236 
reconciliation. 
themselves to men. Apollo first sang that 
eternal wisdom which had created the uni¬ 
verse ; he told how the elements were pro¬ 
duced, and how every part of nature was 
united by the sweet bonds of love; and, 
finally, he taught men that they should ap¬ 
pease the anger of the gods by adoration 
and praise. At his voice pale and trembling 
mothers were seen advancing with their little 
children in their arms; hunger was suspen¬ 
ded, and the thirst for vengeance fled from 
every heart. Then Mercury touched man¬ 
kind with the wand Apollo had given to him. 
He loosened their tongues, and taught them 
to express their thoughts by words : he after¬ 
wards told them that union made strength, 
and that nothing could be derived from the 
earth without mutual labours. Filial piety 
and patriotic love were brought into action, 
by his eloquence, to unite the human race ; 
and commerce he made the bond of the world. 
His last thought was the most sublime, for 
it was consecrated to the gods ; and he told 
mankind that they might become equal with 
the gods by deeds of love and beneficence. 
Ornamented with two light wings, and 
serpents entwining themselves around it, the 
hazel wand, presented to the god of eloquence 
by the god of harmony, is still, under the 
name of Mercury’s wand, the symbol of 
peace, commerce, and reconciliation. 
