No More Learning

'The cattle's track on the black dust, full well
Is evident, as if they went towards
The place from which they came--that asphodel
Meadow, in which I feed my many herds,--
HIS steps were most incomprehensible-- _455
I know not how I can describe in words
Those tracks--he could have gone along the sands
Neither upon his feet nor on his hands;--

59.
'He must have had some other stranger mode
Of moving on: those vestiges immense, _460
Far as I traced them on the sandy road,
Seemed like the trail of oak-toppings:--but thence
No mark nor track denoting where they trod
The hard ground gave:--but, working at his fence,
A mortal hedger saw him as he passed _465
To Pylos, with the cows, in fiery haste.

60.
'I found that in the dark he quietly
Had sacrificed some cows, and before light
Had thrown the ashes all dispersedly
About the road--then, still as gloomy night, _470
Had crept into his cradle, either eye
Rubbing, and cogitating some new sleight.
No eagle could have seen him as he lay
Hid in his cavern from the peering day.

61.
'I taxed him with the fact, when he averred _475
Most solemnly that he did neither see
Nor even had in any manner heard
Of my lost cows, whatever things cows be;
Nor could he tell, though offered a reward,
Not even who could tell of them to me. ' _480
So speaking, Phoebus sate; and Hermes then
Addressed the Supreme Lord of Gods and Men:--

62.
'Great Father, you know clearly beforehand
That all which I shall say to you is sooth;
I am a most veracious person, and _485
Totally unacquainted with untruth.
At sunrise Phoebus came, but with no band
Of Gods to bear him witness, in great wrath,
To my abode, seeking his heifers there,
And saying that I must show him where they are, _490

63.
'Or he would hurl me down the dark abyss.
I know that every Apollonian limb
Is clothed with speed and might and manliness,
As a green bank with flowers--but unlike him
I was born yesterday, and you may guess _495
He well knew this when he indulged the whim
Of bullying a poor little new-born thing
That slept, and never thought of cow-driving.

64.
'Am I like a strong fellow who steals kine?
Believe me, dearest Father--such you are-- _500
This driving of the herds is none of mine;
Across my threshold did I wander ne'er,
So may I thrive!
I reverence the divine
Sun and the Gods, and I love you, and care
Even for this hard accuser--who must know _505
I am as innocent as they or you.

65.
'I swear by these most gloriously-wrought portals
(It is, you will allow, an oath of might)
Through which the multitude of the Immortals
Pass and repass forever, day and night, _510
Devising schemes for the affairs of mortals--
I am guiltless; and I will requite,
Although mine enemy be great and strong,
His cruel threat--do thou defend the young! '

66.
So speaking, the Cyllenian Argiphont _515
Winked, as if now his adversary was fitted:--
And Jupiter, according to his wont,
Laughed heartily to hear the subtle-witted
Infant give such a plausible account,
And every word a lie. But he remitted _520
Judgement at present--and his exhortation
Was, to compose the affair by arbitration.

67.
And they by mighty Jupiter were bidden
To go forth with a single purpose both,
Neither the other chiding nor yet chidden: _525
And Mercury with innocence and truth
To lead the way, and show where he had hidden
The mighty heifers. --Hermes, nothing loth,
Obeyed the Aegis-bearer's will--for he
Is able to persuade all easily. _530

68.
These lovely children of Heaven's highest Lord
Hastened to Pylos and the pastures wide
And lofty stalls by the Alphean ford,
Where wealth in the mute night is multiplied
With silent growth. Whilst Hermes drove the herd _535
Out of the stony cavern, Phoebus spied
The hides of those the little babe had slain,
Stretched on the precipice above the plain.

69.
'How was it possible,' then Phoebus said,
'That you, a little child, born yesterday, _540
A thing on mother's milk and kisses fed,
Could two prodigious heifers ever flay?
Even I myself may well hereafter dread
Your prowess, offspring of Cyllenian May,
When you grow strong and tall. '--He spoke, and bound _545
Stiff withy bands the infant's wrists around.