L

And sneezed and shuddered-Phoebus on the grass
Him threw, and whilst all that he had designed
He did perform-eager although to pass,
Apollo darted from his mighty mind
Towards the subtle babe the following scoff:-
'Do not imagine this will get you off,

LI

"You little swaddled child of Jove and May!'
And seized him:-'By this omen I shall trace
My noble herds, and you shall lead the way.'-
Cyllenian Hermes from the grassy place,
Like one in earnest haste to get away,

Rose, and with hands lifted towards his face
Round both his ears up from his shoulders drew
His swaddling clothes, and-'What mean you to do

LII

'With me, you unkind God?'-said Mercury: 'Is it about these cows you tease me so?

390

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I wish the race of cows were perished!-I
Stole not your cows-I do not even know
What things cows are. Alas! I well may sigh
That, since I came into this world of woe,
I should have ever heard the name of one-
But I appeal to the Saturnian's throne.'

405

410

LIII

Thus Phoebus and the vagrant Mercury
Talked without coming to an explanation,
With adverse purpose. As for Phoebus, he
Sought not revenge, but only information,
And Hermes tried with lies and roguery
To cheat Apollo.-But when no evasion

Served-for the cunning one his match had found-
He paced on first over the sandy ground.

LIV

He of the Silver Bow the child of Jove Followed behind, till to their heavenly Sire Came both his children, beautiful as Love,

And from his equal balance did require

A judgement in the cause wherein they strove.

O'er odorous Olympus and its snows

A murmuring tumult as they came arose,

402 Round] Roused ed. 1824 only.

415

420

425

LV

And from the folded depths of the great Hill,
While Hermes and Apollo reverent stood
Before Jove's throne, the indestructible
Immortals rushed in mighty multitude;
And whilst their seats in order due they fill,
The lofty Thunderer in a careless mood

430

To Phoebus said:-'Whence drive you this sweet prey,
This herald-baby, born but yesterday ?-

LVI

'A most important subject, trifler, this

When you have understood the business,
Say not that I alone am fond of prey.

To lay before the Gods!'-Nay, Father, nay,

435

I found this little boy in a recess

Under Cyllene's mountains far away-
A manifest and most apparent thief,
A scandalmonger beyond all belief.

LVII

440

'I never saw his like either in Heaven Or upon earth for knavery or craft:

Out of the field my cattle yester-even,

445

By the low shore on which the loud sea laughed,

He right down to the river-ford had driven;
And mere astonishment would make you daft
To see the double kind of footsteps strange
He has impressed wherever he did range.

450

LVIII

'The cattle's track on the black dust, full well
Is evident, as if they went towards
The place from which they came-that asphodel
Meadow, in which I feed my many herds,-
Ilis steps were most incomprehensible-

I know not how I can describe in words

Those tracks he could have gone along the sands
Neither upon his feet nor on his hands;-

LIX

'He must have had some other stranger mode Of moving on: those vestiges immense,

Far as I traced them on the sandy road,

Seemed like the trail of oak-toppings:-but thence

No mark nor track denoting where they trod

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460

The hard ground gave:-but, working at his fence,
A mortal hedger saw him as he passed
To Pylos, with the cows, in fiery haste.

488 wrath] ruth Harvard MS.

465

LX

'I found that in the dark he quietly
Had sacrificed some cows, and before light
Had thrown the ashes all dispersedly

About the road-then, still as gloomy night,
Had crept into his cradle, either eye

Rubbing, and cogitating some new sleight.
No eagle could have seen him as he lay
Hid in his cavern from the peering day.

LXI

'I taxed him with the fact, when he averred
Most solemnly that he did neither see
Nor even had in any manner heard

Of my lost cows, whatever things cows be;
Nor could he tell, though offered a reward,

Not even who could tell of them to me.
So speaking, Phoebus sate; and Hermes then
Addressed the Supreme Lord of Gods and Men :-

LXII

'Great Father, you know clearly beforehand That all which I shall say to you is sooth;

I am a most veracious person, and

Totally unacquainted with untruth.

At sunrise Phoebus came, but with no band

Of Gods to bear him witness, in great wrath,

To my abode, seeking his heifers there,

And saying that I must show him where they are,

LXIII

'Or he would hurl me down the dark abyss.
I know that every Apollonian limb
Is clothed with speed and might and manliness,

As a green bank with flowers-but unlike him

I was born yesterday, and you may guess

He well knew this when he indulged the whim
Of bullying a poor little new-born thing
That slept, and never thought of cow-driving.

LXIV

'Am I like a strong fellow who steals kine?
Believe me, dearest Father-such you are-
This driving of the herds is none of mine;
Across my threshold did I wander ne'er,
So may I thrive! I reverence the divine

Sun and the Gods, and I love you, and care
Even for this hard accuser-who must know
I am as innocent as they or you.

LXV

'I swear by these most gloriously-wrought portals (It is, you will allow, an oath of might) Through which the multitude of the Immortals

470

475

480

485

490

495

500

505

Pass and repass forever, day and night, Devising schemes for the affairs of mortalsThat I am guiltless; and I will requite, Although mine enemy be great and strong, His cruel threat-do thou defend the young!'

LXVI

So speaking, the Cyllenian Argiphont

510

515

Winked, as if now his adversary was fitted:

And Jupiter, according to his wont,

Laughed heartily to hear the subtle-witted

Infant give such a plausible account,

And every word à lie. But he remitted Judgement at present-and his exhortation Was, to compose the affair by arbitration.

LXVII

And they by mighty Jupiter were bidden
To go forth with a single purpose both,
Neither the other chiding nor yet chidden:
And Mercury with innocence and truth

520

525

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

LXVIII

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
Out of the stony cavern, Phoebus spied

535

The hides of those the little babe had slain,
Stretched on the precipice above the plain.

LXIX

'How was it possible,' then Phoebus said,
That you, a little child, born yesterday,
A thing on mother's milk and kisses fed,
Could two prodigious heifers ever flay?
Even I myself may well hereafter dread

540

Your prowess, offspring of Cyllenian May,

When you grow strong and tall.'-He spoke, and bound
Stiff withy bands the infant's wrists around.

545

LXX

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.

LXXI

Sudden he changed his plan, and with strange skill
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
The gathering music rose-and sweet as Love
The penetrating notes did live and move

Within the heart of great Apollo-he

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560

LXXII

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

570

Of his deep song, illustrating the birth

Of the bright Gods, and the dark desert Earth:

LXXIII

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,
He in their order due and fit degrees
Sung of his birth and being-and did move
Apollo to unutterable love.

LXXIV

These words were wingèd with his swift delight: "You heifer-stealing schemer, well do you

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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
Was folded up within you at your birth,

585

LXXV

'Or whether mortal taught or God inspired The power of unpremeditated song? Many divinest sounds have I admired,

The Olympian Gods and mortal men among; But such a strain of wondrous, strange, untired, And soul-awakening music, sweet and strong, Yet did I never hear except from thee,

Offspring of May, impostor Mercury!

580 heifer-stealing] heifer-killing Harvard MS.

590