whole body--of a little spider. Then
Edusa and Potina, who preside over the nourishment of those same
infants, were seen riding in the same fashion as the others, in the
habit of nymphs, but with breasts very long and very full, one holding a
basin containing white bread, and the other a most beautiful vase that
seemed to be full of water; and with them, concluding the last part of
the company, was Fabulinus, who presides over the first speech of the
same infants, robed in various colours, with the head all crowned with
wagtails and singing chaffinches.

TENTH CAR, OF MINERVA.

Minerva, clad in armour, with the spear and the shield of the Gorgon, as
she is generally figured, had the tenth car, composed in a triangular
form and in the colour of bronze, and drawn by two very large and most
bizarre owls, of which I cannot forbear to say that although it would be
possible to relate singular and even incredible marvels of all the
animals that drew the cars, yet these, beyond all the others, were
figured so lifelike and so natural, and their feet, wings, and necks
were made to move, and even the eyes to open and shut so well, and with
a resemblance so close to the reality, that I know not how I could ever
be able to convince of it those who never saw them. However, ceasing to
speak of these, I must relate that of the three sides of which the
triangular car was composed, there was seen painted in one the
miraculous birth of the Goddess from the head of Jove, even as in the
second Pandora was seen adorned by her with all those countless
ornaments, and in the third, likewise, she was seen converting the hair
of the wretched Medusa into snakes. Then on one part of the base there
was painted the contest that she had with Neptune over the name that was
to be given to Athenae (before she had such a name), when, he producing
the fiery horse and she the fruitful olive, she was seen to win thereby
a glorious and memorable victory; and on the other she was seen in the
form of a little old woman, striving to persuade the overbold Arachne,
before she had transformed her into the animal of that name, that she
should consent, without putting the matter to the proof, to yield her
the palm in the art of embroidery; even as in the third and last part,
with a different aspect, she was seen valorously slaying the proud
Typhon. Before the car was seen walking Virtue, in the form of a young
and stalwart woman, with two great wings, and in an e