Lines 713–868

And amid the foremost Kottos and Briareos and Gyes, insatiate of war, awoke bitter battle: who hurled in quick succession three hundred rocks from their stout hands, and overshadowed the Titans with their shafts, and sent them beneath the wide-wayed earth, and bound them in grievous bonds, overcoming them with their hands for all that their spirit was exceeding proud: as far beneath the earth as the heaven is high above the earth: for even so far is it from earth to misty Tartaros. If an anvil of bronze were to fall from heaven for nine nights and nine days, on the tenth day it would come to earth: and again if an anvil of bronze were to descend from earth for nine days and nine nights, on the tenth it would come to Tartaros, round which is drawn a fence of bronze. And about it round the neck thereof Night is spread in three lines, while above grow the roots of earth and the unharvested sea. There the Titan gods are hidden under the misty darkness by the decrees of Zeus the Cloud Gatherer, in a dank place, at the verge of the giant earth. And they may not come forth: for Poseidon hath set thereto gates of bronze, and a wall runs round on either side. There Gyes, and Kottos, and great-hearted Briareos dwell, the faithful watchers of Aegis-bearing Zeus. And there are the springs and the ends of dusky earth, and of misty Tartaros, and of the unharvested sea, and of starry heaven, all in order, dank and terrible, which even the gods abhor: a mighty chasm: if a man once came within the gates thereof, not till the end of a whole year would he reach the ground, but this way and that grievous whirlwind on grievous whirlwind would carry him. A dread portent is this even to the deathless gods. And there stand the terrible habitations of murky Night, shrouded in dark clouds.

In front of these the son of Iapetos stands, holding steadfastly the wide heaven with head and hands unwearied, where Night and Day meet and greet one another as they pass the great threshold of bronze. One goeth down within, the other cometh forth, and at no time doth their habitation have them both within, but evermore one of them is forth of the house and wheeleth over earth, while the other abideth within the house and awaiteth the coming of her time for going forth: the one holding in her hands all-seeing light for men on earth; the other, even baleful Night, shrouded in misty cloud, holding in her hands Sleep, the brother of Death.

And there the children of dusky Night have their habitations: even the dread gods, Sleep and Death; on them the bright Sun never looketh with his rays, either when he goeth up into the heavens or when he cometh down. Of them the one fareth over earth and the broad back of the sea, peaceful and kindly unto men. But the other hath a heart of iron, and brazen and pitiless is the soul within his breast. Whomsoever among men he once hath seized, he keepeth: and he is hated even of the deathless gods.

There in front stand the echoing halls of the god of the underworld, of strong Hades and dread Persephone. And a dread dog keepeth watch before them; pitiless is he and he hath an evil guile. On them who enter he fawneth with his tail and with both his ears: but to come forth again he alloweth none, but keepeth watch and devoureth whomsoever he catcheth coming forth from the gates of strong Hades and dread Persephone.

And there dwelleth a goddess hated of the deathless gods, even dread Styx, eldest daughter of backward-flowing Okeanos. Apart from the gods she hath her glorious habitation, roofed with great rocks, and reared to heaven with silver pillars all around. Seldom doth swift-footed Iris, the daughter of Thaumas, fare thither with a message over the broad back of the sea, even what time strife and quarrel arise among the immortals. And if any of the dwellers in the halls of Olympos speaketh falsely, then Zeus sendeth Iris to bring from afar in a golden ewer the great Oath of the Gods, that famous water chill, which floweth from a sheer high rock. Far under the wide-wayed earth it floweth through black night, a horn of the holy river of Okeanos, whereof a tenth part is allotted to Styx. In nine silver eddying streams he coileth about earth and the broad back of the sea, and falleth into the deep; but this one floweth forth from a rock to be a great bane to the gods. Whosoever of the immortals who hold the top of snowy Olympos maketh libation and sweareth falsely, lieth breathless till a year be fulfilled. And he never draweth nigh to eat of ambrosia and nectar, but breathless and speechless he lieth on a strewn bed, and an evil stupor covereth him. But when he hath fulfilled his disease for a great year, another and another more grievous ideal awaiteth him, and for nine years he is separated from the everlasting gods, and never cometh to their councils or their feasts for nine whole years: but in the tenth year he entereth again the assemblies of the immortals who hold the halls of Olympos. Such an oath did the gods appoint the water of the Styx to be, the water imperishable, primeval, which poureth through a rugged place.

And there are the springs and ends of dusky earth, and of misty Tartaros and of the unharvested sea, and of starry heaven, all in order, dank and terrible, which even the gods abhor. And there are the shining gates and threshold of bronze unshakeable, of natural growth, fitted with roots which pierce right through the earth. And in front, apart from all the gods, dwell the Titans, on the further side of darksome Chaos.

But the glorious allies of Zeus the Thunderer have their homes beside the foundations of Okeanos, even Kottos and Gyes: but Briareos, a goodly wight, did the deep-voiced Shaker of the Earth make his son-by-marriage, and gave him Kymopoleia to wife, even his own daughter.

Now when Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven great Earth bare her youngest son, Typhoeus,in loving union with Tartaros, by grace of golden Aphrodite: his hands are busy with the works of strength, and unwearied are the mighty god’s feet: and from his shoulders grew a hundred serpent heads, heads of a dread dragon that licked with dusky tongues, and from the eyes of his wondrous heads fire flashed beneath his brows, and from all his heads fire burned as he glared. And in all his terrible heads were voices that uttered all manner of cries unspeakable. Sometimes they uttered such sounds as the gods might understand: anon the roar of a bellowing bull, proud and untameable of spirit: sometimes, again, the roaring of a lion of dauntless heart: sometimes noises as of whelps, wondrous to hear: and anon he would hiss, and the high hills echoed to the sound. And now would a work beyond remede have been wrought on that day, and he would have been king of mortals and immortals, had not the Father of men and gods been swift to mark. Hard and strongly he thundered, and the earth around rang terribly, and the wide heaven above, and the sea and the streams of Okeanos and Tartaros under earth. And under the immortal feet of the King in his onset great Olympos was shaken, and the earth groaned. And by reason of them both heat possessed the violet sea, even the heat of the thunder and the lightning and the fire from that monster, of lightnings and winds and flaming thunderbolt. And the whole earth seethed, and the heavens, and the sea: and round and about the shores the long waves raged at the onset of the immortals, and unquenchable convulsion arose. Hades trembled, the lord of the dead below, and the Titans under Tartaros, who dwell beside Kronos, at the unquenchable din and dread strife. But when Zeus had arrayed his might, and seized his arms, the thunder and the lightning and the smoking thunderbolt, he leapt upon him from Olympos and smote him, and all around he scorched the wondrous heads of the dread monster. But when he had scourged him with stripes and overcome him, Typhoeus fell lamed, and the mighty earth groaned. And as that prince was stricken with the thunderbolt, the flame spread abroad in the dim rocky mountain glens as he was smitten; and great space of the giant earth was burnt by the awful breath, and melted even as tin melteth when heated by the craft of men and the well-bored crucible, or as iron, which is the strongest of metals, is overcome by blazing fire in the mountain glens, and melted in the holy earth by the hands of Hephaistos: even so the earth was melted by the blaze of burning fire. And in the vexation of his heart he hurled him into broad Tartaros.