No More Learning

The goddess Ariadne was supposed to have been at first a mortal
woman, a beautiful daughter of Minos and Pasiphae. She was loved by
Bacchus, the male god of fertility. According to the Theogony, Bacchus
married the fair haired Ariadne and made her ageless and immortal. But
usually it was supposed that the course of true love did not run smooth.
In one version of the myth, Ariadne deserted Bacchus to elope with The-
seus. Bacchus warned Diana of her infidelity. The goddess overtook the
fugitives at an island called Dia and shot Ariadne dead. The Odyssey,
alluding to this account, observed that Ulysses recognized Ariadne's
ghost in the world of shades. This may have been consistent with the
idea that she became a goddess, for Ulysses observed in the same region
the shade of the deified Hercules. Apparently following the Homeric
version, the early Christian poet Prudentius stigmatized Ariadne as a
beautiful harlot. According to the Odyssey, the island of Dia was an
uninhabited isle only a few miles from the shores of Crete. But after-
wards, it often was identified with the large Aegean island of Naxos.
Other versions of the myth spoke of Ariadne as originally in love
with Theseus. He promised to marry her and take her to Athens. The
lovers interrupted their voyage to rest on the island of Dia. Here, ac-
cording to the Manual, Bacchus fell in love with Ariadne and forcibly
carried her away. But usually it was supposed that Theseus deserted
her and that later Bacchus arrived and comforted her with a better hus-
band. In the worship of Ariadne at Naxos this event was commemorated
with a festival symbolizing first the mourning of the deserted Ariadne
and then the joy of Ariadne as bride of the god. The festival also sym-
bolized nature, first in winter and then in spring.
Various reasons were given for the perfidy of Theseus. The Cata-
logues declared that he deserted Ariadne for a sea nymph called Aegle.
172
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? THE MINOTAUR AND ARIADNE
Others thought that the Cretan princess would not have been acceptable
to Aegeus or to the people of Athens. Often no reason was given or even
implied. Usually it was supposed that, while Ariadne lay asleep near
the shore of the island, Theseus departed quietly to his ship and sailed
away. The idea, although improbable, proved congenial both to artists
and to poets. Painters and sculptors pictured the sleeping Ariadne and
the departing figure of Theseus. At times the same picture showed the
arrival of Bacchus and his attendants. Theocritus and Propertius
alluded to the silent departure of the Athenian prince; Apollonius, to
the arrival of the god.
Some Alexandrian author evidently recorded the ensuing events as
follows. For a while Bacchus gazed in admiration at the sleeping girl.
Then he concealed himself until Ariadne awoke and lamented her fate.
She tried vainly to call Theseus back, protesting that, if he did not wish
to marry her, he should at least take her to Athens as a slave. Catullus
imagined that Ariadne awoke before the coming of Bacchus, and he gave
a memorable description of her as she stood with dishevelled locks and
with clothing fallen to the waves at her feet, gazing at the distant sail of
Theseus and reproaching his perfidy. Both Tibullus and Ovid alluded to
this description, and Ovid followed the general conception of Catullus in
his beautiful and pathetic epistle, Ariadne to Theseus.
Greek artists often indicated the marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne
by showing them seated under a spreading vine. The unknown Alexan-
drian author told of the marriage, Ovid alluded to it both in his Art of
Love and in his Fasti, and Seneca in his Oedipus gave an elaborate de-
scription. At the wedding Ariadne was said to have worn a crown. The
Alexandrian author described it as made of flowers, an idea which Ovid
repeated in his Fasti. But usually the crown was thought to have been
made of gems, and elsewhere in the Fasti, Ovid followed this account.
According to some authorities Theseus had received the crown from
Amphitrite and had given it to Ariadne before leaving Crete. This idea
inspired four extant vase paintings and also Micon's picture in the
Theseum at Athens. According to others, Ariadne received the crown at
her wedding. Nonnus declared that it was given by Cupid, Ovid that it
was given by Venus.
Usually it was thought that Bacchus and Ariadne remained on
earth until the death of Ariadne, many years later, and then Bacchus
made his wife a heavenly goddess. In the Fasti, Ovid elaborated the
story. Bacchus, he said, took Ariadne with him to India. During their
173
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
return to Naxos he appeared to be so fond of an Indian princess that
Ariadne again wandered lamenting on the lonely shore. She spoke of
being fascinated with the bull horns of the god, as her mother had been
fascinated with those of the animal. Bacchus comforted her and took
her to heaven. Ovid identified Ariadne with the Italian goddess Libera.
The crown which Ariadne wore at her marriage was still on earth.
Bacchus raised it to the skies and transformed it into the more northerly
and the brighter of the constellations called Corona. Callimachus, Apol-
lonius, and Aratus mentioned Ariadne's starry crown, Vergil referred to
it both in his Lydia and in his Georgics, and Ovid alluded to the idea in
his Art of Love and in his Fasti.
In Semitic countries it was a frequent practice to propitiate the
bull-headed god, Moloch, with human victims, and it may well have been
usual to make the number of victims seven or some multiple of it, for the
Semites had a special veneration for the number seven. The Greeks
imagined an offering of this kind to the Minotaur and thought of it as
the occasion for the meeting of Theseus and Ariadne. After the fall of
Megara, they said, Minos proceeded against Athens. At the same time
disease and famine played havoc in the city. Appealing to an oracle, the
Athenians were told to give Minos whatever he wished. He demanded
tribute at regular intervals of seven young men and seven maidens to
feed the Minotaur. The victims were sent unarmed in a ship having black
sails, were shut in the labyrinth, and were left as a prey to the monster.
This tribute was paid twice, before the arrival of Theseus in Athens.
Theseus himself was included in the next assignment of victims. Ariadne,
falling in love with him, appealed to Daedalus in his behalf. The artificer
advised her to give Theseus a thread, which he might attach to the
entrance of the labyrinth and unroll as he proceeded in search of the
Minotaur. By this means he could retrace his steps. Theseus killed the
monster with his fists and escaped, taking with him his fellow Athenians
and Ariadne.
This story of Theseus and the Minotaur appeared in the work of
Hellanicus and Pherecydes, in the Theseus of Euripides, and in the
Manual. Many vase paintings and coins portrayed either the gift of the
thread or the combat with the monster. Vergil spoke of the whole story
as pictured in the sculpture at Cumae. Catullus and Ovid repeated part
of it in their account of the deserted Ariadne. But Ovid imagined that
Theseus was armed with a knotted club.
Accounts differed about several details. The interval at which vic-
174
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? THE MINOTAUR AND ARIADNE
tims were to be sent usually was given as a year. But some Greek author
appears to have made it nine years, for this period was named after-
wards by Plutarch. The method by which victims were selected was ex-
plained variously. Hellanicus declared that Minos chose them and that
he selected Theseus. Most authors thought of them as drawn by lot.
Some declared that Theseus was included for this reason, but most of
them spoke of his going as a volunteer. Since Minos had command of
the sea, it might seem probable that he would overtake the fugitives.
Pherecydes explained that Theseus bored holes in the Cretan ships;
Apollonius spoke of Ariadne as appeasing her father; most authors
ignored the difficulty, and Ovid in the Heroides showed Paris mentioning
the story to Helen as a case where the lovers were not even pursued.
Before Theseus left Athens, Aegeus had promised to watch for the
return of the ship and had warned Theseus to indicate a successful
voyage by replacing the black sails with white. Theseus forgot his in-
structions, and the grief-stricken Aegeus threw himself over the cliff of
the Acropolis. Such Yorgetfulness on the part of Theseus often was
associated with Ariadne. The Manual explained it as grief at losing
her, Catullus as the result of her curse.
In the Heroides, the Art of Love, and the Fasti, Ovid already had
noted all important incidents in the myth of Ariadne. In the Metamor-
phoses, he merely recalled them briefly by alluding to the use of the
thread, the desertion of the princess, and her rescue by the god. He did
not think it necessary to name either the Minotaur or the princess. The
general plan of Ovid's work required him to make some innovations. He
implied that tribute was imposed after Theseus arrived in Athens and
that two lots of victims were sent before Theseus was included. If he
had made the interval a year, this would have been plausible. Immedi-
ately after the arrival of Theseus, tradition had spoken of his engaging
in several exploits which took him away from the city and occupied con-
siderable time. Conceivably he might have been absent until the third
year. But Ovid gave the interval as nine years and made the situation
preposterous. Tradition had supposed that Bacchus rescued Ariadne
before his own ascent to heaven. Ovid implied that he rescued her long
afterwards. Ovid said nothing about the death of Aegeus. But in the
story of Medea (Bk. 7) he had suggested that Aegeus was to perish be-
cause he welcomed that evil enchantress.
Ovid ordinarily would have reserved for his Fasti the account of
any transformation into stars. This time the Fasti was concerned with
175
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
a transformation of Ariadne into the goddess Libera. Nowhere had Ovid
given special attention to Ariadne's crown. In the Metamorphoses he
saw a chance to end picturesquely with its ascent to the sky. In the
whole course of his poem this was the only description of metamorphosis
into a constellation. * The stars of Corona appear in the heavens be-
tween the constellation of Hercules and that of the Herdsman (Bootes).
But Aratus had placed them erroneously between Hercules and the Ser-
pent Holder (Ophiuchus) and Ovid repeated his mistake.
Although Ovid's account of the Minotaur and Ariadne was brief
and obscure, it was the first account read by men of later times. It made
them acquainted with the myth and encouraged them to seek further in-
formation elsewhere, especially in the Heroides.
Medieval authors treating any part of the story were apt to show
recollection of the Metamorphoses. Some authors recalled the scandal
of Pasiphae. Dante observed in his Purgatorio that one group of peni-
tents referred to their sensual indulgence by repeating the name of her
who in a bestial shape played the beast. Chaucer in the Wife's Prologue
spoke of Pasiphae as included in Jankin's book of wicked women. A num-
ber of authors were interested in the Minotaur. Dante pictured the mon-
ster as opposing his descent into the region of violence and being defeated
by its own irrational fury. And Dante's guide suggested that the crea-
ture still recalled the Duke of Athens guided by his sister's thread.
Boccaccio and Machaut told the story. Following the implication of the
Metamorphoses, they declared that Theseus was drawn by lot. Chaucer
retold the story in his Legend of Ariadne and, misunderstanding Ovid's
phrase, added that lots occurred every three years. Ancient authors had
implied that all fourteen victims were offered to the Minotaur at once.
Medieval authors thought* of their being offered one at a time and of
Theseus as being the first.
Both Machaut and Chaucer recounted the desertion of Ariadne.
Chaucer treated the theme first in his House of Fame and then at some
length in his Legend, both times emphasizing the perfidy of Theseus.
Ovid had assigned no cause for the desertion. Hyginus happened to end
his account with a statement that Theseus married Ariadne's sister,
Phaedra. Machaut supposed that Theseus took both sisters with him
and found Phaedra the more attractive. Chaucer imagined also that
*The tale of the Four Ages (Bk. 1) included a similar transformation of Astraea
to the constellation Virgo, and the tale of Myrrha (Bk. 10) included metamorphoses
of Erigone and Icarius to the constellations Virgo and Bootes. But in these tales
Ovid was content with a brief allusion.
176
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? THE MINOTAUR AND ARIADNE
Phaedra suggested the use of the thread. Dante in his Paradiso likened
the circles of great theologians to a double Ariadne's crown.
Modern authors occasionally recalled Ovid's account in the Meta-
morphoses. Gray observed in his Progress of Poesy that
Maeander's amber waves
In lingering labyrinths slowly creep.
Burke in his Conciliation with America mentioned the labyrinth from
which no one could escape without a clue, in order to describe the hope-
less results of a policy recommended by Lord North. And his allusion
to the subject was typical of many rather vague references by authors
of modern times. Spenser compared the Graces dancing round Colin's
lady to Ariadne's Crown in the sky. Hazlitt in Table Talk referred to
poets as translating their ladies to the skies with this constellation and
afterwards described the ladies in boxes at the opera as beautiful and
wholly inaccessible, like Ariadne's crown.
But modern authors were apt to recall chiefly Ovid's pathetic de-
scription of Ariadne in the Heroides. Ariosto imitated it in the latter
part of his account of Olympia. Shakespeare in The Two Gentlemen of
Verona and Fletcher in The Maid's Tragedy made long references to it,
and Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice gave a similar description
of Dido. Thomas Corneille made the desertion of Ariadne his theme in
a famous tragedy.
Modern artists found Ovid's material of great interest but were
inclined to draw also on other sources. The Minotaur inspired both a
painting by G. F. Watts and statues by Canova and Barye. The story
of Ariadne, Theseus, and Bacchus was a favorite with modern painters.
It appeared in work of the Italian artists Peruzzi, Albani, Giordano,
L'Orbetto, Giovanni Bellini, Tintoretto, Tiepolo, and Guido Reni, and
in the work of the north European artists Jordaens, Callot, Greuze,
Makart, and Angelica Kauffmann. Often a modern artist was so im-
pressed with the idea of the starry crown that he included it, even when
treating an earlier incident of the tale. The story inspired masterpieces
by Conegliano and Titian, and Titian's picture of Bacchus and Ariadne
had a very important influence on the entire history of British painting.
The story of Ariadne became a theme also for statues by Dannekar,
Lescornd, and Rodin and for a quadriga by Schillings.
The desertion of Ariadne inspired a famous opera of Monteverdi
and a recent work by Richard Strauss.
177
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Icarus and Perbix
Ovid then told how Daedalus left Crete.
According to tradition, Minos was offended with the artificer be-
cause he aided Theseus and Ariadne, and he imprisoned in the labyrinth
both Daedalus and his son Icarus.
Herodotus had spoken of the Egyp-
tian labyrinth as being entirely covered with a roof. Evidently the
Greeks thought of the Cretan labyrinth as having at least one court
open to the sky. Daedalus planned to escape by flying through the air.
Collecting a large number of feathers, he attached them to light frames
and made them into two pairs of wings. One pair he fastened to his
arms with glue, the other he fastened to the arms of his son. A bird,
which has the advantage of a light body and powerful muscles, is able to
fly by beating his wings. Many peoples have supposed erroneously that
a human being can do the same. Daedalus planned to rise in this manner
and escape from Crete.
Before leaving the ground he cautioned Icarus to avoid flying low,
because damp of the sea might weigh down his feathers, and to avoid
flying high, because the sun would melt the glue. Daedalus and Icarus
then departed in a northeasterly direction towards Miletus. No reason
was given for their taking this particular course. It was assumed that
Icarus must have been associated with the region of Miletus, because
that part of the sea was called Icarian and because one of its islands
was called Icaria. Daedalus flew safely at a middle height. Icarus, de-
lighted with the new experience, mounted higher and higher. The sun
melted the glue, his wings dropped off, and he perished in the sea which
bears his name. Turning westwards, Daedalus arrived at Camicus in
Sicily and took refuge with King Cocalus. Minos pursued him thither
and demanded possession of him. Cocalus promised to give him up and
meanwhile entertained Minos at his court. But the daughters of Cocalus
treacherously put Minos to death.
By the middle of the fifth century B. C. , this tale had become well
known. Herodotus alluded to the pursuit of Daedalus and the violent
death of Minos in Sicily. Sophocles treated the theme in his Men of
Camicus, which now is lost. The Manual repeated the whole story, asso-
ciating Icarus definitely with the island of Icaria. According to the
Manual, Hercules found his body cast up on the shore and buried it
178
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ICARUS AND PERDIX
there. The Manual alluded also to the circumstances under which Minos
was killed. He was taking one of those primitive baths which are obtained
by standing on the ground floor of a building and having a servant pour
water through an opening in the floor above. The daughters of Cocalus
arranged to have this water boiling hot, an idea which Ovid afterwards
mentioned in his Ibis. The Manual seems to have added that Daedalus
instigated their crime.
Callimachus in his Origms gave a new account of Daedalus and
Icarus. Daedalus, he said, after shutting the Minotaur in the labyrinth,
desired permission to revisit Athens, declaring that he wished to spend
his remaining days there and to rear his child as an Athenian. Minos
refused to let him go. In order to hold the feathers in position, Daedalus
used not glue but wax. Callimachus appears to have noted that Icarus
took a childish delight in handling the wings and that Daedalus en-
deavored to provide for the boy's safety, as a mother bird tries to pro-
vide for her young. Father and son launched themselves into the air
from the top of a low hill. Since Daedalus wanted to revisit Athens, we
might suppose that he would have flown in a northwesterly direction,
towards the mainland of Greece. Callimachus remembered that Athens
was in subjection to Minos and that Daedalus would fear to go there at
once. He repeated the usual account of the flight towards Miletus and
named many of the islands along the course, noting their distinctive fea-
tures. Daedalus himself buried Icarus. Before going to Sicily, he vis-
ited Cumae on the Bay of Naples and there dedicated his wings to
Apollo. Vergil, alluding to this in his Aeneid, added that grief prevented
Daedalus from commemorating in sculpture the fate of his unhappy son.
Greek artists of the Alexandrian period showed interest in the tale
of Icarus. Some unknown sculptor adorned a sarcophagus with repre-
sentations of Daedalus preparing the wings and Icarus fondling them in
delight. Pompeiian frescoes portrayed the fall of the boy and the
father's search for his body. *
Horace in his Odes alluded several times to the flight of Daedalus
and Icarus. He regarded both of them as guilty of reckless daring.
Ovid took a more favorable view. He observed that Daedalus flew safely,
and in the Tristia he contrasted the wise modesty of the father, who
*The ancient Greek myth seems to have influenced two later folk tales. One of
them was a modern Greek story, which ran as follows. A certain Captain Thirteen
was thrown by enemies into a pit. Finding a dead bird, he put the wings on his arms,
fastening them with clay, and rose into the air. Rain dissolved the clay, and he fell
into the sea. The other tale was concerned with the German magician Wieland, who
vainly tried to escape by using a winged cloak.
179
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
kept a middle height, with the unwise ambition of the son, who soared
high and fell -- an idea repeated by Seneca both in his Oedipus, and in
his Hercules on Mt. Oeta.
In the Art of Love Ovid retold the story, following the version of
Callimachus. When Minos refused to let Daedalus go, the artisan solilo-
quized to the effect that Minos controlled land and sea but not the air.
He prayed for the favor of Jupiter. Daedalus undertook to alter the
laws of nature. Ovid noted that he attached the feathers to the frames
not only by using wax at the base of the feathers but also by fastening
the middle of the feathers with twine. Ovid spoke of Icarus as playing
with the loose feathers and the soft wax. He showed Daedalus talking
to Icarus, at some length. After explaining the need of wings, he gave
the traditional warnings and also admonished him to follow his father
and not venture to steer his own course. Do not look for guidance, he
said, to the constellations of Orion or the Herdsman or the Bear. Such
admonition was out of place when the flight was to occur by day. Dae-
dalus gave Icarus preliminary training in the use of wings, as a mother
bird trains her fledgelings.
Still anxious, he began the fatal journey. As they passed overhead,
a fisherman saw them and dropped his rod in amazement. They con-
tinued safely over the islands of Naxos, Paros, and Delos. The island of
Samos appeared on the left of their course, three small islands were
visible to the right. They were almost in view of their goal. Then Icarus
disobeyed his father and mounted heavenward. The Manual had spoken
of the two wings as dropping off. Ovid thought rather that individual
feathers became loose and fluttered down, until the wings no longer sus-
tained the boy's weight. Briefly and graphically, Ovid indicated the
terror of Icarus as he discovered his plight. Calling the name of his
father, the boy plunged into the sea. Although Daedalus did not hear
the cry, he soon realized that Icarus was missing, and he wheeled about
in search of him. Vergil in a famous passage of the Georgics had shown
Orpheus calling three times the name of Eurydice. Ovid imagined that
Daedalus called three times the name of his son. Looking down, he saw
feathers tossing on the waves.
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid treated the same story, and, contrary
to his usual method, he repeated all the important circumstances. But
he tried in many ways to improve the account. He was anxious to
omit unnecessary detail, and in this he went too far. At the beginning
he made the situation obscure, for he said only that Daedalus wished to
180
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ICARUS AND PERDIX
revisit Athens but was unable to sail, and afterwards he made less vivid
the plight of Icarus.
In the admonitory speech of Daedalus to his son, Ovid repeated
the same ideas but presented them in a more effective order. He im-
proved several other passages by adding further detail. He observed
that Daedalus attached the feathers of the wings so they tapered in a
curve from the base to the tip, and he compared them to reeds of shep-
herd pipes. He described more interestingly the boy's play with the
feathers, adding that it hindered the father. Ovid noted that, before
Daedalus put wings on Icarus, he himself made a brief trial flight.
Throughout the early part of the tale Ovid emphasized the idea of
approaching disaster, and in accord with this idea he altered the simile
of a mother bird. Daedalus feared for Icarus, he said, as a mother bird
fears for her young. This time Ovid indicated a widespread amazement
among the country folk. Fishers, shepherds, and plowmen marvelled at
the winged pair and thought them gods.
Since the narrative about Icarus did not include a transformation,
Ovid related it to another story. In the folklore of many peoples we find
tales which run as follows. The apprentice of a certain architect showed
remarkable ability and gave promise of excelling his master. The archi-
tect became jealous and treacherously put him to death. A tale of this
kind the Greeks told about Daedalus and made the occasion for his
leaving Athens. Daedalus, they said, had a sister named Perdix. She
made her son, Talos, an apprentice to his uncle. Talos, observing the row
of teeth in the jaw of a serpent, imitated the arrangement in a sheet of
iron and so invented the saw. Daedalus lured him to the roof of a build-
ing which stood on the edge of the Acropolis, and pushed him off. He
fell to the base of the cliff and the Athenians found his body and buried
it there. They brought Daedalus before the court of the Areopagus,
and, although he pretended that the boy fell by accident, they condemned
him to death. He escaped and took refuge in Crete. This account was
recorded in the Manual.
Sophocles in his Men of Camicus alluded to a different version. He
gave the name Perdix to the apprentice and said that he turned into a
bird of that name, the partridge. Callimachus in his Origins added
further circumstances. He noted, more plausibly, how the boy invented
the saw by imitating the spine of a fish. The boy also invented other
tools, he said, especially the compass, which we use for drawing curved
181
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
lines. The partridge, he added, still dreads falling from a high place. It
flies low and nests on the ground.
This account Ovid associated with the death of Icarus. In many
tales of Greek mythology, a human being who was transformed into some
kind of animal was supposed to have become the first animal of that
kind and the ancestor of all others. In a separate tale this rafsed the
question how a species could originate from a single individual. In a
succession of tales it also brought the danger of being inconsistent with
some previous event. Ovid usually avoided both difficulties by leaving
the reader in doubt whether the newly formed animal was the first of his
kind or merely another individual of an existing species. Callimachus
declared that Perdix was the first bird of his kind. Ovid incautiously
followed his example. We should imagine the newly created partridge
as living near Athens. Without regard for probability, Ovid declared
that he was on the distant island of Icaria. From a muddy furrow he
saw Daedalus burying the remains of his son, and he rejoiced at his
uncle's misfortune. Ovid described him as jubilantly beating his wings
and immediately afterwards as crowing. For a partridge this would not
be in character. Ovid may have been thinking of a pheasant.
Ovid then repeated the story as told by Callimachus, merely allud-
ing to the trial. Recalling the tale of Cycnus (Bk. 7), he said that, as
Perdix fell through the air, Athena transformed him into a bird. This
idea was not easily reconciled with the banishment of Daedalus to
Crete, but Ovid could assume that his Roman audience would not in-
quire too curiously. He added, not altogether happily, that Perdix
because of his quick wit was able to run and fly with extraordinary
rapidity.
Ovid was content with an obscure allusion to the death of Minos in
Sicily.
In later times the story of Icarus was known almost entirely from
Ovid and chiefly from the Metamorphoses. It attracted a number of
medieval and modern authors. The tale was recalled first by three poets
of Provence and then by the authors of the Flamenca and the Romance
of the Rose. Chaucer in the House of Fame spoke of the eagle as lifting
him higher than Icarus, who mounted until his wings dissolved and he
fell, much lamented, into the sea. According to Ariosto, the fleeing
Christians, like Icarus, longed vainly for wings, and incurred a similar
fate by drowning in the river Seine. Shakespeare in the Third Part of
Henry Sixth made a lengthy comparison of King Henry and his son
182
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ICARUS AND PERDIX
to the unfortunate Daedalus and Icarus. Dante on the back of Geryon
felt even more terror than Icarus had felt when the wax melted and the
feathers dropped off. And Keats declared that Endymion, discovering
the Indian Princess beside him, felt consternation like that of Icarus
when the wax began to run.
Ancient poets had thought of the boy unfavorably, as rash to no
purpose. In the Malade Imdgmaire, Moliere followed their example. He
showed Pan warning the shepherds against endeavoring to compose
eulogies worthy of King Louis, for that would be to mount skyward on
waxen wings and fall into the depths of the sea. But modern poets usu-
ally were inclined to sympathize with Icarus, as one attempting a heroic
enterprise beyond mortal strength. In two famous love sonnets Luigi
Tansillo compared himself to the bold, immortal Icarus. In Shakes-
peare's Henry Sixth the elder Talbot, finding his son determined to
share his fate, replied,
Then follow thou thy desperate sire of Crete,
Thou Icarus. Thy life to me is sweet.
Goethe in a celebrated passage of Faust likened to Icarus the aspiring
Euphorion. Browning in The Ring and the Book showed Bottinius com-
paring his difficulty on the witness stand to that of Icarus in reaching
the sky.
The tale of Icarus appeared in paintings by Elsheimer, Vien,
Rubens, and Herbert Draper and in sculpture by Canova and Rodin.
Ovid's account of Perdix attracted much less attention. But Dante,
recording the words of the great Celestial Eagle, echoed Ovid's phrase
about a preliminary beating of wings.
183
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
?