Header

198 Ulysses Aldrovandi

From there, she gazes upon the fields of Calauria, sacred to Leto, where a king and his wife were transformed into birds. After these events, Medea observed Cephisus mourning the fate of his grandson, whom Apollo had transformed into a seal:

At last, she sought the city of Ephyre, where they say human bodies were first generated from mushrooms.

When Medea arrived here, she lamented that she had been scorned by Jason for the sake of Creusa, the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. Consequently, having set the palace on fire and torn her sons apart before their father's eyes, she was carried by winged dragons to Athens. There she saw the granddaughter of Polyphemon transformed into a bird, "bound by new wings."

Aegeus received Medea upon her arrival not only with honorable hospitality but even in his marriage bed, and by her, he fathered a son, Medus. Meanwhile, Theseus, the son of Aegeus who had long been away from his homeland, returned to Athens. Because of the long time that had passed, his father did not recognize him. But Medea, fearing his arrival for both herself and her son, persuaded Aegeus to offer Theseus monkshood as if to an enemy.

However, once Theseus was finally recognized by his father, Medea fled into Asia with Medus, hidden within a shroud of clouds. Meanwhile, Aegeus, overwhelmed with great joy at his son's arrival, ordered sacrifices to be celebrated in which the praises of Theseus were commemorated—specifically how he had slain the Marathonian bull and Scyron, who was later turned into a cliff because of his remarkable cruelty.

Aegeus could not achieve perfect joy, for Minos, the son of Jupiter and Europa, declared war on the Athenians and gathered various peoples from all sides. Among these were the inhabitants of the island of Sithon. A girl named Arne, captivated by the beauty of gold, betrayed this island to the enemies attacking Athens; for this, she was transformed into a jackdaw.

After this, Aeacus denied Minos's request for help against the Athenians. Meanwhile, an Athenian ship carrying Cephalus as an ambassador arrived at Aeacus's court to seek aid against the Cretans. Aeacus received Cephalus generously and, promising his help, recounted the calamity of his region: how a wandering pestilence had killed all the people. But Aeacus, being a son of Jupiter, obtained a favor from the supreme father: that the ants of the region be turned into as many men, who were then called Myrmidons.

After Aeacus said this, Cephalus went up to the palace, where he was honorably received by Phocus, the son of Aeacus. Phocus asked him about the elegant javelin he carried in his hand. Cephalus replied that it had been given to him by his wife Procris, the daughter of Erechtheus, King of the Athenians, along with a dog that, while chasing a fox, was later transformed into stone along with the fox itself.

In the eighth book, Ovid recounts how Cephalus returned to Athens with a force of soldiers. Meanwhile, because of the death of his son Androgeus, Minos began to besiege Megara, where Nisus reigned, so that by conquering it, he might more easily achieve victory. During this siege, Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, used to climb the city walls frequently to watch Minos as he attended to his military duties. She fell in love with him, and since there was no other way to win him, she targeted the golden lock of her father Nisus, which held the fate of the country