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HESIOD.
He cast forth dews of blood, and signal thus
Of onset gave to his high-daring son."
—E. 506-522.
Of onset gave to his high-daring son."
—E. 506-522.
The simile of the dislodged rocks reminds us of Hector's onslaught in the thirteenth book of the Iliad; but the poetical figure of the cities re-echoing the din and clamour of the conflict, and the portent of the bloody rain-drops, are due to Hesiod's own imagination. Close following upon these comes a tissue of similes, so prodigally strewn that they strike the critical as later interpolations. The issue of the fight is conceived in a more genuine strain:—
"Truly then
Cycnus, the son of Zeus unmatched in strength
Aiming to slay, against the buckler struck
His brazen lance, but through the metal plate
Broke not. The present of a god preserved.
On the other side, he of Amphitryon named,
Strong Heracles, between the helm and shield
Drave his long spear, and, underneath the chin
Through the bare neck smote violent and swift.
The murderous ashen beam at once the nerves
Twain of the neck cleft sheer: for all the man
Dropped, and his force went from him: down he fell
Headlong. As falls a thunder-blasted oak,
Or perpendicular rock, riven with the flash
Of Zeus, in smouldering smoke is hurled from high,
So fell he."
—E. 558-573.
Cycnus, the son of Zeus unmatched in strength
Aiming to slay, against the buckler struck
His brazen lance, but through the metal plate
Broke not. The present of a god preserved.
On the other side, he of Amphitryon named,
Strong Heracles, between the helm and shield
Drave his long spear, and, underneath the chin
Through the bare neck smote violent and swift.
The murderous ashen beam at once the nerves
Twain of the neck cleft sheer: for all the man
Dropped, and his force went from him: down he fell
Headlong. As falls a thunder-blasted oak,
Or perpendicular rock, riven with the flash
Of Zeus, in smouldering smoke is hurled from high,
So fell he."
—E. 558-573.
Hercules, so far victorious, awaits the onset of the bereaved war-god with a devout needfulness of his assessor's injunctions. She from her seat at his side interposes to apprise Ares that any attempt at revenge
