Humanitext Reader

Lucian · Dialogues of The Gods §7.1

Zeus Orders Hermes to Slay Argos and Rescue Io

Passage 7 of 25 · Greek

Summary

Zeus instructs Hermes to fly to Nemea, slay the many-eyed Argos who is guarding Io, and take Io to Egypt to become the goddess Isis.

§7.1ΖΕΥΣ Τὴν τοῦ Ἰνάχου παῖδα τὴν καλὴν οἶσθα, ὦ Ἑρμῆ;
ZEUS Do you know the beautiful daughter of Inachus, Hermes?
ΕΡΜΗΣ Ναί· τὴν Ἰὼ λέγεις;
HERMES Yes; do you mean Io?
ΖΕΥΣ Οὐκέτι παῖς ἐκείνη ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ δάμαλις.
ZEUS She is no longer a girl, but a heifer.
ΕΡΜΗΣ Τεράστιον τοῦτο·
HERMES Monstrous!
τῷ τρόπῳ δ’ ἐνηλλάγη;
In what way was she changed?
ΖΕΥΣ Ζηλοτυπήσασα ἡ Ἥρα μετέβαλεν αὐτήν.
ZEUS Hera changed her out of jealousy.
ἀλλὰ καὶ καινὸν ἄλλο τι δεινὸν ἐπιμεμηχάνηται τῇ κακοδαίμονι· βουκόλον τινὰ πολυόμματον Ἄργον τοὔνομα ἐπέστησεν, ὃς νέμει τὴν δάμαλιν ἄϋπνος ὤν.
But she has also devised another new horror against the unhappy creature: she has set over her a many-eyed herdsman, Argos by name, who tends the heifer without ever sleeping.
ΕΡΜΗΣ Τί οὖν ἡμᾶς χρὴ ποιεῖν;
HERMES What then must we do?
ΖΕΥΣ Καταπτάμενος ἐς τὴν Νεμέαν—ἐκεῖ δέ που ὁ Ἄργος βουκολεῖ—ἐκεῖνον ἀπόκτεινον, τὴν δὲ Ἰὼ διὰ τοῦ πελάγους ἐς τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἀγαγὼν Ἶσιν ποίησον·
ZEUS Fly down to Nemea—where, I suppose, Argos is pasturing her—kill him, and having led Io across the sea to Egypt, make her Isis.
καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἔστω θεὸς τῶν ἐκεῖ καὶ τὸν Νεῖλον ἀναγέτω καὶ τοὺς ἀνέμους ἐπιπεμπέτω καὶ σῳζέτω τοὺς πλέοντας.
And for the future, let her be a goddess for the people there, and let her raise the Nile, send forth the winds, and save those who sail.

Notes

  1. 7.1τοὔνομα — A crasis of τὸ ὄνομα, functioning as an accusative of specification (or relation) in apposition to the proper name Ἄργος.
  2. 208ἔστω — Third-person singular present imperative of εἰμί. The subsequent verbs ἀναγέτω, ἐπιπεμπέτω, and σῳζέτω are also third-person singular present imperatives, all taking the newly deified Io (Isis) as their subject.

Cite this passage

Lucian, Dialogues of The Gods §7.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0062.tlg068.humanitext-grc3:7.1

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.