How far below the Earth were they bound?
How far the Sky is from the Earth, [720]
that’s how far the Earth is
from opaque Tartarus.
Nine nights and days,
a bronze anvil,
falling down from the Sky,
would reach the Earth on the tenth.
Nine nights and days,
a bronze anvil,
falling down into the Earth,
would reach Tartarus on the tenth. [725]
A bronze prison wall marks off Tartarus.
Night beneath
swirls around its neck in a triple choke hold.
But touching on top
are the roots of the Earth,
which grow upward into the sea, where no plow can go.
Down below, in the opaque netherworld,
the Titan gods
have been hidden away,
by decision of Zeus the cloud gatherer, [730]
in a rotting corner,
in the extremities of terrible Earth.
There is no way to exit.
Poseidon shut them in with doors
made of bronze,
and a wall installed on both sides.
Down there, Gyges and Cottus and Obriareus,
greatly competitive in spirit, again
dwell, not as prisoners,
but as trusted prison guards, under the aegis of Zeus. [735]
Down even farther,
dark Earth and opaque Tartarus
and Sea, where no plow can go,
and Sky, sparkled with stars,
each terminate
at four points of origin,
in slimy pits abhorred
especially by the gods,
in a great chasm.
Not even if you kept going to the end of the tenth year [740]
could you reach the chasm’s floor.
Even if, beginning the tenth year,
you managed to pass by Tartarus’ gates,
hurricanes would then blow you in circles
endlessly, a punishment so terrible
that even the immortal gods dare not step forth
into that monstrous chasm.
Fixed within is the terrible home of dark Night,
but no one may look upon it,
past the veil of those dark hurricane clouds. [745]
One step back from all these places
is where Atlas, Iapetus’ son, holds the wide Sky
on his head with his tireless hands.
He stands firm
and does not flinch when Night and Day draw near
to that spot and, as they pass,
greet one another,
changing places across Tartarus’ great threshold
of bronze. Coming inside, the one will go down,
but the other, heading outside, [750]
quickly departs.
Both of them will not be cooped up inside that house.
Instead, one of the two, leaving the house behind,
travels abroad,
wending across the Earth.
The other, waiting inside the house,
counts down the hours to her journey,
right until the moment arrives.
For those who dwell on the ground,
the one carries long-ranging light. [755]
But the other brings in her hands Sleep,
Death’s brother.
That other is Night,
and she is deadly under dark-clouded veil.
Down below,
dark Night’s children also have houses, for
Sleep and Death are also terrible gods.
Never upon them
does the shining Sun
make beaming faces, [760]
not when he goes up the Sky,
not when he comes down the Sky.
Day goes back into Earth
and wide-ridged waters,
pivoting leisurely.
She treats humans gently.
But Night’s intent is iron,
and her heart is like bronze-encircled Tartarus,
a pitiless chest.
Neither one ever wants to let you go, and [765]
no human can escape.
Hated are they, even by the immortal gods.
Down below, in front of the hollow homes
of the underground god,
of powerful Hades and
of his dread wife, Persephone,
there stands a terrible dog,
Cerberus, guarding the gates.
He ruthlessly repeats the same evil ruse.
To those entering, [770]
he’s harmless:
he wags his tail, and flops his ears.
But try and go back again, and he won’t allow it.
Lying in ambush,
he chews to pieces
anyone he catches heading for the gates
of powerful Hades and
of his dread wife, Persephone.
Down below, there dwells a goddess
the immortals think abominable, [775]
terrible Styx,
the daughter of Ocean (he to whom all rivers return),
his eldest daughter.
Set apart from the gods, she dwells in famous halls
with tall rocks standing overhead.
All around her,
silver pillars have been erected,
pointing to the Sky.
On rare occasions, fast-footed Iris,
the daughter of Thaumas, [780]
goes as a messenger back and forth to Sky,
traveling over the wide-ridged waters.
Whenever among the immortals
conflicts and quarrels arise,
because a god who lives in the palaces of Olympus
is suspected of telling lies,
Zeus sends Iris to bring
the great oath test for the gods.
She brings it from afar, in a golden jar.
This water goes by many names. [785]
It is cold, like cold truth.
Its waterfall trickles down from a steep rock,
down from a high top.
From far beneath the ground’s broad path,
it arrives there, under the cover of black Night.
It comes from a sacred river
branching off from Ocean,
he who allots it one-tenth of his water.
The other nine parts keep on flowing around Earth,
her wide-ridged waters fed [790]
by the silver eddies
swirling into her salt water.
But this tenth part trickles down from the steep rock:
Styx, she sticks it to the gods.
Whoever pours this water in libation,
and then perjures himself,
that immortal,
although blessed to live on the snowy peaks of Olympus,
will nonetheless stop breathing
until one year has passed. [795]
He will be unable, therefore,
to enjoy ambrosia and nectar
as his food. Instead he will lay without breath,
unable to speak.
An evil coma will conceal him,
keeping him tucked in bed.
But when, after one year,
this great sickness passes,
another ordeal is added to this one,
an even harsher ordeal. [800]
For the next nine years,
he is deprived of the company of the gods who live forever.
He is not allowed to join them
in their deliberations or at their feasts.
Nine whole years must pass.
In the tenth, he may join them again
in the assembly hall of the immortals,
they who have palaces on Mount Olympus.
For this oath test, Styx’s water
was established by the gods as imperishable [805]
back in the earliest times.
That is why its water falls in the rugged place, Tartarus.
Down even farther,
dark Earth and opaque Tartarus
and Sea, where no plow can go,
and Sky, sparkled with stars,
each terminate
at four points of origin,
in slimy pits abhorred
especially by the gods. [810]
Always remember,
the marble wall and bronze doors, down below,
will never fall,
because Poseidon had them installed alive, with long roots
self-growing magically.
Imprisoned inside, cut off from all the other gods,
the Titans are compelled to dwell.
Their only neighbor is Chaos, the Void.
But the allies of Zeus (he who brings loud thunder)
were celebrated with honors. [815]
They dwell now in palaces
right at Ocean’s foundations,
they, Cottus and Gyges.
As for Briareus, because he was so brave,
Poseidon, the loud-pounding Earth Shaker,
made him son-in-law.
He awarded him the hand in marriage of his daughter
Cymopolea (the Wave Walker).