Later the sovereigns
Dionysius
of Syracuse and Ptolemy
Philopater of Egypt composed tragedies about Adonis, but their work
is lost.
Philopater of Egypt composed tragedies about Adonis, but their work
is lost.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
Ovid
then recalled a memorable incident in the Greek tradition of Atreus.
When Thyestes unwittingly devoured the flesh of his children, the sun
was reported to have changed its course in horror. Sophocles had told
the story in his Atreus, which now is lost, and Propertius had mentioned
the circumstance in his praise of the Roman domain. At the intent of
Myrrha, Ovid imagined a similar demonstration by the heavenly bodies,
but he drew less on the supernatural. The golden moon fled from the
sky ? --? presumably it set. The stars hid behind somber clouds, leaving
the night without illumination.
The first constellations which hid themselves were those most likely
to realize the enormity of the offense. Here Ovid recalled a tradition
associated with Bacchus. When that god visited the region of Athens,
a certain Icarus received him hospitably. In return Bacchus taught him
the art of making wine. Icarus shared the new gift with shepherds of the
neighborhood. Becoming intoxicated, they supposed that he had poi-
soned them, and they killed him. His daughter Erigone, aided by her
dog, sought for him and, finding the body, hanged herself. The gods
rewarded this pious household by metamorphosis into constellations.
Icarus became Bootes, Erigone became Virgo, and the dog became Canis
Minor. The story had appeared in the Manual and in many sculptured
reliefs. Ovid noted the constellations of Icarus and Erigone as the first
to hide their faces at the conduct of Myrrha. Earlier in the poem (Bk.
1) Ovid had alluded to a different story, that Astraea became the con-
stellation Virgo. He lessened the difficulty by merely alluding to each
of the tales and by keeping the two allusions far apart.
He invented other dramatic circumstances which attended the ap-
proach of Myrrha. When Byblis was despatching a letter to her brother,
she was startled by the omen of tablets falling to the ground, but she
persisted nevertheless. Ovid imagined a similar incident in tLe tale of
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? MYRRHA
Myrrha. Three times she stumbled, and three times she heard the ill-
boding cry of the screech owl. But she persisted. Darkness lessened
her feeling of shame, and the nurse held her by the hand. As Myrrha
entered the door, she grew faint and gladly would have turned back be-
fore her father knew of her presence. But the nurse led her in and ad-
dressed Cinyras with tragic double meaning. Take her, she is yours.
Then the nurse departed. Even in the darkness and confusion of the
moment, Cinyras perceived the girl's reluctance. He attempted to en-
courage her and, recalling her age, addressed her as daughter. She
addressed him by a word appropriate to his age, father. So even names
accompanied their guilt.
Tradition had recorded the idea that Myrrha repeated her offense
during many later nights. Ovid had implied that the total number
could have been at most nine, the period of the mother's absence; but
he gave the impression that Myrrha offended repeatedly. Byblis had
not been deterred by failure; Myrrha was not deterred by success. Ac-
cording to Nicander, the father contrived suddenly to illumine the
room and learned the girl's identity. According to Panyasis, he en-
deavored to kill her with a'sword. Ovid repeated both circumstances
but gave a different sequel. Myrrha easily escaped in the darkness.
Following the idea of Cinna, Ovid imagined that she crossed un-
recognized to the mainland of Asia Minor and wandered to south-
eastern Arabia. Ovid had recorded in some detail the wanderings of
Byblis, he only sketched those of Myrrha. In both stories, the heroine
became exhausted. Byblis dropped face downwards and lay mute,
Myrrha continued standing and prayed. Tired of living and scared of
dying, she asked for relief. Nicander, without indicating what god she
addressed, had shown Myrrha asking that she might disappear both
from the living and from the dead. Vergil had shown Scylla admitting
that she deserved punishment. Ovid combined these ideas. Myrrha
prayed to any god who might be willing to listen, admitted that she de-
served punishment, and desired that she might avoid further offense
either to the living or to the dead. Ovid added that she asked explicitly
for transformation.
Nicander had ascribed the transformation to Jupiter, Theodoras
had ascribed it to Venus. Ovid, unwilling to associate it with any heav-
enly power, left the agency indefinite. But he implied that, as certain
naiads had transformed Byblis, now others of the same race transformed
Myrrha. As usual when describing a metamorphosis into a tree, Ovid
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
pictured the change in detail. When the bark rose to Myrrha's neck, he
said, she hastened the change by concealing her face underneath it. She
then wept tears of myrrh, which have given her lasting fame. As in the
tale of Byblis, weeping became a permanent aspect of the metamorphosis.
According to Panyasis, transformation of the mother delayed the
birth of the child. Accepting this idea, Ovid gave a vivid description
of Myrrha's suffering. He imagined that Lucina came of her own accord
and brought relief. The bark split open, and a son was born. In the
tale of Arachne (Bk. 6) Ovid had observed that even Envy could not
find fault with Arachne's web. He now declared that even Envy would
praise the beauty of Adonis. The child, he said, was like the Cupids of
Greek and Roman art, except that he lacked a quiver of arrows.
In later times many poets recalled Ovid's tale of Myrrha. Dryden
translated it, praising the skill of Ovid's transition from the story of
Pygmalion. Alfieri retold the tale of Myrrha as one of his most cele-
brated tragedies. Chretien de Troyes imitated many circumstances of
the story in his romance of Sir Cliges. He described the relations of the
girl Fenice and her nurse, Thessala, with detailed recollection of Myrrha
and her nurse. Other poets introduced Ovid's heroine into different sit-
uations of their own. Dante, visiting the region of the fraudulent, saw
Myrrha punished for impersonation. Swinburne introduced her as a
character in his Masque of Bersaba. Byron gave the name Myrrha to
the heroine of his drama Sardanapalus, once by mistake calling her
Byblis, and he imitated the circumstance of her struggling with a pas-
sion that she thought disgraceful.
Other poets recalled certain passages of Ovid's tale. Shakespeare
in Twelfth Night imitated both the incident of Cinyras asking Myrrha
whom she desired for a husband, and the two incidents of replying with
a hint which was not understood. Orsino asked Viola, who was dis-
guised as a page, what sort of woman she loved; and she replied, one
of your complexion. He then inquired what the woman's age might be,
and she replied, about the same as yours. Gray in a Latin Ode to the
Prince of Wales recalled Ovid's statement that under a fictitious name
one can describe a real passion. Chaucer declared in his TroHus that
when the hero and heroine said farewell, they shed tears more bitter
than the tears which Myrrha wept through the bark. In Pericles,
Shakespeare's hero invoked Lucina as a merciful goddess to aid his
queen. And Corneille observed in his Psyche that Venus was punished
with Adonis.
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? MYRRHA
Ovid's theme attracted a few modern artists. At Bologna an un-
known sculptor portrayed Myrrha in the decoration of a fane. Luini
painted the birth of Adonis, and Thorvaldsen treated the event more
than once in sculpture.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Venus and Adonis
From the story of Myrrha, Ovid showed Orpheus proceeding to
that of her son, Adonis. He was a god who represented vegetation fad-
ing in the hot, dry summer and afterwards reviving at a more congenial
season. His festival occurred in the early summer, in certain commu-
nities at the solstice.
Adonis was one of several deities of this kind, who were worshiped
in southern Asia and southern Europe. In India the god of fading vege-
tation was called Parvati. He was loved by Shiva, goddess of fertility.
At his festival the offerings about his image included many plants which
had grown rapidly in shallow pots. The community joined first in
lamentation of his death and later in happy celebration of his revival.
Then the figure and the offerings were thrown into some body of water,
with the purpose of assuring rain for the crops.
In Babylonia the god was called Tammuz, and he was loved by the
goddess Ishtar. A few Babylonian laments, which still survive, were
composed for chanting over an effigy. They associated Tammuz with
fading plants. A story was told also to the following effect. Tammuz
died and went to the Lower World, the realm of the goddess Allatu.
Ishtar departed in order to recover him, and generation ceased on earth.
In alarm, the chief god Ea intervened and arranged for her return. Pre-
sumably Ishtar brought back Tammuz.
Many Semitic peoples of Asia Minor worshiped this god of vege-
tation. The prophet Ezechiel mentioned as one of the abominations of
his time the spectacle of Israelitish women mourning for Tammuz. The
Syrians of Byblus associated Tammuz with their goddess Astarte and
localized the events of his career in Mt. Lebanon, at the source of a
river which flowed by their city. At this place, they said, Tammuz first
met Astarte and there he was killed by a wild boar. The divine lovers
were sculptured on a cliff above the stream. When the snow melted on
the high ridges, the water became red with fine soil, and the color was
attributed to the blood of Tammuz. At the same season the red wind
flower, or anemone, blossomed among the cedars. Its color was associ-
ated with the death of Tammuz, and the Arabs still call the flower
Wounds of the Loved One, in allusion to the tale. It was reported also
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? VENUS AND ADONIS
that Astarte, hastening to her fallen lover, trod on the thorns of a white
rose, and turned the petals red.
From Byblus the worship of Tammuz was brought to Paphos in
the island of Cyprus. Both at Byblus and at Paphos the god was rep-
resented by a conical stone. In Cyprus the Greeks first learned of
Tammuz. The Semitic peoples often addressed him as Adonai (Lord);
and the Greeks, believing this was his name, called him Adonis. His wor-
ship spread gradually, reaching Athens in the last quarter of the fifth
century B. C. Plutarch noted in his Life of Alcibiades that an annual
festival of Adonis occurred just before the departure of the ill-fated
Sicilian Expedition. At first worship of Adonis was a foreign religion,
promoted chiefly by courtesans. To this idea Vergil may have alluded in
his Lydia. But with Alexandrian times the religion became fashionable
and very popular.
The earliest Greek allusion to Adonis appeared in the Catalogues,
which referred to him as a son of Phoenix and Alphesiboea. This idea
was repeated in the Manual. Sappho wrote a poem about Adonis, using
a new metre which was called in his honor, Adonic. Probably her work
took the form of a lament chanted at the annual festival. Tradition
later spoke of Sappho as herself in love with a youth named Phaon,
who appeared in vase paintings as essentially the same as Adonis.
Panyasis recorded the hero's death by a wild boar. He told also
how Venus went down to the Lower World in quest of him. But in the
circumstances he differed from Semitic tradition. Immediately after
Adonis was born, he said, Venus put the orphan child in a box and en-
trusted him to Proserpina, apparently to have Proserpina rear him.
Afterwards the Queen of Hades refused to give him up. Jupiter then
decided that Adonis was to remain four months of every year with
Proserpina, four months with Venus, and the remaining four wherever
he pleased. Adonis elected to spend these months also with Venus. The
story was repeated in the Manual.
The idea of a contest between Venus and Proserpina reappeared
often in Greek literature and Greek art. But usually the Greeks fol-
lowed the Semites in putting this contest after the death of Adonis.
The latter idea was recorded explicitly in the Orphic Hymns and in the
work of Claudian. Some authors imagined a different apportionment
of time. They declared that Jupiter had Adonis reside six months with
each goddess. Hyginus stated in his Astronomy that it was the Muse
Calliope who made the decision. The Greeks appear to have said noth-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
ing about generation ceasing on earth, while Venus remained in Hades,
probably because they attributed the more important crops to Ceres
(cf. Ceres and Proserpina, Bk. 5).
The annual lament for Adonis was mentioned several times by
Aristophanes. The story attracted more than one author of tragedy.
Praxilla, a poetess writing near the end of the fifth century B. C, com-
posed a drama about Adonis descending into Hades. Only a few lines
have survived.
Later the sovereigns Dionysius of Syracuse and Ptolemy
Philopater of Egypt composed tragedies about Adonis, but their work
is lost.
A number of Alexandrian authors dealt with the subject. Theo-
critus often mentioned Adonis. Frequently he spoke of him as a shep-
herd who was successful in love. In the First Idyll he told of his hunt-
ing wild animals, particularly hares. In the Fifteenth Idyll Theocritus
described the second day of an annual festival commemorating the re-
vival of Adonis. The god, he said, was represented as a youth with the
first down on his lips.
Bion wrote a famous lament to be recited on the initial day of the
festival, the commemoration of Adonis's death. * He described the youth
as having white skin, an idea noted often by the Greeks. He spoke of the
fatal wound as appearing in the thigh. Greek artists pictured it on the
inside of the thigh, near the junction with the body. The blood of Adonis,
said Bion, was transformed into roses, the tears of Venus were trans-
formed into windflowers.
Nicander recorded the older belief that it was the blood of Adonis
which became the windflower. Philostephanus retold the tragic story.
He localized it in the hills of Cyprus, near Idalium, and seems to have
declared that Adonis was killed in an upland marsh. This idea was men-
tioned by Propertius.
Most authors regarded the fatal wound as an accident in hunting
a dangerous animal. But some imagined a further cause. Euripides ob-
served in his Hippolytus that, when Venus destroyed that hero, Diana
planned to retaliate by inciting the boar against Adonis. The idea of
Diana's hostility was recorded in the Manual. Other Greeks, associat-
ing the tale of Adonis with that of Mars and Venus (cf. Bk. 4), im-
agined that Mars became jealous and either incited the boar against
Adonis or assumed the form of a boar. An idyll, mistakenly ascribed
to Theocritus, gave still another cause. The boar explained contritely
*Bion's ode afterwards influenced Shelley in his Adonais.
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? VENUS AND ADONIS
that he was impelled by misguided affection. Desiring to kiss the youth,
he had blundered and inflicted the fatal wound. The boar offered to for-
feit his tusks, but Venus forgave him and made him her attendant.
Greek painters often treated the story of Venus and Adonis, espe-
cially the hero's death. Greek and Roman sculptors frequently carved
the tale as an adornment of sarcophagi.
Ovid in his other poems referred a number of times to the subject
of Adonis. He noted in the Epistle of Phaedra to Hippolytus that Venus
and her favorite often reclined under ilex trees, in some grassy spot. In
the Ibis, Ovid alluded to the hero's death. He declared in the Amorer
that Venus grieved as much at the loss of Tibullus as she had at the loss
of Adonis. And he observed in the Fasti that Flora turned the blood of
Adonis into a blossom.
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid retold the story. The outline he took
from Philostephanus and Nicander. He added circumstances from other
predecessors and filled in details from his own invention.
Ovid seems to have been original in supposing that Adonis was
reared by the naiads. He spoke of his increase in years and beauty,
from infancy to youth and later to manhood. This would suggest that
Adonis was older than the Alexandrians had imagined him, but prob-
ably not beyond the very early twenties. In the previous tale Ovid had
spoken of his birthplace as southeastern Arabia. There, presumably,
Adonis grew up. But, when Ovid began the love story, he seems to have
agreed with Philostephanus and Propertius in localizing the events near
Idalium in Cyprus.
Following an Alexandrian and Roman idea which had appeared in
many other tales, he imagined that Cupid inflamed Venus with an arrow.
In other tales Cupid was said to have acted deliberately. But in this
account Ovid attributed the wound to accident. While Cupid was kiss-
ing his mother, a barb that projected from the quiver happened to
scratch her breast. Venus pushed her son away and thought the injury
of no consequence. But it proved otherwise. The wound occasioned her
passion for Adonis.
In the tale of Hyacinthus, Ovid had shown Apollo acting as the
typical lover of Alexandrian poetry. He now described Venus as act-
ing in a similar manner. She forsook her usual haunts. Ovid named
favorite places of hers which lay relatively near Idalium -- the isle of
Cythera, the Carian town of Cnidus, and the Cyprian towns of Paphos
and Amathus. To each name he added a picturesque epithet, and mis-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
takenly he referred to the inland town of Paphos as sea-girt. Venus
forsook other places too, he said, for she left even the sky. She preferred
Adonis to heaven.
She also gave up her usual pursuits. No longer did she take her
ease in the shade and study how to improve her beauty. Here Ovid may
have recalled his own description of Salmacis (Bk. 4). Venus joined in
the wholly different pursuits of her beloved. Both Euripides and Ovid
had shown Phaedra wishing to accompany Hippolytus in the chase.
Ovid declared that Venus actually did accompany Adonis, and he de-
scribed the rough country through which they passed. Theocritus had
noted that Adonis hunted hares. Ovid observed that Venus joined him
in this and also in the pursuit of stags, does, and other animals which
one may hunt with safety.
She refused to hunt dangerous game, such as boars, wolves, bears,
and lions. Ovid seems to have been the first to imagine that she warned
Adonis to act in a similar manner -- to hunt timid creatures and avoid
those which were bold. On fierce animals, she observed, youth, beauty,
and other qualities attractive to her would have no effect. Ovid spoke of
her as doubtful whether Adonis would heed the warning. She referred
particularly, said Ovid, to boars and lions and added that against lions
she already had a grudge. This remark, which led Adonis to inquire the
reason, permitted Ovid to introduce the tale of Hippomenes and Ata-
lanta. In the pastoral manner, the goddess invited her lover to rest with
her in soft grass under a poplar. Then laying her head on his chest and
mingling kisses with her words, she told the story.
After finishing the tale, she again warned him to pursue only those
animals which turn their backs in flight. Then she departed. The idea
that she left Adonis, even for a brief time, was contrary to the Alexan-
drian doctrine of assiduous courtship. Ovid thought it necessary to
show her absent at the time of the disaster; and, since he previously had
described her as accompanying Adonis in the chase, he was obliged to
point out the fact that she now did otherwise.
Ovid assigned no cause for her departure. He merely diverted the
reader's attention to the remarkable circumstances. Greek authors and
artists often had imagined birds as transporting Venus through the air.
According to Sappho, sparrows drew her in a car. Others mentioned
doves, an idea which Ovid repeated later when he told about the deifica-
tion of Aeneas (Bk. 14). A number of Greek painters and sculptors
had associated Venus with the swan. Usually they represented her as
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? VENUS AND ADONIS
seated between the outspread wings of a swan in flight. But in at least
two paintings she guided a pair of these birds as she stood in a car
formed from a mussel shell. Horace had spoken of Venus as drawn by
purple swans, and Ovid had alluded to the idea at the close of his Art of
Love. Accordingly, Ovid noted that Venus departed in her car drawn
by swans. Afterwards he implied that she left Cyprus, perhaps to visit
her temple at Cnidus.
Although Adonis offered no objection to the warning of Venus, he
was high spirited, and he disregarded it at the first temptation. Ovid
followed the older tradition that death resulted merely from an acci-
dent in hunting. He seems to have invented the details and skillfully
to have made his account of the boar hunt differ from his earlier descrip-
tion in the tale of Meleager (Bk. 8). The dogs, he said, following a clear
trail, roused a boar from his hiding place. As the animal came out
from the trees into some open ground, Adonis threw a spear. The
weapon hit the creature at an angle so oblique as to make only a super-
ficial wound. The boar, wrenching out the bloodstained point, charged
Adonis as he ran for safety and stretched him dying on the tawny sand.
This last detail Ovid took almost verbatim from Vergil's account of the
boxer Dares killing Butes.
Greek authors had imagined that Venus went on foot to the scene
of the disaster. Ovid made the circumstances far more picturesque.
Venus, he said, was returning through the air in her car. Although she
was not yet above the island of Cyprus, her divine ear recognized the
groans of Adonis. Turning her swans in the direction of the sound, she
observed him lying far below, lifeless in his blood. Venus leaped out of
her car and descended through the air to his side. Scripture often had
noted that some one in extreme distress rent his clothes. A similar prac-
tice appears to have existed among the Alexandrian Greeks. Bion had
attributed such conduct to Venus and had observed that she tore her
hair. Ovid repeated Bion's description and noted also that she beat
her breast.
While giving her words of lament, Ovid appears to have recalled
those of Apollo for Hyacinthus, particularly Apollo's regretting the
superior power of the Fates. Venus reproached these goddesses for
taking the life of Adonis and declared that they should not wholly de-
stroy him. Like Bion, Ovid showed her predicting that her lament should
have annual repetition ; and, like Nicander, he showed her declaring that
her lover's blood should become a flower. Ovid associated the transfor-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
mation with the traditional rivalry of Venus and Proserpina. He
showed Venus observing that she did no more than Proserpina had been
allowed to do for the nymph Menthe, whom Proserpina turned into
mint. This tale Ovid probably found in the work of Nicander. We
know it only from him.
In the tales of Actaeon and Ascalabus, a goddess had transformed
a man by sprinkling him with water. Venus transformed the blood of
Adonis by sprinkling it with nectar. Ovid gave a brief, and obscure,
description of the process. The clotting fluid swelled, as if clear bubbles
were rising from tawny mud, and in an hour's time there grew up a
blood-red flower. Ovid likened the color to that of a pomegranate
blossom. Probably following Nicander, he explained the name "wind-
flower" by the fact that its delicately hung petals remain only until a
wind arises and shakes them off.
In later times Ovid's version of the tale was the most accessible and
the only full account that survived. Medieval and modern writers seem
always to have recalled Ovid, even when they used the work of others.
Many poets retold the story. Jean de Meun included a brief ver-
sion in the Romance of the Rose. Three minor Italian poets treated the
theme towards the middle of the sixteenth century. Ronsard retold the
tale with pathetic charm, Lope de Vega made it the subject of a drama,
and Marini elaborated it into a long poetical romance, with continual
moralizing and allegory. He showed both Mars and Diana plotting the
hero's death and the boar making an apology to Venus. Thomas Lodge
retold Ovid's tale in Scilla's Metamorphosis, and Greene treated it in a
lyric.
Ovid had intimated that love was shown chiefly on the part of Venus
and that Adonis cared more for hunting than for her wishes. Several
poets retold the story with emphasis on this idea. Spenser in his descrip-
tion of Castle Joyous told how Venus used elaborate courtship and im-
plied that Adonis felt unwillingness like that of Ovid's Hermaphroditus.
Allusions to the idea appeared in Marlowe's Hero and Leander and
Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare in Venus and Adonis
made the hero's reluctance the most important element in the story. His
version inspired Griffin's three sonnets in The Passionate Pilgrim. Keats
followed both Spenser and Shakespeare in his Endymion.
Many poets alluded to Ovid's tale. Dante compared the brilliant
eyes of Matilda to those of Venus, when Cupid accidentally inflamed
her. Chaucer in his Troilus and his Knight's Tale and Pope in his pas-
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? VENUS AND ADONIS
toral, Summer, recalled the passion of Venus. Guarini in the Faithful
Shepherd and Moliere in The Miser noted Adonis as typical of youthful
beauty. In The Princess of Elis, Moliere remembered the warning to
hunt only timid animals. In Paradise Lost, Milton observed that Adam
mingled kisses with words, as he told a story. Spenser in the Protha-
lamion recalled the swans which drew the car of Venus, and Shakespeare,
after introducing them correctly in his Venus and Adonis, referred in
As You Like It to Juno's swans. Pope in his pastoral, Winter, men-
tioned the death of Adonis. And both Camoens in his description of the
Isle of Love and Milton in his Nature and Old Age remembered the.
origin of the flower.
A number of modern authors combined with their recollection of
Ovid some idea of a garden of Adonis. To the Greeks a garden of this
kind had meant the plants grown in shallow pots for the annual festival,
and Plato had observed in his Phaedo that such gardens were proverb-
ially fast growing and transitory. To this idea Shakespeare alluded
vaguely in the First Part of Henry Sixth. But Pliny had mentioned a
permanent garden in some unvisited region of the earth, where after
death Adonis enjoyed a new and happy existence. A French poet of the
sixteenth century, Charles d'Estienne elaborated the idea. Spenser
referred to this Garden of Adonis in two passages of the Faerie Queene,
one of them of great length. Milton recalled the subject both in Comus
and in Paradise Lost, and Keats remembered it in his Endymion.
The story of Venus and Adonis often attracted modern artists. It
was treated in painting by Peruzzi, Giordano, Tito Ghisi, Furini,
Rubens, van Haarlem, Lemoyne, Terraval, and Lecomte. Veronese
treated the subject twice. And both Titian and Prudhon were inspired
to create masterpieces. Rubens and Brueghel pictured Adonis beginning
to hunt. The death of Adonis was portrayed by Caracci, Piombo, Mor-
etto, and Poussin.
then recalled a memorable incident in the Greek tradition of Atreus.
When Thyestes unwittingly devoured the flesh of his children, the sun
was reported to have changed its course in horror. Sophocles had told
the story in his Atreus, which now is lost, and Propertius had mentioned
the circumstance in his praise of the Roman domain. At the intent of
Myrrha, Ovid imagined a similar demonstration by the heavenly bodies,
but he drew less on the supernatural. The golden moon fled from the
sky ? --? presumably it set. The stars hid behind somber clouds, leaving
the night without illumination.
The first constellations which hid themselves were those most likely
to realize the enormity of the offense. Here Ovid recalled a tradition
associated with Bacchus. When that god visited the region of Athens,
a certain Icarus received him hospitably. In return Bacchus taught him
the art of making wine. Icarus shared the new gift with shepherds of the
neighborhood. Becoming intoxicated, they supposed that he had poi-
soned them, and they killed him. His daughter Erigone, aided by her
dog, sought for him and, finding the body, hanged herself. The gods
rewarded this pious household by metamorphosis into constellations.
Icarus became Bootes, Erigone became Virgo, and the dog became Canis
Minor. The story had appeared in the Manual and in many sculptured
reliefs. Ovid noted the constellations of Icarus and Erigone as the first
to hide their faces at the conduct of Myrrha. Earlier in the poem (Bk.
1) Ovid had alluded to a different story, that Astraea became the con-
stellation Virgo. He lessened the difficulty by merely alluding to each
of the tales and by keeping the two allusions far apart.
He invented other dramatic circumstances which attended the ap-
proach of Myrrha. When Byblis was despatching a letter to her brother,
she was startled by the omen of tablets falling to the ground, but she
persisted nevertheless. Ovid imagined a similar incident in tLe tale of
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? MYRRHA
Myrrha. Three times she stumbled, and three times she heard the ill-
boding cry of the screech owl. But she persisted. Darkness lessened
her feeling of shame, and the nurse held her by the hand. As Myrrha
entered the door, she grew faint and gladly would have turned back be-
fore her father knew of her presence. But the nurse led her in and ad-
dressed Cinyras with tragic double meaning. Take her, she is yours.
Then the nurse departed. Even in the darkness and confusion of the
moment, Cinyras perceived the girl's reluctance. He attempted to en-
courage her and, recalling her age, addressed her as daughter. She
addressed him by a word appropriate to his age, father. So even names
accompanied their guilt.
Tradition had recorded the idea that Myrrha repeated her offense
during many later nights. Ovid had implied that the total number
could have been at most nine, the period of the mother's absence; but
he gave the impression that Myrrha offended repeatedly. Byblis had
not been deterred by failure; Myrrha was not deterred by success. Ac-
cording to Nicander, the father contrived suddenly to illumine the
room and learned the girl's identity. According to Panyasis, he en-
deavored to kill her with a'sword. Ovid repeated both circumstances
but gave a different sequel. Myrrha easily escaped in the darkness.
Following the idea of Cinna, Ovid imagined that she crossed un-
recognized to the mainland of Asia Minor and wandered to south-
eastern Arabia. Ovid had recorded in some detail the wanderings of
Byblis, he only sketched those of Myrrha. In both stories, the heroine
became exhausted. Byblis dropped face downwards and lay mute,
Myrrha continued standing and prayed. Tired of living and scared of
dying, she asked for relief. Nicander, without indicating what god she
addressed, had shown Myrrha asking that she might disappear both
from the living and from the dead. Vergil had shown Scylla admitting
that she deserved punishment. Ovid combined these ideas. Myrrha
prayed to any god who might be willing to listen, admitted that she de-
served punishment, and desired that she might avoid further offense
either to the living or to the dead. Ovid added that she asked explicitly
for transformation.
Nicander had ascribed the transformation to Jupiter, Theodoras
had ascribed it to Venus. Ovid, unwilling to associate it with any heav-
enly power, left the agency indefinite. But he implied that, as certain
naiads had transformed Byblis, now others of the same race transformed
Myrrha. As usual when describing a metamorphosis into a tree, Ovid
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
pictured the change in detail. When the bark rose to Myrrha's neck, he
said, she hastened the change by concealing her face underneath it. She
then wept tears of myrrh, which have given her lasting fame. As in the
tale of Byblis, weeping became a permanent aspect of the metamorphosis.
According to Panyasis, transformation of the mother delayed the
birth of the child. Accepting this idea, Ovid gave a vivid description
of Myrrha's suffering. He imagined that Lucina came of her own accord
and brought relief. The bark split open, and a son was born. In the
tale of Arachne (Bk. 6) Ovid had observed that even Envy could not
find fault with Arachne's web. He now declared that even Envy would
praise the beauty of Adonis. The child, he said, was like the Cupids of
Greek and Roman art, except that he lacked a quiver of arrows.
In later times many poets recalled Ovid's tale of Myrrha. Dryden
translated it, praising the skill of Ovid's transition from the story of
Pygmalion. Alfieri retold the tale of Myrrha as one of his most cele-
brated tragedies. Chretien de Troyes imitated many circumstances of
the story in his romance of Sir Cliges. He described the relations of the
girl Fenice and her nurse, Thessala, with detailed recollection of Myrrha
and her nurse. Other poets introduced Ovid's heroine into different sit-
uations of their own. Dante, visiting the region of the fraudulent, saw
Myrrha punished for impersonation. Swinburne introduced her as a
character in his Masque of Bersaba. Byron gave the name Myrrha to
the heroine of his drama Sardanapalus, once by mistake calling her
Byblis, and he imitated the circumstance of her struggling with a pas-
sion that she thought disgraceful.
Other poets recalled certain passages of Ovid's tale. Shakespeare
in Twelfth Night imitated both the incident of Cinyras asking Myrrha
whom she desired for a husband, and the two incidents of replying with
a hint which was not understood. Orsino asked Viola, who was dis-
guised as a page, what sort of woman she loved; and she replied, one
of your complexion. He then inquired what the woman's age might be,
and she replied, about the same as yours. Gray in a Latin Ode to the
Prince of Wales recalled Ovid's statement that under a fictitious name
one can describe a real passion. Chaucer declared in his TroHus that
when the hero and heroine said farewell, they shed tears more bitter
than the tears which Myrrha wept through the bark. In Pericles,
Shakespeare's hero invoked Lucina as a merciful goddess to aid his
queen. And Corneille observed in his Psyche that Venus was punished
with Adonis.
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? MYRRHA
Ovid's theme attracted a few modern artists. At Bologna an un-
known sculptor portrayed Myrrha in the decoration of a fane. Luini
painted the birth of Adonis, and Thorvaldsen treated the event more
than once in sculpture.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Venus and Adonis
From the story of Myrrha, Ovid showed Orpheus proceeding to
that of her son, Adonis. He was a god who represented vegetation fad-
ing in the hot, dry summer and afterwards reviving at a more congenial
season. His festival occurred in the early summer, in certain commu-
nities at the solstice.
Adonis was one of several deities of this kind, who were worshiped
in southern Asia and southern Europe. In India the god of fading vege-
tation was called Parvati. He was loved by Shiva, goddess of fertility.
At his festival the offerings about his image included many plants which
had grown rapidly in shallow pots. The community joined first in
lamentation of his death and later in happy celebration of his revival.
Then the figure and the offerings were thrown into some body of water,
with the purpose of assuring rain for the crops.
In Babylonia the god was called Tammuz, and he was loved by the
goddess Ishtar. A few Babylonian laments, which still survive, were
composed for chanting over an effigy. They associated Tammuz with
fading plants. A story was told also to the following effect. Tammuz
died and went to the Lower World, the realm of the goddess Allatu.
Ishtar departed in order to recover him, and generation ceased on earth.
In alarm, the chief god Ea intervened and arranged for her return. Pre-
sumably Ishtar brought back Tammuz.
Many Semitic peoples of Asia Minor worshiped this god of vege-
tation. The prophet Ezechiel mentioned as one of the abominations of
his time the spectacle of Israelitish women mourning for Tammuz. The
Syrians of Byblus associated Tammuz with their goddess Astarte and
localized the events of his career in Mt. Lebanon, at the source of a
river which flowed by their city. At this place, they said, Tammuz first
met Astarte and there he was killed by a wild boar. The divine lovers
were sculptured on a cliff above the stream. When the snow melted on
the high ridges, the water became red with fine soil, and the color was
attributed to the blood of Tammuz. At the same season the red wind
flower, or anemone, blossomed among the cedars. Its color was associ-
ated with the death of Tammuz, and the Arabs still call the flower
Wounds of the Loved One, in allusion to the tale. It was reported also
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? VENUS AND ADONIS
that Astarte, hastening to her fallen lover, trod on the thorns of a white
rose, and turned the petals red.
From Byblus the worship of Tammuz was brought to Paphos in
the island of Cyprus. Both at Byblus and at Paphos the god was rep-
resented by a conical stone. In Cyprus the Greeks first learned of
Tammuz. The Semitic peoples often addressed him as Adonai (Lord);
and the Greeks, believing this was his name, called him Adonis. His wor-
ship spread gradually, reaching Athens in the last quarter of the fifth
century B. C. Plutarch noted in his Life of Alcibiades that an annual
festival of Adonis occurred just before the departure of the ill-fated
Sicilian Expedition. At first worship of Adonis was a foreign religion,
promoted chiefly by courtesans. To this idea Vergil may have alluded in
his Lydia. But with Alexandrian times the religion became fashionable
and very popular.
The earliest Greek allusion to Adonis appeared in the Catalogues,
which referred to him as a son of Phoenix and Alphesiboea. This idea
was repeated in the Manual. Sappho wrote a poem about Adonis, using
a new metre which was called in his honor, Adonic. Probably her work
took the form of a lament chanted at the annual festival. Tradition
later spoke of Sappho as herself in love with a youth named Phaon,
who appeared in vase paintings as essentially the same as Adonis.
Panyasis recorded the hero's death by a wild boar. He told also
how Venus went down to the Lower World in quest of him. But in the
circumstances he differed from Semitic tradition. Immediately after
Adonis was born, he said, Venus put the orphan child in a box and en-
trusted him to Proserpina, apparently to have Proserpina rear him.
Afterwards the Queen of Hades refused to give him up. Jupiter then
decided that Adonis was to remain four months of every year with
Proserpina, four months with Venus, and the remaining four wherever
he pleased. Adonis elected to spend these months also with Venus. The
story was repeated in the Manual.
The idea of a contest between Venus and Proserpina reappeared
often in Greek literature and Greek art. But usually the Greeks fol-
lowed the Semites in putting this contest after the death of Adonis.
The latter idea was recorded explicitly in the Orphic Hymns and in the
work of Claudian. Some authors imagined a different apportionment
of time. They declared that Jupiter had Adonis reside six months with
each goddess. Hyginus stated in his Astronomy that it was the Muse
Calliope who made the decision. The Greeks appear to have said noth-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
ing about generation ceasing on earth, while Venus remained in Hades,
probably because they attributed the more important crops to Ceres
(cf. Ceres and Proserpina, Bk. 5).
The annual lament for Adonis was mentioned several times by
Aristophanes. The story attracted more than one author of tragedy.
Praxilla, a poetess writing near the end of the fifth century B. C, com-
posed a drama about Adonis descending into Hades. Only a few lines
have survived.
Later the sovereigns Dionysius of Syracuse and Ptolemy
Philopater of Egypt composed tragedies about Adonis, but their work
is lost.
A number of Alexandrian authors dealt with the subject. Theo-
critus often mentioned Adonis. Frequently he spoke of him as a shep-
herd who was successful in love. In the First Idyll he told of his hunt-
ing wild animals, particularly hares. In the Fifteenth Idyll Theocritus
described the second day of an annual festival commemorating the re-
vival of Adonis. The god, he said, was represented as a youth with the
first down on his lips.
Bion wrote a famous lament to be recited on the initial day of the
festival, the commemoration of Adonis's death. * He described the youth
as having white skin, an idea noted often by the Greeks. He spoke of the
fatal wound as appearing in the thigh. Greek artists pictured it on the
inside of the thigh, near the junction with the body. The blood of Adonis,
said Bion, was transformed into roses, the tears of Venus were trans-
formed into windflowers.
Nicander recorded the older belief that it was the blood of Adonis
which became the windflower. Philostephanus retold the tragic story.
He localized it in the hills of Cyprus, near Idalium, and seems to have
declared that Adonis was killed in an upland marsh. This idea was men-
tioned by Propertius.
Most authors regarded the fatal wound as an accident in hunting
a dangerous animal. But some imagined a further cause. Euripides ob-
served in his Hippolytus that, when Venus destroyed that hero, Diana
planned to retaliate by inciting the boar against Adonis. The idea of
Diana's hostility was recorded in the Manual. Other Greeks, associat-
ing the tale of Adonis with that of Mars and Venus (cf. Bk. 4), im-
agined that Mars became jealous and either incited the boar against
Adonis or assumed the form of a boar. An idyll, mistakenly ascribed
to Theocritus, gave still another cause. The boar explained contritely
*Bion's ode afterwards influenced Shelley in his Adonais.
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? VENUS AND ADONIS
that he was impelled by misguided affection. Desiring to kiss the youth,
he had blundered and inflicted the fatal wound. The boar offered to for-
feit his tusks, but Venus forgave him and made him her attendant.
Greek painters often treated the story of Venus and Adonis, espe-
cially the hero's death. Greek and Roman sculptors frequently carved
the tale as an adornment of sarcophagi.
Ovid in his other poems referred a number of times to the subject
of Adonis. He noted in the Epistle of Phaedra to Hippolytus that Venus
and her favorite often reclined under ilex trees, in some grassy spot. In
the Ibis, Ovid alluded to the hero's death. He declared in the Amorer
that Venus grieved as much at the loss of Tibullus as she had at the loss
of Adonis. And he observed in the Fasti that Flora turned the blood of
Adonis into a blossom.
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid retold the story. The outline he took
from Philostephanus and Nicander. He added circumstances from other
predecessors and filled in details from his own invention.
Ovid seems to have been original in supposing that Adonis was
reared by the naiads. He spoke of his increase in years and beauty,
from infancy to youth and later to manhood. This would suggest that
Adonis was older than the Alexandrians had imagined him, but prob-
ably not beyond the very early twenties. In the previous tale Ovid had
spoken of his birthplace as southeastern Arabia. There, presumably,
Adonis grew up. But, when Ovid began the love story, he seems to have
agreed with Philostephanus and Propertius in localizing the events near
Idalium in Cyprus.
Following an Alexandrian and Roman idea which had appeared in
many other tales, he imagined that Cupid inflamed Venus with an arrow.
In other tales Cupid was said to have acted deliberately. But in this
account Ovid attributed the wound to accident. While Cupid was kiss-
ing his mother, a barb that projected from the quiver happened to
scratch her breast. Venus pushed her son away and thought the injury
of no consequence. But it proved otherwise. The wound occasioned her
passion for Adonis.
In the tale of Hyacinthus, Ovid had shown Apollo acting as the
typical lover of Alexandrian poetry. He now described Venus as act-
ing in a similar manner. She forsook her usual haunts. Ovid named
favorite places of hers which lay relatively near Idalium -- the isle of
Cythera, the Carian town of Cnidus, and the Cyprian towns of Paphos
and Amathus. To each name he added a picturesque epithet, and mis-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
takenly he referred to the inland town of Paphos as sea-girt. Venus
forsook other places too, he said, for she left even the sky. She preferred
Adonis to heaven.
She also gave up her usual pursuits. No longer did she take her
ease in the shade and study how to improve her beauty. Here Ovid may
have recalled his own description of Salmacis (Bk. 4). Venus joined in
the wholly different pursuits of her beloved. Both Euripides and Ovid
had shown Phaedra wishing to accompany Hippolytus in the chase.
Ovid declared that Venus actually did accompany Adonis, and he de-
scribed the rough country through which they passed. Theocritus had
noted that Adonis hunted hares. Ovid observed that Venus joined him
in this and also in the pursuit of stags, does, and other animals which
one may hunt with safety.
She refused to hunt dangerous game, such as boars, wolves, bears,
and lions. Ovid seems to have been the first to imagine that she warned
Adonis to act in a similar manner -- to hunt timid creatures and avoid
those which were bold. On fierce animals, she observed, youth, beauty,
and other qualities attractive to her would have no effect. Ovid spoke of
her as doubtful whether Adonis would heed the warning. She referred
particularly, said Ovid, to boars and lions and added that against lions
she already had a grudge. This remark, which led Adonis to inquire the
reason, permitted Ovid to introduce the tale of Hippomenes and Ata-
lanta. In the pastoral manner, the goddess invited her lover to rest with
her in soft grass under a poplar. Then laying her head on his chest and
mingling kisses with her words, she told the story.
After finishing the tale, she again warned him to pursue only those
animals which turn their backs in flight. Then she departed. The idea
that she left Adonis, even for a brief time, was contrary to the Alexan-
drian doctrine of assiduous courtship. Ovid thought it necessary to
show her absent at the time of the disaster; and, since he previously had
described her as accompanying Adonis in the chase, he was obliged to
point out the fact that she now did otherwise.
Ovid assigned no cause for her departure. He merely diverted the
reader's attention to the remarkable circumstances. Greek authors and
artists often had imagined birds as transporting Venus through the air.
According to Sappho, sparrows drew her in a car. Others mentioned
doves, an idea which Ovid repeated later when he told about the deifica-
tion of Aeneas (Bk. 14). A number of Greek painters and sculptors
had associated Venus with the swan. Usually they represented her as
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? VENUS AND ADONIS
seated between the outspread wings of a swan in flight. But in at least
two paintings she guided a pair of these birds as she stood in a car
formed from a mussel shell. Horace had spoken of Venus as drawn by
purple swans, and Ovid had alluded to the idea at the close of his Art of
Love. Accordingly, Ovid noted that Venus departed in her car drawn
by swans. Afterwards he implied that she left Cyprus, perhaps to visit
her temple at Cnidus.
Although Adonis offered no objection to the warning of Venus, he
was high spirited, and he disregarded it at the first temptation. Ovid
followed the older tradition that death resulted merely from an acci-
dent in hunting. He seems to have invented the details and skillfully
to have made his account of the boar hunt differ from his earlier descrip-
tion in the tale of Meleager (Bk. 8). The dogs, he said, following a clear
trail, roused a boar from his hiding place. As the animal came out
from the trees into some open ground, Adonis threw a spear. The
weapon hit the creature at an angle so oblique as to make only a super-
ficial wound. The boar, wrenching out the bloodstained point, charged
Adonis as he ran for safety and stretched him dying on the tawny sand.
This last detail Ovid took almost verbatim from Vergil's account of the
boxer Dares killing Butes.
Greek authors had imagined that Venus went on foot to the scene
of the disaster. Ovid made the circumstances far more picturesque.
Venus, he said, was returning through the air in her car. Although she
was not yet above the island of Cyprus, her divine ear recognized the
groans of Adonis. Turning her swans in the direction of the sound, she
observed him lying far below, lifeless in his blood. Venus leaped out of
her car and descended through the air to his side. Scripture often had
noted that some one in extreme distress rent his clothes. A similar prac-
tice appears to have existed among the Alexandrian Greeks. Bion had
attributed such conduct to Venus and had observed that she tore her
hair. Ovid repeated Bion's description and noted also that she beat
her breast.
While giving her words of lament, Ovid appears to have recalled
those of Apollo for Hyacinthus, particularly Apollo's regretting the
superior power of the Fates. Venus reproached these goddesses for
taking the life of Adonis and declared that they should not wholly de-
stroy him. Like Bion, Ovid showed her predicting that her lament should
have annual repetition ; and, like Nicander, he showed her declaring that
her lover's blood should become a flower. Ovid associated the transfor-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
mation with the traditional rivalry of Venus and Proserpina. He
showed Venus observing that she did no more than Proserpina had been
allowed to do for the nymph Menthe, whom Proserpina turned into
mint. This tale Ovid probably found in the work of Nicander. We
know it only from him.
In the tales of Actaeon and Ascalabus, a goddess had transformed
a man by sprinkling him with water. Venus transformed the blood of
Adonis by sprinkling it with nectar. Ovid gave a brief, and obscure,
description of the process. The clotting fluid swelled, as if clear bubbles
were rising from tawny mud, and in an hour's time there grew up a
blood-red flower. Ovid likened the color to that of a pomegranate
blossom. Probably following Nicander, he explained the name "wind-
flower" by the fact that its delicately hung petals remain only until a
wind arises and shakes them off.
In later times Ovid's version of the tale was the most accessible and
the only full account that survived. Medieval and modern writers seem
always to have recalled Ovid, even when they used the work of others.
Many poets retold the story. Jean de Meun included a brief ver-
sion in the Romance of the Rose. Three minor Italian poets treated the
theme towards the middle of the sixteenth century. Ronsard retold the
tale with pathetic charm, Lope de Vega made it the subject of a drama,
and Marini elaborated it into a long poetical romance, with continual
moralizing and allegory. He showed both Mars and Diana plotting the
hero's death and the boar making an apology to Venus. Thomas Lodge
retold Ovid's tale in Scilla's Metamorphosis, and Greene treated it in a
lyric.
Ovid had intimated that love was shown chiefly on the part of Venus
and that Adonis cared more for hunting than for her wishes. Several
poets retold the story with emphasis on this idea. Spenser in his descrip-
tion of Castle Joyous told how Venus used elaborate courtship and im-
plied that Adonis felt unwillingness like that of Ovid's Hermaphroditus.
Allusions to the idea appeared in Marlowe's Hero and Leander and
Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare in Venus and Adonis
made the hero's reluctance the most important element in the story. His
version inspired Griffin's three sonnets in The Passionate Pilgrim. Keats
followed both Spenser and Shakespeare in his Endymion.
Many poets alluded to Ovid's tale. Dante compared the brilliant
eyes of Matilda to those of Venus, when Cupid accidentally inflamed
her. Chaucer in his Troilus and his Knight's Tale and Pope in his pas-
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? VENUS AND ADONIS
toral, Summer, recalled the passion of Venus. Guarini in the Faithful
Shepherd and Moliere in The Miser noted Adonis as typical of youthful
beauty. In The Princess of Elis, Moliere remembered the warning to
hunt only timid animals. In Paradise Lost, Milton observed that Adam
mingled kisses with words, as he told a story. Spenser in the Protha-
lamion recalled the swans which drew the car of Venus, and Shakespeare,
after introducing them correctly in his Venus and Adonis, referred in
As You Like It to Juno's swans. Pope in his pastoral, Winter, men-
tioned the death of Adonis. And both Camoens in his description of the
Isle of Love and Milton in his Nature and Old Age remembered the.
origin of the flower.
A number of modern authors combined with their recollection of
Ovid some idea of a garden of Adonis. To the Greeks a garden of this
kind had meant the plants grown in shallow pots for the annual festival,
and Plato had observed in his Phaedo that such gardens were proverb-
ially fast growing and transitory. To this idea Shakespeare alluded
vaguely in the First Part of Henry Sixth. But Pliny had mentioned a
permanent garden in some unvisited region of the earth, where after
death Adonis enjoyed a new and happy existence. A French poet of the
sixteenth century, Charles d'Estienne elaborated the idea. Spenser
referred to this Garden of Adonis in two passages of the Faerie Queene,
one of them of great length. Milton recalled the subject both in Comus
and in Paradise Lost, and Keats remembered it in his Endymion.
The story of Venus and Adonis often attracted modern artists. It
was treated in painting by Peruzzi, Giordano, Tito Ghisi, Furini,
Rubens, van Haarlem, Lemoyne, Terraval, and Lecomte. Veronese
treated the subject twice. And both Titian and Prudhon were inspired
to create masterpieces. Rubens and Brueghel pictured Adonis beginning
to hunt. The death of Adonis was portrayed by Caracci, Piombo, Mor-
etto, and Poussin.
