Georgics 3.123–137

Georg. 3.123Hīs animadversīs īnstant sub tempus et omnīs
impendunt cūrās dēnsō distendere pinguī,
125quem lēgēre ducem et pecorī dīxēre marītum;These things observed, they press on as the season approaches, and spend all their care in filling out with firm fat the one they have chosen as leader and named as husband of the herd; Georg. 3.126flōrentīsque secant herbās fluviōsque ministrant
farraque, nē blandō nequeat superesse labōrī
invalidīque patrum referant iēiūnia nātī.and they cut flowering grass and supply rivers and corn, so that he may not fail to be equal to his pleasant labour, and weak offspring may not reflect the hunger of their sires. Georg. 3.129Ipsa autem maciē tenuant armenta volentēs,
130atque, ubi concubitūs prīmōs iam nota voluptās
sollicitat, frondēsque negant et fontibus arcent.But the females themselves they purposely make thin and lean, and when the now familiar pleasure first prompts them to mate, they both deny them leaves and keep them from springs. Georg. 3.132Saepe etiam cursū quatiunt et sōle fatīgant,
cum graviter tūnsīs gemit ārea frūgibus et cum
surgentem ad Zephyrum paleae iactantur inānēs.Often too they shake them with running and tire them in the sun, when the threshing-floor groans heavily as the grain is pounded, and when the empty chaff is tossed to the rising west wind.

Georg. 3.135Hoc faciunt, nimiō nē luxū obtūnsior ūsus
sit genitālī arvō et sulcōs oblīmet inertīs,
sed rapiat sitiēns Venerem interiusque recondat.This they do so that the use of the fertile field may not be dulled by too much indulgence and clog its sluggish furrows, but that it may thirstily seize love and store it deep within.