LXIX. "Lo, here, first omen offered to our eyes, Four snow-white steeds are grazing on the plain. ''Tis war thou bringest us,' Anchises cries, 'Strange land! For war the mettled steed they train, And war these threaten. Yet in time again These beasts are wont in harness to obey, And bear the yoke, as guided by the rein. Peace yet is hopeful.' So our vows we pay To Pallas, famed in arms, whose welcome cheered the way. LXX. "Veiled at her shrines in Phrygian hood we stand, And chief to Juno, mindful of the seer, Burnt-offerings pay, as pious rites demand. This done, the sailyards to the wind we veer, And leave the Grecians and the land of fear. Lo, there Tarentum's harbour and the town, If fame be true, of Hercules, and here Lacinium's queen and Caulon's towers are known, And Scylaceum's rocks, with shattered ships bestrown. LXXI. "Far off is seen, above the billowy mere, Trinacrian AEtna, and the distant roar Of ocean and the beaten rocks we hear, And the loud burst of breakers on the shore; High from the shallows leap the surges hoar, And surf and sand mix eddying. 'Behold Charybdis!' cries Anchises, ''tis the shore, The dreaded rocks that Helenus foretold. Row, comrades, for dear life, and let the oars catch hold.' LXXII. "He spake, 'twas done; and Palinurus first Turns the prow leftward: to the left we ply With oars and sail, and shun the rocks accurst. Now curls the wave, and lifts us to the sky, Now sinks and, plunging in the gulf we lie. Thrice roar the caverned shore-cliffs, thrice the spray Whirls up and wets the dewy stars on high. Thus tired we drift, as sinks the wind and day, Unto the Cyclops' shore, all weetless of the way. LXXIII. "It was a spacious harbour, sheltered deep From access of the winds, but looming vast With awful ravage, AEtna's neighbouring steep Thundered aloud, and, dark with clouds, upcast Smoke and red cinders in a whirlwind's blast. Live balls of flame, with showers of sparks, upflew And licked the stars, and in combustion massed, Torn rocks, her ragged entrails, molten new, The rumbling mount belched forth from out the boiling stew. LXXIV. "Here, while from AEtna's furnaces the flame Bursts forth, Enceladus, 'tis said, doth lie, Scorched by the lightning. As his wearied frame He shifts, Trinacria, trembling at the cry Moans through her shores, and smoke involves the sky. There all night long, screened by the woods, we hear The dreadful sounds, and know not whence nor why, For stars are none, nor planet gilds the sphere; Night holds the moon in clouds, and heaven is dark and drear.