EIGHTH CAR, OF MERCURY.

To Mercury, who had the caduceus, the cap, and the winged sandals, was
given the eighth car, drawn by two most natural storks, and likewise
enriched and adorned with five of his fables. For the first of these he
was seen appearing upon the new walls of Carthage, as the Messenger of
Jove, to the enamoured AEneas, and commanding him that he should depart
thence and set out on the way to Italy; even as for the second was seen
the unhappy Agraulos converted by him into stone, and for the third he
was seen likewise at the command of Jove binding the too audacious
Prometheus to the rocks of Mount Caucasus. In the fourth, again, he was
seen converting the ill-advised Battus into that stone that is called
basanite; and in the fifth and last was his slaying, so cunningly
achieved, of the many-eyed Argus. For clearer demonstration, that same
Argus was seen walking first before the car, in a pastoral habit all
covered with eyes; and with him was seen as his companion Maia, the
mother of the above-named Mercury and daughter of Faunus, in the very
rich habit of a young woman, with a vine upon the head and a sceptre in
the hand, having some serpents tame in appearance that were following
her. After these was seen coming Palaestra, daughter of Mercury, in the
semblance of a virgin wholly nude, but stalwart and proud to a marvel,
and adorned with various leaves of olive over the whole person, with the
hair cut short, to the end that when fighting, as it was her custom
always to do, it might not give a grip to the enemy; and with her was
Eloquence, also the daughter of Mercury, robed in the dignified and
decorous habit of a matron, with a parrot upon the head, and with one of
the hands open. Next were seen the three Graces, with the hands linked
in the usual manner, and draped in most delicate veiling; and after them
were seen coming the two Lares, dressed in the skins of dogs, with whom
there appeared as their companion Art, also in the habit of a matron,
with a great lever and a great flame of fire in the hands. These were
followed by Autolycus, that most subtle thief, the son of Mercury and of
the Nymph Chione, with shoes of felt and a closed cap that hid his face,
having both his hands occupied with such a lantern as is called a
thieves' lantern, various picklocks, and a rope-ladder. And finally,
Hermaphroditus, the offspring of the same Mercury and of Venus, figured
in the usual manner, was seen bringing