(l. 5) And so hail to you, lord:  in my song I make my prayer to thee!

XVII.  TO THE DIOSCURI (5 lines)

(ll. 1-4) Sing, clear-voiced Muse, of Castor and Polydeuces, the Tyndaridae, who sprang from Olympian Zeus.  Beneath the heights of Taygetus stately Leda bare them, when the dark-clouded Son of Cronos had privily bent her to his will.

(l. 5) Hail, children of Tyndareus, riders upon swift horses!

XVIII.  TO HERMES (12 lines)

(ll. 1-9) I sing of Cyllenian Hermes, the Slayer of Argus, lord of Cyllene and Arcadia rich in flocks, luck-bringing messenger of the deathless gods.  He was born of Maia, the daughter of Atlas, when she had made with Zeus, —­ a shy goddess she.  Ever she avoided the throng of the blessed gods and lived in a shadowy cave, and there the Son of Cronos used to lie with the rich-tressed nymph at dead of night, while white-armed Hera lay bound in sweet sleep:  and neither deathless god nor mortal man knew it.

(ll. 10-11) And so hail to you, Son of Zeus and Maia; with you I have begun:  now I will turn to another song!

(l. 12) Hail, Hermes, giver of grace, guide, and giver of good things! (31)

XIX.  TO PAN (49 lines)

(ll. 1-26) Muse, tell me about Pan, the dear son of Hermes, with his goat’s feet and two horns —­ a lover of merry noise.  Through wooded glades he wanders with dancing nymphs who foot it on some sheer cliff’s edge, calling upon Pan, the shepherd-god, long-haired, unkempt.  He has every snowy crest and the mountain peaks and rocky crests for his domain; hither and thither he goes through the close thickets, now lured by soft streams, and now he presses on amongst towering crags and climbs up to the highest peak that overlooks the flocks.  Often he courses through the glistening high mountains, and often on the shouldered hills he speeds along slaying wild beasts, this keen-eyed god.  Only at evening, as he returns from the chase, he sounds his note, playing sweet and low on his pipes of reed:  not even she could excel him in melody —­ that bird who in flower-laden spring pouring forth her lament utters honey-voiced song amid the leaves.  At that hour the clear-voiced nymphs are with him and move with nimble feet, singing by some spring of dark water, while Echo wails about the mountain-top, and the god on this side or on that of the choirs, or at times sidling into the midst, plies it nimbly with his feet.  On his back he wears a spotted lynx-pelt, and he delights in high-pitched songs in a soft meadow where crocuses and sweet-smelling hyacinths bloom at random in the grass.