Dreadly outbelching, awaits them:—O Thetis, I nursed thee of yore, {790}
Even I, when thou wast but a wordless babe, and I loved thee more
Than the others thy fellows, the Maids in the halls of brine which abide,
Because thou refusedst, for all his desire, to couch by the side
Of Zeus—ay, so evermore be his thoughts all lust for embrace
Of a Goddess immortal, or couch of a princess of mortal race!
But for reverence of me, and for sacred fear which the heart of thee bare,
Didst thou shrink from his love: thereafter a mighty oath he sware
That never shouldst thou be called the bride of a God undying;
Yet for all this spared not, but followed thee sore loth, lustfully eyeing,