COUNTRY LIVING
ergo aut adulta vitium propagine
altas maritat populos
aut in reducta valle mugientium
prospectat errantis greges…
Ergo is therefore, of course. But therefore… what?
Marito is to marry together. Populos should not be mistaken for the people, or something popular. Populus here means a poplar tree. Vitium is a vine, so obviously there is some linking of vine tree and poplar going on. The farmer is marrying the vine to the altas (tall, remember, as in altitude) populos. How? By means of the adulta propagine. Propago is an offshoot, or a child – anything propagated. Propagine is the ablative of means, telling us how the farmer is fixing the vine to the poplar: “by means of the matured offshoot.” So the farmer is either (aut) doing that, or prospectat (he views) his wandering herds (errantis greges) of moo-ers (mugientium) in a receding valley (in reducta valle).
Let’s look at some of that more closely.