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HERMES (putting on his sandals). MUCH must he toil who serves the Immortal Gods, | |
| And I, who am their herald, most of all. | |
| No rest have I, nor respite. I no sooner | |
| Unclasp the wingèd sandals from my feet, | |
| Than I again must clasp them, and depart | 5 |
| Upon some foolish errand. But to-day | |
| The errand is not foolish. Never yet | |
| With greater joy did I obey the summons | |
| That sends me earthward. I will fly so swiftly | |
| That my caduceus in the whistling air | 10 |
| Shall make a sound like the Pandæan pipes, | |
| Cheating the shepherds; for to-day I go, | |
| Commissioned by high-thundering Zeus, to lead | |
| A maiden to Prometheus, in his tower, | |
| And by my cunning arguments persuade him | 15 |
| To marry her. What mischief lies concealed | |
| In this design I know not; but I know | |
| Who thinks of marrying hath already taken | |
| One step upon the road to penitence. | |
| Such embassies delight me. Forth I launch | 20 |
| On the sustaining air, nor fear to fall | |
| Like Icarus, nor swerve aside like him | |
| Who drove amiss Hyperion’s fiery steeds. | |
| I sink, I fly! The yielding element | |
| Folds itself round about me like an arm, | 25 |
| And holds me as a mother holds her child. | |
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