The wretched girl can’t bear this, and she ties 145 a noose to her proud throat. But as she hangs, Minerva pities her and takes her down. “Live, wicked girl,” she says, “yet hang. To make you fear the future too, this punishment will be inherited by your whole line.” 150 Then she withdraws, splashing her with the juice of Hecatean drugs. Touched by that loathsome poison, her hair and nose and ears fall off. Her head grows tiny—her whole body shrinks. The rest is belly, from which she, a spider, 155 shoots out a thread to work her ancient webs.
