Mercury

Mercury flew over Athens and saw a procession of maidens returning from the temple of Pallas Athene. Herse, the daughter of King Cecrops, led them. Her beauty struck Mercury, and he decided to seek her. He went to the royal palace and asked her sister Aglauros to support his suit.

Aglauros demanded a large payment before she helped him. Mercury soon returned with a purse filled with gold. Athene had meanwhile filled Aglauros with envy because she could not bear Herse’s good fortune. Aglauros kept the gold, sat before the door, and refused to let Mercury enter. Mercury spoke gently to her, but she would not move. He pushed his rod against the barred door, and it flew open.

Aglauros tried to rise, but a great weight seized her limbs. Her knees and hamstrings stiffened. Cold spread through her veins, her blood and warmth failed, and her body became pale and hard. Mercury turned her to stone. He then entered the house and took Herse as his companion. Herse later bore him two sons, Cephalus and Ceryx. Cephalus became beloved by Eos, and Ceryx became the first herald of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Herse, Pandrosos, and their mother Agraulos later looked beneath the lid of the basket that Aglauros had carried. They saw a child whose legs ended in a serpent’s tail and screamed in terror. They leaped from the Acropolis. Athene heard what had happened and dropped the great rock that she had carried to strengthen the Acropolis. It became Mount Lycabettus. She also changed the white crow that brought her the news to black and forbade crows to visit the Acropolis.

Jupiter and Maia became the parents of Hermes. Maia gave birth to him in a cave on Mount Cyllene and laid him in swaddling clothes on a winnowing fan. He grew with astonishing speed into a little boy. As soon as Maia turned away, he freed himself and went out in search of adventure.

He travelled to Pieria, where Apollo tended a fine herd of cattle. Hermes decided to steal them. He covered their feet with shoes so that their tracks would not betray them, then drove them away by night. He took them to Pylos and hid them in a cave, except for two that he sacrificed. He nailed their skins to rocks, boiled and ate some of their flesh, and burned the rest. He then returned swiftly to Cyllene. There he found a tortoise. He cleared out its shell and stretched strings made from the guts of the sacrificed cattle across it, creating a lyre.

Apollo discovered that Hermes had stolen the cattle and searched for him. He went as far as Pylus to the west and Onchestus to the east. Silenus and the Satyrs also tracked the thief, hoping to claim the reward that Apollo offered, but they found nothing for a long while. Apollo then went to Cyllene and accused Hermes before Maia. She pointed to the infant lying in his cradle, apparently asleep. Hermes denied knowing anything about the theft and even asked what kind of creatures cows were. Apollo seized him and brought him before Jupiter, who ordered Hermes to reveal where he had hidden the cattle.