non ullus aratro Dignus honos, squalent abductis arva colonis, Et curvæ rigidum falces conflantur in ensem. _Geo._ i. 507. The credit of having proposed this subject to Virgil is given to his patron Mæcenas; and, to him, consequently, the Georgics are addressed; but the poet doubtless gladly adopted the suggestion. When and where it was commenced is uncertain, but the finishing stroke was put to it at Naples[566] some time after the battle of Actium.[567] Although the “Works and Days” of Hesiod is professedly his pattern, still he derives his materials from other sources. Aratus supplies him with his signs of the weather, and the writers _de Re Rustica_ with his practical directions. His system is indeed perfectly Italian; so much so, that many of his rules may be traced in modern Italian husbandry, just as the descriptions of implements in Hesiod are frequently found to agree with those in use in modern Greece. The first book treats of tillage, the second of orchards; the subject of the third, which is the noblest and most spirited of them, is the care of horses and cattle; and the fourth, which is the most pleasing and interesting, describes the natural instincts as well as the management of bees. But the great merit of the Georgics consists in their varied digressions, interesting episodes, and sublime bursts of descriptive vigour, which are interspersed throughout the poem. To quote any of them would be unnecessary, as Virgil and his translations are in every one’s hands. It will be sufficient to enumerate some of the most striking. These are— I. The Origin of Agriculture, G. I. 125. II. The Storm in Harvest, I. 316. III. The Signs of the Weather, I. 351. IV. The Prodigies at the Death of Julius Cæsar, I. 466. V. The Battle of Pharsalia, I. 489. VI. The Panegyric on Italy, II. 136. VII. The Praises of a Country Life, II. 458. VIII. The Horse and Chariot Race, III. 103. IX. The Description of Winter in Scythia, III. 349. X. The Murrain of Cattle, III. 478. XI. The Battle of the Bees, IV. 67. XII. The Story of Aristæus, IV. 317. XIII. The Legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, IV. 453.