Magic wheel, draw that man to my house. First the barley meal burns away in the fire. Come, sprinkle it on, Thestylis. Wretched girl, where have your wits flown off to? Am I such a loathsome thing that even you laugh at me? Sprinkle it, and say as you do: "I sprinkle the bones of Delphis."

The refrain arrives, and it will come back ten times: ἶυγξ, ἕλκε τὺ τῆνον ἐμὸν ποτὶ δῶμα τὸν ἄνδρα. The ἴυγξ is the wryneck, a bird that sorceresses tied to a wheel and spun, and then the name of the wheel itself (Cholmeley's note on this line). Pindar tells how Aphrodite first brought it from Olympus to men and taught Jason its charms (Pythian 4.213–219). Now the fire magic starts. Cholmeley lays out the method: something that burns quickly stands for the man, and as it burns, so should he. The barley meal is named outright as Delphis' bones. Simaetha's temper shows through the ritual: she snaps at Thestylis for being slow.