Georg. 1.351Atque haec ut certīs possēmus discere signīs,
aestūsque pluviāsque et agentīs frīgora ventōs,
ipse Pater statuit, quid mēnstrua Lūna monēret,
quō signō caderent austrī, quid saepe videntēs
355agricolae propius stabulīs armenta tenērent.And so that we might learn these things by sure signs, heat and rain and the winds that bring cold, the Father himself decreed what the monthly Moon should warn, at what sign the south winds should drop, what sight, seen often, should make farmers keep their herds nearer the stalls. Georg. 1.356Continuō ventīs surgentibus aut freta pontī
incipiunt agitāta tumēscere et āridus altīs
montibus audīrī fragor aut resonantia longē
lītora miscērī et nemorum incrēbrēscere murmur.At once, when winds are rising, either the straits of the sea begin to toss and swell, and a dry crashing to be heard on the high mountains, or the shores, echoing far, to be thrown into confusion, and the murmur of the woods to grow louder. Georg. 1.360Iam sibi tum ā curvīs male temperat unda carīnīs,
cum mediō celerēs revolant ex aequore mergī
clamōremque ferunt ad lītora, cumque marīnae
in siccō lūdunt fulicae notāsque palūdēs
dēserit atque altam suprā volat ardea nūbem.Already then the wave scarcely holds back from the curved keels, when the swift divers fly back from mid-sea and carry their cry to the shores, and when the sea-coots play on dry land, and the heron leaves its familiar marshes and flies above the high cloud.
Georg. 1.365Saepe etiam stellās ventō inpendente vidēbis
praecipitīs caelō lābī noctisque per umbram
flammārum longōs ā tergō albēscere tractūs;Often too, when wind threatens, you will see stars fall headlong from the sky, and through the shadow of night long trails of flame grow white behind them; Georg. 1.368saepe levem paleam et frondēs volitāre cadūcās
aut summā nantīs in aquā collūdere plūmās.often light chaff and fallen leaves flutter, or feathers floating on the surface of the water play together. Georg. 1.370At Boreae dē parte trucis cum fulminat et cum
Eurīque Zephyrīque tonat domus: omnia plēnīs
rūra natant fossīs atque omnis nāvita pontō
Hūmida vēla legit.But when it lightens from the quarter of the savage North Wind, and when the home of the East and West Winds thunders, all the countryside swims with brimming ditches and every sailor on the sea furls his wet sails. Georg. 1.373Numquam inprūdentibus imber
obfuit: aut illum surgentem vallibus īmīs
375āëriae fūgēre gruēs, aut būcula caelum
suspiciēns patulīs captāvit nāribus aurās,
aut argūta lacūs circumvolitāvit hirundō
et veterem in līmō rānae cecinēre querēlam.Never has rain harmed the unwarned: either the airy cranes have fled it as it rises from the valley floor, or the heifer, looking up at the sky, has caught the breezes with wide nostrils, or the shrill swallow has flitted round the lakes, and the frogs in the mud have croaked their ancient complaint.
Georg. 1.379Saepius et tēctīs penetrālibus extulit ōva
380angustum formīca terēns iter et bibit ingēns
arcus et ē pāstū dēcēdēns agmine magnō
corvōrum increpuit dēnsīs exercitus alīs.More often too the ant, wearing a narrow path, has brought her eggs out of her inner chambers, and the great rainbow has drunk, and an army of rooks, leaving their pasture in a long column, has clamoured with crowded wings. Georg. 1.383Iam variae pelagī volucrēs et quae Asia circum
dulcibus in stagnīs rīmantur prāta Caystrī,
385certātim largōs umerīs īnfundere rōrēs:
nunc caput obiectāre fretīs, nunc currere in undās
et studiō incassum videās gestīre lavandī.Now the various birds of the sea, and those that search the Asian meadows around the sweet pools of Caystrus, you may see eagerly pouring copious spray over their shoulders, now ducking their heads into the waves, now running into the water, and revelling in a vain zeal for bathing. Georg. 1.388Tum cornīx plēnā pluviam vocat inproba vōce
et sōla in siccā sēcum spatiātur harēnā.Then the wicked crow calls for rain with full voice and stalks alone by herself on the dry sand.
Georg. 1.390Nē nocturna quidem carpentēs pēnsa puellae
nescīvēre hiemem, testā cum ārdente vidērent
scintillāre oleum et putrīs concrēscere fungōs.Not even girls spinning their nightly tasks have failed to know of a storm, when they saw the oil sputter in the burning lamp and crumbling mould gather on the wick.