Georg. 2.177Nunc locus arvōrum ingeniīs: quae rōbora cuique,
Quis color et quae sit rēbus nātūra ferendīs.Now is the place for the natures of soils: what strength each has, what colour, and what nature for bearing produce. Georg. 2.179Difficilēs prīmum terrae collēsque malignī,
180tenuis ubi argilla et dūmōsīs calculus arvīs,
Palladiā gaudent silvā vīvācis olīvae.First, difficult lands and grudging hills, where there is thin clay and pebbles in brushy fields, delight in the Palladian grove of the long-lived olive. Georg. 2.182Indiciō est tractū surgēns oleaster eōdem
plūrimus et strātī bācīs silvestribus agrī.A sign of this is the oleaster springing up in abundance in the same tract, and the fields strewn with wild berries. Georg. 2.184At quae pinguis humus dulcīque ūlīgine laeta,
185quīque frequēns herbīs et fertilis ūbere campus—
quālem saepe cavā montis convalle solēmus
dēspicere;But a soil that is rich and glad with sweet moisture, and a plain that is thick with grass and fertile in richness — such as we often look down on in a hollow valley of the mountains; Georg. 2.187hūc summīs līquuntur rūpibus amnēs
fēlīcemque trahunt līmum—quīque ēditus austrō
et filicem curvīs invīsam pāscit arātrīs:
190hīc tibi praevalidās ōlim multōque fluentīs
sufficiet Bacchō vītīs, hīc fertilis ūvae,
hīc laticis, quālem paterīs lībāmus et aurō,
īnflāvit cum pinguis ebur Tyrrhēnus ad ārās,
lancibus et pandīs fūmantia reddimus exta.hither streams flow down from the highest rocks and draw fertile silt with them — and one that rises towards the south and feeds the fern hated by curved ploughs: this will one day furnish you vines exceedingly strong and flowing with plenty of wine, this is fertile in the grape and in such liquor as we pour in libation from bowls and gold, when the plump Tyrrhenian has blown his ivory pipe at the altars, and we offer the steaming entrails on curving platters.
Georg. 2.195Sīn armenta magis studium vitulōsque tuērī
aut ovium fētum aut ūrentīs culta capellās,
saltūs et saturī petītō longinqua Tarentī
et quālem īnfēlīx āmīsit Mantua campum,
pāscentem niveōs herbōsō flūmine cycnōs;But if your desire is rather to keep herds and calves, or the young of sheep, or goats that scorch the crops, seek the glades and distant fields of rich Tarentum, and such a plain as unhappy Mantua lost, feeding snowy swans in its grassy river; Georg. 2.200nōn liquidī gregibus fontēs, nōn grāmina dēerunt;neither clear springs nor grass will be lacking to the flocks; Georg. 2.201et, quantum longīs carpent armenta diēbus,
exiguā tantum gelidus rōs nocte repōnet.and as much as the herds crop in the long days, so much will the cool dew restore in a short night. Georg. 2.203Nigra ferē et pressō pinguis sub vōmere terra
et cui putre sōlum,—namque hoc imitāmur arandō—
205optima frūmentīs;Land that is black, and rich under the pressing ploughshare, and whose soil is crumbly — for this is what we imitate in ploughing — is generally best for corn; Georg. 2.205nōn ūllō ex aequore cernēs
plūra domum tardīs dēcēdere plaustra iuvencīs;from no plain will you see more wagons heading home behind slow bullocks; Georg. 2.207aut unde īrātus silvam dēvēxit arātor
et nemora ēvertit multōs ignāva per annōs
antīquāsque domōs avium cum stirpibus īmīs
210ēruit;or land from which the angry ploughman has carried off the forest and overturned groves idle for many years, and torn up the ancient homes of the birds with their deepest roots; Georg. 2.210illae altum nīdīs petiēre relictīs,
at rudis ēnituit inpulsō vōmere campus.they have sought the heights, abandoning their nests, but the raw plain has gleamed beneath the driven ploughshare.
Georg. 2.212Nam iēiūna quidem clīvōsī glārea rūris
vix humilis apibus casiās rōremque ministrat;For the hungry gravel of hilly country scarcely supplies lowly cassia and rosemary for bees; Georg. 2.214et tōphus scaber et nigrīs exēsa chelydrīs
215crēta negant aliōs aequē serpentibus agrōs
dulcem ferre cibum et curvās praebēre latebrās.and rough tufa, and chalk eaten out by black water-snakes, declare that no other fields furnish serpents with food so sweet, or offer such winding hiding-places. Georg. 2.217Quae tenuem exhālat nebulam fūmōsque volucrīs
et bibit hūmōrem et, cum volt, ex sē ipsa remittit
quaeque suō semper viridī sē grāmine vestit
220nec scabiē et salsā laedit rōbīgine ferrum:
illa tibi laetīs intexet vītibus ulmōs,
illa ferāx oleō est, illam experiēre colendō
et facilem pecorī et patientem vōmeris uncī.Land that breathes out thin mist and flying vapours, and drinks in moisture and gives it back from itself at will, that always clothes itself in its own green grass, and does not harm iron with scurf and salty rust: that land will entwine your elms with luxuriant vines, that land is fertile in oil, that land you will find in tilling both kind to cattle and patient of the hooked ploughshare.
Georg. 2.224Tālem dīves arat Capua et vīcīna Vesēvō
225ōra iugō et vacuīs Clanius nōn aequus Acerrīs.Such land rich Capua ploughs, and the coast neighbouring the ridge of Vesuvius, and the Clanius, unkind to deserted Acerrae.