Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/590

582 Had not Saturnian Jove with sudden note Perceived his purpose; with compassion touch'd Of the devoted Frogs the Sov'reign shook His brows, and thus the Deities address'd, I see a prodigy, ye Pow'rs divine! And, with no small amazement smitten, hear Prince Meridarpax menacing the Frogs With gen'ral extirpation. Haste—be quick— Dispatch we Pallas terrible in sight, Nor her alone, but also Mars, to quell With force combined the sanguinary Chief. So spake the Thund'rer, and thus Mars replied. Neither the force of Pallas, nor the force Of Mars, O Jove! will save the destin'd Frogs From swift destruction. Let us all descend To aid them, or, lest all suffice not, grasp And send abroad thy biggest bolt, thy bolt Tempestuous, terrour of the Titan race, By which those daring enemies thou flew'st, And didst coerce with adamantine chains Enceladus, and all that monstrous brood. He said, and Jove dismiss'd the smould'ring bolt. At his first thunder, to its base he shook The vast Olympian. Then—whirling about His forky fires, he launch'd them to the ground, And, as they left the Sov'reign's hand, the heart Of ev'ry Mouse quaked, and of ev'ry Frog. Yet ceas'd not, even at that shock, the Mice