Hermes

for I sent Hermes to warn him not to do either of these things, inasmuch as Orestes would be sure to take his revenge when he grew up and wanted to return home.

And Athena said, "Father, son of Kronos, King of kings, if, then, the gods now mean that Odysseus should get home, we should first send Hermes to the Ogygian island to tell Calypso that we have made up our minds and that he is to have his homecoming [ nostos].

Calypso gave Hermes a seat and said:

Zeus gave it to Hermes, slayer of Argos, guide and guardian.

Ares would have then perished had not fair Eeriboia, stepmother to the sons of Aloeus, told Hermes, who stole him away when he was already well-nigh worn out by the severity of his bondage.

He sprang towards Akamas, but Akamas did not stand his ground, and he killed Ilioneus son of the rich flock-master Phorbas, whom Hermes had favored and endowed with greater wealth than any other of the Trojans.

"To Zeus the Atlantid Maia bore glorious Hermes, the herald of the immortals, having mounted the holy bed;

But there were also, among the Egyptians, men who were once living and afterward became gods by human opinion:

There are, then, two-and-forty books altogether necessary to Hermes;

" Are they not, in truth, prodigious, who turn to stones, and then, moreover, set them up before their gates as though they were active, worshipping Hermes as a god and setting up Agyieus as a doorkeeper?

Why mention Nicagoras — he was a Zeleite by birth, of the times of Alexander — Hermes was Nicagoras called, and he used the dress of Hermes, as he himself testifies?

For what do you think, O men, the Tychon-Hermes is, and that of Andocides, and the Maimed one?

And he asked Hermes which of the gods she was;

Leading him there, then, Hermes pointed out the nature of the place.

and a great auspicious silence, untroubled and calm, held the place.

Dramatis Personae Strepsiades Phidippides Servant of Strepsiades Disciples of Socrates Socrates Chorus of Clouds Just Cause Unjust Cause Pasias Amynias Witness Chaerephon Hermes

Hermes:

But O dear Hermes, by no means be wroth with me, nor destroy me;

The son of Zeus, of Zeus, brought me to the Nile.

But Hera, the holy beloved of Zeus on her golden throne, sent the swift-footed son of Maia.

Hermes caught me up in the folds of the air and hid me in a cloud—for Zeus was not neglectful of me—and he set me down here in the house of Proteus, having selected the most self-controlled of all mankind, so that I might keep my bed pure for Menelaos.

Meantime Creusa, mother of this youth, is wedded to Xuthus;

there did Phoebus force his love on Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus, beneath the rock of Pallas, northward of Athens’ steep realm, called Macrae by the kings of Attica.

Atlas, who bears upon his brazen back the pressure of the sky, ancient dwelling of the gods, begat Maia from a daughter of one of those gods, and she bare me Hermes to mighty Zeus, to be the servant of the powers divine.

And Hermes of the golden wand sent two sons to take part in the unabating toil, Echion and Erytus, bursting with youth.

For the virgin goddess who showers arrows and Hermes the god of contests present the gleaming reins to him with both hands when he yokes the strength of his horses to the polished car, to the chariot that obeys the bit, and calls on the wide-ruling god who wields the trident.

There she will bear a child, whom famous Hermes will take from beneath his own dear mother and carry to the Seasons on their lovely thrones and to Gaia.

Well then, this name Hermes seems to me to have to do with speech;

By Zeus, I believe Cratylus was right in saying I was not Hermogenes;

I want to ask you about Hermes, since Cratylus says I am not Hermogenes (son of Hermes).

Maia’s son Hermes, who has shrouded the guile in darkness, leads him right to his goal and delays no longer.

O Hermes of the shades!

When Euphiletus saw my condition, he informed the others that I had consented to join them and had promised him to mutilate the Hermes next to the shrine of Phorbas as my share in the escapade.

Hermes is a god and has wings and flies, and so do many other gods.

May Hermes in the nether world, and Hades, too, give thee a kindly welcome!

what sorrows did the son of Zeus and Maia herald, in the day he came to Ida’s glen, guiding that fair young trio of goddesses, all girded for the fray in bitter rivalry about their beauty, to the shepherd’s fold, where dwelt the youthful herdsman all alone by the hearth of his lonely hut.

on the surrounding base of the shield’s rim, Perseus the throat-cutter, over the sea with winged sandals, was holding the Gorgon’s body, with Hermes, Zeus’ messenger, the rustic son of Maia.

Here one day came Pallas and Cypris of the subtle heart, Hera too and Hermes messenger of Zeus;

Now Maian Hermes guide thee to thy end

It was not so with the ithyphallic images of Hermes;

The Athenians, then, were the first Greeks to make ithyphallic images of Hermes, and they did this because the Pelasgians taught them.

Samothrace was formerly inhabited by those Pelasgians who came to live among the Athenians, and it is from them that the Samothracians take their rites.

And Maia, the daughter of Atlas, bore to Zeus glorious Hermes, the herald of the deathless gods, for she went up into his holy bed.

And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature.

But when he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argus-Slayer, the swift messenger of the gods, to take it to Epimetheus as a gift.

Also the Guide, the Slayer of Argus, contrived within her lies and crafty words and a deceitful nature at the will of loud thundering Zeus, and the Herald of the gods put speech in her.

Hail, Hermes, giver of grace, guide, and giver of good things!

I sing of Cyllenian Hermes, the Slayer of Argus, lord of Cyllene and Arcadia rich in flocks, luck-bringing messenger of the deathless gods.

Then luck-bringing Hermes received him and took him in his arms:

They sing of the blessed gods and high Olympus and choose to tell of such an one as luck-bringing Hermes above the rest, how he is the swift messenger of all the gods, and how he came to Arcadia, the land of many springs and mother of flocks, there where his sacred place is as god of Cyllene.

-->“Go now, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother, go, and feel kindly in your heart towards me:

And Hermes brought them to the place where rich-crowned Demeter was staying and checked them before her fragrant temple.

And Hermes obeyed, and leaving the house of Olympus, straightway sprang down with speed to the hidden places of the earth.