Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/278

But dare not murmur, dare not vent a sigh;
Thy own loved boasted offspring lies o'erthrown,
If that loved boasted offspring be thy own."
⁠Stern Mars, with anguish for his slaughtered son,
Smote his rebelling breast, and fierce begun:
"Thus then, immortals! thus shall Mars obey?
Forgive me, gods, and yield my vengeance way:
Descending first to yon forbidden plain,
The god of battles dares avenge the slain;
Dares, though the thunder bursting o'er my head
Should hurl me blazing on those heaps of dead."
⁠With that, he gives command to Fear and Flight
To join his rapid coursers for the fight:
Then grim in arms, with hasty vengeance flies;
Arms, that reflect a radiance through the skies.
And now had Jove, by bold rebellion driven,
Discharged his wrath on half the host of heaven;
But Pallas, springing through the bright abode,
Starts from her azure throne to calm the god.
Struck for the immortal race with timely fear,
From frantic Mars she snatched the shield and spear;
Then the huge helmet lifting from his head,
Thus to the impetuous homicide she said:
⁠"By what wild passion, furious! art thou tossed?
Strivest thou with Jove? thou art already lost.
Shall not the Thunderer's dread command restrain,
And was imperial Juno heard in vain?
Back to the skies wouldst thou with shame be driven,
And in thy guilt involve the host of heaven?
Ilion and Greece no more shall Jove engage;
The skies would yield an ampler scene of rage,
Guilty and guiltless find an equal fate,
And one vast ruin whelm the Olympian state.
Cease then thy offspring's death unjust to call;
Heroes as great have died, and yet shall fall.
Why should heaven's law with foolish man comply,
Exempted from the race ordained to die?"^[1]
⁠This menace fixed the warrior to his throne:
Sullen he sat, and curbed the rising groan.
Then Juno called, Jove's orders to obey,
The winged Iris, and the god of day.
"Go wait the Thunderer's will," Saturnia cried,
"On yon tall summit of the fountful Ide:

There in the Father's awful presence stand,

1. This is very obscurely expressed, and, indeed, is not grammatical. "Exempted" should be "exempting him from." Cowper translates:

       "Gods themselves must yield
   Their human offspring to the stroke of fate."