venus, outraged, sent a sting of lust upon them. Driven by this passion, Hippomenes coupled with Atalanta even within a temple sacred to the Mother of the Gods. Contaminated by such a disgraceful act, the Goddess transformed Hippomenes into a lion and Atalanta into a lioness.

Their punishment seemed light; thus, tawny manes Now veil their once-smooth necks, their fingers curve to claws, Their forearms turn to shoulders, and their chests Support their total weight; their tails sweep the surface of the sand. Their faces hold their wrath, they growl instead of speak, The woods become their bridal chambers, and, feared by others, These lions champ at Cybele’s bits with tamed teeth.

Using these examples, Venus urged Adonis to avoid wild beasts; nevertheless, the youth was killed by a boar he had long been hunting. Consequently, Venus transformed the boy’s blood into a purple flower, just as Proserpina had the power to turn Pluto’s mistress, the nymph Minthe, into the herb mint. The conversion of Adonis’s blood into the flower called the anemone is described thus:

...a flower of the same color rose from the blood, Like those of the pomegranate which hides its seeds Under a tough rind; yet its enjoyment is brief, For it clings weakly and, falling through extreme fragility, It is shaken off by the very winds that give it everything.

Regarding the transformation of Pluto’s mistress nymph, the poet sings:

To turn her feminine limbs into fragrant mint.

The start of the eleventh book records the unhappy end of Orpheus who, as previously mentioned, incurred the deep hatred of the Thracian women by spurning them. While celebrating the rites of Bacchus, the women spotted Orpheus singing to the wild beasts and trees about the loves of the gods. Rushing at him with great violence, they tore him to pieces, severed his head from his body, and threw both head and lyre into the river Hebrus. Bacchus, bitter that his sacred rites had been violated by Orpheus’s blood, transformed those women into various trees.

Lyaeus did not let this crime go unpunished; Grieving the loss of the bard of his sacred rites, He immediately bound the Edonian mothers in the woods Who had witnessed the sin, pinning them down with twisted roots.

Afterward, Bacchus traveled from Thrace to Mount Tmolus in Cilicia, accompanied by Satyrs. Silenus was absent, having been captured and held in the prisons of King Midas of Phrygia. However, when the King learned of Bacchus’s arrival, he voluntarily returned Silenus to him. For such generosity, the god granted the King any wish he might ask. Because the King was thirsting for gold, he requested that whatever he touched be turned into golden matter. Thus, when Midas found himself touching gold instead of food and drink, he repented of his request and begged Bacchus to undo the gift. Instructed by Bacchus, he washed himself in the river Pactolus; as the golden power was transferred to the water, the sands of this river are said to have become golden.

From then on, loathing gold and wealth, Midas retreated to the woods, where he worshipped Pan, the god of shepherds. Since this god delighted in the sound of the pipes, he eventually dared to challenge Apollo. When the judges declared Apollo the winner of the contest, Midas alone insisted the victory should go to Pan. Because of Midas's utter stupidity, Apollo transformed his ears into those of a donkey.

...nor did the Delian god allow Stupid ears to retain their human shape; He stretched them out and filled them with grey hair, Making them unsteady and capable of movement. The rest of the man remained, but he was condemned in one part: He donned the ears of a slow-moving donkey.

Having acquired these donkey ears, Midas hid them with such diligence that they were known to no one but his barber. The barber, not daring to share the secret with anyone, spoke in a low