in thy heart thou didst shrink
from his love; and he then swore a mighty oath that thou shouldst never
be called the bride of an immortal god. Yet he ceased not from spying
thee against thy will, until reverend Themis declared to him the whole
truth, how that it was thy fate to bear a son mightier than his sire;
wherefore he gave thee up, for all his desire, fearing lest another
should be his match and rule the immortals, and in order that he might
ever hold his own dominion. But I gave thee the best of the sons of
earth to be thy husband, that thou mightest find a marriage dear to thy
heart and bear children; and I summoned to the feast the gods, one and
all. And with my own hand I raised the bridal torch, in return for
the kindly honour thou didst pay me. But come, let me tell a tale that
erreth not. When thy son shall come to the Elysian plain, he whom now
in the home of Cheiron the Centaur water-nymphs are tending, though
he still craves thy mother milk, it is fated that he be the husband
of Medea, Aeetes' daughter; do thou aid thy daughter-in-law as a
mother-in-law should, and aid Peleus himself. Why is thy wrath so
steadfast? He was blinded by folly. For blindness comes even upon
the gods. Surely at my behest I deem that Hephaestus will cease from
kindling the fury of his flame, and that Aeolus, son of Hippotas, will
check his swift rushing winds, all but the steady west wind, until they
reach the havens of the Phaeacians; do thou devise a return without
bane. The rocks and the tyrannous waves are my fear, they alone, and
them thou canst foil with thy sisters' aid. And let them not fall in
their helplessness into Charybdis lest she swallow them at one gulp, or
approach the hideous lair of Scylla, Ausonian Scylla the deadly, whom
night-wandering Hecate, who is called Crataeis, [1406] bare to Phoreys,
lest swooping upon them with her horrible jaws she destroy the chiefest
of the heroes. But guide their ship in the course where there shall be
still a hair's breadth escape from destruction."

(ll. 833-841) Thus she spake, and Thetis answered with these words: "If
the fury of the ravening flame and the stormy winds cease in very deed,
surely will I promise boldly to save the ship, even though the waves bar
the way, if only the west wind blows fresh and clear. But it is time to
fare on a long and measureless path, in quest of my sisters who will aid
me, and to the spot where the ship's hawsers are fastened, that at earl