TRANSLATION FROM THE ENEID, BOOK I. <br /> <br />THE god looked out upon the troubled deep <br />Waked into tumult from its placid sleep; <br />The flame of anger kindles in his eye <br />As the wild waves ascend the lowering sky; <br />He lifts his head above their awful height <br />And to the distant fleet directs his sight, <br />Now borne aloft upon the billow's crest, <br />Struck by the bolt or by the winds oppressed, <br />And well he knew that Juno's vengeful ire <br />Frowned from those clouds and sparkled in that fire. <br />On rapid pinions as they whistled by <br />He calls swift Zephyrus and Eurus nigh <br />Is this your glory in a noble line <br />To leave your confines and to ravage mine? <br />Whom I--but let these troubled waves subside-- <br />Another tempest and I'll quell your pride! <br />Go--bear our message to your master's ear, <br />That wide as ocean I am despot here; <br />Let him sit monarch in his barren caves, <br />I wield the trident and control the waves <br />He said, and as the gathered vapors break <br />The swelling ocean seemed a peaceful lake; <br />To lift their ships the graceful nymphs essayed <br />And the strong trident lent its powerful aid; <br />The dangerous banks are sunk beneath the main, <br />And the light chariot skims the unruffled plain. <br />As when sedition fires the public mind, <br />And maddening fury leads the rabble blind, <br />The blazing torch lights up the dread alarm, <br />Rage points the steel and fury nerves the arm, <br />Then, if some reverend Sage appear in sight, <br />They stand--they gaze, and check their headlong flight,-- <br />He turns the current of each wandering breast <br />And hushes every passion into rest,-- <br />Thus by the power of his imperial arm <br />The boiling ocean trembled into calm; <br />With flowing reins the father sped his way <br />And smiled serene upon rekindled day.<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/first-verses/
