But round the guarded brink in thick array,
Dire aspics roll’d their congregated way,
And thirsting in the midst the deadly dipsas lay.
Black horror seized their veins, and at the view
Back from the fount the troops recoiling flew;
When, wise above the crowd, by cares unquell’d,
Their trusted leader thus their dread dispell’d—
‘Let not vain terrors thus your minds enslave,
Nor dream the serpent brood can taint the wave;
Urged by the fatal fang their poison kills,