75

When, lo! a murky cloud the Thunderer forms
Full o'er our heads, and blackens heaven with ftorms.
Night dwells o'er all the deep and now outflies

The gloomy Weft, and whistles in the kies.
The mountain-billows roar! the furious blast
Howls o'er the fhroud, and rends it from the maft:
The maft gives way, and, crackling as it bends,
Tears up the deck; then all at once defcends;
The pilot by the tumbling ruin flain,

485

499

Dash'd from the helm, falls headlong in the main.
Then Jove in anger bids his thunders roll,
And forky lightnings flash from pole to pole.
Fierce at our heads his deadly bolt he aims,
Red with uncommon wrath, and wrapt in flames:
Full on the bark it fell; now high, now low,
Tofs'd and retofs'd, it reel'd beneath the blow;
At once into the main the crew it fhook:
Sulphureous odours rofe, and fmouldering fmoke.
Like fowl that haunt the floods, they fink, they rife,
Now loft, now feen, with fhrieks and dreadful cries;
And ftrive to gain the bark; but Jove denies.
Firm at the helm I ftand, when fierce the main
Rufh'd with dire noife, and dafh'd the fides in twain
Again impetuous drove the furious blaft,

Snapt the strong helm, and bore to fea the maft.
Firm to the maft with cords the helm I bind,
And ride aloft, to Providence refign'd,
Through tumbling billows, and a war of wind.
Now funk the Weft, and now a Southern breeze
More dreadful than the tempeft, lafh'd the feas;

Y 2

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For

P

For on the rocks it bore where Scylla raves,
And dire Charybdis rolls her thundering waves.
All night I drove; and at the dawn of day,
Faft by the rocks beheld the desperate way :
Juft when the fea within her gulfs fubfides,
And in the roaring whirlpools rush the tides.
Swift from the float I vaulted with a bound,
The lofty fig-tree seiz'd, and clung around,
So to the beam the bat tenacious clings,

And pendent round it clasps his leathern wings.
High in the air the tree its boughs difplay'd,
And o'er the dungeon cast a dreadful shade,
All unfuftain'd between the wave and sky,
Beneath my feet the whirling billows fly,
What-time the judge forfakes the noisy bar
To take repast, and stills the wordy war;
Charybdis rumbling from her inmost caves,
The maft refunded on her refluent waves.
Swift from the tree, the floating mast to gain,
Sudden I dropp'd amidst the flashing main;
Once more undaunted on the ruin rode,
And oar'd with labouring arms along the flood.
Unfeen I pafs'd by Scylla's dire abodes:
So Jove decreed (dread Sire of men and gods).
Then nine long days I plough'd the calmer seas,
Heav'd by the furge, and wafted by the breeze.
Weary and wet th' Ogygian fhores I gain,
When the tenth fun defcended to the main.
There, in Calypso's ever-fragrant bowers,
Refresh'd 1 lay, and joy beguil'd the hours.

*305

510

515

520

525

530

My

My following fates to thee, O King, are known, And the bright partner of thy royal throne.

Enough in mifery can words avail ?

:

And what fo tedious as a twice-told tale?

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

OF

THE THIRD

VOLUM E.

Page

A

GENERAL VIEW of THE EPICK
POEM, and of THE ILIAD and