Then, settling on the sea, the surges sweep,
Raise
liquid mountains, and
disclose the deep.
South, East, and West with mix'd
confusion roar,
And roll the foaming billows to the shore.
The cables crack; the sailors'
fearful cries
Ascend; and sable night
involves the skies;
And heav'n itself is ravish'd from their eyes.
Loud peals of
thunder from the poles ensue;
Then flashing fires the
transient light renew;
The face of things a
frightful" target="_blank" title="a.可怕的;不愉快的">
frightful image bears,
And present death in various forms appears.
Struck with
unusualfright, the Trojan chief,
With lifted hands and eyes, invokes relief;
And, "Thrice and four times happy those," he cried,
"That under Ilian walls before their parents died!
Tydides, bravest of the Grecian train!
Why could not I by that strong arm be slain,
And lie by noble Hector on the plain,
Or great Sarpedon, in those
bloody fields
Where Simois rolls the bodies and the shields
Of heroes, whose dismember'd hands yet bear
The dart aloft, and
clench the
pointed spear!"
Thus while the pious
prince his fate bewails,
Fierce Boreas drove against his flying sails,
And rent the sheets; the raging billows rise,
And mount the tossing
vessels to the skies:
Nor can the shiv'ring oars
sustain the blow;
The
galley gives her side, and turns her prow;
While those astern, descending down the steep,
Thro' gaping waves behold the boiling deep.
Three ships were
hurried by the southern blast,
And on the secret
shelves with fury cast.
Those
hidden rocks th' Ausonian sailors knew:
They call'd them Altars, when they rose in view,
And show'd their
spacious backs above the flood.
Three more
fierce Eurus, in his angry mood,
Dash'd on the shallows of the moving sand,
And in mid ocean left them moor'd aland.
Orontes' bark, that bore the Lycian crew,
(A
horrid sight!) ev'n in the hero's view,
From stem to stern by waves was overborne:
The trembling pilot, from his
rudder torn,
Was
headlong hurl'd;
thrice round the ship was toss'd,
Then bulg'd at once, and in the deep was lost;
And here and there above the waves were seen
Arms, pictures, precious goods, and floating men.
The stoutest
vessel to the storm gave way,
And suck'd thro' loosen'd planks the rushing sea.
Ilioneus was her chief: Alethes old,
Achates
faithful, Abas young and bold,
Endur'd not less; their ships, with gaping seams,
Admit the
deluge of the briny streams.
Meantime
imperial Neptune heard the sound
Of raging billows breaking on the ground.
Displeas'd, and fearing for his wat'ry reign,
He rear'd his awful head above the main,
Serene in
majesty; then roll'd his eyes
Around the space of earth, and seas, and skies.
He saw the Trojan fleet dispers'd, distress'd,
By stormy winds and
wintry heav'n oppress'd.
Full well the god his sister's envy knew,
And what her aims and what her arts pursue.
He summon'd Eurus and the
western blast,
And first an angry glance on both he cast;
Then thus rebuk'd: "Audacious winds! from
whenceThis bold attempt, this rebel insolence?
Is it for you to
ravage seas and land,
Unauthoriz'd by my
supreme command?
To raise such mountains on the troubled main?
Whom I- but first 't is fit the billows to restrain;
And then you shall be taught
obedience to my reign.
Hence! to your lord my royal
mandate bear-
The realms of ocean and the fields of air
Are mine, not his. By fatal lot to me
The
liquid empire fell, and trident of the sea.