Again, since the chief members of the world So mightily contend together, stirred By unhallowed civil warfare, see you not That some end may be set to their long strife? It may be when the sun and every kind Of heat shall have drunk all the moisture up, And gained the mastery they were struggling for, Though they have failed as yet to achieve their aim: So vast are the supplies the rivers bring, Threatening in turn to deluge every land From out the deep abysses of the ocean; All in vain, since the winds, sweeping the seas, Diminish them, and the sun in heaven unweaves Their fabric with his rays; and ’tis their boast That they are able to dry all things up, Before moisture can achieve its end. So terrible a war do they breathe out On equal terms, striving one with another For mighty issues: though indeed fire once Obtained the mastery, so the fable tells, And water once reigned supreme in the fields. For fire prevailing licked up and consumed Many things, when the ungovernable might Of the Sun’s horses, swerving from their course, Through the whole sky and over every land Whirled Phaëthon. But then the almighty Father, Stirred to fierce wrath, with sudden thunder-stroke Dashed great-souled Phaëthon from his team to the earth, And as he fell the Sun-god meeting him Caught from him the world’s everlasting lamp, And brought back tamed and trembling to the yoke The scattered steeds; then on their wonted course Guiding them, unto all things gave fresh life. Thus verily the old Greek poets sang, Though straying from true reason all too far. For fire can only gain the mastery When an excess of fiery particles Have flocked together out of infinite space; And then its strength fails, vanquished in some way, Or else things perish, utterly consumed By scorching gusts. Likewise moisture once Gathering together, as the story tells, Strove for the mastery, when it overwhelmed Many cities of mankind. But afterwards, When all that force, which out of infinite space Had gathered itself up, was by some means Diverted and withdrew, the rains ceased then, And the violence of the rivers was abated.