{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_16338/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_16338","id":"gutenberg_16338","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16338","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Classics of Literature","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Poetry","Gods, Greek -- Poetry","Gods, Greek, in literature","Homeric hymns","Homeric hymns -- Translations into English","Hymns, Greek (Classical) -- History and criticism","Hymns, Greek (Classical) -- Translations into English"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1899 George Allen edition by David Price, email\nccx074@coventry.ac.uk\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE HOMERIC HYMNS\nA NEW PROSE TRANSLATION\nAND ESSAYS, LITERARY AND MYTHOLOGICAL,\nby Andrew Lang\n\n\n[Bust of Athene.  Forming a vase; found at Athens now in the British\nMuseum.  (Fifth Century B.C.): langi.jpg]\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATION\n\n\nTo Henry Butcher\nA Little Token of\nA Long Friendship\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nTo translate the Hymns usually called \"Homeric\" had long been my wish,\nand, at the Publisher's suggestion, I undertook the work.  Though not in\npartnership, on this occasion, with my friend, Mr. Henry Butcher\n(Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh), I have been\nfortunate in receiving his kind assistance in correcting the proofs of\nthe longer and most of the minor Hymns.  Mr. Burnet, Professor of Greek\nin the University of St. Andrews, has also most generously read the\nproofs of the translation.  It is, of course, to be understood that these\nscholars are not responsible for the slips which may have wandered into\nmy version, the work of one whose Greek has long \"rusted in disuse.\"\nIndeed I must confess that the rendering \"Etin\" for [Greek text] is\nretained in spite of Mr. Butcher, who is also not wholly satisfied with\n\"gledes of light,\" and with \"shieling\" for a pastoral summer station in\nthe hills.  But I know no word for it in English south of Tweed.\n\nMr. A. S. Murray, the Head of the Classical Department in the British\nMuseum, has also been good enough to read, and suggest corrections in the\npreliminary Essays; while Mr. Cecil Smith, of the British Museum, has\nobligingly aided in selecting the works of art here reproduced.\n\nThe text of the Hymns is well known to be corrupt, in places impossible,\nand much mended by conjecture.  I have usually followed Gemoll (_Die\nHomerischen Hymnen_, Leipzig, 1886), but have sometimes preferred a MS.\nreading, or emendations by Mr. Tyrrell, by Mr. Verral, or the admirable\nsuggestions of Mr. Allen.  My chief object has been to find, in cases of\ndoubt, the phrases least unworthy of the poets.  Too often it is\nimpossible to be certain as to what they really wrote.\n\nI have had beside me the excellent prose translation by Mr. John Edgar\n(Thin, Edinburgh, 1891).  As is inevitable, we do not always agree in the\nsense of certain phrases, but I am far from claiming superiority for my\nown attempts.\n\nThe method employed in the Essays, the anthropological method of\ninterpreting beliefs and rites, is still, of course, on its trial.  What\ncan best be said as to its infirmities, and the dangers of its abuse, and\nof system-making in the present state of the evidence, will be found in\nSir Alfred Lyall's \"Asiatic Studies,\" vol. ii. chaps. iii. and iv.\nReaders inclined to pursue the subject should read Mr. L. R. Farnell's\n\"Cults of the Greek States\" (Clarendon Press, 1896), Mr. J. G. Frazer's\n\"Golden Bough,\" his \"Pausanias,\" and Mr. Hartland's work on \"The Myth of\nPerseus.\"  These books, it must be observed, are by no means always in\nagreement with my own provisional theories.\n\n\n\n\nESSAYS INTRODUCTORY\n\n\nTHE SO-CALLED HOMERIC HYMNS\n\n\n\"The existing collection of the Hymns is of unknown editorship, unknown\ndate, and unknown purpose,\" says Baumeister.  Why any man should have\ncollected the little preludes of five or six lines in length, and of\npurely conventional character, while he did not copy out the longer poems\nto which they probably served as preludes, is a mystery.  The celebrated\nWolf, who opened the path which leads modern Homerologists to such an\nextraordinary number of divergent theories, thought rightly that the\ngreat Alexandrian critics before the Christian Era, did not recognise the\nHymns as \"Homeric.\"  They did not employ the Hymns as illustrations of\nHomeric problems; though it is certain that they knew the Hymns, for one\ncollection did exist in the third century B.C. {4}  Diodorus and\nPausanias, later, also cite \"the poet in the Hymns,\" \"Homer in the\nHymns\"; and the pseudo-Herodotus ascribes the Hymns to Homer in his Life\nof that author.  Thucydides, in the Periclean age, regards Homer as the\nblind Chian minstrel who composed the Hymn to the Delian Apollo: a good\nproof of the relative antiquity of that piece, but not evidence, of\ncourse, that our whole collection was then regarded as Homeric.\nBaumeister agrees with Wolf that the brief Hymns were recited by\nrhapsodists as preludes to the recitation of Homeric or other cantos.\nThus, in Hymn xxxi. 18, the poet says that he is going on to chant \"the\nrenowns of men half divine.\"  Other preludes end with a prayer to the God\nfor luck in the competition of reciters.\n\nThis, then, is the plausible explanation of most of the brief Hymns--they\nwere preludes to epic recitations--but the question as to the long\nnarrative Hymns with which the collection opens is different.  These were\nthemselves rhapsodies recited at Delphi, at Delos, perhaps in Cyprus (the\nlong Hymn to Aphrodite), in Athens (as the Hymn to Pan, who was friendly\nin the Persian invasion), and so forth.  That the Pisistratidae organised\nHomeric recitations at Athens is certain enough, and Baumeister suspects,\nin xiv., xxiii., xxx., xxxi., xxxii., the hand of Onomacritus, the forger\nof Oracles, that strange accomplice of the Pisistratidae.  The Hymn to\nAphrodite is just such a lay as the Phaeacian minstrel sang at the feast\nof Alcinous, in the hearing of Odysseus.  Finally Baumeister supposes our\ncollection not to have been made by learned editors, like Aristarchus and\nZenodotus, but committed confusedly from memory to papyrus by some\namateur.  The conventional attribution of the Hymns to Homer, in spite of\nlinguistic objections, and of many allusions to things unknown or\nunfamiliar in the Epics, is merely the result of the tendency to set down\n\"masterless\" compositions to a well-known name.  Anything of epic\ncharacteristics was allotted to the master of Epic.  In the same way an\nunfathered joke of Lockhart's was attributed to Sydney Smith, and the\nprocess is constantly illustrated in daily conversation.  The word [Greek\ntext], hymn, had not originally a religious sense: it merely meant a lay.\nNobody calls the Theocritean idylls on Heracles and the Dioscuri \"hymns,\"\nbut they are quite as much \"hymns\" (in our sense) as the \"hymn\" on\nAphrodite, or on Hermes.\n\nTo the English reader familiar with the Iliad and Odyssey the Hymns must\nappear disappointing, if he come to them with an expectation of\ndiscovering merits like those of the immortal epics.  He will not find\nthat they stand to the Iliad as Milton's \"Ode to the Nativity\" stands to\n\"Paradise Lost.\"  There is in the Hymns, in fact, no scope for the epic\nknowledge of human nature in every mood and aspect.  We are not so much\ninterested in the Homeric Gods as in the Homeric mortals, yet the Hymns\nare chiefly concerned not with men, but with Gods and their mythical\nadventures.  However, the interest of the Hymn to Demeter is perfectly\nhuman, for the Goddess is in sorrow, and is mingling with men.  The Hymn\nto Aphrodite, too, is Homeric in its grace, and charm, and divine sense\nof human limitations, of old age that comes on the fairest, as Tithonus\nand Anchises; of death and disease that wait for all.  The life of the\nGods is one long holiday; the end of our holiday is always near at hand.\nThe Hymn to Dionysus, representing him as a youth in the fulness of\nbeauty, is of a charm which was not attainable, while early art\nrepresented the God as a mature man; but literary art, in the Homeric\nage, was in advance of sculpture and painting.  The chief merit of the\nDelian Hymn is in the concluding description of the assembled Ionians,\nhappy seafarers like the Phaeacians in the morning of the world.  The\nconfusions of the Pythian Hymn to Apollo make it less agreeable; and the\nhumour of the Hymn to Hermes is archaic.  All those pieces, however, have\ndelightfully fresh descriptions of sea and land, of shadowy dells,\nflowering meadows, dusky, fragrant caves; of the mountain glades where\nthe wild beasts fawn in the train of the winsome Goddess; and the high\nstill peaks where Pan wanders among the nymphs, and the glens where\nArtemis drives the deer, and the spacious halls and airy palaces of the\nImmortals.  The Hymns are fragments of the work of a school which had a\ngreat Master and great traditions: they also illustrate many aspects of\nGreek religion.\n\nIn the essays which follow, the religious aspect of the Hymns is chiefly\ndwelt upon: I endeavour to bring out what Greek religion had of human and\nsacred, while I try to explain its less majestic features as no less\nhuman: as derived from the earliest attempts at speculation and at\nmastering the secrets of the world.  In these chapters regions are\nvisited which scholars have usually neglected or ignored.  It may seem\nstrange to seek the origins of Apollo, and of the renowned Eleusinian\nMysteries, in the tales and rites of the Bora and the Nanga; in the\nbeliefs and practices of Pawnees and Larrakeah, Yao and Khond.  But these\ntribes, too, are human, and what they now or lately were, the remote\nancestors of the Greeks must once have been.  All races have sought\nexplanations of their own ritual in the adventures of the Dream Time, the\n_Alcheringa_, when beings of a more potent race, Gods or Heroes, were on\nearth, and achieved and endured such things as the rites commemorate.  And\nthe things thus endured and achieved, as I try to show, are everywhere of\nmuch the same nature; whether they are now commemorated by painted\nsavages in the Bora or the Medicine Dance, or whether they were exhibited\nand proclaimed by the Eumolpidae in a splendid hall, to the pious of\nHellas and of Rome.  My attempt may seem audacious, and to many scholars\nmay even be repugnant; but it is on these lines, I venture to think, that\nthe darker problems of Greek religion and rite must be approached.  They\nare all survivals, however fairly draped and adorned by the unique genius\nof the most divinely gifted race of mankind.\n\nThe method of translation is that adopted by Professor Butcher and myself\nin the Odyssey, and by me in a version of Theocritus, as well as by Mr.\nErnest Myers, who preceded us, in his Pindar.  That method has lately\nbeen censured and, like all methods, is open to objection.  But I confess\nthat neither criticism nor example has converted me to the use of modern\ncolloquial English, and I trust that my persistence in using poetical\nEnglish words in the translation of Greek poetry will not greatly offend.\nI cannot render a speech of Anchises thus:--\n\n   \"If you really are merely a mortal, and if a woman of the normal kind\n   was your mother, while your father (as you lay it down) was the well-\n   known Otreus, and if you come here all through an undying person,\n   Hermes; and if you are to be known henceforward as my wife,--why, then\n   nobody, mortal or immortal, shall interfere with my intention to take\n   instant advantage of the situation.\"\n\nThat kind of speech, though certainly long-winded, may be the manner in\nwhich a contemporary pastoralist would address a Goddess \"in a coming on\nhumour.\"  But the situation does not occur in the prose of our existence,\nand I must prefer to translate the poet in a manner more congenial, if\nless up to date.  For one rare word \"Etin\" ([Greek text]) I must\napologise: it seems to me to express the vagueness of the unfamiliar\nmonster, and is old Scots, as in the tale of \"The Red Etin of Ireland.\"\n\n\n\nTHE HYMN TO APOLLO\n\n\nThe Hymn to Apollo presents innumerable difficulties, both of text, which\nis very corrupt, and as to the whole nature and aim of the composition.\nIn this version it is divided into two portions, the first dealing with\nthe birth of Apollo, and the foundation of his shrine in the isle of\nDelos; the second concerned with the establishment of his Oracle and fane\nat Delphi.  The division is made merely to lighten the considerable\nstrain on the attention of the English reader.  I have no pretensions to\ndecide whether the second portion was by the author of the first, or is\nan imitation by another hand, or is contemporary, or a later addition, or\na mere compilation from several sources.  The first part seems to find a\nnatural conclusion, about lines 176-181.  The blind singer (who is quoted\nhere by Thucydides) appears at that point to say farewell to his\ncherished Ionian audience.  What follows, in our second part, appeals to\nhearers interested in the Apollo of Crisa, and of the Delphian temple:\nthe _Pythian_ Apollo.\n\nAccording to a highly ingenious, but scarcely persuasive theory of Mr.\nVerrall's, this interest is unfriendly. {13}  Our second part is no hymn\nat all, but a sequel tacked on for political purposes only: and valuable\nfor these purposes because so tacked on.\n\nFrom line 207 to the end we have this sequel, the story of Apollo's\ndealings as Delphinian, and as Pythian; all this following on detached\nfragments of enigmatic character, and containing also (305-355) the\nintercalated myth about the birth of Typhaon from Hera's anger.  In the\npolitically inspired sequel there is, according to Mr. Verrall, no living\nzeal for the honour of Pytho (Delphi).  The threat of the God to his\nCretan ministers,--\"Beware of arrogance, or . . . \"--must be a prophecy\nafter the event.  Now such an event occurred, early in the sixth century,\nwhen the Crisaeans were supplanted by the people of the town that had\ngrown up round the Oracle at Delphi.  In them, and in the Oracle under\ntheir management, the poet shows no interest (Mr. Verrall thinks), none\nin the many mystic peculiarities of the shrine.  It is quite in\ncontradiction with Delphian tradition to represent, as the Hymn does,\nTrophonius and Agamedes as the _original_ builders.\n\nMany other points are noted--such as the derivation of \"Pytho\" from a\nword meaning _rot_,--to show that the hymnist was rather disparaging than\ncelebrating the Delphian sanctuary.  Taking the Hymn as a whole, more is\ndone for Delos in three lines, says Mr. Verrall, than for Pytho or Delphi\nin three hundred.  As a whole, the spirit of the piece is much more\nDelian (Ionian) than Delphic.  So Mr. Verrall regards the _Cento_ as \"a\nreligious pasquinade against the sanctuary on Parnassus,\" a pasquinade\nemanating from Athens, under the Pisistratidae, who, being Ionian\nleaders, had a grudge against \"the Dorian Delphi,\" \"a comparatively\nmodern, unlucky, and from the first unsatisfactory\" institution.\nAthenians are interested in the \"far-seen\" altar of the seaman's Dolphin\nGod on the shore, rather than in his inland Pythian habitation.\n\nAll this, with much more, is decidedly ingenious.  If accepted it might\nlead the way to a general attack on the epics, as _tendenz_ pieces, works\nwith a political purpose, or doctored for a political purpose.  But how\nare we to understand the uses of the pasquinade Hymn?  Was it published,\nso to speak, to amuse and aid the Pisistratidae?  Does such remote\nantiquity show us any examples of such handling of sacred things in\npoetry?  Might we not argue that Apollo's threat to the Crisaeans was\nmeant by the poet as a friendly warning, and is prior to the fall of\nCrisa?  One is reminded of the futile ingenuity with which German\ncritics, following their favourite method, have analysed the fatal Casket\nLetters of Mary Stuart into letters to her husband, Darnley; or to\nMurray; or by Darnley to Mary, with scraps of her diary, and false\ninterpolations.  The enemies of the Queen, coming into possession of her\npapers after the affair of Carberry Hill, falsified the Casket Letters\ninto their present appearance of unity.  Of course historical facts make\nthis ingenuity unavailing.  We regret the circumstance in the interest of\nthe Queen's reputation, but welcome these illustrative examples of what\ncan be done in Germany. {16a}\n\nFortunately all Teutons are not so ingenious.  Baumeister has fallen on\nthose who, in place of two hymns, Delian and Pythian, to Apollo, offer us\nhalf-a-dozen fragments.  By presenting an array of discordant conjectures\nas to the number and nature of these scraps, he demonstrates the purely\nwilful and arbitrary nature of the critical method employed. {16b}  Thus\none learned person believes in (1) two perfect little poems; (2) two\nlarger hymns; (3) three lacerated fragments of hymns, one lacking its\nbeginning, the other wofully deprived of its end.  Another _savant_\ndetects no less than eight fragments, with interpolations; though perhaps\nno biblical critic _ejusdem farinae_ has yet detected eight Isaiahs.\nThere are about ten other theories of similar plausibility and value.\nMeanwhile Baumeister argues that the Pythian Hymn (our second part) is an\nimitation of the Delian; by a follower, not of Homer, but of Hesiod.\nThus, the Hesiodic school was closely connected with Delphi; the Homeric\nwith Ionia, so that Delphi rarely occurs in the Epics; in fact only\nthrice (I. 405, [Greek text]. 80, [Greek text]. 581).  The local\nknowledge is accurate (Pythian Hymn, 103 _sqq_.).  These are local\nlegends, and knowledge of the curious chariot ritual of Onchestus.  The\nMuses are united with the Graces as in a work of art in the Delphian\ntemple.  The poet chooses the Hesiodic and un-Homeric myth of Heaven and\nEarth, and their progeny: a myth current also in Polynesia, Australia,\nand New Zealand.  The poet is full of inquiry as to origins, even\netymological, as is Hesiod.  Like Hesiod (and Mr. Max Muller), _origines\nrerum ex nominibus explicat_.  Finally, the second poet (and here every\none must agree) is a much worse poet than the first.  As for the\nprophetic word of warning to the Crisaeans and its fulfilment, Baumeister\nurges that the people of Cirrha, the seaport, not of Crisa, were\npunished, in Olympiad 47 (Grote, ii. 374).\n\nTurning to Gemoll, we find him maintaining that the two parts were in\nancient times regarded as one hymn in the age of Aristophanes. {18}  If\nso, we can only reply, if we agree with Baumeister, that in the age of\nAristophanes, or earlier, there was a plentiful lack of critical\ndiscrimination.  As to Baumeister's theory that the second part is\nHesiodic, Gemoll finds a Hesiodic reminiscence in the first part (line\n121), while there are Homeric reminiscences in the second part.\n\nThus do the learned differ among themselves, and an ordinary reader feels\ntempted to rely on his own literary taste.\n\nAccording to that criterion, I think we probably have in the Hymn the\nwork of a good poet, in the early part; and in the latter part, or second\nHymn, the work of a bad poet, selecting unmanageable passages of myth,\nand handling them pedantically and ill.  At all events we have here work\nvisibly third rate, which cannot be said, in my poor opinion, about the\nimmense mass of the Iliad and Odyssey.  The great Alexandrian critics did\nnot use the Hymns as illustrative material in their discussion of Homer.\nTheir instinct was correct, and we must not start the consideration of\nthe Homeric question from these much neglected pieces.  We must not study\n_obscurum per obscurius_.  The genius of the Epic soars high above such\nmyths as those about Pytho, Typhaon, and the Apollo who is alternately a\ndolphin and a meteor: soars high above pedantry and bad etymology.  In\nthe Epics we breathe a purer air.\n\nDescending, as it did, from the mythology of savages, the mythic store of\nGreece was rich in legends such as we find among the lowest races.  Homer\nusually ignores them: Hesiod and the authors of the Hymns are less noble\nin their selections.\n\nFor this reason and for many others, we regard the Hymns, on the whole,\nas post-Homeric, while their collector, by inserting the Hymn to Ares,\nshows little proof of discrimination.  Only the methods of modern German\nscholars, such as Wilamowitz Mollendorf, and of Englishmen like Mr.\nWalter Leaf, can find in the Epics marks of such confusion, dislocation,\nand interpolations as confront us in the Hymn to Apollo.  (I may refer to\nmy work, \"Homer and the Epic,\" for a defence of the unity of Iliad and\nOdyssey.)  For example, Mr. Verrall certainly makes it highly probable\nthat the Pythian Hymn, at least in its concluding words of the God, is\nnot earlier than the sixth century.  But no proof of anything like this\nforce is brought against the antiquity of the Iliad or Odyssey.\n\nAs to the myths in the Hymns, I would naturally study them from the\nstandpoint of anthropology, and in the light of comparison of the legends\nof much more backward peoples than the Greeks.  But that light at present\nis for me broken and confused.\n\nI have been led to conclusions varying from those of such students as Mr.\nTylor and Mr. Spencer, and these conclusions should be stated, before\nthey are applied to the Myth of Apollo.  I am not inclined, like them, to\naccept \"Animism,\" or \"The Ghost Theory,\" as the master-key to the\n_origin_ of religion, though Animism is a great tributary stream.  To\nmyself it now appears that among the lowest known races we find present a\nfluid mass of beliefs both high and low, from the belief in a moral\ncreative being, a judge of men, to the pettiest fable which envisages him\nas a medicine-man, or even as a beast or bird.  In my opinion the higher\nbelief may very well be the earlier.  While I can discern the processes\nby which the lower myths were evolved, and were attached to a worthier\npre-existing creed, I cannot see how, if the lower faiths came first, the\nhigher faith was ever evolved out of _them_ by very backward savages.\n\nOn the other side, in the case of Australia, Mr. Tylor writes: \"For a\nlong time after Captain Cook's visit, the information as to native\nreligious ideas is of the scantiest.\"  This was inevitable, for our\ninformation has only been obtained with the utmost difficulty, and under\npromises of secrecy, by later inquirers who had entirely won the\nconfidence of the natives, and had been initiated into their Mysteries.\nMr. Tylor goes on in the same sentence: \"But, since the period of\nEuropean colonists and missionaries, a crowd of alleged native names for\nthe Supreme Deity and a great Evil Deity have been recorded, which, if\nreally of native origin, would show the despised black fellow as in\npossession of theological generalisations as to the formation and\nconservation of the universe, and the nature of good and evil, comparable\nwith those of his white supplanter in the land.\" {23a}  Mr. Tylor then\nproceeds to argue that these ideas have been borrowed from missionaries.\nI have tried to reply to this argument by proving, for example, that the\nname of Baiame, one of these deities, could not have been borrowed (as\nMr. Tylor seems inclined to hold) from a missionary tract published\nsixteen years after we first hear of Baiame, who, again, was certainly\ndominant before the arrival of missionaries.  I have adduced other\narguments of the same tendency, and I will add that the earliest English\nexplorers and missionaries in Virginia and New England (1586-1622) report\nfrom America beliefs absolutely parallel in many ways to the creeds now\nreported from Australia.  Among these notions are \"ideas of moral\njudgment and retribution after death,\" which in Australia Mr. Tylor marks\nas \"imported.\" {23b}  In my opinion the certainty that the beliefs in\nAmerica were not imported, is another strong argument for their native\ncharacter, when they are found with such striking resemblances among the\nvery undeveloped savages of Australia.\n\nSavages, Mr. Hartland says in a censure of my theory, are \"guiltless\" of\nChristian teaching. {24}  If Mr. Hartland is right, Mr. Tylor is wrong;\nthe ideas, whatever else they are, are unimported, yet, _teste_ Mr.\nTylor, the ideas are comparable with those of the black man's white\nsupplanters.  I would scarcely go so far.  If we take, however, the best\nideas attributed to the blacks, and hold them disengaged from the\naccretion of puerile fables with which they are overrun, then there are\ndiscovered notions of high religious value, undeniably analogous to some\nChristian dogmas.  But the sanction of the Australian gods is as\npowerfully lent to silly, or cruel, or needless ritual, as to some moral\nideas of weight and merit.  In brief, as far as I am able to see, all\nsorts of ideas, the lowest and the highest, are held at once confusedly\nby savages, and the same confusion survives in ancient Greek belief.  As\nfar back as we can trace him, man had a wealth of religious and mythical\nconceptions to choose from, and different peoples, as they advanced in\ncivilisation, gave special prominence to different elements in the primal\nstock of beliefs.  The choice of Israel was unique: Greece retained far\nmore of the lower ancient ideas, but gave to them a beauty of grace and\nform which is found among no other race.\n\nIf this view be admitted for the moment, and for the argument's sake, we\nmay ask how it applies to the myths of Apollo.  Among the ideas which\neven now prevail among the backward peoples still in the neolithic stage\nof culture, we may select a few conceptions.  There is the conception of\na great primal anthropomorphic Being, who was in the beginning, or, at\nleast, about whose beginning legend is silent.  He made all things, he\nexisted on earth (in some cases), teaching men the arts of life and rules\nof conduct, social and moral.  In those instances he retired from earth,\nand now dwells on high, still concerned with the behaviour of the tribes.\n\nThis is a lofty conception, but it is entangled with a different set of\nlegends.  This primal Being is mixed up with strange persons of a race\nearlier than man, half human, half bestial.  Many things, in some cases\nalmost all things, are mythically regarded, not as created, but as the\nresults of adventures and metamorphoses among the members of this\noriginal race.  Now in New Zealand, Polynesia, Greece, and elsewhere, but\nnot, to my knowledge, in the very most backward peoples, the place of\nthis original race, \"Old, old Ones,\" is filled by great natural objects,\nEarth, Sky, Sea, Forests, regarded as beings of human parts and passions.\n\nThe present universe is mythically arranged in regard to their early\nadventures: the separation of sky and earth, and so forth.  Where this\nbelief prevails we find little or no trace of the primal maker and\nmaster, though we do find strange early metaphysics of curiously abstract\nquality (Maoris, Zunis, Polynesians).  As far as our knowledge goes,\nGreek mythology springs partly from this stratum of barbaric as opposed\nto strictly savage thought.  Ouranos and Gaea, Cronos, and the Titans\nrepresent the primal beings who have their counterpart in Maori and Wintu\nlegend.  But these, in the Greece of the Epics and Hesiod, have long been\nsubordinated to Zeus and the Olympians, who are envisaged as triumphant\ngods of a younger generation.  There is no Creator; but Zeus--how, we do\nnot know--has come to be regarded as a Being relatively Supreme, and as,\non occasion, the guardian of morality.  Of course his conduct, in myth,\nis represented as a constant violation of the very rules of life which he\nexpects mankind to observe.  I am disposed to look on this essential\ncontradiction as the result of a series of mythical accretions on an\noriginal conception of Zeus in his higher capacity.  We can see how the\naccretions arose.  Man never lived consistently on the level of his best\noriginal ideas: savages also have endless myths of Baiame or Daramulun,\nor Bunjil, in which these personages, though interested in human\nbehaviour, are puerile, cruel, absurd, lustful, and so on.  Man will\nsport thus with his noblest intuitions.\n\nIn the same way, in Christian Europe, we may contrast Dunbar's pious\n\"Ballat of Our Lady\" with his \"Kynd Kittok,\" in which God has his eye on\nthe soul of an intemperate ale-wife who has crept into Paradise.  \"God\nlukit, and saw her lattin in, and leugh His heart sair.\"  Examples of\nthis kind of sportive irreverence are common enough; their root is in\nhuman nature: and they could not be absent in the mythology of savage or\nof ancient peoples.  To Zeus the myths of this kind would come to be\nattached in several ways.\n\nAs a nature-god of the Heaven he marries the Earth.  The tendency of men\nbeing to claim descent from a God, for each family with this claim a myth\nof a separate divine amour was needed.  Where there had existed Totemism,\nor belief in kinship with beasts, the myth of the amour of a wolf, bull,\nserpent, swan, and so forth, was attached to the legend of Zeus.  Zeus\nhad been that swan, serpent, wolf, or bull.  Once more, ritual arose, in\ngreat part, from the rites of sympathetic magic.\n\nThis or that mummery was enacted by men for a magical purpose, to secure\nsuccess in the chase, agriculture, or war.  When the performers asked,\n\"Why do we do thus and thus?\" the answer was, \"Zeus first did so,\" or\nDemeter, or Apollo did so, on a certain occasion.  About that occasion a\nmyth was framed, and finally there was no profligacy, cruelty, or\nabsurdity of which the God was not guilty.  Yet, all the time, he\npunished adultery, inhospitality, perjury, incest, cannibalism, and other\nexcesses, of which, in legend, he was always setting the example.  We\nknow from Xenophanes, Plato, and St. Augustine how men's consciences were\ntormented by this unceasing contradiction: this overgrowth of myth on the\nstock of an idea originally noble.  It is thus that I would attempt to\naccount for the contradictory conceptions of Zeus, for example.\n\nAs to Apollo, I do not think that mythologists determined to find, in\nApollo, some deified aspect of Nature, have laid stress enough on his\ncounterparts in savage myth.  We constantly find, in America, in the\nAndaman Isles, and in Australia, that, subordinate to the primal Being,\nthere exists another who enters into much closer relations with mankind.\nHe is often concerned with healing and with prophecy, or with the\ninspiration of conjurers or shamans.  Sometimes he is merely an\nunderling, as in the case of the Massachusetts Kiehtan, and his more\nfamiliar subordinate, Hobamoc. {30}  But frequently this go-between of\nGod and Man is (like Apollo) the _Son_ of the primal Being (often an\nunbegotten Son) or his Messenger (Andaman, Noongaburrah, Kurnai,\nKamilaroi, and other Australian tribes).  He reports to the somewhat\notiose primal Being about men's conduct, and he sometimes superintends\nthe Mysteries.  I am disposed to regard the prophetic and oracular Apollo\n(who, as the Hymn to Hermes tells us, alone knows the will of Father\nZeus) as the Greek modification of this personage in savage theology.\nWhere this Son is found in Australia, I by no means regard him as a\nsavage refraction from Christian teaching about a mediator, for Christian\nteaching, in fact, has not been accepted, least of all by the highly\nconservative sorcerers, or shamans, or wirreenuns of the tribes.  European\nobservers, of course, have been struck by (and have probably exaggerated\nin some instances) the Christian analogy.  But if they had been as well\nacquainted with ancient Greek as with Christian theology they would have\nremarked that the Andaman, American, and Australian \"mediators\" are\ninfinitely more akin to Apollo, in his relations with Zeus and with men,\nthan to any Person about whom missionaries can preach.  But the most\ndevoted believer in borrowing will not say that, when the Australian\nmediator, Tundun, son of Mungun-gnaur, turns into a porpoise, the Kurnai\nhave borrowed from our Hymn of the Dolphin Apollo.  It is absurd to\nmaintain that the Son of the God, the go-between of God and men, in\nsavage theology, is borrowed from missionaries, while this being has so\nmuch more in common with Apollo (from whom he cannot conceivably be\nborrowed) than with Christ.  The Tundun-porpoise story seems to have\narisen in gratitude to the porpoise, which drives fishes inshore, for the\nnatives to catch.  Neither Tharamulun nor Hobamoc (Australian and\nAmerican Gods of healing and soothsaying), who appear to men as serpents,\nare borrowed from Asclepius, or from the Python of Apollo.  The processes\nhave been quite different, and in Apollo, the oracular son of Zeus, who\ndeclares his counsel to men, I am apt to see a beautiful Greek\nmodification of the type of the mediating Son of the primal Being of\nsavage belief, adorned with many of the attributes of the Sun God, from\nwhom, however, he is fundamentally distinct.  Apollo, I think, is an\nadorned survival of the Son of the God of savage theology.  He was not,\nat first, a Nature God, solar or not.  This opinion, if it seems valid,\nhelps to account, in part, for the animal metamorphoses of Apollo, a\nsurvival from the mental confusion of savagery.  Such a confusion, in\nGreece, makes it necessary for the wise son of Zeus to seek information,\nas in the Hymn to Hermes, from an old clown.  This medley of ideas, in\nthe mind of a civilised poet, who believes that Apollo is all-knowing in\nthe counsels of eternity, is as truly mythological as Dunbar's God who\nlaughs his heart sore at an ale-house jest.  Dunbar, and the author of\nthe Hymn, and the savage with his tale of Tundun or Daramulun, have all\nquite contradictory sets of ideas alternately present to their minds; the\nmediaeval poet, of course, being conscious of the contradiction, which\nmakes the essence of his humour, such as it is.  To Greece, in its\nloftier moods, Apollo was, despite his myth, a noble source of\ninspiration, of art, and of conduct.  But the contradiction in the low\nmyth and high doctrine of Apollo, could never be eradicated under any\ninfluence less potent than that of Christianity. {34}  If this theory of\nApollo's origin be correct, many pages of learned works on Mythology need\nto be rewritten.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HYMN TO HERMES\n\n\n[Hermes with the boy Dionysos.  Statue by Praxiteles, found at Olympia:\nlang35.jpg]\n\nThe Hymn to Hermes is remarkable for the corruption of the text, which\nappears even to present _lacunae_.  The English reader will naturally\nprefer the lively and charming version of Shelley to any other.  The poet\ncan tell and adorn the story without visibly floundering in the pitfalls\nof a dislocated text.  If we may judge by line 51, and if Greek musical\ntradition be correct, the date of the Hymn cannot be earlier than the\nfortieth Olympiad.  About that period Terpander is said to have given the\nlyre seven strings (as Mercury does in the poem), in place of the\nprevious four strings.  The date of Terpander is dubious, but probably\nthe seven-stringed lyre had long been in common use before the poet\nattributed the invention to Hermes.  The same argument applies to the\nantiquity of writing, assigned by poets as the invention of various\nmythical and prehistoric heroes.  But the poets were not careful\narchaeologists, and regarded anachronisms as genially as did Shakespeare\nor Scott.  Moreover, the fact that Terpander did invent the seven chords\nis not beyond dispute historically, while, mythically, Apollo and Amphion\nare credited with the idea.  That Hermes invented fire-sticks seems a\nfable which robs Prometheus of the honour.  We must not look for any kind\nof consistency in myth.\n\nThe learned differ as to the precise purpose of the Hymn, and some even\nexclude the invention of the _cithara_.  To myself it seems that the poet\nchiefly revels in a very familiar subject of savage humour (notably among\nthe Zulus), the extraordinary feats and tricks of a tiny and apparently\nfeeble and helpless person or animal, such as Brer Rabbit.  The triumph\nof astuteness over strength (a triumph here assigned to the infancy of a\nGod) is the theme.  Hermes is here a rustic _doublure_ of Apollo, as he\nwas, in fact, mainly a rural deity, though he became the Messenger of the\nGods, and the Guide of Souls outworn.  In these respects he answers to\nthe Australian Grogoragally, in his double relation to the Father, Boyma,\nand to men living and dead. {37a}\n\nAs a go-between of Gods and men, Hermes may be a _doublure_ of Apollo,\nbut, as the Hymn shows, he aspired in vain to Apollo's oracular function.\nIn one respect his behaviour has a singular savage parallel.  His shoes\nwoven of twigs, so as not to show the direction in which he is\nproceeding, answer to the equally shapeless feather sandals of the blacks\nwho \"go _Kurdaitcha_,\" that is, as avengers of blood.  I have nowhere\nelse found this practice as to the shoes, which, after all, cannot\nconceal the direction of the spoor from a native tracker. {37b}  The\ntrick of driving the cattle backwards answers to the old legend that\nBruce reversed the shoes of his horse when he fled from the court of\nEdward I.\n\nThe humour of the Hymn is rather rustic: cattle theft is the chief joke,\ncattle theft by a baby.  The God, divine as he is, feels his mouth water\nfor roast beef, a primitive conception.  In fact, throughout this Hymn we\nare far from the solemn regard paid to Apollo, from the wistful beauty of\nthe Hymn to Demeter, and from the gladness and melancholy of the Hymn to\nAphrodite.  Sportive myths are treated sportively, as in the story of\nAres and Aphrodite in the Odyssey.  Myths contained all conceivable\nelements, among others that of humour, to which the poet here abandons\nhimself.  The statues and symbols of Hermes were inviolably sacred; as\nGuide of Souls he played the part of comforter and friend: he brought men\nall things lucky and fortunate: he made the cattle bring forth\nabundantly: he had the golden wand of wealth.  But he was also tricksy as\na Brownie or as Puck; and that fairy aspect of his character and legend,\nhe being the midnight thief whose maraudings account for the unexplained\ndisappearances of things, is the chief topic of the gay and reckless\nhymn.  Even the Gods, even angry Apollo, are moved to laughter, for over\nsport and playfulness, too, Greek religion throws her sanction.  At the\ndishonesties of commerce (clearly regarded as a form of theft) Hermes\nwinks his laughing eyes (line 516).  This is not an early Socialistic\nprotest against \"Commercialism.\"  The early traders, like the Vikings,\nwere alternately pirates and hucksters, as opportunity served.  Every\noccupation must have its heavenly patron, its departmental deity, and\nHermes protects thieves and raiders, \"minions of the moon,\" \"clerks of\nSt. Nicholas.\"  His very birth is a stolen thing, the darkling fruit of a\ndivine amour in a dusky cavern.  _Il chasse de race_. {39}\n\n\n\n\nTHE HYMN TO APHRODITE\n\n\nThe Hymn to Aphrodite is, in a literary sense, one of the most beautiful\nand quite the most Homeric in the collection.  By \"Homeric\" I mean that\nif we found the adventure of Anchises occurring at length in the Iliad,\nby way of an episode, perhaps in a speech of AEneas, it would not strike\nus as inconsistent in tone, though occasionally in phrase.  Indeed the\ngerm of the Hymn occurs in Iliad, B. 820: \"AEneas, whom holy Aphrodite\nbore to the embraces of Anchises on the knowes of Ida, a Goddess couching\nwith a mortal.\"  Again, in E. 313, AEneas is spoken of as the son of\nAphrodite and the neat-herd, Anchises.  The celebrated prophecy of the\nfuture rule of the children of AEneas over the Trojans (Y. 307), probably\nmade, like many prophecies, after the event, appears to indicate the\nclaim of a Royal House at Ilios, and is regarded as of later date than\nthe general context of the epic.  The AEneid is constructed on this hint;\nthe Romans claiming to be of Trojan descent through AEneas.  The date of\nthe composition cannot be fixed from considerations of the Homeric tone;\nthus lines 238-239 may be a reminiscence of Odyssey, [Greek text]. 394,\nand other like suggestions are offered. {41}  The conjectures as to date\nvary from the time of Homer to that of the _Cypria_, of Mimnermus (the\nreferences to the bitterness of loveless old age are in his vein) of\nAnacreon, or even of Herodotus and the Tragedians.  The words [Greek\ntext], [Greek text], and other indications are relied on for a late date:\nand there are obvious coincidences with the Hymn to Demeter, as in line\n174, _Demeter_ 109, f.   Gemoll, however, takes this hymn to be the\nearlier.\n\nAbout the place of composition, Cyprus or Asia Minor, the learned are no\nless divided than about the date.  Many of the grounds on which their\nopinions rest appear unstable.  The relations of Aphrodite to the wild\nbeasts under her wondrous spell, for instance, need not be borrowed from\nCirce with her attendant beasts.  If not of Homer's age, the Hymn is\nmarkedly successful as a continuation of the Homeric tone and manner.\n\nModern Puritanism naturally \"condemns\" Aphrodite, as it \"condemns\" Helen.\nBut Homer is lenient; Helen is under the spell of the Gods, an unwilling\nand repentant tool of Destiny; and Aphrodite, too, is driven by Zeus into\nthe arms of a mortal.  She is [Greek text], shamefast; and her adventure\nis to her a bitter sorrow (199, 200).  The dread of Anchises--a man is\nnot long of life who lies with a Goddess--refers to a belief found from\nGlenfinlas to Samoa and New Caledonia, that the embraces of the spiritual\nladies of the woodlands are fatal to men.  The legend has been told to me\nin the Highlands, and to Mr. Stevenson in Samoa, while my cousin, Mr. J.\nJ. Atkinson, actually knew a Kaneka who died in three days after an amour\nlike that of Anchises.  The Breton ballad, _Le Sieur Nan_, turns on the\nsame opinion.  The amour of Thomas the Rhymer is a mediaeval analogue of\nthe Idaean legend.\n\nAphrodite has better claims than most Greek Gods to Oriental elements.\nHerodotus and Pausanias (i. xiv. 6, iii. 23, I) look on her as a being\nfirst worshipped by the Assyrians, then by the Paphians of Cyprus, and\nPhoenicians at Askelon, who communicated the cult to the Cythereans.\nCyprus is one of her most ancient sites, and Ishtar and Ashtoreth are\namong her Oriental analogues.  She springs from the sea--\n\n   \"The wandering waters knew her, the winds and the viewless ways,\n   And the roses grew rosier, and bluer the sea-blue streams of the\n   bays.\"\n\nBut the charm of Aphrodite is Greek.  Even without foreign influence,\nGreek polytheism would have developed a Goddess of Love, as did the\npolytheism of the North (Frigga) and of the Aztecs.  The rites of Adonis,\nthe vernal year, are, even in the name of the hero, Oriental.  \"The name\nAdonis is the Phoenician _Adon_, 'Lord.'\" {44}  \"The decay and revival of\nvegetation\" inspires the Adonis rite, which is un-Homeric; and was\nsuperfluous, where the descent and return of Persephone typified the same\nclass of ideas.  To whatever extent contaminated by Phoenician influence,\nAphrodite in Homer is purely Greek, in grace and happy humanity.\n\nThe origins of Aphrodite, unlike the origins of Apollo, cannot be found\nin a state of low savagery.  She is a departmental Goddess, and as such,\nas ruling a province of human passion, she belongs to a late development\nof religion.  To Christianity she was a scandal, one of the scandals\nwhich are absent from the most primitive of surviving creeds.  Polytheism,\nas if of set purpose, puts every conceivable aspect of life, good or bad,\nunder divine sanction.  This is much less the case in the religion of the\nvery backward races.  We do not know historically, what the germs of\nreligion were; if we look at the most archaic examples, for instance in\nAustralia or the Andaman Islands, we find neither sacrifice nor\ndepartmental deities.\n\nReligion there is mainly a belief in a primal Being, not necessarily\nconceived as spiritual, but rather as an undying magnified Man, of\nindefinitely extensive powers.  He dwells above \"the vaulted sky beyond\nwhich lies the mysterious home of that great and powerful Being, who is\nBunjil, Baiame, or Daramulun in different tribal languages, but who in\nall is known by a name the equivalent of the only one used by the Kurnai,\nwhich is Mungan-ngaur, or 'Our Father.'\" {45}  This Father is conceived\nof in some places as \"a very great old man with a long beard,\" enthroned\non, or growing into, a crystal throne.  Often he is served by a son or\nsons (Apollo, Hermes), frequently regarded as spiritually begotten;\nelsewhere, looked on as the son of the wife of the deity, and as father\nof the tribe. {46a}  Scandals connected with fatherhood, amorous\nintrigues so abundant in Greek mythology, are usually not reported among\nthe lowest races.  In one known case, the deity, Pundjel or Bunjil, takes\nthe wives of Karween, who is changed into a crane. {46b}  This is one of\nthe many savage aetiological myths which account for the peculiarities of\nanimals as a result of metamorphosis, in the manner of Ovid.  It has been\nconnected with the legend of Bunjil, who is thus envisaged, not as \"Our\nFather\" beyond the vault of heaven, who still inspires poets, {46c} but\nas a wandering, shape-shifting medicine-man.  Zeus, the Heavenly Father,\nof course appears times without number in the same contradictory aspect.\n\nBut such anecdotes are either not common, or are not frequently reported,\nin the faiths of the most archaic of known races.  Much more frequently\nwe find the totemistic conception.  All the kindreds with animal names\n(why adopted we do not know) are apt to explain these designations by\ndescent from the animals selected, or by metamorphosis of the primal\nbeasts into men.  This collides with the other notions of descent from,\nor creation or manufacture out of clay, by the primal Being, \"Father\nOurs.\"  Such contradictions are nothing to the savage theologian, who is\nno reconciler or apologist.  But when reconciliation and apology are\nlater found to be desirable, as in Greece, it is easy to explain that we\nare descended _both_ from Our Father, and from a swan, cow, ant, serpent,\ndog, wolf, or what you will.  That beast was Our Father, say Father Zeus,\nin animal disguise.  Thus Greek legends of bestial amours of a God are\nprobably, in origin, not primitive, but scandals produced in the effort\nto reconcile contradictory myths.  The result is a worse scandal, an\naccretion of more low myths about a conception of the primal Being which\nwas, relatively, lofty and pure.\n\nAgain, as aristocracies arose, the chief families desired to be sons of\nthe Father in a special sense: not as common men are.  Her Majesty's\nlineage may thus be traced to Woden!  Now each such descent required a\nseparate divine amour, and a new scandalous story of Zeus or Apollo,\nthough Zeus may originally have been as celibate as the Australian Baiame\nor Noorele are, in some legends.  Once more, syncretism came in as a\nmythopoeic influence.  Say that several Australian nations, becoming more\npolite, amalgamated into a settled people.  Then we should have several\nGods, the chief Beings of various tribes, say Noorele, Bunjil, Mungan-\nngaur, Baiame, Daramulun, Mangarrah, Mulkari, Pinmeheal.  The most\nimposing God of the dominant tribe might be elevated to the sovereignty\nof Zeus.  But, in the new administration, places must be found for the\nother old tribal Gods.  They are, therefore, set over various\ndepartments: Love, War, Agriculture, Medicine, Poetry, Commerce, while\none or more of the sons take the places of Apollo and Hermes.  There\nappears to be a very early example of syncretism in Australia.  Daramulun\n(Papang, Our Father) is \"Master of All,\" on the coast, near Shoalhaven\nRiver.  Baiame is \"Master of All,\" far north, on the Barwan.  But the\nlocally intermediate tribe of the Wiraijuri, or Wiradthuri, have adopted\nBaiame, and reduced Daramulun to an exploded bugbear, a merely nominal\nsuperintendent of the Mysteries; and the southern Coast Murring have\nrejected Baiame altogether, or never knew him, while making Daramulun\nsupreme.\n\nOne obvious method of reconciling various tribal Gods in a syncretic\nOlympus, is the genealogical.  All are children of Zeus, for example, or\ngrandchildren, or brothers and sisters.  Fancy then provides an amour to\naccount for each relationship.  Zeus loved Leto, Leda, Europa, and so\nforth.  Thus a God, originally innocent and even moral, becomes a perfect\npattern of vice; and the eternal contradiction vexes the souls of\nXenophanes, Plato, and St. Augustine.  Sacrifices, even human sacrifices,\nwholly unknown to the most archaic faiths, were made to ghosts of men:\nand especially of kings, in the case of human sacrifice.  Thence they\nwere transferred to Gods, and behold a new scandal, when men began to\nreflect under more civilised conditions.  Thus all these legends of\ndivine amours and sins, or most of them, including the wanton legend of\nAphrodite, and all the human sacrifices which survived to the disgrace of\nGreek religion, are really degrading accessories to the most archaic\nbeliefs.  They are products, not of the most rudimentary savage\nexistence, but of the evolution through the lower and higher barbarism.\nThe worst features of savage ritual are different--taking the lines of\nsorcery, of cruel initiations, and, perhaps, of revival of the licence of\npromiscuity, or of Group Marriage.  Of these things the traces are not\nabsent from Greek faith, but they are comparatively inconspicuous.\n\nBuffoonery, as we have seen, exists in all grades of civilised or savage\nrites, and was not absent from the popular festivals of the mediaeval\nChurch: religion throwing her mantle over every human field of action, as\nover Folk Medicine.  On these lines I venture to explain what seem to me\nthe strange and repugnant elements of the religion of a people so\nrefined, and so capable of high moral ideas, as the Greeks.  Aphrodite is\npersonified desire, but religion did not throw her mantle over desire\nalone; the cloistered life, the frank charm of maidenhood, were as dear\nto the Greek genius, and were consecrated by the examples of Athene,\nArtemis, and Hestia.  She presides over the pure element of the fire of\nthe hearth, just as in the household did the daughter of the king or\nchief.  Hers are the first libations at feasts (xxviii. 5), though in\nHomer they are poured forth to Hermes.\n\nWe may explain the Gods of the minor hymns in the same way.  Pan, for\ninstance, as the son of Hermes, inherits the wild, frolicsome, rural\naspect of his character.  The Dioscuri answer to the Vedic Asvins, twin\nrescuers of men in danger on land or sea: perhaps the Evening and Morning\nStar.  Dionysus is another aspect of the joy of life and of the world and\nthe vintaging.  Moon and Sun, Selene and Helios, appear as quite distinct\nfrom Artemis and Apollo; Gaea, the Earth, is equally distinct from\nDemeter.  The Hymn to Ares is quite un-Homeric in character, and is oddly\nconceived in the spirit of the Scottish poltroon, who cries to his\nfriend, \"Haud me, haud me, or I'll fecht!\"  The war-god is implored to\nmoderate the martial eagerness of the poet.  The original collector here\nshowed lack of discrimination.  At no time, however, was Ares a popular\nGod in Greece; in Homer he is a braggart and coward.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HYMN TO DEMETER\n\n\nThe beautiful Hymn to Demeter, an example of Greek religious faith in its\nmost pensive and most romantic aspects, was found in the last century\n(1780), in Moscow.  _Inter pullos et porcos latitabat_: the song of the\nrural deity had found its way into the haunts of the humble creatures\nwhom she protected.  A discovery even more fortunate, in 1857, led Sir\nCharles Newton to a little _sacellum_, or family chapel, near Cnidos.  On\na platform of rock, beneath a cliff, and looking to the Mediterranean,\nwere the ruins of the ancient shrine: the votive offerings; the lamps\nlong without oil or flame; the Curses, or Dirae, inscribed on thin sheets\nof lead, and directed against thieves or rivals.  The head of the statue,\nitself already known, was also discovered.  Votive offerings, cheap\ncurses, objects of folk-lore rite and of sympathetic magic,--these are\nconnected with the popular, the peasant aspect of the religion of\nDemeter.  She it is to whom pigs are sacrificed: who makes the fields\nfertile with scattered fragments of their flesh; and her rustic effigy,\nat Theocritus's feast of the harvest home, stands smiling, with corn and\npoppies in her hands.\n\n[Mourning Demeter.  Marble statue from Knidos.  In the British Museum:\nlang54.jpg]\n\nBut the Cnidian shrine had once another treasure, the beautiful\nmelancholy statue of the seated Demeter of the uplifted eyes; the\nmourning mother: the weary seeker for the lost maiden: her child\nPersephone.  Far from the ruins above the sea, beneath the scorched\nseaward wall of rock: far from the aromatic fragrance of the\nrock-nourished flowers, from the bees, and the playful lizards, Demeter\nnow occupies her place in the great halls of the British Museum.  Like\nthe Hymn, this melancholy and tender work of art is imperfect, but the\nsentiment is thereby rather increased than impaired.  The ancients buried\nthings broken with the dead, that the shadows of tool, or weapon, or vase\nmight be set free, to serve the shadows of their masters in the land of\nthe souls.  Broken as they, too, are, the Hymn and the statue are \"free\namong the dead,\" and eloquent of the higher religion that, in Greece,\nattached itself to the lost Maiden and the sorrowing Mother.  Demeter, in\nreligion, was more than a fertiliser of the fields: Kore, the Maiden, was\nmore than the buried pig, or the seed sown to await its resurrection; or\nthe harvest idol, fashioned of corn-stalks: more even than a symbol of\nthe winter sleep and vernal awakening of the year and the life of nature.\nShe became the \"dread Persephone\" of the Odyssey,\n\n   \"A Queen over death and the dead.\"\n\nIn her winter retreat below the earth she was the bride of the Lord of\nMany Guests, and the ruler \"of the souls of men outworn.\"  In this office\nOdysseus in Homer knows her, though neither Iliad nor Odyssey recognises\n_Kore_ as the maiden Spring, the daughter and companion of Demeter as\nGoddess of Grain.  Christianity, even, did not quite dethrone Persephone.\nShe lives in two forms: first, as the harvest effigy made of corn-stalks\nbound together, the last gleanings; secondly, as \"the Fairy Queen\nProserpina,\" who carried Thomas the Rhymer from beneath the Eildon Tree\nto that land which lies beyond the stream of slain men's blood.\n\n   \"For a' the bluid that's shed on earth\n   Flows through the streams of that countrie.\"\n\n[Silver denarius of C. Vibius Pansa (about 90 B.C.).  Obv.  Head of\nApollo.  Rev.  Demeter searching for Persephone: lang56.jpg]\n\nThus tenacious of life has been the myth of Mother and Maiden, a natural\nflower of the human heart, found, unborrowed, by the Spaniards in the\nmaize-fields of Peru.  Clearly the myth is a thing composed of many\nelements, glad and sad as the waving fields of yellow grain, or as the\nChthonian darkness under earth where the seed awaits new life in the new\nyear.  The creed is practical as the folk-lore of sympathetic magic,\nwhich half expects to bring good harvest luck by various mummeries; and\nthe creed is mystical as the hidden things and words unknown which\nassured Pindar and Sophocles of secure felicity in this and in the future\nlife.\n\nThe creed is beautiful as the exquisite profile of the corn-tressed head\nof Persephone on Syracusan coins: and it is grotesque as the custom which\nbade the pilgrims to Eleusis bathe in the sea, each with the pig which he\nwas about to sacrifice.  The highest religious hopes, the meanest magical\nmummeries are blended in this religion.  That one element is earlier than\nthe other we cannot say with much certainty.  The ritual aspect, as\nconcerned with the happy future of the soul, does not appear in Iliad or\nOdyssey, where the Mysteries are not named.  But the silence of Homer is\nnever a safe argument in favour of his ignorance, any more than the\nabsence of allusion to tobacco in Shakspeare is a proof that tobacco was,\nin his age, unknown.\n\nWe shall find that a barbaric people, the Pawnees, hold a mystery\nprecisely parallel to the Demeter legend: a Mystery necessarily\nunborrowed from Greece.  The Greeks, therefore, may have evolved the\nlegend long before Homer's day, and he may have known the story which he\ndoes not find occasion to tell.  As to what was said, shown, and done in\nthe Eleusinia, we only gather that there was a kind of Mystery Play on\nthe sacred legend; that there were fastings, vigils, sacrifices, secret\nobjects displayed, sacred words uttered; and that thence such men as\nPindar and Sophocles received the impression that for them, in this and\nthe future life, all was well, was well for those of pure hearts and\nhands.  The \"purity\" may partly have been ritual, but was certainly\nunderstood, also, as relating to excellence of life.  Than such a faith\n(for faith it is) religion has nothing better to give.  But the extreme\ndiligence of scholars and archaeologists can tell us nothing more\ndefinite.  The impressions on the souls of the initiated may have been\ncaused merely by that dim or splendid religious light of the vigils, and\nby association with sacred things usually kept in solemn sanctuaries.\nAgain, mere buffoonery (as is common in savage Mysteries) brought the\npilgrims back to common life when they crossed the bridge on their return\nto Athens; just as the buffooneries of Baubo brought a smile to the sad\nlips of Demeter.  Beyond this all is conjecture, and the secret may have\nbeen so well kept just because, in fact, there was no secret to keep.\n{59}\n\nTill the end of the present century, mythologists did not usually employ\nthe method of comparing Greek rites and legends with, first, the\nsympathetic magic and the fables of peasant folk-lore; second, with the\nMysteries and myths of contemporary savage races, of which European folk-\nlore is mainly a survival.  For a study of Demeter from these sides (a\nstudy still too much neglected in Germany) readers may consult\nMannhardt's works, Mr. Frazer's \"Golden Bough,\" and the present\ntranslator's \"Custom and Myth,\" and \"Myth, Ritual, and Religion.\"  Mr.\nFrazer, especially, has enabled the English reader to understand the\nsavage and rural element of sympathetic magic as a factor in the Demeter\nmyth.  Meanwhile Mr. Pater has dealt with the higher sentiment, the more\nreligious aspect, of the myth and the rites.  I am not inclined to go all\nlengths with Mr. Frazer's ingenious and learned system, as will be seen,\nwhile regretting that the new edition of his \"Golden Bough\" is not yet\naccessible.\n\nIf we accept (which I do not entirely) Mr. Frazer's theory of the origin\nof the Demeter myth, there is no finer example of the Greek power of\ntransforming into beauty the superstitions of Barbarism.  The explanation\nto which I refer is contained in Mr. J. G. Frazer's learned and ingenious\nwork, \"The Golden Bough.\"  While mythologists of the schools of Mr. Max\nMuller and Kuhn have usually resolved most Gods and heroes into Sun, Sky,\nDawn, Twilight; or, again, into elemental powers of Thunder, Tempest,\nLightning, and Night, Mr. Frazer is apt to see in them the Spirit of\nVegetation.  Osiris is a Tree Spirit or a Corn Spirit (Mannhardt, the\nfounder of the system, however, took Osiris to be the Sun).  Balder is\nthe Spirit of the Oak.  The oak, \"we may certainly conclude, was one of\nthe chief, if not the very chief divinity of the Aryans before the\ndispersion.\" {61}  If so, the Aryans before the dispersion were on an\ninfinitely lower religious level than those Australian tribes, whose\nchief divinity is not a gum-tree, but a being named \"Our Father,\"\ndwelling beyond the visible heavens.  When we remember the vast numbers\nof gods of sky or heaven among many scattered races, and the obvious\nconnection of Zeus with the sky (_sub Jove frigido_), and the usually\nassigned sense of the name of Zeus, it is not easy to suppose that he was\noriginally an oak.  But Mr. Frazer considers the etymological connection\nof Zeus with the Sanscrit word for sky, an insufficient reason for\nregarding Zeus as, in origin, a sky-god.  He prefers, it seems, to\nbelieve that, as being the wood out of which fire was kindled by some\nAryan-speaking peoples, the oak may have come to be called \"The Bright or\nShining One\" (Zeus, Jove), by the ancient Greeks and Italians. {62}  The\nGreeks, in fact, used the laurel (_daphne_) for making fire, not, as far\nas I am aware, the oak.  Though the oak was the tree of Zeus, the heavens\nwere certainly his province, and, despite the oak of Dodona, and the oak\non the Capitol, he is much more generally connected with the sky than\nwith the tree.  In fact this reduction of Zeus, in origin, to an oak,\nrather suggests that the spirit of system is too powerful with Mr.\nFrazer.\n\nHe makes, perhaps, a more plausible case for his reduction of dread\nPersephone to a Pig.  The process is curious.  Early agricultural man\nbelieved in a Corn Spirit, a spiritual essence animating the grain (in\nitself no very unworthy conception).  But because, as the field is mown,\nanimals in the corn are driven into the last unshorn nook, and then into\nthe open, the beast which rushed out of the last patch was identified\nwith the Corn Spirit in some animal shape, perhaps that of a pig; many\nother animals occur.  The pig has a great part in the ritual of Demeter.\nPigs of pottery were found by Sir Charles Newton on her sacred ground.\nThe initiate in the Mysteries brought pigs to Eleusis, and bathed with\nthem in the sea.  The pig was sacrificed to her; in fact (though not in\nour Hymn) she was closely associated with pigs.  \"We may now ask . . .\nmay not the pig be nothing but the Goddess herself in animal form?\" {64a}\nShe would later become anthropomorphic: a lovely Goddess, whose hair, as\nin the Hymn, is \"yellow as ripe corn.\"  But the prior pig could not be\nshaken off.  At the Attic Thesmophoria the women celebrated the Descent\nand Ascent of Persephone,--a \"double\" of Demeter.  In this rite pigs and\nother things were thrown into certain caverns.  Later, the cold remains\nof pig were recovered and placed on the altar.  Fragments were scattered\nfor luck on the fields with the seed-corn.  A myth explained that a flock\nof pigs were swallowed by Earth when Persephone was ravished by Hades to\nthe lower world, of which matter the Hymn says nothing.  \"In short, the\npigs were Proserpine.\" {64b}  The eating of pigs at the Thesmophoria was\n\"a partaking of the body of the God,\" though the partakers, one thinks,\nmust have been totally unconscious of the circumstance.  We must presume\nthat (if this theory be correct) a very considerable time was needed for\nthe evolution of a pig into the Demeter of the Hymn, and the change is\nquite successfully complete; a testimony to the transfiguring power of\nthe Greek genius.\n\nWe may be inclined to doubt, however, whether the task before the genius\nof Greece, the task of making Proserpine out of a porker, was really so\ncolossal.  The primitive mind is notoriously capable of entertaining,\nsimultaneously, the most contradictory notions.  Thus, in the Australian\n\"Legend of Eerin,\" the mourners implore Byamee to accept the soul of the\nfaithful Eerin into his Paradise, Bullimah.  No doubt Byamee heard, yet\nEerin is now a little owl of plaintive voice, which ratters warning cries\nin time of peril. {65}  No incongruity of this kind is felt to be a\ndifficulty by the childlike narrators.  Now I conceive that, starting\nwith the relatively high idea of a Spirit of the Grain, early man was\nquite capable of envisaging it both spiritually and in zoomorphic form\n(accidentally conditioned here into horse, there into goat, pig, or what\nnot).  But these views of his need not exclude his simultaneous belief in\nthe Corn Spirit as a being anthropomorphic, \"Mother Earth,\" or \"Mother\nGrain,\" as we follow the common etymology; or that of Mannhardt ([Greek\ntext]) [Greek text]=\"barley-mother\").  If I am right, poetry and the\nhigher religion moved from the first on the line of the anthropomorphic\nLady of the Harvest and the Corn, Mother Barley: while the popular folk-\nlore of the Corn Spirit (which found utterance in the mirth of\nharvesting, and in the magic ritual for ensuring fertility), followed on\nthe line of the pig.  At some seasons, and in some ceremonies, the pig\nrepresented the genius of the corn: in general, the Lady of the Corn\nwas--Demeter.  We really need not believe that the two forms of the\ngenius of the corn were ever _consciously_ identified.  Demeter never was\na Pig! {66}\n\n\"The Peruvians, we are told, believed all useful plants to be animated by\na divine being who causes their growth,\" says Mr. Frazer. {67}  The\ngenealogical table, then, in my opinion, is:--\n\nDivine Being of the Grain.\n            |\n  +---------+--------------------------+\n  |                                    |\n(_Anthropomorphized_).             (_Zoomorphised_).\nMother of Corn.                    Pig, Horse,\n    Demeter.                         and so on.\n\nThus the Greek genius had other and better materials to work on, in\nevolving Demeter, than the rather lowly animal which is associated with\nher rites.  If any one objects that animal gods always precede\nanthropomorphic gods in evolution, we reply that, in the most archaic of\nknown races, the deities are represented in human guise at the Mysteries,\nthough there are animal Totems, and though, in myth, the deity may, and\noften does, assume shapes of bird or beast. {68}\n\nAmong rites of the backward races, none, perhaps, so closely resembles\nthe Eleusinian Mysteries as the tradition of the Pawnees.  In Attica,\nHades, Lord of the Dead, ravishes away Persephone, the vernal daughter of\nDemeter.  Demeter then wanders among men, and is hospitably received by\nCeleus, King of Eleusis.  Baffled in her endeavour to make his son\nimmortal, she demands a temple, where she sits in wrath, blighting the\ngrain.  She is reconciled by the restoration of her daughter, at the\ncommand of Zeus.  But for a third of the year Persephone, having tasted a\npomegranate seed in Hades, has to reign as Queen of the Dead, beneath the\nearth.  Scenes from this tale were, no doubt, enacted at the Mysteries,\nwith interludes of buffoonery, such as relieved most ancient and all\nsavage Mysteries.  The allegory of the year's death and renewal probably\nafforded a text for some discourse, or spectacle, concerned with the\nfuture life.\n\nAmong the Pawnees, not a mother and daughter, but two primal beings,\nbrothers, named Manabozho and Chibiabos, are the chief characters.  The\nManitos (spirits or gods) drown Chibiabos.  Manabozho mourns and smears\nhis face with black, as Demeter wears black raiment.  He laments\nChibiabos ceaselessly till the Manitos propitiate him with gifts and\nceremonies.  They offer to him a cup, like the beverage prepared for\nDemeter, in the Hymn, by Iambe.  He drinks it, is glad, washes off the\nblack stain of mourning, and is himself again, while Earth again is\njoyous.  The Manitos restore Chibiabos to life; but, having once died, he\nmay not enter the temple, or \"Medicine Lodge.\"  He is sent to reign over\nthe souls of the departed as does Persephone.  Manabozho makes offerings\nto Mesukkumikokwi, the \"Earth Mother\" of the Pawnees.  The story is\nenacted in the sacred dances of the Pawnees. {69}\n\nThe Pawnee ideas have fallen, with singularly accurate coincidence, into\nthe same lines as those of early Greece.  Some moderns, such as M.\nFoucart, have revived the opinion of Herodotus, that the Mysteries were\nbrought from Greece to Egypt.  But, as the Pawnee example shows, similar\nnatural phenomena may anywhere beget similar myths and rites.  In Greece\nthe _donnee_ was a nature myth, and a ritual in which it was enacted.\nThat ritual was a form of sympathetic magic, and the myth explained the\nperformances.  The refinement and charm of the legend (on which Homer, as\nwe saw, does not touch) is due to the unique genius of Greece.  Demeter\nbecame the deity most familiar to the people, nearest to their hearts and\nendowed with most temples; every farm possessing her rural shrine.  But\nthe Chthonian, or funereal, aspect of Chibiabos, or of Persephone, is due\nto a mood very distinct from that which sacrifices pigs as embodiments of\nthe Corn Spirit, if that be the real origin of the practice.\n\nWe should much misconceive the religious spirit of the Greek rite if we\nundertook to develop it all out an origin in sympathetic magic: which, of\ncourse, I do not understand Mr. Frazer to do.  Greek scholars, again, are\napt to view these researches into savage or barbaric origins with great\ndistaste and disfavour.  This is not a scientific frame of mind.  In the\nabsence of such researches other purely fanciful origins have been\ninvented by scholars, ancient or modern.  It is necessary to return to\nthe pedestrian facts, if merely in order to demonstrate the futility of\nthe fancies.  The result is in no way discreditable to Greece.  Beginning,\nlike other peoples, with the vague unrealised conception of the Corn\nMother (an idea which could not occur before the agricultural stage of\ncivilisation), the Greeks refined and elevated the idea into the Demeter\nof the Hymn, and of the Cnidian statue.  To do this was the result of\ntheir unique gifts as a race.  Meanwhile the other notion of a Ruler of\nSouls, in Greece attached to Persephone, is found among peoples not yet\nagricultural: nomads living on grubs, roots, seeds of wild grasses, and\nthe products of the chase.  Almost all men's ideas are as old as mankind,\nso far as we know mankind.\n\nConceptions originally \"half-conscious,\" and purely popular, as of a\nSpirit of Vegetation, incarnate, as it were, in each year's growth, were\nnext handled by conscious poets, like the author of our Hymn, and then\nare \"realised as abstract symbols, because intensely characteristic\nexamples of moral, or spiritual conditions.\" {72}  Thus Demeter and\nPersephone, no longer pigs or Grain-Mothers, \"lend themselves to the\nelevation and the correction of the sentiments of sorrow and awe, by the\npresentment to the senses and imagination of an ideal expression of them.\nDemeter cannot but seem the type of divine grief.  Persephone is the\nGoddess of Death, yet with a promise of life to come.\"\n\nThat the Eleusinia included an ethical element seems undeniable.  This\none would think probable, _a priori_, on the ground that Greek Mysteries\nare an embellished survival of the initiatory rites of savages, which do\ncontain elements of morality.  This I have argued at some length in\n\"Myth, Ritual, and Religion.\"  Many strange customs in some Greek\nMysteries, such as the daubing of the initiate with clay, the use of the\n[Greek text] (the Australian _Tundun_, a small piece of wood whirled\nnoisily by a string), the general suggestion of _a new life_, the\nflogging of boys at Sparta, their retreat, each with his instructor\n(Australian _kabbo_, Greek [Greek text]) to the forests, are precisely\nanalogous to things found in Australia, America, and Africa.  Now savage\nrites are often associated with what we think gross cruelty, and, as in\nFiji, with abandoned license, of which the Fathers also accuse the\nGreeks.  But, among the Yao of Central Africa, the initiator, observes\nMr. Macdonald, \"is said to give much good advice.  His lectures condemn\nselfishness, and a selfish person is called _mwisichana_, that is,\n'uninitiated.'\" {74a}\n\nAmong the Australians, Dampier, in 1688, observed the singular unselfish\ngenerosity of distribution of food to the old, the weak, and the sick.\nAccording to Mr. Howitt, the boys of the Coast Murring tribe are taught\nin the Mysteries \"to speak the straightforward truth while being\ninitiated, and are warned to avoid various offences against propriety and\nmorality.\"  The method of instruction is bad, a pantomimic representation\nof the sin to be avoided, but the intention is excellent. {74b}  Among\nthe Kurnai respect for the old, for unprotected women, the duty of\nunselfishness, and other ethical ideas are inculcated, {74c} while\ncertain food taboos prevail during the rite, as was also the case in the\nEleusinia.  That this moral idea of \"sharing what they have with their\nfriends\" is not confined merely to the tribe, is proved by the experience\nof John Finnegan, a white man lost near Moreton Bay early in this\ncentury.  \"At all times, whether they had much or little, fish or\nkangaroo, they always gave me as much as I could eat.\"  Even when the\nwhites stole the fish of the natives, and were detected, \"instead of\nattempting to repossess themselves of the fish, they instantly set at\nwork to procure more for us, and one or two fetched us as much _dingowa_\nas they could carry.\" {75}  The first English settlers in Virginia, on\nthe other hand, when some native stole a cup, burned down the whole town.\n\nThus the morality of the savage is not merely tribal (as is often\nalleged), and is carried into practice, as well as inculcated, in some\nregions, not in all, during the Mysteries.\n\nFor these reasons, if the Greek Mysteries be survivals of savage\nceremonies (as there is no reason to doubt that they are), the savage\nassociation of moral instruction with mummeries might survive as easily\nas anything else.  That it did survive is plain from numerous passages in\nclassical authors. {76a}  The initiate \"live a pious life in regard to\nstrangers and citizens.\"  They are to be \"conscious of no evil\": they are\nto \"protect such as have wrought no unrighteousness.\"  Such precepts\n\"have their root in the ethico-religious consciousness.\" {76b}  It is not\nmere ritual purity that the Mysteries demand, either among naked\nAustralians, or Yao, or in Greece.  Lobeck did his best to minimise the\ntestimony to the higher element in the Eleusinia, but without avail.  The\nstudy of early, barbaric, savage, classical, Egyptian, or Indian\nreligions should not be one-sided.  Men have always been men, for good as\nwell as for evil; and religion, almost everywhere, is allied with ethics\nno less than it is overrun by the parasite of myth, and the survival of\nmagic in ritual.  The Mother and the Maid were \"Saviours\" ([Greek text]),\n\"holy\" and \"pure,\" despite contradictory legends. {77}  The tales of\nincest, as between Zeus and Persephone, are the result of the\ngenealogical mania.  The Gods were grouped in family-relationships, to\naccount for their companionship in ritual, and each birth postulated an\namour.  None the less the same deities offered \"salvation,\" of a sort,\nand were patrons of conduct.\n\nGreek religion was thus not destitute of certain chief elements in our\nown.  But these were held in solution, with a host of other warring\nelements, lustful, cruel, or buffooning.  These elements Greece was\npowerless to shake off; philosophers, by various expedients, might\nexplain away the contradictory myths which overgrew the religion, but\nritual, the luck of the State, and popular credulity, were tenacious of\nthe whole strange mingling of beliefs and practices.\n\n* * * * *\n\nThe view taken of the Eleusinia in this note is hardly so exalted as that\nof Dr. Hatch.  \"The main underlying conception of initiation was that\nthere were elements in human life from which the candidate must purify\nhimself before he could be fit to approach God.\"  The need of\npurification, ritual and moral, is certain, but one is not aware of\nanything in the purely popular or priestly religion of Greece which\nexactly answers to our word \"God\" as used in the passage cited.\nIndividuals, by dint of piety or of speculation, might approach the\nconception, and probably many did, both in and out of the philosophic\nschools.  But traditional ritual and myth could scarcely rise to this\nideal; and it seems exaggerated to say of the crowded Eleusinian throng\nof pilgrims that \"the race of mankind was lifted on to a higher plane\nwhen it came to be taught that only the pure in heart can see God.\" {78}\nThe black native boys in Australia pass through a purgative ceremony to\ncure them of selfishness, and afterwards the initiator points to the blue\nvault of sky, bidding them behold \"Our Father, Mungan-ngaur.\"  This is\nvery well meant, and very creditable to untutored savages: and creditable\nideas were not absent from the Eleusinia.  But when we use the quotation,\n\"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,\" our meaning,\nthough not very definite, is a meaning which it would be hazardous to\nattribute to a black boy,--or to Sophocles.  The idea of the New Life\nappears to occur in Australian Mysteries: a tribesman is buried, and\nrises at a given signal.  But here the New Life is rather that of the lad\nadmitted to full tribal privileges (including moral precepts) than that\nof a converted character.  Confirmation, rather than conversion, is the\nanalogy.  The number of those analogies of ancient and savage with\nChristian religion is remarkable.  But even in Greek Mysteries the\nconceptions are necessarily not so purely spiritual as in the Christian\ncreed, of which they seem half-conscious and fragmentary anticipations.\nOr we may regard them as suggestions, which Christianity selected,\naccepted, and purified.\n\n\n\n\nHYMN TO DEMETER\n\n\nTHE ALLEGED EGYPTIAN ORIGINS\n\n\nIn what has been said as to the Greek Mysteries, I have regarded them as\nof native origin.  I have exhibited rites of analogous kinds in the germ,\nas it were, among savage and barbaric communities.  In Peru, under the\nIncas, we actually find Mama and Cora (Demeter and Kore) as Goddesses of\nthe maize (Acosta), and for rites of sympathetic magic connected with the\nproduction of fertile harvests (as in the Thesmophoria at Athens) it is\nenough to refer to the vast collection in Mr. Frazer's \"Golden Bough.\"  I\nhave also indicated the closest of all known parallels to the Eleusinian\nin a medicine-dance and legend of the Pawnees.  For other savage\nMysteries in which a moral element occurs, I have quoted Australian and\nAfrican examples.  Thence I have inferred that the early Greeks might,\nand probably did, evolve their multiform mystic rites out of germs of\nsuch things inherited from their own prehistoric ancestors.  No process,\non the other hand, of borrowing from Greece can conceivably account for\nthe Pawnee and Peruvian rites, so closely analogous to those of Hellas.\nTherefore I see no reason why, if Egypt, for instance, presents parallels\nto the Eleusinia, we should suppose that the prehistoric Greeks borrowed\nthe Eleusinia from Egypt.  These things can grow up, autochthonous and\nunderived, out of the soil of human nature anywhere, granting certain\nsocial conditions.  Monsieur Foucart, however, has lately argued in\nfavour of an Egyptian origin of the Eleusinia. {82}\n\nThe Greeks naturally identified Demeter and Dionysus with Isis and\nOsiris.  There were analogies in the figures and the legends, and that\nwas enough.  So, had the Greeks visited America, they would have\nrecognised Demeter in the Pawnee Earth Mother, and Persephone or\nEubouleus in Chibiabos.  To account for the similarities they would\nprobably have invented a fable of Pawnee visitors to Greece, or of Greek\nmissionaries among the Pawnees.  So they were apt to form a theory of an\nEgyptian origin of Dionysus and Demeter.\n\nM. Foucart, however, argues that agriculture, corn-growing at least, came\ninto Greece at one stride, barley and wheat not being indigenous in a\nwild state.  The Greeks, however, may have brought grain in their\noriginal national migration (the Greek words for grain and ploughing are\ncommon to other families of Aryan speech) or obtained it from Phoenician\nsettlements.  Demeter, however, in M. Foucart's theory, would be the\nGoddess of the foreigners who carried the grain first to Hellas.  Now\nboth the Homeric epics and the Egyptian monuments show us Egypt and\nGreece in contact in the Greek prehistoric period.  But it does not\nexactly follow that the prehistoric Greeks would adopt Egyptian gods; or\nthat the Thesmophoria, an Athenian harvest-rite of Demeter, was founded\nby colonists from Egypt, answering to the daughters of Danaus. {84}\nEgyptians certainly did not introduce the similar rite among the Khonds,\nor the Incas.  The rites _could_ grow up without importation, as the\nresult of the similarities of primitive fancy everywhere.  If Isis is\nLady of the Grain in Egypt, so is Mama in Peru, and Demeter need no more\nhave been imported from Egypt than Mama.  If Osiris taught the arts of\nlife and the laws of society in Egypt, so did Daramulun in Australia, and\nYehl in British Columbia.  All the gods and culture heroes everywhere\nplay this _role_--in regions where importation of the idea from Egypt is\nutterly out of the question.  Even in minute details, legends recur\neverywhere; the _phallus_ of a mutilated Australian being of the fabulous\n\"Alcheringa time,\" is hunted for by his wives; exactly as Isis wanders in\nsearch of the _phallus_ of the mutilated Osiris. {85a}  Is anything in\nthe Demeter legend so like the Isis legend as this Australian\ncoincidence?  Yet the Arunta did not borrow it from Egypt. {85b}  The\nmere fact, again, that there were Mysteries both in Egypt and Greece\nproves nothing.  There is a river in Monmouth, and a river in Macedon;\nthere are Mysteries in almost all religions.\n\nAgain, it is argued, the Gods of the Mysteries in Egypt and Greece had\nsecret names, only revealed to the initiated.  So, too, in Australia,\nwomen (never initiated) and boys before initiation, know Daramulun only\nas Papang (Father). {85c}  The uninitiated among the Kurnai do not know\nthe sacred name, Mungan-ngaur. {85d}  The Australian did not borrow this\nsecrecy from Egypt.  Everywhere a mystery is kept up about proper names.\nM. Foucart seems to think that what is practically universal, a taboo on\nnames, can only have reached Greece by transplantation from Egypt. {86a}\nTo the anthropologist it seems that scholars, in ignoring the universal\nideas of the lower races, run the risk of venturing on theories at once\nsuperficial and untenable.\n\nM. Foucart has another argument, which does not seem more convincing,\nthough it probably lights up the humorous or indecent side of the\nEleusinia.  Isocrates speaks of \"good offices\" rendered to Demeter by\n\"our ancestors,\" which \"can only be told to the initiate.\" {86b}  Now\nthese cannot be the kindly deeds reported in the Hymn, for these were\npublicly proclaimed.  What, then, were the _secret_ good offices?  In one\nversion of the legend the hosts of Demeter were not Celeus and Metaneira,\nbut Dusaules and Baubo.  The part of Baubo was to relieve the gloom of\nthe Goddess, not by the harmless pleasantries of Iambe, in the Hymn, but\nby obscene gestures.  The Christian Fathers, Clemens of Alexandria at\nleast, make this a part of their attack on the Mysteries; but it may be\nsaid that they were prejudiced or misinformed. {87a}  But, says M.\nFoucart, an inscription has been found in Paros, wherein there is a\ndedication to Hera, Demeter Thesmophoros, Kore, and _Babo_, or Baubo.\nAgain, two authors of the fourth century, Palaephatus and Asclepiades,\ncite the Dusaules and Baubo legend. {87b}\n\nNow the indecent gesture of Baubo was part of the comic or obscene folk-\nlore of contempt in Egypt, and so M. Foucart thinks that it was borrowed\nfrom Egypt with the Demeter legend. {87c}  Can Isocrates have referred to\n_this_ good office?--the amusing of Demeter by an obscene gesture?  If he\ndid, such gestures as Baubo's are as widely diffused as any other piece\nof folk-lore.  In the centre of the Australian desert Mr. Carnegie saw a\nnative make a derisive gesture which he thought had only been known to\nEnglish schoolboys. {88a}  Again, indecent pantomimic dances, said to be\nintended to act as \"object lessons\" in things _not_ to be done, are\ncommon in Australian Mysteries.  Further, we do not know Baubo, or a\ncounterpart of her, in the ritual of Isis, and the clay figurines of such\na figure, in Egypt, are of the Greek, the Ptolemaic period.  Thus the\nevidence comes to this: an indecent gesture of contempt, known in Egypt,\nis, at Eleusis, attributed to Baubo.  This does not prove that Baubo was\noriginally Egyptian. {88b}  Certain traditions make Demeter the mistress\nof Celeus. {88c}  Traces of a \"mystic marriage,\" which also occur, are\nnot necessarily Egyptian: the idea and rite are common.\n\nThere remains the question of the sacred objects displayed (possibly\nstatues, probably very ancient \"medicine\" things, as among the Pawnees)\nand sacred words spoken.  These are said by many authors to confirm the\ninitiate in their security of hope as to a future life.  Now similar\ninstruction, as to the details of the soul's voyage, the dangers to\navoid, the precautions to be taken, notoriously occur in the Egyptian\n\"Book of the Dead.\"  But very similar fancies are reported from the\nOjibbeways (Kohl), the Polynesians and Maoris (Taylor, Turner, Gill,\nThomson), the early peoples of Virginia, {89a} the modern Arapaho and\nSioux of the Ghost Dance rite, the Aztecs, and so forth.  In all\ncountries these details are said to have been revealed by men or women\nwho died, but did not (like Persephone) taste the food of the dead; and\nso were enabled to return to earth.  The initiate, at Eleusis, were\nguided along a theatrically arranged pathway of the dead, into a\ntheatrical Elysium. {89b}  Now as such ideas as these occur among races\nutterly removed from contact with Egypt, as they are part of the European\nfolk-lore of the visits of mortals to fairyland (in which it is fatal to\ntaste fairy food), I do not see that Eleusis need have borrowed such\ncommon elements of early belief from the Egyptians in the seventh century\nB.C. {90}  One might as well attribute to Egypt the Finnish legend of the\ndescent of Wainamoinen into Tuonela; or the experience of the aunt of\nMontezuma just before the arrival of Cortes; or the expedition to\nfairyland of Thomas the Rhymer.  It is not pretended by M. Foucart that\nthe _details_ of the \"Book of the Dead\" were copied in Greek ritual; and\nthe general idea of a river to cross, of dangerous monsters to avoid, of\nperils to encounter, of precautions to be taken by the wandering soul, is\nnearly universal, where it must be unborrowed from Egypt, in Polynesian\nand Red Indian belief.  As at Eleusis, in these remote tribes formulas of\na preservative character are inculcated.\n\nThe \"Book of the Dead\" was a guidebook of the itinerary of Egyptian\nsouls.  Very probably similar instruction was given to the initiate at\nEleusis.  But the Fijians also have a regular theory of what is to be\ndone and avoided on \"The Path of the Shades.\"  The shade is ferried by\nCeba (Charon) over Wainiyalo (Lethe); he reaches the mystic pandanus tree\n(here occurs a rite); he meets, and dodges, Drodroyalo and the two\ndevouring Goddesses; he comes to a spring, and drinks, and forgets sorrow\nat Wai-na-dula, the \"Water of Solace.\"  After half-a-dozen other\nprobations and terrors, he reaches the Gods, \"the dancing-ground and the\nwhite quicksand; and then the young Gods dance before them and sing. . . . \"\n{91a}\n\nNow turn to Plutarch. {91b}  Plutarch compares the soul's mortal\nexperience with that of the initiate in the Mysteries.  \"There are\nwanderings, darkness, fear, trembling, shuddering, horror, then a\nmarvellous light: pure places and meadows, dances, songs, and holy\napparitions.\"  Plutarch might be summarising the Fijian belief.  Again,\ntake the mystic golden scroll, found in a Greek grave at Petilia.  It\ndescribes in hexameters the Path of the Shade: the spring and the white\ncypress on the left: \"Do not approach it.  Go to the other stream from\nthe Lake of Memory; tell the Guardians that you are the child of Earth\nand of the starry sky, but that yours is a heavenly lineage; and they\nwill give you to drink of that water, and you shall reign with the other\nheroes.\"\n\nTree, and spring, and peaceful place with dance, song, and divine\napparitions, all are Fijian, all are Greek, yet nothing is borrowed by\nFiji from Greece.  Many other Greek inscriptions cited by M. Foucart\nattest similar beliefs.  Very probably such precepts as those of the\nPetilia scroll were among the secret instructions of Eleusis.  But they\nare not so much Egyptian as human.  Chibiabos is assuredly not borrowed\nfrom Osiris, nor the Fijian faith from the \"Book of the Dead.\"  \"Sacred\nthings,\" not to be shown to man, still less to woman, date from the\n\"medicine bag\" of the Red Indian, the mystic tribal bundles of the\nPawnees, and the _churinga_, and bark \"native portmanteaux,\" of which Mr.\nCarnegie brought several from the Australian desert.\n\n[Demeter and Persephone sending Triptolemos on his mission.  Marble\nrelief found at Eleusis--now in Athens: lang92.jpg]\n\nFor all Greek Mysteries a satisfactory savage analogy can be found.  These\nspring straight from human nature: from the desire to place customs, and\nduties, and taboos under divine protection; from the need of\nstrengthening them, and the influence of the elders, by mystic sanctions;\nfrom the need of fortifying and trying the young by probations of\nstrength, secrecy, and fortitude; from the magical expulsion of hostile\ninfluences; from the sympathetic magic of early agriculture; from study\nof the processes of nature regarded as personal; and from guesses,\nsurmises, visions, and dreams as to the fortunes of the wandering soul on\nits way to its final home.  I have shown all these things to be human,\nuniversal, not sprung from one race in one region.  Greek Mysteries are\nbased on all these natural early conceptions of life and death.  The\nearly Greeks, like other races, entertained these primitive, or very\narchaic ideas.  Greece had no need to borrow from Egypt; and, though\nEgypt was within reach, Greece probably developed freely her original\nstock of ideas in her own fashion, just as did the Incas, Aztecs,\nAustralians, Ojibbeways, and the other remote peoples whom I have\nselected.  The argument of M. Foucart, I think, is only good as long as\nwe are ignorant of the universally diffused forms of religious belief\nwhich correspond to the creeds of Eleusis or of Egypt.  In the Greek\nMysteries we have the Greek guise,--solemn, wistful, hopeful, holy, and\npure, yet not uncontaminated with archaic buffoonery,--of notions and\nrites, hopes and fears, common to all mankind.  There is no other secret.\n\nThe same arguments as I have advanced against Greek borrowing from Egypt,\napply to Greek borrowing from Asia.  Mr. Ramsay, following Mr. Robertson\nSmith, suggests that Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, may be \"the\nold Semitic Al-lat.\" {95a}  Then we have Leto and Artemis, as the Mother\nand the Maid (Kore) with their mystery play.  \"Clement describes them\"\n(the details) as \"Eleusinian, for they had spread to Eleusis as the rites\nof Demeter and Kore _crossing from Asia to Crete, and from Crete to the\nEuropean_ peninsula.\"  The ritual \"remained everywhere fundamentally the\nsame.\"  Obviously if the Eleusinian Mysteries are of Phrygian origin\n(Ramsay), they cannot also be of Egyptian origin (Foucart).  In truth\nthey are no more specially of Phrygian or Egyptian than of Pawnee or\nPeruvian origin.  Mankind can and does evolve such ideas and rites in any\nregion of the world. {95b}\n\n\n\n\nCONCLUSION\n\n\n\"What has all this farrago about savages to do with Dionysus?\" I conceive\nsome scholar, or literary critic asking, if such an one looks into this\nbook.  Certainly it would have been easier for me to abound in aesthetic\ncriticism of the Hymns, and on the aspect of Greek literary art which\nthey illustrate.  But the Hymns, if read even through the pale medium of\na translation, speak for themselves.  Their beauties and defects as\npoetry are patent: patent, too, are the charm and geniality of the\nnational character which they express.  The glad Ionian gatherings; the\narchaic humour; the delight in life, and love, and nature; the pious\ndomesticities of the sacred Hearth; the peopling of woods, hills, and\nstreams with exquisite fairy forms; all these make the poetic delight of\nthe Hymns.  But all these need no pointing out to any reader.  The poets\ncan speak for themselves.\n\nOn the other hand the confusions of sacred and profane; the origins of\nthe Mysteries; the beginnings of the Gods in a mental condition long left\nbehind by Greece when the Hymns were composed; all these matters need\nelucidation.  I have tried to elucidate them as results of evolution from\nthe remote prehistoric past of Greece, which, as it seems, must in many\npoints have been identical with the historic present of the lowest\ncontemporary races.  In the same way, if dealing with ornament, I would\nderive the spirals, volutes, and concentric circles of Mycenaean gold\nwork, from the identical motives, on the oldest incised rocks and kists\nof our Islands, of North and South America, and of the tribes of Central\nAustralia, recently described by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, and Mr.\nCarnegie.  The material of the Mycenaean artist may be gold, his work may\nbe elegant and firm, but he traces the selfsame ornament as the naked\nArunta, with feebler hand, paints on sacred rocks or on the bodies of his\ntribesmen.  What is true of ornament is true of myth, rite, and belief.\nGreece only offers a gracious modification of the beliefs, rites, and\nmyths of the races who now are \"nearest the beginning,\" however remote\nfrom that unknown beginning they may be.  To understand this is to come\ncloser to a true conception of the evolution of Greek faith and art than\nwe can reach by any other path.  Yet to insist on this is not to ignore\nthe unmeasured advance of the Greeks in development of society and art.\nOn that head the Hymns, like all Greek poetry, bear their own free\ntestimony.  But, none the less, Greek religion and myth present features\nrepellent to us, which derive their origin, not from savagery, but from\nthe more crude horrors of the lower and higher barbarisms.\n\nGreek religion, Greek myth, are vast conglomerates.  We find a savage\norigin for Apollo, and savage origins for many of the Mysteries.  But the\ncruelty of savage initiations has been purified away.  On the other hand,\nwe find a barbaric origin for departmental gods, such as Aphrodite, and\nfor Greek human sacrifices, unknown to the lowest savagery.  From\nsavagery Zeus is probably derived; from savagery come the germs of the\nlegends of divine amours in animal forms.  But from barbarism arises the\nsympathetic magic of agriculture, which the lowest races do not practise.\nFrom the barbaric condition, not from savagery, comes Greek hero-worship,\nfor the lowest races do not worship ancestral spirits.  Such is the\nmedley of prehistoric ideas in Greece, while the charm and poetry of the\nHymns are due mainly to the unique genius of the fully developed Hellenic\nrace.  The combination of good and bad, of ancestral rites and ideas, of\nnative taste, of philosophical refinement on inherited theology, could\nnot last; the elements were too discordant.  And yet it could not pass\nnaturally away.  The Greece of A.D. 300\n\n   \"Wandered between two worlds, one dead,\n   The other powerless to be born,\"\n\nwithout external assistance.  That help was brought by the Christian\ncreed, and, officially, Gods, rites, and myths vanished, while,\nunofficially, they partially endure, even to this day, in Romaic folk-\nlore.\n\n\n\n\nHOMERIC HYMNS\n\n\nHYMN TO APOLLO\n\n\n[Silver stater of Croton (about 400 B.C.).  Obv.  Hercules, the Founder.\nRev.  Apollo shooting the Python by the Delphic Tripod: lang103.jpg]\n\nMindful, ever mindful, will I be of Apollo the Far-darter.  Before him,\nas he fares through the hall of Zeus, the Gods tremble, yea, rise up all\nfrom their thrones as he draws near with his shining bended bow.  But\nLeto alone abides by Zeus, the Lord of Lightning, till Apollo hath\nslackened his bow and closed his quiver.  Then, taking with her hands\nfrom his mighty shoulders the bow and quiver, she hangs them against the\npillar beside his father's seat from a pin of gold, and leads him to his\nplace and seats him there, while the father welcomes his dear son, giving\nhim nectar in a golden cup; then do the other Gods welcome him; then they\nmake him sit, and Lady Leto rejoices, in that she bore the Lord of the\nBow, her mighty son.\n\n[Hail!  O blessed Leto; mother of glorious children, Prince Apollo and\nArtemis the Archer; her in Ortygia, him in rocky Delos didst thou bear,\ncouching against the long sweep of the Cynthian Hill, beside a palm tree,\nby the streams of Inopus.]\n\n[Leto.  With her infants, Apollo and Artemis.  From a Vase in the British\nMuseum.  (Sixth Century B.C.): lang104.jpg]\n\nHow shall I hymn thee aright, howbeit thou art, in sooth, not hard to\nhymn? {104} for to thee, Phoebus, everywhere have fallen all the ranges\nof song, both on the mainland, nurse of young kine, and among the isles;\nto thee all the cliffs are dear, and the steep mountain crests and rivers\nrunning onward to the salt sea, and beaches sloping to the foam, and\nhavens of the deep?  Shall I tell how Leto bore thee first, a delight of\nmen, couched by the Cynthian Hill in the rocky island, in sea-girt\nDelos--on either hand the black wave drives landward at the word of the\nshrill winds--whence arising thou art Lord over all mortals?\n\nAmong them that dwell in Crete, and the people of Athens, and isle AEgina,\nand Euboea famed for fleets, and AEgae and Peiresiae, and Peparethus by\nthe sea-strand, and Thracian Athos, and the tall crests of Pelion, and\nThracian Samos, and the shadowy mountains of Ida, Scyros, and Phocaea,\nand the mountain wall of Aigocane, and stablished Imbros, and\ninhospitable Lemnos, and goodly Lesbos, the seat of Makar son of AEolus,\nand Chios, brightest of all islands of the deep, and craggy Mimas, and\nthe steep crests of Mykale, and gleaming Claros, and the high hills of\nAEsagee, and watery Samos, and tall ridges of Mycale, and Miletus, and\nCos, a city of Meropian men, and steep Cnidos, and windy Carpathus, Naxos\nand Paros, and rocky Rheneia--so far in travail with the Archer God went\nLeto, seeking if perchance any land would build a house for her son.\n\nBut the lands trembled sore, and were adread, and none, nay not the\nrichest, dared to welcome Phoebus, not till Lady Leto set foot on Delos,\nand speaking winged words besought her:\n\n\"Delos, would that thou wert minded to be the seat of my Son, Phoebus\nApollo, and to let build him therein a rich temple!  No other God will\ntouch thee, nor none will honour thee, for methinks thou art not to be\nwell seen in cattle or in sheep, in fruit or grain, nor wilt thou grow\nplants unnumbered.  But wert thou to possess a temple of Apollo the Far-\ndarter; then would all men bring thee hecatombs, gathering to thee, and\never wilt thou have savour of sacrifice . . . from others' hands, albeit\nthy soil is poor.\"\n\nThus spoke she, and Delos was glad and answered her saying:\n\n\"Leto, daughter most renowned of mighty Coeus, right gladly would I\nwelcome the birth of the Archer Prince, for verily of me there goes an\nevil report among men, and thus would I wax mightiest of renown.  But at\nthis Word, Leto, I tremble, nor will I hide it from thee, for the saying\nis that Apollo will be mighty of mood, and mightily will lord it over\nmortals and immortals far and wide over the earth, the grain-giver.\nTherefore, I deeply dread in heart and soul lest, when first he looks\nupon the sunlight, he disdain my island, for rocky of soil am I, and\nspurn me with his feet and drive me down in the gulfs of the salt sea.\nThen should a great sea-wave wash mightily above my head for ever, but he\nwill fare to another land, which so pleases him, to fashion him a temple\nand groves of trees.  But in me would many-footed sea-beasts and black\nseals make their chambers securely, no men dwelling by me.  Nay, still,\nif thou hast the heart, Goddess, to swear a great oath that here first he\nwill build a beautiful temple, to be the shrine oracular of\nmen--thereafter among all men let him raise him shrines, since his renown\nshall be the widest.\"\n\nSo spake she, but Leto swore the great oath of the Gods:\n\n\"Bear witness, Earth, and the wide heaven above, and dropping water of\nStyx--the greatest oath and the most dread among the blessed Gods--that\nverily here shall ever be the fragrant altar and the portion of Apollo,\nand thee will he honour above all.\"\n\nWhen she had sworn and done that oath, then Delos was glad in the birth\nof the Archer Prince.  But Leto, for nine days and nine nights\ncontinually was pierced with pangs of child-birth beyond all hope.  With\nher were all the Goddesses, the goodliest, Dione and Rheia, and Ichnaean\nThemis, and Amphitrite of the moaning sea, and the other deathless\nones--save white-armed Hera.  Alone she wotted not of it, Eilithyia, the\nhelper in difficult travail.  For she sat on the crest of Olympus beneath\nthe golden clouds, by the wile of white-armed Hera, who held her afar in\njealous grudge, because even then fair-tressed Leto was about bearing her\nstrong and noble son.\n\nBut the Goddesses sent forth Iris from the fair-stablished isle, to bring\nEilithyia, promising her a great necklet, golden with amber studs, nine\ncubits long.  Iris they bade to call Eilithyia apart from white-armed\nHera, lest even then the words of Hera might turn her from her going.  But\nwind-footed swift Iris heard, and fleeted forth, and swiftly she devoured\nthe space between.  So soon as she came to steep Olympus, the dwelling of\nthe Gods, she called forth Eilithyia from hall to door, and spake winged\nwords, even all that the Goddesses of Olympian mansions had bidden her.\nThereby she won the heart in Eilithyia's breast, and forth they fared,\nlike timid wild doves in their going.\n\nEven when Eilithyia, the helper in sore travailing, set foot in Delos,\nthen labour took hold on Leto, and a passion to bring to the birth.\nAround a palm tree she cast her arms, and set her knees on the soft\nmeadow, while earth beneath smiled, and forth leaped the babe to light,\nand all the Goddesses raised a cry.  Then, great Phoebus, the Goddesses\nwashed thee in fair water, holy and purely, and wound thee in white\nswaddling bands, delicate, new woven, with a golden girdle round thee.\nNor did his mother suckle Apollo the golden-sworded, but Themis with\nimmortal hands first touched his lips with nectar and sweet ambrosia,\nwhile Leto rejoiced, in that she had borne her strong son, the bearer of\nthe bow.\n\nThen Phoebus, as soon as thou hadst tasted the food of Paradise, the\ngolden bands were not proof against thy pantings, nor bonds could bind\nthee, but all their ends were loosened.  Straightway among the Goddesses\nspoke Phoebus Apollo: \"Mine be the dear lyre and bended bow, and I will\nutter to men the unerring counsel of Zeus.\"\n\nSo speaking, he began to fare over the wide ways of earth, Phoebus of the\nlocks unshorn, Phoebus the Far-darter.  Thereon all the Goddesses were in\namaze, and all Delos blossomed with gold, as when a hilltop is heavy with\nwoodland flowers, beholding the child of Zeus and Leto, and glad because\nthe God had chosen her wherein to set his home, beyond mainland and\nisles, and loved her most at heart.\n\nBut thyself, O Prince of the Silver Bow, far-darting Apollo, didst now\npass over rocky Cynthus, now wander among temples and men.  Many are thy\nfanes and groves, and dear are all the headlands, and high peaks of lofty\nhills, and rivers flowing onward to the sea; but with Delos, Phoebus, art\nthou most delighted at heart, where the long-robed Ionians gather in\nthine honour, with children and shame-fast wives.  Mindful of thee they\ndelight thee with boxing, and dances, and minstrelsy in their games.  Who\nso then encountered them at the gathering of the Ionians, would say that\nthey are exempt from eld and death, beholding them so gracious, and would\nbe glad at heart, looking on the men and fair-girdled women, and their\nmuch wealth, and their swift galleys.  Moreover, there is this great\nmarvel of renown imperishable, the Delian damsels, hand-maidens of the\nFar-darter.  They, when first they have hymned Apollo, and next Leto and\nArtemis the Archer, then sing in memory of the men and women of old time,\nenchanting the tribes of mortals.  And they are skilled to mimic the\nnotes and dance music of all men, so that each would say himself were\nsinging, so well woven is their fair chant.\n\nBut now come, be gracious, Apollo, be gracious, Artemis; and ye maidens\nall, farewell, but remember me even in time to come, when any of earthly\nmen, yea, any stranger that much hath seen and much endured, comes hither\nand asks:\n\n\"Maidens, who is the sweetest to you of singers here conversant, and in\nwhose song are ye most glad?\"\n\nThen do you all with one voice make answer:\n\n\"A blind man is he, and he dwells in rocky Chios; his songs will ever\nhave the mastery, ay, in all time to come.\"\n\nBut I shall bear my renown of you as far as I wander over earth to the\nfairest cities of men, and they will believe my report, for my word is\ntrue.  But, for me, never shall I cease singing of Apollo of the Silver\nBow, the Far-darter, whom fair-tressed Leto bore.\n\nO Prince, Lycia is thine, and pleasant Maeonia, and Miletus, a winsome\ncity by the sea, and thou, too, art the mighty lord of sea-washed Delos.\n\n\n\nTHE FOUNDING OF DELPHI\n\n\nThe son of glorious Leto fares harping on his hollow harp to rocky Pytho,\nclad in his fragrant raiment that waxes not old, and beneath the golden\nplectrum winsomely sounds his lyre.  Thence from earth to Olympus, fleet\nas thought, he goes to the House of Zeus, into the Consistory of the\nother Gods, and anon the Immortals bethink them of harp and minstrelsy.\nAnd all the Muses together with sweet voice in antiphonal chant replying,\nsing of the imperishable gifts of the Gods, and the sufferings of men,\nall that they endure from the hands of the undying Gods, lives witless\nand helpless, men unavailing to find remede for death or buckler against\nold age.  Then the fair-tressed Graces and boon Hours, and Harmonia, and\nHebe, and Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, dance, holding each by the wrist\nthe other's hand, while among them sings one neither unlovely, nor of\nbody contemptible, but divinely tall and fair, Artemis the Archer,\nnurtured with Apollo.  Among them sport Ares, and the keen-eyed Bane of\nArgos, while Phoebus Apollo steps high and disposedly, playing the lyre,\nand the light issues round him from twinkling feet and fair-woven\nraiment.  But all they are glad, seeing him so high of heart, Leto of the\ngolden tresses, and Zeus the Counsellor, beholding their dear son as he\ntakes his pastime among the deathless Gods.\n\nHow shall I hymn thee aright, howbeit thou art, in sooth, not hard to\nhymn?  Shall I sing of thee in love and dalliance; how thou wentest forth\nto woo the maiden Azanian, with Ischys, peer of Gods, and Elation's son\nof the goodly steeds, or with Phorbas, son of Triopes, or Amarynthus, or\nhow with Leucippus and Leucippus' wife, thyself on foot, he in the\nchariot . . .? {115}  Or how first, seeking a place of oracle for men,\nthou camest down to earth, far-darting Apollo?\n\nOn Pieria first didst thou descend from Olympus, and pass by Lacmus, and\nEmathia, and Enienae, and through Perrhaebia, and speedily camest to\nIolcus, and alight on Cenaeum in Euboea, renowned for galleys.  On the\nLelantian plain thou stoodest, but it pleased thee not there to stablish\na temple and a grove.  Thence thou didst cross Euripus, far-darting\nApollo, and fare up the green hill divine, and thence camest speedily to\nMycalessus and Teumesos of the bedded meadow grass, and thence to the\nplace of woodclad Thebe, for as yet no mortals dwelt in Holy Thebe, nor\nyet were paths nor ways along Thebe's wheat-bearing plain, but all was\nwild wood.\n\nThence forward journeying, Apollo, thou camest to Onchestus, the bright\ngrove of Poseidon.  There the new-broken colt takes breath again, weary\nthough he be with dragging the goodly chariot; and to earth, skilled\nthough he be, leaps down the charioteer, and fares on foot, while the\nhorses for a while rattle along the empty car, with the reins on their\nnecks, and if the car be broken in the grove of trees, their masters tend\nthem there, and tilt the car and let it lie.  Such is the rite from of\nold, and they pray to the King Poseidon, while the chariot is the God's\nportion to keep.\n\nThence faring forward, far-darting Apollo, thou didst win to Cephisus of\nthe fair streams, that from Lilaea pours down his beautiful waters, which\ncrossing, Far-darter, and passing Ocalea of the towers, thou camest\nthereafter to grassy Haliartus.  Then didst thou set foot on Telphusa,\nand to thee the land seemed exceeding good wherein to stablish a temple\nand a grove.\n\nBeside Telphusa didst thou stand, and spake to her: \"Telphusa, here\nmethinketh to stablish a fair temple, an oracle for men, who, ever\nseeking for the word of sooth, will bring me hither perfect hecatombs,\neven they that dwell in the rich isle of Pelops, and all they of the\nmainland and sea-girt islands.  To them all shall I speak the decree\nunerring, rendering oracles within my rich temple.\"\n\nSo spake Phoebus, and thoroughly marked out the foundations, right long\nand wide.  But at the sight the heart of Telphusa waxed wroth, and she\nspake her word:\n\n\"Phoebus, far-darting Prince, a word shall I set in thy heart.  Here\nthinkest thou to stablish a goodly temple, to be a place of oracle for\nmen, that ever will bring thee hither perfect hecatombs--nay, but this\nwill I tell thee, and do thou lay it up in thine heart.  The never-ending\ndin of swift steeds will be a weariness to thee, and the watering of\nmules from my sacred springs.  There men will choose rather to regard the\nwell-wrought chariots, and the stamping of the swift-footed steeds, than\nthy great temple and much wealth therein.  But an if thou--that art\ngreater and better than I, O Prince, and thy strength is most of might--if\nthou wilt listen to me, in Crisa build thy fane beneath a glade of\nParnassus.  There neither will goodly chariots ring, nor wilt thou be\nvexed with stamping of swift steeds about thy well-builded altar, but\nnone the less shall the renowned tribes of men bring their gifts to\nIepaeon, and delighted shalt thou gather the sacrifices of them who dwell\naround.\"\n\nTherewith she won over the heart of the Far-darter, even that to Telphusa\nherself should be honour in that land, and not to the Far-darter.\n\nThenceforward didst thou fare, far-darting Apollo, and camest to the city\nof the overweening Phlegyae, that reckless of Zeus dwelt there in a\ngoodly glade by the Cephisian mere.  Thence fleetly didst thou speed to\nthe ridge of the hills, and camest to Crisa beneath snowy Parnassus, to a\nknoll that faced westward, but above it hangs a cliff, and a hollow dell\nruns under, rough with wood, and even there Prince Phoebus Apollo deemed\nwell to build a goodly temple, and spake, saying: \"Here methinketh to\nstablish a right fair temple, to be a place oracular to men, that shall\never bring me hither goodly hecatombs, both they that dwell in rich\nPeloponnesus, and they of the mainland and sea-girt isles, seeking here\nthe word of sooth; to them all shall I speak the decree unerring,\nrendering oracles within my wealthy shrine.\"\n\nSo speaking, Phoebus Apollo marked out the foundations, right long and\nwide, and thereon Trophonius and Agamedes laid the threshold of stone,\nthe sons of Erginus, dear to the deathless Gods.  But round all the\ncountless tribes of men built a temple with wrought stones to be famous\nfor ever in song.\n\nHard by is a fair-flowing stream, and there, with an arrow from his\nstrong bow, did the Prince, the son of Zeus, slay the Dragoness, mighty\nand huge, a wild Etin, that was wont to wreak many woes on earthly men,\non themselves, and their straight-stepping flocks, so dread a bane was\nshe.\n\n[This Dragoness it was that took from golden-throned Hera and reared the\ndread Typhaon, not to be dealt with, a bane to mortals.  Him did Hera\nbear, upon a time, in wrath with father Zeus, whenas Cronides brought\nforth from his head renowned Athene.  Straightway lady Hera was angered,\nand spake among the assembled Gods:\n\n\"Listen to me, ye Gods, and Goddesses all, how cloud-collecting Zeus is\nfirst to begin the dishonouring of me, though he made me his wife in\nhonour.  And now, apart from me, he has brought forth grey-eyed Athene\nwho excels among all the blessed Immortals.  But he was feeble from the\nbirth, among all the Gods, my son Hephaestos, lame and withered of foot,\nwhom I myself lifted in my hands, and cast into the wide sea.  But the\ndaughter of Nereus, Thetis of the silver feet, received him and nurtured\nhim among her sisters.  Would that she had done other grace to the\nblessed Immortals!\n\n\"Thou evil one of many wiles, what other wile devisest thou?  How hadst\nthou the heart now alone to bear grey-eyed Athene?  Could I not have\nborne her?  But none the less would she have been called thine among the\nImmortals, who hold the wide heaven.  Take heed now, that I devise not\nfor thee some evil to come.  Yea, now shall I use arts whereby a child of\nmine shall be born, excelling among the immortal Gods, without\ndishonouring thy sacred bed or mine, for verily to thy bed I will not\ncome, but far from thee will nurse my grudge against the Immortal Gods.\"\n\nSo spake she, and withdrew from among the Gods with angered heart.  Right\nso she made her prayer, the ox-eyed lady Hera, striking the earth with\nher hand flatlings, {121} and spake her word:\n\n\"Listen to me now, Earth, and wide Heavens above, and ye Gods called\nTitans, dwelling beneath earth in great Tartarus, ye from whom spring\nGods and men!  List to me now, all of you, and give me a child apart from\nZeus, yet nothing inferior to him in might, nay, stronger than he, as\nmuch as far-seeing Zeus is mightier than Cronus!\"\n\nSo spake she, and smote the ground with her firm hand.  Then Earth, the\nnurse of life, was stirred, and Hera, beholding it, was glad at heart,\nfor she deemed that her prayer would be accomplished.  From that hour for\na full year she never came to the bed of wise Zeus, nor to her throne\nadorned, whereon she was wont to sit, planning deep counsel, but dwelling\nin her temples, the homes of Prayers, she took joy in her sacrifices, the\nox-eyed lady Hera.\n\nNow when her months and days were fulfilled, the year revolving, and the\nseasons in their course coming round, she bare a birth like neither Gods\nnor mortals, the dread Typhaon, not to be dealt with, a bane of men.  Him\nnow she took, the ox-eyed lady Hera, and carried and gave to the\nDragoness, to bitter nurse a bitter fosterling, who received him, that\never wrought many wrongs among the renowned tribes of men.]\n\nWhosoever met the Dragoness, on him would she bring the day of destiny,\nbefore the Prince, far-darting Apollo, loosed at her the destroying\nshaft; then writhing in strong anguish, and mightily panting she lay,\nrolling about the land.  Dread and dire was the din, as she writhed\nhither and thither through the wood, and gave up the ghost, and Phoebus\nspoke his malison:\n\n\"There do thou rot upon the fruitful earth; no longer shalt thou, at\nleast, live to be the evil bane of mortals that eat the fruit of the\nfertile soil, and hither shall bring perfect hecatombs.  Surely from thee\nneither shall Typhoeus, nay, nor Chimaera of the evil name, shield death\nthat layeth low, but here shall black earth and bright Hyperion make thee\nwaste away.\"\n\nSo he spake in malison, and darkness veiled her eyes, and there the\nsacred strength of the sun did waste her quite away.  Whence now the\nplace is named Pytho, and men call the Prince \"Pythian\" for that deed,\nfor even there the might of the swift sun made corrupt the monster. {124}\n\nThen Phoebus Apollo was ware in his heart that the fair-flowing spring,\nTelphusa, had beguiled him, and in wrath he went to her, and swiftly\ncame, and standing close by her, spoke his word:\n\n\"Telphusa, thou wert not destined to beguile my mind, nor keep the\nwinsome lands and pour forth thy fair waters.  Nay, here shall my honour\nalso dwell, not thine alone.\"  So he spoke, and overset a rock, with a\nshower of stones, and hid her streams, the Prince, far-darting Apollo.\nAnd he made an altar in a grove of trees, hard by the fair-flowing\nstream, where all men name him in prayer, \"the Prince Telphusian,\" for\nthat he shamed the streams of sacred Telphusa.  Then Phoebus Apollo\nconsidered in his heart what men he should bring in to be his ministers,\nand to serve him in rocky Pytho.  While he was pondering on this, he\nbeheld a swift ship on the wine-dark sea, and aboard her many men and\ngood, Cretans from Minoan Cnossus, such as do sacrifice to the God, and\nspeak the doom of Phoebus Apollo of the Golden Sword, what word soever he\nutters of sooth from the daphne in the dells of Parnassus.  For barter\nand wealth they were sailing in the black ship to sandy Pylos, and the\nPylian men.  Anon Phoebus Apollo set forth to meet them, leaping into the\nsea upon the swift ship in the guise of a dolphin, and there he lay, a\nportent great and terrible.\n\n[Of the crew, whosoever sought in heart to comprehend what he was . . .\nOn all sides he kept swaying to and fro, and shaking the timbers of the\ngalley.]  But all they sat silent and in fear aboard the ship, nor loosed\nthe sheets, nor the sail of the black-prowed galley; nay, even as they\nhad first set the sails so they voyaged onward, the strong south-wind\nspeeding on the vessel from behind.  First they rounded Malea, and passed\nthe Laconian land and came to Helos, a citadel by the sea, and Taenarus,\nthe land of Helios, that is the joy of mortals, where ever feed the deep-\nfleeced flocks of Prince Helios, and there hath he his glad demesne.\nThere the crew thought to stay the galley, and land and consider of the\nmarvel, and see whether that strange thing will abide on the deck of the\nhollow ship or leap again into the swell of the fishes' home.  But the\nwell-wrought ship did not obey the rudder, but kept ever on her way\nbeyond rich Peloponnesus, Prince Apollo lightly guiding it by the gale.\nSo accomplishing her course she came to Arene, and pleasant Arguphea, and\nThryon, the ford of Alpheius, and well-builded Aepu, and sandy Pylos, and\nthe Pylian men, and ran by Crounoi, and Chalcis, and Dyme, and holy Elis,\nwhere the Epeians bear sway.  Then rejoicing in the breeze of Zeus, she\nwas making for Pherae, when to them out of the clouds showed forth the\nsteep ridge of Ithaca, and Dulichium, and Same, and wooded Zacynthus.\nAnon when she had passed beyond all Peloponnesus, there straightway, off\nCrisa, appeared the wide sound, that bounds rich Peloponnesus.  Then came\non the west wind, clear and strong, by the counsel of Zeus, blowing hard\nout of heaven, that the running ship might swiftest accomplish her course\nover the salt water of the sea.\n\nBackward then they sailed towards the Dawn and the sun, and the Prince\nwas their guide, Apollo, son of Zeus.  Then came they to far-seen Crisa,\nthe land of vines, into the haven, while the sea-faring ship beached\nherself on the shingle.  Then from the ship leaped the Prince,\nfar-darting Apollo, like a star at high noon, while the gledes of fire\nflew from him, and the splendour flashed to the heavens.  Into his inmost\nHoly Place he went through the precious tripods, and in the midst he\nkindled a flame showering forth his shafts, and the splendour filled all\nCrisa, {127} and the wives of the Crisaeans, and their fair-girdled\ndaughters raised a wail at the rushing flight of Phoebus, for great fear\nfell upon all.  Thence again to the galley he set forth and flew, fleet\nas a thought, in shape a man lusty and strong, in his first youth, his\nlocks swathing his wide shoulders.  Anon he spake to the seamen winged\nwords:\n\n\"Strangers, who are ye, whence sail ye the wet ways?  Is it after\nmerchandise, or do ye wander at adventure, over the salt sea, as\nsea-robbers use, that roam staking their own lives, and bearing bane to\nmen of strange speech?  Why sit ye thus adread, not faring forth on the\nland, nor slackening the gear of your black ship?  Sure this is the wont\nof toilsome mariners, when they come from the deep to the land in their\nblack ship, foredone with labour, and anon a longing for sweet food\nseizes their hearts.\"\n\nSo spake he, and put courage in their breasts, and the leader of the\nCretans answered him, saying:\n\n\"Stranger, behold thou art no whit like unto mortal men in shape or\ngrowth, but art a peer of the Immortals, wherefore all hail, and grace be\nthine, and all good things at the hands of the Gods.  Tell me then truly\nthat I may know indeed, what people is this, what land, what mortals\ndwell here?  Surely with our thoughts set on another goal we sailed the\ngreat sea to Pylos from Crete, whence we boast our lineage; but now it is\nhither that we have come, maugre our wills, with our galley--another path\nand other ways--we longing to return, but some God has led us all\nunwilling to this place.\"\n\nThen the far-darting Apollo answered them:\n\n\"Strangers, who dwelt aforetime round wooded Cnossus, never again shall\nye return each to his pleasant city and his own house, and his wife, but\nhere shall ye hold my rich temple, honoured by multitudes of men.  Lo! I\nam the son of Zeus, and name myself Apollo, and hither have I brought you\nover the great gulf of the sea, with no evil intent.  Nay, here shall ye\npossess my rich temple, held highest in honour among all men, and ye\nshall know the counsels of the Immortals, by whose will ye shall ever be\nheld in renown.  But now come, and instantly obey my word.  First lower\nthe sails, and loose the sheets, and then beach the black ship on the\nland, taking forth the wares and gear of the trim galley, and build ye an\naltar on the strand of the sea.  Thereon kindle fire, and sprinkle above\nin sacrifice the white barley-flour, and thereafter pray, standing around\nthe altar.  And whereas I first, in the misty sea, sprang aboard the\nswift ship in the guise of a dolphin, therefore pray to me as Apollo\nDelphinius, while mine shall ever be the Delphian altar seen from afar.\nThen take ye supper beside the swift black ship, and pour libations to\nthe blessed Gods who hold Olympus.  But when ye have dismissed the desire\nof sweet food then with me do ye come, singing the Paean, till ye win\nthat place where ye shall possess the rich temple.\"\n\nSo spake he, while they heard and obeyed eagerly.  First they lowered the\nsails, loosing the sheets, and lowering the mast by the forestays, they\nlaid it in the mast-stead, and themselves went forth on the strand of the\nsea.  Then forth from the salt sea to the mainland they dragged the fleet\nship high up on the sands, laying long sleepers thereunder, and they\nbuilded an altar on the sea-strand, and lit fire thereon, scattering\nabove white barley-flour in sacrifice, and, standing around the altar,\nthey prayed as the God commanded.  Anon they took supper beside the fleet\nblack ship, and poured forth libations to the blessed Gods who hold\nOlympus.  But when they had dismissed the desire of meat and drink they\nset forth on their way, and the Prince Apollo guided them, harp in hand,\nand sweetly he harped, faring with high and goodly strides.  Dancing in\nhis train the Cretans followed to Pytho, and the Paean they were\nchanting, the paeans of the Cretans in whose breasts the Muse hath put\nhoney-sweet song.  All unwearied they strode to the hill, and swiftly\nwere got to Parnassus and a winsome land, where they were to dwell,\nhonoured of many among men.\n\nApollo guided them, and showed his holy shrine and rich temple, and the\nspirit was moved in their breasts, and the captain of the Cretans spake,\nand asked the God, saying:\n\n\"Prince, since thou hast led us far from friends and our own country, for\nso it pleases thee, how now shall we live, we pray thee tell us.  This\nfair land bears not vines, nor is rich in meadows, wherefrom we might\nlive well, and minister to men.\"\n\nThen, smiling, Apollo, the son of Zeus, spoke to them:\n\n\"Foolish ones, enduring hearts, who desire cares, and sore toil, and all\nstraits!  A light word will I speak to you, do ye consider it.  Let each\none of you, knife in right hand, be ever slaughtering sheep that in\nabundance shall ever be yours, all the flocks that the renowned tribes of\nmen bring hither to me.  Yours it is to guard my temple, and receive the\ntribes of men that gather hither, doing, above all, as my will enjoins.\nBut if any vain word be spoken, or vain deed wrought, or violence after\nthe manner of mortal men, then shall others be your masters, and hold you\nin thraldom for ever. {133}  I have spoken all, do thou keep it in thy\nheart.\"\n\nEven so, fare thou well, son of Zeus and Leto, but I shall remember both\nthee and another song.\n\n\n\nII.  HERMES\n\n\nOf Hermes sing, O Muse, the son of Zeus and Maia, Lord of Cyllene, and\nArcadia rich in sheep, the fortune-bearing Herald of the Gods, him whom\nMaia bore, the fair-tressed nymph, that lay in the arms of Zeus; a\nshamefaced nymph was she, shunning the assembly of the blessed Gods,\ndwelling within a shadowy cave.  Therein was Cronion wont to embrace the\nfair-tressed nymph in the deep of night, when sweet sleep held\nwhite-armed Hera, the immortal Gods knowing it not, nor mortal men.\n\nBut when the mind of great Zeus was fulfilled, and over _her_ the tenth\nmoon stood in the sky, the babe was born to light, and all was made\nmanifest; yea, then she bore a child of many a wile and cunning counsel,\na robber, a driver of the kine, a captain of raiders, a watcher of the\nnight, a thief of the gates, who soon should show forth deeds renowned\namong the deathless Gods.  Born in the dawn, by midday well he harped,\nand in the evening stole the cattle of Apollo the Far-darter, on that\nfourth day of the month wherein lady Maia bore him.  Who, when he leaped\nfrom the immortal knees of his mother, lay not long in the sacred cradle,\nbut sped forth to seek the cattle of Apollo, crossing the threshold of\nthe high-roofed cave.  There found he a tortoise, and won endless\ndelight, for lo, it was Hermes that first made of the tortoise a\nminstrel.  The creature met him at the outer door, as she fed on the rich\ngrass in front of the dwelling, waddling along, at sight whereof the luck-\nbringing son of Zeus laughed, and straightway spoke, saying:\n\n\"Lo, a lucky omen for me, not by me to be mocked!  Hail, darling and\ndancer, friend of the feast, welcome art thou! whence gatst thou the gay\ngarment, a speckled shell, thou, a mountain-dwelling tortoise?  Nay, I\nwill carry thee within, and a boon shalt thou be to me, not by me to be\nscorned, nay, thou shalt first serve my turn.  Best it is to bide at\nhome, since danger is abroad.  Living shalt thou be a spell against ill\nwitchery, and dead, then a right sweet music-maker.\"\n\n[Hermes making the lyre.  Bronze relief in the British Museum (Fourth\nCentury B.C.): lang136.jpg]\n\nSo spake he, and raising in both hands the tortoise, went back within the\ndwelling, bearing the glad treasure.  Then he choked the creature, and\nwith a gouge of grey iron he scooped out the marrow of the hill tortoise.\nAnd as a swift thought wings through the breast of one that crowding\ncares are haunting, or as bright glances fleet from the eyes, so swiftly\ndevised renowned Hermes both deed and word.  He cut to measure stalks of\nreed, and fixed them in through holes bored in the stony shell of the\ntortoise, and cunningly stretched round it the hide of an ox, and put in\nthe horns of the lyre, and to both he fitted the bridge, and stretched\nseven harmonious chords of sheep-gut. {136}\n\nThen took he his treasure, when he had fashioned it, and touched the\nstrings in turn with the _plectrum_, and wondrously it sounded under his\nhand, and fair sang the God to the notes, improvising his chant as he\nplayed, like lads exchanging taunts at festivals.  Of Zeus Cronides and\nfair-sandalled Maia he sang how they had lived in loving dalliance, and\nhe told out the tale of his begetting, and sang the handmaids and the\ngoodly halls of the Nymph, and the tripods in the house, and the store of\ncauldrons.  So then he sang, but dreamed of other deeds; then bore he the\nhollow lyre and laid it in the sacred cradle, then, in longing for flesh\nof kine he sped from the fragrant hall to a place of outlook, with such a\ndesign in his heart as reiving men pursue in the dark of night.\n\nThe sun had sunk down beneath earth into ocean, with horses and chariot,\nwhen Hermes came running to the shadowy hills of Pieria, where the\ndeathless kine of the blessed Gods had ever their haunt; there fed they\non the fair unshorn meadows.  From their number did the keen-sighted\nArgeiphontes, son of Maia, cut off fifty loud-lowing kine, and drove them\nhither and thither over the sandy land, reversing their tracks, and,\nmindful of his cunning, confused the hoof-marks, the front behind, the\nhind in front, and himself fared down again.  Straightway he wove sandals\non the sea-sand (things undreamed he wrought, works wonderful,\nunspeakable) mingling myrtle twigs and tamarisk, then binding together a\nbundle of the fresh young wood, he shrewdly fastened it for light sandals\nbeneath his feet, leaves and all, {138}--brushwood that the renowned\nslayer of Argos had plucked on his way from Pieria [being, as he was, in\nhaste, down the long way].\n\nThen an old man that was labouring a fruitful vineyard, marked the God\nfaring down to the plain through grassy Onchestus, and to him spoke first\nthe son of renowned Maia:\n\n\"Old man that bowest thy shoulders over thy hoeing, verily thou shalt\nhave wine enough when all these vines are bearing. . . . See thou, and\nsee not; hear thou, and hear not; be silent, so long as naught of thine\nis harmed.\"\n\nTherewith he drave on together the sturdy heads of cattle.  And over many\na shadowy hill, and through echoing corries and flowering plains drave\nrenowned Hermes.  Then stayed for the more part his darkling ally, the\nsacred Night, and swiftly came morning when men can work, and sacred\nSelene, daughter of Pallas, mighty prince, clomb to a new place of\noutlook, and then the strong son of Zeus drave the broad-browed kine of\nPhoebus Apollo to the river Alpheius.  Unwearied they came to the high-\nroofed stall and the watering-places in front of the fair meadow.  There,\nwhen he had foddered the deep-voiced kine, he herded them huddled\ntogether into the byre, munching lotus and dewy marsh marigold; next\nbrought he much wood, and set himself to the craft of fire-kindling.\nTaking a goodly shoot of the daphne, he peeled it with the knife, fitting\nit to his hand, {140} and the hot vapour of smoke arose.  [Lo, it was\nHermes first who gave fire, and the fire-sticks.]  Then took he many dry\nfaggots, great plenty, and piled them in the trench, and flame began to\nbreak, sending far the breath of burning fire.  And when the force of\nrenowned Hephaestus kept the fire aflame, then downward dragged he, so\nmighty his strength, two bellowing kine of twisted horn: close up to the\nfire he dragged them, and cast them both panting upon their backs to the\nground.  [Then bending over them he turned them upwards and cut their\nthroats] . . . task upon task, and sliced off the fat meat, pierced it\nwith spits of wood, and broiled it,--flesh, and chine, the joint of\nhonour, and blood in the bowels, all together;--then laid all there in\nits place.  The hides he stretched out on a broken rock, as even now they\nare used, such as are to be enduring: long, and long after that ancient\nday. {141a}  Anon glad Hermes dragged the fat portions on to a smooth\nledge, and cut twelve messes sorted out by lot, to each its due meed he\ngave.  Then a longing for the rite of the sacrifice of flesh came on\nrenowned Hermes: for the sweet savour irked him, immortal as he was, but\nnot even so did his strong heart yield. {141b} . . .  The fat and flesh\nhe placed in the high-roofed stall, the rest he swiftly raised aloft, a\ntrophy of his reiving, and, gathering dry faggots, he burned heads and\nfeet entire with the vapour of flame.  Anon when the God had duly\nfinished all, he cast his sandals into the deep swirling pool of\nAlpheius, quenched the embers, and all night long spread smooth the black\ndust: Selene lighting him with her lovely light.  Back to the crests of\nCyllene came the God at dawn, nor blessed God, on that long way, nor\nmortal man encountered him; nay, and no dog barked.  Then Hermes, son of\nZeus, bearer of boon, bowed his head, and entered the hall through the\nhole of the bolt, like mist on the breath of autumn.  Then, standing\nerect, he sped to the rich inmost chamber of the cave, lightly treading\nnoiseless on the floor.  Quickly to his cradle came glorious Hermes and\nwrapped the swaddling bands about his shoulders, like a witless babe,\nplaying with the wrapper about his knees.  So lay he, guarding his dear\nlyre at his left hand.  But his Goddess mother the God did not deceive;\nshe spake, saying:\n\n\"Wherefore, thou cunning one, and whence comest thou in the night, thou\nclad in shamelessness?  Anon, methinks, thou wilt go forth at Apollo's\nhands with bonds about thy sides that may not be broken, sooner than be a\nrobber in the glens.  Go to, wretch, thy Father begat thee for a trouble\nto deathless Gods and mortal men.\"\n\nBut Hermes answered her with words of guile: \"Mother mine, why wouldst\nthou scare me so, as though I were a redeless child, with little craft in\nhis heart, a trembling babe that dreads his mother's chidings?  Nay, but\nI will essay the wiliest craft to feed thee and me for ever.  We twain\nare not to endure to abide here, of all the deathless Gods alone\nunapproached with sacrifice and prayer, as thou commandest.  Better it is\neternally to be conversant with Immortals, richly, nobly, well seen in\nwealth of grain, than to be homekeepers in a darkling cave.  And for\nhonour, I too will have my dues of sacrifice, even as Apollo.  Even if my\nFather give it me not I will endeavour, for I am of avail, to be a\ncaptain of reivers.  And if the son of renowned Leto make inquest for me,\nmethinks some worse thing will befall him.  For to Pytho I will go, to\nbreak into his great house, whence I shall sack goodly tripods and\ncauldrons enough, and gold, and gleaming iron, and much raiment.  Thyself,\nif thou hast a mind, shalt see it.\"\n\nSo held they converse one with another, the son of Zeus of the AEgis, and\nLady Maia.  Then Morning the Daughter of Dawn was arising from the deep\nstream of Oceanus, bearing light to mortals, what time Apollo came to\nOnchestus in his journeying, the gracious grove, a holy place of the loud\nGirdler of the Earth: there he found an old man grazing his ox, the stay\nof his vineyard, on the roadside. {144}  Him first bespoke the son of\nrenowned Leto.\n\n\"Old man, hedger of grassy Onchestus; hither am I come seeking cattle\nfrom Pieria, all the crook-horned kine out of my herd: my black bull was\nwont to graze apart from the rest, and my four bright-eyed hounds\nfollowed, four of them, wise as men and all of one mind.  These were\nleft, the hounds and the bull, a marvel; but the kine wandered away from\ntheir soft meadow and sweet pasture, at the going down of the sun.  Tell\nme, thou old man of ancient days, if thou hast seen any man faring after\nthese cattle?\"\n\nThen to him the old man spake and answered:\n\n\"My friend, hard it were to tell all that a man may see: for many\nwayfarers go by, some full of ill intent, and some of good: and it is\ndifficult to be certain regarding each.  Nevertheless, the whole day long\ntill sunset I was digging about my vineyard plot, and methought I\nmarked--but I know not surely--a child that went after the horned kine;\nright young he was, and held a staff, and kept going from side to side,\nand backwards he drove the kine, their faces fronting him.\"\n\nSo spake the old man, but Apollo heard, and went fleeter on his path.\nThen marked he a bird long of wing, and anon he knew that the thief had\nbeen the son of Zeus Cronion.  Swiftly sped the Prince, Apollo, son of\nZeus, to goodly Pylos, seeking the shambling kine, while his broad\nshoulders were swathed in purple cloud.  Then the Far-darter marked the\ntracks, and spake:\n\n\"Verily, a great marvel mine eyes behold!  These be the tracks of high-\nhorned kine, but all are turned back to the meadow of asphodel.  But\nthese are not the footsteps of a man, nay, nor of a woman, nor of grey\nwolves, nor bears, nor lions, nor, methinks, of a shaggy-maned Centaur,\nwhosoever with fleet feet makes such mighty strides!  Dread to see they\nare that backwards go, more dread they that go forwards.\"\n\nSo speaking, the Prince sped on, Apollo, son of Zeus.  To the Cyllenian\nhill he came, that is clad in forests, to the deep shadow of the hollow\nrock, where the deathless nymph brought forth the child of Zeus Cronion.\nA fragrance sweet was spread about the goodly hill, and many tall sheep\nwere grazing the grass.  Thence he went fleetly over the stone threshold\ninto the dusky cave, even Apollo, the Far-darter.\n\nNow when the son of Zeus and Maia beheld Apollo thus in wrath for his\nkine, he sank down within his fragrant swaddling bands, being covered as\npiled embers of burnt tree-roots are covered by thick ashes, so Hermes\ncoiled himself up, when he saw the Far-darter; and curled himself, feet,\nhead, and hands, into small space [summoning sweet sleep], though of a\nverity wide awake, and his tortoise-shell he kept beneath his armpit.  But\nthe son of Zeus and Leto marked them well, the lovely mountain nymph and\nher dear son, a little babe, all wrapped in cunning wiles.  Gazing round\nall the chamber of the vasty dwelling, Apollo opened three aumbries with\nthe shining key; full were they of nectar and glad ambrosia, and much\ngold and silver lay within, and much raiment of the Nymph, purple and\nglistering, such as are within the dwellings of the mighty Gods.  Anon,\nwhen he had searched out the chambers of the great hall, the son of Leto\nspake to renowned Hermes:\n\n\"Child, in the cradle lying, tell me straightway of my kine: or speedily\nbetween us twain will be unseemly strife.  For I will seize thee and cast\nthee into murky Tartarus, into the darkness of doom where none is of\navail.  Nor shall thy father or mother redeem thee to the light: nay,\nunder earth shalt thou roam, a reiver among folk fordone.\"\n\nThen Hermes answered with words of craft: \"Apollo, what ungentle word\nhast thou spoken?  And is it thy cattle of the homestead thou comest here\nto seek?  I saw them not, heard not of them, gave ear to no word of them:\nof them I can tell no tidings, nor win the fee of him who tells.  Not\nlike a lifter of cattle, a stalwart man, am I: no task is this of mine:\nhitherto I have other cares; sleep, and mother's milk, and about my\nshoulders swaddling bands, and warmed baths.  Let none know whence this\nfeud arose!  And verily great marvel among the Immortals it would be,\nthat a new-born child should cross the threshold after kine of the\nhomestead; a silly rede of thine.  Yesterday was I born, my feet are\ntender, and rough is the earth below.  But if thou wilt I shall swear the\ngreat oath by my father's head, that neither I myself am to blame, nor\nhave I seen any other thief of thy kine: be kine what they may, for I\nknow but by hearsay.\"\n\nSo spake he with twinkling eyes, and twisted brows, glancing hither and\nthither, with long-drawn whistling breath, hearing Apollo's word as a\nvain thing.  Then lightly laughing spake Apollo the Far-darter:\n\n\"Oh, thou rogue, thou crafty one; verily methinks that many a time thou\nwilt break into stablished homes, and by night leave many a man bare,\nsilently pilling through his house, such is thy speech to-day!  And many\nherdsmen of the steadings wilt thou vex in the mountain glens, when in\nlust for flesh thou comest on the herds and sheep thick of fleece.  Nay\ncome, lest thou sleep the last and longest slumber, come forth from thy\ncradle, thou companion of black night!  For surely this honour hereafter\nthou shalt have among the Immortals, to be called for ever the captain of\nreivers.\"\n\nSo spake Phoebus Apollo, and lifted the child, but even then strong Argus-\nbane had his device, and, in the hands of the God, let forth an Omen, an\nevil belly-tenant, with tidings of worse, and a speedy sneeze thereafter.\nApollo heard, and dropped renowned Hermes on the ground, then sat down\nbefore him, eager as he was to be gone, chiding Hermes, and thus he\nspoke:\n\n\"Take heart, swaddling one, child of Zeus and Maia.  By these thine Omens\nshall I find anon the sturdy kine, and thou shalt lead the way.\"\n\nSo spake he, but swiftly arose Cyllenian Hermes, and swiftly fared,\npulling about his ears his swaddling bands that were his shoulder\nwrapping.  Then spake he:\n\n\"Whither bearest thou me, Far-darter, of Gods most vehement?  Is it for\nwrath about thy kine that thou thus provokest me?  Would that the race of\nkine might perish, for thy cattle have I not stolen, nor seen another\nsteal, whatsoever kine may be; I know but by hearsay, I!  But let our\nsuit be judged before Zeus Cronion.\"\n\nNow were lone Hermes and the splendid son of Leto point by point\ndisputing their pleas, Apollo with sure knowledge was righteously seeking\nto convict renowned Hermes for the sake of his kine, but he with craft\nand cunning words sought to beguile,--the Cyllenian to beguile the God of\nthe Silver Bow.  But when the wily one found one as wily, then speedily\nhe strode forward through the sand in front, while behind came the son of\nZeus and Leto.  Swiftly they came to the crests of fragrant Olympus, to\nfather Cronion they came, these goodly sons of Zeus, for there were set\nfor them the balances of doom.  Quiet was snowy Olympus, but they who\nknow not decay or death were gathering after gold-throned Dawn.  Then\nstood Hermes and Apollo of the Silver Bow before the knees of Zeus, the\nThunderer, who inquired of his glorious Son, saying:\n\n\"Phoebus, whence drivest thou such mighty spoil, a new-born babe like a\nHerald?  A mighty matter this, to come before the gathering of the Gods!\"\n\nThen answered him the Prince, Apollo the Far-darter:\n\n\"Father, anon shalt thou hear no empty tale; tauntest thou me, as though\nI were the only lover of booty?  This boy have I found, a finished\nreiver, in the hills of Cyllene, a long way to wander; so fine a knave as\nI know not among Gods or men, of all robbers on earth.  My kine he stole\nfrom the meadows, and went driving them at eventide along the loud sea\nshores, straight to Pylos.  Wondrous were the tracks, a thing to marvel\non, work of a glorious god.  For the black dust showed the tracks of the\nkine making backward to the mead of asphodel; but this child intractable\nfared neither on hands nor feet, through the sandy land, but this other\nstrange craft had he, to tread the paths as if shod on with oaken shoots.\n{153}  While he drove the kine through a land of sand, right plain to\ndiscern were all the tracks in the dust, but when he had crossed the\ngreat tract of sand, straightway on hard ground his traces and those of\nthe kine were ill to discern.  But a mortal man beheld him, driving\nstraight to Pylos the cattle broad of brow.  Now when he had stalled the\nkine in quiet, and confused his tracks on either side the way, he lay\ndark as night in his cradle, in the dusk of a shadowy cave.  The keenest\neagle could not have spied him, and much he rubbed his eyes, with crafty\npurpose, and bluntly spake his word:\n\n\"I saw not, I heard not aught, nor learned another's tale; nor tidings\ncould I give, nor win reward of tidings.\"\n\nTherewith Phoebus Apollo sat him down, but another tale did Hermes tell,\namong the Immortals, addressing Cronion, the master of all Gods:\n\n\"Father Zeus, verily the truth will I tell thee: for true am I, nor know\nthe way of falsehood.  To-day at sunrise came Apollo to our house,\nseeking his shambling kine.  No witnesses of the Gods brought he, nor no\nGods who had seen the fact.  But he bade me declare the thing under\nduress, threatening oft to cast me into wide Tartarus, for he wears the\ntender flower of glorious youth, but I was born but yesterday, as well\nhimself doth know, and in naught am I like a stalwart lifter of kine.\nBelieve, for thou givest thyself out to be my father, that may I never be\nwell if I drove home the kine, nay, or crossed the threshold.  This I say\nfor sooth!  The Sun I greatly revere, and other gods, and Thee I love,\nand _him_ I dread.  Nay, thyself knowest that I am not to blame; and\nthereto I will add a great oath: by these fair-wrought porches of the\nGods I am guiltless, and one day yet I shall avenge me on him for this\npitiless accusation, mighty as he is; but do thou aid the younger!\"\n\nSo spake Cyllenian Argus-bane, and winked, with his wrapping on his arm:\nhe did not cast it down.  But Zeus laughed aloud at the sight of his evil-\nwitted child, so well and wittily he pled denial about the kine.  Then\nbade he them both be of one mind, and so seek the cattle, with Hermes as\nguide to lead the way, and show without guile where he had hidden the\nsturdy kine.  The Son of Cronos nodded, and glorious Hermes obeyed, for\nlightly persuadeth the counsel of Zeus of the AEgis.\n\nThen sped both of them, the fair children of Zeus, to sandy Pylos, at the\nford of Alpheius, and to the fields they came, and the stall of lofty\nroof, where the booty was tended in the season of darkness.  There anon\nHermes went to the side of the rocky cave, and began driving the sturdy\ncattle into the light.  But the son of Leto, glancing aside, saw the\nflayed skins on the high rock, and quickly asked renowned Hermes:\n\n\"How wert thou of avail, oh crafty one, to flay two kine; new-born and\nchildish as thou art?  For time to come I dread thy might: no need for\nthee to be growing long, thou son of Maia!\" {156}\n\n[So spake he, and round his hands twisted strong bands of withes, but\nthey at his feet were soon intertwined, each with other, and lightly were\nthey woven over all the kine of the field, by the counsel of thievish\nHermes, but Apollo marvelled at that he saw.]\n\nThen the strong Argus-bane with twinkling glances looked down at the\nground, wishful to hide his purpose.  But that harsh son of renowned\nLeto, the Far-darter, did he lightly soothe to his will; taking his lyre\nin his left hand he tuned it with the _plectrum_: and wondrously it rang\nbeneath his hand.  Thereat Phoebus Apollo laughed and was glad, and the\nwinsome note passed through to his very soul as he heard.  Then Maia's\nson took courage, and sweetly harping with his harp he stood at Apollo's\nleft side, playing his prelude, and thereon followed his winsome voice.\nHe sang the renowns of the deathless Gods, and the dark Earth, how all\nthings were at the first, and how each God gat his portion.\n\nTo Mnemosyne first of Gods he gave the meed of minstrelsy, to the Mother\nof the Muses, for the Muse came upon the Son of Maia.\n\nThen all the rest of the Immortals, in order of rank and birth, did he\nhonour, the splendid son of Zeus, telling duly all the tale, as he struck\nthe lyre on his arm.  But on Apollo's heart in his breast came the stress\nof desire, who spake to him winged words:\n\n\"Thou crafty slayer of kine, thou comrade of the feast; thy song is worth\nthe price of fifty oxen!  Henceforth, methinks, shall we be peacefully\nmade at one.  But, come now, tell me this, thou wily Son of Maia, have\nthese marvels been with thee even since thy birth, or is it that some\nimmortal, or some mortal man, has given thee the glorious gift and shown\nthee song divine?  For marvellous is this new song in mine ears, such as,\nmethinks, none hath known, either of men, or of Immortals who have\nmansions in Olympus, save thyself, thou reiver, thou Son of Zeus and\nMaia!  What art is this, what charm against the stress of cares?  What a\npath of song! for verily here is choice of all three things, joy, and\nlove, and sweet sleep.  For truly though I be conversant with the\nOlympian Muses, to whom dances are a charge, and the bright minstrel\nhymn, and rich song, and the lovesome sound of flutes, yet never yet hath\naught else been so dear to my heart, dear as the skill in the festivals\nof the Gods.  I marvel, Son of Zeus, at this, the music of thy\nminstrelsy.  But now since, despite thy youth, thou hast such glorious\nskill, to thee and to thy Mother I speak this word of sooth: verily, by\nthis shaft of cornel wood, I shall lead thee renowned and fortunate among\nthe Immortals, and give thee glorious gifts, nor in the end deceive\nthee.\"\n\nThen Hermes answered him with cunning words:\n\n\"Shrewdly thou questionest me, Far-darter, nor do I grudge thee to enter\nupon mine art.  This day shalt thou know it: and to thee would I fain be\nkind in word and will: but within thyself thou well knowest all things,\nfor first among the Immortals, Son of Zeus, is thy place.  Mighty art\nthou and strong, and Zeus of wise counsels loves thee well with reverence\ndue, and hath given thee honour and goodly gifts.  Nay, they tell that\nthou knowest soothsaying, Far-darter, by the voice of Zeus: for from Zeus\nare all oracles, wherein I myself now know thee to be all-wise.  Thy\nprovince it is to know what so thou wilt.  Since, then, thy heart bids\nthee play the lyre, harp thou and sing, and let joys be thy care, taking\nthis gift from me; and to me, friend, gain glory.  Sweetly sing with my\nshrill comrade in thy hands, that knoweth speech good and fair and in\norder due.  Freely do thou bear it hereafter into the glad feast, and the\nwinsome dance, and the glorious revel, a joy by night and day.  Whatsoever\nskilled hand shall inquire of it artfully and wisely, surely its voice\nshall teach him all things joyous, being easily played by gentle\npractice, fleeing dull toil.  But if an unskilled hand first impetuously\ninquires of it, vain and discordant shall the false notes sound.  But\nthine it is of nature to know what things thou wilt: so to thee will I\ngive this lyre, thou glorious son of Zeus.  But we for our part will let\ngraze thy cattle of the field on the pastures of hill and plain, thou Far-\ndarter.  So shall the kine, consorting with the bulls, bring forth calves\nmale and female, great store, and no need there is that thou, wise as\nthou art, should be vehement in anger.\"\n\nSo spake he, and held forth the lyre that Phoebus Apollo took, and\npledged his shining whip in the hands of Hermes, and set him over the\nherds.  Gladly the son of Maia received it; while the glorious son of\nLeto, Apollo, the Prince, the Far-darter, held the lyre in his left hand,\nand tuned it orderly with the _plectrum_.  Sweetly it sounded to his\nhand, and fair thereto was the song of the God.  Thence anon the twain\nturned the kine to the rich meadow, but themselves, the glorious children\nof Zeus, hastened back to snow-clad Olympus, rejoicing in the lyre: ay,\nand Zeus, the counsellor, was glad of it.  [Both did he make one in love,\nand Hermes loved Leto's son constantly, even as now, since when in\nknowledge of his love he pledged to the Far-darter the winsome lyre, who\nheld it on his arm and played thereon.]  But Hermes withal invented the\nskill of a new art, the far-heard music of the reed pipes.\n\nThen spake the son of Leto to Hermes thus:\n\n\"I fear me, Son of Maia, thou leader, thou crafty one, lest thou steal\nfrom me both my lyre and my bent bow.  For this meed thou hast from Zeus,\nto establish the ways of barter among men on the fruitful earth.\nWherefore would that thou shouldst endure to swear me the great oath of\nthe Gods, with a nod of the head or by the showering waters of Styx, that\nthy doings shall ever to my heart be kind and dear.\"\n\nThen, with a nod of his head, did Maia's son vow that never would he\nsteal the possessions of the Far-darter, nor draw nigh his strong\ndwelling.  And Leto's son made vow and band of love and alliance, that\nnone other among the Gods should be dearer of Gods or men the seed of\nZeus.  [And I shall make, with thee, a perfect token of a Covenant of all\nGods and all men, loyal to my heart and honoured.] {162a}  \"Thereafter\nshall I give thee a fair wand of wealth and fortune, a golden wand, three-\npointed, which shall guard thee harmless, accomplishing all things good\nof word and deed that it is mine to learn from the voice of Zeus. {162b}\nBut as touching the art prophetic, oh best of fosterlings of Zeus,\nconcerning which thou inquirest, for thee it is not fit to learn that\nart, nay, nor for any other Immortal.  That lies in the mind of Zeus\nalone.  Myself did make pledge, and promise, and strong oath, that, save\nme, none other of the eternal Gods should know the secret counsel of\nZeus.  And thou, my brother of the Golden Wand, bid me not tell thee what\nawful purposes is planning the far-seeing Zeus.\n\n\"One mortal shall I harm, and another shall I bless, with many a turn of\nfortune among hapless men.  Of mine oracle shall he have profit whosoever\ncomes in the wake of wings and voice of birds of omen: he shall have\nprofit of mine oracle: him I will not deceive.  But whoso, trusting birds\nnot ominous, approaches mine oracle, to inquire beyond my will, and know\nmore than the eternal Gods, shall come, I say, on a bootless journey, yet\nhis gifts shall I receive.  Yet another thing will I tell thee, thou Son\nof renowned Maia and of Zeus of the AEgis, thou bringer of boon; there be\ncertain Thriae, sisters born, three maidens rejoicing in swift wings.\nTheir heads are sprinkled with white barley flour, and they dwell beneath\na glade of Parnassus, apart they dwell, teachers of soothsaying.  This\nart I learned while yet a boy I tended the kine, and my Father heeded\nnot.  Thence they flit continually hither and thither, feeding on\nhoneycombs and bringing all things to fulfilment.  They, when they are\nfull of the spirit of soothsaying, having eaten of the wan honey, delight\nto speak forth the truth.  But if they be bereft of the sweet food\ndivine, then lie they all confusedly.  These I bestow on thee, and do\nthou, inquiring clearly, delight thine own heart, and if thou instruct\nany man, he will often hearken to thine oracle, if he have the good\nfortune. {164}  These be thine, O Son of Maia, and the cattle of the\nfield with twisted horn do thou tend, and horses, and toilsome mules. . . .\nAnd be lord over the burning eyes of lions, and white-toothed swine,\nand dogs, and sheep that wide earth nourishes, and over all flocks be\nglorious Hermes lord.  And let him alone be herald appointed to Hades,\nwho, though he be giftless, will give him highest gift of honour.\"\n\nWith such love, in all kindness, did Apollo pledge the Son of Maia, and\nthereto Cronion added grace.  With all mortals and immortals he consorts.\nSomewhat doth he bless, but ever through the dark night he beguiles the\ntribes of mortal men.\n\nHail to thee thus, Son of Zeus and Maia, of thee shall I be mindful and\nof another lay.\n\n\n\nIII.  APHRODITE\n\n\nTell me, Muse, of the deeds of golden Aphrodite, the Cyprian, who rouses\nsweet desire among the Immortals, and vanquishes the tribes of deathly\nmen, and birds that wanton in the air, and all beasts, even all the clans\nthat earth nurtures, and all in the sea.  To all are dear the deeds of\nthe garlanded Cyprian.\n\n[Aphrodite.  Marble statue in the Louvre: lang166.jpg]\n\nYet three hearts there be that she cannot persuade or beguile: the\ndaughter of Zeus of the AEgis, grey-eyed Athene: not to her are dear the\ndeeds of golden Aphrodite, but war and the work of Ares, battle and\nbroil, and the mastery of noble arts.  First was she to teach earthly men\nthe fashioning of war chariots and cars fair-wrought with bronze.  And\nshe teaches to tender maidens in the halls all goodly arts, breathing\nskill into their minds.  Nor ever doth laughter-loving Aphrodite conquer\nin desire Artemis of the Golden Distaff, rejoicing in the sound of the\nchase, for the bow and arrow are her delight, and slaughter of the wild\nbeasts on the hills: the lyre, the dance, the clear hunting halloo, and\nshadowy glens, and cities of righteous men.\n\nNor to the revered maiden Hestia are the feats of Aphrodite a joy, eldest\ndaughter of crooked-counselled Cronos [youngest, too, by the design of\nZeus of the AEgis], that lady whom both Poseidon and Apollo sought to\nwin.  But she would not, nay stubbornly she refused; and she swore a\ngreat oath fulfilled, with her hand on the head of Father Zeus of the\nAEgis, to be a maiden for ever, that lady Goddess.  And to her Father\nZeus gave a goodly meed of honour, in lieu of wedlock; and in mid-hall\nshe sat her down choosing the best portion: and in all temples of the\nGods is she honoured, and among all mortals is chief of Gods. {168}\n\nOf these she cannot win or beguile the hearts.  But of all others there\nis none, of blessed Gods or mortal men, that hath escaped Aphrodite.  Yea,\neven the heart of Zeus the Thunderer she led astray; of him that is\ngreatest of all, and hath the highest lot of honour.  Even his wise wit\nshe hath beguiled at her will, and lightly laid him in the arms of mortal\nwomen; Hera not wotting of it, his sister and his wife, the fairest in\ngoodliness of beauty among the deathless Goddesses.  To highest honour\ndid they beget her, crooked-counselled Cronos and Mother Rheia; and Zeus\nof imperishable counsel made her his chaste and duteous wife.\n\nBut into Aphrodite herself Zeus sent sweet desire, to lie in the arms of\na mortal man.  This wrought he so that anon not even she might be\nunconversant with a mortal bed, and might not some day with sweet\nlaughter make her boast among all the Gods, the smiling Aphrodite, that\nshe had given the Gods to mortal paramours, and they for deathless Gods\nbare deathly sons, and that she mingled Goddesses in love with mortal\nmen.  Therefore Zeus sent into her heart sweet desire of Anchises, who as\nthen was pasturing his kine on the steep hills of many-fountained Ida, a\nman in semblance like the Immortals.  Him thereafter did smiling\nAphrodite see and love, and measureless desire took hold on her heart.  To\nCyprus wended she, within her fragrant shrine: even to Paphos, where is\nher sacred garth and odorous altar.  Thither went she in, and shut the\nshining doors, and there the Graces laved and anointed her with oil\nambrosial, such as is on the bodies of the eternal Gods, sweet fragrant\noil that she had by her.  Then clad she her body in goodly raiment, and\nprinked herself with gold, the smiling Aphrodite; then sped to Troy,\nleaving fragrant Cyprus, and high among the clouds she swiftly\naccomplished her way.\n\nTo many-fountained Ida she came, mother of wild beasts, and made straight\nfor the steading through the mountain, while behind her came fawning the\nbeasts, grey wolves, and lions fiery-eyed, and bears, and swift pards,\ninsatiate pursuers of the roe-deer.  Glad was she at the sight of them,\nand sent desire into their breasts, and they went coupling two by two in\nthe shadowy dells.  But she came to the well-builded shielings, {170} and\nhim she found left alone in the shielings with no company, the hero\nAnchises, graced with beauty from the Gods.  All the rest were faring\nafter the kine through the grassy pastures, but he, left lonely at the\nshielings, walked up and down, harping sweet and shrill.  In front of him\nstood the daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, in semblance and stature like an\nunwedded maid, lest he should be adread when he beheld the Goddess.  And\nAnchises marvelled when he beheld her, her height, and beauty, and\nglistering raiment.  For she was clad in vesture more shining than the\nflame of fire, and with twisted armlets and glistering earrings of flower-\nfashion.  About her delicate neck were lovely jewels, fair and golden:\nand like the moon's was the light on her fair breasts, and love came upon\nAnchises, and he spake unto her:\n\n\"Hail, Queen, whosoever of the Immortals thou art that comest to this\nhouse; whether Artemis, or Leto, or golden Aphrodite, or high-born\nThemis, or grey-eyed Athene.  Or perchance thou art one of the Graces\ncome hither, who dwell friendly with the Gods, and have a name to be\nimmortal; or of the nymphs that dwell in this fair glade, or in this fair\nmountain, and in the well-heads of rivers, and in grassy dells.  But to\nthee on some point of outlook, in a place far seen, will I make an altar,\nand offer to thee goodly victims in every season.  But for thy part be\nkindly, and grant me to be a man pre-eminent among the Trojans, and give\ngoodly seed of children to follow me; but for me, let me live long, and\nsee the sunlight, and come to the limit of old age, being ever in all\nthings fortunate among men.\"\n\nThen Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus answered him:\n\n\"Anchises, most renowned of men on earth, behold no Goddess am I,--why\nlikenest thou me to the Immortals?--Nay, mortal am I, and a mortal mother\nbare me, and my father is famous Otreus, if thou perchance hast heard of\nhim, who reigns over strong-warded Phrygia.  Now I well know both your\ntongue and our own, for a Trojan nurse reared me in the hall, and\nnurtured me ever, from the day when she took me at my mother's hands, and\nwhile I was but a little child.  Thus it is, thou seest, that I well know\nthy tongue as well as my own.  But even now the Argus-slayer of the\nGolden Wand hath ravished me away from the choir of Artemis, the Goddess\nof the Golden Distaff, who loves the noise of the chase.  Many nymphs,\nand maids beloved of many wooers, were we there at play, and a great\ncircle of people was about us withal.  But thence did he bear me away,\nthe Argus-slayer, he of the Golden Wand, and bore me over much tilled\nland of mortal men, and many wastes unfilled and uninhabited, where wild\nbeasts roam through the shadowy dells.  So fleet we passed that I seemed\nnot to touch the fertile earth with my feet.  Now Hermes said that I was\nbidden to be the bride of Anchises, and mother of thy goodly children.\nBut when he had spoken and shown the thing, lo, instantly he went back\namong the immortal Gods,--the renowned Slayer of Argus.  But I come to\nthee, strong necessity being laid upon me, and by Zeus I beseech thee and\nthy good parents,--for none ill folk may get such a son as thee,--by them\nI implore thee to take me, a maiden as I am and untried in love, and show\nme to thy father and thy discreet mother, and to thy brothers of one\nlineage with thee.  No unseemly daughter to these, and sister to those\nwill I be, but well worthy; and do thou send a messenger swiftly to the\nPhrygians of the dappled steeds, to tell my father of my fortunes, and my\nsorrowing mother; gold enough and woven raiment will they send, and many\nand goodly gifts shall be thy meed.  Do thou all this, and then busk the\nwinsome wedding-feast, that is honourable among both men and immortal\nGods.\"\n\nSo speaking, the Goddess brought sweet desire into his heart, and love\ncame upon Anchises, and he spake, and said:\n\n\"If indeed thou art mortal and a mortal mother bore thee, and if renowned\nOtreus is thy father, and if thou art come hither by the will of Hermes,\nthe immortal Guide, and art to be called my wife for ever, then neither\nmortal man nor immortal God shall hold me from my desire before I lie\nwith thee in love, now and anon; nay, not even if Apollo the Far-darter\nhimself were to send the shafts of sorrow from the silver bow!  Nay, thou\nlady like the Goddesses, willing were I to go down within the house of\nHades, if but first I had climbed into thy bed.\"\n\nSo spake he and took her hand; while laughter-loving Aphrodite turned,\nand crept with fair downcast eyes towards the bed.  It was strewn for the\nPrince, as was of wont, with soft garments: and above it lay skins of\nbears and deep-voiced lions that he had slain in the lofty hills.  When\nthen they twain had gone up into the well-wrought bed, first Anchises\ntook from her body her shining jewels, brooches, and twisted armlets,\nearrings and chains: and he loosed her girdle, and unclad her of her\nglistering raiment, that he laid on a silver-studded chair.  Then through\nthe Gods' will and design, by the immortal Goddess lay the mortal man,\nnot wotting what he did.\n\nNow in the hour when herdsmen drive back the kine and sturdy sheep to the\nsteading from the flowery pastures, even then the Goddess poured sweet\nsleep into Anchises, and clad herself in her goodly raiment.  Now when\nshe was wholly clad, the lady Goddess, her head touched the beam of the\nlofty roof: and from her cheeks shone forth immortal beauty,--even the\nbeauty of fair-garlanded Cytherea.  Then she aroused him from sleep, and\nspake, and said:\n\n\"Rise, son of Dardanus, why now slumberest thou so deeply?  Consider, am\nI even in aspect such as I was when first thine eyes beheld me?\"\n\nSo spake she, and straightway he started up out of slumber and was\nadread, and turned his eyes away when he beheld the neck and the fair\neyes of Aphrodite.  His goodly face he veiled again in a cloak, and\nimploring her, he spake winged words:\n\n\"Even so soon as mine eyes first beheld thee, Goddess, I knew thee for\ndivine: but not sooth didst thou speak to me.  But by Zeus of the AEgis I\nimplore thee, suffer me not to live a strengthless shadow among men, but\npity me: for no man lives in strength that has couched with immortal\nGoddesses.\"\n\nThen answered him Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus:\n\n\"Anchises, most renowned of mortal men, take courage, nor fear overmuch.\nFor no fear is there that thou shalt suffer scathe from me, nor from\nothers of the blessed Gods, for dear to the Gods art thou.  And to thee\nshall a dear son be born, and bear sway among the Trojans, and children's\nchildren shall arise after him continually.  Lo, AENEAS shall his name be\ncalled, since dread sorrow held me when I came into the bed of a mortal\nman.  And of all mortal men these who spring from thy race are always\nnearest to the immortal Gods in beauty and stature; witness how\nwise-counselling Zeus carried away golden-haired Ganymedes, for his\nbeauty's sake, that he might abide with the Immortals and be the\ncup-bearer of the Gods in the house of Zeus, a marvellous thing to\nbehold, a mortal honoured among all the Immortals, as he draws the red\nnectar from the golden mixing-bowl.  But grief incurable possessed the\nheart of Tros, nor knew he whither the wild wind had blown his dear son\naway, therefore day by day he lamented him continually till Zeus took\npity upon him, and gave him as a ransom of his son high-stepping horses\nthat bear the immortal Gods.  These he gave him for a gift, and the\nGuide, the Slayer of Argus, told all these things by the command of Zeus,\neven how Ganymedes should be for ever exempt from old age and death, even\nas are the Gods.  Now when his father heard this message of Zeus he\nrejoiced in his heart and lamented no longer, but was gladly charioted by\nthe wind-fleet horses.\n\n\"So too did Dawn of the Golden Throne carry off Tithonus, a man of your\nlineage, one like unto the Immortals.  Then went she to pray to Cronion,\nwho hath dark clouds for his tabernacle, that her lover might be immortal\nand exempt from death for ever.  Thereto Zeus consented and granted her\ndesire, but foolish of heart was the Lady Dawn, nor did she deem it good\nto ask for eternal youth for her lover, and to keep him unwrinkled by\ngrievous old age.  Now so long as winsome youth was his, in joy did he\ndwell with the Golden-throned Dawn, the daughter of Morning, at the\nworld's end beside the streams of Oceanus, but so soon as grey hairs\nbegan to flow from his fair head and goodly chin, the Lady Dawn held\naloof from his bed, but kept and cherished him in her halls, giving him\nfood and ambrosia and beautiful raiment.  But when hateful old age had\nutterly overcome him, and he could not move or lift his limbs, to her\nthis seemed the wisest counsel; she laid him in a chamber, and shut the\nshining doors, and his voice flows on endlessly, and no strength now is\nhis such as once there was in his limbs.  Therefore I would not have thee\nto be immortal and live for ever in such fashion among the deathless\nGods, but if, being such as thou art in beauty and form, thou couldst\nlive on, and be called my lord, then this grief would not overshadow my\nheart.\n\n\"But it may not be, for swiftly will pitiless old age come upon thee, old\nage that standeth close by mortal men; wretched and weary, and detested\nby the Gods: but among the immortal Gods shall great blame be mine for\never, and all for love of thee.  For the Gods were wont to dread my words\nand wiles wherewith I had subdued all the Immortals to mortal women in\nlove, my purpose overcoming them all; for now, lo you, my mouth will no\nlonger suffice to speak forth this boast among the Immortals, {180} for\ndeep and sore hath been my folly, wretched and not to be named; and\ndistraught have I been who carry a child beneath my girdle, the child of\na mortal.  Now so soon as he sees the light of the sun the deep-bosomed\nmountain nymphs will rear him for me; the nymphs who haunt this great and\nholy mountain, being of the clan neither of mortals nor of immortal Gods.\nLong is their life, and immortal food do they eat, and they join in the\ngoodly dance with the immortal Gods.  With them the Sileni and the keen-\nsighted Slayer of Argus live in dalliance in the recesses of the darkling\ncaves.  At their birth there sprang up pine trees or tall-crested oaks on\nthe fruitful earth, nourishing and fair, and on the lofty mountain they\nstand, and are called the groves of the immortal Gods, which in no wise\ndoth man cut down with the steel.  But when the fate of death approaches,\nfirst do the fair trees wither on the ground, and the bark about them\nmoulders, and the twigs fall down, and even as the tree perishes so the\nsoul of the nymph leaves the light of the sun.\n\n\"These nymphs will keep my child with them and rear him; and him when\nfirst he enters on lovely youth shall these Goddesses bring hither to\nthee, and show thee.  But to thee, that I may tell thee all my mind, will\nI come in the fifth year bringing my son.  At the sight of him thou wilt\nbe glad when thou beholdest him with thine eyes, for he will be divinely\nfair, and thou wilt lead him straightway to windy Ilios.  But if any\nmortal man asketh of thee what mother bare this thy dear son, be mindful\nto answer him as I command: say that he is thy son by one of the flower-\nfaced nymphs who dwell in this forest-clad mountain, but if in thy folly\nthou speakest out, and boastest to have been the lover of fair-garlanded\nCytherea, then Zeus in his wrath will smite thee with the smouldering\nthunderbolt.  Now all is told to thee: do thou be wise, and keep thy\ncounsel, and speak not my name, but revere the wrath of the Gods.\"\n\nSo spake she, and soared up into the windy heaven.\n\nGoddess, Queen of well-stablished Cyprus, having given thee honour due, I\nshall pass on to another hymn.\n\n\n\nIV.  HYMN TO DEMETER\n\n\n[Syracusan medallion by Euainetos.  Obv.  Head of Persephone.  Rev.\nVictorious Chariot: lang183.jpg]\n\nOf fair-tressed Demeter, Demeter holy Goddess, I begin to sing: of her\nand her slim-ankled daughter whom Hades snatched away, the gift of wide-\nbeholding Zeus, but Demeter knew it not, she that bears the Seasons, the\ngiver of goodly crops.  For her daughter was playing with the\ndeep-bosomed maidens of Oceanus, and was gathering flowers--roses, and\ncrocuses, and fair violets in the soft meadow, and lilies, and hyacinths,\nand the narcissus which the earth brought forth as a snare to the fair-\nfaced maiden, by the counsel of Zeus and to pleasure the Lord with many\nguests.  Wondrously bloomed the flower, a marvel for all to see, whether\ndeathless gods or deathly men.  From its root grew forth a hundred\nblossoms, and with its fragrant odour the wide heaven above and the whole\nearth laughed, and the salt wave of the sea.  Then the maiden marvelled,\nand stretched forth both her hands to seize the fair plaything, but the\nwide-wayed earth gaped in the Nysian plain, and up rushed the Prince, the\nhost of many guests, the many-named son of Cronos, with his immortal\nhorses.  Maugre her will he seized her, and drave her off weeping in his\ngolden chariot, but she shrilled aloud, calling on Father Cronides, the\nhighest of gods and the best.\n\nBut no immortal god or deathly man heard the voice of her, . . . save the\ndaughter of Persaeus, Hecate of the shining head-tire, as she was\nthinking delicate thoughts, who heard the cry from her cave [and Prince\nHelios, the glorious son of Hyperion], the maiden calling on Father\nCronides.  But he far off sat apart from the gods in his temple haunted\nby prayers, receiving goodly victims from mortal men.  By the design of\nZeus did the brother of Zeus lead the maiden away, the lord of many, the\nhost of many guests, with his deathless horses; right sore against her\nwill, even he of many names the son of Cronos.  Now, so long as the\nGoddess beheld the earth, and the starry heaven, and the tide of the\nteeming sea, and the rays of the sun, and still hoped to behold her\nmother dear, and the tribes of the eternal gods; even so long, despite\nher sorrow, hope warmed her high heart; then rang the mountain peaks, and\nthe depths of the sea to her immortal voice, and her lady mother heard\nher.  Then sharp pain caught at her heart, and with her hands she tore\nthe wimple about her ambrosial hair, and cast a dark veil about her\nshoulders, and then sped she like a bird over land and sea in her great\nyearning; but to her there was none that would tell the truth, none,\neither of Gods, or deathly men, nor even a bird came nigh her, a\nsoothsaying messenger.  Thereafter for nine days did Lady Deo roam the\nearth, with torches burning in her hands, nor ever in her sorrow tasted\nshe of ambrosia and sweet nectar, nor laved her body in the baths.  But\nwhen at last the tenth morn came to her with the light, Hecate met her, a\ntorch in her hands, and spake a word of tidings, and said:\n\n\"Lady Demeter, thou that bringest the Seasons, thou giver of glad gifts,\nwhich of the heavenly gods or deathly men hath ravished away Persephone,\nand brought thee sorrow: for I heard a voice but I saw not who the\nravisher might be?  All this I say to thee for sooth.\"\n\nSo spake Hecate, and the daughter of fair-tressed Rheie answered her not,\nbut swiftly rushed on with her, bearing torches burning in her hands.  So\ncame they to Helios that watches both for gods and men, and stood before\nhis car, and the lady Goddess questioned him:\n\n\"Helios, be pitiful on me that am a goddess, if ever by word or deed I\ngladdened thy heart.  My daughter, whom I bore, a sweet plant and fair to\nsee; it was her shrill voice I heard through the air unharvested, even as\nof one violently entreated, but I saw her not with my eyes.  But do thou\nthat lookest down with thy rays from the holy air upon all the land and\nsea, do thou tell me truly concerning my dear child, if thou didst behold\nher; who it is that hath gone off and ravished her away from me against\nher will, who is it of gods or mortal men?\"\n\nSo spake she, and Hyperionides answered her:\n\n\"Daughter of fair-tressed Rheia, Queen Demeter, thou shalt know it; for\ngreatly do I pity and revere thee in thy sorrow for thy slim-ankled\nchild.  There is none other guilty of the Immortals but Zeus himself that\ngathereth the clouds, who gave thy daughter to Hades, his own brother, to\nbe called his lovely wife; and Hades has ravished her away in his\nchariot, loudly shrilling, beneath the dusky gloom.  But, Goddess, do\nthou cease from thy long lamenting.  It behoves not thee thus vainly to\ncherish anger unassuaged.  No unseemly lord for thy daughter among the\nImmortals is Aidoneus, the lord of many, thine own brother and of one\nseed with thee, and for his honour he won, since when was made the\nthreefold division, to be lord among those with whom he dwells.\"\n\nSo spake he, and called upon his horses, and at his call they swiftly\nbore the fleet chariot on like long-winged birds.  But grief more dread\nand bitter fell upon her, and wroth thereafter was she with Cronion that\nhath dark clouds for his dwelling.  She held apart from the gathering of\nthe Gods and from tall Olympus, and disfiguring her form for many days\nshe went among the cities and rich fields of men.  Now no man knew her\nthat looked on her, nor no deep-bosomed woman, till she came to the\ndwelling of Celeus, who then was Prince of fragrant Eleusis.  There sat\nshe at the wayside in sorrow of heart, by the Maiden Well whence the\ntownsfolk were wont to draw water.  In the shade she sat; above her grew\na thick olive-tree; and in fashion she was like an ancient crone who\nknows no more of child-bearing and the gifts of Aphrodite, the lover of\ngarlands.  Such she was as are the nurses of the children of\ndoom-pronouncing kings.  Such are the housekeepers in their echoing\nhalls.\n\nNow the daughters of Celeus beheld her as they came to fetch the fair-\nflowing water, to carry thereof in bronze vessels to their father's home.\nFour were they, like unto goddesses, all in the bloom of youth,\nCallidice, and Cleisidice, and winsome Demo, and Callithoe the eldest of\nthem all, nor did they know her, for the Gods are hard to be known by\nmortals, but they stood near her and spake winged words:\n\n\"Who art thou and whence, old woman, of ancient folk, and why wert thou\nwandering apart from the town, nor dost draw nigh to the houses where are\nwomen of thine own age, in the shadowy halls, even such as thou, and\nyounger women, too, who may kindly entreat thee in word and deed?\"\n\nSo spake they, and the lady Goddess answered:\n\n\"Dear children, whoever ye be, of womankind I bid you hail, and I will\ntell you my story.  Seemly it is to answer your questions truly.  Deo is\nmy name that my lady mother gave me; but now, look you, from Crete am I\ncome hither over the wide ridges of the sea, by no will of my own, nay,\nby violence have sea-rovers brought me hither under duress, who\nthereafter touched with their swift ship at Thoricos where the women and\nthey themselves embarked on land.  Then were they busy about supper\nbeside the hawsers of the ship, but my heart heeded not delight of\nsupper; no, stealthily setting forth through the dark land I fled from\nthese overweening masters, that they might not sell me whom they had\nnever bought and gain my price.  Thus hither have I come in my wandering,\nnor know I at all what land is this, nor who they be that dwell therein.\nBut to you may all they that hold mansions in Olympus give husbands and\nlords, and such children to bear as parents desire; but me do ye maidens\npity in your kindness, till I come to the house of woman or of man, that\nthere I may work zealously for them in such tasks as fit a woman of my\nyears.  I could carry in mine arms a new-born babe, and nurse it well,\nand keep the house, and strew my master's bed within the well-builded\nchambers, and teach the maids their tasks.\"\n\nSo spake the Goddess, and straightway answered her the maid unwed,\nCallidice, the fairest of the daughters of Celeus:\n\n\"Mother, what things soever the Gods do give must men, though sorrowing,\nendure, for the Gods are far stronger than we; but this will I tell thee\nclearly and soothly, namely, what men they are who here have most honour,\nand who lead the people, and by their counsels and just dooms do\nsafeguard the bulwarks of the city.  Such are wise Triptolemus, Diocles,\nPolyxenus, and noble Eumolpus, and Dolichus, and our lordly father.  All\ntheir wives keep their houses, and not one of them would at first sight\ncontemn thee and thrust thee from their halls, but gladly they will\nreceive thee: for thine aspect is divine.  So, if thou wilt, abide here,\nthat we may go to the house of my father, and tell out all this tale to\nmy mother, the deep-bosomed Metaneira, if perchance she will bid thee\ncome to our house and not seek the homes of others.  A dear son born in\nher later years is nurtured in the well-builded hall, a child of many\nprayers and a welcome.  If thou wouldst nurse him till he comes to the\nmeasure of youth, then whatsoever woman saw thee should envy thee; such\ngifts of fosterage would my mother give thee.\"\n\nSo spake she and the Goddess nodded assent.  So rejoicing they filled\ntheir shining pitchers with water and bore them away.  Swiftly they came\nto the high hall of their father, and quickly they told their mother what\nthey had heard and seen, and speedily she bade them run and call the\nstrange woman, offering goodly hire.  Then as deer or calves in the\nseason of Spring leap along the meadow, when they have had their fill of\npasture, so lightly they kilted up the folds of their lovely kirtles, and\nran along the hollow chariot-way, while their hair danced on their\nshoulders, in colour like the crocus flower.  They found the glorious\nGoddess at the wayside, even where they had left her, and anon they led\nher to their father's house.  But she paced behind in heaviness of heart,\nher head veiled, and the dark robe floating about her slender feet\ndivine.  Speedily they came to the house of Celeus, the fosterling of\nZeus, and they went through the corridor where their lady mother was\nsitting by the doorpost of the well-wrought hall, with her child in her\nlap, a young blossom, and the girls ran up to her, but the Goddess stood\non the threshold, her head touching the roof-beam, and she filled the\ndoorway with the light divine.  Then wonder, and awe, and pale fear\nseized the mother, and she gave place from her high seat, and bade the\nGoddess be seated.  But Demeter the bearer of the Seasons, the Giver of\ngoodly gifts, would not sit down upon the shining high seat.  Nay, in\nsilence she waited, casting down her lovely eyes, till the wise Iambe set\nfor her a well-made stool, and cast over it a glistering fleece. {194}\nThen sat she down and held the veil before her face; long in sorrow and\nsilence sat she so, and spake to no man nor made any sign, but smileless\nshe sat, nor tasted meat nor drink, wasting with long desire for her deep-\nbosomed daughter.\n\nSo abode she till wise Iambe with jests and many mockeries beguiled the\nlady, the holy one, to smile and laugh and hold a happier heart, and\npleased her moods even thereafter.  Then Metaneira filled a cup of sweet\nwine and offered it to her, but she refused it, saying, that it was not\npermitted for her to drink red wine; but she bade them mix meal and water\nwith the tender herb of mint, and give it to her to drink.  Then\nMetaneira made a potion and gave it to the Goddess as she bade, and Lady\nDeo took it and made libation, and to them fair-girdled Metaneira said:\n\n\"Hail, lady, for methinks thou art not of mean parentage, but goodly\nborn, for grace and honour shine in thine eyes as in the eyes of doom-\ndealing kings.  But the gifts of the Gods, even in sorrow, we men of\nnecessity endure, for the yoke is laid upon our necks; yet now that thou\nart come hither, such things as I have shall be thine.  Rear me this\nchild that the Gods have given in my later years and beyond my hope; and\nhe is to me a child of many prayers.  If thou rear him, and he come to\nthe measure of youth, verily each woman that sees thee will envy thee,\nsuch shall be my gifts of fosterage.\"\n\nThen answered her again Demeter of the fair garland:\n\n\"And mayst thou too, lady, fare well, and the Gods give thee all things\ngood.  Gladly will I receive thy child that thou biddest me nurse.  Never,\nmethinks, by the folly of his nurse shall charm or sorcery harm him; for\nI know an antidote stronger than the wild wood herb, and a goodly salve I\nknow for the venomed spells.\"\n\nSo spake she, and with her immortal hands she placed the child on her\nfragrant breast, and the mother was glad at heart.  So in the halls she\nnursed the goodly son of wise Celeus, even Demophoon, whom deep-breasted\nMetaneira bare, and he grew like a god, upon no mortal food, nor on no\nmother's milk.  For Demeter anointed him with ambrosia as though he had\nbeen a son of a God, breathing sweetness over him, and keeping him in her\nbosom.  So wrought she by day, but at night she was wont to hide him in\nthe force of fire like a brand, his dear parents knowing it not. {196}\nNay, to them it was great marvel how flourished he and grew like the Gods\nto look upon.  And, verily, she would have made him exempt from eld and\ndeath for ever, had not fair-girdled Metaneira, in her witlessness, spied\non her in the night from her fragrant chamber.  Then wailed she, and\nsmote both her thighs, in terror for her child, and in anguish of heart,\nand lamenting she spake winged words: \"My child Demophoon, the stranger\nis concealing thee in the heart of the fire; bitter sorrow for me and\nlamentation.\"\n\nSo spake she, wailing, and the lady Goddess heard her.  Then in wrath did\nthe fair-garlanded Demeter snatch out of the fire with her immortal hands\nand cast upon the ground that woman's dear son, whom beyond all hope she\nhad borne in the halls.  Dread was the wrath of Demeter, and anon she\nspake to fair-girdled Metaneira.  \"Oh redeless and uncounselled race of\nmen, that know not beforehand the fate of coming good or coming evil.\nFor, lo, thou hast wrought upon thyself a bane incurable, by thine own\nwitlessness; for by the oath of the Gods, the relentless water of Styx, I\nwould have made thy dear child deathless and exempt from age for ever,\nand would have given him glory imperishable.  But now in nowise may he\nescape the Fates and death, yet glory imperishable will ever be his,\nsince he has lain on my knees and slept within my arms; [but as the years\ngo round, and in his day, the sons of the Eleusinians will ever wage war\nand dreadful strife one upon the other.]  Now I am the honoured Demeter,\nthe greatest good and gain of the Immortals to deathly men.  But, come\nnow, let all the people build me a great temple and an altar thereby,\nbelow the town, and the steep wall, above Callichorus on the jutting\nrock.  But the rites I myself will prescribe, that in time to come ye may\npay them duly and appease my power.\"\n\nTherewith the Goddess changed her shape and height, and cast off old age,\nand beauty breathed about her, and the sweet scent was breathed from her\nfragrant robes, and afar shone the light from the deathless body of the\nGoddess, the yellow hair flowing about her shoulders, so that the goodly\nhouse was filled with the splendour as of levin fire, and forth from the\nhalls went she.\n\nBut anon the knees of the woman were loosened, and for long time she was\nspeechless, nay, nor did she even mind of the child, her best beloved, to\nlift him from the floor.  But the sisters of the child heard his pitiful\ncry, and leapt from their fair-strewn beds; one of them, lifting the\nchild in her hands, laid it in her bosom; and another lit fire, and the\nthird ran with smooth feet to take her mother forth from the fragrant\nchamber.  Then gathered they about the child, and bathed and clad him\nlovingly, yet his mood was not softened, for meaner nurses now and\nhandmaids held him.\n\nThey the long night through were adoring the renowned Goddess, trembling\nwith fear, but at the dawning they told truly to mighty Celeus all that\nthe Goddess had commanded; even Demeter of the goodly garland.  Thereon\nhe called into the market-place the many people, and bade them make a\nrich temple, and an altar to fair-tressed Demeter, upon the jutting rock.\nThen anon they heard and obeyed his voice, and as he bade they builded.\nAnd the child increased in strength by the Goddess's will.\n\nNow when they had done their work, and rested from their labours, each\nman started for his home, but yellow-haired Demeter, sitting there apart\nfrom all the blessed Gods, abode, wasting away with desire for her deep-\nbosomed daughter.  Then the most dread and terrible of years did the\nGoddess bring for mortals upon the fruitful earth, nor did the earth send\nup the seed, for Demeter of the goodly garland concealed it.  Many\ncrooked ploughs did the oxen drag through the furrows in vain, and much\nwhite barley fell fruitless upon the land.  Now would the whole race of\nmortal men have perished utterly from the stress of famine, and the Gods\nthat hold mansions in Olympus would have lost the share and renown of\ngift and sacrifice, if Zeus had not conceived a counsel within his heart.\n\nFirst he roused Iris of the golden wings to speed forth and call the fair-\ntressed Demeter, the lovesome in beauty.  So spake Zeus, and Iris obeyed\nZeus, the son of Cronos, who hath dark clouds for his tabernacle, and\nswiftly she sped adown the space between heaven and earth.  Then came she\nto the citadel of fragrant Eleusis, and in the temple she found Demeter\nclothed in dark raiment, and speaking winged words addressed her:\n\"Demeter, Father Zeus, whose counsels are imperishable, bids thee back\nunto the tribes of the eternal Gods.  Come thou, then, lest the word of\nZeus be of no avail.\"  So spake she in her prayer, but the Goddess\nyielded not.  Thereafter the Father sent forth all the blessed Gods, all\nof the Immortals, and coming one by one they bade Demeter return, and\ngave her many splendid gifts, and all honours that she might choose among\nthe immortal Gods.  But none availed to persuade by turning her mind and\nher angry heart, so stubbornly she refused their sayings.  For she deemed\nno more for ever to enter fragrant Olympus, and no more to allow the\nearth to bear her fruit, until her eyes should behold her fair-faced\ndaughter.\n\nBut when far-seeing Zeus, the lord of the thunder-peal, had heard the\nthing, he sent to Erebus the slayer of Argos, the God of the golden wand,\nto win over Hades with soft words, and persuade him to bring up holy\nPersephone into the light, and among the Gods, from forth the murky\ngloom, that so her mother might behold her, and that her anger might\nrelent.  And Hermes disobeyed not, but straightway and speedily went\nforth beneath the hollow places of the earth, leaving the home of\nOlympus.  That King he found within his dwelling, sitting on a couch with\nhis chaste bedfellow, who sorely grieved for desire of her mother, that\nstill was cherishing a fell design against the ill deeds of the Gods.\nThen the strong slayer of Argos drew near and spoke: \"Hades of the dark\nlocks, thou Prince of men out-worn, Father Zeus bade me bring the dread\nPersephone forth from Erebus among the Gods, that her mother may behold\nher, and relent from her anger and terrible wrath against the Immortals,\nfor now she contrives a mighty deed, to destroy the feeble tribes of\nearth-born men by withholding the seed under the earth.  Thereby the\nhonours of the Gods are minished, and fierce is her wrath, nor mingles\nshe with the Gods, but sits apart within the fragrant temple in the steep\ncitadel of Eleusis.\"\n\nSo spake he, and smiling were the brows of Aidoneus, Prince of the dead,\nnor did he disobey the commands of King Zeus, as speedily he bade the\nwise Persephone: \"Go, Persephone, to thy dark-mantled mother, go with a\ngentle spirit in thy breast, nor be thou beyond all other folk\ndisconsolate.  Verily I shall be no unseemly lord of thine among the\nImmortals, I that am the brother of Father Zeus, and whilst thou art here\nshalt thou be mistress over all that lives and moves, but among the\nImmortals shalt thou have the greatest renown.  Upon them that wrong thee\nshall vengeance be unceasing, upon them that solicit not thy power with\nsacrifice, and pious deeds, and every acceptable gift.\"\n\nSo spake he, and wise Persephone was glad; and joyously and swiftly she\narose, but the God himself, stealthily looking around her, gave her sweet\npomegranate seed to eat, and this he did that she might not abide for\never beside revered Demeter of the dark mantle. {204}  Then openly did\nAidoneus, the Prince of all, get ready the steeds beneath the golden\nchariot, and she climbed up into the golden chariot, and beside her the\nstrong Slayer of Argos took reins and whip in hand, and drove forth from\nthe halls, and gladly sped the horses twain.  Speedily they devoured the\nlong way; nor sea, nor rivers, nor grassy glades, nor cliffs, could stay\nthe rush of the deathless horses; nay, far above them they cleft the deep\nair in their course.  Before the fragrant temple he drove them, and\nchecked them where dwelt Demeter of the goodly garland, who, when she\nbeheld them, rushed forth like a Maenad down a dark mountain woodland.\n{205}\n\n[But Persephone on the other side rejoiced to see her mother dear, and\nleaped to meet her; but the mother said, \"Child, in Hades hast thou eaten\nany food? for if thou hast not] then with me and thy father the son of\nCronos, who has dark clouds for his tabernacle, shalt thou ever dwell\nhonoured among all the Immortals.  But if thou hast tasted food, thou\nmust return again, and beneath the hollows of the earth must dwell in\nHades a third portion of the year; yet two parts of the year thou shalt\nabide with me and the other Immortals.  When the earth blossoms with all\nmanner of fragrant flowers, then from beneath the murky gloom shalt thou\ncome again, a mighty marvel to Gods and to mortal men.  Now tell me by\nwhat wile the strong host of many guests deceived thee? . . . \"\n\nThen fair Persephone answered her august mother: \"Behold, I shall tell\nthee all the truth without fail.  I leaped up for joy when boon Hermes,\nthe swift messenger, came from my father Cronides and the other heavenly\nGods, with the message that I was to return out of Erebus, that so thou\nmightest behold me, and cease thine anger and dread wrath against the\nImmortals.  Thereon Hades himself compelled me to taste of a sweet\npomegranate seed against my will.  And now I will tell thee how, through\nthe crafty device of Cronides my father, he ravished me, and bore me away\nbeneath the hollows of the earth.  All that thou askest I will tell thee.\nWe were all playing in the lovely meadows, Leucippe and Phaino, and\nElectra, and Ianthe, and Melite, and Iache, and Rhodeia, and Callirhoe,\nand Melobosis, and Tuche, and flower-faced Ocyroe, and Chraesis, and\nIaneira, and Acaste, and Admete, and Rhodope, and Plouto, and winsome\nCalypso, and Styx, and Urania, and beautiful Galaxaure.  We were playing\nthere, and plucking beautiful blossoms with our hands; crocuses mingled,\nand iris, and hyacinth, and roses, and lilies, a marvel to behold, and\nnarcissus, that the wide earth bare, a wile for my undoing.  Gladly was I\ngathering them when the earth gaped beneath, and therefrom leaped the\nmighty Prince, the host of many guests, and he bare me against my will\ndespite my grief beneath the earth, in his golden chariot; and shrilly\ndid I cry.  This all is true that I tell thee.\"\n\nSo the livelong day in oneness of heart did they cheer each other with\nlove, and their minds ceased from sorrow, and great gladness did either\nwin from other.  Then came to them Hekate of the fair wimple, and often\ndid she kiss the holy daughter of Demeter, and from that day was her\nqueenly comrade and handmaiden; but to them for a messenger did\nfar-seeing Zeus of the loud thunder-peal send fair-tressed Rhea to bring\ndark-mantled Demeter among the Gods, with pledge of what honour she might\nchoose among the Immortals.  He vowed that her daughter, for the third\npart of the revolving year, should dwell beneath the murky gloom, but for\nthe other two parts she should abide with her mother and the other gods.\n\nThus he spake, and the Goddess disobeyed not the commands of Zeus.\nSwiftly she sped down from the peaks of Olympus, and came to fertile\nRarion; fertile of old, but now no longer fruitful; for fallow and\nleafless it lay, and hidden was the white barley grain by the device of\nfair-ankled Demeter.  None the less with the growing of the Spring the\nland was to teem with tall ears of corn, and the rich furrows were to be\nheavy with corn, and the corn to be bound in sheaves.  There first did\nshe land from the unharvested ether, and gladly the Goddesses looked on\neach other, and rejoiced in heart, and thus first did Rhea of the fair\nwimple speak to Demeter:\n\n\"Hither, child; for he calleth thee, far-seeing Zeus, the lord of the\ndeep thunder, to come among the Gods, and has promised thee such honours\nas thou wilt, and hath decreed that thy child, for the third of the\nrolling year, shall dwell beneath the murky gloom, but the other two\nparts with her mother and the rest of the Immortals.  So doth he promise\nthat it shall be and thereto nods his head; but come, my child, obey, and\nbe not too unrelenting against the Son of Cronos, the lord of the dark\ncloud.  And anon do thou increase the grain that bringeth life to men.\"\n\nSo spake she, and Demeter of the fair garland obeyed.  Speedily she sent\nup the grain from the rich glebe, and the wide earth was heavy with\nleaves and flowers: and she hastened, and showed the thing to the kings,\nthe dealers of doom; to Triptolemus and Diocles the charioteer, and\nmighty Eumolpus, and Celeus the leader of the people; she showed them the\nmanner of her rites, and taught them her goodly mysteries, holy mysteries\nwhich none may violate, or search into, or noise abroad, for the great\ncurse from the Gods restrains the voice.  Happy is he among deathly men\nwho hath beheld these things! and he that is uninitiate, and hath no lot\nin them, hath never equal lot in death beneath the murky gloom.\n\nNow when the Goddess had given instruction in all her rites, they went to\nOlympus, to the gathering of the other Gods.  There the Goddesses dwell\nbeside Zeus the lord of the thunder, holy and revered are they.  Right\nhappy is he among mortal men whom they dearly love; speedily do they send\nas a guest to his lofty hall Plutus, who giveth wealth to mortal men.  But\ncome thou that holdest the land of fragrant Eleusis, and sea-girt Paros,\nand rocky Antron, come, Lady Deo!  Queen and giver of goodly gifts, and\nbringer of the Seasons; come thou and thy daughter, beautiful Persephone,\nand of your grace grant me goodly substance in requital of my song; but I\nwill mind me of thee, and of other minstrelsy.\n\n\n\nV.  TO APHRODITE\n\n\nI shall sing of the revered Aphrodite, the golden-crowned, the beautiful,\nwho hath for her portion the mountain crests of sea-girt Cyprus.  Thither\nthe strength of the west wind moistly blowing carried her amid soft foam\nover the wave of the resounding sea.  Her did the golden-snooded Hours\ngladly welcome, and clad her about in immortal raiment, and on her\ndeathless head set a well-wrought crown, fair and golden, and in her ears\nput earrings of orichalcum and of precious gold.  Her delicate neck and\nwhite bosom they adorned with chains of gold, wherewith are bedecked the\ngolden-snooded Hours themselves, when they come to the glad dance of the\nGods in the dwelling of the Father.  Anon when they had thus adorned her\nin all goodliness they led her to the Immortals, who gave her greeting\nwhen they beheld her, and welcomed her with their hands; and each God\nprayed that he might lead her home to be his wedded wife, so much they\nmarvelled at the beauty of the fair-garlanded Cytherean.  Hail, thou of\nthe glancing eyes, thou sweet winsome Goddess, and grant that I bear off\nthe victory in this contest, and lend thou grace to my song, while I\nshall both remember thee and another singing.\n\n\n\nVI.  TO DIONYSUS\n\n\n[Dionysus sailing in his sacred ship.  (Interior Design on a Kylix by\nExekias in Munich.): lang213.jpg]\n\nConcerning Dionysus the son of renowned Semele shall I sing; how once he\nappeared upon the shore of the sea unharvested, on a jutting headland, in\nform like a man in the bloom of youth, with his beautiful dark hair\nwaving around him, and on his strong shoulders a purple robe.  Anon came\nin sight certain men that were pirates; in a well-wrought ship sailing\nswiftly on the dark seas: Tyrsenians were they, and Ill Fate was their\nleader, for they beholding him nodded each to other, and swiftly leaped\nforth, and hastily seized him, and set him aboard their ship rejoicing in\nheart, for they deemed that he was the son of kings, the fosterlings of\nZeus, and they were minded to bind him with grievous bonds.  But him the\nfetters held not, and the withes fell far from his hands and feet. {214}\nThere sat he smiling with his dark eyes, but the steersman saw it, and\nspake aloud to his companions: \"Fools, what God have ye taken and bound?\na strong God is he, our trim ship may not contain him.  Surely this is\nZeus, or Apollo of the Silver Bow, or Poseidon; for he is nowise like\nmortal man, but like the Gods who have mansions in Olympus.  Nay, come\nlet us instantly release him upon the dark mainland, nor lay ye your\nhands upon him, lest, being wroth, he rouse against us masterful winds\nand rushing storm.\"\n\nSo spake he, but their captain rebuked him with a hateful word: \"Fool,\nlook thou to the wind, and haul up the sail, and grip to all the gear,\nbut this fellow will be for men to meddle with.  Methinks he will come to\nEgypt, or to Cyprus, or to the Hyperboreans, or further far; and at the\nlast he will tell us who his friends are, and concerning his wealth, and\nhis brethren, for the God has delivered him into our hands.\"\n\nSo spake he, and let raise the mast and hoist the mainsail, and the wind\nfilled the sail, and they made taut the ropes all round.  But anon\nstrange matters appeared to them: first there flowed through all the\nswift black ship a sweet and fragrant wine, and the ambrosial fragrance\narose, and fear fell upon all the mariners that beheld it.  And\nstraightway a vine stretched hither and thither along the sail, hanging\nwith many a cluster, and dark ivy twined round the mast blossoming with\nflowers, and gracious fruit and garlands grew on all the thole-pins; and\nthey that saw it bade the steersman drive straight to land.  Meanwhile\nwithin the ship the God changed into the shape of a lion at the bow; and\nloudly he roared, and in midship he made a shaggy bear: such marvels he\nshowed forth: there stood it raging, and on the deck glared the lion\nterribly.  Then the men fled in terror to the stern, and there stood in\nfear round the honest pilot.  But suddenly sprang forth the lion and\nseized the captain, and the men all at once leaped overboard into the\nstrong sea, shunning dread doom, and there were changed into dolphins.\nBut the God took pity upon the steersman, and kept him, and gave him all\ngood fortune, and spake, saying, \"Be of good courage, Sir, dear art thou\nto me, and I am Dionysus of the noisy rites whom Cadmeian Semele bare to\nthe love of Zeus.\"  Hail, thou child of beautiful Semele, none that is\nmindless of thee can fashion sweet minstrelsy.\n\n\n\nVII.  TO ARES\n\n\nAres, thou that excellest in might, thou lord of the chariot of war, God\nof the golden helm, thou mighty of heart, thou shield-bearer, thou safety\nof cities, thou that smitest in mail; strong of hand and unwearied\nvaliant spearman, bulwark of Olympus, father of victory, champion of\nThemis; thou tyrannous to them that oppose thee with force; thou leader\nof just men, thou master of manlihood, thou that whirlest thy flaming\nsphere among the courses of the seven stars of the sky, where thy fiery\nsteeds ever bear thee above the third orbit of heaven; do thou listen to\nme, helper of mortals, Giver of the bright bloom of youth.  Shed thou\ndown a mild light from above upon this life of mine, and my martial\nstrength, so that I may be of avail to drive away bitter cowardice from\nmy head, and to curb the deceitful rush of my soul, and to restrain the\nsharp stress of anger which spurs me on to take part in the dread din of\nbattle.  But give me heart, O blessed one, to abide in the painless\nmeasures of peace, avoiding the battle-cry of foes and the compelling\nfates of death.\n\n\n\nVIII.  TO ARTEMIS\n\n\nSing thou of Artemis, Muse, the sister of the Far-darter; the archer\nMaid, fellow-nursling with Apollo, who waters her steeds in the reedy\nwells of Meles, then swiftly drives her golden chariot through Smyrna to\nClaros of the many-clustered vines, where sits Apollo of the Silver Bow\nawaiting the far-darting archer maid.  And hail thou thus, and hail to\nall Goddesses in my song, but to thee first, and beginning from thee,\nwill I sing, and so shall pass on to another lay.\n\n\n\nIX.  TO APHRODITE\n\n\nI shall sing of Cytherea, the Cyprus-born, who gives sweet gifts to\nmortals, and ever on her face is a winsome smile, and ever in her hand a\nwinsome blossom.  Hail to thee, Goddess, Queen of fair-set Salamis, and\nof all Cyprus, and give to me song desirable, while I shall be mindful of\nthee and of another song.\n\n\n\nX.  TO ATHENE\n\n\nOf Pallas Athene, the saviour of cities, I begin to sing; dread Goddess,\nwho with Ares takes keep of the works of war, and of falling cities, and\nbattles, and the battle din.  She it is that saveth the hosts as they go\nand return from the fight.  Hail Goddess, and give to us happiness and\ngood fortune.\n\n\n\nXI.  TO HERA\n\n\nI sing of golden-throned Hera, whom Rhea bore, an immortal queen in\nbeauty pre-eminent, the sister and the bride of loud-thundering Zeus, the\nlady renowned, whom all the Blessed throughout high Olympus honour and\nrevere no less than Zeus whose delight is the thunder.\n\n\n\nXII.  TO DEMETER\n\n\nOf fair-tressed Demeter the holy Goddess I begin to sing; of her and the\nMaiden, the lovely Persephone.  Hail Goddess, and save this city and\ninspire my song.\n\n\n\nXIII.  TO THE MOTHER OF THE GODS\n\n\nSing for me, clear-voiced Muse, daughter of great Zeus, the mother of all\nGods and all mortals, who is glad in the sound of rattles and drums, and\nin the noise of flutes, and in the cry of wolves and fiery-eyed lions,\nand in the echoing hills, and the woodland haunts; even so hail to thee\nand to Goddesses all in my song.\n\n\n\nXIV.  TO HERACLES THE LION-HEART\n\n\nOf Heracles the son of Zeus will I sing, mightiest of mortals, whom\nAlcmena bore in Thebes of the fair dancing places, for she had lain in\nthe arms of Cronion, the lord of the dark clouds.  Of old the hero\nwandered endlessly over land and sea, at the bidding of Eurystheus the\nprince, and himself wrought many deeds of fateful might, and many he\nendured; but now in the fair haunts of snowy Olympus he dwells in joy,\nand hath white-ankled Hebe for his wife.  Hail prince, son of Zeus, and\ngive to us valour and good fortune.\n\n\n\nXV.  TO ASCLEPIUS\n\n\nOf the healer of diseases, Asclepius, I begin to sing, the son of Apollo,\nwhom fair Coronis bore in the Dotian plain, the daughter of King\nPhlegyas; a great joy to men was her son, and the soother of evil pains.\nEven so do thou hail, O Prince, I pray to thee in my song.\n\n\n\nXVI.  TO THE DIOSCOURI\n\n\nOf Castor and Polydeuces do thou sing,--shrill Muse, the Tyndaridae, sons\nof Olympian Zeus, whom Lady Leda bore beneath the crests of Taygetus,\nhaving been secretly conquered by the desire of Cronion of the dark\nclouds.  Hail, ye sons of Tyndarus, ye cavaliers of swift steeds.\n\n\n\nXVII.  TO HERMES\n\n\nI sing of Cyllenian Hermes, slayer of Argus, prince of Cyllene and of\nArcadia rich in sheep, the boon messenger of the Immortals.  Him did Maia\nbear, the modest daughter of Atlas, to the love of Zeus.  The company of\nthe blessed Gods she shunned, and dwelt in a shadowy cave where Cronion\nwas wont to lie with the fair-tressed nymph in the dark of night, while\nsweet sleep possessed white-armed Hera, and no Immortals knew it, and no\ndeathly men.  Hail to thee, thou son of Zeus and Maia, with thee shall I\nbegin and pass on to another song.  Hail, Hermes, Giver of grace, thou\nGuide, thou Giver of good things.\n\n\n\nXVIII.  TO PAN\n\n\n[Pan.  With Goat and Shepherd's Crook.  Terra cotta Statuette from\nTanagra, in the British Museum: lang230.jpg]\n\nTell me, Muse, concerning the dear son of Hermes, the goat-footed, the\ntwy-horned, the lover of the din of revel, who haunts the wooded dells\nwith dancing nymphs that tread the crests of the steep cliffs, calling\nupon Pan the pastoral God of the long wild hair.  Lord is he of every\nsnowy crest and mountain peak and rocky path.  Hither and thither he goes\nthrough the thick copses, sometimes being drawn to the still waters, and\nsometimes faring through the lofty crags he climbs the highest peak\nwhence the flocks are seen below; ever he ranges over the high white\nhills, and ever among the knolls he chases and slays the wild beasts, the\nGod, with keen eye, and at evening returns piping from the chase,\nbreathing sweet strains on the reeds.  In song that bird cannot excel him\nwhich, among the leaves of the blossoming springtide, pours forth her\nplaint and her honey-sweet song.  With him then the mountain nymphs, the\nshrill singers, go wandering with light feet, and sing at the side of the\ndark water of the well, while the echo moans along the mountain crest,\nand the God leaps hither and thither, and goes into the midst, with many\na step of the dance.  On his back he wears the tawny hide of a lynx, and\nhis heart rejoices with shrill songs in the soft meadow where crocus and\nfragrant hyacinth bloom all mingled amidst the grass.  They sing of the\nblessed Gods and of high Olympus, and above all do they sing of boon\nHermes, how he is the fleet herald of all the Gods, and how he came to\nmany-fountained Arcadia, the mother of sheep, where is his Cyllenian\ndemesne, and there he, God as he was, shepherded the fleecy sheep, the\nthrall of a mortal man; for soft desire had come upon him to wed the fair-\nhaired daughter of Dryops, and the glad nuptials he accomplished, and to\nHermes in the hall she bare a dear son.  From his birth he was a marvel\nto behold, goat-footed, twy-horned, a loud speaker, a sweet laugher.  Then\nthe nurse leaped up and fled when she saw his wild face and bearded chin.\nBut him did boon Hermes straightway take in his hands and bear, and\ngladly did he rejoice at heart.  Swiftly to the dwellings of the Gods\nwent he, bearing the babe hidden in the thick skins of mountain hares;\nthere sat he down by Zeus and the other Immortals, and showed his child,\nand all the Immortals were glad at heart, and chiefly the Bacchic\nDionysus.  Pan they called the babe to name: because he had made glad the\nhearts of all of them.  Hail then to thee, O Prince, I am thy suppliant\nin song, and I shall be mindful of thee and of another lay.\n\n\n\nXIX.  TO HEPHAESTUS\n\n\nSing, shrill Muse, of Hephaestus renowned in craft, who with grey-eyed\nAthene taught goodly works to men on earth, even to men that before were\nwont to dwell in mountain caves like beasts; but now, being instructed in\ncraft by the renowned craftsman Hephaestus, lightly the whole year\nthrough they dwell happily in their own homes.  Be gracious, Hephaestus,\nand grant me valour and fortune.\n\n\n\nXX.  TO APOLLO\n\n\nPhoebus, to thee the swan sings shrill to the beating of his wings, as he\nlights on the bank of the whirling pools of the river Peneus; and to thee\nwith his shrill lyre does the sweet-voiced minstrel sing ever, both first\nand last.  Even so hail thou, Prince, I beseech thee in my song.\n\n\n\nXXI.  TO POSEIDON\n\n\nConcerning Poseidon, a great God, I begin to sing: the shaker of the land\nand of the sea unharvested; God of the deep who holdeth Helicon and wide\nAEgae.  A double meed of honour have the Gods given thee, O Shaker of the\nEarth, to be tamer of horses and saviour of ships.  Hail Prince, thou\nGirdler of the Earth, thou dark-haired God, and with kindly heart, O\nblessed one, do thou befriend the mariners.\n\n\n\nXXII.  TO HIGHEST ZEUS\n\n\nTo Zeus the best of Gods will I sing; the best and the greatest, the far-\nbeholding lord who bringeth all to an end, who holdeth constant counsel\nwith Themis as she reclines on her couch.  Be gracious, far-beholding son\nof Cronos, thou most glorious and greatest.\n\n\n\nXXIII.  TO HESTIA\n\n\nHestia, that guardest the sacred house of the Prince, Apollo the\nFar-darter, in goodly Pytho, ever doth the oil drop dank from thy locks.\nCome thou to this house with a gracious heart, come with counselling\nZeus, and lend grace to my song.\n\n\n\nXXIV.  TO THE MUSES AND APOLLO\n\n\nFrom the Muse I shall begin and from Apollo and Zeus.  For it is from the\nMuses and far-darting Apollo that minstrels and harpers are upon the\nearth, but from Zeus come kings.  Fortunate is he whomsoever the Muses\nlove, and sweet flows his voice from his lips.  Hail, ye children of\nZeus, honour ye my lay, and anon I shall be mindful of you and of another\nhymn.\n\n\n\nXXV.  TO DIONYSUS\n\n\nOf ivy-tressed uproarious Dionysus I begin to sing, the splendid son of\nZeus and renowned Semele.  Him did the fair-tressed nymphs foster,\nreceiving him from the king and father in their bosoms, and needfully\nthey nurtured him in the glens of Nyse.  By his father's will he waxed\nstrong in the fragrant cavern, being numbered among the Immortals.  Anon\nwhen the Goddesses had bred him up to be the god of many a hymn, then\nwent he wandering in the woodland glades, draped with ivy and laurel, and\nthe nymphs followed with him where he led, and loud rang the wild\nwoodland.  Hail to thee, then, Dionysus of the clustered vine, and grant\nto us to come gladly again to the season of vintaging, yea, and\nafterwards for many a year to come.\n\n\n\nXXVI.  TO ARTEMIS\n\n\nI sing of Artemis of the Golden Distaff, Goddess of the loud chase, a\nmaiden revered, the slayer of stags, the archer, very sister of Apollo of\nthe golden blade.  She through the shadowy hills and the windy headlands\nrejoicing in the chase draws her golden bow, sending forth shafts of\nsorrow.  Then tremble the crests of the lofty mountains, and terribly the\ndark woodland rings with din of beasts, and the earth shudders, and the\nteeming sea.  Meanwhile she of the stout heart turns about on every side\nslaying the race of wild beasts.  Anon when the Archer Huntress hath\ntaken her delight, and hath gladdened her heart, she slackens her bended\nbow, and goes to the great hall of her dear Phoebus Apollo, to the rich\nDelphian land; and arrays the lovely dance of Muses and Graces.  There\nhangs she up her bended bow and her arrows, and all graciously clad about\nshe leads the dances, first in place, while the others utter their\nimmortal voice in hymns to fair-ankled Leto, how she bore such children\npre-eminent among the Immortals in counsel and in deed.  Hail, ye\nchildren of Zeus and fair-tressed Leto, anon will I be mindful of you and\nof another hymn.\n\n[Apollo, Artemis and Leto in procession.  Marble relief in the Louvre:\nlang241.jpg]\n\n\n\nXXVII.  TO ATHENE\n\n\nOf fairest Athene, renowned Goddess, I begin to sing, of the Grey-eyed,\nthe wise; her of the relentless heart, the maiden revered, the succour of\ncities, the strong Tritogeneia.  Her did Zeus the counsellor himself\nbeget from his holy head, all armed for war in shining golden mail, while\nin awe did the other Gods behold it.  Quickly did the Goddess leap from\nthe immortal head, and stood before Zeus, shaking her sharp spear, and\nhigh Olympus trembled in dread beneath the strength of the grey-eyed\nMaiden, while earth rang terribly around, and the sea was boiling with\ndark waves, and suddenly brake forth the foam.  Yea, and the glorious son\nof Hyperion checked for long his swift steeds, till the maiden took from\nher immortal shoulders her divine armour, even Pallas Athene: and Zeus\nthe counsellor rejoiced.  Hail to thee, thou child of aegis-bearing Zeus,\nanon shall I be mindful of thee and of another lay.\n\n\n\nXXVIII.  TO HESTIA\n\n\nHestia, thou that in the lofty halls of all immortal Gods, and of all men\nthat go on earth, hast obtained an eternal place and the foremost honour,\nsplendid is thy glory and thy gift, for there is no banquet of mortals\nwithout thee, none where, Hestia, they be not wont first and last to make\nto thee oblation of sweet wine.  And do thou, O slayer of Argus, son of\nZeus and Maia, messenger of the blessed Gods, God of the golden wand,\nGiver of all things good, do thou with Hestia dwell in the fair mansions,\ndear each to other; with kindly heart befriend us in company with dear\nand honoured Hestia.  [For both the twain, well skilled in all fair works\nof earthly men, consort with wisdom and youth.]  Hail daughter of Cronos,\nthou and Hermes of the golden wand, anon will I be mindful of you and of\nanother lay.\n\n\n\nXXIX.  TO EARTH, THE MOTHER OF ALL\n\n\nConcerning Earth, the mother of all, shall I sing, firm Earth, eldest of\nGods, that nourishes all things in the world; all things that fare on the\nsacred land, all things in the sea, all flying things, all are fed out of\nher store.  Through thee, revered Goddess, are men happy in their\nchildren and fortunate in their harvest.  Thine it is to give or to take\nlife from mortal men.  Happy is he whom thou honourest with favouring\nheart; to him all good things are present innumerable: his fertile field\nis laden, his meadows are rich in cattle, his house filled with all good\nthings.  Such men rule righteously in cities of fair women, great wealth\nand riches are theirs, their children grow glorious in fresh delights:\ntheir maidens joyfully dance and sport through the soft meadow flowers in\nfloral revelry.  Such are those that thou honourest, holy Goddess, kindly\nspirit.  Hail, Mother of the Gods, thou wife of starry Ouranos, and\nfreely in return for my ode give me sufficient livelihood.  Anon will I\nbe mindful of thee and of another lay.\n\n\n\nXXX.  TO HELIOS\n\n\nBegin, O Muse Calliope, to sing of Helios the child of Zeus, the splendid\nHelios whom dark-eyed Euryphaessa bore to the son of Earth and starry\nHeaven.  For Hyperion wedded Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bore him\ngoodly children, the rosy-armed Dawn, and fair-tressed Selene, and the\ntireless Helios, like unto the Immortals, who from his chariot shines on\nmortals and on deathless Gods, and dread is the glance of his eyes from\nhis golden helm, and bright rays shine forth from him splendidly, and\nround his temples the shining locks flowing down from his head frame\nround his far-seen face, and a goodly garment wrought delicately shines\nabout his body in the breath of the winds, and stallions speed beneath\nhim when he, charioting his horses and golden-yoked car, drives down\nthrough heaven to ocean.  Hail, Prince, and of thy grace grant me\nlivelihood enough; beginning from thee I shall sing the race of heroes\nhalf divine, whose deeds the Goddesses have revealed to mortals.\n\n\n\nXXXI.  TO THE MOON\n\n\nYe Muses, sing of the fair-faced, wide-winged Moon; ye sweet-voiced\ndaughters of Zeus son of Cronos, accomplished in song!  The heavenly\ngleam from her immortal head circles the earth, and all beauty arises\nunder her glowing light, and the lampless air beams from her golden\ncrown, and the rays dwell lingering when she has bathed her fair body in\nthe ocean stream, and clad her in shining raiment, divine Selene, yoking\nher strong-necked glittering steeds.  Then forward with speed she drives\nher deep-maned horses in the evening of the mid-month when her mighty orb\nis full; then her beams are brightest in the sky as she waxes, a token\nand a signal to mortal men.  With her once was Cronion wedded in love,\nand she conceived, and brought forth Pandia the maiden, pre-eminent in\nbeauty among the immortal Gods.  Hail, Queen, white-armed Goddess, divine\nSelene, gentle of heart and fair of tress.  Beginning from thee shall I\nsing the renown of heroes half divine whose deeds do minstrels chant from\ntheir charmed lips; these ministers of the Muses.\n\n\n\nXXXII.  TO THE DIOSCOURI\n\n\nSing, fair-glancing Muses, of the sons of Zeus, the Tyndaridae, glorious\nchildren of fair-ankled Leda, Castor the tamer of steeds and faultless\nPolydeuces.  These, after wedlock with Cronion of the dark clouds, she\nbore beneath the crests of Taygetus, that mighty hill, to be the saviours\nof earthly men, and of swift ships when the wintry breezes rush along the\npitiless sea.  Then men from their ships call in prayer with sacrifice of\nwhite lambs when they mount the vessel's deck.  But the strong wind and\nthe wave of the sea drive down their ship beneath the water; when\nsuddenly appear the sons of Zeus rushing through the air with tawny\nwings, and straightway have they stilled the tempests of evil winds, and\nhave lulled the waves in the gulfs of the white salt sea: glad signs are\nthey to mariners, an ending of their labour: and men see it and are glad,\nand cease from weary toil.  Hail ye, Tyndaridae, ye knights of swift\nsteeds, anon will I be mindful of you and of another lay.\n\n[The Dioscuri coming to the feast of the Theoxenia.  From a Vase in the\nBritish Museum (Sixth Century B.C.): lang252.jpg]\n\n\n\nXXXIII.  TO DIONYSUS\n\n\nSome say that Semele bare thee to Zeus the lord of thunder in Dracanon,\nand some in windy Icarus, and some in Naxos, thou seed of Zeus,\nEiraphiotes; and others by the deep-swelling river Alpheius, and others,\nO Prince, say that thou wert born in Thebes.  Falsely speak they all: for\nthe Father of Gods and men begat thee far away from men, while\nwhite-armed Hera knew it not.  There is a hill called Nyse, a lofty hill,\nflowering into woodland, far away from Phoenicia, near the streams of\nAEgyptus. . . .\n\n\"And to thee will they raise many statues in the temples: as these thy\ndeeds are three, so men will sacrifice to thee hecatombs every three\nyears.\" {254}\n\nSo spake Zeus the counsellor, and nodded with his head.  Be gracious,\nEiraphiotes, thou wild lover, from thee, beginning and ending with thee,\nwe minstrels sing: in nowise is it possible for him who forgets thee to\nbe mindful of sacred song.  Hail to thee, Dionysus Eiraphiotes, with thy\nmother Semele, whom men call Thyone.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n{4}  Baumeister, p. 94, and note on Hymn to Hermes, 51, citing Antigonus\nCarystius.  See, too, Gemoll, _Die Homerischen Hymnen_, p. 105.\n\n{13}  _Journal of Hellenic Society_, vol. xiv. pp. 1-29.  Mr. Verrall's\nwhole paper ought to be read, as a summary cannot be adequate.\n\n{16a}  Henderson, \"The Casket Letters,\" p. 67.\n\n{16b}  Baumeister, \"Hymni Homerici,\" 1860, p. 108 _et seq_.\n\n{18}  _Die Homerischen Hymnen_, p. 116 (1886).\n\n{23a}  _Journal Anthrop. Inst_., Feb. 1892, p. 290.\n\n{23b}  (_Op. cit_., p. 296.)  See \"Are Savage Gods Borrowed from\nMissionaries?\" (_Nineteenth Century_, January 1899).\n\n{24}  Hartland, \"Folk-Lore,\" ix. 4, 312; x. I, p. 51.\n\n{30}  Winslow, 1622.\n\n{34}  For authorities, see Mr Howitt in the _Journal of the\nAnthropological Institute_, and my \"Making of Religion.\"  Also _Folk\nLore_, December-March, 1898-99.\n\n{37a}  Manning, \"Notes on the Aborigines of New Holland.\"  Read before\nRoyal Society of New South Wales, 1882.  Notes taken down in 1845.\nCompare Mrs. Langloh Parker, _More Australian Legendary Tales_, \"The\nLegend of the Flowers.\"\n\n{37b}  Spencer and Gillen, \"Natives of Central Australia,\" p. 651, _s.v_.\n\n{39}  For the use of Hermes's tortoise-shell as a musical instrument\n_without strings_, in early Anahuac, see Prof. Morse, in Appleton's\n_Popular Science Monthly_, March 1899.\n\n{41}  Gemoll.\n\n{44}  \"Golden Bough,\" i. 279.  Mannhardt, _Antike-Wald-und Feldkulte_, p.\n274.\n\n{45}  Howitt, _Journal Anthtop. Inst_., xvi. p. 54.\n\n{46a}  The Kurnai hold this belief.\n\n{46b}  Brough Smyth, vol. i. p. 426\n\n{46c}  _Journal Anthrop. Inst_., xvi. pp. 330-331.\n\n{59}  The most minute study of Lobeck's _Aglaophamus_ can tell us no more\nthan this; the curious may consult a useful short manual, _Eleusis, Ses\nMysteres, Ses Ruines, et son Musee_, by M. Demetrios Philios.  Athens,\n1896.  M. Philios is the Director of the Eleusinian Excavations.\n\n{61}  \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 292.\n\n{62}  \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 369.\n\n{64a}  \"Golden Bough,\" ii. 44.\n\n{64b}  Ibid., 46.\n\n{65}  Mrs. Langloh Parker, \"More Australian Legends,\" pp. 93-99.\n\n{66}  The anthropomorphic view of the Genius of the grain as a woman\nexisted in Peru, as I have remarked in \"Myth, Ritual, and Religion,\" i.\n213.  See, too, \"Golden Bough,\" i. p. 351; Mr. Frazer also notes the Corn\nMother of Germany, and the Harvest Maiden of Balquhidder.\n\n{67}  \"Golden Bough,\" p. 351, citing from Mannhardt a Spanish tract of\n1649.\n\n{68}  Howitt, on Mysteries of the Coast Murring (_Journal Anthrop.\nInstit_., vol. xiv.).\n\n{69}  De Smet, \"Oregon Mission,\" p. 359.  Tanner's \"Narrative\" (1830),\npp. 192-193.\n\n{72}  Pater, \"Greek Studies,\" p. 90.\n\n{74a}  \"Africana,\" i. 130.\n\n{74b}  _Journal Anthrop. Instit_. (1884), xiii. pp. 444, 450.\n\n{74c}  _Op. cit_., xiv. pp. 310, 316.\n\n{75}  \"New South Wales,\" by Barren Field, pp. 69, 122 (1825).\n\n{76a}  Aristophanes, _Ranae_, 445 _et seq_.; Origen. _c. Cels_., iii. 59;\nAndocides, _Myst_., 31; Euripides, _Bacch_, 72 _et seq_.  See Wobbermin,\n_Religionsgeschitliche Studien_, pp. 36-44.\n\n{76b}  Wobbermin, _op. cit_., p. 38.\n\n{77}  Wobbermin, _op. cit_., p. 34.\n\n{78}  Hatch, \"Hibbert Lectures,\" pp. 284, 285.\n\n{82}  _Recherches sur l'Origine et la Nature des Mysteres d'Eleusis_.\nKlinikseck.  Paris, 1895.\n\n{84}  Herodotus, ii. 171.\n\n{85a}  Spencer and Gillen, \"Natives of Central Australia,\" p. 399.  The\nmyth is not very quotable.\n\n{85b}  Foucart, p. 19, quoting _Philosophoumena_, v. 7.  M. Foucart, of\ncourse, did not know the Arunta parallel.\n\n{85c}  _Journal Anthrop. Inst_. (1884), pp. 194, 195, \"Ngarego and Wolgal\nTribes of New South Wales.\"\n\n{85d}  Ibid. (1885), p. 313.\n\n{86a}  For ample information on this head see Mr. Clodd's \"Tom-Tit-Tot,\"\nand my \"Custom and Myth\" (\"Cupid, Psyche, and the Sun Frog\").\n\n{86b}  _Panegyr_., 28.\n\n{87a}  Clem. Alex. _Protrept_., ii. 77 _et seq_.\n\n{87b}  Harpocration, _s. v_. [Greek text].\n\n{87c}  _Cf_. [Greek text].  Hippon, 90, and Theophrastus, Charact. 6, and\nSynesius, 213, c.  Liddell and Scott, _s.v_. [Greek text].\n\n{88a}  \"Sand and Spinifex,\" 1899.\n\n{88b}  Foucart, pp. 45, 46\n\n{88c}  Hymn, Orph., 41, 5-9.\n\n{89a}  Heriot, 1586.\n\n{89b}  Foucart, pp. 56-59.\n\n{90}  Foucart, p. 64.\n\n{91a}  Basil Thomson, \"The Kalou-Vu\" (_Journal Anthrop. Inst_., May 1895,\npp. 349-356).  Mr. Thomson was struck by the Greek analogies, but he did\nnot know, or does not allude to, Plutarch and the Golden Scroll.\n\n{91b}  Fragments, V. p. 9, Didot; Foucart, p. 56, note.\n\n{95a}  Herodotus, Alilat, i. 131, iii. 8.\n\n{95b}  \"Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia,\" 1895, vol. i. pp. 91, 92.\n\n{104}  Callim., H. Apoll. 30.\n\n   [Greek verse]\n\n{115}  The Greek is corrupt, especially in line 213.\n\n{121}  This action was practised by the Zulus in divination, and,\ncuriously, by a Highlander of the last century, appealing to the dead\nLovat not to see him wronged.\n\n{124}  A folk-etymology from [Greek text] = to rot.\n\n{127}  A similar portent is of recent belief in Maori tradition.\n\n{133}  See Essay on this Hymn.\n\n{136}  In our illustration both the lyre with a tortoise shell for\nsounding-board, and the cithara, with no such sounding-board, are\nrepresented.  Is it possible that \"the tuneful shell\" was primarily used\n_without_ chords, as an instrument for drumming upon?  The drum,\nvariously made, is the primitive musical instrument, and it is doubted\nwhether any stringed instrument existed among native American races.  But\ndrawings in ancient Aztec MSS. (as Mr. Morse has recently observed) show\nthe musician using a kind of drum made of a tortoise-shell, and some\nstudents have (probably with too much fancy) recognised a figure with a\ntortoise-shell fitted with chords, in Aztec MSS.  It is possible enough\nthat the early Greeks used the shell as a sort of drum, before some\ninventor (Hermes, in the Hymn) added chords and developed a stringed\ninstrument.  _Cf_. p. 39.\n\n{138}  Such sandals are used to hide their tracks by Avengers of Blood\namong the tribes of Central Australia.\n\n{140}  This piece of wood is that in which the other is twirled to make\nfire by friction.\n\n{141a}  Otherwise written and interpreted, \"as even now the skins are\nthere,\" that is, are exhibited as relics.\n\n{141b}  \"Der Zweite Halbvers is mir absolut unverstandlich!\"--_Gemoll_.\n\n{144}  This is not likely to be the sense, but sense the text gives none.\nAllen, _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, xvii. II.\n\n{153}  \"As if one walked with trees instead of feet.\"--_Allen_.\n\n{156}  The passage which follows (409-414) is too corrupt to admit of any\nbut conjectural rendering.  Probably Apollo twisted bands, which fell off\nHermes, turned to growing willows, and made a bower over the kine.  See\nMr. Allen, _op. cit_.\n\n{162a}  This passage is a playing field of conjecture; some taking [Greek\ntext] = Mediator, or Go-between: some as = pactum, \"covenant.\"\n\n{162b}  There seems to be a reference to the _caduceus_ of Hermes, which\nsome have compared to the forked Divining Rod.  The whole is corrupt and\nobscure.  To myself it seems that, when he gave the lyre (463-495),\nHermes was hinting at his wish to receive in exchange the gift of\nprophecy.  If so, these passages are all disjointed, and 521, with what\nfollows, should come after 495, where Hermes makes the gift of the lyre.\n\n{164}  It appears from Philochorus that the prophetic lots were called\n_thriae_.  They are then personified, as the prophetic Sisters, the\nThriae.  The white flour on their locks may be the grey hair of old age:\nwe know, however, a practice of divining with grain among an early\nagricultural people, the Hurons.\n\n{168}  Hestia, deity of the sacred hearth, is, in a sense, the Cinderella\nof the Gods, the youngest daughter, tending the holy fire.  The legend of\nher being youngest yet eldest daughter of Cronos may have some reference\nto this position.  \"The hearth-place shall belong to the youngest son or\ndaughter,\" in Kent.  See \"Costumal of the Thirteenth Century,\" with much\nlearning on the subject, in Mr. Elton's \"Origins of English History,\"\nespecially p. 190.\n\n{170}  Shielings are places of summer abode in pastoral regions.\n\n{180}  Reading [Greek text], Mr. Edgar renders \"no longer will my mouth\nope to tell,\" &c.\n\n{194}  [Greek text] seems to answer to _fauteuil_, [Greek text] to [Greek\ntext].\n\n{196}  M. Lefebure suggests to me that this is a trace of Phoenician\ninfluence: compare Moloch's sacrifices of children, and \"passing through\nthe fire.\"  Such rites, however, are frequent in Japan, Bulgaria, India,\nPolynesia, and so on.  See \"The Fire Walk\" in my \"Modern Mythology.\"\n\n{204}  An universally diffused belief declares that whosoever tastes the\nfood of the dead may never return to earth.\n\n{205}  The lines in brackets merely state the probable meaning of a\ndilapidated passage.\n\n{214}  This appears to answer to the difficult passage about the bonds of\nApollo falling from the limbs of Hermes (_Hermes_, 404, 405).  Loosing\nspells were known to the Vikings, and the miracle occurs among those of\nJesuits persecuted under Queen Elizabeth.\n\n{254}  There is a gap in the text.  Three deeds of Dionysus must have\nbeen narrated, then follows the comment of Zeus.","title":"The Homeric Hymns: A New Prose Translation; and Essays, Literary and Mythological","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":40322}