_Tu sais ce qu'en ces lieux nous venions entreprendre;_
_Tu sais que Palamède, avant que de s'y rendre,_
_Ne voulut point tenter son retour dans Argos,_
_Qu'il n'eût interroge l'oracle de Délos._
_A de si justes soins on souscrivit sans peine;_
_Nous partîmes, comblés des bienfaits de Thyrrène;_
_Tout nous favorisait; nous voyageâmes longtems_
_Au gré de nos désirs, bien plus qu'au gré des vents;_
_Mais, signalant bientôt toute son inconstance,_
_Le mer en un moment se mutine et s'élance;_
_L'air mugit, le jour fuit, une épaisse vapeur_
_Couvre d'un voile affreux les vagues en fureur;_
_La foudre, éclairante seule une nuit si profonde,_
_À sillons redoublés ouvre le ciel et l'onde,_
_Et comme un tourbillon, embrassant nos vaisseaux,_
_Semble en sources de feu bouillonner sur les eaux;_
_Les vagues quelquefois, nous portant sur leurs cimes,_
_Nous font router après sous de vastes abîmes,_
_Où les éclairs pressés, pénétrans avec nous,_
_Dans des gouffres de feu semblaient nous plonger tous;_
_Le pilote effrayé, que la flamme environne,_
_Aux rochers qu'il fuyait lui-même s'abandonne;_
_À travers les écueils notre vaisseau pousse,_
_Se brise, et nage enfin sur les eaux dispersées._
Thou knowest what purpose brought us to these shores;
Thou knowest that Palamed would not attempt
Again to set his foot within these walls
Until he'd questioned Delos' oracle.
To his just care we readily subscribed;
We sailed, and favoring gales at first appeared
To announce a prosperous voyage;
Long time we held our course, and held it rather
As our desires than as the winds impelled;
But the inconstant ocean heaved at last
Its treacherous bosom; howling blasts arose;
The heavens were darkened; vapors black and dense
Spread o'er the furious waves a frightful veil,
Pierced only by the thunderbolts, which clove
The waters and the firmament at once,
And whirling round our ship, in horrid sport
Chased one another o'er the boiling surge;
Now rose we on some watery mountain's summit.
Now with the lightning plunged into a gulf
That seemed to swallow all. Our pilot, struck
Powerless by terror, ceased to steer, and left us
Abandoned to those rocks we dreaded most;
Soon did our vessel dash upon their points,
And swim in scattered fragments on the billows.
In this description we see the poet wishing to surprise his readers with
the relation of a shipwreck, rather than the man who seeks to avenge his
father and his friend--to kill the tyrant of Argos, but who is at the
same time divided between love and vengeance.