The unhappy youth then, bending down his head, Saw earth and ocean far beneath him spread. His colour changed, he startled at the sight, And his eyes darken’d by too great a light. Now could he wish the fiery steeds untried, His birth obscure, and his request denied: Now would he Merops for his father own, And quit his boasted kindred to the Sun.

So fares the pilot, when his ship is toss’d In troubled seas, and all its steerage lost; He gives her to the winds, and, in despair, Seeks his last refuge in the gods and prayer.

What could he do? his eyes, if backward cast, Find a long path he had already pass’d; If forward, still a longer path they find: Both he compares, and measures in his mind; And sometimes casts an eye upon the east, And sometimes looks on the forbidden west. The horses’ names he knew not in the fright; Nor would he loose the reins, nor could he hold them right.