796And she gave them. 796Borne up through the air on the chariot given her, she came down into Scythia, and on the summit of a rugged mountain (they call it Caucasus) she unyoked the necks of the serpents and saw Hunger, whom she sought, in a stony field, plucking the sparse grass with nails and teeth. 801Her hair was shaggy, her eyes hollow, pallor in her face, her lips white with mould, her throat rough with scurf, her skin hard, through which her innards could be seen; 804her dry bones stood out beneath her bent loins, in place of a belly there was a place for a belly, you would think her breast was hanging and held only by the frame of her spine.
807Leanness had enlarged her joints, the round of her knees swelled, and her ankles stuck out in a monstrous lump. 809When the oread saw her from afar (for she did not dare to come near), she delivers the goddess's orders; and having lingered only a little, though she was far off, though she had only just come there, she yet seemed to have felt hunger, and, turning the reins, drove the dragons back on high to Haemonia. 814Hunger carries out the words of Ceres, though she is always opposed to her work. 815And she was carried by the wind through the air to the house she was bidden to, and at once enters the bedroom of the sacrilegious man, and as he lay relaxed in deep sleep (for it was night-time), she embraces him in her two arms: and she breathes herself into the man, and blows on his throat and breast and mouth, and spreads starvation through his empty veins.
821And having done her task, she leaves the fruitful world and returns to her needy home, to her familiar caves. 823Gentle sleep was still soothing Erysichthon with its peaceful wings: in the image of sleep he seeks a feast and moves his mouth in vain and wears out tooth on tooth, and exercises his deluded gullet on empty food, and in place of a banquet devours thin air to no purpose. 828But when his rest was driven away, a mad craving to eat rages and reigns through his greedy throat and burning vitals. 830Without delay, whatever sea, whatever land, whatever air produces he demands, and complains of starvation with the tables set before him, and in the midst of feasts looks for feasts; 832and what could have been enough for cities, what could have been enough for a people, does not satisfy one man, and he desires more, the more he sends down into his belly.
835And as the sea receives rivers from all the earth and is not sated with waters and drinks up foreign streams, and as greedy fire never refuses fuel and burns countless logs and, the greater the supply that is given, the more it seeks, and is made more voracious by the very quantity: so the mouth of impious Erysichthon receives all feasts and at the same time demands more. 841All food in him is a cause of food, and by eating there is always room made empty. 843And now through hunger and the deep abyss of his belly he had diminished his ancestral wealth, but even then his dread hunger remained undiminished, and the flame of his unappeased gullet was in full force.
846At last, when his estate had been sent down into his vitals, his daughter remained, not worthy of such a parent. 848Destitute, he sells her too. 848The high-born girl refuses a master, and stretching her palms out over the neighbouring sea, says: 'Snatch me from my master; 850you who have from me the prize of my ravished virginity.' 851Neptune had that prize. 852He did not scorn her prayer, and, though she had just been seen by her master following her, he renews her form and puts on her a man's face and dress suited to those who catch fish. 855Her master, looking at her, said: 'O you who hide the hanging bronze hook with a little bait, ruler of the rod, so may the sea be calm for you, so may the fish in the water be trusting, and feel no hooks until it is caught: tell me where she is, the girl who stood on this shore just now with a cheap dress and dishevelled hair (for I saw her standing on the shore): for her footprints go no further.' 862She realised that the god's gift was working well, and, glad to be asked about herself, answered his question with these words: 'Whoever you are, forgive me; 864I have turned my eyes in no direction away from this water, and, busy at my pursuit, I have kept fixed to it.
866And so that you may doubt it less, so may the god of the sea help these arts of mine, as no man has stood on this shore for a long time, except for me, and no woman either.' 869Her master believed it, and, turning his foot, trod the sand and went away deceived: her own form was given back to her. 871But when her father realised that his daughter had a body that could be transformed, he often hands over the granddaughter of Triopas to masters. 872But she would go away, now a mare, now a bird, now a cow, now a deer, and provided unjust nourishment for her greedy father.
875Yet after the violence of that evil had consumed all the material and had given new fodder to the grave disease, he himself began to tear his own limbs apart with mangling bites, and, unhappy man, fed his body by diminishing it. 879Why do I linger on others? 879I too, young man, have the power of changing my body, though it is limited in number. 881For now I seem what I am now, now I am bent into a snake, now as leader of the herd I take my strength into my horns, — horns, while I could! 883now one side of my brow lacks its weapon, as you yourself see.' 884Groans followed his words.