Note (return) — BOOK THE TWENTIETH

“Juno, be not beyond reason enraged; nor is it at all necessary. I, indeed, would not desire that we should engage the other gods in a battle, since we are much more powerful. 647 Rather let us, going out of the way, sit down upon a place of observation, 648 but the war shall be a care to mortals. But if Mars shall begin the combat, or Apollo, or shall restrain Achilles, and not suffer him to fight, then immediately shall the strife of contention there arise to us; and I think that they, having very speedily decided it, will return to Olympus, and mix with the assembly of other gods, violently subdued by necessity under our hands.”