Verse
Metamorphoses
Book 4, Line 4 by Henry T. Riley (English)
She considers which of many she shall tell (for she knows many a one), and she is in doubt whether she shall tell of thee, Babylonian Dercetis, whom the people of Palestine believe to inhabit the pools, with thy changed form, scales covering thy limbs; or rather how her daughter, taking wings, passed her latter years in whitened turrets; or how a Naiad, by charms and too potent herbs, changed the bodies of the young men into silent fishes, until she suffered the same herself. Or how the tree which bore white fruit formerly , now bears it of purple hue, from the contact of blood. This story pleases her; this, because it was no common tale, she began in manner such as this, while the wool followed the thread:—
MetamorphosesOvidHenry T. RileyEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 4
Book 4, Line 4ProseID metamorphoses-riley-en-prose-4-4