Jupiter laughed aloud: "We have the answer.
There is a fellow called Tiresias.
Strolling to watch the birds and hear the bees
He came across two serpents copulating.
He took the opportuni ty to kill
Both with a single blow, but merely hurt them–
And found himself transformed into a woman.
"Mter the seventh year of womanhood,
Strolling to ponder on what women ponder
She saw in that same place the same two serpents
Knotted as before in copulation.
'If your pain can still change your attacker
Just as you once changed me, then change me back.'
She hit the couple with a handy stick,
"And there he stood as male as any man."
"He'll explain," cried Juno, "why you are
Slave to your irresistible addiction
While the poor nymphs you force to share it with you
Do all they can to shun it." Jupiter
Asked Tiresias. "In their act of love
Who takes the greater pleasure, man or woman?"
"Woman," replied Tiresias, "takes nine-tenths."
Juno was so angry-angrier
Than is easily understandable-
She struck Tiresias and blinded him.
"You've seen your last pretty snake, forever."
But Jove consoled
him:
"That same blow," he said,
"Has opened your inner eye, like a nightscope. See:
"The secrets of the future-they are yours."