had the words been breathed, when a black tempest is

set loose, raging with fierce bursts of rain: the thunderpeals 15

thrill through highland and lowland—down from

the whole sky pours a torrent of blinding water, thickened

to blackness by the southern winds—the ships are filled,

the smouldering timbers soaked—till every spark is

quenched at last, and all the vessels, with the loss of four, 20

rescued from the deadly plague.

But father Æneas, staggering under this cruel blow,

began to shift from side to side a vast burden of care, as