Dreaming of an Ancient Country

Virgil wrote The Georgics in the 30s BCE at a time of political uncertainty in the Roman state and although country matters are to the fore in the selections chosen and translated in this chapbook, there is also from time to time an underlying sense of unease. The passages from Books 1, 2 and 3 deal with farming and animal husbandry and, from Book 4, with bee-keeping. The chapbook ends with the concluding passage of Book 4, Virgil's beautiful telling of the story of Orpheus and Euridice. This translation from the Latin by the poet Fred Beake makes for very entertaining reading.