Sacred Counsels of Almighty Mind

Thetis presses Jove with her petition for Achilles. Jove responds:

To this the thunderer: "Seek not to find

The sacred counself of almight mind:

Involved in darkness lies the great decree,

Nor can the depths of fate be pierced by thee.

What fits they knowledge, thou the first shalt know;

The first of gods above, and men below;

But thou, not they, shall search the thoughts that roll

Deep in the close recesses of my soul."

Book I, Page 18, The Iliad

The thus the god: "O restless fate of price,

That strives to learn what heaven resolves to hide;

Vain is the search, presumptuous and abhorr'd,

Anxious to thee, and odious to thy Lord.

Let this suffice: the immutable decree

No force can shake: what is, that ought to be.

Goddess, submit; nor dare our will withstand,

But dread the power of this avenging hand:

The united strength of all the gods above

In vain resists the omnitpotence of Jove."

Book I, Page 18, The Iliad