Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/90

72 showed the immortal blood as it flowed from the wound, and cried: "Father Zeus, canst thou contain thyself, seeing such deeds as these? See now this daughter of thine, how she is bent on evil and mischief. All we that dwell in Olympus are obedient to thee; but her thou checkest not with word or deed; she is thy child, forsooth, a very child of mischief. And now she hath set on this bold Diomed to wreak his madness on the immortal gods: first he wounded Aphrodité on the wrist; then he rushed on me; my swift feet bare me away, else surely I had suffered the pains of death among the carcasses of the slain."

But Zeus frowned on him, and spake: "Come not to me with thy complaints, for of all the Olympian gods thou vexest me the most, for battle and strife are ever dear to thee. 'Tis thy mother Hera that hath put thee to this pain. Yet I may not suffer thee to endure the anguish any more, for thou art my child; verily, hadst thou been the offspring of any other god, thou hadst lain long since deep down in Tartarus below the giant race."

Then Zeus called Pæon the healer, and bade