from his head, Thus to the impetuous homicide she said: "By what wild passion, furious! art thou toss'd? Striv'st thou with Jove? thou art already lost. Shall not the Thunderer's dread command restrain, And was imperial Juno heard in vain? Back to the skies wouldst thou with shame be driven, And in thy guilt involve the host of heaven? Ilion and Greece no more should Jove engage, The skies would yield an ampler scene of rage; Guilty and guiltless find an equal fate And one vast ruin whelm the Olympian state. Cease then thy offspring's death unjust to call; Heroes as great have died, and yet shall fall. Why should heaven's law with foolish man comply Exempted from the race ordain'd to die?" This menace fix'd the warrior to his throne; Sullen he sat, and curb'd the rising groan. Then Juno call'd (Jove's orders to obey) The winged Iris, and the god of day. "Go wait the Thunderer's will (Saturnia cried) On yon tall summit of the fountful Ide: There in the father's awful presence stand, Receive, and execute his dread command." She said, and sat; the god that gilds the day, And various Iris, wing their airy way. Swift as the wind, to Ida's hills they came, (Fair nurse of fountains, and of savage game) There sat the eternal; he whose nod controls The trembling world, and shakes the steady poles. Veil'd in a mist of fragrance him they found, With clouds of gold and purple circled round. Well-pleased the Thunderer saw their earnest care, And prompt obedience to the queen of air; Then (while a smile serenes his awful brow) Commands the goddess of the showery bow: "Iris! descend, and what we here ordain, Report to yon mad tyrant of the main. Bid him from fight to his own deeps repair, Or breathe from slaughter in the fields of air. If he refuse, then let him timely weigh Our elder birthright, and superior sway. How shall his rashness stand the dire alarms, If heaven's omnipotence descend