to swell in thy breast to thy ruin, and has it set thee on to
dishonour the gods? Other words of comfort there are with which
a man might encourage his comrade; but thou hast spoken with
utter recklessness. Such taunts, the tale goes, did the sons of
Aloeus once blurt out against the blessed gods, and thou dost no
wise equal them in valour; nevertheless they were both slain by
the swift arrows of Leto's son, mighty though they were."

(ll. 485-486) Thus he spake, and Aphareian Iclas laughed out,
loud and long, and eyeing him askance replied with biting words:

(ll. 487-491) "Come now, tell me this by thy prophetic art,
whether for me too the gods will bring to pass such doom as thy
father promised for the sons of Aloeus. And bethink thee how
thou wilt escape from my hands alive, if thou art caught making a
prophecy vain as the idle wind."

(ll. 492-495) Thus in wrath Idas reviled him, and the strife
would have gone further had not their comrades and Aeson's son
himself with indignant cry restrained the contending chiefs; and
Orpheus lifted his lyre in his left hand and made essay to sing.

(ll. 496-511) He sang how the earth, the heaven and the sea,
once mingled together in one form, after deadly strife were
separated each from other; and how the stars and the moon and the
paths of the sun ever keep their fixed place in the sky; and how
the mountains rose, and how the resounding rivers with their
nymphs came into being and all creeping things. And he sang how
first of all Ophion and Eurynome, daughter of Ocean, held the
sway of snowy Olympus, and how through strength of arm one