Page:The Odyssey of Homer, with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice (Buckley 1853).djvu/412

376 Mercury, perceiving the Far-Darter, draw himself away. And in a small place he gathered up his head, and hands, and feet, because just washed, seeking sweet sleep after hunting, and he held the new-formed lyre under his shoulder. But the son of Jove and Latona recognised, nor failed to perceive the all-beauteous mountain nymph and her dear son, a little boy, swathed up in crafty tricks. And having looked around every cranny of the large dwelling, taking a shining key, he opened three recesses full of nectar and delightful ambrosia. And much gold and silver lay within, and many purple and white-woven garments of the nymph, such as the sacred dwellings of the blessed gods contain within. Here after the son of Latona had searched out the crannies of the large dwelling, he addressed glorious Mercury in words:

"O boy, who reclinest in a cradle, at once tell me where my bulls are, since we shall otherwise quarrel not fittingly. For I will hurl thee into murky Tartarus, into sorrowful and inextricable darkness; nor shall thy mother nor thy sire bring thee forth into the light, but beneath the earth shalt thou perish, acting as leader over a few men."

But him Mercury answered with crafty words: "O son of Latona, what hard word is this thou hast said? And why