“At first we only felt the oppressive weight Of gloomy clouds, then teeming with our fate, And lab’ring to discharge unactive heat: But ere four moons alternate changes knew, With deadly blasts the fatal south wind blew, Infected all the air, and poison’d as it flew Our fountains too a dire infection yield, For crowds of vipers creep along the field, And, with polluted gore, and baneful steams, Taint all the lakes, and venom all the streams.