{were} they words indeed, nor did it appear to be the voice of a
mare, but of one imitating a mare. And in a little time she uttered
perfect neighing, and stretched her arms upon the grass. Then did her
fingers grow together, and a smooth hoof united five nails in one
continued piece of horn. The length of her face and of her neck
increased; the greatest part of her long hair became a tail. And as the
hairs lay scattered about her neck, they were transformed into a mane
{lying} upon the right side; at once both her voice and her shape were
changed. And this wondrous change gave her the {new} name {of Enippe}.

[Footnote 74: _Chariclo._--Ver. 636. She was the daughter of
Apollo, or of Oceanus, but is supposed not to have been the same
person that is mentioned by Apollodorus as the mother of the
prophet Tiresias.]

[Footnote 75: _A baneful serpent._--Ver. 652. This happened when
one of the arrows of Hercules, dipped in the poison of the Lernaean
Hydra, pierced the foot of Chiron while he was examining it.]

[Footnote 76: _The three Goddesses._--Ver. 654. Namely, Clotho,
Lachesis, and Atropos, the 'Parcae,' or 'Destinies.']

FABLE XI. [II.676-707]

Mercury, having stolen the oxen of Apollo, and Battus having perceived
the theft, he engages him, by a present, to keep the matter secret.
Mistrusting, however, his fidelity, he assumes another shape, and
tempting him with presents, he succeeds in corrupting him. To punish
his treachery, the God changes him into a touchstone.

The Philyrean[77] hero wept, and in vain, {God} of Delphi, implored thy
assistance; but neither couldst thou reverse the orders of great
Jupiter, nor, if thou couldst have reversed them wast thou then present;
{for then} thou wast dwelling in Elis and the Messenian[78] fields. This
was the time when a shepherd's skin garment was covering thee, and a
stick cut out of the wood was the burden of thy left hand, {and} of the
other, a pipe unequal with its seven reeds. And while love is thy
concern, while thy pipe is soothing thee, some cows are said to have
strayed unobserved into the plains of Pylos.[79] The son of Maia the
daughter of Atlas, observes them, and with his {usual} skill hides them,
driven off, in the woods. Nobody but an old man, well-known in that
country, had noticed the theft: all the neighborhood called him Battus.
He was keeping the forests and the grassy pastures, and the set of
fine-bre