standing when the hymn was written, and this temple was burned in
548. We may at least be sure that the first part is a Chian
work, and that the second was composed by a continental poet
familiar with Delphi.

The "Hymn to Hermes" differs from others in its burlesque, quasi-
comic character, and it is also the best-known of the Hymns to
English readers in consequence of Shelley's translation.

After a brief narrative of the birth of Hermes, the author goes
on to show how he won a place among the gods. First the new-born
child found a tortoise and from its shell contrived the lyre;
next, with much cunning circumstance, he stole Apollo's cattle
and, when charged with the theft by Apollo, forced that god to
appear in undignified guise before the tribunal of Zeus. Zeus
seeks to reconcile the pair, and Hermes by the gift of the lyre
wins Apollo's friendship and purchases various prerogatives, a
share in divination, the lordship of herds and animals, and the
office of messenger from the gods to Hades.

The Hymn is hard to date. Hermes' lyre has seven strings and the
invention of the seven-stringed lyre is ascribed to Terpander
(flor. 676 B.C.). The hymn must therefore be later than that
date, though Terpander, according to Weir Smyth (16), may have
only modified the scale of the lyre; yet while the burlesque
character precludes an early date, this feature is far removed,
as Allen and Sikes remark, from the silliness of the "Battle of
the Frogs and Mice", so that a date in the earlier part of the
sixth century is most probable.