History of Monsters. 193

a crow, Bacchus into a goat, Diana into a cat, Juno into a cow, Venus into a fish, and Mercury into an ibis.

"Jupiter, she said, becomes the leader of the flock, which is why Libyan Ammon is even now fashioned with curving horns. Apollo hid in a crow, the son of Semele in a goat, the sister of Phoebus in a cat, the daughter of Saturn in a snow-white cow, Venus in a fish, and the Cyllenian in the wings of an ibis."

After these insults were hurled at the gods by the Pierides, the Muses presented their own songs. Calliope was the first among them, having been entrusted with the lead in the contest. She did not sing of the gods' faults, but rather of the praises of Ceres, describing with great elegance the abduction of Proserpina. She first told how Pluto, the god of the infernal regions, while wandering through grassy fields, caught sight of Ceres' daughter, Proserpina. He was so consumed by love that he placed her in his own chariot and carried her off to the realms of Tartarus. The nymph Cyane tried in vain to resist the abduction, and as a result, she was so afflicted by grief that she transformed into a fountain.

"But Cyane, mourning the abducted goddess and the disregarded rights of her fountain, nursed an inconsolable wound in her silent mind and was entirely consumed by tears; she dissolved into those very waters of which she had recently been the great divinity."

Ceres, meanwhile, searched for her lost daughter through every region of the world. Exhausted and overcome by thirst, she asked an old woman for a little water to quench it. Instead, the woman gave her a drink of wine-must mixed with flour. As Ceres drank, a boy began to mock her. Enraged, the goddess spat the mixture at the impudent youth, transforming him into a lizard (a stellio) covered in various spots.

"He is shrunk into a small form so that he lacks great power to do harm, and his size is smaller than a tiny lizard. He flees the amazed and weeping woman, who is afraid to touch the monster, and seeks out hiding places; he bears a name suited to his color, his body starred with various spots."

Finally, after searching every land and finding her daughter nowhere, Ceres returned to Sicily. There, she learned from Arethusa, the nymph of a Sicilian spring, that Proserpina had been snatched away by Pluto. Ceres immediately went to Jupiter to plead for her daughter's return and obtained permission to travel to the underworld, provided that Proserpina had not tasted any food before her return. However, upon her arrival and departure, Ceres was accused before Jupiter by Ascalaphus—the son of the nymph Orphne and the river Acheron—who claimed she had tasted a pomegranate seed during her journey. Consequently, he was immediately turned into a screech-owl, a bird that always predicts misfortune.

"The Queen of Erebus groaned and turned the profane witness into a bird; she sprinkled his head with water from the Phlegethon, transforming it into a beak, feathers, and large eyes. He became a foul bird, a herald of coming grief, a sluggish owl—a dire omen for mortals."

Jupiter, exercising fair justice, decreed that because of her disobedience, Proserpina should spend part of the year with her husband and part with her mother. Meanwhile, the Sirens, who were companions of Proserpina, were so devoted to her that they prayed to the gods for wings so they might search for her more easily by land and sea. Thus transformed into birds, yet retaining human faces and voices, they live near the Sicilian sea. There, they sing such sweet songs that they cause passing sailors to drown. The first of these was named Parthenope, the second Leucosia, and the third Ligeia.

"You have the feathers and feet of birds, though you bear the faces of virgins. Was it because you, Sirens, were among the number of her companions when Proserpina was gathering spring flowers? After you searched for her in vain throughout the whole world, you immediately wished for wings so that the seas might feel your concern,