Metamorphoses - Book 12:17

the chicks she was losing. The crowd was

dumbfounded, but Calchas the prophet

unfolded his vision: 'Rejoice, you Greeks! We surely will

triumph.

Troy must fall, but our toil shall be long. These nine dead birds

presage nine years of war!' The snake, still coiled in the

tree's green

branches, turned into stone in the form of a serpentine

sculpture.