FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138  
139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   >>   >|  
ehold." Sad stood AEneas, pitying their estate, And, thoughtful, pondered their unequal fate. Leucaspis there, and Lycia's chief he viewed, Orontes, joyless, tombless, whom of late, Sea-tost from Troy, the blustering South pursued, And ship and crew at once whelmed in the rolling flood. XLVI. There paced in sorrow Palinurus' ghost, Who, lately from the Libyan shore their guide, Watching the stars, headforemost from his post Had fallen, and perished in the wildering tide. Him, known, but dimly in the gloom descried, The Dardan hails, "O Palinurus! who Of all the gods hath torn thee from our side? Speak, for Apollo, never known untrue, This once hath answered false, and mocked with hopes undue. XLVII. "Safe--so he sang--should'st thou escape the sea, And scatheless to Ausonia's coast attain. Lo, this, his plighted promise!"--"Nay," said he, "Nor answered Phoebus' oracle in vain, Nor did a god o'erwhelm me in the main. For while I ruled the rudder, charged to keep Our course, and steered thee o'er the billowy plain, Sudden, I slipped, and, falling prone and steep, Snapped with sheer force the helm, and dragged it to the deep. XLVIII. "Naught--let the rough seas witness--but for thee I feared, lest rudderless, her pilot lost, Your ship should fail in such a towering sea. Three wintry nights, nipt with the chilling frost, Upon the boundless waters I was tost, And on the fourth dawn from a wave at last Descried Italia. Slowly to her coast I swam, and clutching at the rock, held fast, Cumbered with dripping clothes, and deemed the worst o'erpast. XLIX. "When lo! the savage folk, with sword and stave, Set on me, weening to have found rich prey. And now my bones lie weltering on the wave, Now on strange shores winds blow them far away. O! by the memory of thy sire, I pray, By young Iulus, and his hope so fair, By heaven's sweet breath and light of gladsome day, Relieve my misery, assuage my care, Sail back to Velia's port, great conqueror, and there L. "Strew earth upon me, for the task is light; Or, if thy goddess-mother deign to show Some path--for never in the god's despite O'er these dread waters would'st thou dare to go, Thine aid in pity on a wretch bestow; Reach forth thy hand, and bear me to my rest, Dead with the dead to ease me of my woe."
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138  
139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Palinurus

 
waters
 

answered

 

savage

 

weening

 

dripping

 
chilling
 

boundless

 

fourth

 

nights


wintry

 

towering

 

clothes

 
Cumbered
 
deemed
 

erpast

 

Italia

 

Descried

 

Slowly

 

clutching


memory
 

mother

 
goddess
 

bestow

 
wretch
 
strange
 

shores

 

heaven

 

conqueror

 
assuage

breath
 
gladsome
 
misery
 
Relieve
 

weltering

 

slipped

 

Watching

 

headforemost

 

fallen

 
sorrow

Libyan

 

perished

 

wildering

 
Dardan
 

descried

 

unequal

 

pondered

 
Leucaspis
 

thoughtful

 

estate