History of Monsters 195

another part depicts the wretched fate of the Pygmy mother; Juno commanded that she, defeated in a contest, become a crane.

She also painted Antigone, who once dared to compete with the consort of great Jove, and whom royal Juno turned into a bird; now, as a white stork, she applauds herself with a clattering beak. The only remaining corner shows the bereaved Cinyras embracing the temple steps, which were once the limbs of his own daughters.

On the other side, Arachne wove into her tapestry the various transformations of Jove: his changing into a bull for Europa, daughter of Agenor; into an eagle for Asterie; into a swan for Leda, daughter of Thestius; into a satyr for Antiope, daughter of Nycteus; into Amphitryon for Alcmene, daughter of Electryon; into a shower of gold for Danae; into fire for Aegina, daughter of Asopus; into a shepherd for Mnemosyne; and finally into a serpent for Proserpina. Although another poet mentions only four of Jove’s transformations in this couplet:

For Europa, Danae, Nycteis, and Leda, Jove became a bull, gold, a satyr, and a white swan.

But let that be noted in passing. Furthermore, Arachne added to her weaving the images of Neptune's loves: how he turned into the river Enipeus to embrace Iphimedeia; into a bull to possess Aeolia, daughter of Aeolus; into a ram to seduce the daughter of Bisaltes; into a horse to pursue Ceres and Medusa; and into a dolphin to lie with the maiden Melantho. She also wove in the loves of Phoebus, showing him changed into a hawk, sometimes a lion, and occasionally a shepherd for the sake of Isse, daughter of Macareus. Nor did she omit images of the loves of Bacchus, who, transformed into a cluster of grapes, deceived Erigone. At the bottom of the tapestry, she sketched an image of Saturn, who took on the form of a horse to lie with Philyra, daughter of Oceanus, with whom he later fathered Chiron the Centaur. The verses are as follows:

The Maeonian girl depicts Europa deceived by the image of the bull. She showed Asterie held by the struggling eagle, and Leda reclining under swan’s wings. She added how Jove, hidden in the likeness of a satyr, filled the beautiful daughter of Nycteus with twin offspring; how he was Amphitryon when he took you, Alcmene; how as gold he tricked Danae, as fire the daughter of Asopus, as a shepherd Mnemosyne, and as a spotted serpent the daughter of Ceres. She also placed you, Neptune, changed into a bull for the Aeolian maiden; as Enipeus, you were seen fathering the Aloidae, and you deceived the daughter of Bisaltes. Even the golden-haired mother of grain, most gentle of goddesses, felt you as a horse, as did the snaky-haired mother of the winged horse. Melantho felt you as a dolphin. Here also Phoebus is seen in the likeness of a rustic, wearing now the wings of a hawk, now the skin of a lion, and how as a shepherd he tricked Isse, daughter of Macareus. Bacchus too, how he deceived Erigone with a false grape; and how Saturn, as a horse, fathered the centaur Chiron.

Once Arachne observed the images in Minerva’s weaving, crafted with such miraculous skill, and realized her own work could not compare, she took it so bitterly that she ended her life in a noose. Then, Minerva transformed the girl into a spider.

Pitying her as she hung, Pallas lifted her. Her hair fell away, and with it her nose and ears; her head became tiny, and her whole body small. Slender fingers cling to her sides in place of legs; the rest is belly, from which she still lets out