APOLOGETIC The title "Apologétique" here refers to a formal "defense" or "justification" of a position, rather than an apology.

These men who are but straw, but blades of grass,

But flies, but owls:

The poet uses these metaphors to show how insignificant humans appear to the gods. And yet push their prideful boasts against me

And also against you.

They vomit a thousand blasphemies upon me,

And with too much insult

They violate my laws, my decrees, and even

Despise my holy places.

And were it not that the Styx The Styx was the river in the Underworld by which the gods swore their most binding and unbreakable oaths. is my true witness,

That this earthly vale

Has my word to remain stable for a while longer,

I would punish this evil.

I would have Vulcan The god of fire and metalworking. reduce everything to ash,

This so perverse people;

And with a lightning-strike arm I would make them descend

To burn the Universe.

"My brother," (said Neptune) "proud destiny

Decreed that my Element,

Neptune's element is water. Should be the avenger of the crimes of this obstinate race,

Only once.

A reference to the Great Flood (the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha in Greek myth), which was intended to be a unique event. And that my salty waves should pass over the heads

Of these ambitious ones,

Bringing down their pride, and their haughty crests

Within my perilous breast.

Without that, I would open the horns original: "cornes." In classical poetry, "horns" often referred to the branching mouths of rivers or the winding shapes of the coastline. of the Ocean,

And would cause to be struck down