The Iliad of Homer


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"Why comes my goddess from the ethereal sky,  
And not her steeds and flaming chariot nigh?"  
Then she--"I haste to those remote abodes  
Where the great parents of the deathless gods,  
The reverend Ocean and gray Tethys, reign,  
On the last limits of the land and main.  
I visit these, to whose indulgent cares  
I owe the nursing of my tender years:  
For strife, I hear, has made that union cease  
Which held so long that ancient pair in peace.  
The steeds, prepared my chariot to convey  
O'er earth and seas, and through the aerial way,  
Wait under Ide: of thy superior power  
To ask consent, I leave the Olympian bower;  
Nor seek, unknown to thee, the sacred cells  
Deep under seas, where hoary Ocean dwells."  
"For that (said Jove) suffice another day!  
But eager love denies the least delay.  
Let softer cares the present hour employ,  
And be these moments sacred all to joy.  
Ne'er did my soul so strong a passion prove,  
Or for an earthly, or a heavenly love:  
Not when I press'd Ixion's matchless dame,  
529  


Page
527 528 529 530 531

Quick Jump
1 245 490 735 980