Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

CALPUUNIUS SICULUSof (lawn, [\\v nioniing flow of milk will fill tiur pailsa-frothiu'j^ from the swelling dugs ; and again theyield of milking at the evening hour will be pressedfor cheese in the morning. Yet spare the younglings: let not thrift be of such moment that cheesefor the market ruins the snow-white lambs." Forthe young you will tend with supreme regard.And, when at night you visit the sheepfold, if anyewe lies enfeebled by recent lambing, be not ashamedto carry her on your own shoulders and to bear inyour warm bosom the quivering lambs that cannotyet stand. You must not seek out grazing-groundfar distant from your stalls, nor the food yieldedby too remote a wood while the fickleness of thesky is carrying the spring season to its close. To bedistrusted is the faith of spring : one hour she smilescoaxingly unclouded of brow ; the next she bringsrain-clouds with fog and bears away the lucklesslambs in raging streams.But when long days bring the thirsty summerheats, when the weather is no longer changeableunder an inconstant sky, then trust your flocks tothe woodland, then seek for pasture at a greaterdistance : yet see that the herd goes out eredaylight. The moist air sweetens their food, whenever,as the east winds fall, the chill meadows aretouched with night-dew and in the morning sparklingdrops are on the grass. But as soon as the chirpingtree-crickets shrill through the grove, drive your" i.e. your anxiety to sell must not divert to cheese-makingthe milk which the Iambs need." tinguuntur V nonnulli.263