To feed the females ere the sun arise, Or late at night, when stars adorn the skies. When she has calved, then set the dam aside, And for the tender progeny provide. Distinguish all betimes with branding fire, To note the tribe, the lineage, and the sire; Whom to reserve for husband of the herd, Or who shall be to sacrifice preferred; Or whom thou shalt to turn thy glebe allow, To smooth the furrows, and sustain the plough: The rest, for whom no lot is yet decreed, May run in pastures, and at pleasure feed. The calf, by nature and by genius made To turn the glebe, breed to the rural trade. Set him betimes to school; and let him be Instructed there in rules of husbandry, While yet his youth is flexible and green, Nor bad examples of the world has seen. Early begin the stubborn child to break; For his soft neck, a supple collar make Of bending osiers; and (with time and care Inured that easy servitude to bear) Thy flattering method on the youth pursue: Joined with his school-fellows by two and two, Persuade them first to lead an empty wheel, That scarce the dust can raise, or they can feel: In length of time produce the labouring yoke, And shining shares, that make the furrows smoke. Ere the licentious youth be thus restrained, Or moral precepts on their minds have gained, Their wanton appetites not only feed With delicates of leaves, and marshy weed, But with thy sickle reap the rankest land, And minister the blade with bounteous hand: Nor be with harmful parsimony won To follow what our homely sires have done, Who filled the pail with beestings of the cow, But all her udder to the calf allow. If to the warlike steed thy studies bend, Or for the prize in chariots to contend, Near Pisa's flood the rapid wheels to guide, Or in Olympian groves aloft to ride, The generous labours of the courser, first, Must be with sight of arms and sounds of trumpets nursed; Inured the groaning axle-tree to bear, And let him clashing whips in stables hear. Sooth him with praise, and make him understand The loud applauses of his master's hand: This, from his weaning, let him well be taught; And then betimes in a soft snaffle wrought, Before his tender joints with nerves are knit, Untried in arms, and trembling at the bit. But, when to four full springs his years advance, Teach him to run the round, with pride to prance, And (rightly managed) equal time to beat, To turn, to bound in measure, and curvet. Let him to this, with easy pains, be brought, And seem to labour, when he labours not. Thus formed for speed, he challenges the wind, And leaves the Scythian arrow far behind: He scours along the field, with loosened reins, And treads so light, he scarcely prints the plains; Like Boreas in his race, when, rushing forth, He sweeps the skies, and clears the cloudy north: The waving harvest bends beneath his blast,