The Georgics
Cast as a practical manual for farmers, this four-book poem is really a meditation on labor, nature, and the hard bargain between people and the land. Virgil moves from the growing of crops to the care of vines and olive trees, then to the raising of cattle, and finally, in its famous last book, to the keeping of bees, whose ordered hive becomes a mirror for human society. He never hides the toil and loss that rural life demands, yet he finds in it a dignity and beauty absent from the corrupt city. Composed as Augustus was consolidating power over a war-weary Rome, the poem quietly praises peace, order, and renewal. This free PDF and EPUB edition offers John Dryden’s classic verse translation.
About the Author
Virgil (70-19 BC) was the greatest of the Roman poets, author of the Aeneid, the Eclogues, and the Georgics. His epic became the defining poem of Rome and a cornerstone of Western literature.
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Listen to The Georgics Audiobook Free
Listen to The Georgics by Virgil free online. The full audiobook (2 hr 52 min, 14 chapters, read by volunteer narrators) streams free on this page.
The Georgics (1881) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Book 1, Part 1:The Invocation; Spring Ploughing; Treatment of the Land; Irrigation; The Beginnings of Agriculture | 11:35 | |
| 2 | Book 1, Part 2: Tools and Tasks; Ancient Maxims; Star-Lore; Appropriate Times for Tasks | 10:03 | |
| 3 | Book 1, Part 3: Storms; The Worship Of Ceres; Weather Signs; The Portents At Julius Caesar’s Death; A Prayer for Augustus’s Success | 18:39 | |
| 4 | Book 2, Part 1: Methods of Propagation; The Labour Required; Treatment Of Individual Species; The Effects of Climate and Location; A Celebration of Italy | 14:08 | |
| 5 | Book 2, Part 2: The Nature of Various Soils; The Recognition of Soil Types; Planting A Vineyard | 13:12 | |
| 6 | Book 2, Part 3: Care of The Vineyard; A Wealth of Trees And Plants; The Joys Of The True Life | 14:43 | |
| 7 | Book 3, Part 1: Introduction; Breeding Stock | 9:18 | |
| 8 | Book 3, Part 2: Care of the Sire and Dam; Care of Calves and Foals; The Dangers of Desire | 11:40 | |
| 9 | Book 3, Part 3: The Care of Sheep and Goats; The Herdsmen of Africa and Scythia; Tending the Flocks | 10:53 | |
| 10 | Book 3, Part 4: The Treatment of Diseases; The Plague | 9:04 | |
| 11 | Book 4, Part 1: Introduction; Location and Maintenance of the Apiary; The Fighting Swarms; The Surrounding Garden | 12:39 | |
| 12 | Book 4, Part 2: The Nature and Qualities of Bees; Gathering The Honey; Disease in Bees; Autogenesis of Bees | 13:40 | |
| 13 | Book 4, Part 3: Aristaeus And His Mother Cyrene; The Capture of Proteus | 11:51 | |
| 14 | Book 4, Part 4: Orpheus and Eurydice; Aristaeus Sacrifices to Orpheus; Virgil’s Envoi | 10:18 |
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