"Until at length The lovely goddess came to Delos' side And, making question, spake these wingèd words: 'Delos, were it thy will to be the seat Of my young son Apollo, brightest god, And build him a rich fane, no other power Should ever touch thee or work ill upon thee. I tell thee not thou shalt be rich in kine Or in fair flocks, much fruit, or myriad flowers; But when Apollo of the far-felt dart Hath here his shrine, all men will gather here Bringing thee hecatombs.... And though thy soil be poor, The gods shall make thee strong against thy foes.'" The spirit of the island is naturally not averse to so favourable a proposition but, like some too humble maiden wooed by a great prince, has some misgivings lest this promise of unexpected good fortune should veil the approach of some worse calamity. "When the god is born into the light of day," she says, "will he not despise me, seeing how barren I am, and sink me in the sea "That ever will Oppress my heart with many a watery hill? And therefore let him choose some other land, Where he shall please, to build at his command Temple and grove set thick with many a tree. For wretched polypuses breed in me, Retiring chambers, and black sea-calves den In my poor soil, for penury of men."[1] Leto reassures the island, however, and swears to build a great temple there which her son will haunt perpetually, preferring it to all his other shrines. Delos consents, and Apollo is born amid the ministrations of all the goddesses except Hera, who sits indignant and revengeful in the solitudes of Olympus. The child is bathed in the stream and delicately swaddled; but after tasting the nectar and ambrosia which one of the nymphs is quick to offer him, he bursts his bands, calls for his bow and his lyre, and flies upward into the sky announcing that he will henceforth declare the will of Zeus to mortals. Thereupon-- "All the immortals stood In deep amaze.... All Delos, looking on him, all with gold Was loaded straight, and joy'd to be extoll'd. For so she flourished, as a hill that stood Crown'd with the flower of an abundant wood."[2]