Book 18
2
You make me laugh, Leto. Who could admire one that Marsyas would have beaten at music and skinned alive with his own hands, if the Muses had chosen to judge fairly? But as it was, he was tricked and wrongly lost the vote, poor fellow, and had to die. And your pretty maid is so pretty that, when she found out that Actaeon had seen her, she was afraid the young fellow would tell everyone how hideous she was, and set her hounds on him. I won’t bother pointing out she could never have been a midwife, One of the epithets of Artemis was Εἰλείθυια (goddess who helps in childbirth) though earlier Homer in Iliad, XI, 270 and XIX, 119 talks of Εἰλείθυιαι the daughters of Hera, while Hesiod Theogony 922 also calls Εἰλείθυια the daughter of Hera and Zeus. if she were a virgin herself.
2
Living with Zeus and sharing his throne has swollen your head, Hera, and so you don’t mind how you insult others. But it won’t be long before I see you in tears again—the next time he leaves you and goes down to earth as a bull or swan.
