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.

And yet the gifts of the Muses and of Apollo are mild and gentle.

They robbed him of his divine power of song, and thenceforth he could strike the lyre no more.

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

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;

Among the Muses, he has had wings since he was a child in his dear mother’s lap, and he has proved himself a skillful charioteer.

he made busy efforts for my sake, and yoked this four-horse chariot of the Pierian Muses, a friend for a friend, going gladly arm in arm.

He manages his wealth with intelligence, reaping not an unjust or arrogant youth, but the wisdom found in the quiet haunts of the Pierian Muses.

What is this gift?

And a third kind of possession and madness comes from the Muses.

But if they see us conversing and sailing past them unmoved by the charm of their Siren voices, perhaps they will be pleased and give us the gift which the gods bestowed on them to give to men.

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

And rightly too, he said, we shall affirm that the Muses answer.

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.

And now farewell, you dwellers on Olympus, and you islands and continents, and you briny sea within.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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:

Have garlanded the temples of a man:

From regions where the Muses never yet

To seek for this my head a signal crown

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

For in those days the Muse was not yet a lover of gain, nor did she work for hire.

For I came, Muse, a steward of victory-songs to Phylacidas and Pytheas and Euthymenes.

beside his pyre and tomb the Muses of Helicon stood, and poured over him the many-voiced dirge.