But foaming surges there in silver play.
The dancing dolphins with their tails divide The glitt'ring waves, and cut the precious tide.
Amid the main, two mighty fleets engage Their brazen beaks, oppos'd with equal rage.
Actium surveys the well-disputed prize;
Leucate's wat'ry plain with foamy billows fries.
Young Caesar, on the stern, in armor bright, Here leads the Romans and their gods to fight:
His beamy temples shoot their flames afar, And o'er his head is hung the Julian star.
Agrippa seconds him, with prosp'rous gales, And, with propitious gods, his foes assails:
A naval crown, that binds his manly brows, The happy fortune of the fight foreshows.
Rang'd on the line oppos'd, Antonius brings Barbarian aids, and troops of Eastern kings;Th' Arabians near, and Bactrians from afar, Of tongues discordant, and a mingled war:
And, rich in gaudy robes, amidst the strife, His ill fate follows him- th' Egyptian wife.
Moving they fight; with oars and forky prows The froth is gather'd, and the water glows.
It seems, as if the Cyclades again Were rooted up, and justled in the main;Or floating mountains floating mountains meet;Such is the fierce encounter of the fleet.
Fireballs are thrown, and pointed jav'lins fly;The fields of Neptune take a purple dye.