Chorus
Is there a report that once in this land of Argos Io was ward of Hera's house?
King
Certainly she was; the tradition prevails far and wide.
Chorus
[295]
And is there some story, too, that Zeus was joined in love with a mortal?
King
This entanglement was not secret from Hera.
Chorus
What then was the result of this royal strife?
King
The goddess of Argos transformed the woman into a cow.
Chorus
[300]
And while she was a horned cow, did not Zeus approach her?
King
So they say, making his form that of a bull lusting for a mate.
Chorus
What answer then did Zeus' stubborn consort give?
King
She placed the all-seeing one to stand watch over the cow.
Chorus
What manner of all-seeing herdsman with a single duty do you mean?
King
[305]
Argus, a son of Earth, whom Hermes slew.
Chorus
What else did she contrive against the unfortunate cow?
King
A sting, torment of cattle, constantly driving her on.
Chorus
They call it a gadfly, those who dwell by the Nile.
King
Well then, it drove her by a long course out of the land.
Chorus
[310]
Your account agrees with mine in all respects.
King
So she came to Canobus and to Memphis.
Chorus
And Zeus begot a son by the touching of his hand.
King
Who is it then that claims to be the cow's Zeus-begotten calf?
Chorus
[315]
Epaphus, and truly named from “laying on of hands.”
King
[And who was begotten of Epaphus?]
Chorus
Libya, who reaps the fruit of the largest portion of the earth.
King
[What offspring, then, did Libya have?]
Chorus
[Agenor was her first child born.]
King
And who was his offspring?
Chorus
Belus, who had two sons and was father of my father here.
King
[320]
Now tell me his wisely-given name.1
Chorus
Danaus: and he has a brother with fifty sons.
King
Reveal his name ungrudgingly.
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1 The epithet, properly applicable to the venerable, Danaus, is transferred to his name, because, to the Greek, name often connoted personality. So “the dreaded name of Demogorgon.”
Aeschylus. Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two volumes. 2. Suppliant Women. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926.
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