Right o'er against Plemmyrium's wat'ry strand, There lies an isle once call'd th' Ortygian land. Alpheus, as old fame reports, has found From Greece a secret passage under ground, By love to beauteous Arethusa led; And, mingling here, they roll in the same sacred bed. As Helenus enjoin'd, we next adore Diana's name, protectress of the shore. With prosp'rous gales we pass the quiet sounds Of still Elorus, and his fruitful bounds. Then, doubling Cape Pachynus, we survey The rocky shore extended to the sea. The town of Camarine from far we see, And fenny lake, undrain'd by fate's decree. In sight of the Geloan fields we pass, And the large walls, where mighty Gela was; Then Agragas, with lofty summits crown'd, Long for the race of warlike steeds renown'd. We pass'd Selinus, and the palmy land, And widely shun the Lilybaean strand, Unsafe, for secret rocks and moving sand. At length on shore the weary fleet arriv'd, Which Drepanum's unhappy port receiv'd. Here, after endless labors, often toss'd By raging storms, and driv'n on ev'ry coast, My dear, dear father, spent with age, I lost: Ease of my cares, and solace of my pain, Sav'd thro' a thousand toils, but sav'd in vain The prophet, who my future woes reveal'd, Yet this, the greatest and the worst, conceal'd; And dire Celaeno, whose foreboding skill Denounc'd all else, was silent of the ill. This my last labor was. Some friendly god From thence convey'd us to your blest abode.