It inspired
paintings
by Rembrandt, von Marees, and Moreau,
a burlesque by Rubens, and a masterpiece by Correggio.
a burlesque by Rubens, and a masterpiece by Correggio.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
handle.
net/2027/mdp.
39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
Cowper noted in The Task that plants from many lands assemble in
a greenhouse,
As if convened
By magic summons of the Orphean lyre;
and that moralists are inclined to boast, as if
They had indeed ability to smooth
The shag of savage nature and were each
An Orpheus and omnipotent in song.
Tennyson wrote a long, humorous description of the assembling of trees
but attributed the miracle to Amphion.
In describing literary groves, a number of authors clearly remem-
bered Ovid. Lucan mentioned the cypress associated with no common
woe, Claudian referred to the misanthropic laurel, and Chaucer noted
in his Parliament of Fowls both the cypress for mourning and the palm
as reward of conquerors.
The idea that a grapevine needs the support of an elm tree inter-
ested a number of English authors. Catullus had stated the idea clearly,
but, until the height of the Renaissance, his work was little known. Ver-
gil in the Georgics, Horace in an epistle, and Ovid in the account of
Orpheus had suggested the idea by implication. Vergil, who spoke of
the vines as embracing the elm, seems clearly to have inspired the simi-
lar idea of Sidney in his Arcadia and Giles Fletcher in his Licia. Both
Vergil and Ovid appear to have suggested Chaucer's mention in the
Parliament of Fowls of the pillar elm. Spenser probably followed both
Ovid and Chaucer. At the beginning of his Faerie Queen he referred to
the vine prop elm. Other poets echoed the same idea. Cowley noted in his
Death of Katherine Phelps that wit, too, needs the prop of virtue. Ben
Jonson observed in Sejanus that assassins of Drusus
Cut down that upright elm, withered his vines.
And Tennyson declared in his Amphion that, when the trees began fol-
lowing the piper,
Old elms came, breaking with the vine.
A few authors recalled Ovid's tales of transformation. Pigna, an
Italian author of the Renaissance, wrote a Latin poem on the meta-
morphosis of Attis to a pine, Camoens remembered how the pine is sacred
327
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
to Cybele, and Calpurnius Siculus followed both Vergil and Ovid in his
attractive description of a stag.
Modern artists who treated the power of Orpheus appear to have
been inspired chiefly by ancient pictorial versions but probably were at
least encouraged by acquaintance with Ovid. Delacroix made a famous
painting of Orpheus, pioneer of civilization, Gillis de Hondecoeter and
Fulton Brown pictured Orpheus with an audience of wild animals, and
Marcellin treated the same theme in sculpture.
328
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? GANYMEDE
Ganymede
When Orpheus had gathered his audience of trees and wild animals,
Ovid continued, he ceased playing long enough to tune his lyre and then,
touching the strings again, commenced to sing. With this introduction,
Ovid began the longest passage of his Metamorphoses which was given
in the words of a character.
Following the example of Aratus in his poem on the constellations
and of Vergil in a shepherd song of his Third Eclogue, Ovid showed
Orpheus beginning with Jupiter. Orpheus announced that on a former
occasion he had told in grave style about Jupiter's victory over the
Giants -- perhaps an allusion to Ovid's early epic, but that now in
lighter style he would sing of other themes. By the phrase "in lighter
style" Ovid meant only that his work should be less dignified than an
epic. None of the tales was to be comic, and a number of them were to
end in disaster. Orpheus mentioned two themes of the song -- boys who
were loved by the heavenly deities and girls who incurred punishment for
abnormal passion. Under the first heading Ovid planned to include the
stories of Ganymede, Hyacinthus, and Adonis; under the second he
planned to include the story of Myrrha and perhaps that of the Pro-
poetides. Other tales, such as those of Pygmalion and Atalanta, did not
fall under either heading. Ovid may have regarded them merely as im-
portant incidents of his main tales.
Phanocles, in the poem which Ovid had used for his account of
Orpheus, had included a story of Ganymede. This theme, Ovid showed
Orpheus treating as the first part of the song. In older versions of the
tale Ganymede appeared somewhat vaguely as one of those mortals
whom tradition spoke of as having been transported alive to heaven
(cf. Hercules, Bk. 9). According to the Iliad, the gods were pleased
with him and took him up to their own abode. In these particulars he
resembled the Biblical character Enoch. But Ganymede was distin-
guished for physical beauty. The Homeric Hymn to Venus added that
he was caught up in a whirlwind -- after the manner of Elijah and
Romulus. Pindar seemed to imagine that he was borne heavenwards in
a golden chariot. Early vase painters showed Jupiter raising Ganymede
in his arms.
According to one version of the tale, Ganymede was lifted to the
329
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
skies from the island of Crete. This version appeared in certain early
vase paintings and in Plato's dialogue, The Laws. But the Iliad spoke
of the event as occurring in the region of Troy, and this became the
usual opinion. Certain vase paintings indicated the plain near the city.
But Alexandrian authors imagined that Ganymede was on Mt. Ida, an
idea repeated by Vergil and Horace and also by Lucian.
Concerning Ganymede's father, there was a difference of opinion.
The Iliad and the Hymn to Venus declared that his father was Tros, and
Ovid repeated this idea in his tale of Aesacus (Bk. 11). The Little Iliad,
Pindar, and Euripides in the Trojan Women spoke of his father as
being Laomedon, son of Ilus. And Ovid followed their version in his
tale of Ganymede. Hellanicus and the Manual noted that Ganymede's
mother was Callirhoe, daughter of the river Scamander.
According to the Iliad, Ganymede was carried off in order that
he might serve as cupbearer of the gods. Afterwards this appears al-
ways to have been regarded as one motive for the abduction- But the
Hymn to Venus appeared to suggest also that Jupiter was in love with
the youth, for it noted Ganymede, Tithonus, and Anchises as evidence
that Troy was favored especially by the gods. This idea Ovid recalled
in his Epistle of Paris. Pindar recorded the second motive explicitly,
and afterwards it continually was mentioned, sometimes without any
illusion to service as cupbearer.
Some Greek authors observed that Jupiter offered compensation
to Ganymede's father. The Iliad mentioned a gift of horses, the best in
the world. The Manual, repeating this idea, described the animals as
mares. The Hymn to Venus added that Jupiter also comforted Gany-
mede's father with news of the boy's happy state among the gods. The
Little Iliad mentioned a different compensation, a supernatural vine
with soft golden leaves and clusters, which was a creation of Vulcan.
According to early versions of the tale, Ganymede was transported
to heaven in much the same way as other mortals favored by the gods.
With the fourth century B. C. new versions of the abduction appeared,
which tended to make this tale distinct from the rest. Phanocles imag-
ined that, during the period when Tantalus was admitted to the com-
pany of the gods, he carried off Ganymede and presented him to Jupiter.
Ovid rejected this idea, among other reasons because earlier in the Meta-
morphoses he had shown Tantalus already in Hades long before the
period of Tros and Laomedon. Ovid preferred still another Alexandrian
version.
330
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? GANYMEDE
In parts of North America and Africa and in Burma, primitive
tribes have associated thunderbolts descending from heaven with the
flight of some huge bird. In North America this bird was regarded as
an agent of the sky god, Manitu. A similar belief appeared among the
ancient Greeks. They thought of an eagle as carrying the thunderbolts
of Jupiter. For this reason Vergil spoke of the eagle as Jove's armor-
bearer. In several countries of Asia the eagle was believed to have done
other service for the heavenly god. According to the Hindus, Indra
employed an eagle to bring him the valued soma juice. And, although
in reality the eagle can lift only a weight of about seven pounds, other
peoples told of the heavenly god's employing him to abduct full-grown
human beings. The Sumerians of the Euphrates valley told of his trans-
porting to heaven King Etana of Kish, and the story was recorded after-
wards in a long Semitic poem. Influenced by this tale, the Greeks im-
agined that Jupiter had employed his eagle to carry away Ganymede.
The new idea seems first to have attracted Greek artists. Usually
they portrayed the eagle in the act of transporting the boy. Occasion-
ally, however, they showed Ganymede fondling the eagle or offering him
food. They represented the bird either as a golden eagle or as a Lam-
mergeier. Greek and Roman painters treated the theme of Ganymede
continually, as Plautus indicated in his Menaechmi* Greek sculptors
also were fond of the subject. Towards the middle of the fourth century
B. C. , Leochares made a famous statue of the abduction, of which more
than one copy still survives. Another sculptor, mentioned by Theocritus,
treated the theme in ivory and was unusual in having two eagles trans-
port the boy. From comparatively early times the abduction of Gany-
mede appeared on ancient coins. And in the period of the Roman Em-
pire, it became a favorite theme for decorating the graves of young men.
The author of the Manual spoke of an eagle as transporting Gany-
mede to heaven. Another Alexandrian author, whom we cannot identify,
retold the story as the theme of a tragedy. Ovid afterwards mentioned
his work in the Tristia. Phanocles treated the subject of Ganymede in
his narrative poem. In describing the abduction, one of these Alexan-
drian authors added the following circumstances. Ganymede was ac-
companied by some elderly attendants and by a number of dogs. He was
hunting stags in the darkness, probably before dawn. Then the eagle
bore him away, while the attendants raised their eyes to the stars and
the dogs barked fiercely. This incident Vergil described in his Aeneid.
*Plautus called the boy Catamitus, a name applied to him rather often by the
Romans.
331
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
The other Alexandrian author spoke of Ganymede as tending cattle.
His version was recalled afterwards by Lucian and Nonnus.
The Alexandrian authors mentioned a number of circumstances
after Ganymede's arrival in heaven. One of these was his relation to
Hebe. The Iliad had implied that Ganymede was the original cup-
bearer of the gods and that Hebe succeeded him. The Alexandrians took
the opposite view. They declared that Hebe was the original cupbearer
and added that Ganymede supplanted her. The idea was repeated by
Lucian and Nonnus. The Alexandrians imagined Juno as resenting
Jupiter's fondness for Ganymede, and Vergil mentioned her jealousy as
one reason why she was hostile to Ganymede's kinsman, Aeneas. The
abduction, according to the Alexandrian authors, was associated with
two constellations which appear together in the sky. The eagle became
the constellation of that name (Aquila), Ganymede became the constel-
lation of the Water Carrier (Aquarius). To this event Ovid alluded in
his Fasti.
The Alexandrians also introduced a new idea of the manner in
which Ganymede was abducted. They reconciled the older belief that
Jupiter carried off the boy with the new idea of his employing an eagle.
In some parts of the world the sky god has been thought to assume the
form of a huge bird. In North America, Manitu himself sometimes was
regarded as the bird of thunder. The Scandinavian people told of Odin's
assuming the form of an eagle in order to steal the mead of poetic in-
spiration. According to the Greeks, Jupiter several times took the
form of an eagle in order to carry off young women. Greek authors had
mentioned his taking this form in the courtship of Asterie and Aegina
(cf. Arachne, Bk. 6). Greek artists had shown Jupiter as an eagle car-
rying off a certain Thalia. The Alexandrians imagined a transforma-
tion of the same kind for the sake of Ganymede. Both paintings and
coins often represented Jupiter as the eagle carrying the boy in his
talons. Probably the same idea occurred also in the work of some Alex-
andrian author, for afterwards Jupiter's disguise was mentioned re-
peatedly by Nonnus.
In the Metamorphoses Ovid retold the famous tale. Probably be-
cause it was familiar to his contemporaries, he made it brief. He seems
to have followed an Alexandrian author whom we can no longer identify,
but he may have added a few circumstances from Vergil. In love with
Ganymede, he said, Jupiter found a shape which he desired even more
than his own, that of the bird which is able to carry his thunderbolts.
332
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? GANYMEDE
Borne on these assumed wings, he stole the descendant of Ilus, who
against the will of Juno still serves him with nectar.
After Ovid's time the story of Ganymede continued to attract at-
tention. Many authors evidently recalled Vergil's allusion in the Aeneid.
Prominent among them were Dante in the Purgatorio and Tennyson in
Will Waterproof's Monologue. But a number of authors remembered
Ovid. Clement of Alexandria noted Ganymede and Hyacinthus as fa-
vorites of the gods. Spenser described Fancy as comparable in beauty
to Hylas or
that imp of Troy
Whom Jove did love and chose his cup to bear.
Milton observed in the Seventh Latin Elegy that Cupid appeared to him
in the guise of a youth, beautiful as Ganymede or Hylas. Boiardo and
Marini made important allusions to the abduction of Ganymede. The
flight of the eagle with the boy inspired lyrics of Goethe and Bulwer
Lytton and also a brilliant stanza in Tennyson's Palace of Art. Other
poets in tales of their own imitated the idea of the eagle's raising the
boy to the skies. Petrarch declared that he himself was the bird which
mounted high in air and uplifted her whom he honored in his verse.
Chaucer in The House of Fame told of being raised on high by Jove's
eagle and recalled Ganymede, who was carried off to be the god's
"butler. "
The idea that Ganymede continued as Jupiter's attendant inter-
ested leading poets of the Renaissance. Ariosto declared Alcina's feast
superior even to a banquet of Jupiter, with Ganymede attending. Milton
observed in Paradise Regained that Satan had ready, to serve his
banquet,
Fair stripling youths rich-clad, of fairer hue
Than Ganymede or Hylas.
And Shakespeare's Rosalind, disguising herself as a man, took no worse
name than Jove's own page. In Cymbeline, Shakespeare remembered
the eagle as Jove's bird.
The abduction of Ganymede was a popular theme for modern
artists.
It inspired paintings by Rembrandt, von Marees, and Moreau,
a burlesque by Rubens, and a masterpiece by Correggio. It also at-
tracted the sculptors Filarete, Cellini, and Thorwaldsen. The sculptor
Bartolemeo gave an unusual version, with Ganymede riding on the
eagle. The painter Vanloo pictured Ganymede after his arrival on Mt.
Olympus.
333
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Hyacinthus
With Ganymede, the favorite of Jupiter, Ovid imagined that
Orpheus associated Hyacinthus, a favorite of Apollo.
The tradition of Hyacinthus grew up in Laconia and was related
in some measure to Sparta, but still more to Amyclae, a town on the
River Eurotas a few miles to the southeast. The prehistoric inhabitants
of Laconia worshiped Hyacinthus as a god of the spring season, who
departed beneath the earth with the coming of the hot, dry summer. Pre-
sumably they thought of his returning after a brief period, in manner
similar to that of Bacchus, Attis, and Adonis. They represented him by
the figure of a mature man. According to one part of the tradition, he
was father of the maidens called Hyacinthides, whose memory was hon-
ored at Athens. Pausanias described the grave of Hyacinthus at Amy-
clae. It was both a tomb and an altar. On the front it had a door, which
was opened when offerings were to be presented, and on this door the
Alexandrian sculptor Nicias had carved in relief the bearded Hyacinthus
and his sister Polyboea ascending to heaven.
The Dorian Greeks, who subdued Laconia at the beginning of his-
torical times, adopted the worship of Hyacinthus but combined it with
worship of their own gods and especially with that of Apollo. Accord-
ing to Pausanias, the tomb and altar at Amyclae was also the pedestal
for a great statue of Apollo, and Nicias had represented Hyacinthus
and Polyboea as escorted to heaven by Ceres, Pluto, Proserpina, and
with this form of the tradition. He declared that Apollo intended to
other divinities of the Greeks. Ovid seems to have had no acquaintance
honor Hyacinthus with a place in heaven, as Jupiter honored Gany-
mede, but was prevented by his untimely end.
The death and resurrection of Hyacinthus were commemorated by
an annual festival called the Hyacinthia. It occurred at some time later
than the middle of May. But Ovid indicated a period within a month
after the vernal equinox. In this he probably followed Nicander. Ovid
appears to have imagined a spring celebration like those of Bacchus,
and Attis. The Laconian festival honored both Hyacinthus and Apollo.
It continued for three days. The first day was a time of profound
mourning. Then followed a period of jubilation. Euripides in his Helen
mentioned revels by night and sacrifice of oxen. To this festival the
334
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? HYACINTHUS
Laconians attached great importance. According to Herodotus and
others, they had been known to give up a military campaign in order
to go home and attend it.
Tradition declared that Apollo and Hyacinthus had engaged in the
pastime of throwing the discus. Presumably this event occurred near
the town of Amyclae. The game was well known to the Greeks of the
Homeric Age and continued popular throughout ancient times. Statius
described it at some length in his Thebaid. The discus of the earliest
period was made of stone. It was given a circular form, and it weighed
between four and five pounds. Keeping within limits which were marked
off to the right and left, each contestant was supposed to throw the dis-
cus as far as he could. Tradition noted that by some accident Apollo
killed Hyacinthus. According to Euripides, the discus went outside the
proper limit. Nicander observed in his Theriaca that it struck Hya-
cinthus in the temple. Apollo ordered the festival to be held annually in
his memory.
With the beginning of Alexandrian times, the story had become
very popular. Alexandrian authors mentioned a number of additional
circumstances. Many authors referred to Hyacinthus as the offspring of
Amyclas, king of Sparta. Nicander seems to have called him a grandson
of Amyclas and the son of a later king, Oebalus. This idea Ovid repeated
both in his own account of the story and later in his tale of Ajax (Bk.
13). Most authors regarded Hyacinthus as a native of Sparta. Ovid
followed them in his Metamorphoses, but in his Fasti spoke of him as
born in the village of Therapne, to the southeast. Alexandrian authors
departed very much from the older conception of Hyacinthus. They
regarded him not as a god but as a mortal, and they described him not
as a mature man but as a boy who was loved by Apollo. The Manual
stated this idea explicitly.
In the Laconian festival there appears to have been no thought of
relating Hyacinthus to any particular flower. But Alexandrian authors
continually associated him with the blossom of a plant which they called
the hyacinth. Among the Greeks, this flower seems always to have been
popular. The Homeric Hymn to Ceres mentioned it as one of the blos-
soms gathered by Proserpina, and Theocritus noted in his Tenth Idyll
that violets and hyacinths were favorites for garlands. According to the
Alexandrian authors, Apollo metamorphosed blood of the dying youth
into the well known flower. In the Metamorphoses, Ovid accepted this
335
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
idea. In the Fasti he declared that Flora performed the act of trans-
formation.
Like the crocus and violet and other flowers which were said to
have originated from human blood, the hyacinth was described as having
a color which resembled the sanguine hue. Theocritus called both the
violet and the hyacinth black. Other writers mentioned a shade of
purple. The hyacinth was described as unusual in having petals marked
with white. These markings were thought to have the shape of Greek
letters, an idea noted by Theocritus. Certain authors identified them
as the two capitals alpha and iota. Taken together, they would spell
the Greek interjection AI, corresponding to our phrase "O dear! ", and
both Euphorion and the Elegy for Bion referred to them as recording
the distressed cries of Apollo after the death of his favorite.
Euphorion spoke of the markings of the hyacinth as identical also
with the first two letters of the name Ajax. They commemorated, he said,
both the favorite of Apollo and the great son of Telamon. Vergil in his
Third Eclogue mentioned the double significance but explained it in an-
other way. The flower, he implied, has two groups of markings. One of
them, in memory of Ajax, takes the form of the capital letters alpha and
iota; the other, in memory of Hyacinthus, takes the form of the Greek
capital upsilon with a rough breathing, which corresponds to our letters
Hy. Evidently the flower described by these ancient authors was dif-
ferent from any that we should call a hyacinth. Modern scholars are
inclined to identify it as a species of iris.
At least three Alexandrian authors recorded the tragic story. Of
Bion's account only a few lines survive. Bion mentioned the horror of
Apollo after the fatal accident, his resorting in vain to the art of the
physician, and his denouncing medicine as of no avail. Nicander's ac-
count it lost. He spoke of Apollo as mourning the death of his favorite,
and he related the story to the annual appearance of the flower and the
Spartan festival. From Nicander, Ovid took the outline of the tale.
A third Alexandrian author, whom we cannot identify, introduced
a new cause for the tragedy. A wind god, either Zephyr or Boreas, was
an unsuccessful rival of Apollo for the boy's favor. This god spitefully
turned the discus aside and killed the boy. The Alexandrian author
noted that Apollo reproached the wind god for his cruel deed. This ver-
sion appeared later in the work of Lucian and of Nonnus.
After Ovid had introduced the theme of Apollo's fondness for the
boy, he described the god as playing the usual part of a lover in Alex-
336
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? HYACINTHUS
andrian and Roman poetry. A lover was described as forsaking his
usual haunts for those of his beloved. Accordingly, Apollo forsook
Delphi, in order to frequent the valley of the Eurotas. Ovid alluded to
the fact that Sparta was unfortified in its great period.
A lover was described as giving up his usual pursuits for those of
his beloved. Apollo gave up playing the cither and shooting arrows. At
this point Ovid seems to have been following Nicander. According to
another version of the tale, Apollo took the opposite course. To win the
boy's favor, he used both music and archery. Vergil in the Sixth Eclogue
mentioned Eurotas as delighted with the songs of Apollo, and Philo-
stratus declared that the god promised to instruct his favorite in using
the lyre and the bow. Tibullus had counseled anyone desirous of pleas-
ing a boy, to engage with him in sports, such as hunting and athletic
games. Ovid in the Heroides had shown Phaedra expressing a desire to
do this for the sake of Hippolytus. He now showed Apollo taking a
similar course. Tibullus had advised often allowing the boy to carry off
the honors and always doing obsequious service. Ovid observed that
Apollo dutifully carried nets, held the dogs, and accompanied Hya-
cinthus over rugged spurs of the mountains. Ovid told briefly of Apollo's
courtship, because later he wished to dwell on the more remarkable idea
that Venus acted in a similar manner for the sake of Adonis.
Ovid imagined the contest with the discus as beginning at noon,
the tragic hour of Alexandrian poets. He mentioned the time by speak-
ing of the sun as in mid-course. In the tale of Phaethon (Bk. 2) Ovid
had spoken of Apollo as driving the car of the sun. This idea was ex-
cluded by the circumstances of the contest, and Ovid resorted to an
older belief that Titan was the charioteer.
Ovid supposed that first Apollo took position for throwing the
discus. Hyacinthus waited opposite the point where the missile was
expected to land, but at a safe distance to one side. Apollo displayed
both skill and strength and hurled the discus a remarkably long way
down the field. In actual contest this could not have been especially far.
The modern world's record is about a hundred and fifty-nine feet. But
Ovid described the discus as piercing the clouds in its mighty trajectory.
As it came down, the boy imprudently ran forward, in order to reach it
as soon as possible. The discus, falling on hard ground, gave an unex-
pected bounce and hit him in the face. Although Ovid's phrase was in-
definite, he evidently recalled the idea of mortal injury and speedy death.
Ovid imagined that Apollo had near by some materials for his art
337
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
of healing, and that with them he proceeded at once to the fallen boy.
Bion had observed that Apollo applied salves to the wound and tried
all remedies, but discovered that no medicine cures against the will of
the Fates. In the tale of Coronis (Bk. 2) Ovid had told of Apollo's rub-
bing the crumpled form of his wife -- to restore the normal circulation,
and of his vainly trying his art of medicine to conquer fate. He had
spoken of Cephalus as lifting Procris in his arms and endeavoring to
staunch the flow of blood. And in the tale of Daphne he spoke of Apollo
himself as afflicted with an incurable wound. All these circumstances
Ovid recalled in describing Apollo's attempt to revive Hyacinthus. The
god lifted the crumpled form in his arms. He tried rubbing, he en-
deavored to staunch the flow of blood, and he applied stimulating herbs.
His art was of no avail; the wound was beyond cure of medicine; and
later Ovid showed Apollo declaring that he must yield to the law of fate.
At this point Ovid remembered a famous comparison of a young
man's death to the drooping of a flower. The Iliad had mentioned the
idea when an arrow of Teucer mortally wounded a certain Gorgythion.
The poet continued: as in a garden a poppy bows its head to one side,
laden with seed and the rains of spring; so he bowed his head to one side,
laden with his helmet. Catullus, handling the same idea, altered both the
form and the nature of the comparison. He mentioned first the applica-
tion to his own theme, and he imagined the flower as suffering violence.
Lesbia's conduct, he said, had caused his love to die, as a flower at the
meadow's edge after it is uprooted by the passing plow. In two pas-
sages of the Aeneid, Vergil recalled ideas of the Iliad but used the method
of Catullus. He observed of the dying Euryalus that his neck, drooping,
lay back on his shoulders; as when a purple flower, cut underneath by
the plow, languishes dying or poppies with tired neck lower their heads,
when they are weighted with rain. And he observed that Pallas lay on
his bier, as a flower broken by a maiden's finger, either a soft violet or a
languishing hyacinth. Its luster remains no longer, while its beauty de-
parts, nor does mother earth nourish it and provide strength.
Ovid followed the Iliad in giving the comparison first, and he elab-
orated his details from Vergil. As when in a garden, he said, someone has
broken violets or a stiff poppy or lilies bristling with tawny stamens,
fainting suddenly, they droop their withered heads and no longer can
stand erect but with their tops gaze on the earth; so the boy's dying
face sank down, and his neck, not having strength to bear its own weight,
lay back on his shoulder.
338
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? HYACINTHUS
Although Nicander had spoken of Apollo's mourning for Hya-
cinthus, Ovid appears to have been the first to record a speech of lament.
The god blamed himself for shortening the boy's life but pleaded good
intentions. Regretting that he could neither restore life to his favorite
nor share his death, he predicted the boy's continual association with
his worship, as a new variety of flower. In accord with Euphorion, Ovid
showed Apollo observing that it should recall not only Hyacinthus but
at a later time Ajax, and that its petals were to be inscribed with
Apollo's lament. Ovid indicated a transformation of blood into the
flower, which was brighter than Tyrian dye and which resembled a lily,
except that a lily is white and this flower is purple. Description of a
newly created flower by likening it to some other blossom was habitual
with Ovid. He likened the heliotrope, into which Clytie had been trans-
formed, to a violet (Bk. 4) ; and later he compared the windflower, which
grew from blood of Adonis, to a blossom of the pomegranate. Ovid
mentioned Apollo's writing on the petals the words AI Al. Then, follow-
ing Nicander, he ended with the Spartan festival of the Hyacinthia.
In later times many authors recalled Ovid's tale. Marini repeated
it at some length in his Adonis. Statius, remembering Apollo's ability
with the discus, noted that one of his own contestants made a discus sail
through the clouds. Spenser mentioned, as the theme of a picture in the
House of Busyrane, Apollo lamenting the death of his favorite, and
added that Hyacinthus continues to live as a pansy. Spenser also men-
tioned the flower of Hyacinthus as appearing in the garden of Adonis.
Milton declared that Winter, who killed the Fair Infant, had no power
to commemorate her as Apollo commemorated Hyacinthus.
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
Cowper noted in The Task that plants from many lands assemble in
a greenhouse,
As if convened
By magic summons of the Orphean lyre;
and that moralists are inclined to boast, as if
They had indeed ability to smooth
The shag of savage nature and were each
An Orpheus and omnipotent in song.
Tennyson wrote a long, humorous description of the assembling of trees
but attributed the miracle to Amphion.
In describing literary groves, a number of authors clearly remem-
bered Ovid. Lucan mentioned the cypress associated with no common
woe, Claudian referred to the misanthropic laurel, and Chaucer noted
in his Parliament of Fowls both the cypress for mourning and the palm
as reward of conquerors.
The idea that a grapevine needs the support of an elm tree inter-
ested a number of English authors. Catullus had stated the idea clearly,
but, until the height of the Renaissance, his work was little known. Ver-
gil in the Georgics, Horace in an epistle, and Ovid in the account of
Orpheus had suggested the idea by implication. Vergil, who spoke of
the vines as embracing the elm, seems clearly to have inspired the simi-
lar idea of Sidney in his Arcadia and Giles Fletcher in his Licia. Both
Vergil and Ovid appear to have suggested Chaucer's mention in the
Parliament of Fowls of the pillar elm. Spenser probably followed both
Ovid and Chaucer. At the beginning of his Faerie Queen he referred to
the vine prop elm. Other poets echoed the same idea. Cowley noted in his
Death of Katherine Phelps that wit, too, needs the prop of virtue. Ben
Jonson observed in Sejanus that assassins of Drusus
Cut down that upright elm, withered his vines.
And Tennyson declared in his Amphion that, when the trees began fol-
lowing the piper,
Old elms came, breaking with the vine.
A few authors recalled Ovid's tales of transformation. Pigna, an
Italian author of the Renaissance, wrote a Latin poem on the meta-
morphosis of Attis to a pine, Camoens remembered how the pine is sacred
327
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
to Cybele, and Calpurnius Siculus followed both Vergil and Ovid in his
attractive description of a stag.
Modern artists who treated the power of Orpheus appear to have
been inspired chiefly by ancient pictorial versions but probably were at
least encouraged by acquaintance with Ovid. Delacroix made a famous
painting of Orpheus, pioneer of civilization, Gillis de Hondecoeter and
Fulton Brown pictured Orpheus with an audience of wild animals, and
Marcellin treated the same theme in sculpture.
328
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? GANYMEDE
Ganymede
When Orpheus had gathered his audience of trees and wild animals,
Ovid continued, he ceased playing long enough to tune his lyre and then,
touching the strings again, commenced to sing. With this introduction,
Ovid began the longest passage of his Metamorphoses which was given
in the words of a character.
Following the example of Aratus in his poem on the constellations
and of Vergil in a shepherd song of his Third Eclogue, Ovid showed
Orpheus beginning with Jupiter. Orpheus announced that on a former
occasion he had told in grave style about Jupiter's victory over the
Giants -- perhaps an allusion to Ovid's early epic, but that now in
lighter style he would sing of other themes. By the phrase "in lighter
style" Ovid meant only that his work should be less dignified than an
epic. None of the tales was to be comic, and a number of them were to
end in disaster. Orpheus mentioned two themes of the song -- boys who
were loved by the heavenly deities and girls who incurred punishment for
abnormal passion. Under the first heading Ovid planned to include the
stories of Ganymede, Hyacinthus, and Adonis; under the second he
planned to include the story of Myrrha and perhaps that of the Pro-
poetides. Other tales, such as those of Pygmalion and Atalanta, did not
fall under either heading. Ovid may have regarded them merely as im-
portant incidents of his main tales.
Phanocles, in the poem which Ovid had used for his account of
Orpheus, had included a story of Ganymede. This theme, Ovid showed
Orpheus treating as the first part of the song. In older versions of the
tale Ganymede appeared somewhat vaguely as one of those mortals
whom tradition spoke of as having been transported alive to heaven
(cf. Hercules, Bk. 9). According to the Iliad, the gods were pleased
with him and took him up to their own abode. In these particulars he
resembled the Biblical character Enoch. But Ganymede was distin-
guished for physical beauty. The Homeric Hymn to Venus added that
he was caught up in a whirlwind -- after the manner of Elijah and
Romulus. Pindar seemed to imagine that he was borne heavenwards in
a golden chariot. Early vase painters showed Jupiter raising Ganymede
in his arms.
According to one version of the tale, Ganymede was lifted to the
329
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
skies from the island of Crete. This version appeared in certain early
vase paintings and in Plato's dialogue, The Laws. But the Iliad spoke
of the event as occurring in the region of Troy, and this became the
usual opinion. Certain vase paintings indicated the plain near the city.
But Alexandrian authors imagined that Ganymede was on Mt. Ida, an
idea repeated by Vergil and Horace and also by Lucian.
Concerning Ganymede's father, there was a difference of opinion.
The Iliad and the Hymn to Venus declared that his father was Tros, and
Ovid repeated this idea in his tale of Aesacus (Bk. 11). The Little Iliad,
Pindar, and Euripides in the Trojan Women spoke of his father as
being Laomedon, son of Ilus. And Ovid followed their version in his
tale of Ganymede. Hellanicus and the Manual noted that Ganymede's
mother was Callirhoe, daughter of the river Scamander.
According to the Iliad, Ganymede was carried off in order that
he might serve as cupbearer of the gods. Afterwards this appears al-
ways to have been regarded as one motive for the abduction- But the
Hymn to Venus appeared to suggest also that Jupiter was in love with
the youth, for it noted Ganymede, Tithonus, and Anchises as evidence
that Troy was favored especially by the gods. This idea Ovid recalled
in his Epistle of Paris. Pindar recorded the second motive explicitly,
and afterwards it continually was mentioned, sometimes without any
illusion to service as cupbearer.
Some Greek authors observed that Jupiter offered compensation
to Ganymede's father. The Iliad mentioned a gift of horses, the best in
the world. The Manual, repeating this idea, described the animals as
mares. The Hymn to Venus added that Jupiter also comforted Gany-
mede's father with news of the boy's happy state among the gods. The
Little Iliad mentioned a different compensation, a supernatural vine
with soft golden leaves and clusters, which was a creation of Vulcan.
According to early versions of the tale, Ganymede was transported
to heaven in much the same way as other mortals favored by the gods.
With the fourth century B. C. new versions of the abduction appeared,
which tended to make this tale distinct from the rest. Phanocles imag-
ined that, during the period when Tantalus was admitted to the com-
pany of the gods, he carried off Ganymede and presented him to Jupiter.
Ovid rejected this idea, among other reasons because earlier in the Meta-
morphoses he had shown Tantalus already in Hades long before the
period of Tros and Laomedon. Ovid preferred still another Alexandrian
version.
330
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? GANYMEDE
In parts of North America and Africa and in Burma, primitive
tribes have associated thunderbolts descending from heaven with the
flight of some huge bird. In North America this bird was regarded as
an agent of the sky god, Manitu. A similar belief appeared among the
ancient Greeks. They thought of an eagle as carrying the thunderbolts
of Jupiter. For this reason Vergil spoke of the eagle as Jove's armor-
bearer. In several countries of Asia the eagle was believed to have done
other service for the heavenly god. According to the Hindus, Indra
employed an eagle to bring him the valued soma juice. And, although
in reality the eagle can lift only a weight of about seven pounds, other
peoples told of the heavenly god's employing him to abduct full-grown
human beings. The Sumerians of the Euphrates valley told of his trans-
porting to heaven King Etana of Kish, and the story was recorded after-
wards in a long Semitic poem. Influenced by this tale, the Greeks im-
agined that Jupiter had employed his eagle to carry away Ganymede.
The new idea seems first to have attracted Greek artists. Usually
they portrayed the eagle in the act of transporting the boy. Occasion-
ally, however, they showed Ganymede fondling the eagle or offering him
food. They represented the bird either as a golden eagle or as a Lam-
mergeier. Greek and Roman painters treated the theme of Ganymede
continually, as Plautus indicated in his Menaechmi* Greek sculptors
also were fond of the subject. Towards the middle of the fourth century
B. C. , Leochares made a famous statue of the abduction, of which more
than one copy still survives. Another sculptor, mentioned by Theocritus,
treated the theme in ivory and was unusual in having two eagles trans-
port the boy. From comparatively early times the abduction of Gany-
mede appeared on ancient coins. And in the period of the Roman Em-
pire, it became a favorite theme for decorating the graves of young men.
The author of the Manual spoke of an eagle as transporting Gany-
mede to heaven. Another Alexandrian author, whom we cannot identify,
retold the story as the theme of a tragedy. Ovid afterwards mentioned
his work in the Tristia. Phanocles treated the subject of Ganymede in
his narrative poem. In describing the abduction, one of these Alexan-
drian authors added the following circumstances. Ganymede was ac-
companied by some elderly attendants and by a number of dogs. He was
hunting stags in the darkness, probably before dawn. Then the eagle
bore him away, while the attendants raised their eyes to the stars and
the dogs barked fiercely. This incident Vergil described in his Aeneid.
*Plautus called the boy Catamitus, a name applied to him rather often by the
Romans.
331
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
The other Alexandrian author spoke of Ganymede as tending cattle.
His version was recalled afterwards by Lucian and Nonnus.
The Alexandrian authors mentioned a number of circumstances
after Ganymede's arrival in heaven. One of these was his relation to
Hebe. The Iliad had implied that Ganymede was the original cup-
bearer of the gods and that Hebe succeeded him. The Alexandrians took
the opposite view. They declared that Hebe was the original cupbearer
and added that Ganymede supplanted her. The idea was repeated by
Lucian and Nonnus. The Alexandrians imagined Juno as resenting
Jupiter's fondness for Ganymede, and Vergil mentioned her jealousy as
one reason why she was hostile to Ganymede's kinsman, Aeneas. The
abduction, according to the Alexandrian authors, was associated with
two constellations which appear together in the sky. The eagle became
the constellation of that name (Aquila), Ganymede became the constel-
lation of the Water Carrier (Aquarius). To this event Ovid alluded in
his Fasti.
The Alexandrians also introduced a new idea of the manner in
which Ganymede was abducted. They reconciled the older belief that
Jupiter carried off the boy with the new idea of his employing an eagle.
In some parts of the world the sky god has been thought to assume the
form of a huge bird. In North America, Manitu himself sometimes was
regarded as the bird of thunder. The Scandinavian people told of Odin's
assuming the form of an eagle in order to steal the mead of poetic in-
spiration. According to the Greeks, Jupiter several times took the
form of an eagle in order to carry off young women. Greek authors had
mentioned his taking this form in the courtship of Asterie and Aegina
(cf. Arachne, Bk. 6). Greek artists had shown Jupiter as an eagle car-
rying off a certain Thalia. The Alexandrians imagined a transforma-
tion of the same kind for the sake of Ganymede. Both paintings and
coins often represented Jupiter as the eagle carrying the boy in his
talons. Probably the same idea occurred also in the work of some Alex-
andrian author, for afterwards Jupiter's disguise was mentioned re-
peatedly by Nonnus.
In the Metamorphoses Ovid retold the famous tale. Probably be-
cause it was familiar to his contemporaries, he made it brief. He seems
to have followed an Alexandrian author whom we can no longer identify,
but he may have added a few circumstances from Vergil. In love with
Ganymede, he said, Jupiter found a shape which he desired even more
than his own, that of the bird which is able to carry his thunderbolts.
332
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? GANYMEDE
Borne on these assumed wings, he stole the descendant of Ilus, who
against the will of Juno still serves him with nectar.
After Ovid's time the story of Ganymede continued to attract at-
tention. Many authors evidently recalled Vergil's allusion in the Aeneid.
Prominent among them were Dante in the Purgatorio and Tennyson in
Will Waterproof's Monologue. But a number of authors remembered
Ovid. Clement of Alexandria noted Ganymede and Hyacinthus as fa-
vorites of the gods. Spenser described Fancy as comparable in beauty
to Hylas or
that imp of Troy
Whom Jove did love and chose his cup to bear.
Milton observed in the Seventh Latin Elegy that Cupid appeared to him
in the guise of a youth, beautiful as Ganymede or Hylas. Boiardo and
Marini made important allusions to the abduction of Ganymede. The
flight of the eagle with the boy inspired lyrics of Goethe and Bulwer
Lytton and also a brilliant stanza in Tennyson's Palace of Art. Other
poets in tales of their own imitated the idea of the eagle's raising the
boy to the skies. Petrarch declared that he himself was the bird which
mounted high in air and uplifted her whom he honored in his verse.
Chaucer in The House of Fame told of being raised on high by Jove's
eagle and recalled Ganymede, who was carried off to be the god's
"butler. "
The idea that Ganymede continued as Jupiter's attendant inter-
ested leading poets of the Renaissance. Ariosto declared Alcina's feast
superior even to a banquet of Jupiter, with Ganymede attending. Milton
observed in Paradise Regained that Satan had ready, to serve his
banquet,
Fair stripling youths rich-clad, of fairer hue
Than Ganymede or Hylas.
And Shakespeare's Rosalind, disguising herself as a man, took no worse
name than Jove's own page. In Cymbeline, Shakespeare remembered
the eagle as Jove's bird.
The abduction of Ganymede was a popular theme for modern
artists.
It inspired paintings by Rembrandt, von Marees, and Moreau,
a burlesque by Rubens, and a masterpiece by Correggio. It also at-
tracted the sculptors Filarete, Cellini, and Thorwaldsen. The sculptor
Bartolemeo gave an unusual version, with Ganymede riding on the
eagle. The painter Vanloo pictured Ganymede after his arrival on Mt.
Olympus.
333
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Hyacinthus
With Ganymede, the favorite of Jupiter, Ovid imagined that
Orpheus associated Hyacinthus, a favorite of Apollo.
The tradition of Hyacinthus grew up in Laconia and was related
in some measure to Sparta, but still more to Amyclae, a town on the
River Eurotas a few miles to the southeast. The prehistoric inhabitants
of Laconia worshiped Hyacinthus as a god of the spring season, who
departed beneath the earth with the coming of the hot, dry summer. Pre-
sumably they thought of his returning after a brief period, in manner
similar to that of Bacchus, Attis, and Adonis. They represented him by
the figure of a mature man. According to one part of the tradition, he
was father of the maidens called Hyacinthides, whose memory was hon-
ored at Athens. Pausanias described the grave of Hyacinthus at Amy-
clae. It was both a tomb and an altar. On the front it had a door, which
was opened when offerings were to be presented, and on this door the
Alexandrian sculptor Nicias had carved in relief the bearded Hyacinthus
and his sister Polyboea ascending to heaven.
The Dorian Greeks, who subdued Laconia at the beginning of his-
torical times, adopted the worship of Hyacinthus but combined it with
worship of their own gods and especially with that of Apollo. Accord-
ing to Pausanias, the tomb and altar at Amyclae was also the pedestal
for a great statue of Apollo, and Nicias had represented Hyacinthus
and Polyboea as escorted to heaven by Ceres, Pluto, Proserpina, and
with this form of the tradition. He declared that Apollo intended to
other divinities of the Greeks. Ovid seems to have had no acquaintance
honor Hyacinthus with a place in heaven, as Jupiter honored Gany-
mede, but was prevented by his untimely end.
The death and resurrection of Hyacinthus were commemorated by
an annual festival called the Hyacinthia. It occurred at some time later
than the middle of May. But Ovid indicated a period within a month
after the vernal equinox. In this he probably followed Nicander. Ovid
appears to have imagined a spring celebration like those of Bacchus,
and Attis. The Laconian festival honored both Hyacinthus and Apollo.
It continued for three days. The first day was a time of profound
mourning. Then followed a period of jubilation. Euripides in his Helen
mentioned revels by night and sacrifice of oxen. To this festival the
334
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? HYACINTHUS
Laconians attached great importance. According to Herodotus and
others, they had been known to give up a military campaign in order
to go home and attend it.
Tradition declared that Apollo and Hyacinthus had engaged in the
pastime of throwing the discus. Presumably this event occurred near
the town of Amyclae. The game was well known to the Greeks of the
Homeric Age and continued popular throughout ancient times. Statius
described it at some length in his Thebaid. The discus of the earliest
period was made of stone. It was given a circular form, and it weighed
between four and five pounds. Keeping within limits which were marked
off to the right and left, each contestant was supposed to throw the dis-
cus as far as he could. Tradition noted that by some accident Apollo
killed Hyacinthus. According to Euripides, the discus went outside the
proper limit. Nicander observed in his Theriaca that it struck Hya-
cinthus in the temple. Apollo ordered the festival to be held annually in
his memory.
With the beginning of Alexandrian times, the story had become
very popular. Alexandrian authors mentioned a number of additional
circumstances. Many authors referred to Hyacinthus as the offspring of
Amyclas, king of Sparta. Nicander seems to have called him a grandson
of Amyclas and the son of a later king, Oebalus. This idea Ovid repeated
both in his own account of the story and later in his tale of Ajax (Bk.
13). Most authors regarded Hyacinthus as a native of Sparta. Ovid
followed them in his Metamorphoses, but in his Fasti spoke of him as
born in the village of Therapne, to the southeast. Alexandrian authors
departed very much from the older conception of Hyacinthus. They
regarded him not as a god but as a mortal, and they described him not
as a mature man but as a boy who was loved by Apollo. The Manual
stated this idea explicitly.
In the Laconian festival there appears to have been no thought of
relating Hyacinthus to any particular flower. But Alexandrian authors
continually associated him with the blossom of a plant which they called
the hyacinth. Among the Greeks, this flower seems always to have been
popular. The Homeric Hymn to Ceres mentioned it as one of the blos-
soms gathered by Proserpina, and Theocritus noted in his Tenth Idyll
that violets and hyacinths were favorites for garlands. According to the
Alexandrian authors, Apollo metamorphosed blood of the dying youth
into the well known flower. In the Metamorphoses, Ovid accepted this
335
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
idea. In the Fasti he declared that Flora performed the act of trans-
formation.
Like the crocus and violet and other flowers which were said to
have originated from human blood, the hyacinth was described as having
a color which resembled the sanguine hue. Theocritus called both the
violet and the hyacinth black. Other writers mentioned a shade of
purple. The hyacinth was described as unusual in having petals marked
with white. These markings were thought to have the shape of Greek
letters, an idea noted by Theocritus. Certain authors identified them
as the two capitals alpha and iota. Taken together, they would spell
the Greek interjection AI, corresponding to our phrase "O dear! ", and
both Euphorion and the Elegy for Bion referred to them as recording
the distressed cries of Apollo after the death of his favorite.
Euphorion spoke of the markings of the hyacinth as identical also
with the first two letters of the name Ajax. They commemorated, he said,
both the favorite of Apollo and the great son of Telamon. Vergil in his
Third Eclogue mentioned the double significance but explained it in an-
other way. The flower, he implied, has two groups of markings. One of
them, in memory of Ajax, takes the form of the capital letters alpha and
iota; the other, in memory of Hyacinthus, takes the form of the Greek
capital upsilon with a rough breathing, which corresponds to our letters
Hy. Evidently the flower described by these ancient authors was dif-
ferent from any that we should call a hyacinth. Modern scholars are
inclined to identify it as a species of iris.
At least three Alexandrian authors recorded the tragic story. Of
Bion's account only a few lines survive. Bion mentioned the horror of
Apollo after the fatal accident, his resorting in vain to the art of the
physician, and his denouncing medicine as of no avail. Nicander's ac-
count it lost. He spoke of Apollo as mourning the death of his favorite,
and he related the story to the annual appearance of the flower and the
Spartan festival. From Nicander, Ovid took the outline of the tale.
A third Alexandrian author, whom we cannot identify, introduced
a new cause for the tragedy. A wind god, either Zephyr or Boreas, was
an unsuccessful rival of Apollo for the boy's favor. This god spitefully
turned the discus aside and killed the boy. The Alexandrian author
noted that Apollo reproached the wind god for his cruel deed. This ver-
sion appeared later in the work of Lucian and of Nonnus.
After Ovid had introduced the theme of Apollo's fondness for the
boy, he described the god as playing the usual part of a lover in Alex-
336
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? HYACINTHUS
andrian and Roman poetry. A lover was described as forsaking his
usual haunts for those of his beloved. Accordingly, Apollo forsook
Delphi, in order to frequent the valley of the Eurotas. Ovid alluded to
the fact that Sparta was unfortified in its great period.
A lover was described as giving up his usual pursuits for those of
his beloved. Apollo gave up playing the cither and shooting arrows. At
this point Ovid seems to have been following Nicander. According to
another version of the tale, Apollo took the opposite course. To win the
boy's favor, he used both music and archery. Vergil in the Sixth Eclogue
mentioned Eurotas as delighted with the songs of Apollo, and Philo-
stratus declared that the god promised to instruct his favorite in using
the lyre and the bow. Tibullus had counseled anyone desirous of pleas-
ing a boy, to engage with him in sports, such as hunting and athletic
games. Ovid in the Heroides had shown Phaedra expressing a desire to
do this for the sake of Hippolytus. He now showed Apollo taking a
similar course. Tibullus had advised often allowing the boy to carry off
the honors and always doing obsequious service. Ovid observed that
Apollo dutifully carried nets, held the dogs, and accompanied Hya-
cinthus over rugged spurs of the mountains. Ovid told briefly of Apollo's
courtship, because later he wished to dwell on the more remarkable idea
that Venus acted in a similar manner for the sake of Adonis.
Ovid imagined the contest with the discus as beginning at noon,
the tragic hour of Alexandrian poets. He mentioned the time by speak-
ing of the sun as in mid-course. In the tale of Phaethon (Bk. 2) Ovid
had spoken of Apollo as driving the car of the sun. This idea was ex-
cluded by the circumstances of the contest, and Ovid resorted to an
older belief that Titan was the charioteer.
Ovid supposed that first Apollo took position for throwing the
discus. Hyacinthus waited opposite the point where the missile was
expected to land, but at a safe distance to one side. Apollo displayed
both skill and strength and hurled the discus a remarkably long way
down the field. In actual contest this could not have been especially far.
The modern world's record is about a hundred and fifty-nine feet. But
Ovid described the discus as piercing the clouds in its mighty trajectory.
As it came down, the boy imprudently ran forward, in order to reach it
as soon as possible. The discus, falling on hard ground, gave an unex-
pected bounce and hit him in the face. Although Ovid's phrase was in-
definite, he evidently recalled the idea of mortal injury and speedy death.
Ovid imagined that Apollo had near by some materials for his art
337
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
of healing, and that with them he proceeded at once to the fallen boy.
Bion had observed that Apollo applied salves to the wound and tried
all remedies, but discovered that no medicine cures against the will of
the Fates. In the tale of Coronis (Bk. 2) Ovid had told of Apollo's rub-
bing the crumpled form of his wife -- to restore the normal circulation,
and of his vainly trying his art of medicine to conquer fate. He had
spoken of Cephalus as lifting Procris in his arms and endeavoring to
staunch the flow of blood. And in the tale of Daphne he spoke of Apollo
himself as afflicted with an incurable wound. All these circumstances
Ovid recalled in describing Apollo's attempt to revive Hyacinthus. The
god lifted the crumpled form in his arms. He tried rubbing, he en-
deavored to staunch the flow of blood, and he applied stimulating herbs.
His art was of no avail; the wound was beyond cure of medicine; and
later Ovid showed Apollo declaring that he must yield to the law of fate.
At this point Ovid remembered a famous comparison of a young
man's death to the drooping of a flower. The Iliad had mentioned the
idea when an arrow of Teucer mortally wounded a certain Gorgythion.
The poet continued: as in a garden a poppy bows its head to one side,
laden with seed and the rains of spring; so he bowed his head to one side,
laden with his helmet. Catullus, handling the same idea, altered both the
form and the nature of the comparison. He mentioned first the applica-
tion to his own theme, and he imagined the flower as suffering violence.
Lesbia's conduct, he said, had caused his love to die, as a flower at the
meadow's edge after it is uprooted by the passing plow. In two pas-
sages of the Aeneid, Vergil recalled ideas of the Iliad but used the method
of Catullus. He observed of the dying Euryalus that his neck, drooping,
lay back on his shoulders; as when a purple flower, cut underneath by
the plow, languishes dying or poppies with tired neck lower their heads,
when they are weighted with rain. And he observed that Pallas lay on
his bier, as a flower broken by a maiden's finger, either a soft violet or a
languishing hyacinth. Its luster remains no longer, while its beauty de-
parts, nor does mother earth nourish it and provide strength.
Ovid followed the Iliad in giving the comparison first, and he elab-
orated his details from Vergil. As when in a garden, he said, someone has
broken violets or a stiff poppy or lilies bristling with tawny stamens,
fainting suddenly, they droop their withered heads and no longer can
stand erect but with their tops gaze on the earth; so the boy's dying
face sank down, and his neck, not having strength to bear its own weight,
lay back on his shoulder.
338
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? HYACINTHUS
Although Nicander had spoken of Apollo's mourning for Hya-
cinthus, Ovid appears to have been the first to record a speech of lament.
The god blamed himself for shortening the boy's life but pleaded good
intentions. Regretting that he could neither restore life to his favorite
nor share his death, he predicted the boy's continual association with
his worship, as a new variety of flower. In accord with Euphorion, Ovid
showed Apollo observing that it should recall not only Hyacinthus but
at a later time Ajax, and that its petals were to be inscribed with
Apollo's lament. Ovid indicated a transformation of blood into the
flower, which was brighter than Tyrian dye and which resembled a lily,
except that a lily is white and this flower is purple. Description of a
newly created flower by likening it to some other blossom was habitual
with Ovid. He likened the heliotrope, into which Clytie had been trans-
formed, to a violet (Bk. 4) ; and later he compared the windflower, which
grew from blood of Adonis, to a blossom of the pomegranate. Ovid
mentioned Apollo's writing on the petals the words AI Al. Then, follow-
ing Nicander, he ended with the Spartan festival of the Hyacinthia.
In later times many authors recalled Ovid's tale. Marini repeated
it at some length in his Adonis. Statius, remembering Apollo's ability
with the discus, noted that one of his own contestants made a discus sail
through the clouds. Spenser mentioned, as the theme of a picture in the
House of Busyrane, Apollo lamenting the death of his favorite, and
added that Hyacinthus continues to live as a pansy. Spenser also men-
tioned the flower of Hyacinthus as appearing in the garden of Adonis.
Milton declared that Winter, who killed the Fair Infant, had no power
to commemorate her as Apollo commemorated Hyacinthus.
