§14.1ΤΡΙΤΩΝ
Τὸ κῆτος ὑμῶν, ὦ Νηρεΐδες, ὃ ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ Κηφέως θυγατέρα τὴν Ἀνδρομέδαν ἐπέμψατε, οὔτε τὴν παῖδα ἠδίκησεν, ὡς οἴεσθε, καὶ αὐτὸ ἤδη τέθνηκεν.
TRITON Your sea monster, O Nereids, which you sent against Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus, has neither harmed the girl, as you think, and is itself already dead.
ΝΗΡΕΙΔΕΣ
Ὑπὸ τίνος, ὦ Τρίτων;
NEREIDS By whom, Triton?
ἢ ὁ Κηφεὺς καθάπερ δέλεαρ προθεὶς τὴν κόρην ἀπέκτεινεν ἐπιών, λοχήσας μετὰ πολλῆς δυνάμεως;
Or did Cepheus, having put the girl forward like a bait, kill it by attacking, having laid an ambush with a large force?
ΤΡΙΤΩΝ
Οὔκ· ἀλλὰ ἴστε, οἶμαι, ὦ Ἰφιάνασσα, τὸν Περσέα, τὸ τῆς Δανάης παιδίον, ὃ μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ ἐμβληθὲν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ μητροπάτορος ἐσώσατε οἰκτείρασαι αὐτούς.
TRITON No; but you know, I think, O Iphianassa, Perseus, the child of Danae, whom, when he was thrown into the sea in a chest with his mother by his maternal grandfather, you saved out of pity for them.
ΙΦΙΑΝΑΣΣΑ
Οἶδα ὃν λέγεις· εἰκὸς δὲ ἤδη νεανίαν εἶναι καὶ μάλα γενναῖόν τε καὶ καλὸν ἰδεῖν.
IPHIANASSA I know whom you mean; and it is likely that he is now a young man, and very noble and handsome to look at.
ΤΡΙΤΩΝ
Οὗτος ἀπέκτεινεν τὸ κῆτος.
TRITON This man killed the monster.
ΙΦΙΑΝΑΣΣΑ
Διὰ τί, ὦ Τρίτων;
IPHIANASSA Why, Triton?
οὐ γὰρ δὴ σῶστρα ἡμῖν τοιαῦτα ἐκτίνειν αὐτὸν ἐχρῆν.
For surely he ought not to have paid us such rewards for his safety.
§14.2ΤΡΙΤΩΝ
Ἐγὼ ὑμῖν φράσω τὸ πᾶν ὡς ἐγένετο·
TRITON I will tell you the whole story as it happened.
ἐστάλη μὲν οὗτος ἐπὶ τὰς Γοργόνας ἆθλόν τινα τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐπιτελῶν, ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀφίκετο εἰς τὴν Λιβύην—
ΙΦΙΑΝΑΣΣΑ
Πῶς, ὦ Τρίτων;
He was sent against the Gorgons, performing a certain labor for the king, and when he arrived in Libya— IPHIANASSA How, Triton?
μόνος;
Alone?
ἢ καὶ ἄλλους συμμάχους ἦγεν;
Or was he also leading other allies?
ἄλλως γὰρ δύσπορος ἡ ὁδός.
For otherwise the way is difficult.
ΤΡΙΤΩΝ
Διὰ τοῦ ἀέρος· ὑπόπτερον γὰρ αὐτὸν ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ ἔθηκεν.
TRITON Through the air; for Athena made him winged.
ἐπεὶ δ’ οὖν ἧκεν ὅπου διῃτῶντο, αἱ μὲν ἐκάθευδον, οἶμαι, ὁ δὲ ἀποτεμὼν τῆς Μεδούσης τὴν κεφαλὴν ᾤχετο ἀποπτάμενος.
And when he came to where they lived, they were sleeping, I believe, and he, having cut off the head of Medusa, flew away.
ΙΦΙΑΝΑΣΣΑ
Πῶς ἰδών;
IPHIANASSA How did he see her?
ἀθέατοι γάρ εἰσιν· ἢ ὃς ἂν ἴδῃ, οὐκ ἄν τι ἄλλο μετὰ ταύτας ἴδοι.
For they cannot be looked at; or whoever looks would not see anything else after them.
ΤΡΙΤΩΝ
Ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ τὴν ἀσπίδα προφαίνουσα—τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἤκουσα διηγουμένου αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν Ἀνδρομέδαν καὶ πρὸς τὸν Κηφέα ὕστερον—ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ δὴ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀσπίδος ἀποστιλβούσης ὥσπερ ἐπὶ κατόπτρου παρέσχεν αὐτῷ ἰδεῖν τὴν εἰκόνα τὴς Μεδούσης· εἶτα λαβόμενος τῇ λαιᾷ τῆς κόμης, ἐνορῶν δ’ ἐς τὴν εἰκόνα, τῇ δεξιᾷ τὴν ἅρπην ἔχων, ἀπέτεμεν τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς, καὶ πρὶν ἀνεγρέσθαι τὰς ἀδελφὰς ἀνέπτατο.
TRITON Athena held out her shield—for I heard him telling such things to Andromeda and to Cepheus later—Athena indeed, on the shield which was shining like a mirror, allowed him to see the image of Medusa; then, grasping her hair with his left hand, and looking into the image, having the sickle in his right hand, he cut off her head, and before the sisters woke, he flew away.
§14.3ΤΡΙΤΩΝ
ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ τὴν παράλιον ταύτην Αἰθιοπίαν ἐγένετο, ἤδη πρόσγειος πετόμενος, ὁρᾷ τὴν Ἀνδρομέδαν προκειμένην ἐπί τινος πέτρας προβλῆτος προσπεπατταλευμένην, καλλίστην, ὦ θεοί, καθειμένην τὰς κόμας, ἡμίγυμνον πολὺ ἔνερθε τῶν μαστῶν· καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον οἰκτείρας τὴν τύχην αὐτῆς ἀνηρώτα τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς καταδίκης, κατὰ μικρὸν δὲ ἁλοὺς ἔρωτι—ἐχρῆν γὰρ σεσῶσθαι τὴν παῖδα—βοηθεῖν διέγνω· καὶ ἐπειδὴ τὸ κῆτος ἐπῄει μάλα φοβερὸν ὡς καταπιόμενον τὴν Ἀνδρομέδαν, ὑπεραιωρηθεὶς ὁ νεανίσκος πρόκωπον ἔχων τὴν ἅρπην τῇ μὲν καθικνεῖται, τῇ δὲ προδεικνὺς τὴν Γοργόνα λίθον ἐποίει αὐτό, τὸ δὲ τέθνηκεν ὁμοῦ καὶ πέπηγεν αὐτοῦ τὰ πολλά, ὅσα εἶδε τὴν Μέδουσαν· ὁ δὲ λύσας τὰ δεσμὰ τῆς παρθένου, ὑποσχὼν τὴν χεῖρα ὑπεδέξατο ἀκροποδητὶ κατιοῦσαν ἐκ τῆς πέτρας ὀλισθηρᾶς οὔσης, καὶ νῦν γαμεῖ ἐν τοῦ Κηφέως καὶ ἀπάξει αὐτὴν εἰς Ἄργος, ὥστε ἀντὶ θανάτου γάμον οὐ τὸν τυχόντα εὕρετο.
TRITON And when he came to this coastal Ethiopia, flying near the ground, he saw Andromeda exposed upon a projecting rock, bound to it, most beautiful, O gods, with her hair hanging down, half-naked far below her breasts; and at first pitying her fortune, he asked the cause of her condemnation, but gradually being caught by love—for the girl had to be saved—he resolved to help; and when the monster came on, very terrible, as if to swallow Andromeda, the young man, hovering above, having his sickle ready, struck it with one hand, and with the other showing the Gorgon, turned it to stone; and it died and at the same time most of its parts froze, as many as saw Medusa; and he, having loosed the bonds of the maiden, holding out his hand, received her as she came down on tiptoe from the rock, which was slippery, and now he is marrying her at Cepheus' house, and will take her to Argos, so that instead of death she has found no ordinary marriage.
§14.4ΙΦΙΑΝΑΣΣΑ
Ἐγὼ μὲν οὐ πάνυ τῷ γεγονότι ἄχθομαι· τί γὰρ ἡ παῖς ἠδίκει ἡμᾶς, εἰ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτῆς, ἐμεγαλαυχεῖτο καὶ ἠξίου εἶναι καλλίων;
IPHIANASSA I am not at all displeased at what has happened; for what did the girl do wrong to us, if her mother boasted and claimed to be more beautiful?
ΔΩΡΙΣ
Ὅτι οὕτως ἂν ἤλγησεν ἐπὶ τῇ θυγατρὶ μήτηρ γε οὖσα.
DORIS Because a mother, being a mother after all, would have suffered so much for her daughter.
ΙΦΙΑΝΑΣΣΑ
Μηκέτι μεμνώμεθα, ὦ Δωρί, ἐκείνων, εἴ τι βάρβαρος γυνὴ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀξίαν ἐλάλησεν· ἱκανὴν γὰρ ἡμῖν τιμωρίαν ἔδωκεν φοβηθεῖσα ἐπὶ τῇ παιδί.
IPHIANASSA Let us no longer remember those things, O Doris, if a barbarian woman spoke beyond her worth; for she has paid us sufficient penalty by being terrified for her child.
χαίρωμεν οὖν τῷ γάμῳ.
Let us therefore rejoice in the marriage.