![]() To the Greeks, who too often prided themselves on successful deceit, and who had made lying a fine art, a patron-deity of cunning came natural. Of these, one of the most characteristic was thievishness. 1 Hermes has perhaps the most complex character of any deity in Greek mythology, and the poet has tried to do justice to some, at least, of the god's many qualities. The connexion lies simply in the fact that the episodes all deal with the first exploits of the infant god, and shew how, by his cunning and dexterity, he vindicated his birthright, and won the attributes which distinguished him in maturity. There is a unity of time, for the action is continuous, taking place in the first two days of Hermes' life but there is no close unity of subject: the several episodes are not integral parts of a single myth, and the commentators have vainly puzzled themselves to discover one underlying motif to connect the different parts of the hymn. Subject and motive.-The theme is more varied than those of the other great hymns. ![]() LANG, The Homeric Hymns ( Translation) p. ![]()
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