That shining path of sacred stars, Which cuts obliquely 'thwart the zones, 845 The standard-bearer of the years, Shall see the stars in ruin fall, Itself in ruin falling. He, The Ram, who, in the early spring, Restores the sails to the warming breeze, Shall headlong plunge into those waves 850 Through which the trembling maid of Greece He bore of old. And Taurus, who Upon his horns like a garland wears The Hyades, shall drag with him The sacred Twins, and the stretched-out claws Of the curving Crab. With heat inflamed, Alcides' Lion once again 855 Shall fall from heaven; the Virgin, too, Back to the earth she left shall fall; And the righteous Scales with their mighty weights, Shall drag in their fall the Scorpion. And he, old Chiron, skilled to hold 860 Upon his bow of Thessaly The feathered dart, shall lose his shafts And break his bow. Cold Capricorn, Who ushers sluggish winter in, Shall fall from heaven, and break thy urn, Whoe'er thou art, O Waterman. 865 And with thee shall the Fish depart Remotest of the stars of heaven; And those monsters[48] huge which never yet Were in the ocean plunged, shall soon Within the all-engulfing sea Be swallowed up. And that huge Snake, Which like a winding river glides 870 Between the Bears, shall fall from heaven;[49] United with that serpent huge, The Lesser Bear, congealed with cold, And that slow driver of the Wain No longer stable in its course, Shall all in common ruin fall. Have we, of all the race of men, 875 Been worthy deemed to be o'erwhelmed And buried 'neath a riven earth? Is this our age the end of all? Alas, in evil hour of fate Were we begotten, wretched still, Whether the sun is lost to us 880 Or banished by our impious sins! But away with vain complaints and fear: Eager for life is he who would not die, Though all the world in death around him lie. FOOTNOTES: [48] Reading, _monstra_. [49] Reading, with a semicolon after _Anguis_. ACT V