Georgics 1.43–70

Georg. 1.43Vērē novō, gelidus cānīs cum montibus humor
līquitur et Zephyrō putris sē glaeba resolvit,
45dēpressō incipiat iam tum mihi taurus arātrō
ingemere et sulcō attrītus splendēscere vōmer.In early spring, when the cold moisture melts on the white mountains and the crumbling clod loosens itself to the West Wind, even then let my bull begin to groan over the deep-driven plough, and the ploughshare to shine, rubbed bright by the furrow. Georg. 1.47Illa seges dēmum vōtīs respondet avārī
agricolae, bis quae sōlem, bis frīgora sēnsit;That crop at last answers the prayers of the greedy farmer which has twice felt the sun, twice the cold; Georg. 1.49illīus inmēnsae rūpērunt horrea messēs.its immense harvests have burst the granaries. Georg. 1.50At prius ignōtum ferrō quam scindimus aequor,
ventōs et varium caelī praediscere mōrem
cūra sit ac patriōs cultūsque habitūsque locōrum
et quid quaeque ferat regiō et quid quaeque recūset.But before we cut an unknown plain with iron, let it be our care to learn beforehand the winds and the changing temper of the sky, and the ancestral tillage and character of the places, and what each region will bear and what each refuses.

Georg. 1.54Hīc segetēs, illīc veniunt fēlīcius ūvae,
55arboreī fētūs alibī, atque iniussa virēscunt
grāmina.Here crops, there grapes come up more happily; elsewhere the young growth of trees, and grasses grow green unbidden. Georg. 1.56Nōnne vidēs, croceōs ut Tmōlus odōrēs,
India mittit ebur, mollēs sua tūra Sabaeī,
at Chalybēs nūdī ferrum, vīrōsaque Pontus
castorea, Ēliadum palmās Ēpīrōs equārum.Do you not see how Tmolus sends saffron scents, India ivory, the soft Sabaeans their own frankincense, but the naked Chalybes iron, Pontus the rank castor, Epirus the mares that win palms at Elis? Georg. 1.60Continuō hās lēgēs aeternaque foedera certīs
inposuit nātūrā locīs, quō tempore prīmum
Deucaliōn vacuum lapidēs iactāvit in orbem,
unde hominēs nātī, dūrum genus.From the first, nature laid these laws and everlasting covenants on fixed places, from the time when Deucalion first threw stones into the empty world, from which men were born, a hard race. Georg. 1.63Ergō age, terrae
pingue sōlum prīmīs extemplō ā mēnsibus annī
65fortēs invertant taurī glaebāsque iacentīs
pulverulenta coquat mātūrīs sōlibus aestās;Come then: let strong bulls turn over the rich soil of the earth straight away from the first months of the year, and let dusty summer bake the clods as they lie with its ripening suns; Georg. 1.67at sī nōn fuerit tellūs fēcunda, sub ipsum
Arctūrum tenuī sat erit suspendere sulcō:
illīc, officiant laetīs nē frūgibus herbae,
70hīc, sterilem exiguus nē dēserat humor harēnam.but if the land is not fertile, it will be enough to raise it in a shallow furrow just at the rising of Arcturus: there, so that weeds may not hinder the glad crops; here, so that the scant moisture may not desert the barren sand.