Tall Athos which defies the Thracian seas,

And Mimas at whose towering peaks are hurled

The bolts of Jove—if e'en the sky itself1385

Should fall upon my head, and Phoebus' car

In blazing torture on my shoulders lie:

No coward cry of pain would ever show

The mind of Hercules subdued. Nay more:

Although a thousand monstrous beasts at once

Should rush upon and rend me limb from limb;

Though here Stymphalus' bird with clangor wild,1390