The Complete Poetical Works, vol 3 | Page 7

strong and tall.'--He spoke, and bound _545 Stiff withy bands the
infant's wrists around.
70.
He might as well have bound the oxen wild;
The withy bands,
though starkly interknit,
Fell at the feet of the immortal child,

Loosened by some device of his quick wit. _550 Phoebus perceived
himself again beguiled,
And stared--while Hermes sought some hole
or pit,
Looking askance and winking fast as thought,
Where he
might hide himself and not be caught.
71.
Sudden he changed his plan, and with strange skill _555 Subdued
the strong Latonian, by the might
Of winning music, to his mightier
will;
His left hand held the lyre, and in his right
The plectrum
struck the chords--unconquerable
Up from beneath his hand in
circling flight _560 The gathering music rose--and sweet as Love
The
penetrating notes did live and move
72.
Within the heart of great Apollo--he
Listened with all his soul,
and laughed for pleasure.
Close to his side stood harping fearlessly
_565 The unabashed boy; and to the measure
Of the sweet lyre, there
followed loud and free
His joyous voice; for he unlocked the treasure

Of his deep song, illustrating the birth
Of the bright Gods, and the
dark desert Earth: _570
73.
And how to the Immortals every one
A portion was assigned of
all that is;
But chief Mnemosyne did Maia's son
Clothe in the light
of his loud melodies;--
And, as each God was born or had begun,
_575 He in their order due and fit degrees
Sung of his birth and
being--and did move
Apollo to unutterable love.
74.
These words were winged with his swift delight:
'You
heifer-stealing schemer, well do you _580 Deserve that fifty oxen
should requite
Such minstrelsies as I have heard even now.

Comrade of feasts, little contriving wight,
One of your secrets I
would gladly know,

Whether the glorious power you now show forth
_585 Was folded up within you at your birth,
75.
'Or whether mortal taught or God inspired
The power of

unpremeditated song?
Many divinest sounds have I admired,
The
Olympian Gods and mortal men among; _590 But such a strain of
wondrous, strange, untired,
And soul-awakening music, sweet and
strong,
Yet did I never hear except from thee,
Offspring of May,
impostor Mercury!
76.
'What Muse, what skill, what unimagined use, _595 What
exercise of subtlest art, has given
Thy songs such power?--for those
who hear may choose
From three, the choicest of the gifts of Heaven,

Delight, and love, and sleep,--sweet sleep, whose dews
Are
sweeter than the balmy tears of even:-- _600 And I, who speak this
praise, am that Apollo
Whom the Olympian Muses ever follow:
77.
'And their delight is dance, and the blithe noise
Of song and
overflowing poesy;
And sweet, even as desire, the liquid voice _605
Of pipes, that fills the clear air thrillingly;
But never did my inmost
soul rejoice
In this dear work of youthful revelry
As now. I wonder
at thee, son of Jove;
Thy harpings and thy song are soft as love. _610
78.
'Now since thou hast, although so very small,
Science of arts so
glorious, thus I swear,--
And let this cornel javelin, keen and tall,

Witness between us what I promise here,--
That I will lead thee to the
Olympian Hall, _615 Honoured and mighty, with thy mother dear,

And many glorious gifts in joy will give thee,
And even at the end
will ne'er deceive thee.'
79.
To whom thus Mercury with prudent speech:--
'Wisely hast
thou inquired of my skill: _620 I envy thee no thing I know to teach

Even this day:--for both in word and will
I would be gentle with thee;
thou canst reach
All things in thy wise spirit, and thy sill
Is highest
in Heaven among the sons of Jove, _625 Who loves thee in the fulness
of his love.
80.
'The Counsellor Supreme has given to thee
Divinest gifts, out of
the amplitude
Of his profuse exhaustless treasury;
By thee, 'tis said,
the depths are understood _630 Of his far voice; by thee the mystery

Of all oracular fates,--and the dread mood

Of the diviner is breathed
up; even I--
A child--perceive thy might and majesty.

81.
'Thou canst seek out and compass all that wit _635 Can find or
teach;--yet since thou wilt, come take
The lyre--be mine the glory
giving it--
Strike the sweet chords, and sing aloud, and wake
Thy
joyous pleasure out of many a fit
Of tranced sound--and with fleet
fingers make _640 Thy liquid-voiced comrade talk with thee,--
It can
talk measured music eloquently.
82.
'Then bear it boldly to the revel loud,
Love-wakening dance, or
feast of solemn state,
A joy by night or day--for those endowed _645
With art and wisdom who interrogate
It teaches, babbling in
delightful mood
All things which make the spirit most elate,

Soothing the mind with sweet familiar play,
Chasing the heavy
shadows of dismay. _650
83.
'To those who are unskilled in its sweet tongue,
Though they
should question most impetuously
Its hidden soul, it gossips
something wrong--
Some senseless and impertinent reply.
But thou
who art as wise as thou art strong _655 Canst compass all that thou
desirest. I
Present thee with this music-flowing shell,
Knowing thou
canst interrogate it well.
84.
'And let us two henceforth together feed,
On this green
mountain-slope