And from the folded depths of the great Hill,
While Hermes and Apollo reverent stood
Before Jove's throne, the indestructible

Immortals rush'd in mighty multitude;
And whilst their seats in order do they fill,
The lofty Thunderer in a careless mood

LXI.

"I tax'd him with the fact, when he averr'd
Most solemnly that he did neither see
Or even had in any manner heard

Of my lost cows, whatever things cows be,
Nor could he tell, though offer'd a reward,

Not even who could tell of them to me."
So speaking, Phoebus sate; and Hermes then
Address'd the Supreme Lord of Gods and met

LXII.

"Great Father, you know clearly beforehand,
That all which I shall say to you is sooth;
I am a most veracious person, and
Totally unacquainted with untruth.

At sunrise, Phoebus came, but with no band
Of Gods to bear him witness, in great wrath,

To Phœbus said: "Whence drive you this sweet prey, To my abode, seeking his heifers there,
The herald-baby born but yesterday?—

LVI.

"A most important subject, trifler, this

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-
A manifest and most apparent thief,
A scandal-monger beyond all belief.

LVII.

"I never saw his like either in heaven Or upon earth for knavery or craft: Out of the field my cattle yester-even,

By the low shore on which the loud sea laugh'd,
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 impress'd wherever he did range.
LVIII.

"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-

I know not how I can describe in words
Those tracks-he could have gone along the
Neither upon his feet nor on his hands;-

LIX.

He must have had some other stranger mode
Of moving on: those vestiges immense,
Far as I traced them on the sandy road,

And saying that I must show him where they are,

LXIII.

"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

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.

LXIV.

"Am I like a strong fellow who steals kine?
Believe me, dearest Father, such you are,
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
I am as innocent as they or you.

LXV.

"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 for ever, day and night,
Devising schemes for the affairs of mortals-

That I am guiltless; and I will requite,
sandsAlthough mine enemy be great and strong,
His cruel threat-do thou defend the young!"

Seem'd like the trail of oak-topplings:-but thence
No mark or track denoting where they trod
The hard ground gave :-but working at his fence,
A mortal hedger saw him as he past
To Pylos, with the cows, in fiery haste.

LXVI.

So speaking, the Cyllenian Agriphont
Wink'd, as if now his adversary was fitted:
And Jupiter, according to his wont,

Laugh'd heartily to hear the subtle-witted
Infant give such a plausible account,

And every word a lie. But he remitted
Judgment at present-and his exhortation
Was, to compose the affair by arbitration.

XCV.

"They, having eaten the fresh honey, grow
Drunk with divine enthusiasm, and utter
With earnest willingness the truth they know;
But if deprived of that sweet food, they mutter
All plausible delusions;-these to you

I give ;-if you inquire, they will not stutter;
Delight your own soul with them:—any man
You would instruct, may profit, if he can.

XCVI.

"Take these and the fierce oxen, Maia's childO'er many a horse and toil-enduring mule, O'er jagg'd-jaw'd lions, and the wild

White-tusked boars, o'er all, by field or pool, Of cattle which the mighty Mother mild

Nourishes in her bosom, thou shalt ruleThou dost alone the veil of death upliftThou givest not-yet this is a great gift."

XCVII.

Thus king Apollo loved the child of May

In truth, and Jove cover'd them with love and joy.
Hermes with Gods and men even from that day
Mingled, and wrought the latter much annoy,
And little profit, going far astray

Through the dun night. Farewell, delightful Boy,
Of Jove and Maia sprung,-never by me,
Nor thou, nor other songs shall unremember'd be.

THE CYCLOPS;

A SATIRIC DRAMA.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK OF EURIPIDES.

SILENUS.

CHORUS OF SATYRS.
ULYSSES.

THE CYCLOps.

SILENUS.

O, BACCHUS, what a world of toil, both now
And ere these limbs were overworn with age,
Have I endured for thee! First, when thou fledd'st
The mountain-nymphs who nurst thee, driven afar
By the strange madness Juno sent upon thee;
Then in the battle of the sons of Earth,
When I stood foot by foot close to thy side,
No unpropitious fellow-combatant,

And driving through his shield my winged spear,
Slew vast Enceladus. Consider now,

Is it a dream of which I speak to thee?

By Jove it is not, for you have the trophies!
And now I suffer more than all before.
For when I heard that Juno had devised
A tedious voyage for you, I put to sea
With all my children quaint in search of you;
And I myself stood on the beaked prow
And fix'd the naked mast, and all my boys
Leaning upon their oars, with splash and strain
Made white with foam the green and purple sea,-
And so we sought you, king. We were sailing
Near Malea, when an eastern wind arose,
And drove us to this wild Etnean rock;

The one-eyed children of the Ocean God,

The man-destroying Cyclopses inhabit,
On this wild shore, their solitary caves,

And one of these, named Polypheme, has caught us
To be his slaves; and so, for all delight

Of Bacchic sports, sweet dance and melody,
We keep this lawless giant's wandering flocks.
My sons indeed, on far declivities,

Young things themselves, tend on the youngling sheep,
But I remain to fill the water-casks,

Or sweeping the hard floor, or ministering
Some impious and abominable meal
To the fell Cyclops. I am wearied of it!
And now I must scrape up the litter'd floor
With this great iron rake, so to receive
My absent master and his evening sheep
In a cave neat and clean. Even now I see
My children tending the flocks hitherward.
Ha! what is this? are your Sicinnian measures
Even now the same, as when with dance and song
You brought young Bacchus to Athaa's halls?

The Antistrophe is omitted.

Whence come they, that they know not what and who
My master is, approaching in ill hour
The inhospitable roof of Polypheme,
And the Cyclopian jaw-bone, man-destroying?
Be silent, Satyrs, while I ask and hear
Whence coming, they arrive at the Etnean hill

ULYSSES.

SILENUS.

They think the sweetest thing a stranger brings
Is his own flesh.

ULYSSES.

What do they eat man's flesh?

SILENUS.

No one comes here who is not eaten up.

ULYSSES.

SILENUS.

Absent on Etna, hunting with his dogs.

Friends, can you show me some clear water spring, The Cyclops now-Where is he? Not at home?
The remedy of our thirst? Will any one
Furnish with food seamen in want of it?
Ha! what is this?-We seem to be arrived
At the blithe court of Bacchus. I observe
This sportive band of Satyrs near the caves.
First let me greet the elder.-Hail!

SILENUS.

Hail thou,

O Stranger! tell thy country and thy race.

ULYSSES.

The Ithacan Ulysses and the king

Of Cephalonia.

SILENUS.

Oh! I know the man, Wordy and shrewd, the son of Sisyphus.

ULYSSES.

Fam the same, but do not rail upon me.

SILENUS.

Whence sailing do you come to Sicily?

ULYSSES.

From Ilion, and from the Trojan toils.

SILENUS.

How, touch'd you not at your paternal shore?

ULYSSES.

The strength of tempests bore me here by force.

SILENUS.

The self-same accident occurr'd to me.

ULYSSES.

Were you then driven here by stress of weather?

SILENUS.

Following the pirates who had kidnapp'd Bacchus.

ULYSSES.

What land is this, and who inhabit it?

SILENUS.

Etna, the loftiest peak in Sicily.

ULYSSES.

And are there walls, and tower-surrounded towns?

SILENUS.

There are not: these lone rocks are bare of men.

ULYSSES.

And who possess the land? the race of beasts?

SILENUS.

Cyclops, who live in caverns, not in houses.

ULYSSES.

Obeying whom? Or is the state popular?

SILENUS.

Shepherds: no one obeys any in aught.

ULYSSES.

How live they? do they sow the corn of Ceres?

SILENUS.

On milk and cheese, and on the flesh of sheep.

ULYSSES.

Have they the Bromian drink from the vine's stream? You see it then?—

SILENUS.

Ah no! they live in an ungracious land.

ULYSSES.

And are they just to strangers ?-hospitable?

ULYSSES.

SILENUS.

By Jove, no! but I smell it.

ULYSSES.

Taste, that you may not praise it in words only.