Some warn him, rising at the dusk of night,
And some, forerunners of Aurora’s light.20
Across these starry plains the God of day
Furrows with burning wheel his annual way.
From east to west he runs his daily race—
Rises and sets in no determin’d place.
These things thou know’st; and ancient men have told,
And trac’d in sacred characters of gold,
How Sol and Luna part again to meet
When the great cycle nineteen years complete.
Thou knowest all the stars that night rolls round
With great Orion, and his rabid hound.30
Their influence some o’er Neptune’s realm extend—
Others to Jove belong; and oft portend
Events forthcoming. These with care to scan
The task and wisdom of the prudent man.
Trust not in fragile bark, too rashly brave,
The calm but treacherous bosom of the wave.
Ofttimes at eve the balmy breezes blow,
And soft as milk the murmuring billows flow.
But ere again the rosy-finger’d hours
Unbar for Phœbus’ car the golden doors,40
The wild winds roar—tumultuous ocean heaves,
And hurls to mountain height his boiling waves.
By wise precaution thou may’st haply save
Thyself and comrades from a watery grave.
