you by the leg and pitch you into Tartarus, or tear you limb from limb." She has often threatened me so; and then she looks so savage, and has got a horrible head of some kind fixed upon her breast, with snakes for hair, which I am dreadfully afraid of. It terrifies me, and I run away whenever I see it.
Ven. You are afraid of Minerva and her Gorgon, you say—you, who are not afraid of Jupiter's thunderbolt! And pray, why are the Muses still untouched, as if they were out of the reach of your arrows? Do they shake their crests too, or do they display any Gorgon's heads?
Cup. Oh, mother! I should be ashamed to meddle with them—they are such respectable and dignified young ladies, always deep in their studies, or busy with their music; I often stand listening to them till I quite forget myself.
Ven. Well, let them alone; they are very respectable. But Diana, now—why do you never aim a shaft at her?
Cup. The fact is, I can't catch her; she is always flying over the mountains; besides, she has a little private love-affair of her own already.
Ven. With whom, child?
Cup. With the game—stags and fauns—that she hunts and brings down with her arrows; she cares for nothing else, that I know of. But as for that brother of hers, great archer as he is, and far as he is said to shoot———
Ven. (laughing). Yes, yes, I know, child—you've hit him often enough.
