THE TALE OF ARCHAIS 
31 
Witnessed the wrath of Zeus ;  the thunder broke 
From purple flashes vanished into smoke 
That rolled unceasingly through heaven ;  the 
youth 
Cried out against high Zeus, “ The cause of Truth, 
Freedom, and Justice ! ” and withal strode on 
To the vast margin of the waters wan 
That barred him from his goal ;  his cloak he 
stripped, 
Then in the waves his sudden body dipped, 
And with his strenuous hands the emerald water 
gripped. 
 
Long had he struggled (for Poseidon’s hand 
Heaped foam against him) toward the seemly 
strand, 
But that Love’s Mother, journeying from Rome, 
Passed in her car the swimmer, while her home 
Scarce yet was glimmering o’er the waste 
wide sea, 
Against whose wrath he strove so silently ; 
Whom now beholding, checked her eager team, 
Dipped to the foam from which she sprang, 
whose gleam 
Bore the sweet mirage of her eyes, and bent