Hera’s Seductive Scheme
Meanwhile, Hera, on her golden throne
from high Olympus trained her eyes below.
At once she recognized the Earthshaker,
two kin in one, her brother and brother-in-law,
stirring on the Akhaians—you go, god!
But seated on the highest peak of Ida
she spotted Zeus—and almost choked with rage.
She arched a painted eyebrow. Hera pondered
how to entrap and disable Zeus’ mind.
As she deliberated, this plan seemed best:
To just show up, by pure coincidence,
on Ida, wearing something flattering,
in case, by chance, he get aroused—the goat—
to proposition her conjugally;
then, in the afterglow, as he deflates,
she’d mist a dose of milky drowsiness
over his lids, and still his busy brain.
Instantly she made for her boudoir.
[Iliad 14.153-166]