For thence appear’d all Ida, thence the towers Of lofty Ilium, and the fleet of Greece.  There sitting from the deeps uprisen, he mourn’d 20 The vanquished Grecians, and resentment fierce Conceived and wrath against all-ruling Jove.  Arising sudden, down the rugged steep With rapid strides he came; the mountains huge And forests under the immortal feet 25 Trembled of Ocean’s Sovereign as he strode.  Three strides he made, the fourth convey’d him home To AEgae.  At the bottom of the abyss, There stands magnificent his golden fane, A dazzling, incorruptible abode. 30 Arrived, he to his chariot join’d his steeds Swift, brazen-hoof’d, and maned with wavy gold; Himself attiring next in gold, he seized His golden scourge, and to his seat sublime Ascending, o’er the billows drove; the whales 35 Leaving their caverns, gambol’d on all sides Around him, not unconscious of their King; He swept the surge that tinged not as he pass’d His axle, and the sea parted for joy.  His bounding coursers to the Grecian fleet 40 Convey’d him swift.  There is a spacious cave Deep in the bottom of the flood, the rocks Of Imbrus rude and Tenedos between; There Neptune, Shaker of the Shores, his steeds Station’d secure; he loosed them from the yoke, 45 Gave them ambrosial food, and bound their feet With golden tethers not to be untied Or broken, that unwandering they might wait Their Lord’s return, then sought the Grecian host.  The Trojans, tempest-like or like a flame, 50 Now, following Priameian Hector, all Came furious on and shouting to the skies.  Their hope was to possess the fleet, and leave Not an Achaian of the host unslain.  But earth-encircler Neptune from the gulf 55 Emerging, in the form and with the voice Loud-toned of Calchas, roused the Argive ranks To battle—­and his exhortation first To either Ajax turn’d, themselves prepared. 
  Ye heroes Ajax! your accustomed force 60
Exert, oh! think not of disastrous flight, And ye shall save the people.  Nought I fear Fatal elsewhere, although Troy’s haughty sons Have pass’d the barrier with so fierce a throng Tumultuous; for the Grecians brazen-greaved 65 Will check them there.  Here only I expect And with much dread some dire event forebode, Where Hector, terrible as fire, and loud Vaunting his glorious origin from Jove, Leads on the Trojans.  Oh that from on high 70 Some God would form the purpose in your hearts To stand yourselves firmly, and to exhort The rest to stand! so should ye chase him hence All ardent as he is, and even although Olympian Jove himself his rage inspire. 75
  So Neptune spake, compasser of the earth,
And, with his sceptre smiting both, their hearts Fill’d with fresh fortitude; their limbs the touch Made agile, wing’d their feet and nerved