The Argonautica

they left the steep isle under a freshening western wind.

Across from there they saw the Sangarius River's mouth,

rich, flourishing homeland held by Mariandynian men,

then Lycus' flowing currents and Anthemoeisian Lake,

and passed both under watch; the breathing wind now freshened

the sail-ropes and all shipboard gear shook as they traveled.

At dawn, after the wind lay sleeping through the darkness,

gladly they reached and found Acherusian Cape's harbor.

The cape rises upward in sheer, sky-walking cliffs,

gazing into the Bithynian sea; beneath it rocks

smooth and sea-washed root themselves; around their bases

a rolling wave roars mightily, while high above them

wide-spreading plane trees grow upon the highest summit.

Below the cape, a hollow valley slopes within

toward the mainland; there stands Hades' cavern mouth,

roofed over thickly by the woods and rocks; from there a breath

freezing, breathed from cold depths within the cavern

unceasingly, always thickens a frost of shining white,

which sunlight melts away when blazing noon stands high.

Silence never possesses that grim and lowering cape,

but all together it groans beneath the sounding sea

and leaves that shake beneath the winds from the cave's recess.

There too the river Acheron pours out its streams,

which bursts through and out of the cape, then casts its waters