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Virgil · 70 - 19 BC

Georgics

Georgica
Ancient Sources / Virgil / Georgics

The Georgics, four books of Latin hexameter (about 2,200 lines) finished around 29 BC and dedicated to Maecenas, are Virgil's poem on the farmer's year: crops and weather (book 1), trees and vines (book 2), cattle and horses (book 3) and bees (book 4). Between the precepts come some of Virgil's most famous passages: the portents at Caesar's death, the praise of Italy, the happiness of country life, the plague of Noricum, and the story of Aristaeus, which frames the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. Citations are by book and line of the Latin (4.453-527); the English is James Rhoades' blank-verse translation, which has its own line count.

Read from the start
Text
Latin original with English translation, 28 passages, about 21200 words in English.
Translator
James Rhoades (1921)
Edition
J. B. Greenough (ed.), The Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics of Virgil, Boston: Ginn and Company, 1881 (Latin text as digitised by Perseus); English: James Rhoades, The Poems of Vergil, London: Oxford University Press, 1921
Cite as
Virgil, Georgics 1.1 (by book, line)

Contents · 28 passages

  1. 1.1–42Invocation to the gods of the countryside and to Octavian430 words
  2. 1.43–117Ploughing, fallow and the care of the soil715 words
  3. 1.118–203The will of Zeus: why labour was given to men879 words
  4. 1.204–310The farmer's calendar: the stars and the zones of heaven1044 words
  5. 1.311–350Autumn storms and the festival of Demeter408 words
  6. 1.351–460Signs of the weather1077 words
  7. 1.461–514Portents at the death of Caesar536 words
  8. 2.1–108Dionysus and the ways trees grow1076 words
  9. 2.109–176Each land its own trees; the praise of Italy646 words
  10. 2.177–258Soils and how to know them784 words
  11. 2.259–345Planting the vineyard; the praise of spring844 words
  12. 2.346–457Tending vines and olives1028 words
  13. 2.458–542The happiness of the farmer776 words
  14. 3.1–48The temple of Caesar: Virgil's poetic programme468 words
  15. 3.49–156Breeding cattle and horses1018 words
  16. 3.157–208Rearing calves and training colts499 words
  17. 3.209–283The madness of love in beasts694 words
  18. 3.284–383Sheep and goats; the Libyan and Scythian herdsmen884 words
  19. 3.384–473Wool, milk and dogs; snakes and the diseases of sheep855 words
  20. 3.474–566The plague of Noricum830 words
  21. 4.1–115The site of the hive and the swarming of bees1146 words
  22. 4.116–148The old man of Corycus and his garden364 words
  23. 4.149–227The nature and commonwealth of bees832 words
  24. 4.228–314Taking the honey; sickness in the hive; the bugonia847 words
  25. 4.315–385Aristaeus and Cyrene670 words
  26. 4.386–452Aristaeus captures Proteus666 words
  27. 4.453–527Orpheus and Eurydice755 words
  28. 4.528–566The sacrifice of Aristaeus; the poet's farewell399 words

More by Virgil

English translation by James Rhoades (1921). Original text: J. B. Greenough (ed.), The Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics of Virgil, Boston: Ginn and Company, 1881 (Latin text as digitised by Perseus); English: James Rhoades, The Poems of Vergil, London: Oxford University Press, 1921.

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.