Claudi

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PART II. They sailed from Ostia, whence their galley, vexed By varying fortunes of the autumn seas, Coasted the Tuscan and Ligurian shores, Far as Massilia's many-masted port. Thence in rude barges slowly toiling up The broad Rhodanus, after many days They reached the heart of Gaul; and so at length By...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PART II. They sailed from Ostia, whence their galley, vexed By varying fortunes of the autumn seas, Coasted the Tuscan and Ligurian shores, Far as Massilia's many-masted port. Thence in rude barges slowly toiling up The broad Rhodanus, after many days They reached the heart of Gaul; and so at length By weary marches through dim forest tracts And wide monotony of grassy plains, ? With here and there a vineyard trellising The sunny slopes, ?they gained the Liger's banks, Whose westering current bore them to the coast, Washed by the waters of the unknown sea. Here, after brief delay, they found a ship Bound for Siluria with a freight of bards From Carnak on the upper coast: of old A vast Druidic Temple of the Sun, Winding its serpent-train o'er hill and dale; But now, when all the Druids of the land Were banished by the Roman, only used For lyric tourneys. Therefore in this bark Did Julius and the noble Maccabee Take shipping; and for many stormy days - Coasting by Gaul, then beating slow across The channel currents, hardly reached at length The headlands of the horned land. From whence, Doubling the granite capes, the vessel turned With favouring winds along the tawny sea. So, gently borne between the Cymric hills, At moonset on the seventh night she gained The offing of the old Silurian port, And dropped her anchors, waiting for the day. Now, as it chanced, at earliest dawn a chief, Cynfran by name, was passing on the dill's, And paused to watch with melancholy eyes The breaking of the day. He saw the sun At first peer dimly through the mists that hid The sleeping sea. He saw the sea hy slow- And soft degrees shake off the steely hues Of the cold dawn, while diamond sparkles flashed, Faded and flashed again, on rippled line..