Over the |sea, past |Crete, on the |Syrian |shore to the |southward,
Dwells in the |well-tilled |lowland a |dark-haired |Ethiop |people,
Skilful with |needle and |loom, and the |arts of the |dyer and |carver,
Skilful, but |feeble of |heart; for they |know not the |lords of O|lympus,
Lovers of |men; neither |broad-browed |Zeus, nor |Pallas A|thené,
Teacher of |wisdom to |heroes, be|stower of |might in the |battle;
Share not the |cunning of |Hermes, nor |list to the |songs of A|pollo.

Fearing the |stars of the |sky, and the |roll of the |blue salt |water,
Fearing all |things that have |life in the |womb of the |seas and the |rivers,
Eating no |fish to this |day, nor |ploughing the |main, like the |Phoenics,
Manful with |black-beaked |ships, they a|bide in a |sorrowful |region,
Vexed with the |earthquake, and |flame, and the |sea-floods, |scourge of Po|seidon.

Whelming the |dwellings of |men, and the |toils of the |slow-footed |oxen,
Drowning the |barley and |flax, and the |hard-earned |gold of the |harvest,
Up to the |hillside |vines, and the |pastures |skirting the |woodland,
Inland the |floods came |yearly; and |after the |waters a |monster,
Bred of the |slime, like the |worms which are |bred from the |muds of the |Nile-bank,
Shapeless, a |terror to |see; and by |night it swam |out to the |seaward,
Daily re|turning to |feed with the |dawn, and de|voured of the |fairest,
Cattle, and |children, and |maids, till the |terrified |people fled |inland.

Fasting in |sackcloth and |ashes they |came, both the |king and his |people,
Came to the |mountain of |oaks, to the |house of the |terrible |sea-gods,
Hard by the |gulf in the |rocks, where of |old the |worldwide |deluge
Sank to the |inner ab|yss; and the |lake where the |fish of the |goddess
Holy, un|dying, a|bide; whom the |priests feed |daily with |dainties.

There to the |mystical |fish, high-|throned in her |chamber of |cedar,
Burnt they the |fat of the |flock; till the |flame shone |far to the |seaward.
Three days |fasting they |prayed: but the |fourth day the |priests of the |goddess
Cunning in |spells, cast |lots, to dis|cover the |crime of the |people.