Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.

Passaro (Pachynus), the Cape

Passaro

By Virgil (70–19 B.C.)

(From Æneid)
Translated by C. P. Cranch

THENCE, passing the fat soil and stagnant stream

Of the Helorus, by Pachynus’ crags

Of tall and jagged rock, we coast along;

And Camarina, which the Fates forbade

That they should ever drain, is seen afar;

And Gela, with its city, fields, and stream.

Steep Agrigentum shows her stately walls,

Once famed for mettled steeds. We leave behind

Palmy Selinus, and the dangerous shoals

And rocks of Lilybeum. Then the port

Of Drepanum receives me,—joyless shore!