Hesiod - Theogony 104-206 (Most) lyrics

Hesiod, Theogony 104-206 Hail, children of Zeus, and give me lovely song; glorify the sacred race of the immortals who always are, those who were born from Earth and starry Sky, and from dark Night, and those whom salty Pontus (Sea) nourished. Tell how in the first place gods and earth were born, and rivers and the boundless sea seething with its swell, and the shining stars and the broad sky above, and those who were born from them, the gods givers of good things; and how they divided their wealth and distributed their honors, and also how they first took possession of many-folded Olympus. These things tell me from the beginning, Muses who have your mansions on Olympus, and tell which one of them was born first. (116) In truth, first of all Chasm (Chaos) came to be, and then broad-breasted Earth (Gaia), the ever immovable seat of all the immortals who possess snowy Olympus' peak and murky Tartarus in the depths of the broad-pathed earth, and Eros, who is the most beautiful among the immortal gods, the limb-melter—he overpowers the mind and the thoughtful counsel of all the gods and of all human beings in their breasts. (123) From Chasm, Erebos and black Night came to be; and then Aether and Day came forth from Night, who conceived and bore them after mingling in love with Erebos. (126) Earth first of all bore starry Sky, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, so that she would be the ever immovable seat for the blessed gods; and she bore the high mountains, the graceful haunts of the goddesses, Nymphs who dwell on the wooded mountains; and she also bore the barren sea seething with its swell, Pontus—all of them without delightful love; and then, having bedded with Sky, she bore deep-eddying Ocean and Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus and Theia and Rhea and Themis and Mnemosyne and golden-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After these, Cronus was born, the youngest of all, crooked-counseled, the most terrible of her children; and he hated his vigorous father. (139) Then she bore the Cyclopes, who have very violent hearts, Brontes (Thunder) and Steropes (Lightning) and strong-spirited Arges (Bright), those who gave thunder to Zeus and fashioned the thunderbolt. These were like the gods in other regards, but only one eye was set in the middle of their foreheads; and they were called Cyclopes (Circle-eyed) by name, since a single circle-shaped eye was set in their foreheads. Strength and force and contrivances were in their works. (147) Then from Earth and Sky came forth three more sons, great and strong, unspeakable, Cottus and Briareus and Gyges, presumptuous children. A hundred arms sprang forth from their shoulders, unapproachable, and upon their ma**ive limbs grew fifty heads out of each one's shoulders; and the mighty strength in their great forms was immense. (154) For all these, who came forth from Earth and Sky as the most terrible of their children, 8 were hated by their own father from the beginning. And as soon as any of them was born, Sky put them all away out of sight in a hiding- place in Earth and did not let them come up into the light, and he rejoiced in his evil deed. But huge Earth groaned within, for she was constricted, and she devised a tricky, evil stratagem. At once she created an offspring, of gray adamant, and she fashioned a big sickle and showed it to her own children. (163) And she spoke, encouraging them while she grieved in her dear heart: “Children of mine and of a wicked father, obey me, if you wish: we would avenge your father's evil outrage. For he was the first to devise unseemly deeds.” (167) So she spoke, but dread seized them all, and none of them uttered a sound. But suddenly great crooked-counseled Cronus took courage and addressed his cherished mother in turn with these words: “Mother, I would promise and perform this deed, since I do not care at all about our evil-named father. For he was the first to devise unseemly deeds.” (173) So he spoke, and huge Earth rejoiced greatly in her breast. She placed him in an ambush, concealing him from sight, and put into his hands the jagged-toothed sickle, and she explained the whole trick to him. And great Sky came, bringing night with him; and spreading himself out around Earth in his desire for love he lay outstretched in all directions. Then his son reached out from his ambush with his left hand, and with his right hand he grasped the monstrous sickle, long and jagged-toothed, and eagerly he reaped the genitals from his dear father and threw them behind him to be borne away. But not in vain did they fall from his hand: for Earth received all the bloody drops that shot forth, and when the years had revolved she bore the mighty Erinyes and the great Giants, shining in their armor, holding long spears in their hands, and the Nymphs whom they call the Melian ones, over the boundless earth. 9 And when at first he had cut off the genitals with the adamant and thrown them from the land into the strongly surging sea, they were borne along the water for a long time, and a white foam rose up around them from the immortal flesh; and inside this grew a maiden. First she approached holy Cythera, and from there she went on to sea-girt Cyprus. She came forth, a reverend, beautiful goddess, and gra** grew up around her beneath her slender feet. Gods and men call her (a) “Aphrodite,” the foam-born goddess and (b) the well-garlanded “Cytherea,” (a) since she grew in the foam, (b) and also “Cytherea,” since she arrived at Cythera, (c) and “Cyprogenes,” since she was born on sea-girt Cyprus, (d) and “genial,” since she came forth from the genitals. 10 Eros accompanied her and beautiful Desire stayed with her as soon as she was born and when she went to the tribe of the gods; and since the beginning she possesses this honor and has received as her lot this portion among human beings and immortal gods—maidenly whispers and smiles and deceits and sweet delight and fondness and gentleness. (207) But their father, great Sky, called them Titans (Strainers) as a nickname, rebuking his sons, whom he had begotten himself; for he said that they had strained to perform a mighty deed in their wickedness, and that at some later time there would be vengeance for this.