XI.
Song of the Spirits in Aetna.
When, while mortals pale are trembling
At their mother's agony;
This description of an earthquake is, in general, taken from Hill's translation of an account of one by a Sicilian, as far as relates to the incidents of an earthquake. Cowper, in his description in the Task, has mentioned the most prominent—perhaps, not the most terrible. The involuntary trembling of animal life, the wild terrors of the
brute creation, who seem conscious that their mother earth is no longer a place of safety, must add greatly to the fearful effect.
When in upper air assembling
Hold we our high revelry!
When in mist-envelop'd fields
Hath the sun all cheerless stood,
When the moon no radiance yields
Trembling in a sea of blood;
When the messenger of death
Shoots o'er heaven's expanse profound,
Fiery pestilence his breath
Ruddy meteors shedding round;
When pale streaks of livid light
Dart on high their awful rays,
Circuiting the brow of night
With their wild and ghostly blaze.
When the brute, in terror quaking,
Beats his parent's shuddering breast;
When the bird, her home forsaking,
Wildered, flies her children's nest;
When the angel flaps his pinion,
Mortal sickness shedding round,
Sinking in his stern dominion,
Man no resting-place hath found;
Death, despair, all rank dividing,
Friendship, love, affinity—
Then hurra! the whirlwinds riding
Hold we our high revelry!
