Chiron, attempting to predict
future events, tells her father the fate of the child AEsculapius, on
which the Gods transform her into a mare.

In the meantime the half-beast {Chiron} was proud of a pupil of Divine
origin, and rejoiced in the honor annexed to the responsibility. Behold!
the daughter of the Centaur comes, having her shoulders covered with her
yellow hair; whom once the nymph Chariclo,[74] having borne her on the
banks of a rapid stream, called Ocyrrhoe. She was not contented to learn
her father's arts {only; but} she sang the secrets of the Fates.
Therefore, when she had conceived in her mind the prophetic transports,
and grew warm with the God, whom she held confined within her breast,
she beheld the infant, and she said, "Grow on, child, the giver of
health to the whole world; the bodies of mortals shall often owe their
{own existence} to thee. To thee will it be allowed to restore life when
taken away; and daring to do that once against the will of the Gods,
thou wilt be hindered by the bolts of thy grandsire from being able any
more to grant that {boon}. And from a God thou shalt become a lifeless
carcase; and a God {again}, who lately wast a carcase; and twice shalt
thou renew thy destiny. Thou likewise, dear father, now immortal, and
produced at thy nativity, on the condition of enduring for ever, wilt
then wish that thou couldst die, when thou shalt be tormented on
receiving the blood of a baneful serpent[75] in thy wounded limbs; and
the Gods shall make thee from an immortal {being}, subject to death, and
the three Goddesses[76] shall cut thy threads."

Something still remained in addition to what she had said. She heaved a
sigh from the bottom of her breast, and the tears bursting forth,
trickled down her cheeks, and thus she said: "The Fates prevent me, and
I am forbidden to say any more, and the use of my voice is precluded. My
arts, which have brought the wrath of a Divinity upon me, were not of so
much value; I wish that I had not been acquainted with the future. Now
the human shape seems to be withdrawing from me; now grass pleases {me}
for my food; now I have a desire to range over the extended plains; I am
turned into a mare, and into a shape kindred {to that of my father}. But
yet, why entirely? For my father partakes of both forms."

As she was uttering such words as these, the last part of her complaint
was but little understood; and her words were confused. And presently
neither