Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/101

This page has been validated.
THE THEOGONY.
87
With silver whirlpools twined with many a maze,It falls into the deep: one stream aloneGlides from the rock, a mighty bane to gods.Who of immortals, that inhabit stillOlympus topped with snow, libation poursAnd is forsworn, he one whole year entireLies reft of breath, nor yet approaches onceThe nectared and ambrosial sweet repast:But still reclines on the spread festive couchMute, breathless: and a mortal lethargyO'erwhelms him; but his malady absolvedWith the great round of the revolving year,More ills on ills afflictive seize: nine yearsFrom everlasting deities remoteHis lot is cast: in council nor in feastOnce joins he, till nine years entire are full.•••••••So great an oath the deities of heavenDecreed the waters incorruptible,Ancient, of Styx, who sweeps with wandering waveA rugged region: where of dusky Earth,And darksome Tartarus, and Ocean waste,And the starred Heaven, the source and boundarySuccessive rise and end: a dreary wildAnd ghastly, e'en by deities abhorred."—E. 1038-1072.

Such, according to Hesiod, are the surroundings of the infernal prison-house which received the vanquished Titans when Jove's victory was assured. Not yet, however, could he rest from his toil: he had yet to scotch the half-serpent, half-human Typhœus, the offspring of a new union betwixt Earth and Tartarus,—a monster so terror-inspiring by means of its hundred heads and voices to match, that Olympus might well dread another and

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.