htway and fell down humbly before the throne
of Zeus, and said, "O thou that dwellest in the pure aether far above
the dark cloud, my hands are foul with blood, and thou alone canst
cleanse them; therefore purge mine iniquity, lest all living things
die throughout the wide earth."

Then the undying gods were summoned to the judgment seat of Zeus. By
the side of the son of Kronos stood Hermes, ever bright and fair, the
messenger who flies on his golden sandals more swiftly than a dream;
but fairer and more glorious than all who stood near his throne was
the lady Here, the queen of the blue heaven. On her brow rested the
majesty of Zeus and the glory of a boundless love which sheds gladness
on the teeming earth and the broad sea. And even as he stood before
the judgment-seat, the eyes of Ixion rested with a strange yearning on
her undying beauty, and he scarce heard the words which cleansed him
from blood-guiltiness.

So Ixion tarried in the house of Zeus, far above in the pure aether,
where only the light clouds weave a fairy net-work at the rising and
setting of the sun. Day by day his glance rested more warm and loving
on the countenance of the lady Here, and Zeus saw that her heart, too,
was kindled by a strange love, so that a fierce wrath was stirred
within him.

Presently he called Hermes, the messenger, and said, "Bring up from
among the children of Nephele one who shall wear the semblance of the
lady Here, and place her in the path of Ixion when he wanders forth on
the morrow." So Hermes sped away on his errand, and on that day Ixion
spake secretly with Here, and tempted her to fly from the house of
Zeus. "Come with me," he said; "the winds of heaven can not vie in
speed with my deathless horses, and the palace of Zeus is but as the
house of the dead by the side of my glorious home." Then the heart of
Ixion bounded with a mighty delight, as he heard the words of Here.
"To-morrow I will meet thee in the land of the children of Nephele."
So on the morrow when the light clouds had spread their fairy net-work
over the heaven, Ixion stole away from the house of Zeus to meet the
lady Here. As he went, the fairy web faded from the sky, and it seemed
to him that the lady Here stood before him in all her beauty. "Here,
great queen of the unstained heaven," he said, "come with me, for I am
worthy of thy love, and I quail not for all the majesty of Zeus." But
even as he stretched forth his arms, the bright form vanished