Aeneas and Mount Atlas

In the fourth book of the Aeneid Mercury flies to Carthage on the orders of Jupiter to bid Aeneas be mindful of his destiny and sail away. First he binds his winged sandals on his feet; then he takes up his mystical wand, which he uses to make his way through the sky. Next, before he comes to Carthage and sees the glittering figure of Aeneas, he observes and touches down on Mount Atlas, which is arrestingly personified as an old man: iamque volans apicem et latera ardua cernit Atlantis duri caelum qui vertice fulcit, Atlantis, cinctum adsidue cui nubibus atris piniferum caput et vento pulsatur et imbri, nix umeros infusa tegit, turn flumina mento praecipitant senis, et glacie riget horrida barba.