Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/388
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352
Part of the XIIIth BOOK of
As fiery coursers in the rapid race,
Urg'd by fierce drivers thro' the dusty space,
Toss their high heads, and scour along the plain;
So mounts the bounding vessel o'er the main:
Back to the stern the parted billows flow,
And the black ocean foams and roars below.
Thus with spread sails the winged gally flies;
Less swift, an eagle cuts the liquid skies:
Divine Ulysses was her sacred load,
A man, in wisdom equal to a God.
Much danger long, and mighty toils he bore,
In storms by sea, and combats on the shore:
All which soft sleep now banish'd from his breast;
Wrapt in a pleasing, deep, and death-like rest.
But when the morning star with early ray
Flam'd in the front of heav'n, and promis'd day,
Like distant clouds the mariner descries
Fair Ithaca's emerging hills arise.
Far from the town, a spacious port appears,
Sacred to Phorcys' pow'r, whose name it bears;
Urg'd by fierce drivers thro' the dusty space,
Toss their high heads, and scour along the plain;
So mounts the bounding vessel o'er the main:
Back to the stern the parted billows flow,
And the black ocean foams and roars below.
Thus with spread sails the winged gally flies;
Less swift, an eagle cuts the liquid skies:
Divine Ulysses was her sacred load,
A man, in wisdom equal to a God.
Much danger long, and mighty toils he bore,
In storms by sea, and combats on the shore:
All which soft sleep now banish'd from his breast;
Wrapt in a pleasing, deep, and death-like rest.
But when the morning star with early ray
Flam'd in the front of heav'n, and promis'd day,
Like distant clouds the mariner descries
Fair Ithaca's emerging hills arise.
Far from the town, a spacious port appears,
Sacred to Phorcys' pow'r, whose name it bears;
Two