Surgit Fama

Fragment from an unwritable play

There is a truce among the gods,

Kore is seen in the North

Skirting the blue-gray sea

In gilded and russet mantle.

The corn has again its mother and she, Leuconoé,

That failed never women,

Fails not the earth now.

The tricksome Hermes is here;

He moves behind me

Eager to catch my words,

Eager to spread them with rumor;

To set upon them his change

Crafty and subtle;

To alter them to his purpose;

But do thou speak true, even to the letter:

"Once more in Delos, once more is the altar a-quiver.

Once more is the chant heard.

Once more are the never abandoned gardens

Full of gossip and old tales."