Ulysses in Hell

The greater horn of the ancient flame was stirred To shudder and make murmur, like a fire When in the wind it struggles and is blurred, Then tossed upon a flickering crest yet higher, As it had been a tongue that spoke, it cast A voice forth from the strength of its desire, ... With one ship only, and with that little band Which chose not to desert me; far as Spain, Far as Morocco, either shore I scanned. Sardinia's isle I coasted, steering true, And the isles of which that water bathes the strand. I and my crew were old and stiff of thew When, at the narrow strait, we could discern The boundaries Hercules set far in view That none should dare beyond, or further learn. Already I had Sevilla on the right, And on the larboard Ceuta lay astern. ... Then we rejoiced; but soon to grief were brought, A storm came out of that strange land, and found The ship, and violently the forepart caught. Three times it made her to spin round and round With all the waves; and, as Another chose, The fourth time, heaved the stern up, the prow drowned, Till over us we heard the waters close. ... Now go, no more of thee I claim, Dante, Inferno, Cantos XXV--XXVI, translation: Laurence Binyon