1 6 THK CALL OF THE SKA 



Shipwreck ^o -o -v:> <:> 



(From the Aincid ; trans.) 



'T*HUS having said, whirhng the point of his 



spear, he struck the hollow mountain's side 

 and the winds, as in a formed battalion, rush forth 

 at every vent, and scour over the lands in a hurri- 

 cane. They press upon the ocean, and at once, 

 east, and south, and stormy south-west, plough up 

 the whole deep from its lowest bottom, and roll 

 vast billows to the shores. The cries of the seamen 

 succeed, and the cracking of the cordage. In an 

 instant clouds snatch the heavens and day from 

 the eyes of the Trojans : sable night sits brooding 

 on the sea, thunder rolls from pole to pole, the 

 sky glares with repeated flashes, and all nature 

 threatens them with immediate death. . . . 



A tempest, roaring from the north, strikes 

 across the sail, and heaves the billows to the stars. 

 The oars are shattered : then the prow turns away, 

 and exposes the side to the waves. A steep moun- 

 tain of waters follows in a heap. These hang on 

 the towering surge ; to those the wide-yawning 

 deep discloses the earth between two waves : the 

 whirling tide rages with mingled sand. Three 

 other ships the south wind, hurrying away, throws 

 on hidden rocks ; rocks in the midst of the ocean, 

 which the Italians call Altars, a vast ridge rising 

 to the surface of the sea. Three from the deep 



