Muses

as they say that in Thrace one Orpheus, a son of a Muse, came to be, and another, a shepherd on some mountain of Boeotia, heard the Muses themselves;

But the one that will be nearest and most to the point must be sought out, and, having called upon Persuasion and the Muses and Apollo, set forth as earnestly as we can.

not even if I had ten tongues and ten mouths, and an unbreakable voice, and a heart of bronze within me, unless the Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus, should call to mind how great wickedness is among all — not among you alone.

As for the common warriors, they were so that I could not name every single one of them though I had ten tongues, and though my voice failed not and my heart were of bronze within me, unless you, O Olympian Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus, were to recount them to me.

He was returning from Oechalia, where Eurytos lived and reigned, and boasted that he would surpass even the Muses, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus, if they should sing against him;

Who, then, O Muse, was the foremost, whether man or horse, among those that followed after the sons of Atreus?

And so such a man, I take it, becomes a misologist and stranger to the Muses.

Shall we, like Homer, invoke the Muses to tell how faction first fell upon them, and say that these goddesses playing with us and teasing us as if we were children address us in lofty, mock-serious tragic style?

And this entire geometrical number is determinative of this thing, of better and inferior births.

As for the Muses, whom Alcman traces to Zeus and Mnemosyne, and whom the rest of the poets and prose-writers deify and reverence — so that whole cities consecrate temples to them as Muses — these were Mysian handmaids, bought by Megaclo, the daughter of Macar.

They say, at any rate, that at Delphi, near the council-chamber, a certain rock is shown, on which the first Sibyl is said to have sat, who came from Helicon and was reared by the Muses.

Oft of thee the Muses’ votaries shall sing on the seven-stringed mountain shell and in hymns that need no harp, glorifying thee, oft as the season in his cycle cometh round at Sparta in that Carnean month when all night long the moon sails high o’erhead, yea, and in splendid Athens, happy town.

and you, Muses, with song and dance.

It was on the day Pieria’s lovely-haired choir came over the slopes of Pelion to the wedding of Peleus, beating the ground with print of golden sandals at the banquet of the gods, and hymning in dulcet strains the praise of Thetis and the son of Aeacus, over the Centaurs’ hill, down woods of Pelion.

Sons of Erechtheus, heroes happy from of yore, children of the blessed gods, fed on wisdom’s glorious food in a holy land ne’er pillaged by its foes, ye who move with sprightly step through a climate ever bright and clear, where, as legend tells, the Muses nine, Pieria’s holy maids, were brought to birth by Harmonia with the golden hair;

Also the goddesses, the Muses of Pieria were beginning a song like clear-voiced singers.

and of her the nine gold-crowned Muses were born who delight in feasts and the pleasures of song.

Now sing the company of goddesses, sweet-voiced Muses of Olympus, daughter of Zeus who holds the aegis,—even those deathless ones who lay with mortal men and bore children like gods.

But now, sweet-voiced Muses of Olympus, daughters of Zeus who holds the aegis, sing of the company of women.

Muses of Pieria who give glory through song, come hither, tell of Zeus your father and chant his praise.

And there I boast that I gained the victory with a song and carried off a handled tripod which I dedicated to the Muses of Helicon, in the place where they first set me in the way of clear song.

for the Muses have taught me to sing in marvellous song.

I will begin with the Muses and Apollo and Zeus.

and when she is satisfied and has cheered her heart, this huntress who delights in arrows slackens her supple bow and goes to the great house of her dear brother Phoebus Apollo, to the rich land of Delphi, there to order the lovely dance of the Muses and Graces.

then straightway the undying gods think only of the lyre and song, and all the Muses together, voice sweetly answering voice, hymn the unending gifts the gods enjoy and the sufferings of men, all that they endure at the hands of the deathless gods, and how they live witless and helpless and cannot find healing for death or defence against old age.

So the Cretans followed him to Pytho, marching in time as they chanted the Ie Paean after the manner of the Cretan paean-singers and of those in whose hearts the heavenly Muse has put sweet-voiced song.

And now that I have begun with you, I will celebrate the race of mortal men half-divine whose deeds the Muses have showed to mankind.

And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus, well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged Moon.

And now I will leave you and sing the glories of men half-divine, whose deeds minstrels, the servants of the Muses, celebrate with lovely lips.

Bright-eyed Muses, tell of the Tyndaridae, the Sons of Zeus, glorious children of neat-ankled Leda, Castor the tamer of horses, and blameless Polydeuces.

And though I am a follower of the Olympian Muses who love dances and the bright path of song —the full-toned chant and ravishing thrill of flutes —yet I never cared for any of those feats of skill at young men's revels, as I do now for this:

First among the gods he honored Mnemosyne, mother of the Muses, in his song;

From regions where the Muses never yet

Sweet love of the Muses, wherewith now instinct,

Even with the Muses' charm- which, as 'twould seem,

Remember these nine heads, as gifts received from the Muses, and begin at last to be a man, while you live.

every one, you know, becomes a poet, though alien to the Muse before, when Love gets hold of him.

so that he too may be deemed a disciple of Love as likewise may the Muses in music, Hephaestus in metal-work, Athene in weaving and Zeus in pilotage of gods and men.

Do not keep a watch on me for as to what is going to be said, my fear is not so much of saying something absurd—since that would be all to the good and native to my Muse—as something utterly ridiculous.

For he had sought to quell the god-inspired women and the Bacchanalian fire, and he angered the Muses who love the flute.