Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/106

76 Or gleaming thro' the night with hideous roar

Far o'er the redd'ning main huge rocky fragments pour.

But he, vulcanian monster, to the clouds

The fiercest, hottest inundations throws,

While with the burthen of incumbent woods,

And Aetna's gloomy cliffs o'erwhelm'd he glows.

There on his flinty bed out-stretch'd he lies,

Whose pointed rock his tossing carcase wounds:

There with dismay he strikes beholding eyes,

Or frights the distant ear with horrid sounds.

Ο save us from thy wrath, Sicilian Jove!

Thou, that here reign'st, ador'd in Aetna's sacred grove:

Aetna, fair forehead of this fruitful land!

Whose borrow'd name adorns the royal town,

Rais'd by illustrious Hiero's gen'rous hand,

And render'd glorious with his high renown.

By Pythian heralds were her praises sung,

When Hiero triumph'd in the dusty course,

When sweet Castalia with applauses rung,

And glorious laurels crown'd the conqu'ring horse.

The happy city for her future days

Presages hence increase of victory and praise.

Thus when the mariners to prosp'rous winds,

The port forsaking, spread their swelling sails;

The fair departure cheers their jocund minds

With pleasing hopes of favorable gales,

While o'er the dang'rous deserts of the main,

To their lov'd country they pursue their ways.