"Keep your counsel," said she, "for your
daughters or handmaids; for my part I know what I say, and I stand
to it. I am not afraid of the goddess; let her try her skill, if
she dare venture." "She comes," said Minerva; and dropping her
disguise stood confessed. The nymphs bent low in homage, and all
the bystanders paid reverence. Arachne alone was unterrified. She
blushed, indeed; a sudden color dyed her cheek, and then she grew
pale. But she stood to her resolve, and with a foolish conceit of
her own skill rushed on her fate. Minerva forbore no longer nor
interposed any further advice. They proceed to the contest. Each
takes her station and attaches the web to the beam. Then the
slender shuttle is passed in and out among the threads. The reed
with its fine teeth strikes up the woof into its place and
compacts the web. Both work with speed; their skilful hands move
rapidly, and the excitement of the contest makes the labor light.
Wool of Tyrian dye is contrasted with that of other colors, shaded
off into one another so adroitly that the joining deceives the
eye. Like the bow, whose long arch tinges the heavens, formed by
sunbeams reflected from the shower, [Footnote: This correct
description of the rainbow is literally translated from Ovid.] in
which, where the colors meet they seem as one, but at a little
distance from the point of contact are wholly different.
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