Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/187

VIII. To press my bed hereafter; here to sleep Will little please them, fondly as they love. But these my toils and tangles will suffice To hold them here, till Jove shall yield me back Complete, the sum of all my nuptial gifts Paid to him for the shameless strumpet's sake His daughter, as incontinent as fair. He said, and in the brazen-floor'd abode Of Jove the Gods assembled. Neptune came Earth-circling Pow'r; came Hermes friend of man, And, regent of the far-commanding bow, Apollo also came; but chaste reserve Bashful kept all the Goddesses at home. The Gods, by whose beneficence all live, Stood in the portal; infinite arose The laugh of heav'n, all looking down intent On that shrewd project of the smith divine, And, turning to each other, thus they said. Bad works speed ill. The slow o'ertakes the swift. So Vulcan, tardy as he is, by craft Hath outstript Mars, although the fleetest far Of all who dwell in heav'n, and the light-heel'd Must pay the adult'rer's forfeit to the lame. So spake the Pow'rs immortal; then the King Of radiant shafts thus question'd Mercury. Jove's son, heaven's herald, Hermes, bounteous God! Would'st thou such stricture close of bands endure For golden Venus lying at thy side?