all others that dwell in the salt sea because thou didst refuse to share the couch of Zeus for all his desire.  For to him such deeds are ever dear, to embrace either goddesses or mortal women.  But in reverence for me and with fear in thy heart thou didst shrink from his love; and he then swore a mighty oath that thou shouldst never be called the bride of an immortal god.  Yet he ceased not from spying thee against thy will, until reverend Themis declared to him the whole truth, how that it was thy fate to bear a son mightier than his sire; wherefore he gave thee up, for all his desire, fearing lest another should be his match and rule the immortals, and in order that he might ever hold his own dominion.  But I gave thee the best of the sons of earth to be thy husband, that thou mightest find a marriage dear to thy heart and bear children; and I summoned to the feast the gods, one and all.  And with my own hand I raised the bridal torch, in return for the kindly honour thou didst pay me.  But come, let me tell a tale that erreth not.  When thy son shall come to the Elysian plain, he whom now in the home of Cheiron the Centaur water-nymphs are tending, though he still craves thy mother milk, it is fated that he be the husband of Medea, Aeetes’ daughter; do thou aid thy daughter-in-law as a mother-in-law should, and aid Peleus himself.  Why is thy wrath so steadfast?  He was blinded by folly.  For blindness comes even upon the gods.  Surely at my behest I deem that Hephaestus will cease from kindling the fury of his flame, and that Aeolus, son of Hippotas, will check his swift rushing winds, all but the steady west wind, until they reach the havens of the Phaeacians; do thou devise a return without bane.  The rocks and the tyrannous waves are my fear, they alone, and them thou canst foil with thy sisters’ aid.  And let them not fall in their helplessness into Charybdis lest she swallow them at one gulp, or approach the hideous lair of Scylla, Ausonian Scylla the deadly, whom night-wandering Hecate, who is called Crataeis,[2] bare to Phorcys, lest swooping upon them with her horrible jaws she destroy the chiefest of the heroes.  But guide their ship in the course where there shall be still a hair’s breadth escape from destruction.”

[Footnote 1:  The Symplegades are referred to, where help was given by Athena, not by Hera.  It is strange that no mention is made of the Planctae, properly so called, past which they are soon to be helped.  Perhaps some lines have fallen out.]

[Footnote 2:  i.e. the Mighty One.]

Thus she spake, and Thetis answered with these words:  “If the fury of the ravening flame and the stormy winds cease in very deed, surely will I promise boldly to save the ship, even though the waves bar the way, if only the west wind blows fresh and clear.  But it is time to fare on a long and measureless path, in quest of my sisters who will aid me, and to the spot where the ship’s hawsers are fastened, that at early dawn the heroes may take thought to win their home-return.”