Invocations, Pleas, Prayers, Poems, Hymns and Other Homage to HER:
the Goddess named—Aphrodite

1.

But in Her name lie many names concealed:
For She is Death, imperishable Force.
In Her are summed all impulses that drive
To violence, energy, tranquility.
Deep in each living breast the Goddess sings,
And all become Her prey;
The tribes that swim,
The fourfoot tribes that pace upon the earth,
Harbour Her;
And in birds Her wing is sovereign.
In beasts, in mortal men, in Gods above.
What God but wrestles with Her and is thrown?
If I may tell --
And truth is right to tell --
She rules the heart of Zeus without a spear,
Without a sword.
Truly the Cyprian
Shatters all purposes of men and Gods.


Sophocles.
Quoted from Myths by Alexander Eliot.





return to Home Page or use Her Cyclopedia Index