Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON A THIEF by ANONYMOUS

First Line: "WHEN AULUS, THE NOCTURNAL THIEF, MADE PRIZE"
Last Line: OFTTIMES THE PUPIL GOES BEYOND HIS MASTER
WHEN Aulus, the nocturnal thief, made prize
Of Hermes, swift-winged envoy of the skies,
Hermes, Arcadia's king, the thief divine,
Who when an infant stole Apollo's kine,
And whom, as arbiter and overseer
Of our gymnastic sports, we planted here;
"Hermes," he cried, "you meet no new disaster;
"Ofttimes the pupil goes beyond his master."



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