These things, then, the Muses sang who dwell
on Olympus, nine daughters begotten by great Zeus,
Cleio and Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene
& Terpsichore, & Erato & Polyhymnia & Urania
& Calliope, who is the chiefest of them all,
for she attends on worshipful princes: whomsoever
of heaven-nourished princes the daughters
of great Zeus honor, & behold him at his birth,
they pour sweet dew upon his tongue, & from his
lips flow gracious words. All the people look toward
him while he settles causes with true judgments:
& he, speaking surely, would soon make wise end
even of a great quarrel; for therefore are there princes

wise in heart, because when the people
are being misguided in their assembly,
they set right the matter again with ease,
persuading them with gentle words.
& when he passes through a gathering,

they greet him as a god w/ gentle reverence,
& he is conspicuous amongst the assembled:
such is the holy gift of the Muses to men.
For it is through the Muses and far-shooting
Apollo that there are singers and harpers
upon the earth; but princes are of Zeus,
& happy is he whom the Muses love: sweet flows
speech from his mouth. For though a man
have sorrow & grief in his newly-troubled
soul & live in dread because his heart is distressed,
yet, when a singer, the servant of the Muses,
chants the glorious deeds of men of old
& the blessed gods who inhabit Olympus,
at once he forgets his heaviness & remembers
not his sorrows at all; but the gifts of the goddesses
soon turn him away from these.