1. DORIS: Why are you crying, Thetis? THETIS: Oh, Doris, I’ve just seen a lovely girl put into a box by her father along with her newborn baby. He told his sailors to take the box and, when well away from land, to drop it into the sea, so that the mother should be killed, poor thing, herself and her baby.
1. ΔΩΡΙΣ: Τί δακρύεις, ὦ Θέτι; ΘΕΤΙΣ: Καλλίστην, ὦ Δωρί, κόρην εἶδον ἐς κιβωτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐμβληθεῖσαν, αὐτήν τε καὶ βρέφος αὐτῆς ἀρτιγέννητον· ἐκέλευσεν δὲ ὁ πατὴρ τοὺς ναύτας ἀναλαβόντας τὸ κιβώτιον, ἐπειδὰν πολὺ τῆς γῆς ἀποσπάσωσιν, ἀφεῖναι εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, ὡς ἀπόλοιτο ἡ ἀθλία, καὶ αὐτὴ καὶ τὸ βρέφος.
DORIS: Why, sister? Please tell me, if you have any definite information. THETIS: I have the whole story. Because she was ever so beautiful, her father Acrisius locked her up in a brazen room to keep her away from lovers. Then—I can’t say whether it’s true but it’s what they say—Zeus turned himself into gold and came pouring through the roof at her, and she received the god in her bosom as he came showering down, and became pregnant. When her father found out, the cruel, jealous old creature flew into a temper and, thinking she’d had a lover, threw her into the box just after her baby was born.
ΔΩΡΙΣ: Τίνος ἕνεκα, ὦ ἀδελφή; εἰπέ, εἴ τι ἔμαθες ἀκριβῶς. ΘΕΤΙΣ: Ἅπαντα. ὁ γὰρ Ἀκρίσιος ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς καλλίστην οὖσαν ἐπαρθένευεν ἐς χαλκοῦν τινα θάλαμον ἐμβαλών· εἶτα, εἰ μὲν ἀληθὲς οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν, φασὶ δ’ οὖν τὸν Δία χρυσὸν γενόμενον ῥυῆναι διὰ τοῦ ὀρόφου ἐπ' αὐτήν, δεξαμένην δὲ ἐκείνην ἐς τὸν κόλπον καταρρέοντα τὸν θεὸν ἐγκύμονα γενέσθαι. τοῦτο αἰσθόμενος ὁ πατήρ, ἄγριός τις καὶ ζηλότυπος γέρων, ἠγανάκτησε καὶ ὑπό τινος μεμοιχεῦσθαι οἰηθεὶς αὐτὴν ἐμβάλλει εἰς τὴν κιβωτὸν ἄρτι τετοκυῖαν.
2. DORIS: And what did she do, Thetis, when they were putting her there? THETIS: She kept quiet about herself, submitting to her sentence, but she kept pleading for her child’s life, weeping and showing it to its grandad, for it was a lovely baby. And it, unaware of its troubles, was looking at the sea with a smile on its face. Remembering them brings tears again to my eyes.
2. ΔΩΡΙΣ: Ἡ δὲ τί ἔπραττεν, ὦ Θέτι, ὁπότε καθίετο; ΘΕΤΙΣ: Ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς μὲν ἐσίγα, ὦ Δωρί, καὶ ἔφερε τὴν καταδίκην. τὸ βρέφος δὲ παρῃτεῖτο μὴ ἀποθανεῖν δακρύουσα καὶ τῷ πάππῳ δεικνύουσα αὐτό, κάλλιστον ὄν· τὸ δὲ ὑπ' ἀγνοίας τῶν κακῶν ὑπεμειδία πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν. ὑποπίμπλαμαι αὖθις τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς δακρύων μνημονεύσασα αὐτῶν.
DORIS: You’ve made me weep, too. But are they dead now? THETIS: Oh, no! The box is still floating round Seriphos, and keeping them alive and safe.
ΔΩΡΙΣ: Κἀμὲ δακρῦσαι ἐποίησας. ἀλλ’ ἤδη τεθνᾶσιν; ΘΕΤΙΣ: Οὐδαμῶς· νήχεται γὰρ ἔτι ἡ κιβωτὸς ἀμφὶ τὴν Σέριφον ζῶντας αὐτοὺς φυλάττουσα.
DORIS: Well, why don’t we save them by bringing them into the nets of these fishermen here from Seriphos? They’ll be sure to pull them up and save them. THETIS: A good idea, let’s do that. I wouldn’t like the mother to die, or the baby either. It’s so pretty.
ΔΩΡΙΣ: Τί οὖν οὐχὶ σῴζομεν αὐτοὺς τοῖς ἁλιεῦσι τούτοις ἐμβαλοῦσαι ἐς τὰ δίκτυα τοῖς Σεριφίοις; οἱ δὲ ἀνασπάσαντες σώσουσι δῆλον ὅτι. ΘΕΤΙΣ: Εὖ λέγεις, οὕτω ποιῶμεν· μὴ γὰρ ἀπολέσθω μήτε αὐτὴ μήτε τὸ παιδίον οὕτως ὂν καλόν.