Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/165

493—541 Their car in fragments scattered o'er the sky;

My lightning these rebellious shall confound,

And hurl them flaming, headlong to the ground,

Condemned for ten revolving years to weep

The wounds impressed by burning thunder deep.

So shall Minerva learn to fear our ire,

Nor dare to combat hers and nature's sire.

For Juno, headstrong and imperious still,

She claims some title to transgress our will."

Swift as the wind the various-coloured Maid

From Ida's top her golden wings displayed;

To great Olympus' shining gates she flies,

There meets the chariot rushing down the skies,

Restrains their progress from the bright abodes,

And speaks the mandate of the sire of gods:

"What frenzy, goddesses! what rage can move

Celestial minds to tempt the wrath of Jove?

Desist, obedient to his high command;

This is his word: and know his word shall stand.

His lightning your rebellion shall confound,

And hurl ye headlong, flaming to the ground:

Your horses crushed beneath the wheels shall lie,

Your car in fragments scattered o'er the sky;

Yourselves condemned ten rolling years to weep

The wounds impressed by burning thunder deep.

So shall Minerva learn to fear his ire,

Nor dare to combat hers and nature's sire.

For Juno, headstrong and imperious still,

She claims some title to transgress his will.

But thee, what desperate insolence has driven,

To lift thy lance against the king of heaven?"

Then, mounting on the pinions of the wind,

She flew; and Juno thus her rage resigned:

"O daughter of that god, whose arm can wield

The avenging bolt, and shake the dreadful shield!

No more let beings of superior birth

Contend with Jove for this low race of earth:

Triumphant now, now miserably slain,

They breathe or perish as the fates ordain.

But Jove's high counsels full effect shall find,

And, ever constant, ever rule mankind."

She spoke, and backward turned her steeds of light,

Adorned with manes of gold, and heavenly bright.

The Hours unloosed them, panting as they stood,

And heaped their mangers with ambrosial food.

There tied, they rest in high celestial stalls;

The chariot propped against the crystal walls.

The pensive goddesses, abashed, controlled,

Mix with the gods, and fill their seats of gold.