CELEBRATED TREES. 157 



Durat 1 inaccessis nisi consita montibus, ipso 

 Se defensa loco tueatur : si c[ua supersunt 

 A patribus neniora ad seros transmissa nepotes, 

 Ilia neo eestivo frondent impervia soli, 

 Nobile nee coelo caput abdant, qualia quondam 

 Vulgus adorabat truncis procera verendis. 

 Sed veteri de stirpe, novo aurgentia ranio, 

 Et quatuor post lustra nigros visura caminos, 

 Vix lepori hospitium prsebent, sylvestribus oliiri 

 QusB tiniidas latebris damas ursosque tegebant. 

 Ecquis konos ruris, nemorum si gratia desit ; 

 Obsessusque domi maneas, cum Sirius ardens 

 Debaccbatur agris ; viridique sub ilicis umbra 

 Irriguo possis neo traders fessa sopori 

 Membra, nee asstivos ramorum frigore soles 

 Erangere, nee taciti per arnica silentia luci, 

 Multisonos avium coneentus inter, ad ajjtos 

 Sponte sua veniens numeros, contexere carmen.' * 



Gilpin's translation of these lines is as follows : — 



' No greater beauty can adorn 

 The hamlet, than a grove of ancient Oak. 



Ah ! how unlike their sires of elder times 

 The sons of Gallia now ! They, in each tree, 

 Dreading some unknown power, dared not to lift 

 An axe : though scant of soil, they rather sought 

 Eor distant herbage than molest their groves. 



Now all is spoil and violence. Where now 

 Exists an Oak whose venerable stem 

 Has seen three centuries ? unless some steep, 



* Pra3d. rusticum, lib. v. 



