ods, Book iii.) tells us, that Lycaon
had a daughter who delighted in the chase, and that Jupiter, the
second of that name, the king of Arcadia, fell in love with her. This
was the ground on which she was said to have been a favorite of Diana.
The story of Calisto having been received into Heaven, and forming the
Constellation of the Bear, was perhaps grounded on the fact of Lycaon,
her father, having been the first known to take particular notice of
this Constellation. The story of the request of Juno, that Tethys will
not receive this new Constellation into the Ocean, is probably derived
from the circumstance, that the Bear, as well as the other stars
within the Arctic Circle, never sets.

Possibly, Arcas, the son of Calisto, dying at a youthful age, may have
been the origin of the Constellation of the Lesser Bear.

FABLE VIII. [II.551-590]

A virgin, the favorite of Apollo, of the same name with Coronis, is
changed into a crow, for a story which she tells Minerva, concerning
the basket in which Ericthonius was enclosed.

"Consider what I was, and what I am, and inquire into my deserts. Thou
wilt find that my fidelity was my ruin. For once upon a time, Pallas had
enclosed Ericthonius, an offspring born without a mother, in a basket
made of Actaean twigs; and had given it to keep to the three virgins born
of the two-shaped[71] Cecrops, and had given them this injunction, that
they should not inquire into her secrets. I, being hidden among the
light foliage, was watching from a thick elm what they were doing. Two
{of them}, Pandrosos and Herse, observe their charge without {any}
treachery; Aglauros alone calls her sisters cowards, and unties the
knots with her hand; but within they behold a child, and a dragon
extended by him. I told the Goddess what was done; for which such a
return as this is made to me, that I am said to have been banished from
the protection of Minerva, and am placed after the bird of the night. My
punishment may warn birds not to incur dangers, by their chattering. But
I consider {that} she courted me with no inclination of my own, nor
asking for any such {favors}. This thou mayst ask of Pallas thyself;
although she is angry, she will not, with all her anger, deny this. For
Coroneus, one famous in the land of Phocis (I mention what is well
known) begot me: and {so} I was a virgin of royal birth, and was courted
by rich suitors ({so} despise me not). My beauty was