Her brother, until now, had always had
Minerva at his side. But now she left.
Out from Seriphus, with a hollow cloud
to cloak her, passing Gyarus and Cythnus
upon her right, she took the shortest course:
over the sea, she reached the lands of Thebes
and Helicon, the virgin Muses’ home.
Latin [236–54]
When she had come to rest upon those slopes,
she told the learned sisters: “I have heard
that you now have a new and wondrous fount
on Helicon: it burst out from the ground
beneath the winged Pegasus’ hard hoof.
I’ve come to see this marvel: I was there
when, from Medusa’s blood, that horse was born.”
Urania replied: “No matter what
has drawn you to our home, you gladden us,
o goddess, with your visit. You can trust
the news you heard: we owe to Pegasus
our new, our sacred, spring.” She led the goddess
to see that wonder.
And Minerva looked
at length at where the waters had sprung up
beneath the horse’s hoof when it struck hard.
And then her eyes took in the ancient forests,
the inmost groves, the grottoes, and the flowers—
those countless points of color on the meadows.
She said the daughters of Mnemosyne,
in what they did and where they lived, were blessed.