vours
to avert the wrath of the Goddess, but she is deaf to his
entreaties, till, by the intercession of Thetis, she is appeased,
and she turns the wolf into stone.

For the aged Proteus had said to Thetis, "Goddess of the waves,
conceive; thou shalt be the mother of a youth, who by his gallant
actions shall surpass the deeds of his father, and shall be called
greater than he." Therefore, lest the world might contain something
greater than Jove, although he had felt no gentle flame in his breast,
Jupiter avoided the embraces of Thetis,[18] {the Goddess} of the sea,
and commanded his grandson, the son of AEacus,[19] to succeed to his own
pretensions, and rush into the embraces of the ocean maid. There is a
bay of Haemonia, curved into a bending arch; its arms project out; there,
were the water {but} deeper, there would be a harbour, {but} the sea is
{just} covering the surface of the sand. It has a firm shore, which
retains not the impression of the foot, nor delays the step {of the
traveller}, nor is covered with sea-weeds. There is a grove of myrtle at
hand, planted with particoloured berries. In the middle there is a cave,
whether formed by nature or art, it is doubtful; still, by art rather.
To this, Thetis, thou wast wont often to come naked, seated on thy
harnessed dolphin. There Peleus seized upon thee, as thou wast lying
fast bound in sleep; and because, being tried by entreaties, thou didst
resist, he resolved upon violence, clasping thy neck with both his arms.
And, unless thou hadst had recourse to thy wonted arts, by frequently
changing thy shape, he would have succeeded in his attempt. But, at one
moment, thou wast a bird (still, as a bird he held thee fast); at
another time a large tree: to {that} tree did Peleus cling. Thy third
form was that of a spotted tiger; frightened by that, the son of AEacus
loosened his arms from thy body.

Then pouring wine upon its waters,[20] he worshipped the Gods of the
sea, both with the entrails of sheep and with the smoke of frankincense;
until the Carpathian[21] prophet said, from the middle of the waves,
"Son of AEacus, thou shalt gain the alliance desired by thee. Do thou
only, when she shall be resting fast asleep in the cool cave, bind her
unawares with cords and tenacious bonds. And let her not deceive thee,
by imitating a hundred forms; but hold her fast, whatever she shall be,
until she shall reassume the form which she had before." Proteus said
this, and h