Hymn to Hermes
Hermes · Zeus · MaiaA short prelude, and its first lines repeat word for word the opening of the great Hymn to Hermes (homeric-hermes-001). This is how such pieces were assembled: a ready opening plus an ending of one's own (on which see homeric-demeter-002).
What is its own here is the account of the conception, and all of it is about concealment. Maia "shunned the company of the blessed gods, dwelling in a shadowy cave", Zeus came to her "in the dead of night, while sweet sleep held white-armed Hera", and "it escaped both the immortal gods and mortal men".
That is, praise of the god consists in describing a successful deception. There is no censure and no awkwardness: concealment is listed among the merits, because it is a property of Hermes himself and not merely a circumstance of his birth.
Λάνθανε — it went unnoticed. The god of thieves, messengers and night journeys is conceived in an undetected act, and the hymn records this as his first mark. Nature is inherited from circumstances.
Ἀργειφόντης, Argus-slayer, is his standing title: Hermes lulled and killed hundred-eyed Argus, whom Hera had set to watch. Sleep and the evasion of a guard are a family business here too.