e, appears to be
weeping. She surrounds the exterior borders with peaceful olive. That is
the close; and with her own tree she puts an end to the work.

The Maeonian Nymph delineates Europa, deceived by the form of the bull;
and you would think it a real bull, and real sea. She herself seems to
be looking upon the land which she has left, and to be crying out to her
companions, and to be in dread of the touch of the dashing waters, and
to be drawing up her timid feet. She drew also Asterie,[14] seized by
the struggling eagle; and made Leda, reclining beneath the wings of the
swan. She added, how Jupiter, concealed under the form of a Satyr,
impregnated {Antiope},[15] the beauteous daughter of Nycteus, with a
twin offspring; {how} he was Amphitryon, when he beguiled thee,
Tirynthian[16] dame; how, turned to gold, he deceived Danae; {how},
changed into fire, the daughter of Asopus;[17] {how}, as a shepherd,
Mnemosyne;[18] and as a speckled serpent, Deois.[19] She depicted thee
too, Neptune, changed into a fierce bull, with the virgin daughter[20]
of AEolus. Thou, seeming to be Enipeus,[21] didst beget the Aloidae; as a
ram, thou didst delude {Theophane}, the daughter of Bisaltis.[22] Thee
too the most bounteous mother of corn, with her yellow hair,
experienced[23] as a steed; thee, the mother[24] of the winged horse,
with her snaky locks, received as a bird; Melantho,[25] as a dolphin. To
all these did she give their own likeness, and the {real} appearance of
the {various} localities. There was Phoebus, under the form of a rustic;
and how, {besides}, he was wearing the wings of a hawk at one time, at
another the skin of a lion; how, too, as a shepherd, he deceived
Isse,[26] the daughter of Macareus. How Liber deceived Erigone,[27] in a
fictitious bunch of grapes; {and} how Saturn[28] begot the two-formed
Chiron, in {the form of} a horse. The extreme part of the web, being
enclosed in a fine border, had flowers interwoven with the twining ivy.

Pallas could not blame that work, nor could Envy {censure} it. The
yellow-haired Virgin grieved at her success, and tore the web
embroidered with the criminal acts of the Gods of heaven. And as she was
holding her shuttle {made of boxwood} from Mount Cytorus, three or four
times did she strike the forehead of Arachne, the daughter of Idmon. The
unhappy creature could not endure it; and being of a high spirit, she
tied up her throat in a halter. Pallas, taking compassion, bore her up