... Slowly old Cydippe rose and cried: "Hera, whose priestess I have been and am, Virgin and matron, at whose angry eyes Zeus trembles, and the windless plain of heaven With hyperborean echoes rings and roars, Remembering thy dread nuptials, a wise god, Golden and white in thy new-carven shape, Hear me! and grant for these my pious sons, Who saw my tears, and wound their tender arms Around me, and kissed me calm, and since no steer Stayed in the byre, dragged out the chariot old, And wore themselves the galling yoke, and brought Their mother to the feast of her desire, Grant them, O Hera, thy best gift of gifts!" Whereat the statue from its jeweled eyes Lightened, and thunder ran from cloud to cloud In heaven, and the vast company was hushed. But when they sought for Cleobis, behold, He lay there still, and by his brother's side Lay Biton, smiling through ambrosial curls, And when the people touched them they were dead.[78] =65. Myths of Minerva.= Minerva, as we have seen,[79] presided over the useful and ornamental arts, both those of men--such as agriculture and navigation--and those of women--spinning, weaving, and needlework. She was also a warlike divinity, but favored only defensive warfare. With Mars' savage love of violence and bloodshed she, therefore, had no sympathy. Athens, her chosen seat, her own city, was awarded to her as the prize of a peaceful contest with Neptune, who also aspired to it. In the reign of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, the two deities had contended for the possession of the city. The gods decreed that it should be awarded to the one who produced the gift most useful to mortals. Neptune gave the horse; Minerva produced the olive. The gods awarded the city to the goddess, and after her Greek appellation, Athena, it was named.