Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/154



now, fair daughter of the dawn,

Sprinkled with rosy light the dewy lawn,

When Jove convened the senate of the skies,

Where high Olympus' cloudy tops arise.

The sire of gods his awful silence broke;

The heavens attentive trembled as he spoke:

"Celestial states, immortal gods! give ear,

Hear our decree, and reverence what ye hear;

The fixed decree which not all heaven can move;

Thou, Fate, fulfil it, and ye, Powers, approve;

What god but enters yon forbidden field,

Who yields assistance, or but wills to yield;

Back to the skies with shame he shall be driven,

Gashed with dishonest wounds, the scorn of heaven:

Or far, oh far from steep Olympus thrown,

Low in the dark Tartarean gulf shall groan,

With burning chains fixed to the brazen floors,

And locked by hell's inexorable doors;

As deep beneath the infernal centre hurled,