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Ἡρακλέα, Διὸς υἱόν, ἀείσομαι, ὃν μέγ᾽ ἄριστον
γείνατ᾽ ἐπιχθονίων Θήβῃς ἔνι καλλιχόροισιν
Ἀλκμήνη μιχθεῖσα κελαινεφέι Κρονίωνι:
ὃς πρὶν μὲν κατὰ γαῖαν ἀθέσφατον ἠδὲ θάλασσαν
πλαζόμενος πομπῇσιν ὕπ᾽ Εὐρυσθῆος ἄνακτος 5
πολλὰ μὲν αὐτὸς ἔρεξεν ἀτάσθαλα, πολλὰ δ᾽ ἀνέτλη:
νῦν δ᾽ ἤδη κατὰ καλὸν ἕδος νιφόεντος Ὀλύμπου
ναίει τερπόμενος καὶ ἔχει καλλίσφυρον Ἥβην.
χαῖρε, ἄναξ, Διὸς υἱέ: δίδου δ᾽ ἀρετήν τε καὶ ὄλβον.
I will sing of Heracles, the son of Zeus and much the mightiest of men on earth.
Alcmena bare him in Thebes, the city of lovely dances,
when the dark-clouded Son of Cronos had lain with her.
Once he used to wander over unmeasured tracts of land and sea
at the bidding of King Eurystheus, and himself did [5]
many deeds of violence and endured many;
but now he lives happily in the glorious home of snowy Olympus,
and has neat-ankled Hebe for his wife.
Hail, lord, son of Zeus' Give me success and prosperity.
Anonymous. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.