er course, had {now} been cut by the ship,
and both lands were at a great distance, when, towards night, the sea
began to grow white with swelling waves, and the boisterous East wind to
blow with greater violence. Presently the master cries, "At once, lower
the top sails, and furl the whole of the sail to the yards!" He orders,
{but} the adverse storm impedes the execution; and the roaring of the
sea does not allow any voice to be heard.

Yet, of their own accord, some hasten to draw in the oars, some to
secure the sides, some to withdraw the sails from the winds. This one
pumps up the waves, and pours back the sea into the sea; another takes
off the yards. While these things are being done without any order, the
raging storm is increasing, and the fierce winds wage war on every side,
and stir up the furious main. The master of the ship is himself alarmed,
and himself confesses that he does not know what is their {present}
condition, nor what to order or forbid; so great is the amount of their
misfortunes, and more powerful than all his skill. For the men are
making a noise with their shouts, the cordage with its rattling, the
heavy waves with the dashing of {other} waves, the skies with the
thunder. The sea is upturned with billows, and appears to reach the
heavens, and to sprinkle the surrounding clouds with its foam. And one
while, when it turns up the yellow sands from the bottom, it is of the
same colour with them; at another time {it is} blacker than the Stygian
waves. Sometimes it is level, and is white with resounding foam. The
Trachinian ship too, is influenced by these vicissitudes; and now aloft,
as though from the summit of a mountain, it seems to look down upon the
vallies and the depths of Acheron; at another moment, when the
engulphing sea has surrounded it, sunk below, it seems to be looking at
heaven above from the infernal waters. Struck on its side by the waves,
it often sends forth a low crashing sound, and beaten against, it sounds
with no less noise, than on an occasion when the iron battering ram, or
the balista, is shaking the shattered towers. And as fierce lions are
wont, gaining strength in their career, to rush with their breasts upon
the weapons, and arms extended {against them}; so the water, when upon
the rising of the winds it had rushed onwards, advanced against the
rigging of the ship, and was much higher than it.

And now the bolts shrink, and despoiled of their covering of wax,[40]
t