Then came he to th’ harmonious nymphs, that band
Who in Hesperian gardens hold
Their station, where the vegetative gold
Glows in the fruitage; with resistless hand
To snatch the apple from its height;
The dragon wreathed his folds around
The tree’s huge trunk, portentous sight,
In vain; that monster fell transfixed with many a wound.
Into those straits of the unfathomed main
He entered, with auspicious gales,
Where feared the mariner t’ unfurl his sails,
And fixing limits to the watery plain
His columns reared: then from the heavens’ huge load
The wearied Atlas he relieved,
His arm the starry realms upheaved,
And propped the gods’ abode.