Book V

golden throne, Smote him with silent arrows from her bow, And slew him in Ortygia. Thus, again, When bright-haired Ceres, swayed by her own heart, In fields which bore three yearly harvests, met Iäsion as a lover, this was known Erelong to Jupiter, who flung from high A flaming thunderbolt, and laid him dead. And now ye envy me, that with me dwells A mortal man. I saved him as he clung Alone upon his floating keel; for Jove Had cloven with a bolt of fire from heaven His galley in the midst of the black sea, And all his gallant comrades perished there. Him kindly I received; I cherished him, And promised him a life that ne’er should know Decay or death. But since no god has power To elude or to withstand the purposes Of aegis-bearing Jove, let him depart⁠— If so the sovereign moves him and commands⁠— Over the barren deep. I send him not; For neither ship arrayed with oars have I, Nor seamen, o’er the boundless waste of waves To bear him hence. My counsel I will give, And nothing will I hide that he should know, To place him safely on his native shore.”