Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

Yet this isAETNAman's more primary task—to know theartli and mark all the many wonders nature hasyielded there. This is for us a task more akin than thestars of heaven. For what kind of hope is it for mortalman, what madness could be greater—that he shouldwish to wander and explore in Jove's domain and yetpass by the mighty fabric before his feet and lose itin his negligence ? We torture ourselves wretchedlyover little things : we let toil weigh us down :wepeer into crannies and upturn every depth. Thequest is now for a germ of silver, now for a vein ofgold. Parts of the earth are tortured with flameand tamed with iron till they ransom themselvesat a price " ; and, when they have owned theirsecret, they are silenced and abandoned to con-'^tempt and beggary. Day and night farmers hastenon the cultivation of their fields : hands grow hardwith rural toil ; we ponder the use of different soils.One is fertile and is more fruitful for corn, anotherfor the vine ; this is the soil for plane-trees, this theworthiest of grass crops ; this other is hard and betterfor grazing and trusty to a tree-plantation. Thedrier parts are held by the olive ; elms like a soil moremoist. Trivial motives torture men's minds andbodies—to have their barns overflowing, their winecasksswelling with must, and their haylofts rising* In man's quest for gold and silver, regions of earth are" put to the torture " by the processes of mining and smeltinguntil they buy themselves off by the ore they have yielded{sese pretio redimant).* i.e. the rest is silence after the truth {i.e. where theirhidden treasures lie) has been extorted from them : tacentgives a better contrast than iacetU.2" dura et Exc. : dure G : diviti CSZ.3^3