“The beauteous youth now found himself betray’d, And from the deck the rising waves survey’d, And seem’d to weep, and as he wept he said: ‘And do you thus my easy faith beguile? Thus do ye bear me to my native isle? Will such a multitude of men employ Their strength against a weak, defenceless boy?’

“In vain did I the godlike youth deplore, The more I begg’d, they thwarted me the more. And now by all the gods in heaven, that hear This solemn oath, by Bacchus’ self I swear, The mighty miracle that did ensue, Although it seems beyond belief, is true. The vessel, fix’d and rooted in the flood, Unmoved by all the beating billows, stood. In vain the mariners would plough the main With sails unfurl’d, and strike their oars in vain; Around their oars a twining ivy cleaves, And climbs the mast, and hides the cords in leaves: The sails are cover’d with a cheerful green, And berries in the fruitful canvass seen. Amid the waves a sudden forest rears Its verdant head, and a new spring appears.