XII Daphne

Scarce had she made her prayer when through her limbs a dragging languor spread, her tender bosom was wrapped in thin smooth bark, her slender arms were changed to branches and her hair to leaves.
Ovid, Metamorphoses, ca. 1 CE

The virgin nymph Daphne delighted, like her goddess Artemis, in wandering alone in the forest’s depths. But Apollo saw her, wanted her, and pursued her. She ran from him but could not outrun him. As he was about to seize her, rather than be forsworn to her goddess, she cried out to Gaea to transform her forever.

Image source: Roman Ivory Relief, ca. 500 CE