The Metamorphoses of Ovid | Page 4

of Agenor as well. Assuming the form of Beroë, she
contrives the destruction of Semele by the lightnings of Jupiter; while
Bacchus, being saved alive from his mother's womb, is brought up on
the earth. Jupiter has a discussion with Juno on the relative pleasures of
the sexes, and they agree to refer the question to Tiresias, who has been
of both sexes. He gives his decision in favour of Jupiter, on which Juno
deprives him of sight; and, by way of recompense, Jupiter bestows on
him the gift of prophesy. His first prediction is fulfilled in the case of
Narcissus, who, despising the advances of all females (in whose
number is Echo, who has been transformed into a sound), at last pines
away with love for himself, and is changed into a flower which bears
his name. Pentheus, however, derides the prophet; who predicts his fate,
and his predictions are soon verified; for, on the celebration of the
orgies, Bacchus having assumed a disguise, is brought before him; and
having related to Pentheus the story of the transformation of the
Etrurian sailors into dolphins, he is thrown into prison. On this,
Pentheus is torn in pieces by the Bacchanals, and great respect is
afterwards paid to the rites of Bacchus.

BOOK IV.
Still Alcithoë and her sisters, neglecting the rites, attend to their
spinning, during the festivities, and pass the time in telling stories; and,
among others, that of Pyramus and Thisbe, by whose blood the
mulberry is turned from white to black, and that of the discovery of the
intrigues of Mars and Venus, on the information of the Sun. They also
tell how the Sun assumed the form of Eurynome, that he might enjoy
her daughter Leucothoë; how Clytie, becoming jealous of her sister,
was transformed into a sun-flower; and how Salmacis and
Hermaphroditus had become united into one body. After this, through
the agency of Bacchus, the sisters are transformed into bats, and their
webs are changed into vines. Ino rejoicing at this, Juno, in her hatred
and indignation, sends one of the Furies to her, who causes her to be
struck with insanity, on which she leaps into the sea, with her son
Melicerta in her arms; but by the intercession of Venus, they become
sea Deities, and their Sidonian attendants, who are bewailing them as
dead, are changed into rocks. Cadmus, afflicted at this fresh calamity,
retires from Thebes, and flies to Illyria, together with his wife, where
they are both transformed into serpents. Of those who despise Bacchus,
Acrisius alone remains, the grandfather of Perseus, who, having cut off
the head of the Gorgon Medusa, serpents are produced by her blood.
Perseus turns Atlas into a mountain, and having liberated Andromeda,
he changes sea-weed into coral, and afterwards marries her.
BOOK V.
A tumult arising during the celebration of the nuptials, Phineus claims
Andromeda, who has been betrothed to him; and together with Proetus,
he and Polydectes are turned into stone. Pallas, who has aided Perseus,
now leaves him, and goes to Helicon, to see the fountain of Hippocrene.
The Muses tell her the story of Pyreneus and the Pierides, who were
transformed into magpies after they had repeated various songs on the
subjects of the transformation of the Deities into various forms of
animals; the rape of Proserpine, the wanderings of Ceres, the change of
Cyane into a fountain, of a boy into a lizard, of Ascalaphus into an owl,
of the Sirens into birds in part, of Arethusa into a spring, of Lyncus into

a lynx, and of the invention of agriculture by Triptolemus.
BOOK VI.
Influenced by the example of the Muses, Pallas determines on the
destruction of Arachne. She enters with her into a contest for the
superiority in the art of weaving. Each represents various
transformations on her web, and then Arachne is changed into a spider.
Niobe, however, is not deterred thereby from preferring her own lot to
that of Latona; on account of which, all her children are slain by Apollo
and Diana, and she is changed into a rock. On learning this, while one
person relates the transformation by Latona of the Lycian rustics into
frogs, another calls to mind how Marsyas was flayed by Apollo. Niobe
is lamented by Pelops, whose shoulder is of ivory. To console the
Thebans in their afflictions, ambassadors come from the adjacent cities.
The Athenians alone are absent, as they are attacked by hordes of
barbarians, who are routed by Tereus, who marries Progne, the
daughter of Pandion. Tereus coming a second time to Athens, takes
back with him to his kingdom Philomela, his wife's sister; and having
committed violence on her, with other enormities, he is transformed
into a hoopoe, while Philomela is changed into a nightingale, and
Progne becomes