Let us begin to sing of the Muses of Helicon first who
Have and inhabit their shrine on that large and numinous mountain.
Furthermore round some spring that is violet-coloured on tender
Feet they are dancing or round the altar of Zeus the almighty,
Bathing their delicate skin in the spring of Permessus or in the
Spring of the horse or of sacred Olmeius, they often create their
Lovely and beautiful dances on top of Mt Helicon's summit.
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Thence they arise and they go forth wholly enveloped in darkness,
Walking abroad in the night, projecting their beautiful voices,
Singing of Zeus who sustains the Aegis and reverend Hera,
Lady of Argos;--wherever she wanders her sandals are golden--
Hymning the daughter of Zeus who carries the aegis, Athena
With grey eyes, and Apollo and Artemis lover of arrows,
Also Poseidon who holds the earth and occasionally shakes it,
Reverend Themis and coy Aphrodite who glances askance, too,
Beautiful Hebe whose garland is gold and lovely Dione,
Leto, Iapetus, also Kronos whose counsel is crooked,
Dawn, the magnificent Sun, and the Moon with her radiant visage,
Earth and the might of the Ocean, and Night who personifies blackness,
All of the sacred race of immortals enduring forever.


Such are the goddesses who taught Hesiod beautiful songs once
While he was shepherding lambs in the shadow of Helicon's holy
Mountain, and these were the very first words they uttered to me, those
Nymphs of Olympus, the daughters of Zeus who carries the aegis.
"Wilderness shepherds, ignoble excuses for men, merely bellies.
We are accustomed to tell many lies that resemble the facts, and
We are accustomed to speak, when we wish to, the literal truth, too."
So the articulate daughters of Zeus the magnificent spoke, and
Gave me a staff, a sprout they had plucked of the vigorous laurel:
It was a marvellous thing. They inspired me with vocal, prophetic
Song, to enunciate matters to come and others that have been.
Me they commanded to sing of the race of the blessed immortals,
Hymning themselves at beginning and end of every poem.
What is, however, to me all that stuff about oaktrees and stones?


You, then, let us begin with the Muses who up on Olympus
Pleasure with music the mighty mind of our heavenly father,
Telling of things as they are, as they will be and were in aforetime.,
Blending their voices which flow inexhaustibly sweet from their open
Mouths; then the home of their father, loud-thundering Zeus, is delighted,
Glad at the delicate, wide-spread tone of the Muses, the peaks of
Snowy Olympus and all the abodes of the deathless reecho.
Raising aloft their ambrosial voices in song they extol the
Worshipful race of the gods first, whom at the very beginning
Earth and extensive heaven gave birth to: the gods were their children,
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Givers of good things. Second they sing about almighty Zeus the
Father of gods and of men, thus beginning and ending their song, for
Zeus is the highest and best of the gods and the greatest in power.
Next the Olympian Muses, the daughters of Zeus with the aegis,
Pleasure with music the mind of Zeus who inhabits Olympus,
Singing a song of the races of men and of powerful giants.


Them in Pieria Memory, queen of the hills of Eleuther,
After she lay with the father of gods, the descendant of Cronos,
Bore as a respite from woe and a means of forgetting all sorrow.
Zeus the astute great counsellor slept with Mnemoyne nine nights,
Going up into her blest bed far from the other immortals.
Then when a year had passed and the round of the seasons was perfect,
After the months dwindled down and the number of days was accomplished,
Memory bore nine daughters whose hearts were intent upon music;
All were unanimous also, their spirits remarkably carefree.
At birth little removed from the summit of snowy Olympus:
There were their glistening dancing-floors next to their beautiful houses.
Near them the Graces as well as Desire had homes in delightful
Comfort. The Muses, projecting their lovely voices from their mouths
Sing of the customs and noble characters of the immortals.
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They as they went to Olympus rejoiced in their beautiful voices
And their ambrosial melody. Around them the dark earth rang out
Loudly in time to their hymns. Sweet noises arose from their footsteps
As they progressed to their father who ruled as a monarch in heaven,
Holding the terrible thunderbolt, grasping the glittering lightning.
After he conquered with violence Cronos his father, he parceled
Out each his role to the gods and apportioned their duties and honours.
This was the song of the Muses who make their homes on Olympus,
Nine of them daughters engendered of almighty Zeus. And their names were
Cleio, Euterpe and Thalia, also Melpomene and her
Sister Terpsichore, lovely Erato, Polymnia, likewise
Blessed Urania, also Calliope, first of the Muses.
She is a hand-maid waiting on reverend princes. If any
One of these heavenly-nurtured princes the daughters of mighty
Zeus should be pleased to regard, on beholding him when he is new-born;
Over the tongue of that child they distill sweet liquor from heaven,
Out of his mouth flow honey-sweet words. And then all of the people
Look to the same who decides between differing sides with unbending
Righteousness; speaking decisively, firmly he can in a little
While understandingly put an end even to serious quarrels.
This is the function of sensible kings, that whenever the people
Err in assembly, the kings set right the affairs of the people
Easily, talking them over with soft words, gentle persuasion.
Making his way through the throng he is greeted and cheered like a god with
Honeyed respect, and he stands out always when men are assembled.
Such is the holy and glorious gift of the muses to mankind,
For it is thanks to the muses and to far-darting Apollo
That there are singers and poets on earth, and performers on harps; but
Kings are descended from Zeus. He's happy whomever the muses
Love and befriend; from his mouth flows speech that is sweeter than honey.
So, if a person through harboring grief in his freshly bereaved mind
Parches his heart with incessant distrees, and a wandering minstrel
Serving the muses then sings of the glorious doings of former
Men, and the blessed immortals who hold and inhabit Olympus,
Instantly he will forget disagreeable thoughts and remember
Nothing of sorrow; the gifts of the goddesses swiftly divert him.


Hail to the children of Zeus, give us a delectable song and
Publish the holy descent of immortals existing forever,
Those that of old were engendered of Earth and of star-spangled heaven
Or of mysterious night, even those that were bred by the salt sea.
Tell now how did the gods and the earth first come into being,
Rivers as well, and the limitless sea with its storm-driven swells, and
Also the twinkling stars and the wide-spread heaven above all.
Tell how the gods then divided their wealth and appointed their riches,
How they at first got hold of the heights of much-wrinkled Olympus.
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Tell me of these things, Muses that dwell on the heights of Olympus,
From the beginning, and say which first of them came into being.


First of all chaos came into existence, thereafter however
Broad-bosomed earth took form, the forever immovable seat of
All of the deathless gods who inhabit the heights of Olympus,
And murky Tartarus, tucked in a cleft of extensively travelled
Earth, also Eros, most beautifula god among all the immortals,
Loosening limbs, dominating the hearts and the minds and the well-laid
Plans both of all the immortals and all of susceptible mankind.


Next out of Chaos with Erebus black Night too was engendered,
And out of Night were the Aether and Daylight together begotten,
Whom she conceived after lying with Erebus lovingly, and bore.


Earth to begin with engendered her first born, star-studded Heaven,
Equal in size to herself, to conceal her on every side, in
Order to furnish a solid foundation for the blessed forever.
Next she gave birth to immense, high mountains, the pleasant retreats of
Goddesses, nymphs who inhabit the glens of the mountainous woodlands.
Also she bore the unfathomable deep with its wind-driven swells, the
Sea, but without the assistence of love or desire; after she had
Slept with Uranus (the Sky) she gave birth to the eddying Ocean,
Coios and Creios, Hyperion, Iapetus, Thea and Rhea,
Themis, Mnemosyne, golden-wreathed Phoebe and lovable Tethis;
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Heaven and Earth bore, last of their children, intelligent Cronos,
Their most redoubtable offspring, who hated his vigorous father.


Earth gave birth to the Cyclopes, superabundant in life-force,
Thunder, Lightning and Flash, who was powerful and stout-hearted,
Furnishing thunder to Zeus, manufacturing thunderbolts for him.
Similar were they in every other respect to the gods
Save that a singular eye was set in the midst of their foreheads.
Cyclopes were their eponymous nicknames, which is to say, "Round Eye,"
Seeing a singular circular eye was set in their foreheads.
Physical strength, brute force, and mechanical cunning their works showed.


Three other sons were engendered by heaven and earth, who were very
Mighty and powerful, not to be lightly or frequently mentioned,
Cottus, Briareus, Gyges, unruly and troublesome children,
For from their shoulders a hundred hands unattractively sprouted,
Likewise there grew from the shoulders of each fifty heads on their
Bodies. A strength irresistible went with their awful appearance.
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Such were the terrible children begotten by heaven on earth and
Loathed from the first by their very own father, who, when they were born,
Tucked them away in a hole in the earth, and prevented their coming
Up to the light; and Uranus rejoiced in his own evil-doing.
Earth though gigantic was painfully stuffed on the inside and groaned out
Loud. She was quick to develop a scheme both cunning and wicked;
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Swiftly creating an element, grey-coloured iron, of it she
Fashioned a great big sickle, and said to her dearly-loved children,
Speaking out boldly, courageously, although afraid in her own heart.
"My dear children, begotten, alas! of a reprobate father,
"Listen to me and obey: let us punish your father's wrong-doing,
He was the first to conceive of disgraceful and criminal conduct."


That's what she said. They were all of them frozen by fear, so that no one
Uttered a word, until mighty, intelligent Cronos took courage
And he addressed in the following words his worshipful mother:
"Mother, I would undertake to accomplish this deed, for I haven't
Any respect at all for our wretched, unspeakableable father
Who was the first to conceive such disgraceful and criminal conduct."


So he declared and magnificent earth was heartily gladdened.
Taking her son by his hand Earth hid him in ambush, and put a
Serrated scythe in his hand, and disclosed to him wholly her dire plot.
Bringing on night, great Uranus visited Gaia desiring
Amorous intimacy; he extended himself all around and
Over the earth, while his son from his ambush protruded his left hand,
Taking the formidable broad serrated blade in his right, he
Hastily cut off his own father's privates and cast them behind him.
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Nor did they fly from his his hand without profit, for Gaia accepted
All of the blood drops gushing therefrom. When the year was completed
Earth gave birth to the Furies as well as the big, strong giants
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Splendid in armour and carrying lances and swords in their large hands,
Also the nymphs that are called after ash trees over the boundless
Earth. So when Cronos had cut off those members with iron he threw them
Straight away down from the dry land in the tumultuous sea surge
Where they were carried along on the turbulent surface a long time.
Round the divine flesh rose up a colorless foam whence a maiden
Grew; who at first by the holy island of Cythera drifted,
Coming at length and at last to the wave-bound island of Cyprus,
Where the inspiring and beautiful goddess set foot, and the grass grew
Under her tapering feet, whom immortals and mortals together
Call Aphrodite because she was born from the spume of the sea, and
Beautifully wreathed Cytherea since she arrived at Cythera,
Cyprus-engendered because she was born on the sea-isle of Cyprus,
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Genital-loving because she had sprung from sexual organs.
Eros accompanied her, she was followed by comely Desire when
First she was born, and she entered at once the immortals' assembly.
Such were the honours allotted to her from the very beginning.
This was the destined business she played among men and immortals:
Maidenly whispers and smiles and giggles and girlish deception,
Pleasure exquisitely pleasant and love that is sweeter than honey.


Mighty Uranus, who was their father, sarcastically named the
Sons he himself had begotten, collectively, "strenous Titans",
Saying they'd striven outrageously, strenuously to perform a
Terrible deed, one for which they would surely be punished hereafter.


Night also bore reprehensible Doom and her relative black Fate;
She was delivered of Death and of Sleep and the legions of Nightmares.
Afterwards pitch black Night , who'd had intercourse really with no one,
Gave birth to bitter Reproach and to Suffering painful and poignant,
And the Hesperides who tend beautiful golden delicious
Apples beyond illustrious Ocean, and fruit-bearing trees, too;
Also she bore the implacable punishing Furies and three Fates,
Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, who at the hour of their birth give
Mankind their personal rations of bad luck and good for their lifetime.
As for the Furies, they prosecute human transgressions, divine too,
Nor do these goddesses ever relinquish their terrible anger
Till they repay with maleficent scrutiny every sinner.
Also deplorable Night bore Nemesis, who is the bane of
Mortals, and then in succession Deception as well as Affection;
Likewise lamentable Old Age bore she, and hard-hearted Conflict,
Yet was despicable Conflict the mother of dolorous Labour,
Brutish Forgetfulness, Hunger and Pains that reduce one to tears and
Battles and Fights of all kinds, like Homicide, Manslaughter, Murder,
Quarrels and Lies, Hard Words, Altercations, Disputes, even Law Suits,
Civil Disorder and Ruin, which go by their nature together,
Finally Oaths, which of all things on earth worst punishes men when
Anyone perjures himself deliberately and is forsworn.


Nereus, true, unforgetful and honest, was born of the Sea, the
Eldest of all of his children, so sometimes they call him the Old Man,
For he is truthful and gentle and never forgetful of justice,
Seeing that all of his knowledge tends towards kindness and healing.
Magical Thaumas and arrogant Phorcys again he engendered
After he coupled with Earth, in addition to pretty-cheeked Ceto
Handsome Eurybia with an immoveable heart in her bosom.


These are the loveliest goddesses ever conceived in the fallow
Sea, and begotten by Nereus mingled in passion with well-kempt
Doris, the daughter of Ocean, that perfectly circular river:
Proto, Eucrante and Sao, together with great Amphitrite,
Kindly Eudora and Thetis, Galena and Glauce the grey eyed
And Cymothoe and Speio, and Thoe and Halia, lovely
Faced Pasithea, Erato and Eunice who arms are outstandingly rosy,
Charming Melita and fair Eulimena and gracious Agave,
Doto and Proto and pleasing Pherousa and swift Dynamena,
Nisaea also, Actaea and Protmedea and Doris,
And Panopea and gorgeously formed Galatea and rosy-
Armed Hipponoe and and sexy and sweet Hippothoe, as well as
Slick Cymodoke who smooths out the billows and blasts of the goodly
Winds on the fog-covered face of the deep with Cymatolege's
Help and the help of neat-ankled divine Amphitrite;
Cymo and also Eione and beautifully-wreathed Alimede,
Plus Glauconome, whose pleasure is laughter, and Pontoporea
And Leagora. Euagora, Leomedea and fair Polynoe,
Lysianassa, Euarne (lovely to look at and wholesome
Naturally) and Psamathe as well with her perfect complexion,
Heavenly Menippe, Neso, Eupompe, Themisto, Pronoe,
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Lastly Nemertes whose intellect equals her deathless papa's.
These are the daughter of Nereus, knowledgeable in all good works.
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Thaumas was wed to Electra, a daughter of deep-rolling Ocean,
Who was the mother of swift-footed Iris as well as the hairy
Harpies, Aello and swift Ocypetes, whose quick-moving wings kept
Up with the blasts of the winds and the birds, flying quickly as Time
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Ceto delivered to Phorcys the Graiai with beautiful faces
Who had been grey-haired since birth, so that both the immortals and
Men who inhabit the whole earth call them "old Women" or Graiai,
Violet-garbed Pamphedo, Eyo whose garment is saffron;
Also the Gorgons who dwell far beyond the illustrious Ocean
Out on the borders of Night with the shrill-voiced daughters of
These being Sthenno, Euryale and gruesome Medusa who suffered
Grievously: she was the one who was mortal, the others immortal.
But with Medusa alone black haired Poseidon would lie in
Deep and luxuriant meadows amid all the flowers of springtime.
Later, when Perseus cut off her head, there sprang from her blood great
Chrysaor, also the winged horse Pegasus, namely the "Spring-Sprung"
Seeing he sprang from the springs that surround the headwaters of Ocean.
Chrysaor (Gold Sword) was so called from his grasping a golden
Sword. Winged Pegasus, flying away left behind him the earth, the
Mother of flocks, and approached the immortals and dwells in the halls of
Zeus where he brings the Dispenser of Council his thunder and lightning,
Meanwhile Chrysaor, having seduced Callirhoe the daughter of far-famed
Ocean, begot fell Geryon who had three heads on his shoulders,
Whom overmuscular Heracles killed on the isle Erytheia
The same day that he drove off his broad-browed rambling cattle
Even to blessed Tyrins, transversing the fords of the Ocean
After he'd murdered the herdsman, Eurytion, also his kinsman
Orthus who lived in a dim homestead beyond glorious Ocean.
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Ceto gave birth to another impossible monster resembling
Neither in any respect mere mortals or godly immortals,
Deep in a cavernous hole in the earth, strong-minded Echidna;
Half of her looked like a nymph, bright-glancing and fair of complexion,
Half of her looked like a monstrous serpent tremendous and dread with
Spots on her skin, who devoured raw flesh in the bowels of blest earth.
There was her cave underneath an immovable hollowed-out boulder
Far from the regions of men who are mortal and gods who are deathless;
There the Olympians gave her a glorious dwelling to live in
Under the soil of Arima in watchfulness, gruesome Echidna;
Deathless and ageless that nymph lives all of the days of her lifetime.
And with that bright-eyed maiden there coupled in sexual union,
So it is said, overbearing and lawless and terrible Typhon.
Pregnant, Echidna gave birth to the folowing murderous children.
Orthus was first to be born, fell Geryon's bloodthirsty hound dog.
Second she bore an indomitable, an unspeakable monster,
Cerberus, eater of raw flesh, Hades' stentorian watch dog.
Cerberus had fifty heads and was insolent, reckless and mighty.
Third she gave birth to the Hydra of Lerna with grisly ideas,
Nurtured by white-armed Hera's implacable hatred for strong-armed
Heracles, (heir of Amphitryon, by-blow of Zeus), who destroyed the
Beast with his pitiless bronze sword, helped by Iolaus and wily
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Warlike Athena. Now Hydra gave birth to Chimaera a great and
Terrible creature, exhaling unquenchable fire, fleet footed,
Strong, who possessed three heafs, of which one was a hideous lion's,
One was a goat's and the third was a serpent's, a dangerous dragon,
Lion in front, at the tail end a snake and a goat in the middle
Breathing a blast incandescent and blazing of withering fire.
Pegasus slew the Chimaera with noble Bellerophon's aid.


But then the Hydra submitting to Orthos gave birth to the deadly
Sphinx, the destruction of Thebes, and the lion that wasted Nemea,
Whom most respectable Hera the consort of Zeus educated
For devastating the foothills of Mount Nemea, a pest for
Men, as it preyed on the tribes of mankind who inhabited that land,
Lording it over Apesa and Tretus in hilly Nemea;
Nevertheless the superior strngth of great Hercales whipped it.


Finally Ceto, united in sexual congress with Phorcys,
Brought forth a terrible serpent which down in the hollows of dark earth
On its titanic perimeter watches the solid gold apples;
This is the fabulous progeney born to Ceto and Phorcys.


Tethys gave birth to the following turbulent rivers by Ocean,
Namely the Nile and the Alpheius, also the deep Eridanus,
Strymon, Menander, as well as the beautiful streams of the Danube,
Phasis and Rhesus and swift Achelous with its silvery current.
Nessus and Rhodion, deep Haliacmon and swift Heptaporos,
Granicus, even Aesopus and equally holy Simois,
Peneus. Hermus amd mighty Suggaris, smooth-flowing Caicus,
Ladon, Parthenius, placid Ardescus and sacred Scamander.
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Thetis gave birth to as well a divine generation of daughters
Who on the earth with his lordship Apollo as well as the rivers
Raise up the children of men, a vocation that Zeus has appointed:
Peitho, Admete, Ianthe, Electra and Doris and Prymno,
Heavenly-looking Urania, Hippo and Clymene also,
Rhodeia and Callirhoe and Zeuxo and Clytie, Iduia
And Pasithoe, Plexaura, Galaxaura and winsome Dione,
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Plus Melobosis and Thoe and sweet-to-behold Polydora,
Cerceis, naturally lovable, Pluto, and cow-eyed Perseis,
Ianeira, Acaste and Xanthe, Petreia and lovely Menestho,
Also Europa and Metis, as well as Euronyme and, in her yellow
Tunic, Telestho, Chriseis and Asia, delightful Calypso,
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Also Eudora and Tyche, Amphitro, and foremost of all them, Styx.
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These are the senior maidens born to the Ocean and Tethys,
But there are plenty of other trim-ankled and comely
Daughters of Ocean who, scattered about everywhere, altogether
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Service the earth and the deeps of the waters, a glorious goddess's
Children, and such are the other abrupt loud-babbling rivers,
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All of whose names it is hard for a man who is mortal to tell, but
Those who inhabit the country surrounding them know them in detail.


Theia, seduced by Hyperion, bore the magnificent Sun and
Radiant Moon, also Dawn who appears to all dwellers on earth and
To the immortals, the gods who inhabit the spaces of heaven.
Lying in congugal union with Crio, superb Eurybia
Bore to him mighty Astraeus and also magnificent Pallas,
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Perses as well, a preeminent sage as compared to all others.
Eos conceived by Astraeus the strong-willed winds, when the goddess
Lay in delight with the god: these were Zephyr, the scouring West Wind,
Boreas, rushing and fleet-footed North Wind and Notus the South Wind.
Afterwards early-born Eos gave birth to the stars that induct the
Dawn, and the rest of the glittering stars such as garland the heavens.


Styx, eldest daughter of Ocean, from sexual union with Pallas
Bore to him emulous Zelos and trim-ankled victorious, Nike,
There in their halls, also Kratos and Bios, or Strength and innate Force,
Glorious children, whose home was not anywhere other than Zeus's,
Having no place and no way save where the divinity led them,
But they are dwelling forever at Zeus the deep thunder's side as
Styx their unwithering mother the daughter of Ocean decided
On the same day the Olympian star-bright hurler of lightning
Summoned together the holy immortals to mighty Olympus,
Saying if one of the gods were to fight at his side with the Titans
He would not cast him aside from his rights but that everyone should
All of his previous honours and offices with the immortals.
Further he said that whoever had gone without honour or office
Under old Cronos would come into honours and offices justly.
Styx the undying was first of the gods in approaching Olympus,
Bringing her children, advised by her wise and affectionate father.
Zeus in his gratitude honoured her, giving her excellent presents,
Making her function to serve as the solemn oath of the great gods,
Making her children for all of their days coinhabitants with him.
Such and in so many words was his promise which he implemented
Thoroughly. Great is the power he wields and his kingship is mighty.


Phoebe anon entered into the comfortable bed of Coeus
Where she conceived the result of the love of a god for a goddess,
Then she gave birth to sub-fusc-robed Leto, eternally pleasant,
Kind to all men that are mortal and gods who of course are immortal,
Pleasantest from the beginning, agreeably mild on Olympus.
Next she gave birth to Asteria, well-named goddess whom Perses
Took home once to his marvellous house to be known as his dear wife.
She, being pregnant, gave birth unto Hecate Hell-cat whom highest
Zeus son of Cronos esteemed, and he gave her splendiferous presents,
Namely a part of the earth and her share in the fallow sea-bed;
She has an honourable place also in star-spangled heaven,
And she is glorified most of all by the gods who are deathless.
So nowadays when one of the earth-dwelling brethren performs the
Beautful rites in accordance with custom and prays to the gods he
Calls upon Hecate. Full and abundant the honour that follows
Easily him whose prayers the considerate goddess receives well,
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For of such as were born of the Earth and the Sky-God she also
Garnered respect, and of all she posseses the lot that is her due.
Zeus son of Cronos in nothing abused her and took nothing from her
That was in gift to the Titanic gods who came earlier, rather
She holds on, as at first the inital division decided,
And wields her ancient rights on the earth, on the sea and in heaven;
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But yet much more still Zeus presents her in kindness:
Sitting by reverend kings enthroned she assists them in judgement.
Him whom she wants to she mightily gives good things in abundance.
So in the forum of folk she advances the man whom she favours
And when for mortal combat men buckle their cuirasses up then,
Lo! there is Hecate also, and unto such men as she wishes
Easily offers victory, loading her servants with honour.
Fair is she likewise when men contend in their beautiful contests
For in that instance as well she is present to honour and profit
One who by strength and by prowess prevails in athletics and will with
Ease win first prize and elatedly bring it back home to his parents.
Nobly she stands by the horsmen she favours, and as for the sailors,
Men who work hard on the snot-coloured, comfortless sea when
Ever they pray unto her and the discordant, earth-moving Sea Lord,
Readily Hecate sends a great haul for their nets, but should that be her pleasure,
Readily takes it away when she wishes as soon as they've seen it.
Also she helps in the barn beside Hermes in feeding the livestock,
Herding the cattle; she droves congregations of wandering goats and
Flocks of shambling sheep; if she wishs she may increase them
Or may diminish their number, making a few out of many.
Thus as she is the only born child of her mother,
Thereafter she is honored among all the divine immortals
And Zeus made her the nanny of all mortal children
Who with their own eyes thereafter behold the light of the sunrise.
So she was born from the start the nurse of these children and these
Were her honors. But Rhea, submitting to Cronos bore splendid
Offspring, Hestia, also Demeter and Hera whose sandals are golden,
Powerful, strong-armed Hades who under the earth makes his dwelling
(Pitiless his disposition) Poseidon the crashing erathg-quaker
As well, and Zeus the far-planner, father of gods and of men too,
Under the force of whose thunder the wide earth shivers in terror.


These every one great Cronos gobbled down whole as they issued
Each from the womb of their sacred mother to sit on her lap, for
Thus he intended that no one else of the children of heaven
Should wield regal authority ever among the immortals.
For he had learned from Earth and from star-spangled heaven that he was
Doomed to be overcome by his very own son, namely Zeus,
Strong as he was through the plot of the same, though yet unconceived god
On this account he mounted no purblind vigil, but watching
Out, he devoured his offsring. Terrible grief possessed Rhea
When she was going to bear Zeus father of men and immortals;
Then she implored her own dear parents, Earth and star-strewn Heaven
To help her come up with some plan, how she might give birth in secret
To her own dear son, and how devious Time might be punished
For what he'd done to his father and for ingesting his children.
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Thoroughly they understood and obeyed their favourite daughter.
They foretold to her everything that was fated to happen
Concerning his majesy Cronos and his strong-minded son Zeus.
They sent Rhea to Lyctos, in the fertile country of Crete.
When she was ready she gave birth to the last of her children,
Great Zeus, and her Earth-mother took him from Rhea in broad Crete
To nourish the child and as matrilineal grandmother rear him.
Then came Earth in a hurry transporting the new-born child through the dark night
First into Lyctos, where taking the babe in her arms she concealed him
Deep in a high-roofed cave in the sacred earth in the secretive, hidden
Hollows beneath the luxuriant forests that clothe Mt Aegeum.
But to the earlier Lord of the gods, the scion of Heaven,
Earth proferred a great big rock that was wrapped up in swaddling
Bands, and he grabbed it and shoved it all the way down in his belly.
Nor did he guess in his heart hat his son, unhurt and unvanquished,
Had been left in lieu of a stone, and by force and the strength of his hands would
Soon subdue him and take all his honours and rule the immorrtals.
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Swifty therafter the strength and the glorious limbs of the new and
Future king were augmented and grew. As the years in their passage
Rolled on, great Cronos, whose counsels are crooked, misled by
Gaia's subtle persuasions, vomited up his own offspring.
But first he brought up the stone which was the last thing he had swallowed--
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Zeus erected that stone in the midst of the wide-travelled earth at
Pytho, that great, good place, under the bosky glens of Parnassus
To be a sign thereafter, a marvel to men who are mortal.


Then he unloosed from their grievous bonds all Cronos's brothers,
Heaven's descendants, whom Cronos their father had thoughtlessly put down.
And they rememberd their brother in gratitude for all his kind deeds
And in their gratitude gave him the thunder and dazzling lightning
Bolts which prodigious earth had concealed in her innermost parts. So
Trusting in these dread weapons he reigned over men and immortals.


Thereafter Iapetus married Climene beautiful daughter of Ocean,
Her of the shapely ankles, and led her up their bedroom.
Climene bore to her husband a stout-hearted son named Atlas.
Also she bore him Monoetius, highly respected, as well as
Clever Prometheus, toosharp-witted, and false Epimetheus
From the beginnng pernicious, an evil to wheat-eating mortals.
He was the first to receive from Zeus the maiden Pandora
Whom he had fashioned. But far-sighted Zeus dispatched Monoetius down to
Erebos gateway to Hades, striking him down with a blazing
Thunderbolt for his unreason and overwhelming presumption.
Atlas upholds the broad heavens by force of necessity at the
Ends of the earth where he stands near the Hesperides who sing
Purely, supporting the sky on his head and his muscular shoulders:
Such was the destiny that wise Zeus decided for Atlas.
He chained devious, wily Prometheus tightly in chains too
Tough to escape from, terrible bonds, and skewered his middle.
Furthermore on him he set a long-pinioned eagle to eat his
Immortal liver, which grew overnight just as much as that bird with
Tapering wings had eaten during the whole day preceding.
This big bird the courageous son of tapering-ankled Alcmene,
Heracles, killed, thus freeing Iapetus' son from that evil
Pest; on the spot he releaed him from all his discomfort and torment,
With the connivance of paramount Zeus, king of Olympus,
So the renown and repute of Heracles, who was a Theban
Born, might increase even more over the generous earth.
Taking account of all this, Zeus honoured his glorious son and,
Though he was angry indeed, he abated his previous anger
Because Prometheus flaunted the counsels of almighty Zeus.


Men had distinguished themselves from the gods at Mecone
Just, when foresightful Prometheus brashly dissected a big ox,
Dishing up servings to each, and seeking to bamboozle smart Zeus.
Slyly in front of the others he set flesh, also the innards
Rich with the juiciest fat near the hide, half-hid by the ox's
Belly; to Zeus he served white bones which by artifice and low
Cunnning he dished up disguised in the glistening fat of the bullock.
Then to Prometheus spoke the father of gods and of mankind:
'Son of Iapetus, most magnifcent of all the princes
See how invidiously, old son, you divided the servings.'
So said thundering Zeus, everlastingly shrewd and all-knowing.
Crookedly scheming Prometheus answered him something as follows;
Slyly he smiled to himself as he thought of his crafty deception.
'Zeus, most honoured and greatest of gods whose race is forever,
Take of the pieces whichever the heart in your bosom inclines to.'
So he declared as he pondered deceit, but Zeus whose reflections
Are indestructible knew and was quick to see through through the deception,
And he foresaw in his heart much evil for men which would follow.
Taking the white fat up in both hands Zeus grew very angry;
Anger possessed his mind the minute he noticed the ox's
White bones underneath, and discovered Prometheus crafty deception.
That is the reason the races of men all over the earth burn
White bones to the blessed immortals on incense-redolent altars.


Then Zeus who gathers the clouds addressed him in bitter vexation,
'Iapetus' son, over all of the others exceedingly smart and
Knowledgeable, old fellow, you haven't forgotten your cunning!'
This is the reason why Zeus, being angry, whose wisdom is deathless
Did not give inexhaustible fire and its power to the race of
Mankind engendered of ash trees who dwell on the face of the earth.
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But Prometheus, Iapetus' brave son thoroughly fooled him,
For he stole inexhaustible fire whose blaze can be seen from
Far off in a hollow cane, which wounded profoundly the mind of
Zeus who thunders aloft, and his fond heart grew very angry
Seeing the twinkle of fire from afar among men who are mortal.


Straightaway Zeus prepared for them evil in place of purloined fire.
Famous Hephaestus the lame god molded of water and earth the
Shape of a shamefast maiden by Zeus's advice and divine will.
Then Athena, the grey-eyed goddess clad her and dresssed her
Up in a silvery garment. Down from her head she unveiled a
Finely embroidered veil with her hands, a most marvellous sight; with
Lovely garlands of new-grown wildflowers Pallas Athene
Crowned her. Also a garland of gold she put on her head which
Celebrated Hephaestus the lame one made with his own hands,
Artfully fashioning it as a favour to fatherly Zeus.
On it was wrought much intricate workmanship, wonderful to be
Seen; of the monstrous creatures the sea and the dry land
Nourish, he put many on it--so radiant beauty and splendour
Shone from it--creatures so lifelike one might suppose they had voices.
(blank line)


So when Hephaestus had made this beautiful bane in exchange for
Good, he conducted her to that place where the gods and the men were,
All tricked out by the grey eyed daughter of powerful Zeus.
Wonderment seized the immmortal gods and men who are mortal
When they beheld such a sheer deception and hardship for mankind;
[But from her are descended untold generations of feminine women.]
But from her you may trace the descent of the pestilent races of women
Who dwell with and among mortal men and occasion them plenty of trouble,
Bearing with us in prosperity, never in miserable hardship.
Likewise in beetling beehives bees feed mischievous drones, for
Daily and all day long until sundown while honeybees labour
Building the white wax honeycombs, drones on the other hand stay at
Home in the sheltering hive and gobble the labour of others.
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Similarly did Zeus who thunders aloft create women
Bad for mankind, in cahoots in all manner of tiresome mischief.
And he provided another bad thing in exhange for that good thing.
He who, to avoid getting wed and the vexing behaviour of women,
Doesn't desire marriage and arrives at lamentable old age,
Lacks anybody to tend to him when he is old, and though wanting
Nothing to live on when he's alive, at his death his relations,
Heirs to a vacant estate, will divy his substance among them.
Yet on the other hand for one who choses the chances of marriage,
To have and to hold a respectable wife in accord with his wishes
From the beginning and of of their days, good squabbles with bad; but
Any who finds a malevolent spouse will certainly lead a
Life of incessant heart-ache: that's an incurable evil.
Thus it is possible neither to fool Zeus nor circumvent his
Wits, for not even Prometheus, Iapetus' son, although clever,
Could quite get himself out from the yoke of his heavy displeasure
But necessarily, smart though he was, strong bondage repressed him.


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Cottus and Gyges, he bound them in strong, irrefrangible bondage,
Being resentful at heart of their mettlesome manliness, beauty,
Also their great size, Uranus banished them under the broad earth;
There underground they abode in much torment, discomfort and anguish,
Stuck at the ends of the earth, at the ultimate limits of great earth,
Bitter at heart for a long while, suffering grievous affliction.
These did the offspring of Cronos as well as the other immortal
Gods whom Rhea the well-coiffed bore in conjunction with Cronos
Bring up again again into daylight at the advisement of Earth, for
She explained everything throughly to them, how with the help of
Uranus' sons they would win bright victory such as they prayed for.
For the Titanic immortals and those begotten by Cronos
Long had been struggling against each other in fierce internecine
Combat, exerting themselves together in heart-wrenching effort,
On one side the illustrious Titans from lofty Mount Othrys
And on the other the gods from Olympus, the givers of good things,
Those whom Rhea the fair-haired bore after sleeping with Cronos.
So at that time they were fighting continually with each other
Ten full years as they nursed in their guts indigestible anger,
Nor was there any solution or end to the difficult conflict
For either side, but the outcome of battle was equally balanced.
But when Zeus in the meanwhile had furnished his monsters wih all things
Suitable, nectar as well as ambrosia, foods that the gods eat,
Then did the manly spirit of all of them swell in their bosoms.
When they eaten their fill of delicious ambrosia and of
Nectar, then Zeus the begetter of gods and of men thus addressed them:
'Listen to me, you glorious children of Earth and of Heaven,
So I may say those things that the heart in my bosom commands me.
Every day for a long time now have we offspring of Cronos
Vied with the Titans for power and victory, fighting each other.
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You, for your own part, shew your immense strength and resistless
Arms in opposing the Titans in bitter, lugubrious battle
Mindful of all our considerate kindness: haven't you come back
Up to the light after what you endured in uncomfortable bondage
Under the mist-filled darkness, all through our inscrutable plans.'
So he declared and in answer excellent Cottus responded.
'Sir, you reveal to us nothing we aren't aware of already.
Well do we know your intelligence, also your high understanding;
You have become the defender of all the immortals from cold war.
For it is thanks to your thoughtfulness we have returned back again from
Outof the mist-filled darkness and out of our merciless bondage,
Having experienced things unhoped for, O lord, son of Cronos!
So with inflexible purpose and after considerate planning
We shall assist your all-powerful might in this terrible battle,
Struggling against all those Titans in strong-armed personal duels.'


That was his speech, and the deities, givers of bounty, commended
What he had said when they'd heard him. Their spirit was keener for warfare
Than in the past, and they roused themselves up to regrettable battle
That very day, every one of them, females and males all together,
Both all the gods called Titans and those who descended from Cronos,
Also the monsters whom Zeus brought up to the light from Erebos
Under the earth, fierce, fearsome and strong, irrresistibly well-armed,
For from the shoulders of all of them equally sprouted a hundred
Hands; from the shoulders of each of these creatures as well grew fifty
Heads in a similar manner on top of their powerful bodies.
These as they stood up against the Titans in tedious face-off
Grasped in their powerful hands unwieldy, precipitous boulders,
And on the other hand meanwhile the Titans in zeal reinforced their
Ranks, so both the opponents displayed their physical strength and
Manual labour. The limitless ocean resounded about them,
And earth crashed in a spasm, the wide sky groaned and was shaken,
Even the heights of Olympus quaked to their very foundations
Under the force of the charge of the deathless immortals, the heavy
Shock of whose trampling feet reached even to Tartarus, with the
High thrilling cries of unspeakable onslaught and clanging of hard blows
As they hurled at each other their grievous, lamentable missiles.
Then did the noise of their voices when shouting arise to the starry
Heavens; they rushed all together with battle-cries loudly resounding.


Neither did Zeus restrain any longer his strength, but his mind now
Forthwith was filled with the sense of his might, and he showed forth his power,
All of it, all at one time; from Olympus as well as from heaven,
Constantly hurling his lightning, he strode along so that the thunder
Bolts flew thick and fast from his muscular hand, intermingled
Thunder and lightning together, both whirling around in a sacred
Burning; the life-giving earth shook on all sides as it kindled
Ablaze, and the huge wood rattled and crashed in the great fire;
All of the land boiled over as well as the waters of Ocean
And the unharvested sea. Hot vapours enveloped the earth-born
Titans; unchecked combustion invaded the radiant upper
Air, and the brilliant and glittering glare of the thunder and lightning
Dazzled them, strong though they were, temporarily blinding their eyes.
Then the miraculous fiery heat reached down into Chaos:
It was as if as one watched with his eyes and heard with his ears the
Earth and the heavens above it collapsed on top of each other:
Such the great thud that would rise if the heavens were falling and from the
Earth that it fell on as came from of the strife of the gods in collision.
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With this the winds brought gravelly earthquake and stifling wind-storm,
Thunder and lightning and also the glistening thunder-bolt, weapons
Of great Zeus, as they carried the noise and the shouts of the battle
Into the midst of both camps. A gargantuan racket arose of
Terrible strife, and the strength of their bellicose arms was apparent
Even as fighting declined; but before that they held one another
Off as they fought without ceasing in vigorous, fierce single combats.


(blank line)
Then Briareus and Cottus and Gyges, unwearied wih battle,
First in the forefront engaged in insatiate, bitterest fighting,
Sending one after another three hundred rocks from their strong hands
To overshadow the Titans with misssiles. They sent them beneath the
Widely trod earth, and they bound them with troublesome bonds, having conquered
Them with their hands in despite of the Titans' arrogant spirit,
Under the earth just as far as the heavens are over the earth, for
Such is the distance from earth into nebulous Tartarus. A bronze
Anvil that fell from the sky for nine nights and nine days on the tenth would
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Come to the earth, and once more a bronze anvil that fell from the earth to


Tartarus for nine nights and nine days would arrive on the tenth day.
All about Tartarus marches a bronze palisade, and around the
Neck of it night extends in triple-fold layers; above it


Flourish the roots of the earth and the sea which forever is fallow.
There the Titanic divinities under that nebulous darkness
Welter concealed in a place that is foul at the ends of the huge earth
All through the far-sighted plans of Zeus who marshalls the storm-clouds.
There is no exit for them, for Poseidon has fitted there doors of
Bronze, and a wall which extends all along on both sides of the doorway.
Also magnanimous Obriareus and Cottus and Gyges


Live there, the trusty defenders of Zeus who is lord of the aegis.
There in a row all in order the ultimate sources and limits
Are of the darkling earth and of nebulous Tartarus also
Of the unharvested sea as well as the star-studded heavens,
Loathsome, malodorous, foul, and indeed the immortals detest them.
Vast is that chasm, and nobody could, if a year were ompleted,
Get through it all after first having entered its gateway, for cruel
Wind upon wind would transort him cruelly hither and thither.
This is a fearful and marvellous thing to the deities even.
There stand the awful home of black Night enveloped in blue clouds.


(blank line)
Standing in front of its doorway the son of Iapetus, Atlas
Holds on his head and his hands unfatigued and immobile the wide sky
Even where Night and Day as they pass one another salute each
Other on crossing the great bronze threshold; while one is descending
Into their dwelling, the other is going abroad through the doorway,
Nor does that mansion at any one time entertain them together.
One of them always is out of the house as she passes above the
Earth while the oher abides in the home where she stays to await the
Hour of departure, whenever it comes; and when one of them holds the
Light that illumines all people who dwell on the earth, the
Other, lamentable Night, enveloped in nebulous darkness,


Holds in mysterious arms Sleep which is brother to Death.
That is the place where the children of black Night have their apartments,
Namely Sleep and Death, who are awful divinities, and the
Radiant sun never gazes upon them with glittering sunbeams
As he ascends into heaven and as he descends from the heavens;
Of these the former meanders aross the wide-earth and the broadbacked
Sea, and is peaceful and pleasant to men, but the other one's heart is
Iron, his character pitiless, harder than bronze, for whichever
Human he catches he grasps, and he's hateful to all the immortals.


(blank line)
Futhermore there the reverberant halls of the god of the nether
World, strong, powerful Hades and dreadful Persephone his queen
Stand, and a fearful and pitiless watch-dog guards them in front, and
He has a wicked trick, for he fawns with his tail and his ears on
Those going in, but he doesn't permit anybody to go out.
Watching, he catches and eats anyone going out by the gateway.
(blank line)


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There is the dwelling as well of the goddess abhorred by immortals,
Terrible Styx, the most senior daughter of retrograde Ocean.
Far from the gods she inhabitis a glorious house overhung by
Sizeable rocks, and with silvery columns surrounding it all it
Rises right up to the sky. All too seldom the daughter of Thaumas,
Swift-footed Iris traverses the broad-backced sea to deliver
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There any message. However when discord and quarrels among the
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Deathless are stirred up, Zeus sends Iris to fetch in a golden
Pitcher the gods' great oath from afar, the notorious chilly
Stygian water that trickles down from precipitous heights.
Flowing a long way under the wide-travelled earth from the sacred
River a branch of the Ocean cascades through the blackness of night. A
Tenth of the waters of Ocean belong the Styx as her birthright.
Swirling in nine silver eddies the stream that encircles the earth and
Broad-backed sea falls into the briny, but this one alone which
Springs from a rock in the sight of the gods is a major misfortune.
One of the gods who inhabit the snow-covered peaks of Olympus,
When he has poured a libation to Styx, if he perjures himself, lies
Breathless and doesn't draw breath till the whole of a year is completed.
Nor does he ever approach to partake of ambrosia or of
Nectar, but lies without spirit or voice on a bed hat is strewn with
Bed clothes; and him a malignant and magical slumber envelops.
Once he has done with that illness and come to the end of a long year,
After that trial another and harder one follows, one hard on another;
For from the gods whose life is eternal he's sundered for nine years,
Never to mix in their concils nor join in theirs feasts for the whole nine
Years. In the tenth he rejoins the assemblies of all the immortal
Gods on Olympus. So such is the oath that they swear by the ancient
Ageless, primordial water of Styx, and it springs from a hard place.


(blank line)
There in a row all in order the ultimate sources and limits
Are of the darkling earth and of nebulous Tartarus also
Of the unharvested sea as well as the star-studded heavens,


Loathsome, malodorous, foul, and indeed the immortals detest them.
There are the glistening gates and the threshold of natural bronze set
Fast and immoveable, fixed to continuous rooted foundations.
Outside and beyond these, apart from the other divinties dwell the
Titans over against inarticulate Chaos; however
(blank line)
Cottus and Gyges the glorious allies of noisy, stentorian Zeus keep
House in the depths of the Ocean. However Poseidon the heavy
Thundering earth-quaker made Briareus because he was brave his


Son-in-law, giving him Cympolea his daughter in marriage.
Then after Zeus had expelled the Titans from heaven prodigious
Earth gave birth to the last of her children, Typhoeus, enduring
Sexual union with Tartarus through the connivance of gold Aphrodite.
Strong were his hands in defense and in all his endeavours, his feet were
Indefatigable, those of a robust divinity. From his
Shoulders a hundred serpentine heads like a terrible dragon's
Sprouted with pitchy, flickering tongues; from the eyes underneath the
Brows in their magical heads a malevolent fire corruscated.
From all these heads as he glared all about him a fire was blazing,
And there were voices inside of these terrrible heads which projected
Every sort of unspeakable voice, for at one time they uttered
Speech such as gods understand, and at others the sound of a loudly
Bellowing bull in the pride of unbridled ferocity; then once
More he would roar like a lion of impudent courage, then whimper
Puppylike, woundrous to hear, then hiss till the high hills resounded.
Then would a deed beyond any recourse have been done on that same day,
And this Typhoeus would surely have ruled the immortals and mortals
(blank line)
Had not the father of gods and of men been sharp to take notice.
Mightily harshly he thundered, so loud that the eatth all around shook,
Making a terrible noise, like the far-reaching heavens above, the
Sea and the streams of the ocean, the pits of the underworld also.
Mighty Olympus unsteadily tottered beneath the immortal
Feet of its lord in arousal and earth sympathetically groaned. The
Heat that emitted from both of them seized on the violet-hued sea,
Blazes of thunder and lightning as well as the fire from the monster's
Burning, the hurricane winds and the thunderbolts' sizzle and crackle.
All of the earth boiled up, and the sky and the sea in addition.
Round and about all the headlands and beaches the breakers were crashing
Under the charge of the gods; there occurred an unquenchable earthquake.
Hades who governs the dead in his underworld kingdom was frightened,
So were the Titans who dwell under Tartarus round about Cronos,
By that unquenchable racket and horrible clangor of battle.
Zeus, when he'd gathered his strength and taken hold of his weapons,
Thunder and lightning, that is, and his bright-burning thunderbolt also,
Jumped from Olympus impulsievly striking Typhoeus and set on
Fire all the marvellous heads of the monster that sprouted all over
Him. Then when Zeus had subdued him and whipped him again and again with
Lashes of lighning, he hurled him down, crippled; the monstrous earth groaned.
Flames shot out of the thunderstruck deity where he'd been struck
Down to the earth in the rough, inacessible dells of the mountain.
Much of the monstrous earth was dissolved by that weird exhalation,
Melting like tin that is heated by technical means by some sturdy
Workmen in pervious crucibles, or like iron, the strongest
Element, tamed and refined by a hot-burning fire in the mountain
Dales, which is smelted in godly earth by the might of Hephaestus.
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So earth melted at once in a flash of that blazing and glistening fire.


Into broad Tartarus Zeus, being angered, ejected Tyhoeus.
And fromTyphoeus arises the force of the humidly blowing
Winds, except Notus and Boreas and wholesome, brightening Zephyr,
Winds that are born of the gods, a magnificent blessing for mankind.
Every-which-way and at random those other winds blow on the sea and
Fitfully rising and falling descend on the cloud-covered deep, a
Terrible trial for men with their boisterous, roistering breezes,
Blowing in different directions at different seasons, they scatter
Vessels and murder their mariners. There is help no for such ills for
Seafaring men who encounter tempests like these on the deep sea.
Furthermore raging all over the limitless, flowery earth they
Ruin the beautiful works of mankind who are earth-generated,


Filling their fields and their dwellings with dust and a horrible uproar.
Then at last when the blessed divinities finished their labour,
Having decided by force their rights in regard to the Titans,
Then they invited Olympian, farsighted Zeus to become the
Ruler and king of the gods, as advised by the earth-goddess Gaia.


That being settled, he split their prerogative honours among them.
Zeus, being king, first married the goddess of practical reason,
Metis, the wisest, most knowledgeable of immmortals or mortals.
But, just as she was about to give birth to grey-eyed Athena,
Zeus, at that moments misleading her wits by a cunning deception
And with his flattering arguments, swallowed her into his stomach,
At the advice of the earth-goddess Gaia and star-studded Heaven.
For they instructed him thusly in order that none of the other
Gods whose race is eternal should get royal power but Zeus.
All too intelligent children were destined to come out of Metis;
First was the grey-eyed maiden Athena, called Tritogeneia,
Who in intelligent counsel and forcefulness equals her father.
Later, when Metis was pregnant again with a child of a reckless
Character larger than life, future king of the gods and of men, too,
Zeus before she could do so, swallowed her into his belly,


So that the goddess might teach him the meaning of good and of evil.
Second he wed brilliant Themis the goddess of law and tradition,
Who bore him the Seasons, Eunomia, Diki and fruitful Ireni--
Order and Justice and Peace--regulating the works of us mortals,
Also the Moirai--the Fates, to whom Zeus paid the greatest respect:
Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, giver of mens' good and evil.


(blank line)
Next did Eurynome, she who possessed a surpassingly pretty,
Lovely appearane, the daughter of Ocean bear the three Graces,
Namely Aglaia, as well as Euphrosyne, Thalia also,
Graceful indeed, for from under their eyelids love which undoes the


Limbs drips, under their eyebrows beauty entrancingly glances.
Next Zeus went to the bed of Demeter who nourishes many,
Who gave birth to Persephone who had white arms and whom Hades


Snatched from her mother; but Zeus in his wisdom gave her to Hades.
And yet again to exquisite Mnenosme--Memory--Zeus made
Love, and from her the nine muses with golden tiaras were born; to


Them festive banquets are pleasing as well as the pleasure of music.
Leto, uniting in fondness with Zeus who is Lord of the goat-shield
Bore him far-shooting Apollo and Artemis shooter of arrows,


Lovely, desirable children above all the offspring of heaven.
Finally Zeus made Hera his beautiful, flourishing consort;
She bore Hebe and Ares, and kind Eileithya, the helper in childbirth


After uniting in love with the king of the gods and of mankind.
All by himself from his head Zeus fathered grey-eyed Athena,
Terrible rouser to battle and leader of armies, that tireless
Lady whose pleasure is ever in war-cries and warfare and fighting.
Hera engendered the craftsman Hephaestus, not having engaged in
Marital intercourse, for she had quarreled, annoyed with her husband--


Famous Hephaestus, surpassing in handwork all the immortals.
From Amphitrite and noisy Poseidon the maker of earth-quakes
Mighty, loud-trumpeting Triton was born who inhabits the sea-depths
Where with the mother he loves and his lordly progenitor in a
Mansion of gold he abides, and an awesome divinity he is!
But Aphrodite, in union with shield-bearing Ares gave birh to
Terror and Dread the terrible ones who dissipate human
Battle formations in cold-blooded war with Ares destroyer of cities,


Also Harmonia whom high-spirited Cadmus espoused.
Maia, Atlas's daughter, bore Zeus glorious Hermes


Having got into his blest bed, herald of blessed immortals.
Semele, daughter of Cadmus, having united in love with
Zeus bore him a splendid son, Dionysus, the source of


Much cheer, an immortal though she was a mortal, but now they are both gods.
Also Alcmene, uniting in sexual congress with Zeus who


Gathers the clouds bore powerful, muscular Heracles to him.
Furthermore famous Hephaestus the splay-footed craftsman espoused the


Youngest of Graces, Aglaia and made her his blossoming wife.
And golden-locked Dionysus espoused fair-haired Ariadne,
Daughter of Minos of Crete, and he made her his blossoming wife,


For the scion of Cronos made her immortal and ageless.
Heracles, virile and valiant son of trim-ankled Alcmene
When he had finished his tiresome trials took as his blooming
Wife upon snowy Olympus Hebe the child of almighty
Zeus and of Hera whose sandals are are golden; he is blessed because he,
Having accomplaplished his great undertaking among the immortals


Lives beyond all human suffering, ageless for all of his days.
Perseis, well-known and beauteous daugter of Ocean, delivered
To the inexhaustible Sun both Aeetes the monarch and Circe.
Kingly Aeetes the son of the sun who illuminates mankind
Married Idyia whose cheeks were so fair to fulfill the divine scheme,
Maidenly daughter of Ocean, the perfect and utimate river.
She in her turn bore Medea (whose ankles were trim) after being


Bent to the sexual act by the working of gold Aphrodite.
Now farewell to you deities all who inhabit the halls of Olympus,
Islands and continents, too, and the salt sea between and among them!
Sing of the races of godesses now, and the sweet-spoken Muses,
Daughters conceived on Olympus by Zeus who is lord of the goatskin
Shield, how they bedded with men who were mortal, although they themselves were


Not and conceived and brought forth mortal children resembling the gods.
Queenly Demeter gave birth to the noble demigod Plutus
Lying in liking and love with heroic Iasion
out in a thrice-plowed field in the prosperous country of Crete
Plutus, a kindly divinity, travels all over the earth and
Broad-backed sea, and to one who who is lucky enough to


Come in his way he gves plenty of money and makes him a rich man.
Daughter of gold Aphrodite, Harmonia brought forth to Cadmus
Ino and Semele, also sweet-cheeked Agave the naiad,
Plus Autonoe who wedded long-haired Aristaeus and bore him


Prince Polydorus in Thebes all encirlacled with ramparts and towers.
Also a daughter of Ocean , the nymph Callirhoe in loving
Union with strong-willed Chrysaor, obeying the will of the splendid
Goddess of love, Aphrodite, gave birth to the strongest of mankind,
Geryon, whom stout Heracles killed on account of some round-hoofed


Cattle that Heracles stole on Erythea surrounded by water.
Eos bore to Tithonus a son, bronze-helmeted Memnon,
King of the black Ethiopeans, lordly Emathion also.
Also by Cephalus Eos conceived a glorious son, strong
Phaethon, who was a man who resembled the gods, and when he was
Only a youngster possessing the delicate blossom of splendid
Boyhood, no more than a child with a childlike intelligence, smiling
Lewd Aphrodite enraptured and raped him and made him a temple


Servitor deep in her holiest temple, a guardian spirit.
Jason the son of Aeson abducted the daughter of royal,
High-bred Aetes, fulfilling the will of the gods, from Aetes
After performing the many and grievous labours imposed by
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Great king Pelias, that overbearing and arrogant, ruthless
Vile evildoer; when Jason had finished these feats he arrived,
After much toil, at Iolcus, and with him he brought on his swift ship
Roguish Medea, the daughter of royal Aetes. In wifely
Duty to Jason, the shepherd and king of his people, she bore him
Little Medeus, whom Chiron the centaur, the son of Phillyra


Reared in the mountains. And so was accomplished the purpose of great Zeus.
As for the daughters of Nereus, called the old man of the sea,
Psamathi queen among goddesses bore from her love for Aeacus,
Prompted by bright Aphrodite, Phocus; and silvery-footed
Thetis gave birth to Achilles the lion-heart, breaker of men.
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And Aphrodite, the gorgeously garlanded goddess of love, in erotic
Union with virile Anchises bore him heroic Aeneas


High on the summit of rugged, wrinkled and wind-swept Mt Ida.
Circe, the daughter of Helius, son of Hyperon, had from
Sexual congress with clever and patient Odysseus offspring,
Agrius, also unblemished, impeccable sturdy Latinus,
And Telegonus as well, via aureate Aphrodite.
Over the far-famed Tyrhenians all tucked away in the holy


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Islands they ruled. And Calypso, that lady divinity, being
Mixed up in sexual love with Odysseus, bore Nausithous.
These godddesses, sleeping with men who were mortal, although they themselves were
Deathless, conceived and brought forth mortal children resembling the gods.
Now about womankind sing, sweet-voiced Olympian Muses,
Daughters of Zeus who is Master and Lord of the Aegis. . .