and on his head a crown
Of rays he fix'd. His smother'd sighs within
His anxious breast, sad presages of woe
Suppressing, thus he spoke:--"If now my words
"Though late, thou heedest, spare, O boy! the lash,
"But tightly grasp the reins: unbid they run,
"They fly; to check their flight thy labor asks.
"Not through the five bright zones thy journey lies:
"Obliquely winds the path, with spacious curve,
"Three girdles only touching; leaving far
"The pole Antarctic, and the northern Bear:
"Be this thy track; there plain thou may'st discern
"The marks my wheels have made. Since heaven and earth
"An equal portion of my influence claim;
"Press not the car too low, nor mount aloft
"Near topmost heaven: there would'st thou fire the roof
"Celestial;--here the earth thou would'st consume.
"For safety keep the midst. Let thy right wheel
"Approach the tortuous Snake not: nor thy left
"Press near the Altar:--hold the midmost course.
"Fortune the rest must rule; may she assist
"Thy undertaking; for thy safety act
"Better than thou. But more delay deny'd,
"Lo! whilst I speak the dewy night has touch'd
"The boundaries plac'd upon th' Hesperian shore.
"I'm call'd,--for, darkness fled, Aurora shines.
"Seize then, the reins, or if thy mind relents,
"My counsel rather than my chariot take.
"Now whilst thou can'st; whilst on a solid base
"Thou standest, ere thou yet unskilful mount'st
"The chariot ev'lly wish'd: give me to dart
"Those rays on earth which thou may'st safely view:"
Agile the youth bounds from his sire, and stands
Proud in the chariot; joyously he holds
Th' entrusted reigns, and from the seat glad thanks
Th' unwilling parent gives. Meantime neigh'd loud
In curling flames, the winged steeds of Sol,
Pyroeis, AEthon, Phlegon, Eous swift;
And with impatient hoofs the barrier beat;
Which Tethys, ignorant of her grandson's fate,
Drove back, and open laid the range of heaven.
Swiftly they hasten,--swiftly fly their heels,
Through the thin air, and through opposing clouds.
Pois'd by their wings the eastern gales they pass,
Which started with them: but their burthen light,
Small felt the pressure on the chariot seat:
Not what the steeds of Sol had felt before.
As ships unpois'd reel tottering through the waves,
Light and unsteady, rambling o'er the main;
So bounds the car, void of its 'custom'd weight,
High-toss'd as though u