When and at what time, my soul, will you sing of the sacred island, Delos, the nurse of Apollo?
ἦ μὲν ἅπασαι §3Κυκλάδες, αἳ νήσων ἱερώταται εἰν ἁλὶ κεῖνται, §4εὔυμνοι· δῆλος δʼ ἐθέλει τὰ πρῶτα φέρεσθαι §5ἐκ Μουσέων, ὅτι Φοῖβον ἀοιδάων μεδέοντα §6λοῦσέ τε καὶ σπείρωσε καὶ ὡς θεὸν ᾔνεσε πρώτη.
Indeed, all the Cyclades, which lie in the sea as the most sacred of islands, are rich in song; but Delos wishes to bear away the first prize from the Muses, because she first washed Phoebus, the lord of songs, and swaddled him, and praised him as a god.
As the Muses hate the singer who does not sing of Pimpleia, so Phoebus hates whoever forgets Delos.
Now I will bestow a share of my song upon Delos, so that Cynthian Apollo may praise me for caring for his beloved nurse.
§11κείνγ δʼ ἠνεμόεσσα καὶ ἄτροπος οἷά θʼ ἁλιπλὴξ §12αἰθυίῃς καὶ μᾶλλον ἐπίδρομος ἠέπερ ἵπποις §13πόντῳ ἐνεστήρικται· ὁ δʼ ἀμφί ἑ πουλύς ἑλίσσων §14Ἰκαρίου πολλὴν ἀπομάσσεται ὕδατος ἄχνην·
She, windy and immovable, beaten by the sea, is a path for gulls rather than for horses, set fast in the deep; and the vast sea, rolling around her, wipes off much foam of the Icarian water.
§15τῶ σφε καὶ ἰχθυβολῆες ἁλίπλοοι ἐννάσσαντο.
Therefore, sea-faring fishermen have settled upon her.
§16ἀλλά οἱ οὐ νεμεσητὸν ἐνὶ πρώτῃσι λέγεσθαι, §17ὀππότʼ ἐς Ὠκεανόν τε καὶ ἐς Τιτηνίδα Τηθὺν §18νῆσοι ἀολλίζονται, ἀεὶ δʼ ἔξαρχος ὁδεύει.
Yet it is no cause for resentment that she is named among the foremost, whenever toward Oceanus and Titaness Tethys the islands gather together, and she always leads the way.
§19ἡ δʼ ὄπιθεν Φοίνισσα μετʼ ἴχνια Κύρνος ὀπηδεῖ §20οὐκ ὀνοτὴ καὶ Μάκρις Ἀβαντιὰς Ἐλλοπιήων §21Σαρδώ θʼ ἱμερόεσσα καὶ ἣν ἐπενήξατο Κύπρις §22ἐξ ὕδατος τὰ πρῶτα, σαοῖ δέ μιν ἀντʼ ἐπιβάθρων.
Behind her follows Phoenician Cyrnus in her tracks, not to be despised, and Macris, the Abantian land of the Ellopians, and lovely Sardó, and the island which Cypris first swam to from the water, and she saves it in return for her landing.
Those islands indeed are strong with sheltering towers, but Delos is strong by Apollo; and what wall is more steadfast?
Walls and stones may fall under the blast of Strymonian Boreas; but a god is ever unshaken.
§27Δῆλε φίλη, τοῖός σε βοηθόος ἀμφιβέβηκεν.
Dear Delos, such a helper encompasses you.
But if exceedingly many songs circle around you, in what song shall I weave you?
τί τοι θυμῆρες ἀκοῦσαι;
What is pleasing to your heart to hear?
§30ἢ ὡς τὰ πρώτιστα μέγας θεὸς οὔρεα θείνων §31ἄορι τριγλώχινι, τό οἱ Τελχῖνες ἔτευξαν, §32νήσους εἰναλίας εἰργάζετο, νέρθε δὲ πάσας §33ἐκ νεάτων ὤχλισσε καὶ εἰσεκύλισε θαλάσσῃ;
Or how at the very first the great god, striking the mountains with his three-pointed sword, which the Telchines fashioned for him, fashioned the islands in the sea, and from their lowest depths heaved them all and rolled them into the sea?
§34καὶ τὰς μὲν κατὰ βυσσόν, ἵνʼ ἠπείροιο λάθωνται, §35πρυμνόθεν ἐρρίζωσε· δὲ δʼ οὐκ ἔθλιψεν ἀνάγκη, §36ἀλλʼ ἄφετος πελάγεσσιν ἐπέπλεες, οὔνομα δʼ ἦν σοι §37Ἀστερίη τὸ παλαιόν, ἐπεὶ βαθὺν ἥλαο τάφρον §38οὐρανόθεν φεύγουσα Διὸς γάμον ἀστέρι ἴση.
And these indeed in the abyss, that they might forget the mainland, he rooted from their foundations; but no necessity pressed upon you, but free you floated on the seas, and your name of old was Asteria, since you leaped down into the deep trench from heaven, fleeing the marriage of Zeus, like a star.
At that time golden Leto had not yet mingled with you, at that time you were still Asteria and were not yet called Delos.
§41πολλάκι σε Τροιζῆνος ἀπὸ ξανθοῖο πολίχνης §42ἐρχόμενοι Ἐφύρηνδε Σαρωνικοῦ ἔνδοθι κόλπου §43ναῦται ἐπεσκέψαντο, καὶ ἐξ Ἐφύρης ἀνιόωτες §44οἱ μὲν ἔτʼ οὐκ ἴδον αὖθι, σὺ δὲ στεινοῖο παρʼ ὀξὺν §45ἔδραμες Εὐρίποιο πόρον καναχηδὰ ῥέοντος, §46Χαλκιδικῆς δʼ αὐτῆμαρ ἀνηναμένη ἁλὸς ὕδωρ §47μέσφʼ ἐς Ἀθηναίων προσενήξαο Σούνιον ἄκρον §48ἢ Χίον ἢ νήσοιο διάβροχον ὕδατι μαστὸν §49παρθενίης (οὔπω γὰρ ἔην Σάμος), ἧχι σε νύμφαι §50γείτονες Ἀγκαίου Μυκαλησσίδες ἐξείνισσαν.
Often, from the yellow town of Troezen, as they went to Ephyra within the Saronic Gulf, sailors beheld you, and as they returned from Ephyra, they saw you no more there, but you had run past the sharp strait of Chattering Euripus, as it flows with sound, and refusing the water of the Chalcidian sea on that very day, you swam all the way to the Athenian headland of Sunium, or to Chios, or to the water-drenched breast of the maiden isle (for Samos was not yet), where the nymphs of Mycalessus, neighbors of Ancaeus, welcomed you.
§51ἡνίκα δʼ Ἀπόλλωνι γενέθλιον οὖδας ὑπέσχες, §52τοῦτό τοι ἀντημοιβὸν ἁλίπλοοι οὔνομʼ ἔθεντο, §53οὕνεκεν οὐκέτʼ ἄδηλος ἐπέπλεες, ἀλλʼ ἐνὶ πόντου §54κύμασιν Αἰγαίοιο ποδῶν ἐνεθήκαο ῥίζας.
But when you offered a birthplace to Apollo, the sea-farers gave you this name in return, because no longer hidden did you float, but in the waves of the Aegean Sea you fixed the roots of your feet.
§55οὐδʼ Ἥρην κοτέουσαν ὑπέτρεσας· ἡ μὲν ἁπάσαις §56δεινὸν ἐπεβρωμᾶτο λεχωίσιν αἳ Διὶ παῖδας §57ἐξέφερον, Λητοῖ δὲ διακριδόν, οὕνεκα μούνη §58Ζηνὶ τεκεῖν ἤμελλε φιλαίτερον Ἄρεος υἷα.
Nor did you fear angry Hera, who was terribly enraged at all the women in childbed who bore children to Zeus, but toward Leto in an exceptional degree, because she alone was to bear to Zeus a son more beloved than Ares.
§59τῶ ῥα καὶ αὐτὴ μὲν σκοπιὴν ἔχεν αἰθέρος εἴσω §60σπερχομένη μέγα δή τι καὶ οὐ φατόν, εἶργε δὲ Λητὼ §61τειρομένην ὠδῖσι· δύω δέ οἱ εἵατο φρουροὶ §62γαῖαν ἐποπτεύοντες, ὁ μὲν πέδον ἠπείροιο §63ἥμενος ὑψηλῆς κορυφῆς ἔπι Θρήικος Αἵμου §64θοῦρος Ἄρης ἐφύλασσε σὺν ἔντεσι, τὼ δέ οἱ ἵππω §65ἑπτάμυχον βορέαο παρὰ σπέος ηὐλίζοντο· §66ἡ δʼ ἐπὶ νησάων ἑτέρη σκοπὸς εὐρειάων §67ἧστο κόρη Θαύμαντος ἐπαΐξασα Μίμαντι.
Therefore she herself kept watch within the ether, raging with a mighty and unspeakable anger, and she barred Leto oppressed by labor pains; and two sentinels sat for her, watching the earth, one of whom guarded the plain of the mainland, sitting on the high peak of Thracian Haemus, even impetuous Ares in his armor, while his two horses stabled by the seven-chambered cave of Boreas; and the other, the sentinel over the broad islands, the daughter of Thaumas, sat having darted down onto Mimas.
There they remained, threatening all the cities which Leto approached, and turned her away from welcoming her.
Arcadia fled, and the sacred mountain of Auge, Parthenium, fled, and old Pheneus behind her fled too.
§72φεῦγε δʼ ὅλη Πελοπηὶς ὅση παρακέκλιται Ἰσθμῷ, §73ἔμπλην Αἰγιαλοῦ τε καὶ Ἄργεος· οὐ γὰρ ἐκείνας §74ἀτραπιτοὺς ἐπάτησεν, ἐπεὶ λάχεν Ἴναχον Ἥρη.
And all the Peloponnese fled, as much as lies along the Isthmus, save Aegialus and Argos; for she did not tread those paths, since Hera had obtained Inachus as her lot.
§75φεῦγε καὶ Ἀονίη τὸν ἕνα δρόμον, αἱ δʼ ἐφέποντο §76Δίρκη τε Στροφίη τε μελαμψήφιδος ἔχουσαι §77Ἰσμηνοῦ χέρα πατρός, ὁ δʼ εἵπετο πολλὸν ὄπισθεν §78Ἀσωπὸς βαρύγουνος, ἐπεὶ πεπάλακτο κεραυνῷ.
Aonia too fled in the same course, and there followed her Dirce and Strophia, holding the hand of their father, Ismenus of the black pebbles; and he followed far behind, heavy-kneed Asopus, since he had been struck with the thunderbolt.