Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/193

And labouring Xanthus strove in vain
To roll his waters to the main,
Then, as Æneas, undismayed,
With weaker strength and feebler aid
Pelides met, I barred the fray,
And bore him in a cloud away,
Though all my will was to destroy
My own creation, perjured Troy.
And now as then my heart is set
To work him good: thy fears forget.
Avernus' haven he shall see
In safety, where he fain would be.
One life alone shall glut the wave;
One head shall fall the rest to save.'

Thus having soothed the goddess' cares,
His fiery steeds the Father pairs,
With foamy bit each fierce mouth checks,
Then flings the reins upon their necks.
Along the surface of the tides
His sea-green chariot smoothly glides:
Hushed by his wheels the billows lie;
The storm-clouds vanish from the sky.
His vassals follow in his wake,
Sea-monsters of enormous make,
Palæmon, child of Ino's strain,
With Glaucus' venerable train,
And Tritons, swift to cleave the flood,
And Phorcus' finny multitude.
Then Thetis comes, and Melite,
Nesæe, Spio, Panope,
Thalia and Cymodoce.

A pleasing joy succeeds to fear
In good Æneas' mind: