{ Thus} she advises her, and { then} retires from her chamber. The Cretan matron arises joyful from her bed; and suppliantly raising her pure hands towards the stars { of heaven}, prays that her vision may be fulfilled. When her pains increased, and her burden forced itself into the light, and a girl was born to the father unaware of it, the mother ordered it to be brought up, pretending it was a boy; and the thing gained belief, nor was any one but the nurse acquainted with the fact. The father performed his vows, and gave { the child} the name of its grandfather. The grandfather had been called Iphis. The mother rejoiced in that name because it was common { to both sexes}, nor would she be deceiving[73] any one by it. Her deception lay unperceived under this fraud, the result of natural affection. The { child's} dress was that of a boy; the face such, that, whether you gave it to a girl or to a boy, either would be beautiful. In the meantime the third year had { now} succeeded the tenth, when her father, O Iphis, promised to thee, in marriage, the yellow-haired Iänthe, who was a virgin the most commended among all the women of Phæstus, for the endowments of her beauty; the daughter of the Dictæan Telestes. Equal was their age, their beauty equal; and they received their first instruction, the elements { suited} to their age, from the same preceptor.
Love, in consequence, touches the inexperienced breasts of them both, and inflicts on each an equal wound; but { how} different are their hopes! Iänthe awaits the time of their union, and of the ceremonial agreed upon, and believes that she, whom she thinks to be a man, will be { her husband}. Iphis is in love with her whom she despairs to be able to enjoy, and this very thing increases her flame; and, { herself} a maid, she burns with passion for a maid. And, with difficulty, suppressing her tears, she says, "What issue { of my love} awaits me, whom the anxieties unknown to any { before}, and { so} unnatural, of an unheard-of passion, have seized upon? if the Gods would spare me, (they ought to have destroyed me, and if they would not have destroyed me), at least they should have inflicted some natural evil, and { one} common { to the human race}. Passion for a cow does not inflame a cow, nor does that for mares { inflame} the mares. The ram inflames the ewes; its own female follows the buck. And so do birds couple; and among all animals, no female is seized with passion for a female. Would that I did not exist.