For as he lov'd her equal to his life,
He wou'd not to the feas expofe his wife ;
Nor cou'd be wrought his voyage to refrain,
But fought by arguments to footh her pain;
Nor these avail'd; at length he lights on one,
With which so difficult a cause he won :
My love, fo fhort an abfence ceafe to fear,
For by my
father's holy flame, I fwear,
Before two moons their orb with light adorn,
If heav'n allow me life, I will return.
This promife of fo fhort a stay prevails;
He foon equips the fhip, fupplies the fails,
And gives the word to lanch; fhe trembling views
This pomp of death, and parting tears renews:
Laft, with a kiss, fhe took a long farewel,
Sigh'd, with a fad prefage, and fwooning fell;
While Ceyx feeks delays, the lufty crew,
Rais'd on their banks, their oars in order drew
To their broad breafts, the fhip with fury flew.
The
queen recover'd rears her humid eyes,
And first her husband on the poop espies
Shaking his hand at distance on the main;
She took the fign; and fhook her hand again.
Still as the ground recedes, retracts her view
With sharpen'd fight, till she no longer knew
The much lov'd face; that comfort loft supplies
With lefs, and with the galley feeds her eyes;
The galley born from view by rifing gales,
She follow'd with her fight the flying fails :
When ev'n the flying fails were feen no more,
Forfaken of all fight, she left the shore.
Then on her bridal bed her body throws,
And fought in fleep her weary'd eyes to close:
Her husband's pillow, and the widow'd part
Which once he prefs'd, renew'd the former smart.
And now a breeze from shore began to blow, The failors ship their oars, and cease to row; Then hoift their yards a-trip, and all their fails Let fall, to court the wind, and catch the gales: By this the veffel half her course had run, And as much refted till the rifing fun;
Both shores were loft to fight, when at the close Of day, a ftiffer gale at east arose:
The fea grew white, the rolling waves from far, Like heralds, first denounce the watry war.
This feen, the master foon began to cry, Strike, ftrike the top-fail; let the main-sheet fly, And furl your fails: the winds repel the found, And in the speaker's mouth the speech is drown'd.
Yet of their own accord, as danger taught,
Each in his way, officiously they wrought;
Some ftow their oars, or ftop the leaky fides,
Another bolder yet the yard beftrides,
And folds the fails; a fourth, with labor, laves
Th' intruding feas, and waves ejects on waves.
In this confufion while their work they ply, The winds augment the winter of the sky, And wage inteftine wars; the fuff'ring feas Are tofs'd, and mingled as their tyrants please. The mafter would command, but, in despair Of fafety, ftands amaz'd with ftupid care, Nor what to bid, or what forbid he knows, Th' ungovern'd tempeft to fuch fury grows; Vain is his force, and vainer is his skill; With fuch a concourfe comes the flood of ill : The cries of men are mix'd with rattling fhrowds; Seas dafh on feas, and clouds encounter clouds: At once from east to weft, from pole to pole, The forky lightnings flash, the roaring thunders
Now waves on waves ascending scale the skies, And, in the fires above, the water fries: When yellow fands are fifted from below, The glitt'ring billows give a golden show:
And when the fouler bottom spews the black,
The Stygian dye the tainted waters take:
And change their colour, changing their disease.
Like various fits the Trachin veffel finds,
And now fublime the rides upon the winds
As from a lofty summit looks from high,
And from the clouds beholds the nether sky;
Now from the depth of hell they lift their fight,
And at a distance fee fuperior light:
The lashing billows make a loud report,
And beat her fides, as batt'ring rams a fort:
Or as a lion, bounding in his way
With force augmented bears against his prey;
Sidelong to feize: or unapal'd with fear
Springs on the toils, and rushes on the spear:
So feas impell'd by winds with added pow'r
Affaults the fides, and o'er the hatches tow'r.
The planks, their pitchy cov'rings wash'd away,
Now yield; and now a yawning breach display:
The roaring waters with a hoftile tide
Rush through the ruins of her gaping side.
Mean time in sheets of rain the sky defcends,
And ocean fwell'd with waters upwards tends,
One rifing, falling one; the heav'ns and fea
Meet at their confines, in the middle way:
The fails are drunk with fhow'rs, and drop with rain,
Sweet waters mingle with the briny main.
No ftar appears to lend his friendly light:
Darkness and tempeft make a double night.
But flashing fires disclose the deep by turns,
And while the lightnings blaze, the water burns,
Now all the waves their scatter'd force unite,
And as a foldier, foremost in the fight,
Makes way for others, and an host alone
Still preffes on, and urging gains the town;
So while th' invading billows come a-breast,
The hero tenth, advanc'd before the reft,
Sweeps all before him with impetuous sway,
And from the walls defcends upon the prey;
Part following enter, part remain without,
With envy hear their fellows conqu'ring fhout,
And mount on others backs, in hope to share
The city, thus become the feat of war.
An univerfal cry refounds aloud,
The failors run in heaps, a helpless crowd;
Art fails, and courage falls, no fuccour near;
As many waves, as many deaths appear.
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