24. For the Nereids

Flower-faced nymphs, pure daughters of Nereus
of the briny sea, in the deep you print
wet tracks in the dance, fifty girls among
the waves celebrating the rituals
of Bakchos, you ride the backs of Tritones
and rejoice in the shapes of beasts, bodies
nourished by the sea; and like the other
dwellers of the deep, the swell of Tritones,
you swim, leaping and spinning on the waves,
dolphins roaming and dashing over dark
gleaming seas. I invoke you to send great
prosperity to the initiates,
for you were the first to reveal the august
rituals of most holy Bakchos and
sacred Persephone, with the mother
Kalliope, and the lord Apollon.