50.
And sneezed and shuddered--Phoebus on the gra.s.s _390 Him threw, and whilst all that he had designed He did perform--eager although to pa.s.s, Apollo darted from his mighty mind Towards the subtle babe the following scoff:-- "Do not imagine this will get you off, _395
51.
"You little swaddled child of Jove and May!
And seized him:--"By this omen I shall trace My n.o.ble herds, and you shall lead the way."-- Cyllenian Hermes from the gra.s.sy place, Like one in earnest haste to get away, _400 Rose, and with hands lifted towards his face Round both his ears up from his shoulders drew His swaddling clothes, and--"What mean you to do
52.
"With me, you unkind G.o.d?"--said Mercury: "Is it about these cows you tease me so? _405 I wish the race of cows were perished!--I Stole not your cows--I do not even know What things cows are. Alas! I well may sigh That since I came into this world of woe, I should have ever heard the name of one-- _410 But I appeal to the Saturnian"s throne."
53.
Thus Phoebus and the vagrant Mercury Talked without coming to an explanation, With adverse purpose. As for Phoebus, he Sought not revenge, but only information, _415 And Hermes tried with lies and roguery To cheat Apollo.--But when no evasion Served--for the cunning one his match had found-- He paced on first over the sandy ground.
54.
He of the Silver Bow the child of Jove _420 Followed behind, till to their heavenly Sire Came both his children, beautiful as Love, And from his equal balance did require A judgement in the cause wherein they strove.
O"er odorous Olympus and its snows _425 A murmuring tumult as they came arose,--
55.
And from the folded depths of the great Hill, While Hermes and Apollo reverent stood Before Jove"s throne, the indestructible Immortals rushed in mighty mult.i.tude; _430 And whilst their seats in order due they fill, The lofty Thunderer in a careless mood To Phoebus said:--"Whence drive you this sweet prey, This herald-baby, born but yesterday?--
56.
"A most important subject, trifler, this _435 To lay before the G.o.ds!"--"Nay, Father, nay, When you have understood the business, Say not that I alone am fond of prey.
I found this little boy in a recess Under Cyllene"s mountains far away-- _440 A manifest and most apparent thief, A scandalmonger beyond all belief.
57.
"I never saw his like either in Heaven Or upon earth for knavery or craft:-- Out of the field my cattle yester-even, _445 By the low sh.o.r.e on which the loud sea laughed, He right down to the river-ford had driven; And mere astonishment would make you daft To see the double kind of footsteps strange He has impressed wherever he did range. _450
58.
"The cattle"s track on the black dust, full well Is evident, as if they went towards The place from which they came--that asphodel Meadow, in which I feed my many herds,-- HIS steps were most incomprehensible-- _455 I know not how I can describe in words Those tracks--he could have gone along the sands Neither upon his feet nor on his hands;--
59.
"He must have had some other stranger mode Of moving on: those vestiges immense, _460 Far as I traced them on the sandy road, Seemed like the trail of oak-toppings:--but thence No mark nor track denoting where they trod The hard ground gave:--but, working at his fence, A mortal hedger saw him as he pa.s.sed _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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds, 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 mult.i.tude of the Immortals Pa.s.s and repa.s.s 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, ill.u.s.trating the birth Of the bright G.o.ds, and the dark desert Earth: _570
73.
And how to the Immortals every one A portion was a.s.signed of all that is; But chief Mnemosyne did Maia"s son Clothe in the light of his loud melodies;-- And, as each G.o.d 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 G.o.d inspired The power of unpremeditated song?
Many divinest sounds have I admired, The Olympian G.o.ds 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."