Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/91

 HERMES.- HOMERIC HYMN. 59 gods brings him perpetually on the stage, and affords ample scope for portraying the features of his character. The Homeric hymn to Hermes describes the scene and circumstances of his birth, and the almost instantaneous manifestation, even in infancy, of his peculiar attributes ; it explains the friendly footing on which he stood with Apollo, the interchange of gifts and functions between them, and lastly, the inviolate security of all the wealth and offerings in the Delphian temple, exposed as they were to thieves without any visible protection. Such was the innate cleverness and talent of Hermes, that on the day he was born he invented the lyre, stringing the seven chords on the shell of a tortoise r 1 and he also stole the cattle of Apollo in Pieria, dragging them backwards to his cave in Arcadia, so that their track could not be detected. To the remonstrances of his mother Maia, who points out to him the danger of offending Apollo, Hermes replies, that he aspires to rival the dignity and functions of Apollo among the immortals, and that if his father Zeus refuses to grant them to him, he will employ his powers of thiev- ing in breaking open the sanctuary at Delphi, and in carrying away the gold and the vestments, the precious tripods and ves- sels. 2 Presently Apollo discovers the loss of his cattle, and after some trouble finds his way to the Kyllenian cavern, where he sees Hermes asleep in his cradle. The child denies the theft with effrontery, and even treats the surmise as a ridiculous impos- sibility : he persists in such denial even before Zeus, who how- ever detects him at once, and compels him to reveal the place where the cattle are concealed. But the lyre was as yet un- known to Apollo, who has heard nothing except the voice of the Muses and the sound of the pipe. So powerfully is he fascinated by hearing the tones of the lyre from Hermes, and so eager to become possessed of it, that he is willing at once to pardon the past 1 Homer. Hymn. Mercur. 18. /Jotif K^.i~^tv tKijfiotov 'AjroA/lwvof, etc. ~El[u y<ip if Hv-9uva, peyav "'Ev&ev uTitf rp'nrotias irepm Kot xP va ^ v t etc.
 * Homer. Hymn. Merc. 177.