Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/211

While other some he scatters wide,
And chases from the river side.

Æneas, startled at the scene,
Cries, 'Tell me, priestess, what may mean
This concourse to the shore?
What cause can shade from shade divide
That these should leave the river side,
Those sweep the dull waves o'er?'
The ancient seer made brief reply:
'Anchises' seed, of those on high
The undisputed heir,
Cocytus' pool and Styx you see,
The stream by whose dread majesty
No God will falsely swear.
A helpless and unburied crew
Is this that swarms before your view:
The boatman, Charon: whom the wave
Is carrying, these have found their grave.
For never man may travel o'er
That dark and dreadful flood, before
His bones are in the urn.
E'en till a hundred years are told
They wander shivering in the cold:
At length admitted they behold
The stream for which they yearn.'
In deep thought paused Anchises' seed
And pondered o'er their cruel need.
Tombless and sad, there meet his view
Leucaspis and Orontes true
Who Lycia's navy led:
With him they left their Eastern home;
The southwind whelmed them 'neath the foam,
And men and bark were sped.

Lo! pilot Palinurus' ghost
Was wandering restlessly,