\b0 The beautiful Io, princess of \b \cf4 \ATXht10135 Argos\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , was loved by\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht8 Zeus
\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , who wrapped her in a dense mist so that he could lie with her. This did not escape the notice of the suspicious\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht3 Hera\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , who descended from heaven and ordered the mist to recede. Foreseeing the arrival
of his wife, however, Zeus had time to change the figure of Io into that of a white heifer. Hera, pretending ignorance, praised the animal's appearance and obliged her husband to make her a gift of it. She then set the hundred-eyed\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht10136 Argus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 to guard the heifer. But Zeus, who could not bear to see Io humiliated in this way, asked Hermes to set her free. Even though the youthful god was the most skillful of thieves, he was forced to put Argus to sleep with the magic s
ound of his flute before cutting off his head. Hera placed the hundred eyes of Argus on the feathers of her sacred bird, the peacock, and then sent a gadfly to torment the heifer Io, forcing her to wander from one region of the world to another in her fr
enzy. The unhappy creature eventually found rest and relief on the banks of the Nile, where she was restored to her original form and bore Zeus a son,\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht10506 Epaphus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 . The people of Egypt worshipped Io under the name of\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht10914 Isis\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 .
