Bibliotheca Polyglotta

καὶ τὰ μὲν οὖν ἤειδε, τὰ δὲ φρεσὶν ἄλλα μενοίνα.
καὶ τὴν μὲν κατέθηκε φέρων ἱερῷ ἐνὶ λίκνῳ,
φόρμιγγα γλαφυρήν: ὃ δ᾽ ἄρα κρειῶν ἐρατίζων
ἆλτο κατὰ σκοπιὴν εὐώδεος ἐκ μεγάροιο
ὁρμαίνων δόλον αἰπὺν ἐνὶ φρεσίν, οἶά τε φῶτες
φηληταὶ διέπουσι μελαίνης νυκτὸς ἐν ὥρῃ.

Hermes steals Apollo’s sacrificial cattle
62-67 But while he was singing of all these, his heart was bent
on other matters. And he took the hollow lyre and laid it in his sacred
cradle, and sprang from the sweet-smelling hall to a watch-place,
pondering sheer trickery in his heart--deeds such as knavish folk pursue
in the dark night-time; for he longed to taste flesh.

ἠέλιος μὲν ἔδυνε κατὰ χθονὸς Ὠκεανόνδε
αὐτοῖσίν θ᾽ ἵπποισι καὶ ἅρμασιν: αὐτὰρ ἄρ᾽ Ἑρμῆς
Πιερίης ἀφίκανε θέων ὄρεα σκιόεντα,
ἔνθα θεῶν μακάρων βόες ἄμβροτοι αὖλιν ἔχεσκον
βοσκόμεναι λειμῶνας ἀκηρασίους, ἐρατεινούς.
τῶν τότε Μαιάδος υἱός, ἐύσκοπος Ἀργειφόντης,
πεντήκοντ᾽ ἀγέλης ἀπετάμνετο βοῦς ἐριμύκους.
πλανοδίας δ᾽ ἤλαυνε διὰ ψαμαθώδεα χῶρον
ἴχνι᾽ ἀποστρέψας: δολίης δ᾽ οὐ λήθετο τέχνης
ἀντία ποιήσας ὁπλάς, τὰς πρόσθεν ὄπισθεν,
τὰς δ᾽ ὄπιθεν πρόσθεν: κατὰ δ᾽ ἔμπαλιν αὐτὸς ἔβαινε.

68-78 The Sun was going down beneath the earth towards Ocean
with his horses and chariot when Hermes came hurrying to the shadowy
mountains of Pieria, where the divine cattle of the blessed gods had
their steads and grazed the pleasant, unmown meadows. Of these the Son
of Maia, the sharp-eyed slayer of Argus then cut off from the herd fifty
loud-lowing kine, and drove them straggling-wise across a sandy place,
turning their hoof-prints aside. Also, he bethought him of a crafty ruse
and reversed the marks of their hoofs, making the front behind and the
hind before, while he himself walked the other way .

σάνδαλα δ᾽ αὐτίκα ῥιψὶν ἐπὶ ψαμάθοις ἁλίῃσιν,
ἄφραστ᾽ ἠδ᾽ ἀνόητα διέπλεκε, θαυματὰ ἔργα,
συμμίσγων μυρίκας καὶ μυρσινοειδέας ὄζους.
τῶν τότε συνδήσας νεοθηλέος ἄγκαλον ὕλης
ἀβλαβέως ὑπὸ ποσσὶν ἐδήσατο σάνδαλα κοῦφα
αὐτοῖσιν πετάλοισι τὰ κύδιμος Ἀργειφόντης
ἔσπασε Πιερίηθεν ὁδοιπορίην ἀλεγύνων,
οἷά τ᾽ ἐπειγόμενος δολιχὴν ὁδόν, αὐτοτροπήσας.†

79-86 Then he
wove sandals with wicker-work by the sand of the sea, wonderful
things, unthought of, unimagined; for he mixed together tamarisk and
myrtle-twigs, fastening together an armful of their fresh, young wood,
and tied them, leaves and all securely under his feet as light sandals.
The brushwood the glorious Slayer of Argus plucked in Pieria as he was
preparing for his journey, making shift as one making haste for a
long journey.

τὸν δὲ γέρων ἐνόησε δέμων ἀνθοῦσαν ἀλωὴν
ἱέμενον πεδίονδε δι᾽ Ὀγχηστὸν λεχεποίην
τὸν πρότερος προσέφη Μαίης ἐρικυδέος υἱός:

87-89 But an old man tilling his flowering vineyard saw him as he
was hurrying down the plain through grassy Onchestus. So the Son of Maia
began and said to him:

ὦ γέρον, ὅστε φυτὰ σκάπτεις ἐπικαμπύλος ὤμους,
ἦ πολυοινήσεις, εὖτ᾽ ἂν τάδε πάντα φέρῃσι,
[εἴ κε πίθῃ, μάλα περ μεμνημένος ἐν φρεσὶ σῇσι]
καί τε ἰδὼν μὴ ἰδὼν εἶναι καὶ κωφὸς ἀκούσας,
καὶ σιγᾶν ὅτε μή τι καταβλάπτῃ τὸ σὸν αὐτοῦ.

90-93 Old man, digging about your vines with bowed shoulders,
surely you shall have much wine when all these bear fruit, if you obey
me and strictly remember not to have seen what you have seen, and not to
have heard what you have heard, and to keep silent when nothing of your
own is harmed.

τόσσον φὰς συνέσευε βοῶν ἴφθιμα κάρηνα.
πολλὰ δ᾽ ὄρη σκιόεντα καὶ αὐλῶνας κελαδεινοὺς
καὶ πεδί᾽ ἀνθεμόεντα διήλασε κύδιμος Ἑρμῆς.
ὀρφναίη δ᾽ ἐπίκουρος ἐπαύετο δαιμονίη νύξ,
ἡ πλείων, τάχα δ᾽ ὄρθρος ἐγίγνετο δημιοεργός:
ἣ δὲ νέον σκοπιὴν προσεβήσατο δῖα Σελήνη,
Πάλλαντος θυγάτηρ Μεγαμηδείδαο ἄνακτος.
τῆμος ἐπ᾽ Ἀλφειὸν ποταμὸν Διὸς ἄλκιμος υἱὸς
Φοίβου Ἀπόλλωνος βοῦς ἤλασεν εὐρυμετώπους.
ἀκμῆτες δ᾽ ἵκανον ἐπ᾽ αὔλιον ὑψιμέλαθρον
καὶ ληνοὺς προπάροιθεν ἀριπρεπέος λειμῶνος.
ἔνθ᾽ ἐπεὶ εὖ βοτάνης ἐπεφόρβει βοῦς ἐριμύκους
καὶ τὰς μὲν συνέλασσεν ἐς αὔλιον ἀθρόας οὔσας,
λωτὸν ἐρεπτομένας ἠδ᾽ ἑρσήεντα κύπειρον:
σὺν δ᾽ ἐφόρει ξύλα πολλά, πυρὸς δ᾽ ἐπεμαίετο τέχνην.

94-108 When he had said this much, he hurried the strong cattle on
together: through many shadowy mountains and echoing gorges and flowery
plains glorious Hermes drove them. And now the divine night, his dark
ally, was mostly passed, and dawn that sets folk to work was quickly
coming on, while bright Selene, daughter of the lord Pallas, Megamedes
son, had just climbed her watch-post, when the strong Son of Zeus drove
the wide-browed cattle of Phoebus Apollo to the river Alpheus. And they
came unwearied to the high-roofed byres and the drinking-troughs
that were before the noble meadow. Then, after he had well-fed the
loud-bellowing cattle with fodder and driven them into the byre,
close-packed and chewing lotus and began to seek the art of fire.

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