Dialogues of the Gods

1ZEUSHermes, do you know Inachus’ daughter, the one that’s so pretty? HERMESYes. You mean Io,†don’t you? ZEUSShe’s not a girl, but a heifer now. HERMESWonders will never cease! How this change? ZEUSHera did it out of jealousy. But that’s not all. She’s played another nasty unheard-of trick on the poor girl. She’s put a herdsman called Argus with ever so many eyes in charge of her. He keeps an eye on her as she grazes, and he never goes to sleep. HERMESWell, what are we to do about it? ZEUSYou must fly down to Nemea—Argus is on his beat thereabouts—and kill him. Then take Io over the sea to Egypt, and make her into Isis. Hereafter let her be goddess of the folk there, raising the waters of the Nile, sending them their winds, and preserving seafarers from harm.