Metamorphoses, Book 2

Book 2 of Ovid's Metamorphoses, the fifteen-book hexameter poem of transformations that he had completed by AD 8, follows directly from the end of Book 1, where Phaethon set out to prove that the Sun was his father.

Phaethon reaches the Sun's palace and makes his father grant him one wish: to drive the chariot of the sun for a day. He cannot control the horses; the world catches fire, rivers dry up, and Earth begs Jupiter for help, until Jupiter strikes Phaethon with a thunderbolt. His sisters, mourning him, become poplars weeping amber. Jupiter, inspecting the damage, seduces Diana's companion Callisto, whom Juno turns into a bear and who is finally set among the stars. The raven, once white, is turned black for telling Apollo of Coronis' unfaithfulness; Apollo kills her and saves their son Aesculapius, and the centaur's daughter Ocyroe, who prophesies the child's future, becomes a mare. Mercury steals Apollo's cattle and turns the old man Battus to stone for betraying him. He then falls in love with Herse, and her sister Aglauros, poisoned by Envy, is turned to stone for blocking his way. The book ends with Jupiter, disguised as a bull, carrying off Europa across the sea.

Phaethon's ride is one of Ovid's great set pieces, full of spectacular description, and the personification of Envy in her cave is often studied. The Latin is lively and approachable.