Hercules takes center stage in book nine, but we spend most of our time discussing the story of Byblis, who pines for her brother Caunas. Byblis has a long monologue where she weighs the pros and cons of confessing her feelings to her brother, eventually deciding to write them out on a tablet, which Caunas then reads and hurls angrily aside. Byblis, sick with the rejection, is eventually transformed into a fountain. We consider the difference between writing and speaking as means of communication, and the role of writing in the Metamorphoses. Could Byblis have confessed if her only choice had been to speak? Would things have gone better or worse for her (whatever those terms mean here)? We also consider the meaning of the reverse aging of Iolaus, a miracle enacted by the recently deified Hercules. Why does the transformation of a man back into a child upset all the other gods? Jove says that Fate allowed Hercules to rejuvenate Iolus, and that Fate ultimately rules all the gods, himself included. What is the meaning of Fate here? Does it represent some higher natural order? Narrative tradition? The hand of the poet? Or the final, intractable victory of time and decay over all things?