Orphic Hymn 17

To Neptune

THE FUMIGATION FROM MYRRH. Hear, Neptune, ruler of the sea profound, Whose liquid grasp begirds the solid ground; Who, at the bottom of the stormy main, Dark and deep-bosom’d hold’st thy wat’ry reign. Thy awful hand the brazen trident bears, And Ocean’s utmost bound thy will reveres. Thee I invoke, whose steeds the foam divide, From whose dark locks the briny waters glide; Whose voice, loud sounding thro’ the roaring deep, Drives all its billows in a raging heap; When fiercely riding thro’ the boiling sea, Thy hoarse command the trembling waves obey. Earth-shaking, dark-hair’d God, the liquid plains (The third division) Fate to thee ordains. ‘Tis thine, cerulean dæmon, to survey, Well-pleas’d, the monsters of the ocean play. Confirm earth’s basis, and with prosp’rous gales Waft ships along, and swell the spacious sails; Add gentle Peace, and fair-hair’d Health beside, And pour abundance in a blameless tide.