Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/79

Rh And Iris, swift as the winds, took her by the hand, and led her out of the press, for she was tormented with the pain. She found Ares on the left of the field, and knelt before him, begging for his horses with many prayers. "Help me, dear brother," she said, "and lend me thy horses to carry me to Olympus, for I am tormented with a wound which a mortal man gave me, even Diomed, who would fight with Father Zeus himself."

Then Ares gave her his chariot, and Iris took the reins, and touched the horses with the whip. Speedily came they to Olympus, and then Iris reined in the horses, and Aphrodité fell on the lap of her mother Dioné, who took her daughter in her arms, and caressed her, saying:—

"Dear child, which of the immortals hath harmed thee thus?"

Aphrodité answered, "No immortal hath done it, but a mortal man, even Diomed, who now fighteth with the immortal gods."

But Dioné answered: "Bear up and endure thy pain, for many who dwell in Olympus have suffered pain at the hands of mortal men. So