Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/122

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HESIOD.
He cast forth dews of blood, and signal thusOf 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 thenCycnus, the son of Zeus unmatched in strengthAiming to slay, against the buckler struckHis brazen lance, but through the metal plateBroke not. The present of a god preserved.On the other side, he of Amphitryon named,Strong Heracles, between the helm and shieldDrave his long spear, and, underneath the chinThrough the bare neck smote violent and swift.The murderous ashen beam at once the nervesTwain of the neck cleft sheer: for all the manDropped, and his force went from him: down he fellHeadlong. As falls a thunder-blasted oak,Or perpendicular rock, riven with the flashOf 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

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