A lamb new-fallen to the stormy seas; } Then slips his halsers, and his anchors weighs. } High on the deck the godlike hero stands, With olive crowned, a charger in his hands; Then cast the reeking entrails in the brine, And poured the sacrifice of purple wine. Fresh gales arise; with equal strokes they vie, And brush the buxom seas, and o'er the billows fly. Meantime the mother goddess, full of fears, To Neptune thus addressed, with tender tears:-- "The pride of Jove's imperious queen, the rage, The malice, which no sufferings can assuage, Compel me to these prayers; since neither fate, Nor time, nor pity, can remove her hate. Even Jove is thwarted by his haughty wife; Still vanquished, yet she still renews the strife. As if 'twere little to consume the town Which awed the world, and wore the imperial crown, She prosecutes the ghost of Troy with pains, And gnaws, e'en to the bones, the last remains. Let her the causes of her hatred tell; But you can witness its effects too well. You saw the storm she raised on Libyan floods, That mixed the mounting billows with the clouds; When, bribing Æolus, she shook the main, And moved rebellion in your watery reign. With fury she possessed the Dardan dames, To burn their fleet with execrable flames, And forced Æneas, when his ships were lost, To leave his followers on a foreign coast. For what remains, your godhead I implore, And trust my son to your protecting power. If neither Jove's nor Fate's decree withstand, Secure his passage to the Latian land." Then thus the mighty Ruler of the Main:-- "What may not Venus hope from Neptune's reign? My kingdom claims your birth; my late defence Of your endangered fleet may claim your confidence. Nor less by land than sea my deeds declare, How much your loved Æneas is my care. Thee, Xanthus! and thee, Simoïs! I attest-- Your Trojan troops when proud Achilles pressed, And drove before him headlong on the plain, } And dashed against the walls the trembling train; } When floods were filled with bodies of the slain; } When crimson Xanthus, doubtful of his way, } Stood up on ridges to behold the sea, } New heaps came tumbling in, and choked his way; } When your Æneas fought, but fought with odds Of force unequal, and unequal gods; I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, Sustained the vanquished, and secured his flight-- Even then secured him, when I sought with joy The vowed destruction of ungrateful Troy. My will's the same: fair goddess! fear no more, Your fleet shall safely gain the Latian shore; Their lives are given; one destined head alone Shall perish, and for multitudes atone." Thus having armed with hopes her anxious mind, His finny team Saturnian Neptune joined, Then adds the foamy bridle to their jaws,