Now all the horrors of the heavens he spies, And monstrous shadows of prodigious size, That, deck’d with stars, lie scatter’d o’er the skies. There is a place above, where Scorpio bent In tail and arms surrounds a vast extent; In a wide circuit of the heavens he shines, And fills the space of two celestial signs. Soon as the youth beheld him, vex’d with heat, Brandish his sting, and in his poison sweat, Half dead with sudden fear, he dropp’d the reins; The horses felt them loose upon their manes, And, flying out through all the plains above, Ran, uncontroll’d, where’er their fury drove; Rush’d on the stars, and, through a pathless way Of unknown regions, hurried on the day. And now above and now below they flew, And near the earth the burning chariot drew.