illa seges demum uotis respondet auari
agricolae, bis quae solem, bis frigora sensit;
Trial prose translation: Only that field, which twice has felt the sun, twice the frost, answers to the prayers of the covetous farmer
On the two suns and two frosts: my suggestion is that this is a rule for when the farmer should break land in the spring. That is, when it’s still cold enough to bring two frosty mornings in succession, but warm enough to have two pleasantly sunny days. Does this seem plausible?
In the Georgics, Virgil seems keen to relate the farmer’s work to the actions of celestial objects.
It’s interestingly ambiguous. Are we to suppose the sun and the frosts are both of one and the same day (so two presumably consecutive days in total) or each of different days (so four days in total)?
Either way, the self-referentially anaphoric use of bis is nice: twice twice.
MWH: Are we to suppose the sun and the frosts are both of one and the same day (so two presumably consecutive days in total) or each of different days (so four days in total)?
Either way, the self-referentially anaphoric use of bis is nice: twice twice.
A little searching turns up no support for my effort, so I’ll have to enjoy that idea by myself. Thanks to mwh for assigning a name to the “bis…bis” figure.
I’ve always understood this passage as referring to seasons, not days. It seems to be a poetic way of saying two years, when the fields have experienced two summers and two winters.
This makes sense when you read the following section, where he talks about preparing the land over the course of seasons.
So once you first cut into land which has never been prepared as a farm before, it’s not going to be as fertile as after two years, once you will have already ploughed the land, and let it lie fallow in the second year, as recommended a few verses down.
Year 3 will give a much better harvest as a result. But in year one, set expectations lower and start doing the necessary work.
I agree with you, Michael: here the Latin only speaks of early spring. Vergil seems to me to be saying: start your work on the land in early spring. Your work will pay off in a few seasons, so put in the hard work now.