“Seiz’d with a sudden fear, we run to sea, The cables cut, and silent haste away; The well-deserving stranger entertain; Then, buckling to the work, our oars divide the main. The giant harken’d to the dashing sound: But, when our vessels out of reach he found, He strided onward, and in vain essay’d Th’ Ionian deep, and durst no farther wade. With that he roar’d aloud: the dreadful cry Shakes earth, and air, and seas; the billows fly Before the bellowing noise to distant Italy. The neighb’ring Aetna trembling all around, The winding caverns echo to the sound. His brother Cyclops hear the yelling roar, And, rushing down the mountains, crowd the shore. We saw their stern distorted looks, from far, And one-eyed glance, that vainly threaten’d war: A dreadful council, with their heads on high; (The misty clouds about their foreheads fly;) Not yielding to the tow’ring tree of Jove, Or tallest cypress of Diana’s grove. New pangs of mortal fear our minds assail; We tug at ev’ry oar, and hoist up ev’ry sail, And take th’ advantage of the friendly gale. Forewarn’d by Helenus, we strive to shun Charybdis’ gulf, nor dare to Scylla run. An equal fate on either side appears: We, tacking to the left, are free from fears; For, from Pelorus’ point, the North arose, And drove us back where swift Pantagias flows. His rocky mouth we pass, and make our way By Thapsus and Megara’s winding bay. This passage Achaemenides had shown, Tracing the course which he before had run.