Hesiod's Theogony, lines 1-115
	With the Heliconian Muses we begin to sing,
	who inhabit the great and holy Mount Helicon
	and dance with soft feet around its cerulean spring
	and around the altar of the mighty son of Chronos.
5	After washing their tender bodies in Permessus,
	or in the Horse spring or holy Olmeius
	on the height of Helicon, they make their beautiful,
	charming dance, moving their feet with vigor.
	From there they set out, wrapped in thick mist
10	as they walk at night, sending forth so beautiful a voice,
	praising Zeus the aegis-bearer and the Lady Hera
	of Argos, who walks on golden sandals,
	and gleaming-eyed Athena, the daughter of Zeus the aegis-bearer,
	and Phoebus Apollo and Artemis, delighting in arrows,
15	and Poseidon, who both upholds and shakes the earth,
	and revered Themis and quick-glancing Aphrodite,
	and gold-crowned Hebe and beautiful Dione,
	and Leto and Iapetos, and Cronos of the crooked counsels,
	and Eo and great Helios and shining Selenê,
20	and Gaia and vast Ocean and black Night,
	and the holy race of the other immortals who live forever.
	Thye once taught Hesiod beautiful song
	as he was herding his lambs beneath holy Helicon.
	The Olympian Muses, daughters of Zeus the aegis-bearer,
25	the goddesses, first spoke these words to me:
	"Shepherds dwelling in the fields, wretched things of shame, mere bellies,
	we know how to say many false things that seem genuine,
	and when we wish, we know how to speak true things."
	Thus spoke the daughters of mighty Zeus, with words fitted together,
30	and they gave me a wondrous scepter, plucking a branch
	of flourishing bay, and they breathed into me a voice
	inspired, to celebrate things that will be, and things that were before.
	And they bade me sing of the race of the blessed ones who live forever,
	and first and last always to sing of the Muses themselves.
35	But what is my business around oak or rock?
	Come, we begin with the Muses, who delight the great
	mind of their father Zeus within Olympus,
	telling of things that are, things that will be, and things that were before,
	shaping the song with their voice. And the sweet voice flows tirelessly
40	from their lips, and the house of father Zeus the loud-thunderer
	laughs as the lily-like voice of the goddesses
	spreads abroad, and the peaks of Olympus resound,
	as do the homes of the gods. And sending forth their immortal
	voice, they celebrate first the sacred race of the gods,
45	from the beginning, those whom Gaia and broad Uranus brought forth,
	and the gods sprung from these, bestowers of good things.
	Next they sing of Zeus, as they begin and end their song,
	the father of gods and men, how he is the most excellent
	among the gods, and supreme in power.
50	And again, singing of the races of men and the mighty giants,
	the Olympian Muses, daughters of Zeus the aegis-bearer,
	delight the mind of Zeus within Olympus.
	Memory, who rules the fertile land of Eleuther, mingling
	with the father, the son of Cronus, bore the Muses,
55	who are a forgetting of ills and a rest from cares.
	For nine nights Zeus the counsellor lay with her
	apart from the immortals, entering her holy bed.
	But when a year passed, and the seasons revolved
	as the months waned, and many days were completed,
60	she then bore nine girls a little below the highest peak
	of snowy Olympus, girls of one mind, whose hearts
	are set on song, and whose spirit is free of sorrow.
	There on Olympus are their bright dancing places and beautiful homes,
	beside them dwell the Graces and Desire, living in abundance.
65	And sending forth their lovely voice through their lips
	they sing of the laws of all beings, and celebrate the precious
	ways of the immortals, sending forth their lovely voice.
	They then went to Olympus, rejoicing in their fine voice
	and divine song; and the dark earth resounded about them
70	as they chanted, and a lovely sound rose from beneath their feet
	as they went to the father who is king in heaven,
	he himself holding the lightning and the consuming thunder-bolt
	when he overcame with might his father Cronus;
	and he arranged everything for the immortals,
	distributing fairly and well, and assigned them their privileges.
75	These things sang the Muses who dwell on Olympus,
	nine daughters sprung from mighty Zeus,
	Cleio and Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene and
	Terpsichore, and Erato and Polyhymnia and Urania,
	and Calliope, who is the most excellent of them all.
80	For she attends on distinguished kings.
	Whichever heaven-nourished king the daughters
	of mighty Zeus honor, and behold as he is born,
	they pour sweet dew upon his tongue,
	and from his mouth flow gentle words. And the people
85	all look toward him as he settles disputes at law
	with straight judgments. And speaking firmly in the assembly,
	he quickly and skillfully ends even a great quarrel.
	This is why there are shrewd kings, because when people
	are misled in the assembly, they easily stop deeds
90	that could result in revenge, persuading with gentle words.
	And so they greet him like a god when he enters the assembly,
	with gracious respect, and he stands out among the assembled people.
	Such is the holy gift of the Muses to humankind,
	for it is through the Muses and Apollo the far-shooter
95	that there are singers and citharists upon the earth;
	but kings are of Zeus. And they are happy, whomever the Muses
	love; sweet flows the voice from their lips.
	For if someone sorrows in his newly-troubled soul, pining away
	as he grieves in his heart, yet, when a singer, a servant
100	of the Muses, sings of the glorious deeds of the men of old
	and of the blessed gods who inhabit Olympus,
	he forgets at once his cares, and does not remember his sorrows
	at all; the gifts of the goddesses quickly turn him away from these.
	Hail! children of Zeus. Grant me lovely inspiring song
105	and celebrate the holy races of the immortals who live forever,
	those who were born from Gaia and starry Heaven
	and gloomy Night, and those whom the salt sea nourished.
	Tell how the gods and earth came to be at first,
	and the rivers and the boundless sea with its raging swell,
110	and the sparkling stars and the broad heaven above,
	and the gods born from them, bestowers of good things,
	and how they divided their wealth and shared honors among themselves,
	and also how they first possessed Olympus with its many valleys.
	Declare such things to me from the beginning, you Muses
115	who dwell on Olympus, and say which of them first came to be.