ng'd replied,
Coerulean-tress'd Sovereign of the Deep!
Shall I report to Jove, harsh as it is,
Thy speech, or wilt thou soften it? The wise
Are flexible, and on the elder-born 250
Erynnis, with her vengeful sisters, waits.[7]
Her answer'd then the Shaker of the shores.
Prudent is thy advice, Iris divine!
Discretion in a messenger is good
At all times. But the cause that fires me thus, 255
And with resentment my whole heart and mind
Possesses, is the license that he claims
To vex with provocation rude of speech
Me his compeer, and by decree of Fate
Illustrious as himself; yet, though incensed, 260
And with just cause, I will not now persist.
But hear--for it is treasured in my heart
The threat that my lips utter. If he still
Resolve to spare proud Ilium in despite
Of me, of Pallas, Goddess of the spoils, 265
Of Juno, Mercury, and the King of fire,
And will not overturn her lofty towers,
Nor grant immortal glory to the Greeks,
Then tell him thus--hostility shall burn,
And wrath between us never to be quench'd. 270
So saying, the Shaker of the shores forsook
The Grecian host, and plunged into the deep,
Miss'd by Achaia's heroes. Then, the cloud-Assembler
God thus to Apollo spake.
Hence, my Apollo! to the Trojan Chief 275
Hector; for earth-encircler Neptune, awed
By fear of my displeasure imminent,
Hath sought the sacred Deep. Else, all the Gods
Who compass Saturn in the nether realms,
Had even there our contest heard, I ween, 280
And heard it loudly. But that he retreats
Although at first incensed, shunning my wrath,
Is salutary both for him and me,
Whose difference else had not been healed with ease.
Take thou my shaggy AEgis, and with force 285
Smiting it, terrify the Chiefs of Greece.
As for illustrious Hector, him I give
To thy peculiar care; fail not to rouse
His fiercest courage, till he push the Greeks
To Hellespont, and to their ships again; 290
Thenceforth to yield to their afflicted host
Some pause from toil, shall be my own concern.
He ended, nor Apollo disobey'd
His father's voice; from the Idaean heights,
Swift as the swiftest of the fowls of air, 295
The dove-destroyer falcon, down he