This mighty god,[126] astounded to the heart,
Made hasty preparations to depart;
Sent forth his voice, then ’roused his gloomy host,
And travell’d ’round by the south-western coast.)
And each one held two red-hot iron beams;
Their breath ascended in sulphurous streams:
They foamed and snorted, like hard-ridden horse,
And fled across the grim and deathy course
With comets’ speed; then stamp’d with awful force
Their ponderous forms upon th’ upheaving ground,