Georg. 1.118Nec tamen, haec cum sint hominumque boumque labōrēs
versandō terram expertī, nihil inprobus ānser
120Strȳmoniaeque gruēs et amārīs intiba fībrīs
officiunt aut umbra nocet.Yet even when the toils of men and oxen have made trial of these things in turning the earth, the wicked goose and the Strymonian cranes and endive with its bitter fibres do no little harm, and shade does damage. Georg. 1.121Pater ipse colendī
haud facilem esse viam voluit, prīmusque per artem
mōvit agrōs cūrīs acuēns mortālia corda
nec torpēre gravī passus sua regna veternō.The Father himself willed that the way of tillage should not be easy, and he first stirred the fields by art, sharpening mortal hearts with cares, and did not allow his kingdom to grow sluggish in heavy torpor. Georg. 1.125Ante Iovem nūllī subigēbant arva colōnī;Before Jupiter no farmers subdued the fields; Georg. 1.126nē signāre quidem aut partīrī līmite campum
fās erat: in medium quaerēbant ipsaque tellūs
omnia līberius nūllō poscente ferēbat.it was not even right to mark out or divide the plain with a boundary: they sought for the common store, and the earth herself bore all things more freely when no one demanded it.
Georg. 1.129Ille malum virus serpentibus addidit ātrīs
130praedārīque lupōs iussit pontumque movērī,
mellaque dēcussit foliīs ignemque remōvit
et passim rīvīs currentia vīna repressit,
ut variās ūsus meditandō extunderet artīs
paulātim et sulcīs frūmentī quaereret herbam.He added evil venom to black serpents and bade wolves prey and the sea be stirred, shook the honey from the leaves and took away fire, and checked the wine that ran everywhere in streams, so that practice, by taking thought, might little by little hammer out the various arts, and seek the blade of corn in furrows. Georg. 1.136Tunc alnōs prīmum fluviī sēnsēre cavātās;Then first did rivers feel hollowed alders; Georg. 1.137nāvita tum stellīs numerōs et nōmina fēcit,
Plēiadas, Hyadas, clāramque Lycāonis Arcton;then the sailor gave the stars numbers and names, the Pleiades, the Hyades and Lycaon's bright Bear; Georg. 1.139tum laqueīs captāre ferās et fallere viscō
140inventum et magnōs canibus circumdare saltūs;then it was discovered how to catch wild beasts in snares and to trick them with birdlime, and to ring great glades with hounds; Georg. 1.141atque alius lātum fundā iam verberat amnem
alta petēns, pelagōque alius trahit Hūmida līna;and now one lashes the broad river with a casting-net, seeking the depths, and another drags his dripping lines through the sea; Georg. 1.143tum ferrī rigor atque argūtae lāmina serrae,—
nam prīmī cuneīs scindēbant fissile lignum
145tum variae vēnēre artēs.then came the hardness of iron and the blade of the shrill saw (for the first men split the cleavable wood with wedges), then came the various arts.
Georg. 1.145Labor omnia vīcit
inprobus et dūrīs urgēns in rēbus egestās.Toil conquered all things, relentless toil, and want pressing hard in harsh circumstances. Georg. 1.147Prīma Cerēs ferrō mortālīs vertere terram
īnstituit, cum iam glandēs atque arbuta sacrae
dēficerent silvae et vīctum Dōdōna negāret.Ceres first taught mortals to turn the earth with iron, when the sacred woods were already failing of acorns and arbutus berries, and Dodona was denying them food. Georg. 1.150Mox et frūmentīs labor additus, ut mala culmōs
ēsset rōbīgō segnisque horrēret in arvīs
carduus;Soon toil was added to the corn as well, so that evil mildew ate the stalks and the idle thistle bristled in the fields; Georg. 1.152intereunt segetēs, subit aspera silva,
lappaeque tribolīque, interque nitentia culta
īnfēlīx lolium et sterilēs dominantur avēnae.the crops perish, a rough forest springs up, burrs and caltrops, and amid the shining tillage unlucky darnel and barren oats hold sway. Georg. 1.155Quod nisi et adsiduīs herbam īnsectābere rāstrīs,
et sonitū terrēbis avēs, et rūris opācī
falce premēs umbrās vōtīsque vocāveris imbrem,
heu magnum alterīus frūstrā spectābis acervum,
concussāque famem in silvīs sōlābere quercū.But unless you attack the weeds with constant mattocks, and frighten the birds with noise, and keep down with your sickle the shade over the darkened land, and call down rain with your prayers, alas, you will gaze in vain at another man's great heap, and console your hunger in the woods by shaking an oak.