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Hymn To Mercury. Translated From The Greek Of Homer
by
67.
And they by mighty Jupiter were bidden
To go forth with a single purpose both,
Neither the other chiding nor yet chidden: 525
And Mercury with innocence and truth
To lead the way, and show where he had hidden
The mighty heifers.–Hermes, nothing loth,
Obeyed the Aegis-bearer’s will–for he
Is able to persuade all easily. 530
68.
These lovely children of Heaven’s highest Lord
Hastened to Pylos and the pastures wide
And lofty stalls by the Alphean ford,
Where wealth in the mute night is multiplied
With silent growth. Whilst Hermes drove the herd 535
Out of the stony cavern, Phoebus spied
The hides of those the little babe had slain,
Stretched on the precipice above the plain.
69.
‘How was it possible,’ then Phoebus said,
‘That you, a little child, born yesterday, 540
A thing on mother’s milk and kisses fed,
Could two prodigious heifers ever flay?
Even I myself may well hereafter dread
Your prowess, offspring of Cyllenian May,
When you grow strong and tall.’–He spoke, and bound 545
Stiff withy bands the infant’s wrists around.
70.
He might as well have bound the oxen wild;
The withy bands, though starkly interknit,
Fell at the feet of the immortal child,
Loosened by some device of his quick wit. 550
Phoebus perceived himself again beguiled,
And stared–while Hermes sought some hole or pit,
Looking askance and winking fast as thought,
Where he might hide himself and not be caught.
71.
Sudden he changed his plan, and with strange skill 555
Subdued the strong Latonian, by the might
Of winning music, to his mightier will;
His left hand held the lyre, and in his right
The plectrum struck the chords–unconquerable
Up from beneath his hand in circling flight 560
The gathering music rose–and sweet as Love
The penetrating notes did live and move
72.
Within the heart of great Apollo–he
Listened with all his soul, and laughed for pleasure.
Close to his side stood harping fearlessly 565
The unabashed boy; and to the measure
Of the sweet lyre, there followed loud and free
His joyous voice; for he unlocked the treasure
Of his deep song, illustrating the birth
Of the bright Gods, and the dark desert Earth: 570
73.
And how to the Immortals every one
A portion was assigned of all that is;
But chief Mnemosyne did Maia’s son
Clothe in the light of his loud melodies;–
And, as each God was born or had begun, 575
He in their order due and fit degrees
Sung of his birth and being–and did move
Apollo to unutterable love.
74.
These words were winged with his swift delight:
‘You heifer-stealing schemer, well do you 580
Deserve that fifty oxen should requite
Such minstrelsies as I have heard even now.
Comrade of feasts, little contriving wight,
One of your secrets I would gladly know,
Whether the glorious power you now show forth 585
Was folded up within you at your birth,