Transformation of the Theban Matrons explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Transformation and Metamorphosis

  The matrons are physically transformed into stones and birds as a direct punishment from Juno.

• Divine Power and Human Folly

  Juno's wrath demonstrates the gods' power over mortals and the consequences of challenging divine authority.

Characters to notice

• Juno

  Angered by the matrons' reproaches, Juno transforms them into stones and birds.

• Ino

  The queen whose fate the matrons lament, though she does not appear directly in the excerpt.

Key passages

• “The Theban matrons their loved queen pursued, And tracing to the rock, her footsteps view’d.”

  The Theban women followed their beloved queen to the rock and saw her footprints.

  The matrons discover Ino's fate and begin their lament.

• “She who loved most, and who most loved had been, Said: 'Not the waves shall part me from my queen.' She strove to plunge into the roaring flood, Fix’d to the stone, a stone herself she stood.”

  The most devoted matron declared she would not be separated from her queen by the sea, but as she tried to jump in, she turned to stone.

  Juno's transformation begins with the most loyal matron.

• “Transform’d, the name of Theban birds they keep, And skim the surface of that fatal deep.”

  Transformed into birds, they retain the name of Theban birds and fly over the deadly sea.

  Some matrons are turned into birds, continuing to haunt the scene of Ino's leap.