ite, or high-born
Themis, or grey-eyed Athene. Or perchance thou art one of the Graces
come hither, who dwell friendly with the Gods, and have a name to be
immortal; or of the nymphs that dwell in this fair glade, or in this fair
mountain, and in the well-heads of rivers, and in grassy dells. But to
thee on some point of outlook, in a place far seen, will I make an altar,
and offer to thee goodly victims in every season. But for thy part be
kindly, and grant me to be a man pre-eminent among the Trojans, and give
goodly seed of children to follow me; but for me, let me live long, and
see the sunlight, and come to the limit of old age, being ever in all
things fortunate among men."

Then Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus answered him:

"Anchises, most renowned of men on earth, behold no Goddess am I,--why
likenest thou me to the Immortals?--Nay, mortal am I, and a mortal mother
bare me, and my father is famous Otreus, if thou perchance hast heard of
him, who reigns over strong-warded Phrygia. Now I well know both your
tongue and our own, for a Trojan nurse reared me in the hall, and
nurtured me ever, from the day when she took me at my mother's hands, and
while I was but a little child. Thus it is, thou seest, that I well know
thy tongue as well as my own. But even now the Argus-slayer of the
Golden Wand hath ravished me away from the choir of Artemis, the Goddess
of the Golden Distaff, who loves the noise of the chase. Many nymphs,
and maids beloved of many wooers, were we there at play, and a great
circle of people was about us withal. But thence did he bear me away,
the Argus-slayer, he of the Golden Wand, and bore me over much tilled
land of mortal men, and many wastes unfilled and uninhabited, where wild
beasts roam through the shadowy dells. So fleet we passed that I seemed
not to touch the fertile earth with my feet. Now Hermes said that I was
bidden to be the bride of Anchises, and mother of thy goodly children.
But when he had spoken and shown the thing, lo, instantly he went back
among the immortal Gods,--the renowned Slayer of Argus. But I come to
thee, strong necessity being laid upon me, and by Zeus I beseech thee and
thy good parents,--for none ill folk may get such a son as thee,--by them
I implore thee to take me, a maiden as I am and untried in love, and show
me to thy father and thy discreet mother, and to thy brothers of one
lineage with thee. No unseemly daughter to these, and sister to those