Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/221

Rh The towering cliffs re-echo with the roar; While all their tops the leaping spray bedews. The deep spouts forth and vomits up its waves In alternating streams, like some huge whale Which roves the ocean, spouting up the floods. Then did that mound of waters strongly heave And break itself, and threw upon the shore A thing more terrible than all our fears. The sea itself rushed landward, following That monstrous thing. I shudder at the thought. What form and bearing had the monster huge! A bull it was in form, with dark-green neck Uplifted high, its lofty front adorned With verdant mane. Its ears with shaggy hair Were rough; its horns with changing color flashed, Such as the lord of some fierce herd would have, Both earth and ocean-born. He vomits flames; With flames his fierce eyes gleam. His glossy neck Great couch-like muscles shows, and as he breathes, His spreading nostrils quiver with the blast Of his deep panting. Breast and dewlap hang All green with clinging moss; and on his sides Red lichens cling. His hinder parts appear In monstrous shape, and like some scaly fish His vast and shapeless members drag along; As are those monsters of the distant seas Which swallow ships, and spout them forth again. The country-side was panic stricken; herds In frenzied terror scattered through the fields; Nor did the herdsmen think to follow them. The wild beasts in the forest pastures fled In all directions, and the hunters shook With deadly fear. Hippolytus alone Was not afraid, but curbed his frantic steeds With close-drawn reins, and with his well-known voice He cheered them on. The road to Argos runs Precipitous along the broken hills, On one side bordered by the roaring sea.