Ulisse Aldrovandi

everyone ought to fear; since even Diomedes’ own companions—having set out for war against the will of Venus—were transformed into birds resembling swans. These are called "Diomedean birds" by authors, while the common people call them *Artenae*.

Their voices grew thin, and the path for their words narrowed; their hair turned into feathers, which soon covered their necks, chests, and backs. Their arms grew longer into primary feathers, and their smooth elbows curved into wings; their feet grew large... if you ask what the form of these ambiguous birds is like, though not exactly swans, they are very close to white swans.

Diomedes offered this excuse to avoid gathering soldiers for Turnus to lead against Aeneas. Consequently, after receiving this response, Venulus left the fields of Apulia. Along the way, even though Pan (the son of Mercury) and the nymphs invited him, an Apulian shepherd offended them with crude speech and was transformed into a wild olive tree.

The shepherd mocked them, adding rustic insults to his obscene words as he mimicked them with a boorish dance. He did not fall silent until a tree had enclosed his throat; for he is now a tree, and one can recognize his character by its sap. Indeed, the wild olive reveals the mark of his tongue in its bitter berries; the harshness of his words passed into them.

Finally, despairing of Diomedes' help, Turnus relied on his own forces and strove to crush the Trojans. He had already set fire to their fleet when the Mother of the Gods—since the Teucrian ships had been built on Mount Ida in Phrygia, where she was most devoutly worshipped—obtained from Jupiter the favor that they all be turned into nymphs. Eventually, after Turnus was slain by Aeneas, the city of Ardea where he lived was set ablaze; from its ruins, a bird of the same name as the city flew forth. Thus, when Aeneas reached the end of his life after so many great deeds, he was transformed into a local god (*Indiges*) through the prayers of Venus.

Aeneas was succeeded by Ascanius, followed by Silvius, Latinus, Epitus, Capys, Capetus, and Tiberinus (from whom the Tiber takes its name). Then came Agrota and Aventinus (after whom the Aventine Hill was named), and finally Palatinus. During his reign, the god Vertumnus, who was accustomed to changing into various forms, fell deeply in love with the goddess Pomona. When he could not win her over, he eventually turned himself into an old woman and told her many stories intended to sway a woman's heart. But since Pomona could not be moved from her initial resolve, he placed before her mind the example of Anaxarete of Cyprus. Her excessive cruelty caused the youth Iphis, who loved her, to end his life by the noose; she was later turned into stone by Venus.

...the warm blood fled from her body as a paleness spread over it. She tried to step back but stood fixed; she tried to turn her face away but could not even do that. Gradually, the stone that had long existed in her hard heart took over her limbs.

Hearing this, Pomona’s rigid heart began to soften, and so Vertumnus, resuming his original form, embraced her. After Palatinus, the king of Alba, the brothers Amulius and Numitor succeeded him. Later, Romulus and Remus were born to Numitor's daughter after she was ravished by Mars. Once they grew to adulthood, they killed Amulius and restored the kingdom to their grandfather, Numitor, which his brother had taken. Indeed, they built the city of Rome themselves. After Romulus liberated the city from the betrayal of the maiden Tarpeia (who had been captivated by the beauty of gold) and finished the war against Titus Tatius undertaken because of the abduction of the maidens, he settled everything by law and was taken up into Heaven, where he was called the god Quirinus. While his wife Hersilia wept for him as if he were lost, Juno made her immortal, and she was called the goddess Ora Quirini by the Romans. Their temples were built by the Roman people on the Quirinal Hill.

In the fifteenth book, we find Numa Pompilius, the successor of Romulus. To listen to his teacher Pythagoras, he was accustomed to traveling to Croton, a city founded by a certain Mycilus, son of Alemon, and named after the name of