With prescient care the destined mother trace,
And form'd like her expect the promised race.
If her large front and neck vast strength denote;
If on her knee the pendulous dewlap float;
If curling horns their crescent inward bend,
And bristly hairs beneath the ear defend ;

60

If length'ning flanks to boundless measure spread; 65
If broad her foot, and bold her bull-like head;
If snowy spots her mottled body stain,
And her indignant brow the yoke disdain,
With tail wide sweeping, as she stalks, the dews;
Thus, lofty, large, and long, the mother choose.
Choose with like care the courser's generous breed,
And from his birth prepare the parent steed.
His color mark, select the glossy bay,

And to the white or dun prefer the grey.
As yet a colt he stalks with lofty pace,
And balances his limbs with flexile grace:
First leads the way, the threat'ning torrent braves,
And dares the unknown arch that spans the waves.
Light on his airy crest his slender head,
His belly short, his loins luxuriant spread;
Muscle on muscle knots his brawny breast,
No fear alarms him, nor vain shouts molest.
But at the clash of arms, his ear afar

Drinks the deep sound, and vibrates to the war:

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75

80

66 Virgil's directions here are probably good, where strong cattle for labor only were to be obtained; but the object of the modern breeding farmer is different wholly he wants cows and oxen which will fatten in a short time, and on little food, and such as will afford beef of good quality. The cow for this purpose should be extremely delicate and feminine in character, and should be rather small than large.-T. A Knight.

83 See the spirited description of a war-horse in Oppian's Cynegetics.

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He

85

Flames from each nostril roll in gather'd stream,
His quivering limbs with restless motion gleam;
O'er his right shoulder, floating full and fair,
Sweeps his thick mane, and spreads its pomp of hair?
Swift works his double spine, and earth around,

Rings to his solid hoof that wears the ground.

90

Such ardent Cyllarus, by Pollux tamed,

Such whirl'd Pelides, when the battle flamed,

Such, Mars, thy steeds; and such the god disguised,
When Saturn fled, by jealous rage surprised:
Loose in the gale his mane redundant play'd,
And Pelion echo'd as the courser neigh'd.
But when with age, or long disease opprest,

95

Hide him at home in not inglorious rest.

Then, chief, their years, and dauntless spirit trace,
What breed ennobles, and what honors grace,

100

If victory's glorious prize their speed inflame,

Or how, when conquer'd, sinks their crest with shame.
See at the signal, when the chariots bound,
And bursting through the barriers seize the ground,
Now with high hope erect the drivers dart,
Now fear exhausts their palpitating heart.

105

Prone o'er loose reins they lash th' extended steed,
And the wing'd axle flames beneath their speed;
Now, low they vanish, and now wing the skies,
No pause, no rest; dark whirlwinds round them rise:
Each presses each: in clouds from all behind, 111
Horse, horsemen, chariots thundering in the wind,
Breath, flakes of foam, and sweat from every pore
Smoke in the gale, and stream the victor o'er.

saith among the trumpets, ha, ha! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shoutings.' See the sublime description in Job.

89 The words of Varro. The spine sinks, and disappears in a furrow.-Stawell.

91 Castor and Pollux were alike renowned for horsemanship: Cyllarus, the name of their horse.

Thus glorious thirst of praise their spirit fires,
And shouting victory boundless strength inspires.
Bold Erichthonius first four coursers yoked,
And urged the chariot as the axle smoked.
The skilful Lapithæ first taught to guide

115

The mounted steeds, and rein their temper'd pride; 120
Taught under arms to prance, and round and round
In cadence proudly wheel, and paw the ground.
Alike their labors, each alike requires

Spirit and youth, and speed that never tires,
Though oft he chased the foe, or vaunt his breed
From Argos, or the sea-god's earth-born steed.

Where the green ilex clothes Alburnus' head,
And where the groves o'er Silarus' current spread,
The gad-fly sounds; beneath her restless wing
The breeze shrill whizzes, and the forests ring:

125

130

117 Erichthonius, the son of Dardanus, and father of Tros: Pliny mentions him with the Phrygians, to whom he ascribes the invention of putting two horses to a chariot, as Erichthonius invented the putting of four.-Martyn.

119 The Lapithæ inhabiting Thessaly, famous for horsemanship.

127 Álburnus, a mountain near the Silarus, a river of Laconia, a country near Naples.

129 Vallisnieri, in his History of Insects, describes this oxfly, or gad-fly. Its shape somewhat resembles a wasp, without a sting or proboscis in its mouth. It has two membranaceous wings, with which it makes a most horrible whizzing. The belly is terminated by three long rings, one less than another, from the last of which proceeds a most formidable sting, composed of a tube, through which its eggs are emitted, and of two augers, which make way for the tube to penetrate into the skin of the cattle: these augers are armed with two little darts, which have a point to pierce, and an edge to cut. At the end of the sting issues forth a venomous liquor, which irritates and inflames the fibres, and causes a swelling in the skin of the wounded animal: they often deposit an egg within this swelling, where a worm is formed, being nourished by the juice which flows from the wounded fibres: the worm remains nine or ten months there, and then comes out of its own accord, and creeps into some hole, and there enters into

From all their woods th' infuriate cattle bound,
Air roars, and dry Tanagria's banks resound.
Erst with this plague the jealous wife of Jove
In direful rage th' Inachian heifer drove.
Scare from your pregnant herd this pest away,
When swells her venom in the heat of day;
But feed when first the sun-beam gilds the plain,
Or Hesper leads along his starry train.

The birth now o'er, the calves thy care demand:
On each its mark, and varying lineage brand.
These, in their strength, shall renovate the breed,
These, votive victims, on the altar bleed:
These tame the rugged field, and cleave the clod:
The rest, at pleasure, graze the verdant sod.
If labor claim, the calves, yet docile, train
To bear the burden, and the yoke sustain.
First with loose wreath of pliant osier deck,
And hang the easy circle round their neck:
But when the steers, accustom'd to thy sway,
Yield their free strength, and willingly obey,
The well match'd couple in their collars place,
And balance, step by step, their equal pace:
Oft let them draw, unforced, the empty wain,
That lightly marks the level of the plain;

135

140

145

150

the state of a chrysalis; in which condition it lives for some time, and at last comes forth in the form of the parent fly. Vallisnieri remarks, that it never is found in any part of the animal that can be reached by the tongue or the tail. Varro calls this insect tabanus, whence the French word, says De Lille, taon.-Martyn. Stawell.

132 The Tanager, now il Negro, springs from the mountain Alburnus, in Lucania.

133 Io, the daughter of Inachus, was beloved by Jupiter, who, to conceal her from Juno, turned her into a cow. But Juno, discovering the deceit, sent an oestrus to torment Io. She fled into Egypt, and there, being restored to her former shape, married King Osiris, and was afterwards worshipped under the name of Isis.-Martyn.

Then, yoked to brazen poles, their vigor goad,
While beechen axles groan beneath the load.
Not with fresh grass, meanwhile, or marshy weed,
Or willowy leaves the race unbroken feed;

155

Still with their growth their rising strength sustain,
And strew with lavish hand th' abundant grain ; 160
Nor thou, as our sires, with milk the pails o'erfill,
Let the fond suckling drain the breast at will.

165

170

But if, intent on war, you wish to breed For battle and fierce troops th' impetuous steed, Or where Alpheus laves the field of Jove, Your flying car should foremost sweep the grove ; Flash on his infant eye the blazing shield, Pour on his ear the thunder of the field, Sound the shrill trumpet, roll the iron car, And rattle o'er his stall the reins of war; Teach him to love thy praise, and proudly stand, And arch his crest beneath thy flattering hand. Wean'd from his dam, yet weak in youthful year, Thus train'd to martial sounds the courser rear; Form by mild bits his mouth, nor harshly wound 175 Till summer rolls her fourth-revolving round. Then wheel in graceful orbs his paced career, Let step by step in cadence strike the ear, His flexile limbs in curves alternate prance, And seem to labor as they slow advance : Then give, uncheck'd, to fly with loosen'd rein, Challenge the winds, and wing th' unprinted plain. Thus when the north wind with resistless sway Drives the dry clouds and Scythian storms away,

180

165 Strabo informs us that the Olympian temple is in the Pisean region, not quite three hundred stadia from the city of Elis, and that it has a grove of wild olives before it, in which was the stadium, the place for the races.-Martyn.

VIR.

VOL. I.

I