich in treasures manifold.
 * Lines 467–468 (tr. Fairclough)

Quarum sacra fero ingenti percussus amore, Accipiant caelique vias et sidera monstrent, Defectus solis varios lunaeque labores; Unde tremor terris, qua vi maria alta tumescant Obicibus ruptis rursusque in se ipsa residant. Quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles Hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet.''
 * ''Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musae,
 * But as for me—first above all, may the sweet Muses whose holy emblems, under the spell of a mighty love, I bear, take me to themselves, and show me heaven's pathways, the stars, the sun's many lapses, the moon's many labours; whence come tremblings of the earth, the force to make deep seas swell and burst their barriers, then sink back upon themselves; why winter suns hasten so fast to dip in Ocean, or what delays clog the lingering nights.
 * Lines 475–482 (tr. Fairclough)

Flumina amem sylvasque inglorius.''
 * ''Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes,
 * Let my delight be the country, and the running streams amid the dells—may I love the waters and the woods, though fame be lost.
 * Lines 485–486 (tr. Fairclough)


 * O ubi campi!
 * O, where are those fields!
 * Line 486; expressing longing for the country-side.

Thro' known effects can trace the secret cause.
 * Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
 * Blessed is he who has been able to win knowledge of the causes of things.
 * Line 490 (tr. H. Rushton Fairclough); homage to Lucretius.
 * Variant translation: Happy the man who has been able to learn the causes of things.
 * John Dryden's translation:
 * Happy the man, who, studying nature's laws,

Casta pudicitiam servat domus.'' His little children, climbing for a kiss, Welcome their father's late return at night; His faithful bed is crowned with chaste delight.
 * ''Interea dulces pendent circum oscula nati,
 * His cares are eased with intervals of bliss;
 * Lines 523–524 (tr. Dryden)

et iam tempus equum fumantia soluere colla.'' 'Tis time to set at ease the smoking horse.
 * ''Sed nos immensum spatiis confecimus aequor,
 * But, over-laboured with so long a course,
 * Lines 541–542 (tr. Dryden)

Book III
Tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora.''
 * ''Tentanda via est, qua me quoque possim
 * I must essay a path whereby I, too, may rise from earth and fly victorious on the lips of men.
 * Lines 8–9 (tr. Fairclough); the poet's ambition.
 * Often quoted as Alia tentanda via est. ("Another way must be tried.")


 * Te sine nil altum mens inchoat.
 * Without thee, nothing lofty can I sing.
 * Line 42 (tr. Dryden)

Prima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis.'' But, ah! the mighty bliss is fugitive: Discoloured sickness, anxious labour, come, And age, and death's inexorable doom.
 * ''Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi
 * In youth alone, unhappy mortals live;
 * Lines 66–68 (tr. Dryden)


 * Collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem.
 * And snorting rolls beneath his nostrils the gathered fire.
 * Line 85 (tr. Fairclough)

Incassum furit.''
 * ''Magnus sine viribus ignis
 * A great fire, unless you feed it, spends its rage in vain.
 * Lines 99–100


 * Nec mora, nec requies.
 * Neither delay, nor rest.
 * Line 110

Et genus aequoreum, pecudes, pictaeque volucres, In furias ignemque ruunt. Amor omnibus idem.'' The secret joys of sweet coition find. Not only man's imperial race, but they That wing the liquid air, or swim the sea, Or haunt the desert, rush into the flame: For love is lord of all, and is in all the same.
 * ''Omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque,
 * Thus every creature, and of every kind,
 * Lines 242–244 (tr. John Dryden)
 * H. Rushton Fairclough's translation: Every single race on earth, man and beast, the tribes of the sea, cattle and birds brilliant of hue, rush into fires of passion: all feel the same Love.


 * Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus.
 * But time meanwhile is flying, flying beyond recall.
 * Line 284 (tr. Fairclough); often quoted as tempus fugit ('time flies').
 * Compare Poor Richard's maxim of 1748: "Lost Time is never found again."
 * Variant translations:
 * Time flies, never to be recalled.
 * But meanwhile it is flying, irretrievable time is flying.

Raptat amor; juvat ire jugis, qua nulla priorum Castaliam molli devertitur orbita clivo.'' Which o'er the dubious cliff securely rides; And pleased I am, no beaten road to take, But first the way to new discoveries make.
 * ''Sed me Parnasi deserta per ardua dulcis
 * But the commanding Muse my chariot guides,
 * Lines 291–293 (tr. Dryden)


 * Alitur vitium, vivitque tegendo.
 * Vice thrives and lives by concealment.
 * Line 454

Book IV

 * Admiranda tibi levium spectacula rerum.
 * A mighty pomp, though made of little things.
 * Line 3 (tr. Dryden)


 * In tenui labor, at tenuis non gloria.
 * Slight is the subject, but the praise not small.
 * Line 6 (tr. Dryden); of bees as the subject.
 * Compare:
 * Slight is the subject, but not so the praise.
 * Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Canto I, line 5.


 * Nare per aestatem liquidam.
 * Floating towards the starry sky through the clear summer air.
 * Line 59 (tr. Fairclough); of bees.


 * Ingentes animos angusto in pectore versant.
 * Their little bodies lodge a mighty soul.
 * Line 83 (tr. Joseph Addison); of bees.


 * Compare:
 * Whose little body lodged a mighty mind.
 * The Iliad of Homer (Alexander Pope), Book V, line 999

Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescunt.''
 * ''Hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta
 * These storms of passion, these conflicts so fierce, by the tossing of a little dust are quelled and laid to rest.
 * Lines 86–87 (tr. Fairclough); of bees swarming.

Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent.'' The lazy drones from the laborious hive.
 * ''Agmine facto
 * All, with united force, combine to drive
 * Lines 167–168 (tr. Dryden)


 * Si parva licet componere magnis.
 * If we may compare small things with great.
 * Line 176 (tr. H. R. Fairclough). Cf. Eclogues 1.23.


 * R. C. Trevelyan's translation:
 * If small things may be compared with great.


 * Compare:
 * If small things we may with great compare.
 * Alexander Pope, Windsor Forest (1713), line 105


 * Tantus amor florum et generandi gloria mellis.
 * So deep is their love of flowers and their glory in begetting honey.
 * Line 205 (tr. Fairclough)

Stat fortuna domus, et avi numerantur avorum.'' The fortune of the family remains, And grandsires' grandsires the long list contains.
 * ''Genus immortale manet, multosque per annos
 * The immortal line in sure succession reigns,
 * Lines 208–209 (tr. Dryden)

Terrasque tractusque maris, coelumque profundum.''
 * ''Deum namque ire per omnes
 * For God, they say, pervades all things, earth and sea's expanse and heaven's depth.
 * Lines 221–222 (tr. Fairclough)


 * Nec morti esse locum.
 * There is no place for death.
 * Line 226


 * Animasque in vulnere ponunt.
 * And lay down their lives in the wound.
 * Line 238 (tr. Fairclough); of bees.

tum variae eludent species atque ora ferarum Fiet enim subito sus horridus atraque tigris squamosusque draco et fulva cervice leaena, aut acrem flammae sonitum dabit atque ita vinclis excidet, aut in aquas tenues dilapsus abibit.''
 * ''Verum ubi correptum manibus vinclisque tenebis,
 * But when you hold him in the grasp of hands and fetters, then will manifold forms baffle you, and figures of wild beasts. For of a sudden he will become a bristly boar, a deadly tiger, a scaly serpent, or a lioness with tawny neck; or he will give forth the fierce roar of flame, and thus slip from his fetters, or he will melt into fleeting water and be gone.
 * Lines 405–410 (tr. Fairclough); of Proteus.


 * Fata vocant.
 * The fates call.
 * Lines 496

Invalidasque tibi tendens, heu non tua, palmas!'' For ever I am ravished from thy sight. In vain I reach my feeble hands to join In sweet embraces—ah! no longer thine!
 * ''Iamque vale: feror ingenti circumdata nocte
 * And now farewell! Involved in shades of night,
 * Lines 497–498 (tr. Dryden)


 * Illa / flet noctem...maestis late loca questibus implet.
 * She weeps all night long, ... filling the region round with sad laments.
 * Lines 513–515 (tr. Fairclough)

Parthenope studiis florentem ignobilis oti.''
 * ''Illo Vergilium me tempore dulcis alebat
 * In those days I, Virgil, was nursed of sweet Parthenope, and rejoiced in the arts of inglorious ease.
 * Lines 563–564 (tr. Fairclough)

Attributed

 * Charmed with the foolish whistling of a name.
 * Abraham Cowley, A Translation out of Virgil, Georg. Lib. II. 458. Compare: "Ravished with the whistling of a name", Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle IV, line 283.

About

 * [Virgil] delivers the meanest of his precepts with a kind of grandeur: he breaks the clods and tosses the dung about with an air of gracefulness.
 * Joseph Addison, "An Essay on the Georgics", in The Works of Virgil (1697)


 * The best poem by the best poet.
 * John Dryden, as quoted in Narrative and Simile from the Georgics in the Aeneid (1980) by Ward W. Briggs, Jr., footnote on p. 7


 * Cum "Georgica" scriberet, traditur cotidie meditatos mane plurimos versus dictare solitus ac per totum diem retractando ad paucissimos redigere, non absurde carmen se more ursae parere dicens et lambendo demum effingere.
 * When [Virgil] was writing the "Georgics," it is said to have been his custom to dictate each day a large number of verses which he had composed in the morning, and then to spend the rest of the day in reducing them to a very small number, wittily remarking that he fashioned his poem after the manner of a she-bear, and gradually licked it into shape.
 * Suetonius, Vita Vergili 22, in Suetonius, with an English translation by J. C. Rolfe, Vol. II (1914), pp. 471–473