few days ago; and the young warmth of their tender love suggested to
Jupiter to have recourse to this fine artifice. His stratagem proved
successful in this case; but with many a cherished object a similar
disguise would not be of any use: it is not always a sure means of
pleasing, to adopt the form, of a husband.

NIGHT. I admire Jupiter, and I cannot imagine all the disguises
which come into his head.

MERC. By these means he wishes to taste all sorts of conditions:
that is the act of a God who is not a fool. However mortals may
regard him, I should think very meanly of him if he never quitted
his redoubtable mien, and were always in the heavens, standing upon
his dignity. In my opinion, there is nothing more idiotic than
always to be imprisoned in one's grandeur; above all, a lofty rank
becomes very inconvenient in the transports of amorous ardour.
Jupiter, no doubt, is a connoisseur in pleasure, and he knows how to
descend from the height of his supreme glory. So that he can enter
into everything that pleases him, he entirely casts aside himself,
and then it is no longer Jupiter who appears.

NIGHT. I could overlook seeing him step down from his sublime stage
to that of men, since he wishes to enter into all the transports
which their natures can supply, and join in their jests, if, in the
changes which take his fancy, he would confine himself to nature.
But I do not think it fitting to see Jupiter as a bull, a serpent, a
swan, or what not, and it does not astonish me that it is sometimes
talked about.

MERC. Let all the busybodies talk; such changes have their own