and pay again and again worship where worship is due.
First of all cast your eyes on this rock-hung crag: observe
how the masses of stone are flung here and there, how
desolate and exposed stands the mountain’s recess, and
how the rocks have left the trail of a giant downfall. 35
Here once was a cave, retiring in enormous depth, tenanted
by a terrible shape, Cacus, half man, half brute: the sun’s
rays could never pierce it; the ground was always steaming
with fresh carnage; fixed to its imperious portals
were hanging human countenances ghastly with hideous