upon mine art. This day shalt thou know it: and to thee would I fain be
kind in word and will: but within thyself thou well knowest all things,
for first among the Immortals, Son of Zeus, is thy place. Mighty art
thou and strong, and Zeus of wise counsels loves thee well with reverence
due, and hath given thee honour and goodly gifts. Nay, they tell that
thou knowest soothsaying, Far-darter, by the voice of Zeus: for from Zeus
are all oracles, wherein I myself now know thee to be all-wise. Thy
province it is to know what so thou wilt. Since, then, thy heart bids
thee play the lyre, harp thou and sing, and let joys be thy care, taking
this gift from me; and to me, friend, gain glory. Sweetly sing with my
shrill comrade in thy hands, that knoweth speech good and fair and in
order due. Freely do thou bear it hereafter into the glad feast, and the
winsome dance, and the glorious revel, a joy by night and day. Whatsoever
skilled hand shall inquire of it artfully and wisely, surely its voice
shall teach him all things joyous, being easily played by gentle
practice, fleeing dull toil. But if an unskilled hand first impetuously
inquires of it, vain and discordant shall the false notes sound. But
thine it is of nature to know what things thou wilt: so to thee will I
give this lyre, thou glorious son of Zeus. But we for our part will let
graze thy cattle of the field on the pastures of hill and plain, thou Far-
darter. So shall the kine, consorting with the bulls, bring forth calves
male and female, great store, and no need there is that thou, wise as
thou art, should be vehement in anger."

So spake he, and held forth the lyre that Phoebus Apollo took, and
pledged his shining whip in the hands of Hermes, and set him over the
herds. Gladly the son of Maia received it; while the glorious son of
Leto, Apollo, the Prince, the Far-darter, held the lyre in his left hand,
and tuned it orderly with the _plectrum_. Sweetly it sounded to his
hand, and fair thereto was the song of the God. Thence anon the twain