In the current portion of the Hymn to Hermes, assigned to our little group, there is a line which is best translated “The tracks on this side are worthy of praise, but the tracks on the other side are more praiseworthy” (226). This line has the balance and limited vocabulary of an aphorism, a literary device which has already been deployed within the hymn (36). “Praiseworthy” is αἰνὸς, a relative of the more familiar verb αἰνέω “to praise” and possibly Αἰνείας “Aeneas” “ the praiseworthy man.” A more profitable avenue in reference to the Hymn to Hermes might be a hidden etymological connection between this aphorism and the hymns obsession with cyclical time and mortality. The philologist Pokorny suggests that the root of αἰνος is one which means “to live.” Two common Greek words relating to time and life, αἰεί and αἴων, are derived from this root. if αἰνὸς is similarly derived, then this aphorism provides a temporal theme just as the double use of ὁδοῖο “path” in the same aphorism, provides a directional theme. Lines 17-18 define Hermes as a god who accomplishes his deeds within a solar cycle. He is born in the morning, invents the lyre in the middle of the day, and steals the cattle of Apollo in the evening. The first thing he sings on his newly made instrument is a song about his own conception, his coming to life (56-58). He does so using materials for which a mortal being, the unfortunate tortoise has ceased to live. When Hermes ventures forth farther than his own doorstep, the individual he encounters is an mortal Old Man, the opposite of an immortal baby; yet the old man has a flourishing garden, a symbol of youthful vigor (87). Apollo discovers the theft at dawn, but the Old Man , whom Apollo questions, refers to evening(184; 206-207). Even the journey of the cattle from Pieria to Pylos can be viewed as not just a reversal in special terms, but also an alleged and mendacious reversal of time according to Hermes’ later protestations of innocence.
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