§5.1ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ
Εὖ γε, ὦ Δελφῖνες, ὅτι ἀεὶ φιλάνθρωποί ἐστε, καὶ πάλαι μὲν τὸ τῆς Ἰνοῦς παιδίον ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν ἐκομίσατε ὑποδεξάμενοι ἀπὸ τῶν Σκειρωνίδων μετὰ τῆς μητρὸς ἐμπεσόν, καὶ νῦν σὺ τὸν κιθαρῳδὸν τουτονὶ τὸν ἐκ Μηθύμνης ἀναλαβὼν ἐξενήξω ἐς Ταίναρον αὐτῇ σκευῇ καὶ κιθάρᾳ, οὐδὲ περιεῖδες κακῶς ὑπὸ τῶν ναυτῶν ἀπολλύμενον.
POSEIDON: Well done, dolphins, for you are always friendly to mankind. In the old days you received the child of Ino when he fell from the Scironian rocks with his mother, and carried him to the Isthmus; and now you have taken up this cithara-player from Methymna and swam out to Taenarum with him, along with his very costume and cithara, nor did you allow him to perish miserably at the hands of the sailors.
ΔΕΛΦΙΝΕΣ
Μὴ θαυμάσῃς, ὦ Πόσειδον, εἰ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εὖ ποιοῦμεν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γε καὶ αὐτοὶ ἰχθύες γενόμενοι.
DOLPHINS: Do not wonder, Poseidon, if we do good to humans, since we ourselves became fish from having been humans.
Καὶ μέμφομαί γε τῷ Διονύσῳ, ὅτι ἡμᾶς καταναυμαχήσας καὶ μετέβαλε, δέον χειρώσασθαι μόνον, ὥσπερ τοὺς ἄλλους ὑπηγάγετο.
And indeed, I blame Dionysus, because after defeating us in a sea battle, he also transformed us, whereas he ought only to have subdued us, just as he brought the others into subjection.
ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ
Πῶς δ’ οὖν τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ἀρίονα τοῦτον ἐγένετο, ὦ Δελφίν;
POSEIDON: But how, then, did the matter concerning this Arion happen, dolphin?
§5.2ΔΕΛΦΙΝΕΣ
Ὁ Περίανδρος, οἶμαι, ἔχαιρεν αὐτῷ καὶ πολλάκις μετεπέμπετο αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῇ τέχνῃ, ὁ δὲ πλουτήσας παρὰ τοῦ τυράννου ἐπεθύμησεν πλεύσας οἴκαδε εἰς τὴν Μήθυμναν ἐπιδείξασθαι τὸν πλοῦτον, καὶ ἐπιβὰς πορθμείου τινὸς κακούργων ἀνδρῶν ὡς ἔδειξεν πολὺν ἄγων χρυσόν τε καὶ ἄργυρον, ἐπεὶ κατὰ μέσον τὸ Αἰγαῖον ἐγένετο, ἐπιβουλεύουσιν αὐτῷ οἱ ναῦται·
DOLPHINS: Periander, I believe, delighted in him and often sent for him on account of his art. But having grown rich from the tyrant, he desired to sail home to Methymna to display his wealth, and embarking on a certain ferry of wicked men, as he showed that he was carrying much gold and silver, when they came to the middle of the Aegean, the sailors plotted against him.
ὁ δὲ—ἠκροώμην γὰρ ἅπαντα παρανέων τῷ σκάφει—Ἐπεὶ ταῦτα ὑμῖν δέδοκται, ἔφη, ἀλλὰ τὴν σκευὴν ἀναλαβόντα με καὶ ᾄσαντα θρῆνόν τινα ἐπ' ἐμαυτῷ ἑκόντα ἐάσατε ῥῖψαι ἐμαυτόν. ἐπέτρεψαν οἱ ναῦται καὶ ἀνέλαβε τὴν σκευὴν καὶ ᾖσε πάνυ λιγυρόν, καὶ ἔπεσεν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν ὡς αὐτίκα πάντως ἀποθανούμενος·
But he—for I was listening to everything, swimming alongside the boat—said, "Since this has been decided by you, allow me to take up my costume and sing a certain dirge over myself, and then throw myself in of my own free will." The sailors permitted it, and he took up his costume and sang very clearly, and cast himself into the sea as if to die immediately and by all means.
ἐγὼ δὲ ὑπολαβὼν καὶ ἀναθέμενος αὐτὸν ἐξενηξάμην ἔχων εἰς Ταίναρον.
But I, taking him up and putting him on my back, swam off with him to Taenarum.
ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ
Ἐπαινῶ σε τῆς φιλομουσίας· ἄξιον γὰρ τὸν μισθὸν ἀπέδωκας αὐτῷ τῆς ἀκροάσεως.
POSEIDON: I praise you for your love of music; for you have paid him a worthy reward for listening to him.