He who first made a ship and clave therewith the deep, troubling the waters with roughly hewn oars, who first dared trust his alder-bark to the uncertain winds and who by his skill devised a way forbidden of nature, fearfully at the first essayed smooth seas, hugging the shore in an unadventurous course. But soon he began to attempt the crossing of broad bays, to leave the land and spread his canvas to the gentle south wind; and, as little by little his growing courage led him on, and as his heart forgot numbing fear, sailing now at large, he burst upon the open sea and, with the signs of heaven to guide him, passed triumphant through the storms of the Aegean and the Ionian main. BOOK I (XXXIII.) My full heart bids me boldly sing the horses of the ravisher from the underworld and the stars darkened by the shadow of his infernal chariot * * * * * Page 294 mens congesta iubet. gressus removete profani. iam furor humanos nostro de pectore sensus 5 expulit et totum spirant praecordia Phoebum; iam mihi cernuntur trepidis delubra moveri sedibus et claram dispergere limina lucem adventum testata dei; iam magnus ab imis auditur fremitus terris templumque remugit 10 Cecropium sanctasque faces extollit Eleusis. angues Triptolemi strident et squamea curvis colla levant attrita iugis lapsuque sereno erecti roseas tendunt ad carmina cristas. ecce procul ternis Hecate variata figuris 15 exoritur, levisque simul procedit Iacchus crinali florens hedera, quem Parthica velat tigris et auratos in nodum colligit ungues: ebria Maeonius firmat vestigia thyrsus. Di, quibus innumerum vacui famulatur Averni 20 vulgus iners, opibus quorum donatur avaris quidquid in orbe perit, quos Styx liventibus ambit interfusa vadis et quos fumantia torquens aequora gurgitibus Phlegethon perlustrat anhelis-- vos mihi sacrarum penetralia pandite rerum 25 et vestri secreta poli: qua lampade Ditem flexit Amor; quo ducta ferox Proserpina raptu possedit dotale Chaos quantasque per oras sollicito genetrix erraverit anxia cursu; unde datae populis fruges et glande relicta 30 cesserit inventis Dodonia quercus aristis. Dux Erebi quondam tumidas exarsit in iras * * * * * Page 295