y vessels, cleaving the shining sea, have returned
into my three ports, wherefore the fields are deserted, and what the
daughters of Athens are now doing.

"In the month of Hecatombaeon, all my people came to me led by their
magistrates and priests. Then, in white robes, with chitons of gold, the
long files of virgins advanced, holding cups, baskets, and parasols;
then, the three hundred oxen for the sacrifice, old men shaking green
boughs, soldiers clashing their armour against each other, youths
singing hymns, players on the flute and on the lyre, rhapsodists and
dancing-girls--and finally, on the mast of a trireme, supported by coils
of rope, my great veil embroidered by virgins, who, for the space of a
year, had been nourished in a particular fashion; and, when it had been
shown in every street, in every square, and before every temple, in the
midst of a procession continually chanting, it ascended to the
Acropolis, brushed passed the Propylaeum, and entered the Parthenon.

"But a difficulty faces me--me, the ingenious one! What! what! not a
single idea! Here am I more terrified than a woman."

She perceives behind her a ruin, utters a cry, and, struck on the
forehead, falls backward to the ground.

Hercules has cast off his lion's skin, and, resting on his feet, bending
his back, and biting his lips, he makes desperate efforts to sustain
Olympus, which is toppling down.

"I have vanquished the Cercopes, the Amazons, and the Centaurs. I have
slain many kings, I have broken the horn of Achelous, a great river. I
have cut through mountains; I have brought oceans together. I have
liberated enslaved nations; I have peopled uninhabited countries. I have
travelled over Gaul. I have traversed the desert where one feels thirst.
I have defended the gods, and I have freed myself from Omphale. But
Olympus is too heavy. My arms are growing feeble. I am dying!"

He is crushed beneath the ruins.

_Pluto_--"It is thine own fault, Amphitrionades! Why didst thou descend
into my realms? The vulture who devours the entrails of Tityus has
raised its head; Tantalus has had his lips moistened; and Ixion's wheel
is stopped.

"Meanwhile, the Keres stretch forth their nails to detain the souls; the
Furies in despair twist the serpents in their locks; and Cerberus,
fastened by thee with a chain, has a rattling in the throat, while he
slavers from his three mouths.

"Thou didst leave the gate ajar. Others have come. The light of hum