Further Heroines

28“Then saw I Leda, wife of Tyndarus,
Who bore to Tyndarus two noble sons,
Castor the horseman, Polydeuces skilled to wield
The cestus. Both of them have still a place
Upon the fruitful earth; for Zeus
Gave them such honor that they live by turns
Each one a day, and then are with the dead
Each one by turns; they rank among the gods.

29“The wife of Aloeus next appeared,
Iphidameia, who, as she declared,
Had won the love of Poseidon. She brought forth
Two short-lived sons —one like a god in form,
Named Otus; and the other, far renowned,
Named Ephialtes. These the bounteous earth
Nourished to be the tallest of mankind,
And goodliest, save Orion. When the twain
Had seen but nine years of their life, they stood
In breadth of frame nine cubits, and in height
Nine fathoms. They against the living gods
Threatened to wage, upon the Olympian height,
Fierce and tumultuous battle, and to fling
Ossa upon Olympus, and to pile
Pelion, with all its growth of leafy woods,
On Ossa, that the heavens might thus be scaled.
And they, if they had reached their prime of youth,
Had made their menace good. The son of Zeus
And amber-haired Leto took their lives
Ere yet beneath their temples sprang the down
And covered with its sprouting tufts the chin.

30“Phaedra I saw, and Procris, and the child
Of the wise Minos, Ariadne, famed
For beauty, whom the hero Theseus once
From Crete to hallowed Athens’ fertile coast
Led, but possessed her not. Artemis gave
Ear to the tale which Dionysus brought to her,
And in the isle of Dia slew the maid.

31“And Maera I beheld, and Clymene,
And Eriphyle, hateful in her guilt,
Who sold her husband for a price in gold.
But vainly might I think to name them all —
The wives and daughters of heroic men
Whom I beheld —for first the ambrosial night
Would wear away. And now for me the hour
Of sleep is come, at my good ship among
My friends, or haply here. Meantime the care
For my return is with the gods and you.”