Mercury was not only the swift messenger of the gods, but presided
over commerce, wrestling and other gymnastic exercises, and was the
giver of sweet sleep. To him was ascribed the invention of the lyre. He
found one day a tortoise of which he took the shell, made holes in the
opposite edges, drew cords of linen through, and lo, the instrument was
complete. The cords were nine in number in honor of the nine Muses.
“So there it lay, through wet and dry,
As empty as the last new sonnet,
Till by and by came Mercury,
And having mused upon it,
‘Why here,’ cried he, ‘the thing of things,
In shape, material and dimension,
Give it but strings and lo it sings,
A wonderful invention.’
So said, so done; the cords he strained
And as his fingers o’er them hovered,
The shell disdained a soul had gained,
The lyre had been discovered.
O empty world that round us lies,
Dead shell of soul and thought forsaken,
Brought we but eyes like Mercury’s,
In thee what songs would waken.”
--_Lowell._