“Now all was ready; without drawing lots,
the one who’d been the first to challenge us
began. She sang the battle of the gods
and Giants; she—unjustly—glorified
the Giants and belittled the great gods.
She said that, when Typhoeus bounded up
from Earth’s abyss, the gods on high were so
afraid that they ran off and did not stop
until, exhausted, they were taken in
by Egypt, at the point where seven mouths
divide the flow of Nile. And then she dared
to tell us that Typhoeus, son of Earth,
had reached their refuge; and to hide, the gods
took on deceitful shapes as camouflage:
‘So Jove became a ram, the lord of flocks;
that’s why the Libyan Ammon still is shown
with curving horns. The god of Delos hid
within a crow’s shape, Bacchus in a kid,
and Phoebus’ sister in a cat; the daughter
of Satum took the form of a white heifer;
and just as Venus hid herself as fish,
Cyllene’s god became a winged ibis.’
“With that, her song was done; her voice had been
accompanied by chords upon the strings.