Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/166

Then launched in air, the smooth deep skims,
Nor stirs a pinion as she swims:
So Mnestheus: so his vessel flees
Along the residue of seas:
The very impulse of its flight
Conveys it on, how swift, how light!
And first Sergestus in the rear
He leaves, still struggling to get clear,
While vainly succour he implores,
And tries to row with shattered oars.
Chimæra next he puts in chase:
Her helmsman lost, she yields the race.
Cloanthus now alone remains
Just finishing the course;
Whom to o'ertake he toils and strains
With all ambition's force.
The cheers redouble from the shore;
Heaven echoes with the wild uproar:
Those blush to lose a conquering game,
And fain would peril life for fame:
These bring success their zeal to fan;
They can because they think they can.
And now perchance with vessels paired
The rivals twain the prize had shared,
When with his palms to ocean spread
Cloanthus breathed a prayer, and said:
'Ye gods who o'er the deep have sway,
Whose watery realm I plough,
Before your altar in the bay
A milk-white bull I stand to slay,
Amerced in this my vow,
Cast forth the entrails o'er the brine,
And pour a sacred stream of wine.'
He said: there heard him 'neath the sea
The Nereid train and Panope,