With these words she took Mars back to his seat. Meanwhile Juno
called Apollo outside, with Iris the messenger of the gods.
"Jove," she said to them, "desires you to go to him at once on
Mt. Ida; when you have seen him you are to do as he may then bid
you."

Thereon Juno left them and resumed her seat inside, while Iris
and Apollo made all haste on their way. When they reached
many-fountained Ida, mother of wild beasts, they found Jove
seated on topmost Gargarus with a fragrant cloud encircling his
head as with a diadem. They stood before his presence, and he was
pleased with them for having been so quick in obeying the orders
his wife had given them.

He spoke to Iris first. "Go," said he, "fleet Iris, tell King
Neptune what I now bid you--and tell him true. Bid him leave off
fighting, and either join the company of the gods, or go down
into the sea. If he takes no heed and disobeys me, let him
consider well whether he is strong enough to hold his own against
me if I attack him. I am older and much stronger than he is; yet
he is not afraid to set himself up as on a level with myself, of
whom all the other gods stand in awe."

Iris, fleet as the wind, obeyed him, and as the cold hail or
snowflakes that fly from out the clouds before the blast of
Boreas, even so did she wing her way till she came close up to
the great shaker of the earth. Then she said, "I have come, O
dark-haired king that holds the world in his embrace, to bring
you a message from Jove. He bids you leave off fighting, and
either join the company of the gods or go down into the sea; if,
however, you take no heed and disobey him, he says he will come
down here and fight you. He would have you keep out of his reach,
for he is older and much stronger than you are, and yet you are
not afraid to set yourself up as on a level with himself, of whom
all the other gods stand in awe."

Neptune was very angry and said, "Great heavens! strong as Jove
may be, he has said more than he can do if he has threatened
violence against me, who am of like honour with himself. We were
three brothers whom Rhea bore to Saturn--Jove, myself, and Hades
who rules the world below. Heaven and earth were divided into
three parts, and each of us was to have an equal share. When we
cast lots, it fell to me to have my dwelling in the sea for
evermore; Hades took the darkness of the realms under the earth,
while air and sky and clouds were the portion that fell to Jove;
but earth and great Olympus are the common property of all.
Therefore I will not walk as Jove would have me. For all his
strength, let him keep to his own third share and be contented
without threatening to lay hands upon me as though I were nobody.
Let him keep his bragging talk for his own sons and daughters,
who must perforce obey him."

Iris fleet as the wind then answered, "Am I really, Neptune, to
take this daring and unyielding message to Jove, or will you
reconsider your answer? Sensible people are open to argument, and
you know that the Erinyes always range themselves on the side of
the older person."

Neptune answered, "Goddess Iris, your words have been spoken in
season. It is well when a messenger shows so much discretion.
Nevertheless it cuts me to the very heart that any one should
rebuke so angrily another who is his own peer, and of like empire
with himself. Now, however, I will give way in spite of my
displeasure; furthermore let me tell you, and I mean what I say--
if contrary to the desire of myself, Minerva driver of the spoil,
Juno, Mercury, and King Vulcan, Jove spares steep Ilius, and will
not let the Achaeans have the great triumph of sacking it, let
him understand that he will incur our implacable resentment."

Neptune now left the field to go down under the sea, and sorely
did the Achaeans miss him. Then Jove said to Apollo, "Go, dear
Phoebus, to Hector, for Neptune who holds the earth in his
embrace has now gone down under the sea to avoid the severity of
my displeasure. Had he not done so those gods who are below with
Saturn would have come to hear of the fight between us. It is
better for both of us that he should have curbed his anger and
kept out of my reach, for I should have had much trouble with
him. Take, then, your tasselled aegis, and shake it furiously, so
as to set the Achaean heroes in a panic; take, moreover, brave
Hector, O Far-Darter, into your own care, and rouse him to deeds
of daring, till the Achaeans are sent flying back to their ships
and to the Hellespont. From that point I will think it well over,
how the Achaeans may have a respite from their troubles."

Apollo obeyed his father's saying, and left the crests of Ida,
flying like a falcon, bane of doves and swiftest of all birds. He
found Hector no longer lying upon the ground, but sitting up, for
he had just come to himself again. He knew those who were about
him, and the sweat and hard breathing had left him from the
moment when the will of aegis-bearing Jove had revived him.
Apollo stood beside him and said, "Hector son of Priam, why are
you so faint, and why are you here away from the others? Has any
mishap befallen you?"

Hector in a weak voice answered, "And which, kind sir, of the
gods are you, who now ask me thus? Do you not know that Ajax
struck me on the chest with a stone as I was killing his comrades
at the ships of the Achaeans, and compelled me to leave off
fighting? I made sure that this very day I should breathe my last
and go down into the house of Hades."


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