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The scatter’d fleet is forc’d to sev’ral ways;

       The face of heav’n is ravish’d from our eyes,

       And in redoubled peals the roaring thunder flies.

       Cast from our course, we wander in the dark.

       No stars to guide, no point of land to mark.

       Ev’n Palinurus no distinction found

       Betwixt the night and day; such darkness reign’d around.

       Three starless nights the doubtful navy strays,

       Without distinction, and three sunless days;

       The fourth renews the light, and, from our shrouds,

       We view a rising land, like distant clouds;

       The mountain-tops confirm the pleasing sight,

       And curling smoke ascending from their height.

       The canvas falls; their oars the sailors ply;

       From the rude strokes the whirling waters fly.

       At length I land upon the Strophades,

       Safe from the danger of the stormy seas.

       Those isles are compass’d by th’ Ionian main,

       The dire abode where the foul Harpies reign,

       Forc’d by the winged warriors to repair

       To their old homes, and leave their costly fare.

       Monsters more fierce offended Heav’n ne’er sent

       From hell’s abyss, for human punishment:

       With virgin faces, but with wombs obscene,

       Foul paunches, and with ordure still unclean;

       With claws for hands, and looks for ever lean.

      “We landed at the port, and soon beheld

       Fat herds of oxen graze the flow’ry field,

       And wanton goats without a keeper stray’d.

       With weapons we the welcome prey invade,

       Then call the gods for partners of our feast,

       And Jove himself, the chief invited guest.

       We spread the tables on the greensward ground;

       We feed with hunger, and the bowls go round;

       When from the mountain-tops, with hideous cry,

       And clatt’ring wings, the hungry Harpies fly;

       They snatch the meat, defiling all they find,

       And, parting, leave a loathsome stench behind.

       Close by a hollow rock, again we sit,

       New dress the dinner, and the beds refit,

       Secure from sight, beneath a pleasing shade,

       Where tufted trees a native arbour made.

       Again the holy fires on altars burn;

       And once again the rav’nous birds return,

       Or from the dark recesses where they lie,

       Or from another quarter of the sky;

       With filthy claws their odious meal repeat,

       And mix their loathsome ordures with their meat.

       I bid my friends for vengeance then prepare,

       And with the hellish nation wage the war.

       They, as commanded, for the fight provide,

       And in the grass their glitt’ring weapons hide;

       Then, when along the crooked shore we hear

       Their clatt’ring wings, and saw the foes appear,

       Misenus sounds a charge: we take th’ alarm,

       And our strong hands with swords and bucklers arm.

       In this new kind of combat all employ

       Their utmost force, the monsters to destroy.

       In vain, the fated skin is proof to wounds;

       And from their plumes the shining sword rebounds.

       At length rebuff’d, they leave their mangled prey,

       And their stretch’d pinions to the skies display.

       Yet one remain’d, the messenger of Fate:

       High on a craggy cliff Celaeno sate,

       And thus her dismal errand did relate:

       ‘What! not contented with our oxen slain,

       Dare you with Heav’n an impious war maintain,

       And drive the Harpies from their native reign?

       Heed therefore what I say; and keep in mind

       What Jove decrees, what Phoebus has design’d,

       And I, the Furies’ queen, from both relate:

       You seek th’ Italian shores, foredoom’d by fate:

       Th’ Italian shores are granted you to find,

       And a safe passage to the port assign’d.

       But know, that ere your promis’d walls you build,

       My curses shall severely be fulfill’d.

       Fierce famine is your lot for this misdeed,

       Reduc’d to grind the plates on which you feed.’

       She said, and to the neighb’ring forest flew.

       Our courage fails us, and our fears renew.

       Hopeless to win by war, to pray’rs we fall,

       And on th’ offended Harpies humbly call,

       And whether gods or birds obscene they were,

       Our vows for pardon and for peace prefer.

       But old Anchises, off’ring sacrifice,

       And lifting up to heav’n his hands and eyes,

       Ador’d the greater gods: ‘Avert,’ said he,

       ‘These omens; render vain this prophecy,

       And from th’ impending curse a pious people free!’

      “Thus having said, he bids us put to sea;

       We loose from shore our haulsers, and obey,

       And soon with swelling sails pursue the wat’ry way.

       Amidst our course, Zacynthian woods appear;

       And next by rocky Neritos we steer:

       We fly from Ithaca’s detested shore,

       And curse the land which dire Ulysses bore.

       At length Leucate’s cloudy top appears,

       And the Sun’s temple, which the sailor fears.

       Resolv’d to breathe a while from labour past,

       Our crooked anchors from the prow we cast,

       And joyful to the little city haste.

       Here, safe beyond our hopes, our vows we pay

       To Jove, the guide and patron of our way.

       The customs of our country we pursue,

       And Trojan games on Actian shores renew.

       Our youth their naked limbs besmear with oil,

       And exercise the wrastlers’ noble toil;

       Pleas’d to have sail’d so long before the wind,

       And left so many Grecian towns behind.

       The sun had now fulfill’d his annual course,

       And Boreas on the seas display’d his force:

       I fix’d upon the temple’s lofty door

      

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