# Cadmus and His Queen Transformed Into Serpents explained — Metamorphoses > Chapter companion for Metamorphoses by Ovid. ## What happens Cadmus and his wife Harmonia, weary and aged, retire to Illyricum and are transformed into serpents at their own request. Cadmus laments his past actions, recalling how he slew a sacred serpent and sowed its teeth, leading to a war of sprouting armies. He prays for transformation into a serpent, and the change begins. Harmonia, seeing him transform, begs to share his fate, and she too is changed. They become gentle serpents, conscious of their former human selves. ## Themes in this chapter ### Transformation and Metamorphosis Cadmus and Harmonia are physically transformed into serpents, a literal metamorphosis that concludes their mortal lives and reflects their inner despair and divine punishment. ### Divine Power and Human Folly Cadmus's past act of slaying the sacred serpent and sowing its teeth is framed as a transgression that incurs divine wrath, leading to his eventual transformation. ## Character check-ins ### Cadmus Wearied and aged, Cadmus mourns his past and prays to be transformed into a serpent; his wish is granted, and he becomes a gentle serpent. ### Harmonia Cadmus's wife, who shares his fate and is transformed into a serpent alongside him, embracing his new form. ## Key lines > Wearied with toil and infirm with age, Cadmus and his wife retire to Illyricum, and at their own request are changed into Serpents. Exhausted and old, Cadmus and his wife move to Illyricum, where they ask to be turned into snakes. _Opening summary of the chapter's central event._ > That serpent sure was hallow'd, Cadmus cried, Which once my spear transfix'd with foolish pride; When the big teeth, a seed before unknown, By me along the wond'ring glebe were sown, And sprouting armies by themselves o'erthrown. Cadmus laments that the serpent he killed in his pride was sacred, and that from its teeth he sowed a crop of warriors who fought and killed each other. _Cadmus reflects on his past transgression that led to divine punishment._ > Come, my Harmonia, come, thy face recline Down to my face; still touch what still is mine. O! let these hands, while hands, be gently press'd, While yet the serpent has not all possess'd. Cadmus calls to Harmonia to embrace him while he still has human hands, before the transformation into a serpent is complete. _Cadmus's poignant plea to his wife as he transforms._ > The husband serpent show'd he still had thought, With wonted fondness an embrace he sought, Play'd round her neck in many a harmless twist, And lick'd that bosom which, a man, he kiss'd. The serpent that was Cadmus still showed affection, wrapping gently around Harmonia's neck and licking her chest where he once kissed her as a man. _Cadmus, now a serpent, displays loving behavior toward his wife._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/cadmus-and-his-queen-transformed-into-serpents - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/metamorphoses_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters