into the sea? I shall sink and be drowned, miserablefated being that I am!

Poseidon. Have no fear. You shall suffer nothing terrible. On the contrary, I will strike the rock hard by this sea-beach with my trident, and will cause a fountain to spring up here to be called after your name; and you shall be happy, and be the only one of your sisters who, after death, shall not have to draw water.1

VII.

ZEPHYRUS RECOUNTS TO NOTUS THE METAMORPHOSIS AND ADVENTURES OF 10.2

Notus and Zephyrus.

Notus. This heifer, Zephyrus, whom Hermes is conducting into Egypt, through the sea, has Zeus, overcome by passion, actually debauched her?

Zephyrus. Yes, Notus.

but a daughter of the

But she was then not a heifer, River Inachus. Now, however, Hera, out of jealousy, has made her such, because she perceived Zeus to be very much in love.

Notus. Is he, then, now still in love with the cow?

Zephyrus. Very much indeed, and for this reason he sends her to Egypt, and has given us orders not to agitate the sea until she shall have swum across, so that, after having given birth to her child there-and she is already enceinte-she may become a divinity, herself and her offspring.

Notus. The heifer a divinity!

1 As is well known, the punishment of the Danaides, for their slaughter of their husbands on one and the same bridal night, at the command of their father, was to pour water incessantly into sieves, or rather, bottomless pitchers. Besides Amymone, however, Hypermnæstra must have escaped this infernal torture, since-splendide mendaxin return for his abdication of marital rights, she had spared her husband's life. According to some accounts, these devotees of Artemis were purified from the crime of murder by Athena and Hermes at the command of Zeus.

2 See O. A. iii. Cf. Palæphatus, who gives a more prosaic account than the mythologists.

Zephyrus. Undoubtedly, my dear Notus, and she will preside as patroness, as Hermes said, of sailors, and will be our mistress, to send out, or prevent from blowing, whomsoever of us she chooses to.

Notus. Since, then, she is now our mistress, Zephyrus, we must cultivate her good graces.

Zephyrus. Yes, indeed, for so she will be the more benevolently inclined towards us. Well, let us do so now, for she has already made her passage, and is now escaped safely to land; and you see how she now no longer walks on four feet, and Hermes has set her erect, and has made a very beautiful woman of her again.

Notus. Strange things these, truly, Zephyrus-horns no longer, nor tail, and cloven feet, but a lovely girl! Hermes, however-what has come to him, that he has metamorphosed himself, and, in place of a young man, has become a dog-faced creature ? 1

1

Zephyrus. Let us not inquire too curiously, since he knows best what he ought to do.

VIII.

AT POSEIDON'S REQUEST, THE DOLPHINS NARRATE TO HIM THE STORY OF ARION'S ESCAPE.

Poseidon and Delphines."

Poseidon. Well done, dolphins! for you are ever philanthropic. Before now you took under your protection Ino's brat, and carried him off to the Isthmus, when it fell with its mother from the Skironian rocks; and now you

1 Known as Anubis in the Egyptian theology: Anubis latrator, is the epithet applied by Virgil (Æn. viii. 698). Cf. Juvenal, Sat. vi. 534, xv. 8; Diod. i. 18.

2 See Herod. i. 24; Lucian, 'AX. 'Iσr. ii. 205; Ov. Fasti, ii. 83-118; Pliny, Hist. Nat. ix. 8; Ælian, Hist. Nat. vi. 15; Pliny the Younger, Ep. ix. 33; Oppian, 'AX.; Pausanias, ix. 30. Pliny the Naturalist narrates the marvellous tales of dolphin-philanthropy with entire faith; his nephew, in his Letters (see Bohn's Series), with some scepticism. Philostratus, like Herodotus, some ages before him, alleges the brazen statue of Arion at Tænarum, as conclusive proof of the reality of the miracle.

3 See Ov. Metam. iv. 524-571; Fasti, vi. 485-504; Apollod. iii. 4. These rocks are off the E. coast of Megaris (in the Gulf of Ægina).

have taken up on your back this harper from Methymna1 and swum to Tænarum, with his luggage and harp and all, nor have you allowed him to meet with a miserable death at the hands of the sailors.

Dolphins. Don't be surprised, Poseidon, if we do kindnesses to human animals, since we ourselves were men before we were fish.2

Poseidon. I certainly blame Bacchus for having metamorphosed you after his defeat of you in that naval battle, whereas he ought only to have reduced you to subjection, just as he subjected the rest. But how, pray, did this Arion business come about, my dear Dolphin?

Dolphin. Periander, I believe, was pleased with him, and would often send for him on account of his skill, and when he had got rich by the prince's patronage, he eagerly longed to make the voyage home to Methymna, to display his wealth. Accordingly, having embarked on board a certain passenger ship, belonging to a set of villains (as he had showed them the quantity of gold and silver he was taking with him), when they were in the middle of the Egean, the sailors conspire against him. "Then," said he -for, swimming by the side of the vessel, I heard everything "since you have determined upon this crime, at all events suffer me of my own accord to throw myself overboard, after having assumed my proper dress, and sung a dirge over myself." The sailors gave him leave, and he assumed his musician's dress, and sang very sweetly, and fell into the sea, as though he was certainly to die that moment. But I, intercepting him and placing him on my back, swam off with him to Tænarum.

Poseidon. I commend you for your love of music; a worthy remuneration, indeed, for your privilege of hearing him have you paid him.

1 Arion. Methymna was a principal city of the island of Lesbos. Tænarum, now C. Matapan.

2 "Ix0vs. The Greek term, like the English "fish," unscientifically includes marine mammalia.

IX.

POSEIDON AND AMPHITRITE DISPUTE AS TO THE FITTING PLACE OF BURIAL FOR HELLE, DROWNED IN THE HELLESPONT. POSEIDON DIRECTS THE NEREIDS TO TAKE UP HER BODY, AND BURY IT IN THE TROAD.

Poseidon, Amphitrite, and Nereids.

Poseidon. This strait, where the girl was carried away by the tide, let it be called Hellespontus' after her; and do you Nereids take up the corpse, and bear it to the Troad, that it may be buried by the people of the country.

Amphitrite. Not so, Poseidon, but let it be buried here in the sea to which she has given her name; for we compassionate her for her most pitiable sufferings at the hands of her stepmother.2

Poseidon. That, Amphitrite, is not lawful; nor, besides, is it becoming that she lie under the sand hereabouts. But, as I said, she shall forthwith be buried in the Troad, or in the Chersonese, and this will be no small comfort for her—that Ino, too, shall shortly suffer the same fate, and, pursued by Athamas, shall fall into the sea from the promontory of Kitharon, where it stretches itself into the waves, with her son, also in her arms.

Amphitrite. But we shall have to gratify Bacchus, and save her, too; for Ino was his nurse and suckled him.

Poseidon. No, we ought not to save her, since she is so wicked: it is not proper, however, to disoblige Bacchus, Amphitrite.

Nereids. But she-pray, what possessed her to fall off the ram, while her brother, Phrixus, rides safely?

Poseidon. It happened as might be expected, for he is a young man and able to hold on against the rapid motion. But she, by reason of her inexperience, upon mounting the

1 See Apollod. i. 9; Hyg. Fab. 2; Pausanias, i. 44. Cf. Palæphatus. Helle was the daughter of Athamas and Nephele.

2 Ino, daughter of Kadmus and Harmoneia. Fleeing from their stepmother's cruel treatment of them, on the golden-fleeced ram the brother and sister, Phrixus and Helle, escaped through the air. Helle, as is well known, in her fright fell into the narrow strait which bears her name. Her brother arrived in the land of Kolchis, where, as we are assured, he ungratefully sacrificed his saviour to the Gods.

strange vehicle, and gazing into the yawning depths, was stupefied, and, at the same time, overcome by terror; and, becoming giddy from the excessive rapidity of the flight, lost her hold of the ram's horns, to which, until then, she had clung, and fell into the sea.

Nereids. Pray should not her mother, Nephele, have come to the aid of the falling girl?

Poseidon. She ought to have done so. But Fate is much more powerful than Nephele.

X.

IRIS CONVEYS TO POSEIDON THE COMMANDS OF ZEUS THAT HE SHOULD KEEP THE ISLAND OF DELOS STATIONARY, WHERE LETO WAS TO LIE IN.

1

Iris and Poseidon.

Iris. That wandering island, Poseidon, detached from Sicily, whose fate it is still to be swimming about submerged, "that same," says Zeus, "you are now immediately to bring to a standstill, and bear it up to daylight, and cause it at once to remain firmly grounded, a conspicuous 2 object in the middle of the Ægean, fixing it quite securely for there will be some need of it."

:

Poseidon. It shall be done this moment, Iris. What convenience, however, will it afford him, when it has been brought up to the surface, and no longer sails about?

Iris. Leto is to lie in on it; for at this very moment she is ill with the pangs of labour.

Poseidon. What, then? Is not Heaven a fitting place for her to produce her children in ? And if that locality is not, at all events, could not the whole Earth give shelter to her offspring?

Iris. No, Poseidon, for Hera bound the Earth with a great oath not to afford a receptacle for Leto in her labour. This island, however, is not pledged, for it was invisible.

As Hemsterhuis observes, as far as relative geographical position is concerned, it is as likely that Delos was originally part of Cilicia as of Sicily. See Kallim. Ὑμν. ἔπι Δηλ. v. 30.

2 Añov. Lucian seems to be making a pun. Some of the old etymologists refer the name of the island to this adjective.