Homer ILIAD : Rhapsody 14

Page 7

But her Venus, the daughter of Jove, then answered: "Juno, venerable goddess, daughter of mighty Saturn, declare whatsoever thou dost meditate; for my mind urges me to accomplish it, if indeed I can accomplish it, and if it be practicable."

But her the venerable Juno, meditating guile, addressed: "Give now to me that loveliness and desire with which thou dost subdue all, immortals, and mortal men; for I go to visit the limits of the fertile earth, and Oceanus, the parent of the gods, and mother Tethys; who, receiving me from Rhea, nurtured and educated me with care in their abodes, when far-resounding Jove cast down Saturn beneath the earth and the fruitless sea. These I go to visit, and I will put an end to eternal quarrels.[467] For already have they abstained for a length of time from the couch and embrace of each other, since anger fell upon their mind. But if, by persuading their hearts by my words, I should lead them back to the bed, to be united in love, then should I always be called by them beloved and revered."

[Footnote 467: These passages were regarded by the ancients as referring to the perpetual strife of the elements. Thus Plato, in Theaetet. says: [Greek: Omeros eipon, Okeanon te theon genesin, kai metera Tethun, panta eireken ekgona poes te kai kineseos]. See Sextus Empir. adv. Grammat. i. 13, p. 280, ed. Fabr.; Stobaeus, Ecl. i. 11. Grote, vol. i. p. 16, note, observes that, "Oceanus and Tethys seem to be presented in the Iliad as the primitive father and mother of the gods," although he says that "Uranos and Gaea, like Oceanus, Tethys, and Nyx, are with Homer great and venerable gods, but neither the one nor the other present the character of predecessors of Kronos and Zeus."]

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