καὶ τότ᾽ ἐγείνατο παῖδα πολύτροπον, αἱμυλομήτην,
ληιστῆρ᾽, ἐλατῆρα βοῶν, ἡγήτορ᾽ ὀνείρων,
νυκτὸς ὀπωπητῆρα, πυληδόκον, ὃς τάχ᾽ ἔμελλεν
ἀμφανέειν κλυτὰ ἔργα μετ᾽ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσιν.
ἠῷος γεγονὼς μέσῳ ἤματι ἐγκιθάριζεν,
ἑσπέριος βοῦς κλέψεν ἑκηβόλου Ἀπόλλωνος
τετράδι τῇ προτέρῃ, τῇ μιν τέκε πότνια Μαῖα.
ὃς καί, ἐπειδὴ μητρὸς ἀπ᾽ ἀθανάτων θόρε γυίων,
οὐκέτι δηρὸν ἔκειτο μένων ἱερῷ ἐνὶ λίκνῳ,
ἀλλ᾽ ὅ γ᾽ ἀναΐξας ζήτει βόας Ἀπόλλωνος
οὐδὸν ὑπερβαίνων ὑψηρεφέος ἄντροιο.
ἔνθα χέλυν εὑρὼν ἐκτήσατο μυρίον ὄλβον:
Ἑρμῆς τοι πρώτιστα χέλυν τεκτήνατ᾽ ἀοιδόν:
ἥ ῥά οἱ ἀντεβόλησεν ἐπ᾽ αὐλείῃσι θύρῃσι
βοσκομένη προπάροιθε δόμων ἐριθηλέα ποίην,
σαῦλα ποσὶν βαίνουσα: Διὸς δ᾽ ἐριούνιος υἱὸς
ἀθρήσας ἐγέλασσε καὶ αὐτίκα μῦθον ἔειπε:
Hermes comes into the world
13-29 For
then she bare a son, of many shifts, blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle
driver, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates,
one who was soon to show forth wonderful deeds among the deathless gods.
Born with the dawning, at mid-day he played on the lyre, and in the
evening he stole the cattle of far-shooting Apollo on the fourth day
of the month; for on that day queenly Maia bare him. So soon as he had
leaped from his mother’s heavenly womb, he lay not long waiting in his
holy cradle, but he sprang up and sought the oxen of Apollo. But as he
stepped over the threshold of the high-roofed cave, he found a tortoise
there and gained endless delight. For it was Hermes who first made the
tortoise a singer. The creature fell in his way at the courtyard gate,
where it was feeding on the rich grass before the dwelling, waddling
along. When he saw it, the luck-bringing son of Zeus laughed and said:
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