Page 152 - the-iliad

said to Minerva, ‘Alas, child of aegis-bearing Jove, shall you
and I take no more thought for the dying Danaans, though
it be the last time we ever do so? See how they perish and
come to a bad end before the onset of but a single man. Hec-
tor the son of Priam rages with intolerable fury, and has
already done great mischief.’
Minerva answered, ‘Would, indeed, this fellow might
die in his own land, and fall by the hands of the Achaeans;
but my father Jove is mad with spleen, ever foiling me, ever
headstrong and unjust. He forgets how often I saved his son
when he was worn out by the labours Eurystheus had laid
on him. He would weep till his cry came up to heaven, and
then Jove would send me down to help him; if I had had
the sense to foresee all this, when Eurystheus sent him to
the house of Hades, to fetch the hell-hound from Erebus, he
would never have come back alive out of the deep waters of
the river Styx. And now Jove hates me, while he lets Thetis
have her way because she kissed his knees and took hold
of his beard, when she was begging him to do honour to
Achilles. I shall know what to do next time he begins call-
ing me his grey-eyed darling. Get our horses ready, while
I go within the house of aegis-bearing Jove and put on my
armour; we shall then find out whether Priam’s son Hector
will be glad to meet us in the highways of battle, or whether
the Trojans will glut hounds and vultures with the fat of
their flesh as they be dead by the ships of the Achaeans.’
Thus did she speak and white-armed Juno, daughter of
great Saturn, obeyed her words; she set about harnessing
her gold-bedizened steeds, while Minerva daughter of ae-

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