Met. 10.220At sī forte rogēs fēcundam Amathūnta metallīs,
an genuisse velit Propoetidas, abnuat aequē
atque illōs, geminō quondam quibus aspera cornū
frōns erat: unde etiam nōmen trāxēre Cerastae.But if you should happen to ask Amathus, rich in metals, whether it would wish to have borne the Propoetides, it would refuse, just as it would refuse those men whose brows were once rough with twin horns: whence they also took the name of Cerastae. Met. 10.224Ante forēs hōrum stābat Iovis Hospitis āra;Before their doors stood an altar of Jupiter, god of guests; Met. 10.225ignārus sceleris quam sīquis sanguine tinctam
advena vīdisset, mactātōs crēderet illīc
lactantēs vitulōs Amathūsiacāsque bidentēs:
hospes erat caesus.if any stranger, unaware of the crime, had seen it stained with blood, he would have believed that suckling calves and Amathusian sheep had been slaughtered there: it was a guest who had been killed. Met. 10.228Sacrīs offēnsa nefandīs
ipsa suās urbēs Ophiūsiaque arva parābat
230dēserere alma Venus.Offended by these unspeakable rites, kindly Venus herself was preparing to desert her cities and the Ophiusian fields.
Met. 10.230"Sed quid loca grāta, quid urbēs
peccāvēre meae?'But what wrong have these beloved places, what wrong have my cities done? Met. 10.231Quod" dīxit "crīmen in illīs?What crime,' she said, 'is there in them? Met. 10.232Exsiliō poenam potius gēns impia pendat,
vel nece, vel sīquid medium est mortisque fugaeque.Let the impious race pay the penalty rather by exile, or by death, or by whatever lies between death and exile. Met. 10.234Idque quid esse potest, nisi versae poena figūrae?"And what can that be but the punishment of a changed form?'