Muses of Helicon, let us begin our song with them,
who hold the great and holy mountain of Helicon,
and around its violet-like spring and altar of exceedingly
strong Kronios, dance on dainty feet, and
who, after bathing their soft skin in the Permessos
or the spring of the Horse or holy Olmeios
on the peak of Helicon, form their dances, beautiful
dances that arouse desire, and they move erotically.
From Helicon they rise up veiled in a deep mist and walk
through the night, sending forth their voice most beautiful,
hymning aegis-bearing Zeus and Lady Hera
the Argive clad in sandals of gold, and
the daughter of Zeus of the aegis, gray-eyed Athena, and
Phoebus Apollo and Artemis, who pour forth arrows, and
Poseidon, holder and shaker of Gaia, and
august Themis and Aphrodite of the glancing eyes and
Hebe with her golden crown and beautiful Dione, and
Leto and Iapetos and Kronos of crooked counsel and
Eos and great Helios and shining Selene and
Gaia and great Okeanos, and black Night and
the sacred clan of the other deathless ones who are for always.
The Muses once taught Hesiod beautiful song
while he was shepherding sheep at the foot of holy Helicon.
The goddesses first spoke this word to me,
the Muses of Olympus, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus.
“Rustic shepherds, worthless reproaches, mere stomachs,
we know how to say many lies like the truth,
and, whenever we wish, we know how to tell the truth.”
Thus spoke the fluent daughters of mighty Zeus, and
they gave me a scepter, a branch of flourishing laurel
that they had plucked, a thing of wonder. They breathed
in me an inspired voice so I might celebrate what will be and
what has been, and they bid me to hymn the clan of the blessed
ones who always are and to sing of them first and last.
But what has this to do with an oak or a rock?
You, let us begin from the Muses who in hymning their
father Zeus, delight his mighty mind within Olympus,
saying what is and what will be and what has been,
with voices in tune, and a sound flows tirelessly
and sweet from their mouths. The halls of father Zeus
loud-thundering laugh as their delicate sound fragments,
and the peaks of snow-covered Olympus resound as do
the halls of the immortals. They emit their immortal
tones and first celebrate the august clan of the gods
in song from the beginning, whom Gaia and wide Ouranos
bore, and those born from them, gods, givers of good things.
Secondly, they celebrate Zeus, father of gods and men,
[corrupt line: The goddesses hymn beginning and ending song]
so much is he the foremost of the gods and greatest in power.
Again, by hymning the clan of men and powerful Giants,
they delight the mind of Zeus within Olympus.
Muses of Olympus, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus,
whom Mnemosyne mingled with father Kronios and bore
in Pieria, while she was guarding the fields of Eleutheros
to be forgetfulness of troubles and cessation of worries.
For nine nights, the counselor Zeus was mingling with her
apart from the immortals, going up into her sacred bed.
But when it had been a year, and the seasons of the withering
months turned, and the many days were fulfilled,
she bore nine maidens, alike in mind, who care for song
in their breasts and whose spirits are free of pain,
down a little from the highest peak of snow covered Olympus.
There are their shining dancing places and beautiful halls,
and beside them the Graces and Desire have their dwellings
amid festivities. Sending forth their lovely voice
they sing songs and celebrate the ordinances and trusty ways
of all the immortals, sending forth their lovely voice.
Then they go to Olympus, glorying in their beautiful voice
amid ambrosial song. All around them as they hymn, black
Gaia laughs, and a lovely din rises up from their feet
as they are coming to their father. He is king in Ouranos,
holding the thunder and gleaming lightning bolt and
after conquering his father Kronos by power. Fairly in each
did he distribute to the immortals their ordinances and devise
their provinces. These things the Muses who have their hall
on Olympus, sing, the nine daughters sired by mighty Zeus,
Kleio and Euterpe and Thaleia and Melpomene and
Terpsichore and Erato and Polymnia and Ourania and
Kalliope. The last is the foremost of them all,
for she accompanies and attends revered kings
Whomever the daughters of mighty Zeus honor and
see being born from kings nurtured by Zeus,
upon his tongue they pour dew sweeter than honey and
from his mouth flow soothing words. All the people
look to him as he decides between opposing claims
with straight judgments. He addresses them without erring
and quickly and knowingly ends a great quarrel.
For this reason, kings are wise, because for people
injuring one another in assembly, they end actions that call
for vengeance easily, appeasing the parties with soft words.
As he walks in the marketplace, they glorify him as if a god
with soothing deference, and he stands out in the gathering.
Such is the sacred bounty of the Muses to men.
From the Muses and far-shooting Apollo
are singers and guitar-players across the earth
but kings are from Zeus. Blessed is he whom the Muses
love. From his mouth the streams flow sweeter than honey.
If anyone holds sorrow in his spirit from fresh grief and
is dried out in his heart from grieving, the singer,
servant of the Muses, hymns the deeds of men of the past
and the blessed gods who hold Olympus and
right away he forgets his troubles and does not remember
a single care. Quickly do the gifts of the goddess divert him.
Hail, children of Zeus, and give your song that excites desire.
Celebrate the holy race of immortals who are for always,
those born from Ge and starry Ouranos, and
from dark Night and those whom salty Pontos bore.
Tell how the gods and Gaia first came into being and
rivers and the boundless sea raging with swell and
the shining stars and wide Ouranos above
[The ones born of them, gods, givers of good things] and
how they divided the wealth and apportioned provinces,
also how they first came to hold Olympus of many glens.
Tell me these things, Muses who hold your halls on Olympus.
From the beginning, also tell the one of them who came first.
First of all Chawos [Gap] came into being. But then
Gaia broad-chested, always the unshakable seat of all
the immortals who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus,
and dark Tartaros in the recesses of the wide-wayed earth,
and Eros, the most beautiful among the immortal gods,
loosener of limbs, who subdues the mind and prudent counsel
in the chests of all gods and of all men.
From Chawos were born Erebos and black Night.
From Night, again, were born Aether and Day, whom she
conceived and bore after mingling with Erebos in philotês.
Gaia first bore equal to herself starry Ouranos
so that he may cover her all over like a veil,
to be always the unshakable seat for the blessed gods.
She bore the large mountains, pleasant haunts of the goddess
Nymphs who dwell up along the woody mountains,
and he produced the unplowed (?) open waters raging
with swell, Pontos, without philotês. But then bedded
by Ouranos, she produced deep-eddying Okeanos and
Koios and Kreios and Hyperion and Iapetos and
Thea and Rheia and Themis and Mnemosyne and
golden-garlanded Phoebe and lovely Tethys.
And after them born last Kronos of the crooked scheme,
most fearful of children, and he hated his lusty father.
She further bore the Kyklopes with exceeding forceful hearts,
Brontes and Steropes and Arges3 mighty of spirit,
who gave to Zeus the thunder sound and fashioned the thunderbolt.
They were like the gods in all respects except
the single eye that lay in the middle of their foreheads.
They are named Kyklopes from this feature,
because one circular eye lay in the forehead of each.
Strong is their brute force, and designs are upon their deeds.
Others were born from Gaia and Ouranos,
three great and mighty children not to be named,
Kottos and Briareos and Gyges, exceedingly arrogant children.
A hundred arms shot forth from their shoulders,
not to be molded into an image, and on each fifty
heads grew upon the fifty shoulders on sturdy limbs.
Strong, immense, powerful in their shape.
So many were born of Gaia and Ouranos,
most dreadful of children, and they hated their father
from the beginning. As soon as one of them was born,
Ouranos would conceal them all in hiding place in Gaia and
did not sent them back into the light, and he delighted in his
evil deed. Monstrous Gaia was groaning within,
congested. She conceived a cunning, evil trick.
Quickly she made the element of grey adamant and
fashioned a great sickle and showed it to her children.
Then she spoke, encouraging them, though sorrowing in her heart.
“My children with a reckless father, if only you agree
to obey me. We would avenge the evil outrage of this father
of yours, for he first devised unseemly deeds.”
Thus she spoke, and binding fear grabbed them all, and none
of them spoke. Then great Kronos of crooked counsel,
embolden, quickly addressed his dear mother with words:
“Mother, I promise that I will bring to completion,
this deed, since I do not care for that ill-named father
of ours. For he first devised unseemly deeds.”
Thus he spoke, and monstrous Gaia laughed loudly in her heart.
She hid him in an ambush and placed in his hands
a serrated sickle, and apprised him of her whole cunning.
Great Ouranos came, bringing the night,
and spread out around Gaia, desiring philotês,
and was extended. His son reached out from ambush
with his left hand, and in his right he held the sickle,
long and serrated and the genitals of his father
he quickly reaped and threw them behind his back
to be carried away. But they did not flee from his hand fruitlessly.
As many drops of blood spurted forth,
all of them Gaia received. In the revolving years,
she bore the powerful Erinyes, and great Giants,
gleaming in their armor, holding long spears in their hands,
and the nymphs whom they call the Ash Tree Nymphs across
endless Gaia. As soon as Kronos lopped off the genitals
with the sickle, they fell from the mainland into the much-surging sea, so that the sea
carried them for a long time. Around them a white
foam from the immortal skin began to arise. In it, a maiden
was nurtured. First, she drew near holy Kythera,
and from there she arrived at Kypros surrounded by water.
From within, a majestic and beautiful goddess stepped, and
all around grass grew beneath her slender feet. Aphrodite
[foam-born goddess and fair-wreathed Kythereia]
gods and men call her because she was nurtured in foam.
But they call her Kythereia because she happened upon Kythera,
and Kyprogenes because she was born in much-surging Kypros,
and Philommeides because she appeared out of genitals.
Eros was her constant companion, and beautiful Desire
followed her when she was being born and when she was entering
the throng of the gods. From the beginning she held sway and
obtained this province among men and immortal gods:
a young girl's whispers and smiles and deceits and
sweet delight and philotês and graciousness.
Father great Ouranos, quarreling with the children
he sired himself, gave them the name Titans, Stretchers.
He said that they stretched with a great recklessness to accomplish
a huge deed, and for it retribution shall be laid up for the future
Night bore hateful Death Appointed and black Doom
and Death, and she bore Sleep and the tribe of Dreams.
Then dark Night bore Blame and painful Woe,
not lying with any of the gods, and
the Hesperides who live beyond renowned Okeanos and
care for the beautiful golden apples and the trees bearing fruit.
She gave birth to the Appointers of Death and Goddesses of
Doom who punish relentlessly. [She also bore Klotho,
Spinner of Life's Thread, and Lachesis, Dispenser of Lots,
Atropos, Unturnable One, who give to mortals
as they are born what is good and bad to have,]
who pursue the transgressions of men and gods,
and the goddess never cease from their dreadful wrath
until whoever transgresses pays someone back evil punishment.
Destructive Night also bore Retribution, a bane for mortal
men. Then she bore Deceit and Passion and
destructive Old Age and mighty-hearted Strife.
But hateful Strife bore painful Toil and
Forgetfulness and Famine and tearful Sorrows and
Discord and Battles and Murders and Homicides and
Dissension and Lies and Arguments and Disputes and
Quarrels and Ruin, bosom companions these two, and
Oath who causes pain the most for men on earth
whenever some one of them willingly swears falsely.
Pontos sired straightforward and truthful Nereus,
eldest of his children. But they call him Old Man
because he is unerring and gentle and does not forget
what is right but knows just and gentle counsels.
Then, Pontos mingled with Gaia and sired great Thaumas and
excessively manly Phorkys and Keto of the beautiful
cheeks and Eurybia, having a spirit of iron in her breast.
Numberless children who were goddesses were born
to Nereus and fair-haired Doris in the unplowed sea,
Doris the daughter of Okeanos, the encircling river:
Protho and Eukrate and Sao and Amphitrite and
Eudore and Thetis and Galene and Glauke and
Kymothoe and Speio and Thoe and lovely Halia and
Pasithea and Erato and Eunike of the rosy arms and
graceful Melite and Eulimene and Agave and
Doto and Proto and Pherousa and Dynamene and
Nesaia and Aktaia and Protomedeia,
Doris and Panope and beautiful Galateia and
lovely Hippothoe and Hipponoe of the rosy arms and
Kymodoke, who, with Kymatolege and Amphitrite
of the fair ankles, calms the waves on the murky sea
and the blasts of stormy winds easily, and
Kymo and Eione and Halimede with a beautiful crown and
Glaukonome who loves to laugh and Protoporeia and
Leiagora and Euagora and Laomeideia and
Poulynoe and Autonoe and Lysianassa and
Euarne lovely of stature and blameless shape and
Psamathe graceful of body and shining Menippe and
Nesso and Eupompoe and Themisto and Pronoe and
Nemertes who has he mind of her immortal father.
These were the daughters born of blameless
Nereus, fifty in all and knowing blameless works.
Thaumas took as his wife the daughter
of deep flowing Okeanos, Electra, and she bore him swift
Iris and the Harpies with beautiful hair, Aello and Okypete,
who follow the blasts of the winds and birds
on swift wings. They fly high up in the air.
To Porkys Keto bore fair-cheeked old women
gray haired from birth, whom the immortals call
the Old Women as do men who walk the earth, and
Pemphredo of the lovely dress and Enyo of the saffron dress;
She bore too the Gorgons who dwell near renowned Okeanos
at the borders of the night beside the clear-toned Hesperides,
Sthenno, Euryale and Medusa who suffered grievously.
She was mortal, while they were immortal and ageless,
the two. With the one, Medusa, dark-maned Poseidon lay
in a soft meadow and amid the spring flowers.
When Perseus cut her head from her neck,
mighty Chrysaor leaped out and the horse Pegasos.
The latter had this name because he was born beside the Pagae,
while the other was born holding a golden sword in his hands.
Pegasos, flying upwards, left the earth mother of flocks,
reached the immortals. He lives in the halls of Zeus
and brings to Zeus the counselor his thunder and flash.
Chrysaor bore three-headed Geryones,
having mingled with Kallioroe, daughter of renowned Okeanos.
The brutal force of Herakles slew him
beside the rolling-gaited cows at sea-girt Erytheia
on that day when he was driving his broad-headed cattle
to sacred Tiryns, having crossed Okeanos' stream.
He killed Orthos and the cowherd Eurytion
in their murky stable on the other side of renowned Okeanos.
Then Keto bore another monstrous and unmanageable thing,
like neither to mortal men or immortal gods,
in a hollow cave, the divine strong-hearted Echnida,
half glancing-eyed maiden with beautiful cheeks, and
half monstrous serpent, dreadful and huge,
swift eater of raw flesh, beneath the ways of holy Gaia.
There is her cave below a hollow rock
far from the immortal gods and mortal men, where
the gods have apportioned her renowned halls to dwell in.
Baneful Echnida stands guard in Arima beneath the earth,
a maiden immortal and ageless all days.
With her they say Typhaon mingled in philotês,
a dreadful and lawless raper with the glancing-eyed maiden.
She conceived and bore strong-hearted children.
First she gave birth to Orthos, Geryones' dog.
Secondly, she bore an unmanageable thing, not to be spoken
about, raw-eating Kerberos the bronze-voiced, fifty-headed
dog of Hades, shameless and powerful,
Third, she gave birth to the Hydra who knew baneful things,
the Hydra of Lerna, whom Hera of the white arms nurtured,
when she was insatiably wrathful at the brutal force of Herakles.
The son of Zeus slew her with his pitiless bronze,
Herakles, son of Amphitryon, along with Iolaos, dear to Ares,
in accord with the plans of Athena, Driver of Booty.
Hydra bore Chimaira, who breathes fire not to be resisted,
a dreadful, great thing, swift of foot and powerful.
She has three heads. One is that of a fierce lion,
another of a goat, and the last of a mighty serpent snake.
[In front a lion, behind a serpent and, in the middle, a goat,
breathing out the dreadful power of gleaming fire.]
Her Pegasos and noble Bellerophon slew.
She bore Sphinx as a destructive destruction for Cadmeians,
subdued by Orthos, and the lion of Nemea,
whom Hera, renowned wife of Zeus, having nurtured,
set up in the fields of Nemea, a pain to men.
There he dwelled and destroyed the tribes of men,
holding sway over Nemean Tretos and Apesas.
But the violence of the might of Heracles subdued him.
Keto mingled with Phorkys in philotês and gave birth
to her last, a dreadful serpent that in the depths of
gloomy Gaia on the great ends guards all-golden apples.
This is the family of Keto and Phorkys.
Tethus to Okeanos bore the whirling rivers,
Neilos and Alpheios and deep-whirling Eridanos and
Strymon and Maiandros and beautifully flowing Istros and
Phasis and Rhesos and Acheloios of the silver whirls and
Nessos and Rhodios and Haliakmon and Heptaporos and
Grenikos and Aispepos and divine Simoeis and
Peneios and Hermos and fair-flowing Kaikos and
great Sangarios and Ladon and Parthenios and
Euenos and Ardeskos and divine Skamandros.
She gave birth to a family of holy daughters who across
the Gaia, with lord Apollo and the rivers bring men
to adulthood, and they have this lot by Zeus's dispensation.
They are Peitho and Admete and Ianthe and Elektra and
Doris and Prymno and godlike Ouranie and
Hippo and Klymene and Rhodeia and Kalliroe and
Zeuzo and Klutie and Iduia and Pasithoe and
Plexaure and Galaxaure and lovely Dione and
Melobosis and Thoe and comely Polydore and
Kerkeis with the lovely stature and cow-eyed Plouto and
Perseis and Ianeira and Akaste and Xanthe and
charming Petraia and Menestho and Europe and
Metis and Eurynome and Telesto of the saffron dress and
Chryseis and Asie and desirable Kalypso and
Eudrore and Tyche and Amphiro and Okyroe and
Styx, who is the most preeminent of all.
These were born of Okeanos and Tethyos,
their eldest daughters. Yet, there are many others,
for three thousand are the slender-ankled Okeanids,
who, spread wide, haunt the Gaia and the waters' depths
everywhere alike, the glorious children of goddesses.
Again there are as many other rivers roaring loudly,
sons of Okeanos, whom Lady Tethys bore.
Their names a mortal man would be hard put to tell.
Each of them knows those who dwell nearby.
Theia bore mighty Helios and gleaming Selene
and Eos who shines for all those on Gaia and
for the immortal gods who hold wide Ouranos,
having been subdued in Hyperion's philotês .
With Kreio, Eurybie mingled in philotês and bore
mighty Astraios and Pallas and Perses, that one
shining among goddesses. Perses surpassed all in skills.
Eos bore to Astraios the strong spirited winds and
the cleanser Zephyr and swiftly speeding Boreas, and
Notos, a goddess bedded with a god in philotês.
After them, early born Eos brought forth the star
Eosphoros and the shining stars that crown Ouranos.
Styx, daughter of Okeanos, mingled with Pallas and
bore Zelos and slender-ankled Nike in the halls and
Kratos and Bia, conspicuous children.
Their home is never far from Zeus, nor is there
any abode or journey for which the god is not their guide,
but always beside deep thundering Zeus they have their abode.
For so Styx, the unwithering daughter of Okeanos, planned
on that day when the Olympian Lightener
summoned all the immortal gods to lofty Olympus and
said that whoever of the gods fought the Titans on his side
would not be deprived of their prerogatives, and each
would have the honor as before among the immortal gods.
Zeus said that he who was dishonored and without privileges
under Kronos would gain honor and privileges, as is right.
Styx, the unwithering daughter of Okeanos, was first to go
to Olympus with her children through the counsels of her father.
Zeus honored her and gave her countless gifts.
He made her the mighty oath of the gods and
for her children to dwell beside him for all days.
Thus he accomplished, as he promised, through and
through, but he himself is very powerful and lords over all.
Phoebe went to Koios' bed of much desire.
Then the goddess conceived in philotês with a god and
bore dark-robbed Leto, always gracious,
gentle to men and immortal gods,
gracious from the beginning, most kindly within Olympus.
She bore Asterie, of whom it is good to speak, whom Perses
once led to his great house to be called his wife.
Asterie conceived and bore Hekate, whom above all
Zeus Kronides6 honored. He granted her glorious gifts and
to have a portion of the Gaia and unplowed sea.
She has a portion also of the starry Ournaos as her province.
She is especially honored among the immortals gods.
For even now, when some one of men on earth,
sacrificing beautiful victims, propitiates the gods
in the customary way, he calls upon Hekate. Much honor
follows him easily whose prayers the goddess eagerly
accepts. She gives him blessings, since it is in her power.
She has a share with all the immortals
who were born from Gaia and Ouranos and received honor.
Kronides never did her violence or took from her
what she had from the distribution among the former Titans,
but she retained all as the distribution was first done.
Although only-begotten, the goddess did not receive
a lesser share of honor and privileges in the earth and
Ouranos and sea, but yet even more, since Zeus honors her.
She comes and greatly aids whatever man she prefers
and at trials sits beside revered kings.
In the marketplace, that man whom she prefers is preeminent
among people. Whenever men arm for man-slaying
war, then the goddess comes beside those whom
she prefers, eagerly granting victory and holding out glory.
Good is she at standing beside horsemen she prefers.
Good again is she when men compete in the contest.
There the goddess comes beside and aids them.
He who has won by brute force and power carries
the beautiful prize off lightly and joyfully and confers honor
upon his parents. Upon those who work the rough grey sea and
pray to Hekate and loud-rumbling Earth Shaker,
easily does the glorious goddess confer a larger catch.
Lightly, too, if it is her wish, she takes away one appearing
before them. Noble is she in the stables with Hermes to
increase the herds. Herds of cattle, broad flocks of goats and
wooly sheep, if it is her wish in her spirit,
she enlarges from small and diminishes from many.
Thus, even being the only begotten of her mother,
she is honored with privileges among all the immortals.
Kronides made her Nurturer of Youths who after her
with their eyes saw the light of much-seeing Dawn. Thus from
the beginning she was Nurturer of Youths, and these are her provinces.
Rheia, subdued by Kronos, bore illustrious children,
Hestia and Demeter and golden-sandaled Hera and
mighty Hades who dwells in houses beneath the earth,
having a pitiless heart, and loud rumbling Earth Shaker, and
Zeus of counsels, father of gods and men,
beneath whose thunder the wide earth quivers.
Great Kronos kept swallowing them as each
arrived at his mother's knees from her sacred womb,
intending that no other one of the illustrious children
of Ouranos hold the kingly province among the immortals.
for he learned from Gaia and starry Ouranos
that it was fated for him to be subdued by his son, although
he himself was powerful, through the plans of great Zeus.
Therefore, he kept no blind vigilance but, awaiting each,
he would swallow his children. Rheia had pain not to be
forgotten. But when she was about to bear Zeus,
father of gods and men, she beseeched
her parents, Gaia and starry Ouranos,
to contrive a scheme so that she might
give birth to her son in secret and make great Kronos of
crooked counsel pay her father's avenging Fury and that of the
children he swallowed. They listened to their daughter and obeyed,
and informed her what was fated to happen
for Kronos, king and powerful hearted son.
They sent Rheia to Lyktos, to the fat country of Krete,
when she was about to give birth to the last of her children,
great Zeus. Monstrous Gaia received him
in broad Krete to nourish and foster. There she arrived,
carrying him through the swift black night,
first to Lyktos. Holding him in her arms, she hid
him in a high cave, beneath the ways of divine Gaia,
on densely wooded Mount Aigiaon.
She wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes entrusted it
to Ouranos' son and great lord, king of gods before,
He took it and put in down into his womb, cruel one, and
he did not realize it in his mind, so that in return for a stone,
his son remained unconquered and unconcerned,
who was going to subdue him by brute force and his hands
and drive him from his province and lord among immortals.
Rapidly the strength and the limbs in their glory
of the lord grew, and when the year in its cycle
came around, deceived by Gaia's sagacious advice,
Kronos of crooked counsel sent up his offspring again,
conquered by the schemes and brute force of his son.
He vomited the stone first, swallowing it last.
And it Zeus fixed in the broad-wayed earth,
in hallowed Pytho beneath the vales of Parnassos,
to be a sign hereafter, a wonder for mortal men.
He loosened his father's brothers from destructive bonds,
sons of Ouranos, whom their father bound in his folly.
They remembered gratitude for his benefactions and
gave him thunder and gleaming lightning
and flash. Before, monstrous Gaia hid them.
Relying upon these, Zeus lords over mortals and immortals.
Iapetos led the daughter of Okeanos, beautiful-ankled
Klymene and went with her up to the same bed.
She gave birth to a son Atlas and produced
the exceedingly glorious Menoitios and Prometheus,
changeful, slippery-counseled, and erring-minded Epimetheus
who proved an evil for men who eat what the soil yields.
He was first to receive under his roof Zeus's molded woman
virgin. Wide-seeing Zeus sent insolent Menoitios down
into Erebos, striking him with smoldering lightning,
because of his rashness and excessive manliness.
Atlas holds wide Heaven beneath powerful necessity,
standing on the boundaries of the Gaia before the clear-toned
Hesperides, on his head and weariless arms. This portion
counselor Zeus distributed to him. He bound
the changeful-planning Prometheus with unbreakable fetters,
painful bonds, and drove them through the middle of a pillar.
And he sent a long-winged eagle upon him. Further, it ate
his deathless liver, but there grew back all over during the night
as much as the bird of long wings had eaten during the whole
whole day. The stout son of Alkmene of the beautiful ankles,
Heracles, slew it, and warded off the evil sickness
for Iapetos' son and released him from troubles,
not against Olympian Zeus's will, who was contriving on high
in order that the renown of Theban-born Heracles
might be more than before over the much-nourishing earth.
So respecting him, he honored his conspicuous son.
Although angry, he let off the wrath he had before against
Prometheus because he rivaled the very mighty Kronios in designs.
For when gods and mortal men were making a settlement
at Mekone, at that time Prometheus divided with eager spirit
a great ox and set it before him, seeking to beguile the mind of Zeus.
For him, Prometheus covered flesh and innards rich in fat
with the ox's stomach and set them down wrapped in the hide.
For them, he covered the ox's white bones with shining fat
and, well arranging them for his cunning trick, set them down.
Then the father of men and gods addressed him:
“Son of Iapetos, most conspicuous of all lords,
dear sir, how partially you divided the portions.”
Thus spoke Zeus who knows imperishable counsels, chiding him.
Again, Prometheus of crooked counsel addressed him,
smiling slightly, and he did not forget his cunning trick:
“Very noble Zeus, greatest of the gods who are for always,
choose whichever of these the spirit in your breast bids you.”
He spoke, planning cunning. Zeus who knows imperishable counsels
recognized and was not ignorant of the cunning, but he eyed evils
with his mind for mortal men, that he intended to fulfil.
With both hands, he took the white fat,
and grew angry around his breast, and bitter bile entered his mind
when he saw the ox's white bones in a cunning trick.
From then on, for the immortals the tribes of men on earth
burn white bones on fragrant altars.
Outraged, the cloud-gatherer Zeus addressed him:
“Son of Iapetos, knowing counsels above all others,
dear sir, you did not yet forget your trick.”
Thus spoke Zeus who knows imperishable counsels, angered.
From this time, always mindful of his wrath,
he would not give the strength of weariless fire
to the ash trees for mortal men who dwell on earth.
But good son of Iapetos deceived him,
stealing the far-seen beam of weariless fire
in a hollow fennel stalk. It stung anew Zeus
high thunderer in his spirit, and he raged in his heart
when he saw among men the far-seen beam of fire.
Straightway, in return for fire he fashioned an evil for men.
For the renowned Lame One molded from Gaia a likeness
of majestic maiden through the plans of Kronides.
Goddess gray-eyed Athena girded and dressed her
in a silvery white garment. Down from her head, she drew
with her hands a veil skillfully wrought, a wonder to behold.
[About her head Pallas Athena put fresh-budding garlands,
flowers of the meadow, desirable things, around her head.]
About her, she put a golden band on her head
that the renowned Lame One himself had made,
working it with his hands, while pleasing his father Zeus.
On it he had fashioned many skillful things, a wonder to behold,
beasts as many as land and sea nourish, dreadful things.
He put many of them on it, and grace breathed in all,
wondrous, very like to living animals with voices.
When he fashioned a good evil in return for something noble,
he led her out to where the other gods and men were,
her adorned in the garment the gray-eyed Daughter of a Mighty Father.
Wonder held immortal gods and mortal men,
when they saw a sheer cunning, unmanageable for men.
For from her is the descent of female women
[for the race and tribes of women are destructive,]
a great pain for mortals, living with men,
companions not of destructive Poverty but of Plenty.
As when, in hives overhung from above, bees
feed drones, conspirators in evil deeds,
all day until the setting sun,
they busy themselves and pack white honeycombs,
while the drones, staying within the sheltered nest,
scrape into their stomachs the fruits of another's weariness,
thus women, conspirators of grievous deeds,
Zeus high thunderer ordained to be an evil for mortal men.
He gave another evil in return for something noble.
Whoever, fleeing marriage and women's mischievous deeds,
chooses not to marry comes to destructive old age
without someone to tend to his old age. He lives in want
of nothing, but when he dies, distant relatives divide up
his property. For that man whose lot it is to marry
and have a trusty wife, one suited to his ways,
evil unceasingly rivals good from his prime (?).
Whoever gets a baneful type lives with an unremitting sorrow
on his spirit and heart, and it is an evil incurable.
Thus, there is no deceiving Zeus's mind nor getting by it.
For not even the son of Iapetos, akakêta (?) Prometheus
escaped his heavy bile, but beneath necessity him,
although very clever, a great bond restrained.
When first father Ouranos was angered in his spirit at
Obriareus and Kottos and Gyges, he bound them in evil
chains, envying their excessive manhood and shape and
size. He settled them beneath broad-wayed earth.
There dwelling beneath the earth in pain, they sat
at the farthest ends on the limits of great Gaia,
grieving deeply and having great sorrow in their heart.
But Kronides and the other immortal gods
whom beautiful-haired Rheia bore in philotês with Kronos,
in accord with Gaia's advice, brought them into the light again.
She herself recounted for them everything in clear fashion:
with them, they would win victory and vaunt of renown.
For all too long they had been fighting with toil
that pains the spirit against one another in strong encounters,
the Titans gods and those born of Kronos,
the illustrious Titans from lofty Othryos and from Olympus
the gods, givers of good things, those whom
beautiful-haired Rheia bore after being bedded by Kronos.
They had battles against one another that bring pain to the spirit,
constantly battling for ten full years.
No loosening of harsh strife was there or end
for either side, and the decision of war was pulled fast and even.
But when Zeus supplied them with what they needed,
nectar and ambrosia, things gods themselves eat,
their manly spirit grew in the breasts of them all
[after they consumed nectar and lovely ambrosia.]
Then to them spoke the father of men and gods:
“Hear me, brilliant children of Gaia and Ouranos,
that I may say what the spirit in my breast bids me.
Already now for too long against one another
for victory and power we have been fighting all days,
the Titan gods and those of us born from Kronos.
You, reveal your great brute force and untouchable
hands to the Titans, opposing them in the dire fray.
Remember kind philotês and what you suffered
before you came into the light again from bondage
from the murky darkness in accord with our plans.”
Thus Zeus spoke, and blameless Kottos answered him:
“Strange one, you do not reveal what is unknown, but we
ourselves know that your mind is superior and your purpose,
and you are the defender for the immortals against icy cold
harm, and by your advice from the gloomy darkness
and harsh chains we have come back again,
lord son of Kronos, having suffered the unexpected.
Now with stubborn mind and ready spirit,
we will defend your power in dread battle-strife,
fighting against the Titans in strong encounters.”
So spoke Kottos, and the gods, givers of good things,
heard and praised his words. Their spirit craved war
even more than before. They moved wretched battle,
all of them, females and males, on that day,
Tritan gods and those who were born from Kronos and those
whom Zeus from Erebos beneath the earth brought into light.
These were dreadful and strong, possessing excessive force.
A hundred arms shot forth from their shoulders,
for all of them alike, and each had fifty heads
grown out from their shoulders on sturdy limbs.
Then, they settled themselves against the Titans in the dire fray,
holding huge rocks in their sturdy hands.
From the other side, the Titans strengthened their ranks
eagerly, and both sides were revealing the works of forceful
hands, and the boundless sea resounded dreadfully, and
the earth screamed loudly, and wide Ouranos groaned, when
heaved, and from the foundations lofty Olympus shook
beneath the fury of the immortals. The heavy pounding
of their feet reached murky Tartaros, as did the shrill screams
of the terrible pursuit and powerful missiles.
Thus they hurled mournful darts at one another.
The sound of both reached starry Ouranos
as they cried out. They clashed with a great war cry.
No longer did Zeus restrain his might but straightaway
his heart filled with might, and he showed all
his brute force. From Ouranos and Olympus together
he came striding, flashing lightning constantly. His bolts
were flying in close array with thunder and flash
from his sturdy hands, whirling the flame
thickly. Life-bearing Gaia screamed as she burned, and
the immense forest crackled loudly all round.
All the earth was boiling as well as the streams of Ouranos
and the unplowed sea. Hot blasts encompassed
the nether Titans, and immense flame reached
the shining aether. Although the Titans were stalwart,
the gleaming light of the lightning and flash deprived
them of their eyes. Ineffable heat gripped Chawos.
It seemed to the eyes for the seeing and ears for the hearing
exactly as if Gaia and wide Ouranos from above
were drawing near one another. Such a loud din would rise up
with Gaia being fallen upon and Ouranos falling from above.
Such was the din that sounded as the gods clashed in strife.
The winds produced shaking and whipped up dust, and
abetted thunder and flashing and gleaming lightning,
shafts of Great Zeus, and they carried swift uproar and clamor
into the midst of both sides. A terrible din arose from their
dreadful wrath, and the work of power was revealed.
Battle inclined. Before they had launched at one another
and battled constantly through strong encounters.
Then among the foremost they aroused bitter battle,
Kottos and Briareos and Gyges, insatiate of war.
Three hundred rocks from their sturdy hands
they were hurling, one on another, and they cast shadows
over the Titans with missiles. They sent them beneath
broad-wayed earth and bound them in painful bonds,
having conquered them by hands, though they were bold,
as far beneath the earth as Ouranos is above Gaia
so far from earth to murky Tartaros.
For nine days and nights a bronze anvil, that was
going down from Ouranos, would arrive at Gaia on the tenth.
For nine days and nights a bronze anvil that was
going down from Gaia would arrive at Tartaros, on the tenth.
A bronze wall runs around Tartaros. Around its neck,
night in three rows is spread. From above
grow the roots of earth and the unplowed sea.
There the Titan gods beneath the murky darkness
have been hidden by the plans of cloud-gathering Zeus,
in that squalid place, the ends of monstrous Gaia.
There is no exit for them, but Poseidon put on gates
of bronze, and a wall runs on around from both sides.
[There Gyges and Kottos and great-spirited Obriareos,
dwell, faithful guards of aegis-bearing Zeus.
There are the sources and limits in order
of dark night and murky Tartaros
and the unplowed sea and starry Ouranos,
painful and squalid places, that gods shudder at.
There is a great Chawos. In one entire year, one would not
reach its floor, once he were within the gates,
but gust after racking gust would carry him
here and there, dreadful even for immortal gods.]
[This portent: the dreadful dwelling of dark Night
is there, veiled in tenebrous clouds.]
Before the gates stands Iapetos' son and holds
on his head and weariless arms broad Ouranos
without moving, where Night and Day, drawing nigh,
address one another as they cross over the great threshold
of bronze. One will go down inside, and the other outside
is going, and never does the house enclose both within.
But always the one, being outside the houses,
traverses Gaia, and the other, being inside the house,
waits the hour of her journey until it arrives.
The one has much-seeing light for those on earth.
The other has Sleep in her hands, brother of Death,
the other being destructive Night, veiled in dark clouds.
There pitch-dark Night's children have houses,
Sleep and Death, dreadful gods. Never does
radiant Helios look upon them with his rays
as he goes up into Ouranos or comes down from Ouranos.
Of them, the one goes and dwells in the earth and sea's
broad back quietly and graciously for men,
but the other's heart is of iron, and his heart is of pitiless
bronze in his chest. He holds any of men whom he first
seizes. He is hated even by the immortal gods.
There the echoing houses of the nether god
[of stalwart Hades and very awful Persephone.]
stand. A dreadful dog guards in front,
remorseless, and he has an evil trick. Those entering
he fawns upon with his tail and both ears,
but he does not allow them to go out again.
Waiting, he devours whomever he catches going out the gates.
There dwells a goddess hated by the immortals,
dreadful Styx, daughter of Okeanos of back-flowing streams,
his eldest. Apart from the gods, she dwells in renowned
halls roofed over by large rocks. All around it is firmly
rooted by silver pillars reaching to Ouranos.
Seldom does the daughter of Thaumas, swift-footed Iris,
messenger, go there over the sea's broad back.
Whenever strife and quarrels arise among the immortals
and if someone of those having halls on Olympus is lying,
Zeus sends Iris to bring the gods' great oath
from afar in a golden jar—the water of many names,
cold water that drips down from a huge rock
on high. Far beneath the wide-wayed earth
from a sacred river, it flows through the black night.
A branch of Okeanos, it is allotted a tenth part of the water.
Nine parts, coiling around earth and the sea's broad back
in silver whirlings fall into the brine. But this one flows
forward from the rock, a great pain for gods.
Whoever pours it in libation and swears a false oath,
some one of those who hold the pinnacles of snowy Olympus,
lies breathless for a completed year.
Never does he go near ambrosia and nectar
by way of food but lies breathless and speechless
on covered beds, and an evil magic sleep envelops him.
But when he completes his great sickness at the end of a great year,
another and harsher labor after the other awaits him.
For nine years he is deprived of the gods who always are.
Never does he mingle with them in council or in feasts
for nine whole years. In the tenth, he mingles again
in the assembly place (?) of the immortals who have halls on Olympus.
Such an oath did the immortal gods make Styx's unwithering
waters, primeval (?). It gushes through a rugged place.
There are the sources and limits in order
of dark night and murky Tartaros
and the unplowed sea and starry Ouranos,
painful and squalid places, that the gods shudder at.
There are shining gates and a floor of bronze,
fast with roots that reach far and are gripped in the ground,
grown by their own growing. Before them away from all gods
dwell the Titans on the other side of pitch-dark Chawos.
Moreover, the renowned allies of loud-thundering Zeus
dwell in halls at the bases of Okeanos,
Kottos and Gyges. Briareos, being good,
the heavy-sounding Earth Shaker made his son-in-law and
gave him Kymopoleia to marry, his daughter.
When Zeus drove the Titans from Olympus,
monstrous Gaia bore her last child Typhoeus
in philotês with Tartaros through golden Aphrodite.
His hands were strong (?)--corrupt line-
The feet of the powerful god were weariless. From his shoulders
were a hundred head of a dreadful serpent dragon,
licking with dark tongues. The eyes
on the monster's ineffable heads flashed fire beneath their brows
[From all the heads, as he looked, burned fire.]
Voices were in all his dreadful heads,
emitting sounds of all sorts, unutterable by gods.
Sometimes they spoke so gods could comprehend. Sometimes
they emitted the cry of a bull, unchecked in might, proud of voice,
sometimes the cry of a lion having a shameless spirit,
sometimes sounds like puppies, a wonder to hear,
sometimes he hissed, and the lofty mountains rumbled.
A unmanageable deed would have been done that day, and
Typhoeos would have become lord for mortals and immortals,
had not the father of men and gods keenly attended.
He thundered harsh and strong, and all around, Gaia
resounded awfully, and the wide Ouranos above and
the sea and streams of Okeanos and Gaia's Tartaros.
Beneath the god's immortal feet as he moved `
was quivering great Olympus. Gaia was groaning.
Heat from both of them gripped the violet-like sea,
heat from the thunder and flash and fire from the monster
and thunderbolts and winds and scorching lightning.
All the earth boiled and Ouranos and the sea.
Huge waves raged along the shores round and about,
at the fury of the immortals, and an endless quaking arose.
Hades, lording over the wasted dead men,
and the Titans under Tartaros who around Kronos,
trembled with the endless din and terrible battle-strife.
When Zeus lifted up his might and seized his weapons,
thunder, flash, and gleaming lightning,
he leaped up from Olympus and smote them.
All about he set fire to the dread monster's divine heads.
But when he had subdued him, flogging him with blows,
Typhoeos collapsed, crippled, and monstrous Gaia was groaning.
From the lightning-smote lord, a flame shot forth
in the mountain glens dark and craggy
as he was struck. And monstrous Gaia was burning all over
with an ineffable blast and melted like tin heated
beneath the skill of craftsmen in bellowed crucibles
or iron, which is the strongest of all things,
being subdued in the mountain glens by blazing fire,
melts in the shining earth beneath Hephaestos' hands.
In this way, Gaia was melting from the flame of the blazing fire.
And Zeus in terrible anger threw Typhoeus into wide Tartaros.
From Typhoeus comes the moist might of the blowing winds,
apart from Notos and Boreas and the cleanser Zephyr.
They are in descent from gods, a great boon to mortals.
The other winds blow fruitlessly over the sea,
who falling upon the murky sea,
a great bane to mortals, howl with evil gales.
They blow at varying times and scatter ships and
destroy sailors. There is no remedy for this evil
for men who happen upon them across the sea.
Moreover, across the boundless, flowering Gaia,
they destroy the lovely works of earth-born men,
filling Gaia with dust and painful uproar.
But when the blessed gods completed their toil and
made settlement of honors for the Titans by brute force,
they urged wide-seeing Olympian Zeus
in accord with the advice of Gaia to be king and lord,
and he apportioned provinces to them well.
Zeus, king of gods, made Metis his first wife,
most knowledgeable of gods and immortal men.
But when she was about to bear Athena of gleaming eyes,
then by a cunning he deceived her mind
with coaxing words and put her down into his womb,
in accord with the advice of Gaia and starry Ouranos.
Thus they told him in order that the kingly province
no other of the gods who are for always might hold instead of Zeus.
For it was fated that from her would be born
thoughtful children. First, a maiden, gleaming-eyed
Tritogeneia who has might and keen plans equal to her father.
Then Metis was going to bear a son to be
king of gods and men, having a very forceful heart.
But Zeus sent her down into his womb before then
so that the goddess might advise him on good and evil.
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