Metamorphoses

Thus she says; and (so great is the unsteadiness of her wavering mind) though she is loath to try him, she has a wish to try him, and she exceeds all bounds, and, to her misery, exposes herself to be often repulsed. At length, when there is now no end to this , he flies from his country and the commission of this crime, and founds a new city in a foreign land. But then, they say that the daughter of Miletus, in her sadness, was bereft of all understanding. Then did she tear her garments away from her breast, and in her frenzy beat her arms. And now she is openly raving, and she proclaims the unlawful hopes of unnatural lust. Deprived of these hopes , she deserts her native land, and her hated home, and follows the steps of her flying brother. And as the Ismarian Bacchanals, son of Semele, aroused by thy thyrsus, celebrate thy triennial festivals, as they return, no otherwise did the Bubasian matrons see Byblis howling over the wide fields; leaving which, she wandered through the country of the Carians, and the warlike Leleges, and Lycia.

MetamorphosesOvidHenry T. RileyEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 9

Book 9, Line 36ProseID metamorphoses-riley-en-prose-9-36