Let us begin with Zeus, and end with Zeus, O Muses, whenever we speak of the best of the immortals in our songs.
§17.3ἀνδρῶν δʼ αὖ Πτολεμαῖος ἐνὶ πρώτοισι λεγέσθω §17.4καὶ πύματος καὶ μέσσος· ὁ γὰρ προφερέστατος ἄλλων.
But among men, again, let Ptolemy be named among the first, and last, and in the middle; for he is the most excellent of others.
§17.5ἥρωες, τοὶ πρόσθεν ἀφʼ ἡμιθέων ἐγένοντο, §17.6ῥέξαντες καλὰ ἔργα σοφῶν ἐκύρησαν ἀοιδῶν· §17.7αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ Πτολεμαῖον ἐπιστάμενος καλὰ εἰπεῖν §17.8ὑμνήσαιμʼ· ὕμνοι δὲ καὶ ἀθανάτων γέρας αὐτῶν.
The heroes of old, who were born of demigods, having performed noble deeds, found wise singers; but I, knowing how to speak noble words, would hymn Ptolemy; and hymns are the honor of the immortals themselves.
A woodcutter, having come to well-wooded Ida, looks around, there being plenty at hand, where he shall begin his work.
§17.11τί πρῶτον καταλέξω;
What shall I recount first?
ἐπεὶ πάρα μυρία εἰπεῖν, §17.12οἷσι θεοὶ τὸν ἄριστον ἐτίμησαν βασιλήων.
Since there are ten thousand things to tell, with which the gods have honored the best of kings.
§17.13>Ἐκ πατέρων οἷος μὲν ἔην τελέσαι μέγα ἔργον §17.14Λαγείδας Πτολεμαῖος, ὅτε φρεσὶν ἐγκατάθοιτο §17.15βουλάν, ἃν οὐκ ἄλλος ἀνὴρ οἷός τε νοῆσαι.
What a man he was, inheriting from his ancestors, to accomplish a great deed, Ptolemy son of Lagus, whenever he laid up in his mind a counsel such as no other man was able to conceive.
§17.16τῆνον καὶ μακάρεσσι πατὴρ ὁμότιμον ἔθηκεν §17.17ἀθανάτοις, καί οἱ χρύσεος δόμος ἐν Διὸς οἴκῳ §17.18δέδμηται· παρὰ δʼ αὐτὸν Ἀλέξανδρος φίλα εἰδὼς §17.19ἑδριάει, Πέρσαισι βαρὺς θεὸς αἰολομίτρας.
Him also the Father made equal in honor to the blessed immortals, and for him a golden house in the palace of Zeus is built; and beside him Alexander, having friendly thoughts, sits, a god dreadful to the Persians with their variegated turbans.
§17.20ἀντία δʼ Ἡρακλῆος ἕδρα κενταυροφόνοιο §17.21ἵδρυται στερεοῖο τετυγμένα ἐξ ἀδάμαντος· §17.22ἔνθα σὐν ἄλλοισιν θαλίας ἔχει οὐρανίδαισι, §17.23χαίρων υἱωνῶν περιώσιον υἱωνοῖσιν, §17.24ὅττί σφεων Κρονίδης μελέων ἐξείλετο γῆρας, §17.25ἀθάνατοι δὲ καλεῦνται ἑοὶ νέποδες γεγαῶτες.
And opposite, the seat of Heracles, the slayer of centaurs, is established, fashioned of solid adamant; there he holds feasts with the other dwellers of heaven, rejoicing exceedingly in the sons of his sons, because the son of Cronus took away old age from their limbs, and they are called immortals, being his descendants.
§17.26ἄμφω γὰρ πρόγονός σφιν ὁ καρτερὸς Ἡρακλείδας, §17.27ἀμφότεροι δʼ ἀριθμεῦνται ἐς ἔσχατον Ἡρακλῆα.
For both have as an ancestor the mighty son of Heracles, and both are numbered back to Heracles at the end.
§17.28τῷ καὶ ἐπεὶ δαίτηθεν ἴοι κεκορημένος ἤδη §17.29νέκταρος εὐόδμοιο φίλας ἐς δῶμʼ ἀλόχοιο, §17.30τῷ μὲν τόξον ἔδωκεν ὑπωλένιόν τε φαρέτραν, §17.31τῷ δὲ σιδάρειον σκύταλον κεχαραγμένον ὄζοις.
Therefore, when he, already sated with the feast, goes from the banquet to the house of his dear wife, he gives to the one his bow and the quiver under his arm, and to the other his iron club, marked with knots.
And they carry the weapons, and himself too, the bearded son of Zeus, into her ambrosial chamber.
And how illustrious Berenice shone among wise women, a great benefit to her parents!
To her, the mistress daughter of Dione, who holds Cyprus, rubbed her slender hands upon her fragrant bosom.
§17.38τῷ οὔπω τινὰ φαντὶ ἁδεῖν τόσον ἀνδρὶ γυναικῶν, §17.39ὅσσόν περ Πτολεμαῖος ἑὴν ἐφίλησεν ἄκοιτιν.
Therefore they say that never yet did any woman so please her husband as Ptolemy loved his own wife.
§17.40ἦ μὰν ἀντεφιλεῖτο πολὺ πλέον· ὧδέ κε παισὶ §17.41θαρσήσας σφετέροισιν ἐπιτρέποι οἶκον ἅπαντα, §17.42ὁππότε κεν φιλέων βαίνῃ λέχος ἐς φιλεούσης.
Indeed, she was loved in return much more; thus a man, with confidence in his children, might entrust his whole house to them, whenever in love he goes to the bed of a loving wife.
§17.43ἀστόργου δὲ γυναικὸς ἐπʼ ἀλλοτρίῳ νόος αἰεί, §17.44ῥηίδιοι δὲ γοναί, τέκνα δʼ οὐ ποτεοικότα πατρί.
But the mind of an unloving woman is always on a stranger, and the births are easy, but the children are not like the father.
§17.45κάλλει ἀριστεύουσα θεάων πότνʼ Ἀφροδίτα, §17.46σοὶ τήνα μεμέλητο· σέθεν δʼ ἕνεκεν Βερενίκα §17.47εὐειδὴς Ἀχέροντα πολύστονον οὐκ ἐπέρασεν, §17.48ἀλλά μιν ἁρπάξασα, πάροιθʼ ἐπὶ νῆα κατελθεῖν §17.49κυανέαν καὶ στυγνὸν ἀεὶ πορθμῆα καμόντων, §17.50ἐς ναὸν κατέθηκας, ἑᾶς δʼ ἀπεδάσσαο τιμᾶς.
O mistress Aphrodite, excelling the goddesses in beauty, she was your care; and because of you, Berenice, fair of form, did not cross lamentable Acheron, but snatching her away, before she could go down to the dark ship and the ferryman of the dead, ever hateful, you placed her in your temple, and shared with her your own honor.
§17.51πᾶσιν δʼ ἤπιος ἥδε βροτοῖς μαλακοὺς μὲν ἔρωτας §17.52προσπνείει, κούφας δὲ διδοῖ ποθέοντι μερίμνας. —
And she, gentle to all mortals, breathes soft loves upon them, and gives light cares to the one who longs.
§17.53Ἀργεία κυάνοφρυ, σὺ λαοφόνον Διομήδεα §17.54μισγομένα Τυδῆι τέκες, Καλυδώνιον ἄνδρα, §17.55ἀλλὰ Θέτις βαθύκολπος ἀκοντιστὰν Ἀχιλῆα §17.56Αἰακίδᾳ Πηλῆι, σὲ δʼ αἰχμητὰ Πτολεμαῖε §17.57αἰχμητᾷ Πτολεμαίῳ ἀρίζηλος Βερενίκα.
O dark-browed Argive, you bore people-slaying Diomedes, mingling with Tydeus, a man of Calydon; but deep-bosomed Thetis bore the spear-thrower Achilles to Peleus son of Aeacus; and you, O spearman Ptolemy, illustrious Berenice bore to the spearman Ptolemy.
And Cos nurtured you, when you were a newborn infant, receiving you from your mother, when you first saw the dawn.
§17.60ἔνθα γὰρ Εἰλείθυιαν ἐβώσατο λυσίζωνον §17.61Ἀντιγόνας θυγάτηρ βεβαρημένα ὠδίνεσσιν· §17.62ἡ δέ οἱ εὐμενέοισα παρίστατο, κὰδ δʼ ἄρα πάντων §17.63νωδυνίαν κατέχευε μελῶν· ὁ δὲ πατρὶ ἐοικὼς §17.64παῖς ἀγαπητὸς ἔγεντο.
For there, Antigone's daughter, weighed down with labor-pains, called upon Eileithyia, the loosener of girdles; and she stood by her with kindly mind, and poured down freedom from pain over all her limbs; and the child was born, a beloved son.
Κόως δʼ ὀλόλυξεν ἰδοῖσα, §17.65φᾶ δὲ καθαπτομένα βρέφεος χείρεσσι φίλῃσιν· §17.66Ὄλβιε κοῦρε γένοιο, τίοις δέ με τόσσον, ὅσον περ §17.67Δᾶλον ἐτίμησεν κυανάμπυκα Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων· §17.68ἐν δὲ μιᾷ τιμᾷ Τρίοπον καταθεῖο κολώναν, §17.69ἶσον Δωριέεεσσι νέμων γέρας ἐγγὺς ἐοῦσιν.
And Cos cried out with joy on seeing him, and said, touching the infant with her dear hands: "May you be blessed, O boy, and may you honor me as much as Phoebus Apollo honored blue-filleted Delos; and place the Triopian hill in equal honor, dispensing equal privilege to the neighboring Dorians.
§17.70ἶσον καὶ Ῥήναιαν ἄναξ ἐφίλησεν Ἀπόλλων.
With equal love also did lord Apollo love Rhenaea."