priest, was sacrificing a mighty bull at the wonted altar—when
behold from Tenedos, over the still deep—I
shudder as I recount the tale—two serpents coiled in vast 20
circles are seen breasting the sea, and moving side by side
towards the shore. Their breasts rise erect among the
waves; their manes, of blood-red hue, tower over the
water, the rest of them floats behind on the main, trailing
a huge undulating length; the brine foams and dashes 25
about them; they are already on shore, in the plain—with
their glowing eyes bloodshot and fiery, and their