Bibliotheca Polyglotta

δάφνης ἀγλαὸν ὄζον ἑλὼν ἀπέλεψε σιδήρῳ
... ἄρμενον ἐν παλάμῃ: ἄμπνυτο δὲ θερμὸς ἀυτμή:
Ἑρμῆς τοι πρώτιστα πυρήια πῦρ τ᾽ ἀνέδωκε.
πολλὰ δὲ κάγκανα κᾶλα κατουδαίῳ ἐνὶ βόθρῳ
οὖλα λαβὼν ἐπέθηκεν ἐπηετανά: λάμπετο δὲ φλὸξ
τηλόσε φῦσαν ἱεῖσα πυρὸς μέγα δαιομένοιο.

Hermes makes a fire
109-114 He chose a stout laurel branch and trimmed it with the knife....
....held firmly in his hand: and the hot smoke rose
up. For it was Hermes who first invented fire-sticks and fire. Next
he took many dried sticks and piled them thick and plenty in a
sunken trench: and flame began to glow, spreading afar the blast of
fierce-burning fire.

ὄφρα δὲ πῦρ ἀνέκαιε βίη κλυτοῦ Ἡφαίστοιο,
τόφρα δ᾽ ὑποβρύχους ἕλικας βοῦς εἷλκε θύραζε
δοιὰς ἄγχι πυρός: δύναμις δέ οἱ ἕσπετο πολλή.
ἀμφοτέρας δ᾽ ἐπὶ νῶτα χαμαὶ βάλε φυσιοώσας:
ἀγκλίνων δ᾽ ἐκύλινδε δι᾽ αἰῶνας τετορήσας.
ἔργῳ δ᾽ ἔργον ὄπαζε ταμὼν κρέα πίονα δημῷ:
ὤπτα δ᾽ ἀμφ᾽ ὀβελοῖσι πεπαρμένα δουρατέοισι
σάρκας ὁμοῦ καὶ νῶτα γεράσμια καὶ μέλαν αἷμα
ἐργμένον ἐν χολάδεσσι: τὰ δ᾽ αὐτοῦ κεῖτ᾽ ἐπὶ χώρης:
ῥινοὺς δ᾽ ἐξετάνυσσε καταστυφέλῳ ἐνὶ πέτρῃ,
ὡς ἔτι νῦν τὰ μέτασσα πολυχρόνιοι πεφύασι,
δηρὸν δὴ μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἄκριτον: αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα
Ἑρμῆς χαρμόφρων εἰρύσατο πίονα ἔργα
λείῳ ἐπὶ πλαταμῶνι καὶ ἔσχισε δώδεκα μοίρας
κληροπαλεῖς: τέλεον δὲ γέρας προσέθηκεν ἑκάστῃ.

115-129 And while the strength of glorious Hephaestus was
beginning to kindle the fire, he dragged out two lowing, horned cows
close to the fire; for great strength was with him. He threw them both
panting upon their backs on the ground, and rolled them on their sides,
bending their necks over , and pierced their vital chord. Then he
went on from task to task: first he cut up the rich, fatted meat, and
pierced it with wooden spits, and roasted flesh and the honourable chine
and the paunch full of dark blood all together. He laid them there upon
the ground, and spread out the hides on a rugged rock: and so they are
still there many ages afterwards, a long, long time after all this, and
are continually .

ἔνθ᾽ ὁσίης κρεάων ἠράσσατο κύδιμος Ἑρμῆς:
ὀδμὴ γάρ μιν ἔτειρε καὶ ἀθάνατόν περ ἐόντα
ἡδεῖ᾽: ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὥς οἱ ἐπείθετο θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ,
καί τε μάλ᾽ ἱμείροντι, περῆν† ἱερῆς κατὰ δειρῆς.
ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν κατέθηκεν ἐς αὔλιον ὑψιμέλαθρον,
δημὸν καὶ κρέα πολλά, μετήορα δ᾽ αἶψ᾽ ἀνάειρε,
σῆμα νέης φωρῆς: ἐπὶ δὲ ξύλα κάγκαν᾽ ἀγείρας
οὐλόποδ᾽, οὐλοκάρηνα πυρὸς κατεδάμνατ᾽ ἀυτμῇ.

130-137 Next glad-hearted Hermes dragged the rich meats
he had prepared and put them on a smooth, flat stone, and divided them
into twelve portions distributed by lot, making each portion wholly
honourable. Then glorious Hermes longed for the sacrificial meat, for
the sweet savour wearied him, god though he was; nevertheless his proud
heart was not prevailed upon to devour the flesh, although he greatly
desired . But he put away the fat and all the flesh in the
high-roofed byre, placing them high up to be a token of his youthful
theft. And after that he gathered dry sticks and utterly destroyed with
fire all the hoofs and all the heads.

αὐτὰρ ἐπεί τοι πάντα κατὰ χρέος ἤνυσε δαίμων,
σάνδαλα μὲν προέηκεν ἐς Ἀλφειὸν βαθυδίνην:
ἀνθρακιὴν δ᾽ ἐμάρανε, κόνιν δ᾽ ἀμάθυνε μέλαιναν
παννύχιος: καλὸν δὲ φόως κατέλαμπε Σελήνης.

138-141 And when the god had duly finished all, he threw his
sandals into deep-eddying Alpheus, and quenched the embers, covering the
black ashes with sand, and so spent the night while Selene’s soft light
shone down.

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