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53 ing continually with one another at that time for ten full years, and the hard strife had no close or end for either side, and the issue of war hung evenly balanced." Was this fighting merely the culmination of deteriorating rela- tions between neighboring godly colonies, an outbreak of rivalry between intermingled and unfaithful gods and goddesses (where mothers slept with their sons, and uncles impregnated their nieces), or the first instance of the everlasting rebellion of the young against the old regime? The Theogony does not provide a clear answer, but later Greek legends and plays suggest that all these motives com- bined to create a prolonged and "stubborn war" between the young- er and the older gods. Te cece abtn ne es a eS 2 It was this ongoing war that was seen by Zeus as his chance to seize the lordship over the gods and thereby—knowingly or unknowingly—fulfill the destiny to which his father Cronos had been fated, by deposing him. As his first step Zeus "set free from their deadly bonds the brothers of his father, sons of Uranus, whom his father in his fool- ishness had bound." In gratitude, the three Cyclopes gave him the divine weapons Gaea had hidden away from Uranus: "The Thun- der, and the Radiating Thunderbolt and the Lightning." They also gave Hades a magic helmet, which made its wearer invisible; and Poseidon received a magical trident, which could make the earth ned wan wate and sea shake. To refresh the Hekatoncheires after their long captivity and re- turn their vigor to them, Zeus provided the trio with "nectar and ambrosia, the same that the gods cat": then he addressed them and said: Hear me, O bright children of Uranus and Gaea, that I may say what my heart within bids me. A long while now have we, who are sprung from Cronos, and the Titan gods, fought with each other every day, to get victory and to prevail. Would you now show your great might and strength. and face the Titans in the bitter strife? The Missiles of Zeus and India And Cottus, one of the Hundred-Armed, answered him and said: "Divine one, you speak that which we know well . . .