[Illustration]
She was also the Goddess of chastity, and it was in this character that her
vengeance fell so heavily on Actaeon, who following the chase one day with
all the ardour of his profession, unhappily came {50} suddenly on the
retired spot, in which the pure Diana, with her nymphs, was enjoying, in
the heat of the summer's day, the luxury of bathing. Horrified by this
violation, though unintentional, of her privacy, she changed him into a
stag, and inspiring with madness the dogs that accompanied him to the
chase, they turned upon their metamorphosed master, who, in horrible dread
of the fate he had himself so often inflicted, fled rapidly from them. True
to their breed, however, the dogs succeeded in running him down and
devouring him.
Calista, nymph of Diana was seduced by Jupiter, who taking one of the
innumerable shapes, which he is described as assuming when his passions
were inflamed towards any particular nymph, introduced himself to her in
the form of her mistress, and in this shape, what wonder that the nymph
lost her virtue, or that the God was successful! Diana herself, however,
took a very different view, and though Calista concealed the effects of her
divine intrigue from her mistress for a long time, the latter noticed the
alteration in her person when bathing in
"Such streams as Dian loves,
And Naiads of old frequented; when she tripped
Amidst her frolic nymphs, laughing, or when
Just risen from the bath, she fled in sport,
Round oaks and sparkling fountains,
Chased by the wanton Orcades."