Mercury and Battus

The old man Battus had promised Mercury that he would not reveal where the cattle were that the latter had stolen from Apollo. But when Mercury asked him in another guise, he told him anyway. The god then turned Battus into a stone. On the print, Mercury stands opposite Battus; behind them is a herd of cattle. In the foreground, Apollo plays a pan flute. Below the image, two sets of two lines of Latin text. This print is part of a series of 52 prints depicting stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The series is divided into three numbered sets: two sets of 20 prints and one set of 12 prints. This print belongs to the second set.