Fluminaque obliquis cinxit declivia ripis; + 

Quæ, diversa locis, partim sorbentur ab ipsa; + 

In mare perveniunt partim, campoque recepta + 

Liberioris aquæ, pro ripis litora pulsant. + 

Ovid, Metamorphoses I 39 + 

He confined the rivers within their sloping banks, + 

Which in different places are part absorbed by the earth, + 

Part reach the sea, and being received within the plain + 

Of its freer waters, beat the shore for banks. + 