II.738-884]

Acheloues continues his narrative with the story of Metra, the
daughter of Erisicthon, who is attacked with insatiable hunger, for
having cut down an oak, in one of the groves of Ceres. Metra begs of
Neptune, who was formerly in love with her, the power of
transforming herself into different shapes; that she may be enabled,
if possible, to satisfy the voracious appetite of her father. By
these means, Erisicthon, being obliged to expose her for sale, in
order to purchase himself food, always recovers her again; until,
by his repeated sale of her, the fraud is discovered. He at last
becomes the avenger of his own impiety, by devouring his own limbs.

"Nor has the wife of Autolycus,[91] the daughter of Erisicthon, less
privileges {than he}. Her father was one who despised the majesty of the
Gods; and he offered them no honours on their altars. He is likewise
said to have profaned with an axe a grove of Ceres, and to have violated
her ancient woods with the iron. In these there was standing an oak with
an ancient trunk, a wood {in itself} alone, fillets and tablets, {as}
memorials,[92] and garlands, proofs of wishes that had been granted,
surrounded the middle of it. Often, beneath this {tree}, did the Dryads
lead up the festive dance; often, too, with hands joined in order, did
they go round the compass of its trunk; and the girth of the oak made up
three times five ells. The rest of the wood, too, lay as much under this
oak as the grass lay beneath the whole of the wood. Yet not on that
account {even} did the son of Triopas[93] withhold the axe from it; and
he ordered his servants to cut down the sacred oak; and when he saw them
hesitate, {thus} ordered, the wicked {wretch}, snatching from one of
them an axe, uttered these words: 'Were it not only beloved by a
Goddess, but even were it a Goddess itself, it should now touch the
ground with its leafy top.' {Thus} he said; and while he was poising his
weapon for a side stroke, the Deoian oak[94] shuddered, and uttered a
groan; and at once, its green leaves, and, with them, its acorns began
to turn pale; and the long branches to be moistened with sweat. As soon
as his impious hand had made an incision in its trunk, the blood flowed
from the severed bark no otherwise than, as, at the time when the bull,
a large victim, falls before the altars, the blood pours forth from his
divided neck. All were amazed and one of the number attempted to hinder