Then the son from his ambush stretched
forth his left hand and in his right took
the great long sickle with jagged teeth,
and swiftly lopped off his own father's                members
and cast them away to fall behind him.
And not vainly did they fall from his hand;
for all the ****** drops that gushed forth Earth received,
and as the seasons moved round she bare
the strong Erinyes and the great Giants
with gleaming armor, holding long spears
in their hands and the Nymphs whom they call Meliae
all over the boundless earth. And so soon as he had
cut off the members with flint and cast them
from the land into the surging sea,
they were swept away over the main a long time:
and a white foam spread around them
from the immortal flesh, and in it there
grew a maiden. First she drew near holy Cythera,
and from there, afterwards, she came to sea-girt Cyprus,
and came forth an awful and lovely goddess,
and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet.
Her gods and men call Aphrodite,
and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea,
because she grew amid the foam,
and Cytherea because she reached Cythera,
and Cyprogenes because she was born in billowy
Cyprus, and Philommedes because                             sprang
from the members. And with her went Eros,
and comely Desire followed her at her birth
at the first and as she went into the assembly
of the gods. This honor she has from the beginning,
and this is the portion allotted to her amongst men
and undying gods, -- the whisperings of maidens
and smiles and deceits with sweet delight
                                                     and love and graciousness.