Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/267

Book XI. Of Neptune to have shared, to whom she bore Two sons; short-lived they were, but godlike both, Otus and Ephialtes far-renown'd. Orion sole except, all-bounteous Earth Ne'er nourish'd forms for beauty or for size To be admired as theirs; in his ninth year Each measur'd, broad, nine cubits, and the height Was found nine ells of each. Against the Gods Themselves they threaten'd war, and to excite The din of battle in the realms above. To the Olympian summit they essay'd To heave up Ossa, and to Ossa's crown Branch-waving Pelion; so to climb the heav'ns. Nor had they failed, maturer grown in might, To accomplish that emprize, but them the son Of radiant-hair'd Latona and of Jove Slew both, ere yet the down of blooming youth Thick-sprung, their cheeks or chins had tufted o'er. Phædra I also there, and Procris saw, And Ariadne for her beauty praised, Whose sire was all-wise Minos. Theseus her From Crete toward the fruitful region bore Of sacred Athens, but enjoy'd not there, For, first, she perish'd by Diana's shafts In Dia, Bacchus witnessing her crime.