Mythology, Greek -- Juvenile literature; Mythology, Roman -- Juvenile literature
And even while he spake the men of Troy saw the shepherd Polyphemus
among his flocks, and that he made as if he would come to the shore.
Horrible to behold was he, huge and shapeless and blind. And when he
came to the sea, he washed the blood from the wound, grinding his teeth
the while; and though he went far into the sea, yet did not the waves
touch his middle. And the men of Troy, having taken the suppliant on
board, fled with all their might; and he hearing their rowing would
have reached to them, but could not. Therefore did he shout aloud, and
the Cyclopés hearing him, hasted to the shore. Then did the men of Troy
behold them, a horrid company, tall as a grove of oaks or cypresses.
Nor knew they in their fear what they should do, seeing that on the
one hand was the land of the Cyclopés, and on the other Scylla and
Charybdis, of which the seer Helenus had bidden them beware. But while
they doubted, there blew a north wind from Pelorus, wherewith they
sailed onwards, and Achæmenides with them. So they came to Ortygia,
whither, as men say, the river Alpheüs floweth under the sea from
the land of Pelops, and so mingleth with Arethusa; and afterwards
they passed the promontory of Pachynus, Camarina also, and Gela, and
other cities likewise, till they came to Lilybæum, and so at last to
Drepanum. There the old man Anchises died, and was buried.
CHAPTER II.
Not many days after Æneas and his companions set sail. But scarce were
they out of sight of the land of Sicily when Juno espied them. Very
wroth was she that they should be now drawing near to the end of their
journey, and she said to herself, “Shall I be balked of my purpose
nor be able to keep these men of Troy from Italy? Minerva, indeed,
because one man sinned, even Ajax Oïleus, burned the fleet of the
Greeks, and drowned the men in the sea. For the ships she smote with
the thunderbolts of Jupiter; and as for Ajax, him she caught up with a
whirlwind, and dashed him upon the rocks, piercing him through. Only
I, though I be both sister and wife to Jupiter, avail nothing against
this people. And who that heareth this in after time shall pay me due
honor and sacrifice?”
Then she went, thinking these things in her heart, to the land of
Æolia, where King Æolus keepeth the winds under bolt and bar. Mightily
do they roar within the mountain, but their King restraineth them and
keepeth them in bounds, being indeed set to do this very thing, lest
they should carry both the heavens and the earth before them in their
great fury. To him said Juno, “O Æolus, whom Jupiter hath made king
of the winds, a nation which I hate is sailing over the Tuscan sea.
Loose now thy storms against them, and drown their ships in the sea.
And hearken what I will do for thee. Twelve maidens I have that wait
on me continually, who are passing fair, and the fairest of all, even
Deïopea, I will give thee to wife.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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