'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.
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.
Shelley
--But when no evasion
Served--for the cunning one his match had found--
He paced on first over the sandy ground.
54.
. . .
He of the Silver Bow the child of Jove _420
Followed behind, till to their heavenly Sire
Came both his children, beautiful as Love,
And from his equal balance did require
A judgement in the cause wherein they strove.
O'er odorous Olympus and its snows _425
A murmuring tumult as they came arose,--
55.
And from the folded depths of the great Hill,
While Hermes and Apollo reverent stood
Before Jove's throne, the indestructible
Immortals rushed in mighty multitude; _430
And whilst their seats in order due they fill,
The lofty Thunderer in a careless mood
To Phoebus said:--'Whence drive you this sweet prey,
This herald-baby, born but yesterday? --
56.
'A most important subject, trifler, this _435
To lay before the Gods! '--'Nay, Father, nay,
When you have understood the business,
Say not that I alone am fond of prey.
I found this little boy in a recess
Under Cyllene's mountains far away-- _440
A manifest and most apparent thief,
A scandalmonger beyond all belief.
57.
'I never saw his like either in Heaven
Or upon earth for knavery or craft:--
Out of the field my cattle yester-even, _445
By the low shore on which the loud sea laughed,
He right down to the river-ford had driven;
And mere astonishment would make you daft
To see the double kind of footsteps strange
He has impressed wherever he did range. _450
58.
'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.
Served--for the cunning one his match had found--
He paced on first over the sandy ground.
54.
. . .
He of the Silver Bow the child of Jove _420
Followed behind, till to their heavenly Sire
Came both his children, beautiful as Love,
And from his equal balance did require
A judgement in the cause wherein they strove.
O'er odorous Olympus and its snows _425
A murmuring tumult as they came arose,--
55.
And from the folded depths of the great Hill,
While Hermes and Apollo reverent stood
Before Jove's throne, the indestructible
Immortals rushed in mighty multitude; _430
And whilst their seats in order due they fill,
The lofty Thunderer in a careless mood
To Phoebus said:--'Whence drive you this sweet prey,
This herald-baby, born but yesterday? --
56.
'A most important subject, trifler, this _435
To lay before the Gods! '--'Nay, Father, nay,
When you have understood the business,
Say not that I alone am fond of prey.
I found this little boy in a recess
Under Cyllene's mountains far away-- _440
A manifest and most apparent thief,
A scandalmonger beyond all belief.
57.
'I never saw his like either in Heaven
Or upon earth for knavery or craft:--
Out of the field my cattle yester-even, _445
By the low shore on which the loud sea laughed,
He right down to the river-ford had driven;
And mere astonishment would make you daft
To see the double kind of footsteps strange
He has impressed wherever he did range. _450
58.
'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.
