of Othrys a war began. Neither side might prevail against the other. But now Zeus, grown up to be a youth, thought of how he might help the Olympians to overthrow the Titan gods.He went down into the deep parts of the Earth where the giants Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes had been hidden by their father. Cronos had bound them, weighing them down with chains. But now Zeus loosed them and the hundred-armed giants in their grati-tude gave him the lightning and showed him how to use the thunderbolt.
Zeus would have the giants fight against the Titan gods. But although they had mighty strength Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes had no
fire of courage in their hearts. Zeus thought of a way to give them this courage; he brought the food and drink of the gods to them,
ambrosia and nectar, and when they had eaten and drunk their spirits grew within the giants, and they were ready to make war upon the Titan gods.
[pg 36]
"Sons of Earth and Heaven," said Zeus to the hundred-armed giants, "a long time now have the Dwellers on Olympus been striving with the Titan gods. Do you lend your unconquerable might to the gods and help them to overthrow the Titans."
Cottus, the eldest of the giants, answered, "Divine One, through your devising we are come back again from the murky gloom of
the mid Earth and we have escaped from the hard bonds that Cronus laid upon us. Our minds are fixed to aid you in the war against
the Titan gods."
So the hundred-armed giants said, and thereupon Zeus went and he gathered around him all who were born of Cronos and Rhea.
Cronos himself hid from Zeus. Then the giants, with their fifty heads growing from their shoulders and their hundred hands, went
forth against the Titan gods. The boundless sea rang terribly and the earth crashed loudly; wide Heaven was shaken and groaned, and high Olympus reeled from its foundation. Holding huge rocks in their hands the giants attacked the Titan gods.
Then Zeus entered the war. He hurled the lightning; the bolts flew thick and fast from his strong hand, with thunder and lightning
and flame. The earth crashed around in burning, the forests crackled with fire, the ocean seethed. And hot flames wrapped the earth-
born Titans all around. Three hundred rocks, one upon another, did Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes hurl upon the Titans. And when their ranks were broken the giants seized upon them and held them for Zeus.
But some of the Titan gods, seeing that the strife for them [pg 37] was vain, went over to the side of Zeus. These Zeus became friendly with. But the other Titans he bound in chains and he hurled them down to Tartarus.
10
As far as Earth is from Heaven so is Tartarus from Earth. A brazen anvil falling down from Heaven to Earth nine days and nine nights would reach the earth upon the tenth day. And again, a brazen anvil falling from Earth nine nights and nine days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth night. Around Tartarus runs a fence of bronze and Night spreads in a triple line all about it, as a necklace circles the neck. There Zeus imprisoned the Titan gods who had fought against him; they are hidden in the misty gloom, in a dank
place, at the ends of the Earth. And they may not go out, for Poseidon fixed gates of bronze upon their prison, and a wall runs all
round it. There Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes stay, guarding them.
And there, too, is the home of Night. Night and Day meet each other at that place, as they pass a threshold of bronze. They draw near and they greet one another, but the house never holds them both together, for while one is about to go down into the house, the other is leaving through the door. One holds Light in her hand and the other holds in her arms Sleep.
There the children of dark Night have their dwellings--Sleep, and Death, his brother. The sun never shines upon these two. Sleep may roam over the wide earth, and come upon the sea, and he is kindly to men. But Death is not kindly, and whoever he seizes upon, him he holds fast.
[pg 38]
There, too, stands the hall of the lord of the Underworld, Aidoneus, the brother of Zeus. Zeus gave him the Underworld to be
his dominion when he shared amongst the Olympians the world that Cronos had ruled over. A fearful hound guards the hall of Aidoneus: Cerberus he is called; he has three heads. On those who go within that hall Cerberus fawns, but on those who would come out of it he springs and would devour them.
Not all the Titans did Zeus send down to Tartarus. Those of them who had wisdom joined him, and by their wisdom Zeus was able to overcome Cronos. Then Cronos went to live with the friendly Titan gods, while Zeus reigned over Olympus, becoming the ruler of gods and men.
So Orpheus sang, Orpheus who knew the ways and the histories of the gods. VI. Polydeuces' Victory and Heracles' Loss
ALL the places that the Argonauts came nigh to and went past need not be told--Meliboea, where they escaped a stormy beach; Ho-mole, from where they were able to look on Ossa and holy Olympus; Lemnos, the island that they were to return to; the unnamed
country where the Earth-born Men abide, each having six arms, two growing [pg 39] from his shoulders, and four fitting close to his
terrible sides; and then the Mountain of the Bears, where they climbed, to make sacrifice there to Rhea, the mighty mother of the
gods.
Afterward, for a whole day, no wind blew and the sail of the Argo hung slack. But the heroes swore to each other that they would make their ship go as swiftly as if the storm-footed steeds of Poseidon were racing to overtake her. Mightily they labored at the oars,
and no one would be first to leave his rower's bench.
And then, just as the breeze of the evening came up, and just as the rest of the heroes were leaning back, spent with their labor, the oar that Heracles still pulled at broke, and half of it was carried away by the waves. Heracles sat there in ill humor, for he did not know what to do with his unlaboring hands.
All through the night they went on with a good breeze filling their sails, and next day they came to the mouth of the River Cius.
There they landed so that Heracles might get himself an oar. No sooner did they set their feet upon the shore than the hero went off into the forest, to pull up a tree that he might shape into an oar.
Where they had landed was near to the country of the Bebrycians, a rude people whose king was named Amycus. Now while
Heracles was away from them this king came with his followers--huge, rude men, all armed with clubs, down to where the Argo-
nauts were lighting their fires on the beach.
He did not greet them courteously, asking them what manner [pg 40] of men they were and whither they were bound, nor did he offer them hospitality. Instead, he shouted at them insolently:
"Listen to something that you rovers had better know. I am Amycus, and any stranger that comes to this land has to get into a
boxing bout with me. That's the law that I have laid down. Unless you have one amongst you who can stand up to me you won't be
let go back to your ship. If you don't heed my law, look out, for something's going to happen to you."
