VOLUME I: IX
DIALOGUES OF THE SEA-GODS
IX
Posidon. Amphitrite and other Nereids
Pos. The strait where the child fell shall be called Hellespont after her. And as for her body, you Nereids shall take it to the Troad to be buried by the inhabitants.
Amph. Oh no, Posidon. Let her grave be the sea which bears her name. We are so sorry for her; that step-mother's treatment of her was shocking.
Pos. No, my dear, that may not be. And indeed it is not desirable that she should lie here under the sand; her grave shall be in the Troad, as I said, or in the Chersonese. It will be no small consolation to her that Ino will have the same fate before long. She will be chased by Athamas from the top of Cithaeron down the ridge which runs into the sea, and there plunge in with her son in her arms. But her we must rescue, to please Dionysus; Ino was his nurse and suckled him, you know.
Amph. Rescue a wicked creature like her?
Pos. Well, we do not want to disoblige Dionysus.
Nereid. I wonder what made the poor child fall off the ram; her brother Phrixus held on all right.
Pos. Of course he did; a lusty youth equal to the flight; but it was all too strange for her; sitting on that queer mount, looking down on yawning space, terrified, overpowered by the heat, giddy with the speed, she lost her hold on the ram's horns, and down she came into the sea.
Nereid. Surely her mother Nephele should have broken her fall.
Pos. I dare say; but Fate is a great deal too strong for Nephele.
H.