Verse
Metamorphoses
Book 12, Line 11 by Henry T. Riley (English)
When thus Nestor says to them : “Cygnus has been the only despiser of weapons in your time, and penetrable by no blows. But I myself formerly saw the Perrhæbean Cæneus bear a thousand blows with his body unhurt; Cæneus the Perrhæbean, I say , who, famous for his achievements, inhabited Othrys. And that this, too, might be the more wondrous in him, he was born a woman.” They are surprised, whoever are present, at the singular nature of this prodigy, and they beg him to tell the story. Among them, Achilles says, “Pray tell us, (for we all have the same desire to hear it,) O eloquent old man, the wisdom of our age; who was this Cæneus, and why changed to the opposite sex? in what war, and in the engagements of what contest was he known to thee? by whom was he conquered, if he was conquered by any one?”
MetamorphosesOvidHenry T. RileyEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 12
Book 12, Line 11ProseID metamorphoses-riley-en-prose-12-11