to powder all the pots inside.
14
And you, too, daughter of the Sun, Circe the witch,
come and cast cruel spells; hurt both these men and their handiwork.
Let Chiron also come and bring many Centaurs—
all that escaped the hands of Heracles and all that were destroyed:
let them make sad havoc of the pots and overthrow the kiln,
and let the potters see the mischief and be grieved;
but I will gloat as I behold their luckless craft.
And if anyone of them stoops to peer in, let all his face
be burned up, that all men may learn to deal honestly.
This song is called by pseudo-Herodotus Let us betake us to the house of some man of great power,—
15
one who bears great power and is greatly prosperous always.
Open of yourselves, you doors, for mighty Wealth will enter in,
and with Wealth comes jolly Mirth
and gentle Peace. May all the corn-bins be full
and the mass of dough always overflow the kneading-trough.
Now (set before us) cheerful barley-pottage, full of sesame
Your son’s wife, driving to this house with strong-hoofed mules,
shall dismount from her carriage to greet you; Lines 8 and 9 do not correspond well with the Greek.
may she be shod with golden shoes as she stands weaving at the loom.
I come, and I come yearly, like the swallow
that perches light-footed in the fore-part of your house. But quickly bring
If you will give us anything (well). But if not, we will not wait,
16
for we are not come here to dwell with you.
Hunters of deep sea prey, have we caught anything?
17
All that we caught we left behind, and all that we did not catch we carry home.The lice which they caught in their clothes they left behind, but carried home in their clothes those which they could not catch.
Ay, for of such fathers you are sprung
as neither hold rich lands nor tend countless sheep.
