Page Content (OCR)
54 through your devising we are come back from the murky gloom and from our merciless bonds. And so now, with fixed purpose and deliberate counsel, we will aid your power in the dreadful strife, and fight against the Titans in hard battle." So "all that were bom of Cronos, together with those dreaded mighty ones of overwhelming strength whom Zeus brought up to light. . . they all, both male and female, stirred up the hated battle that day." Arrayed against these Olympians were the older Titans, who also "eagerly strengthened their ranks." As the battle was joined it ranged all over the Earth and in the al skies: The boundless sea rang terribly around. and the earth crashed loudly; Wide heaven was shaken and groaned, and high Olympus reeled from its foundations under the charge of the undying gods. From the deep sound of the gods' feet, and the fearful onset of their hard missiles, Thus, then, they launched their grievous bolts at one another; And the cry of both armies as they shouted reached to the starry heaven as they clashed with a great battle-cry. Zeus himself was fighting with all his might, using his Divine Weapons to the utmost. "From the skies, opposite Mount Olympus, he came forthwith, hurling his lightning. The bolts flew thick and fast from his strong hand, Thunder and Light- ning together, whirling as an awesome flame. The fertile earth crashed around in burning, and the vast wood crackled aloud with fire all about. All the land seethed, as did the sweetwater the the Mount to streams and the salty sea." Then Zeus hurled a Thunder-Stone (Fig. 13) against Mount Othyres; it was, indeed, nothing short of an atomic explo- sion: THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN the heavy quaking reached even far Tartarus. In a verse reminiscent of the Dead Sea Scroll text, the Theogony recalled the war cries of the battling gods: