er cruelty, he reassumes the shape of a youth,
and prevails upon the Goddess. Cold waters, by the aid of the Naiads
become warm. Romulus having succeeded Numitor, he is made a Deity under
the name of Quirinus, while his wife Hersilia becomes the Goddess Hora.

BOOK XV.

Numa succeeds; who, on making inquiry respecting the origin of the city
of Crotona, learns how black pebbles were changed into white; he also
attends the lectures of Pythagoras, on the changes which all matter is
eternally undergoing. Egeria laments the death of Numa, and will not
listen to the consolations of Hippolytus, who tells her of his own
transformation, and she pines away into a fountain. This is not less
wonderful, than how Tages sprang from a clod of earth; or how the lance
of Romulus became a tree; or how Cippus became decked with horns. The
Poet concludes by passing to recent events; and after shewing how
AEsculapius was first worshipped by the Romans, in the sacred isle of the
Tiber, he relates the Deification of Julius Caesar and his change into a
Star; and foretells imperishable fame for himself.

BOOK THE EIGHTH.

FABLE I. [VIII.1-151]

Minos commences the war with the siege of Megara. The preservation
of the city depends on a lock of the hair of its king, Nisus. His
daughter, Scylla, falling in love with Minos, cuts off the fatal
lock, and gives it to him. Minos makes himself master of the place;
and, abhorring Scylla and the crime she has been guilty of, he takes
his departure. In despair, she throws herself into the sea, and
follows his fleet. Nisus, being transformed into a sea eagle,
attacks her in revenge, and she is changed into a bird called Ciris.

Now, Lucifer unveiling the day and dispelling the season of night, the
East wind[1] fell, and the moist vapours arose. The favourable South
winds gave a passage to the sons of AEacus,[2] and Cephalus returning;
with which, being prosperously impelled, they made the port they were
bound for, before it was expected.

In the meantime Minos is laying waste the Lelegeian coasts,[3] and
previously tries the strength of his arms against the city Alcathoe,
which Nisus had; among whose honoured hoary hairs a lock, distinguished
by its purple colour, descended from the middle of his crown, the
safeguard of his powerful kingdom. The sixth horns of the rising Phoebe
were {now} growing again, and the fortune of the war was still in
suspense, and for a long time di