Chorus: Come now, breathe, men of dark life, like the generation of leaves,
685
Chorus: few-handed, creatures of clay, shadowy, powerless tribes,
Chorus: hapless, day-flying, mortal men, like dreamers,
Chorus: Pay attention to the mind of the immortal ones, to us who always are,
Chorus: to the airy, ageless ones, to those devising things imperishable,
Chorus: so that, having heard everything correctly from us about the lofty matters.
690
Chorus: the nature of birds, and the birth of gods, and of rivers, and of Erebus, and of Chaos.
Chorus: knowing this correctly, from now on tell Prodicus to weep from me.
Chorus: First there was Chaos and Night and dark Erebus and wide Tartarus,
Chorus: and there was neither earth nor air nor sky; but [there was] Erebus in boundless recesses
Chorus: Night, the dark-winged, first of all gave birth to the windward egg,
695
Chorus: From what seasons, revolving, Love the longed-for sprang forth,
Chorus: shining with a back of golden wings, like a whirlwind in the air.
Chorus: This one, having mingled with a winged one at night, goes down through broad Tartarus.
Chorus: Our race has been reborn, and first it has been brought into the light.
Chorus: For before, there was no race of immortals, until Eros mingled all things together;
700
Chorus: When others mixed with others, then the sky and Ocean were born.
Chorus: And the earth, imperishable stock of all the blessed gods. Here we are.
Chorus: most ancient of all the blessed ones. But we, as we are of Eros,
Chorus: It is clear to many; for we fly and we sit with those who are in love;
Chorus: many handsome boys who have been criticized at the limit of youth
705
Chorus: Because of our strength, lovers have divided us.
Chorus: the one who gave the partridge, the one the purple gallinule, the one the goose, the one the Persian bird.
