Homer, Iliad

[270] So spake she, and Sleep waxed glad, and made answer saying: “Come now, swear to me by the inviolable water of Styx, and with one hand lay thou hold of the bounteous earth, and with the other of the shimmering sea, that one and all they may be witnesses betwixt us twain, even the gods that are below with Cronos, [275] that verily thou wilt give me one of the youthful Graces, even Pasithea, that myself I long for all my days.” So spake he, and the goddess, white-armed Hera, failed not to hearken, but sware as he bade, and invoked by name all the gods below Tartarus, that are called Titans. [280] But when she had sworn and made an end of the oath, the twain left the cities of Lemnos and Imbros, and clothed about in mist went forth, speeding swiftly on their way. To many-fountained Ida they came, the mother of wild creatures, even to Lectum, where first they left the sea; and the twain fared on over the dry land, [285] and the topmost forest quivered beneath their feet. There Sleep did halt, or ever the eyes of Zeus beheld him, and mounted up on a fir-tree exceeding tall, the highest that then grew in Ida; and it reached up through the mists into heaven. Thereon he perched, thick-hidden by the branches of the fir, [290] in the likeness of a clear-voiced mountain bird, that the gods call Chalcis, and men Cymindis. But Hera swiftly drew nigh to topmost Gargarus, the peak of lofty Ida, and Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, beheld her. And when he beheld her, then love encompassed his wise heart about, [295] even as when at the first they had gone to the couch and had dalliance together in love, their dear parents knowing naught thereof. And he stood before her, and spake, and addressed her:“Hera, with what desire art thou thus come hither down from Olympus? Lo, thy horses are not at hand, neither thy chariot, whereon thou mightest mount.” [300] Then with crafty mind the queenly Hera spake unto him:“I am faring to visit the limits of the all-nurturing earth, and Oceanus, from whom the gods are sprung, and mother Tethys, even them that lovingly nursed me and cherished me in their halls. Them am I faring to visit, and will loose for them their endless strife, [305] since now for long time's apace they hold aloof one from the other from the marriage-bed and from love, for that wrath hath fallen upon their hearts. And my horses stand at the foot of many-fountained Ida, my horses that shall bear me both over the solid land and the waters of the sea. But now it is because of thee that I am come hither down from Olympus, [310] lest haply thou mightest wax wroth with me hereafter, if without a word I depart to the house of deep-flowing Oceanus.”