221For old Proteus had said to Thetis: 'Goddess of the wave, conceive: you will be the mother of a young man who in the years of his strength will surpass his father's deeds and will be called greater than he.' 224So, lest the world should hold anything greater than Jove, although he had felt no lukewarm fires in his breast, Jupiter shunned marriage with Thetis of the sea, and bade his grandson, the son of Aeacus, take his place in his desires and go into the embraces of the sea-maiden. 229There is a bay of Haemonia, curved like a sickle into a bending arc: its arms run out, where, if the water were deeper, there would be a harbour (the sea is spread over the surface of the sand); 232it has a firm shore, such as keeps no footprints and does not slow the step, nor is it covered and hung with seaweed.
234A myrtle grove lies near, thick with two-coloured berries, and in its midst a cave (whether made by nature or by art is uncertain, but rather by art), where you, Thetis, used often to come naked, riding on a bridled dolphin. 238There Peleus seizes you as you lay bound in sleep: and since, when tried with prayers, you resist, he prepares force, twining both arms around your neck. 241And if you had not turned to your usual arts, often changing your shape, he would have achieved what he dared. 243But now you were a bird (yet he held the bird), now a heavy tree (Peleus clung to the tree); the third shape was that of a spotted tigress: terrified by her, the son of Aeacus loosed his arms from her body.
247And he worships the gods of the sea with wine poured over the waters, with the entrails of sheep and the smoke of incense, until the Carpathian seer said from the midst of the flood: 'Son of Aeacus, you shall win the marriage you seek! 251Only, when she lies asleep and at rest in the rocky cave, bind her unawares with snares and a clinging bond. 253And let her not deceive you by feigning a hundred shapes, but hold her fast, whatever she becomes, until she takes again the shape she had before!' 255So Proteus had spoken, and he hid his face in the sea and let his waves close over his last words.
257The Titan was sinking and, with his pole tilted down, was holding the Hesperian sea, when the lovely Nereid, seeking the rock again, enters her accustomed bed. 260Scarcely had Peleus laid hold of the virgin limbs when she changes her shapes, until she feels her limbs held fast and her arms stretched out in different directions. 263Then at last she groaned and said, 'Not without a god's help do you conquer,' and she was revealed as Thetis. 264The hero embraces her, now that she has yielded, wins his wish and fills her with mighty Achilles.