[76] Ille inter navemque Gyæ scopulosque sonantes Radit iter lævum interior, subitusque priorem Præterit, & metis tenet æquora tuta relictis.
He betwixt Gyas, and the sounding Rocks, Interior, skims the Left Hand Way, and swift Outstrips his Rival, and beyond the Goal Smooth shoots along, and gains the safer Seas.
What could better express the swift Motion with which the Ship brush'd by its Rival, and sail'd away clear of the Shelves, into the open Sea. In the last Verse, particularly, the Words seem with their Briskness to protrude one another, and skim away to the Goal. In another Part of the Description the same Image is thus represented:
[77] Agmine remorum celeri, ventisque vocatis, Prona petit maria, & pelago decurrit aperto.
With his rowing Crowd, And all the Winds invited to his Sails, Gains the prone Deep, and swiftly shoots away Upon the Ocean.
After this, follows that beautiful Comparison of the sailing of this Ship, and the Flight of the Dove, the Swiftness and Evenness of which is thus most admirably express'd:
[78] —Mox aëre lapsa quieto Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas.
Then smoothly gliding thro' the quiet Air, Skims the thin Way, nor moves her nimble Wings.
On the other Hand, how clearly do we see the dishonourable Tardiness with which the inglorious Ship drags on, after she had bulged upon the Rock?
[79] Cum savo à scepulo multa vix arte revulsus, Amissis remis, atque ordine debilis uno, Irrisam, sine honore, ratem Sergestus agebat.