THE APOLLIAD Book I.36-90

Would you rather I start with Zeus himself?
Zeus, Zeus, first- and last-born son of Kronos,
He delights in the thunder,
He holds back the lightnings in his palm,
Zeus who guards the rights of strangers. (40)

If you, O Muses, could sing in me,
And would start this song where you will,
Whose name would you sing first?
No doubt you would begin with Apollo,
That great and shining god, (45)

Whose oracle at Delphi sees all futures,
The mighty Lover of Cassandra.
He knows well the rules of justice,
And he is kind to those who call on him,
For he both ravaged the hosts of Agamemnon (50)

With his arrows for nine days,
Then turned and purged the shame
Of his son, holy Orestes.
For he is Apollo, son of Zeus.
He sits in the dark places (55)

Of the Navelstone of the Earth,
Yet his name is Phoebus,
The healing lord of light.
Alone among the deathless gods
He speaks no lies. (60)

If you listed all the names
Of every man who trusted in him
Or called upon his name
Or felt his hand upon their lives;
Or, if you could, were to name all those (65)

Whom he has loved:
(For he is, after all, the most beautiful of those gods,)
Daphne, and Coronis, Marpessa, Hyacinthus
And many others besides,
The world could not contain all the books written. (70)

You might start with the first time
He strung his silver bow,
Or the words of his first prophecy,
Or how he became the god of the wolves.
You, O Muses, might begin (75)

By telling us a story we already know,
Casting it in a new light--
Such as when he stood against the Daughters of the Night,
The Kindly Ones (so called)--
You might start at any of those places, (80)

If you could--
But no, Muse, be silent now.
For this tale is told by all of creation;
I do not believe
I shall start with any of those things. (85)

Instead in this tale, all things become new,
And so it must begin at the beginning:
In the beginning was the Logos.
And the Logos took on mortal flesh,
That by His Death He might test the gods of Olympus. (90)