Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/122

98 From rocks and woods the Cyclop host

Rush startled forth, and crowd the coast.

There glaring fierce we see them stand

In idle rage, a hideous band,

The sons of Ætna, carrying high

Their towering summits to the sky:

So on a height stand clustering trees,

Tall oaks, or cone-clad cypresses,

The stately forestry of Jove,

Or Dian's venerable grove.

Fierce panic bids us set our sail,

And stand to catch the first fair gale.

But stronger e'en than present fear

The thought of Helenus the seer,

Who counselled still those seas to fly

Where Scylla and Charybdis lie:

That path of double death we shun,

And think a backward course to run.

When lo! from out Pelorus' strait

The northern breezes blow:

We pass Pantagia's rocky gate,

And Megara, where vessels wait,

And Thapsus, pillowed low.

So, measuring back familiar seas,

Land after land before us shows

The rescued Achemenides,

The comrade of Ulysses' woes.

Before Sicania's harbour deep,

Against Plemyrium's billowy steep,

Ortygia's island lies:

Alpheus, Elis' stream, they say,

Beneath the seas here found his way,

And now his waters interfuse

With thine, fountain Arethuse,

Beneath Sicilian skies.