[42] Ætna, whence purest springs of fire unapproachable burst forth from their caverns; springs which by day pour out a lurid river of smoke, but in the darkness the rocks are borne on eddies of blood-red flame to fall crashing upon the ocean-plain far below. So does that prone monster send forth torrents of fire most dread: a portent wondrous to look upon, a marvel even to hear from those at hand.
[43] Pillar of heaven, snowy, nurse of keen snow through all the year.
[44] Cithæron, nurse of snow.
[45] Streams of fire shall one day break forth, devouring with cruel jaws the level fields of fair-fruited Sicily: such fury shall Typhoeus pour forth, boiling with the missiles of hot, insatiable, fire-breathing spray, for all that the bolt of Zeus has scorched him to ashes.
[46] Il. xii. 278.
[47] But they stood like mists that Cronos’ son setteth in windless air on the mountain-tops, at peace, while the might of the north wind sleepeth and of all the violent winds that blow with keen breath and scatter apart the shadowing clouds. Even so the Danaans withstood the Trojans steadfastly and fled not.
[48] And as when from the high crest of a great hill Zeus, the gatherer of the lightning, hath stirred a dense cloud, and forth shine all the peaks and sharp promontories, and glades, and from heaven the infinite air breaks open.
Transcriber’s Note:
Obvious printer errors corrected silently.
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.