“… and of your daughters[E1] , three are now

with Zeus the father, king of all;

three are wedded to the ruler of the sea,

Poseidon; two of them have

Phoibos[E2]  as master of their beds;

And one belongs to Maia’s noble

Son, Hermes. For thus did Eros

And Kypris[E3]  persuade them, that they should

Enter your house in sercet

And take your nine daughters[E4] ,

Who one day shall give birth[E5] 

To a race of heroes, demigods[E6] ,

And shall be scattered about the earth

And ageless—such, from the oracular

Tripod, is what I learned.

This privilege came to me

Among fifty mighty brothers,

To be the preeminent spokesman

Of the holy shrine, with truthfulness

Allotted to me at birth—me, Akraiphen[E7] .

For first the son of Leto

Gave to Euonymos[E8]  the gift

Of uttering oracles from this tripods;

Expelling him from the land, Hyrieus

Was second to acquire the honor,

Poseidon’s son; next was

Orion, our begetter,

After he had regained possession of his own land;

And he now dwells in heaven[E9] ,

While I hold his honor[E10] .

Therefore…    … and I utter

Oracles of the strictest accuracy[E11] .

Come then, yield to the immortals

And free your own heart from grief,

Being father-in-law to gods[E12] ”

So spoke the seer, much-revered;

And Asopos, joyfully

Taking hold of his right hand

And shedding tears from his eyes,

Answered him in this way[E13] …

This fragment addresses the abduction of Asopos (a river god) and the abduction of his daughters. He consults the oracle who prophecies that his daughters were abducted but the bigger picture is that they will be mothers to a ‘race of gods’, which may be a reference to Hesiod’s Works and Days. This seems to comfort Asopos, who responds joyfully. Also notable in this fragment is the Akraiphen’s legitimizing of his abilities. He states his lineage, and the origin of his abilities (The son of Leto).

Sources

Google Books: Hesiod’s Works and Days—The Five Ages

http://books.google.com/books?id=8uF8novXUmwC&q=ages#v=snippet&q=ages&f=false

Orion (Son of Hyrieus, and Father of Akraiphen)

http://www.theoi.com/Gigante/GiganteOrion.html

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 [E1]Asopos’ daughters abducted by the gods

 [E2]Apollo

 [E3]Aphrodite

 [E4]God of love bewitched the gods (Poseidon, Zeus, Apollo, Hermes) to abduct Asopos’ daughters

 [E5]Daughters destined to birth demigods.  Age of Heroes?

 [E6]Reference to Hesiod’s Works and Days, and his 5 ages of man?

 [E7]Given the gift of prophecy. Chosen out of 50 brothers. (Privileged)

 [E8]Son of Gaia

 [E9]Placed in the stars by Zeus

 [E10]Gift of prophecy passed down generationally: Euonymos-> Hyrieus-> Orion-> Akraiphen

 [E11]His lineage gives legitimacy to his prophecies.

 [E12]Entreating Asopos not to be upset at the abduction of his daughters? He is to be okay with it because they will birth gods.

 [E13]Maybe Asopos consulted the seer to get answers about his daughters’ aductions.