1. ZEUS: Hermes, do you know Inachus’ daughter, the one that’s so pretty?
1. ΖΕΥΣ: Τὴν τοῦ Ἰνάχου παῖδα τὴν καλὴν οἶσθα, ὦ Ἑρμῆ;
HERMES: Yes. You mean Io, don’t you?
ΕΡΜΗΣ: Ναί· τὴν Ἰὼ λέγεις;
ZEUS: She’s not a girl, but a heifer now.
ΖΕΥΣ: Οὐκέτι παῖς ἐκείνη ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ δάμαλις.
HERMES: Wonders will never cease! How this change?
ΕΡΜΗΣ: Τεράστιον τοῦτο· τῷ τρόπῳ δ’ ἐνηλλάγη;
ZEUS: Hera did it out of jealousy. But that’s not all. She’s played another nasty unheard-of trick on the poor girl. She’s put a herdsman called Argus with ever so many eyes in charge of her. He keeps an eye on her as she grazes, and he never goes to sleep.
ΖΕΥΣ: Ζηλοτυπήσασα ἡ Ἥρα μετέβαλεν αὐτήν. ἀλλὰ καὶ καινὸν ἄλλο τι δεινὸν ἐπιμεμηχάνηται τῇ κακοδαίμονι· βουκόλον τινὰ πολυόμματον Ἄργον τοὔνομα ἐπέστησεν, ὃς νέμει τὴν δάμαλιν ἄϋπνος ὤν.
HERMES: Well, what are we to do about it?
ΕΡΜΗΣ: Τί οὖν ἡμᾶς χρὴ ποιεῖν;
ZEUS: You must fly down to Nemea—Argus is on his beat thereabouts—and kill him. Then take Io over the sea to Egypt, and make her into Isis. Hereafter let her be goddess of the folk there, raising the waters of the Nile, sending them their winds, and preserving seafarers from harm.
ΖΕΥΣ: Καταπτάμενος ἐς τὴν Νεμέαν—ἐκεῖ δέ που ὁ Ἄργος βουκολεῖ—ἐκεῖνον ἀπόκτεινον, τὴν δὲ Ἰὼ διὰ τοῦ πελάγους ἐς τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἀγαγὼν Ἶσιν ποίησον· καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἔστω θεὸς τῶν ἐκεῖ καὶ τὸν Νεῖλον ἀναγέτω καὶ τοὺς ἀνέμους ἐπιπεμπέτω καὶ σῳζέτω τοὺς πλέοντας.