Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/155

20—68 As from that centre to the ethereal world.

Let him who tempts me, dread those dire abodes;

And know, the Almighty is the god of gods.

League all your forces, then, ye powers above,

Join all, and try the omnipotence of Jove:

Let down our golden everlasting chain,

Whose strong embrace holds heaven and earth and main:

Strive all, of mortal and immortal birth,

To drag, by this, the Thunderer down to earth,

Ye strive in vain! if I but stretch this hand,

I heave the gods, the ocean, and the land;

I fix the chain to great Olympus' height,

And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight;

For such I reign, unbounded and above;

And such are men and gods, compared to Jove."

The Almighty spoke, nor durst the powers reply;

A reverent horror silenced all the sky;

Trembling they stood before their sovereign's look;

At length his best beloved, the power of wisdom, spoke:

"O first and greatest! God, by gods adored!

We own thy might, our father and our lord!

But, ah! permit to pity human state:

If not to help, at least lament their fate.

From fields forbidden we submiss refrain,

With arms unaiding mourn our Argives slain;

Yet grant my counsels still their breasts may move,

Or all must perish in the wrath of Jove."

The cloud-compelling god her suit approved,

And smiled superior on his best-beloved.

Then called his coursers, and his chariot took;

The steadfast firmament beneath them shook:

Rapt by the ethereal steeds the chariot rolled;

Brass were their hoofs, their curling manes of gold.

Of heaven's undrossy gold the god's array,

Refulgent, flashed intolerable day.

High on the throne he shines: his coursers fly

Between the extended earth and starry sky.

But when to Ida's topmost height he came,

Fair nurse of fountains, and of savage game,

Where, o'er her pointed summits proudly raised,

His fane breathed odours, and his altar blazed:

There, from his radiant car, the sacred sire

Of gods and men released the steeds of fire:

Blue ambient mists the immortal steeds embraced;

High on the cloudy point his seat he placed;

Thence his broad eye the subject world surveys,

The town, and tents, and navigable seas.

Now had the Grecians snatched a short repast,

And buckled on their shining arms with haste.