The Metamorphoses of Ovid | Page 3

too limited to allow of more than an occasional
reference to the opinions of modern scholars. Such being the object of
the explanations, the reader will not be surprised at the absence of
critical and lengthened discussions on many of those moot points of
Mythology and early history which have occupied, with no very
positive result, the attention of Niebuhr, Lobeck, Müller, Buttmann,
and many other scholars of profound learning.

A SYNOPTICAL VIEW of the Principal Transformations Mentioned
in THE METAMORPHOSES.
[From Bell edition, omitting Books VIII-XV.]
BOOK I.
Chaos is divided by the Deity into four Elements: to these their
respective inhabitants are assigned, and man is created from earth and
water. The four Ages follow, and in the last of these the Giants aspire
to the sovereignty of the heavens; being slain by Jupiter, a new race of
men springs up from their blood. These becoming noted for their
impiety, Jupiter not only transforms Lycaon into a wolf, but destroys
the whole race of men and animals by a Deluge, with the exception of
Deucalion and Pyrrha, who, when the waters have abated, renew the

human race, by throwing stones behind them. Other animated beings
are produced by heat and moisture: and, among them, the serpent
Python. Phoebus slays him, and institutes the Pythian games as a
memorial of the event, in which the conquerors are crowned with beech;
for as yet the laurel does not exist, into which Daphne is changed soon
after, while flying from Phoebus. On this taking place, the other rivers
repair to her father Peneus, either to congratulate or to console him; but
Inachus is not there, as he is grieving for his daughter Io, whom Jupiter,
having first ravished her, has changed into a cow. She is entrusted by
Juno to the care of Argus; Mercury having first related to him the
transformation of the Nymph Syrinx into reeds, slays him, on which his
eyes are placed by Juno in the tail of the peacock. Io, having recovered
human shape, becomes the mother of Epaphus.
BOOK II.
Epaphus, having accused Phaëton of falsely asserting that Phoebus is
his father, Phaëton requests Phoebus, as a proof of his affection towards
his child, to allow him the guidance of the chariot of the Sun for one
day. This being granted, the whole earth is set on fire by him, and the
Æthiopians are turned black by the heat. Jupiter strikes Phaëton with a
thunderbolt, and while his sisters and his kinsman Cyenus are
lamenting him, the former are changed into trees, and Cyenus into a
swan. On visiting the earth, that he may repair the damage caused by
the conflagration, Jupiter sees Calisto, and, assuming the form of Diana,
he debauches her. Juno, being enraged, changes Calisto into a bear; and
her own son Arcas being about to pierce her with an arrow, Jupiter
places them both among the Constellations. Juno having complained of
this to Oceanus, is borne back to the heavens by her peacocks, who
have so lately changed their colour; a thing which has also happened to
the raven, which has been lately changed from white to black, he
having refused to listen to the warnings of the crow (who relates the
story of its own transformation, and of that of Nyctimene into an owl),
and having persisted in informing Phoebus of the intrigues of Coronis.
Her son Æsculapius being cut out of the womb of Coronis and carried
to the cave of Chiron the Centaur, Ocyrrhoë, the daughter of Chiron, is
changed into a mare, while she is prophesying. Her father in vain

invokes the assistance of Apollo, for he, in the guise of a shepherd, is
tending his oxen in the country of Elis. He neglecting his herd, Mercury
takes the opportunity of stealing it; after which he changes Battus into a
touchstone, for betraying him. Flying thence, Mercury beholds Herse,
the daughter of Cecrops, and debauches her. Her sister Aglauros, being
envious of her, is changed into a rock. Mercury returns to heaven, on
which Jupiter orders him to drive the herds of Agenor towards the
shore; and then, assuming the form of a bull, he carries Europa over the
sea to the isle of Crete.
BOOK III.
Agenor commands his son Cadmus to seek his sister Europa. While he
is doing this, he slays a dragon in Boeotia; and having sowed its teeth
in the earth, men are produced, with whose assistance he builds the
walls of Thebes. His first cause of grief is the fate of his grandson
Actæon, who, being changed into a stag, is torn to pieces by his own
hounds. This, however, gives pleasure to Juno, who hates not only
Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, and the favourite of Jupiter, but all
the house