But her cloud-collecting Jove answering, addressed: “Juno, thither thou canst go even by-and-by, but come [now], let us, reclining, be delighted with love; for never at any time did the love of a goddess or a woman, poured around the heart within my breast, so subdue me: neither when I loved the wife of Ixion, who bore Pirithous, a counsellor equal to the gods; nor when [I loved] fair-ankled Danaë, the daughter of Acrisius, who bore Perseus, most illustrious of all men; nor when with that of the celebrated daughter of Phoenix, 476 who bore to me Minos and godlike Rhadamanthus: 477 nor yet when [I loved] Semele, nor Alcmena in Thebes, who brought forth my valiant son Hercules: but Semele bore [me] Bacchus, a joy to mortals: nor when [I loved] Ceres, the fair-haired queen: nor when glorious Latona nor thyself; as I now love thee, and sweet desire seizes me.” Footnote 476: (return) But Europa is generally considered to be the daughter of Agenor. See Grote, vol. i. p. 350. Footnote 477: (return) On the career of Rhadamanthus, who is “after death promoted to an abode of undisturbed bliss in the Elysian plain at the extremity of the earth,” see Grote, vol. i. p. 300. But him venerable Juno, meditating guiles, addressed: “Most shameless son of Saturn, what word hast thou spoken? If now thou desire to recline in love upon the summit of Ida, where all places are exposed, how will it be, if any of the immortal gods should perceive us sleeping, and, going amongst all the gods, disclose it? I for my part could never return to thy mansion, arising from the couch; for surely it would be unbecoming. But if in truth thou desirest it, and it be agreeable to thy soul, there is a chamber of thine which Vulcan, thy beloved son, formed for thee, and fitted its secure doors to its lintels. Thither let us repair, about to recline, since an embrace is indeed thy desire.” But her cloud-collecting Jove, answering, addressed: “Fear not, O Juno, that any of either gods or men shall behold this. Such a golden cloud will I spread around, that not even the Sun may see us through it, although his eye is very keen to behold.” 478 Thus he spake, and the son of Saturn encircled his wife in his arms. And the divine earth produced 479 fresh herbage under them, the dewy lotus, and the crocus, and the hyacinth, close and soft, which elevated them from the earth. Upon this [couch] they reclined, and clothed themselves above with a beautiful golden cloud; and lucid dew-drops fell from it. Footnote 478: (return) On the god Hêlios, and his overseeing influence, the student should compare Grote, vol. i. p. 466. Footnote 479: (return) So Milton, describing the couch of our first parents, P. L. iv. 700:—- —— “underfoot the violet, Crocus, and hyacinth with rich inlay, Broider’d the ground.”