Metamorphoses

The Trojan prince Paris steals his wife from Greece, setting off the Trojan War. The Greek fleet has trouble sailing, and their leader Agamemnon must sacrifice his own daughter Iphigenia to Diana. Ovid writes, “love / yielded to public weal, the father to / the king” as Agamemnon performs the unthinkable, killing his daughter, for the public benefit (274-75). However, some say that Diana secretly switched Iphigenia at the last minute with a deer.

During the war, the greatest Greek warrior Achilles battles the impenetrable Trojan warrior Cycnus. After a long fight, Achilles begins to choke Cycnus, whom Neptune takes pity on and turns into a white bird.

The aged Greek Nestor tells of an old acquaintance, Caeneus, who used to be the girl Caenis. After Neptune assaults Caenis, he grants her one wish, and she asks to be turned into a man, changing name to Caeneus.