Thursday, January 15, 2009

Unbought Delicacies


I saw a man,
An old Cilician, who occupied
An acre or two of land that no one wanted,
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding
For flocks, unfit for vineyards; he however
By planting here and there among the scrub
Cabbages or white lilies and verbena
And flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king
In wealth, and coming home late in the evening
Loaded his board with unbought delicacies.


-Virgil, Fourth Georgic

2 Comments:

Blogger Ochlophobist said...

Beautiful.

Which translation?

9:50 AM  
Blogger Hilarius said...

Honestly, Och, I've been trying to figure that out . . . so for want of a better - it is "Wendell Berry's" translation since it was part of this article:

The Agrarian Standard, by Wendell Berry

10:18 AM  

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