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 METAMORPHOSES BOOK VIII to kill the goose. We are gods, they said, and this wicked neighbourhood shall be punished as it deserves; but to you shall be given exemption from this punishment. Leave now your dwelling and come with us to that tall mountain yonder.' They both obeyed and, propped on their staves, they struggled up the long slope. Vhen they were a bowshot distant from the top, they looked back and saw the whole country-side covered with water, only their own house remaining. And, while they wondered at this, while they wept for the fate of their neighbours, that old house of theirs, which had been small even for its two occupants, was changed into a temple. Marble columns took the place of the forked wooden supports; the straw grew yellow and became a golden roof; there were gates richly carred, a marble parement corered the ground. Then calmly the son of Saturn spoke: Now ask of us, thou good old man, and thou wife, worthy of thy good husband, any boon you will. When he had spoken a word with Baucis, Philemon announced their joint decision to the gods: We ask that we may be your priests, and guard your temple and, since we have spent our lives in constant com- pany, we pray that the same hour may bring death to both of us-that I may nerer see my wife's tomb, nor be buried by her.' Their request was granted. had the care of the temple as long as they lived. And at last, when, spent with extreme old age, they chanced to stand before the sacred edifice talking of old times, Baucis saw Philemon putting forth leaves, Philemon saw Baucis; and as the tree- top formed over their two faces, while still they could they cried with the same words: Farewell, dear mate, just as the bark closed over and hid 455