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النشر الإلكتروني

Upon the ground, and no man dared to drink
Who had not paid to Saturn's mighty son
The due libation. Then they laid them down
To rest, and so received the balm of sleep.

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BOOK VIII.

OW morn in saffron rooes had shed her light

Now

O'er all the earth, when Jove the Thunderer
Summoned the gods to council on the heights
Of many-peaked Olympus. He addressed
The assembly, and all listened as he spake :-
"Hear, all ye gods and all ye goddesses!
While I declare the thought within

my breast.

Let none of either sex presume to break
The law I give, but cheerfully obey,
That my design may sooner be fulfilled.
Whoever, stealing from the rest, shall seek
To aid the Grecian cause, or that of Troy,
Back to Olympus, scourged and in disgrace,
Shall he be brought, or I will seize and hurl
The offender down to rayless Tartarus,

Deep, deep in the great gulf below the earth,
With iron gates and threshold forged of brass,
As far beneath the shades as earth from heaven.

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Then shall he learn how greatly I surpass
All other gods in power. Try if ye will,

Ye gods, that all may know: suspend from heaven

A golden chain; let all the immortal host

Cling to it from below: ye could not draw,

Strive as ye might, the all-disposing Jove

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From heaven to earth. And yet, if I should choose

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To draw it upward to me, I should lift,

With it and you, the earth itself and sea
Together, and I then would bind the chain.
Around the summit of the Olympian mount,
And they should hang aloft. So far my power
Surpasses all the power of gods and men.”

He spake; and all the great assembly, husned
In silence, wondered at his threatening words,
Until at length the blue-eyed Pallas said:—

"Our Father, son of Saturn, mightiest Among the potentates, we know thy power Is not to be withstood, yet are we moved With pity for the warlike Greeks, who bear An evil fate and waste away in war.

If such be thy command, we shall refrain

From mingling in the combat, yet will aid

The Greeks with counsel which may be their guide,
Lest by thy wrath they perish utterly.”

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The Cloud-compeller Jove replied, and smiled:"Tritonia, daughter dear, be comforted.

I spake not in the anger of

my heart,

And I have naught but kind intents for thee.”
He spake, and to his chariot yoked the steeds,
Fleet, brazen-footed, and with flowing manes
Of gold, and put his golden armor on,
And took the golden scourge, divinely wrought,
And, mounting, touched the coursers with the lash
To urge them onward. Not unwillingly

Flew they between the earth and starry heaven,

Until he came to Ida, moist with springs

And nurse of savage beasts, and to the height
Of Gargarus, where lay his sacred field,

And where his fragrant altar fumed. He checked
Their course, and there the Father of the gods
And men released them from the yoke and caused
A cloud to gather round them. Then he sat,
Exulting in the fulness of his might,
Upon the summit, whence his eye beheld

The towers of Ilium and the ships of Greece.

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Now in their tents the long-haired Greeks had shared 65

A hasty meal, and girded on their arms.

The Trojans, also, in their city armed

Themselves for war, as cager for the fight,
Though fewer; for a hard necessity
Forced them to combat for their little ones

And wives. They set the city-portals wide,
And forth the people issued, foot and horse
Together, and a mighty din arose.

And now,
when host met host, their shields and spears
Were mingled in disorder; men of might
Encountered, cased in mail, and bucklers clashed

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Their bosses; loud the clamor: cries of pain
And boastful shouts arose from those who fell
And those who slew, and earth was drenched with blood.
While yet 't was morning, and the holy light
Of day grew bright, the men of both the hosts
Were smitten and were slain; but when the sun
Stood high in middle heaven, the All-Father took
His golden scales, and in them laid the fates.
Which bring the sleep of death,—the fate of those
Who tamed the Trojan steeds, and those who warred
For Greece in brazen armor. By the midst

He held the balance, and, behold, the fate

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Of Greece in that day's fight sank down until

It touched the nourishing earth, while that of Troy

Rose and flew upward toward the spacious heaven.

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