Zeus! Zeus, of all good to man the giver,
Who sends great Rumor news to deliver;
Be it true or false, be it good or ill,
In whispers hushed or lamentations shrill,
In joyful cries or breathless exclamation,
The news even of kings in every nation
You spread through every street and backward way
The deeds of all in manifest display.
With your voices you fashion myth from deeds;
When false the truth against you n’er succeeds.
When true the false can only fight in vain,
From you no secret hidden can remain.
The golden offspring of Hope on airy wings,
A mouth for every feather and each one sings;
To learn all you have as many eyes and ears,
To catch from man his whispered hopes and fears.
So fly you swiftly, so swiftly through the earth,
A faster being was never brought to birth.
Your eyes never succumb to darkening Sleep;
Fame or ignominy as you will you heap.