§12.1ΔΩΡΙΣ
Τί δακρύεις, ὦ Θέτι;
DORIS Why do you weep, O Thetis?
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.
THETIS O Doris, I saw a most beautiful maiden cast into a chest by her father, herself and her newborn infant; and the father ordered the sailors, having taken up the chest, when they had drawn far away from the land, to cast it into the sea, so that the wretched woman might perish, both herself and the infant.
ΔΩΡΙΣ
Τίνος ἕνεκα, ὦ ἀδελφή;
DORIS For what reason, O sister?
εἰπέ, εἴ τι ἔμαθες ἀκριβῶς.
Tell me, if you have learned anything accurately.
ΘΕΤΙΣ
Ἅπαντα.
THETIS Everything.
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.
For her father Acrisius, since she was most beautiful, kept her a virgin, having cast her into a certain bronze chamber; then, whether it is true I cannot say, but they say at any rate that Zeus, having become gold, flowed through the roof upon her, and she, having received the god as he flowed down into her lap, became pregnant.
τοῦτο αἰσθόμενος ὁ πατήρ, ἄγριός τις καὶ ζηλότυπος γέρων, ἠγανάκτησε καὶ ὑπό τινος μεμοιχεῦσθαι οἰηθεὶς αὐτὴν ἐμβάλλει εἰς τὴν κιβωτὸν ἄρτι τετοκυῖαν.
The father, perceiving this, a wild and jealous old man, was indignant, and thinking that she had been seduced by someone, cast her, having just given birth, into the chest.
§12.2ΔΩΡΙΣ
Ἡ δὲ τί ἔπραττεν, ὦ Θέτι, ὁπότε καθίετο;
DORIS And what did she do, O Thetis, when she was being let down?
ΘΕΤΙΣ
Ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς μὲν ἐσίγα, ὦ Δωρί, καὶ ἔφερε τὴν καταδίκην.
THETIS On her own behalf she was silent, O Doris, and bore her sentence.
τὸ βρέφος δὲ παρῃτεῖτο μὴ ἀποθανεῖν δακρύουσα καὶ τῷ πάππῳ δεικνύουσα αὐτό, κάλλιστον ὄν· τὸ δὲ ὑπ' ἀγνοίας τῶν κακῶν ὑπεμειδία πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν.
But she begged that the infant might not die, weeping and showing it to its grandfather, as it was most beautiful; but it, through ignorance of the evils, smiled at the sea.
ὑποπίμπλαμαι αὖθις τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς δακρύων μνημονεύσασα αὐτῶν.
I am filled again in my eyes with tears, remembering them.
ΔΩΡΙΣ
Κἀμὲ δακρῦσαι ἐποίησας.
DORIS You made me weep as well.
ἀλλ’ ἤδη τεθνᾶσιν;
But are they already dead?
ΘΕΤΙΣ
Οὐδαμῶς· νήχεται γὰρ ἔτι ἡ κιβωτὸς ἀμφὶ τὴν Σέριφον ζῶντας αὐτοὺς φυλάττουσα.
THETIS Not at all; for the chest is still floating around Seriphos, keeping them alive.
ΔΩΡΙΣ
Τί οὖν οὐχὶ σῴζομεν αὐτοὺς τοῖς ἁλιεῦσι τούτοις ἐμβαλοῦσαι ἐς τὰ δίκτυα τοῖς Σεριφίοις;
DORIS Why then do we not save them, by throwing them into the nets of these Seriphian fishermen?
οἱ δὲ ἀνασπάσαντες σώσουσι δῆλον ὅτι.
And they, having drawn it up, will clearly save them.
ΘΕΤΙΣ
Εὖ λέγεις, οὕτω ποιῶμεν· μὴ γὰρ ἀπολέσθω μήτε αὐτὴ μήτε τὸ παιδίον οὕτως ὂν καλόν.
THETIS You speak well, let us do so; for let neither herself nor the child perish, being so beautiful.