啊，谁能用有力的胸膛谱写出与这些伟大发现的威严相称的歌曲呢?又有谁能以如此有力的辞令，写出恰当的赞美来抵偿他留给我们的遗产呢?-我想，不会有凡人的血统。因为如果一定要用现在已知的威严所要求的名字来称呼他的话，那么他就是一个神——听我说，杰出的墨墨斯——一个神;是谁首先发现了现在被称为哲学的人生计划，是谁用巧妙的手段，从如此汹涌的波涛中，从如此巨大的黑暗中，把生命停泊在如此宁静的港湾里，在如此清澈的阳光里。把这些古老的发现与别人的发现比较一下:瞧，根据传说，刻瑞斯为人类创造了谷物和巴克斯从葡萄树中榨出的葡萄汁，虽然没有这些东西，生命也可以维持下去，正如现在的传说所说的那样。但是没有自由的乳房，人类的幸福是不可能的。因此，在我们看来，这个人更正当地是一位神，他那分散在人口稠密地区的生命的甜蜜慰藉，现在抚慰着人们的心灵。但如果你认为大力神的劳动胜过这些，你就离真正的理性太远了。现在又有什么能伤害我们呢，尼米亚狮子的大嘴，或者阿卡迪亚野猪的怒吼?或者，再一次，哦，克里特公牛，或者九头蛇，勒纳的害虫，被毒蛇围起来，怎么可能有毒呢? Or what the triple-breasted power of her The three-fold Geryon... The sojourners in the Stymphalian fens So dreadfully offend us, or the Steeds Of Thracian Diomedes breathing fire From out their nostrils off along the zones Bistonian and Ismarian? And the Snake, The dread fierce gazer, guardian of the golden And gleaming apples of the Hesperides, Coiled round the tree-trunk with tremendous bulk, O what, again, could he inflict on us Along the Atlantic shore and wastes of sea?- Where neither one of us approacheth nigh Nor no barbarian ventures. And the rest Of all those monsters slain, even if alive, Unconquered still, what injury could they do? None, as I guess. For so the glutted earth Swarms even now with savage beasts, even now Is filled with anxious terrors through the woods And mighty mountains and the forest deeps- Quarters 'tis ours in general to avoid. But lest the breast be purged, what conflicts then, What perils, must bosom, in our own despite! O then how great and keen the cares of lust That split the man distraught! How great the fears! And lo, the pride, grim greed, and wantonness- How great the slaughters in their train! and lo, Debaucheries and every breed of sloth! Therefore that man who subjugated these, And from the mind expelled, by words indeed, Not arms, O shall it not be seemly him To dignify by ranking with the gods?- And all the more since he was wont to give, Concerning the immortal gods themselves, Many pronouncements with a tongue divine, And to unfold by his pronouncements all The nature of the world.