This is the hymn to Pan, the son of Hermes. Enjoy and I get this hymn from Perseus Digital Library.
Muse, tell me about Pan, the dear son of Hermes, with his goat's feet
and two horns —a lover of merry noise. Through wooded glades he wanders
with dancing nymphs who foot it on some sheer cliff's edge,
[5]
calling upon Pan, the shepherd-god, long-haired, unkempt. He has every
snowy crest and the mountain peaks and rocky crests for his domain;
hither and thither he goes through the close thickets, now lured by soft
streams,
[10]
and now he presses on amongst towering crags and climbs up to the
highest peak that overlooks the flocks. Often he courses through the
glistening high mountains, and often on the shouldered hills he speeds
along slaying wild beasts, this keen-eyed god. Only at evening,
[15]
as he returns from the chase, he sounds his note, playing sweet and
low on his pipes of reed: not even she could excel him in melody —that
bird who in flower-laden spring pouring forth her lament utters
honey-voiced song amid the leaves. At that hour the clear-voiced nymphs
are with him and
[20]
move with nimble feet, singing by some spring of dark water, while
Echo wails about the mountain-top, and the god on this side or on that
of the choirs, or at times sidling into the midst, plies it nimbly with
his feet. On his back he wears a spotted lynx-pelt, and he delights in
high-pitched songs
[25]
in a soft meadow where crocuses and sweet-smelling hyacinths bloom at
random in the grass.
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,
[30]
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. For there, though a god, he used to tend
curly-fleeced sheep in the service of a mortal man, because there fell
on him and waxed strong melting desire to wed the rich-tressed daughter
of Dryops,
[35]
and there he brought about the merry marriage. And in the house she
bare Hermes a dear son who from his birth was marvellous to look upon,
with goat's feet and two horns —a noisy, merry-laughing child. But when
the nurse saw his uncouth face and full beard, she was afraid and sprang
up and fled and left the child.
[40]
Then luck-bringing Hermes received him and took him in his arms: very
glad in his heart was the god. And he went quickly to the abodes of the
deathless gods, carrying his son wrapped in warm skins of mountain
hares, and set him down beside Zeus
[45]
and showed him to the rest of the gods. Then all the immortals were
glad in heart and Bacchic Dionysus in especial; and they called the boy
Pan
1 because he delighted all their hearts.
And so hail to you, lord! I seek your favour with a song. And now I will remember you and another song also.
Anonymous. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English
Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge,
MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
