Page:Ante-Nicene Christian Library Vol 2.djvu/413

Rh or by Arês in her soul:

He who was terrible in battle, the ally of Zeus against the Titans, is shown to be weaker than Diomedes:

Hush! Homer, a god never rages. But you describe the god to me as blood-stained, and the bane of mortals:

and you tell of his adultery and his bonds:

Do they not pour forth impious stuff of this sort in abundance concerning the gods? Ouranos is castrated; Kronos is bound, and thrust down to Tartarus; the Titans revolt; Styx dies in battle: yea, they even represent them as mortal; they are in love with one another; they are in love with human beings:

Are they not in love? Do they not suffer? Nay, verily, they are gods, and desire cannot touch them! Even though a god assume flesh in pursuance of a divine purpose, is he therefore the slave of desire?

For never yet did such a flood of love, For goddess or for mortal, fill my soul; Not for Ixion's beauteous wife, who bore Pirithöus, sage in council as the gods; Nor the neat-footed maiden Danäe, Acrisius' daughter, her who Perséus bore, Th' observ'd of all; nor noble Phœnix' child; . . . . . nor for Semele;