Nor to a backward step could move 135
The hero who with deadly blow
Against the sides his javelin drove,
Impetuous of the wary foe;
While Jove who dwells on Ida's head
Brandish'd his bolt of smoky red, 140
And fired the hapless pair.
Mortals in arduous strife engage,
Who with superior force to wage
Unequal contest dare. 136
To aid his fainting brother's might 145
Tyndarides resumed his flight;
And found him not subdued by death,
But gasping out his fitful breath.
Then pouring forth a fervid tide
Of tears, with mingled sighs he cried, 150
"Saturnian father! what relief
Shall terminate my bitter grief?
The stroke, oh king, that slays my friend
At thy behest on me descend!
He whom the social train have left, 155
Of honour is at once bereft;
And few of mortals will sustain
A faithful share in others' pain." 147
He said—when Jove his form display'd,
And this consoling answer made: 160
"Thou art my son; while of terrestrial race [1]
He to a hero must his lineage trace:
Then take the proffer'd boon, for I
Give thee detested age and death to fly:
To dwell with Pallas on Olympus' height, 165
And Mars, who shakes his sable spear in fight. 158
This choice is thine: but if the strife
Still arm thee for thy brother's life,
- ↑ Pollux and Helen were the reputed children of Jupiter; Castor and Clytemnestra the offspring of Tyndarus.
