Impious Porphyrion, carried by his serpents into the middle of the sea, tries to uproot trembling Delos, wishing to hurl it at the sky. The Aegean was affrighted; Thetis and her agèd sire fled from their watery caverns; the palace of Neptune, regarded with awe by all the denizens of the deep, lay deserted. The summit of Cynthus rang with the cries of the gentle nymphs who had taught Phoebus’ unpractised hand to shoot at the wandering beasts with his bow, they who first had prepared the bed for weeping Latona when, in labour with the lights of heaven, she blessed the world with twin offspring. Delos in terror called her lord Phoebus to help her and begged him for aid. “In remembrance of the * * * * * Page 290 in nostros Latona sinus, succurre precanti. en iterum convulsa feror.” * * * * * Page 291 time when Latona entrusted thine infant life to my care, help me who thus call upon thee. Behold, once more they seek to uproot me.…”[118] [118] Like the _De raptu Proserpinae_, the _Gigantomachia_ was probably never completed. S. Jerome in his commentary on Isaiah (viii. 27) quotes from a _Gigantomachia_, not giving the name of its author. It is possible that the lines, which do not occur in Claudian’s poem as we possess it, belong to a final portion which has been lost. But it is more likely that they come from some other poet’s work and that the abrupt end of Claudian’s poem is due not to loss but to the poet’s sudden death. * * * * * Page 292 DE RAPTU PROSERPINAE LIBRI PRIMI PRAEFATIO (XXXII.) Inventa secuit primus qui nave profundum et rudibus remis sollicitavit aquas, qui dubiis ausus committere flatibus alnum quas natura negat praebuit arte vias: tranquillis primum trepidus se credidit undis 5 litora securo tramite summa legens; mox longos temptare sinus et linquere terras et leni coepit pandere vela Noto. ast ubi paulatim praeceps audacia crevit cordaque languentem dedidicere metum, 10 iam vagus inrumpit pelagus caelumque secutus Aegaeas hiemes Ioniumque domat. LIBER PRIMUS (XXXIII.) Inferni raptoris equos adflataque curru sidera Taenario caligantesque profundae Iunonis thalamos audaci promere cantu * * * * * Page 293 RAPE OF PROSERPINE BOOK I PREFACE (XXXII.)