On a Corpse Washed Ashore. Euphorion (b. c. 275 B.C.). Trapani (Drepanum). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. 1876-79. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes. Italy: Vols. XI-XIII

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

Trapani (Drepanum)

On a Corpse Washed Ashore

Euphorion (b. c. 275 B.C.)


Translated by J. H. Merivale NOT rugged Trachis hides these whitening bones,
Nor that black isle whose name its color shows,
But the wild beach, o’er which, with ceaseless moans,
The vexed Icarian wave, eternal, flows,
Of Drepanum—ill-famèd promontory—	5
And there, instead of hospitable rites,
The long grass sweeping tells his fate’s sad story
To rude tribes gathered from the neighboring heights.