My hall, Deep in the centre of the seas, received The victims as they sank! Then, with dark joy, 190 I sat amid ten thousand carcases, That weltered at my feet! But THOU and THINE Have braved my utmost fury: what remains But vengeance, vengeance on thy hated race;-- And be that sheltering shrine the instrument! Thence, taught to stem the wild sea when it roars, In after-times to lands remote, where roamed The naked man and his wan progeny, They, more instructed in the fatal use Of arts and arms, shall ply their way; and thou 200 Wouldst bid the great deep cover thee to see The sorrows of thy miserable sons: But turn, and view in part the truths I speak.
He said, and vanished with a dismal sound Of lamentation from his grisly troop.
Then saw the just man in his dream what seemed A new and savage land: huge forests stretched Their world of wood, shading like night the banks Of torrent-foaming rivers, many a league Wandering and lost in solitudes; green isles 210 Here shone, and scattered huts beneath the shade Of branching palms were seen; whilst in the sun A naked infant playing, stretched his hand To reach a speckled snake, that through the leaves Oft darted, or its shining volumes rolled Erratic.
From the woods a sable man Came, as from hunting; in his arms he took The smiling child, that with the feathers played Which nodded on his brow; the sheltering hut 220 Received them, and the cheerful smoke went up Above the silent woods.
Anon was heard The sound as of strange thunder, from the mouths Of hollow engines, as, with white sails spread, Tall vessels, hulled like the great Ark, approached The verdant shores: they, in a woody cove Safe-stationed, hang their pennants motionless Beneath the palms.

Meantime, with shouts and song, The boat rows hurrying to the land; nor long 230 Ere the great sea for many a league is tinged, While corpse on corpse, down the red torrent rolled,[156] Floats, and the inmost forests murmur--Blood.
Now vast savannahs meet the view, where high Above the arid grass the serpent lifts His tawny crest:--Not far a vessel rides Upon the sunny main, and to the shore Black savage tribes a mournful captive urge, Who looks to heaven with anguish.

Him they cast Bound in the rank hold of the prison-ship, 240 With many a sad associate in despair, Each panting chained to his allotted space; And moaning, whilst their wasted eye-balls roll.
Another scene appears: the naked slave Writhes to the bloody lash; but more to view Nature forbad, for starting from his dream The just Man woke.

Shuddering he gazed around; He saw the earliest beam of morning shine Slant on the hills without; he heard the breath Of placid kine, but troubled thoughts and sad 250 Arose.

He wandered forth; and now far on, By heavy musings led, reached a ravine Most mild amid the tempest-riven rocks, Through whose dark pass he saw the flood remote Gray-spreading, while the mists of morn went up.
He paused; when on his lonely pathway flashed A light, and sounds as of approaching wings Instant were heard.