I
While the battle swayed to and fro, and the Greeks were enabled by
Poseidon's aid to hold their own against the Trojans, Zeus was sitting
on a lonely peak of Ida, wrapped in a high celestial reverie. Hera saw
the uxorious king from her place of outlook on Olympus, and, noting his
abstracted mood, she resolved to play him a trick. So she went to her
chamber, which her son Hephæstus had made for her, and opened the door
with a private key, which she always kept by her, so that none might
invade her apartment in her absence. Having locked herself in, she
began to make her toilet with peculiar care. First, she washed her
person with ambrosia, and anointed herself with a fragrant oil, so rich
and rare that, when she lifted the lid of the casket in which it was
stored, a divine perfume filled earth and heaven with sweetness. Then
she dressed her lustrous hair, and put on a wondrous robe, which
Athene's own hands had wrought for her, clasping it to her bosom with
golden brooches. A rich girdle confined her robe at the waist, and in
her ears she hung earrings of costly pearl; and when she had put on her
sandals, and thrown a glittering veil over her head, she went forth
smiling in triumphant beauty, like a bride adorned for her husband.
Having thus prepared the whole battery of her charms, she went in
search of Aphrodite, and when she had found her she drew her apart from
the other gods, and said: "Wilt thou grant me a boon, dear child, or
wilt thou deny me in anger, because I favour thine enemies, the
Greeks?" "Name thy request, great queen of heaven," answered
Aphrodite, "and I will grant it, if I can."
Concealing her real purpose, the cunning Hera replied: "I am bound on a
journey to the ends of the earth, to visit the ancient deity Oceanus,
and Tethys, his wife, who have long been parted by a bitter quarrel.
If I can bring them together in love and kindness I shall do a good
deed, and repay part of the great debt of gratitude which I owe them.
Therefore, lend me, I pray thee, the mighty talisman which thou hast,
whereof neither man nor god can resist the powerful spell."
"It becomes me not," answered Aphrodite, "to deny thee in this, for
thou art the consort of high Jove." And therewith she took from her
bosom an amulet, in which there was a mysterious virtue, able to soften
the hardest heart, and turn it to thoughts of love and tenderness.
There dwelt persuasion and sweet endearment, the eloquence of silence
and the witchery of sighs. "Take it," she said, "and hide it in the
folds of thy robe. Armed with this, thou wilt accomplish all thy
desire."
Hera smiled her thanks, and taking the amulet sped away on her errand,
which carried her, not, as she had pretended, to the distant dwelling
of Oceanus, but to Lemnos, the Ægæan isle, the home of sleep. Arrived
there, she sought out the drowsy god, and found him nodding in his
shadowy cave. "Monarch of men and gods," she began, "Immortal Sleep,
thou hast done me good service in the past, and I think thou wilt not
fail me now. I would have thee lock fast the eyes of Zeus in slumber
deep and long. Ask me not why, but do it, and I will give thee a
golden throne, wrought, with a footstool, by Hephæstus, my son, whereon
thou mayest sit in state like the Olympian king himself."
"Ask me aught else," answered Sleep, lifting his heavy eyes with a look
of fear, "only ask me not to lay Zeus in slumber against his will.
Hast thou forgotten what wild work he made when, at thy entreaty, I
shed my power upon him, and lulled his wits in a deep trance, that thou
mightest wreak thy malice on his favourite, Heracles? Then didst thou
raise a storm, which drove Heracles far out of his course, when he was
on his voyage from Troy. But when thy lord awoke, and saw what thou
hadst done, he fell to buffeting all the gods in Olympus, who had
hidden me from his sight. And soon they must have delivered me to his
vengeance, and I should have been undone, but an ancient and venerable
deity, even Night herself, came to my aid, and besought him to pardon
me; and so he did, for he would not offend the august goddess, primeval
Night."
"Go to," said Hera. "This is a far smaller thing than that of which
thou speakest. All I desire is an hour of respite for mine afflicted
Greeks. Come, do as I bid thee, and thou shalt have Pasiphaë, one of
the Graces, for thy wife, and so fulfil the dearest of thy desires."
Then Sleep was glad, and answering said: "Swear to me, by the
inviolable waters of Styx--placing one hand on the earth, and the other
on the sea, that all the nether gods may be our witnesses--swear that
thou wilt give me Pasiphaë for my bride."
Hera took the oath required, calling by name all the Titans that dwell
in Tartarus. Then together they flew across the sea to Troyland, and
paused not till they reached the wooded hills of Ida. Upwards then
they soared, over the forest-clad slopes, and there was the sound of a
going in the tree tops as they passed. And when they came to the peak
where Zeus was sitting, Sleep disguised himself in the form of a swift,
and hid himself in the branches of a tall fir-tree. But Hera went and
stood in the presence of her lord.
As soon as the god saw her he was struck with wonder at her surpassing
beauty, and his heart overflowed with tenderness, as in the old days
when first he made her his bride. And the little swift shot down from
the tree, and come flitting round the monarch's head. "Dear lady of my
love," said he, "sit down by me awhile, and let us hold sweet converse
together." So down she sat by his side, and took his hand, and
beguiled him with her false blandishments. Like two simple lovers they
seemed, caught in sly Cupid's silver net--he the sovereign of earth and
heaven, and she, his imperious queen. And swiftly the subtle influence
of Sleep came over him, and down he sank overpowered, couched on a soft
bed of crocus and hyacinth and violet, which the earth put forth to
bear up his sacred person; and on him rested a canopy of golden cloud,
that he might slumber unobserved.