135
Drew from a Goddess of inferior note. 
Thy mother is from Jove; the offspring, his,
Less noble of the hoary Ocean old. 
Go, therefore, and thy conquering spear uplift
Against him, nor let aught his sounding words 140
Appal thee, or his threats turn thee away. 

    So saying, with martial force the Chief he fill’d,

Who through the foremost combatants advanced
Radiant in arms.  Nor pass’d Anchises’ son
Unseen of Juno, through the crowded ranks 145
Seeking Achilles, but the Powers of heaven
Convened by her command, she thus address’d. 

    Neptune, and thou, Minerva! with mature

Deliberation, ponder the event. 
Yon Chief, AEneas, dazzling bright in arms; 150
Goes to withstand Achilles, and he goes
Sent by Apollo; in despite of whom
Be it our task to give him quick repulse,
Or, of ourselves, let some propitious Power
Strengthen Achilles with a mind exempt 155
From terror, and with force invincible. 
So shall he know that of the Gods above
The mightiest are his friends, with whom compared
The favorers of Ilium in time past,
Who stood her guardians in the bloody strife, 160
Are empty boasters all, and nothing worth. 
For therefore came we down, that we may share
This fight, and that Achilles suffer nought
Fatal to-day, though suffer all he must
Hereafter, with his thread of life entwined 165
By Destiny, the day when he was born. 
But should Achilles unapprized remain
Of such advantage by a voice divine,
When he shall meet some Deity in the field,
Fear then will seize him, for celestial forms 170
Unveil’d are terrible to mortal eyes. 

    To whom replied the Shaker of the shores. 

Juno! thy hot impatience needs control;
It ill befits thee.  No desire I feel
To force into contention with ourselves 175
Gods, our inferiors.  No.  Let us, retired
To yonder hill, distant from all resort,
There sit, while these the battle wage alone. 
But if Apollo, or if Mars the fight
Entering, begin, themselves, to interfere 180
Against Achilles, then will we at once
To battle also; and, I much misdeem,
Or glad they shall be soon to mix again
Among the Gods on the Olympian heights,
By strong coercion of our arms subdued. 185

    So saying, the God of Ocean azure-hair’d

Moved foremost to the lofty mound earth-built
Of noble Hercules, by Pallas raised
And by the Trojans for his safe escape,
What time the monster of the deep pursued 190
The hero from the sea-bank o’er the plain. 
There Neptune sat, and his confederate Gods,
Their shoulders with impenetrable clouds