The Complete Poetical Works, vol 3 | Page 6

them on the sandy road,?Seemed like the trail of oak-toppings:--but thence?No mark nor track denoting where they trod?The hard ground gave:--but, working at his fence,?A mortal hedger saw him as he passed _465 To Pylos, with the cows, in fiery haste.
60.?'I found that in the dark he quietly?Had sacrificed some cows, and before light?Had thrown the ashes all dispersedly?About the road--then, still as gloomy night, _470 Had crept into his cradle, either eye?Rubbing, and cogitating some new sleight.?No eagle could have seen him as he lay?Hid in his cavern from the peering day.
61.?'I taxed him with the fact, when he averred _475 Most solemnly that he did neither see?Nor even had in any manner heard?Of my lost cows, whatever things cows be;?Nor could he tell, though offered a reward,?Not even who could tell of them to me.' _480 So speaking, Phoebus sate; and Hermes then?Addressed the Supreme Lord of Gods and Men:--
62.?'Great Father, you know clearly beforehand?That all which I shall say to you is sooth;?I am a most veracious person, and _485 Totally unacquainted with untruth.?At sunrise Phoebus came, but with no band?Of Gods to bear him witness, in great wrath,?To my abode, seeking his heifers there,?And saying that I must show him where they are, _490
63.?'Or he would hurl me down the dark abyss.?I know that every Apollonian limb?Is clothed with speed and might and manliness,?As a green bank with flowers--but unlike him?I was born yesterday, and you may guess _495 He well knew this when he indulged the whim?Of bullying a poor little new-born thing?That slept, and never thought of cow-driving.
64.?'Am I like a strong fellow who steals kine??Believe me, dearest Father--such you are-- _500 This driving of the herds is none of mine;?Across my threshold did I wander ne'er,?So may I thrive! I reverence the divine?Sun and the Gods, and I love you, and care?Even for this hard accuser--who must know _505 I am as innocent as they or you.
65.?'I swear by these most gloriously-wrought portals?(It is, you will allow, an oath of might)?Through which the multitude of the Immortals?Pass and repass forever, day and night, _510 Devising schemes for the affairs of mortals--?I am guiltless; and I will requite,?Although mine enemy be great and strong,?His cruel threat--do thou defend the young!'
66.?So speaking, the Cyllenian Argiphont _515 Winked, as if now his adversary was fitted:--?And Jupiter, according to his wont,?Laughed heartily to hear the subtle-witted?Infant give such a plausible account,?And every word a lie. But he remitted _520 Judgement at present--and his exhortation?Was, to compose the affair by arbitration.
67.?And they by mighty Jupiter were bidden?To go forth with a single purpose both,?Neither the other chiding nor yet chidden: _525 And Mercury with innocence and truth?To lead the way, and show where he had hidden?The mighty heifers.--Hermes, nothing loth,?Obeyed the Aegis-bearer's will--for he?Is able to persuade all easily. _530
68.?These lovely children of Heaven's highest Lord?Hastened to Pylos and the pastures wide?And lofty stalls by the Alphean ford,?Where wealth in the mute night is multiplied?With silent growth. Whilst Hermes drove the herd _535 Out of the stony cavern, Phoebus spied?The hides of those the little babe had slain,?Stretched on the precipice above the plain.
69.?'How was it possible,' then Phoebus said,?'That you, a little child, born yesterday, _540 A thing on mother's milk and kisses fed,?Could two prodigious heifers ever flay??Even I myself may well hereafter dread?Your prowess, offspring of Cyllenian May,?When you grow strong and tall.'--He spoke, and bound _545 Stiff withy bands the infant's wrists around.
70.?He might as well have bound the oxen wild;?The withy bands, though starkly interknit,?Fell at the feet of the immortal child,?Loosened by some device of his quick wit. _550 Phoebus perceived himself again beguiled,?And stared--while Hermes sought some hole or pit,?Looking askance and winking fast as thought,?Where he might hide himself and not be caught.
71.?Sudden he changed his plan, and with strange skill _555 Subdued the strong Latonian, by the might?Of winning music, to his mightier will;?His left hand held the lyre, and in his right?The plectrum struck the chords--unconquerable?Up from beneath his hand in circling flight _560 The gathering music rose--and sweet as Love?The penetrating notes did live and move
72.?Within the heart of great Apollo--he?Listened with all his soul, and laughed for pleasure.?Close to his side stood harping fearlessly _565 The unabashed boy; and to the measure?Of the sweet lyre, there followed loud and free?His joyous voice; for he unlocked the treasure?Of his deep song, illustrating the birth?Of the bright Gods, and the dark desert Earth: _570
73.?And how to the Immortals every one?A portion was assigned of all that is;?But chief Mnemosyne did Maia's son?Clothe in the light of his loud melodies;--?And, as each God was born or had begun, _575 He in their order due and fit degrees?Sung of his birth and being--and did move?Apollo to unutterable love.
74.?These words were