One artist, at Hadrumetum in North Africa, treated
the theme comically, representing Orpheus as a monkey.
the theme comically, representing Orpheus as a monkey.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
She
came slowly, because she still was lame from the wound. This pathetic
detail was in accord with a world-wide belief of primitive men that an
injury which occurs to the body of a dead person will continue to afflict
the spirit. Vergil in his Aeneid had given the belief prominence when he
described the shade of Dei'phobus as appearing with an extremely muti-
lated face. But the idea that Eurydice suffered from lameness was not in
harmony with Ovid's later account of her following Orpheus up a diffi-
cult path to the world above. Ovid stated the condition that Orpheus
was not to look back at his wife until they had passed beyond the realm
of Hades.
Then, following the implication of Vergil, he noted clearly the cir-
cumstance of the path's leading them up a steep slope to Avernus. Ovid
left no doubt as to the reason why his hero forgot the warning. Orpheus
wanted to reassure himself that Eurydice was following. This idea seems
to have been original with Ovid. As Eurydice glided away towards the
depths, Ovid continued, Orpheus tried vainly to hold her. Ovid recalled
Vergil's statement that, when Aeneas attempted to hold the departing
shade of Creiisa, he embraced only yielding air. He mentioned a similar
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
experience of Orpheus. Vergil had shown Eurydice complaining to her
husband. But Ovid declared that she could not complain of his loving
her and that she merely uttered the word "farewell", which hardly
reached his ears. Ovid gave the impression that she drifted back all the
way to her former place in Hades.
On losing his wife a second time, Ovid continued, Orpheus resembled
a man who had been turned into stone. Ovid likened him first to a name-
less man, who, seeing Hercules drag forth Cerberus, was petrified with
terror, and then to Olenus and Lethaea, who became two stones on the
Mt. Ida near Troy. Ovid added that Lethaea was transformed for boast-
ing over much of her own beauty and that Olenus, who was innocent of
the offence, volunteered to share the fate of his beloved. Ovid implied
that his Roman audience was familiar with both stories. We know them
only from him. By alluding to these tales, he was able to give his account
the needed metamorphosis, but at the cost of diverting the reader's atten-
tion unduly from Orpheus.
Following Vergil, Ovid noted that Charon refused to convey Or-
pheus a second time over the River Styx. Ovid invented the idea that
Orpheus remained seven days on the bank, squalid and fasting. And, as
in the case of the psalmist and of Clytie (Bk. 4), tears were his only
nourishment. At last Orpheus returned, lamenting, to his native coun-
try-
During the later Roman period Seneca made a rather long allu-
sion to Orpheus in his Hercules on Mt. Oeta, Hyginus retold the tale
briefly in his Astronomy, and Boethius recalled a few circumstances in
order to point the moral that one must not look back at worldly joys,
while ascending to heaven. On the whole, these authors followed either
Greek versions of the tale or the account in Vergil's Georgics. But Sen-
eca noted Ovid's idea that Pluto could not resist the plea of Orpheus and
showed Pluto declaring himself overcome. Claudian recalled Ovid, as
he told how the sufferers in Hades were relieved at the arrival of Proser-
pina.
With the fall of Rome, Ovid's narrative of Orpheus and Eurydice
became the only full account which remained accessible. It was well
known and exceedingly popular with medieval authors. Probably it en-
couraged even the anonymous account of a French poet who followed
Boethius. This author told how a fiend guided Orpheus down to the
Lower World and on the way back caused him to turn by making a sud-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
den uproar behind him. Undoubtedly Ovid's narrative contributed to
the work of many authors who relied chiefly on earlier medieval versions.
Both the Flamenca and the Romance of the Seven Sages alluded
to the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Petrarch referred to it in his
double sestina and in his Triumph of Love. In an ode to Laura, he re-
called the accident of treading on the snake. Nicholas Trivet recorded
the tale of Eurydice in his Chronicle, inspiring later the Scottish poeti-
cal version of Henryson. And Guillaume de Machaut retold the myth
in his Comfort d'Ami.
Meanwhile the Bretons had made over the classic story into an
elaborate Celtic fairy tale. The chief circumstances of their version
were as follows. Orpheus and Eurydice were king and queen of Thrace.
One day, after the queen had appeared to be a long time asleep in her
garden, she awoke and acted as if she were in a frenzy. Orpheus eventu-
ally learned from her that a king of fairy land, with a company of
knights and ladies, had carried her off to his castle and had brought her
back, with the assurance that on the morrow he would take her again
and forever. Although King Orpheus appointed many knights to pre-
vent the abduction, the queen vanished from among them. After arrang-
ing the affairs of his kingdom, Orpheus withdrew into the forest, taking
only his haxp. For ten years he lived a wretched life but often en-
thralled the wild birds and beasts with his music. At last he saw Eury-
dice with some other ladies, and, following them, at last gained admit-
tance to the court of fairy land. By his music he so delighted both king
and queen that the king granted him in advance any reward that he
might ask. Orpheus begged for the return of Eurydice, and the king con-
sented. After further adventures Orpheus and Eurydice regained their
throne and lived happily to the end of their days.
In this lay, more than in any other medieval version of a classic
tale, the ancient theme was permeated with the lore of Celtic fairy land.
The lay of Orpheus appeared at least as early as the middle of the twelfth
century and was mentioned by Marie de France. It inspired three very
popular medieval romances -- the first in French, the second in English,
and the third in Italian. And the English poem is the only known ex-
ample of a medieval romance which afterwards inspired a popular
ballad. *
With the coming of the Renaissance, Vergil's treatments of the
*The French and the Italian romances were called Sir Orfeo. The English ro-
mance was called, in one version, Kyng Orfew and, in another version Orpheo and
Heurodis.
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
theme became accessible. His Cvlex probably suggested to Spenser the
idea that Scudamour, rescuing Amoret from the Temple of Venus was
threatened by enemies, as Orpheus recovering Eurydice was threatened
by Cerberus. The Georgics influenced many authors, notably Ariosto in
his drama Orpheus and Aristaeus, and Landor in a narrative poem.
But Ovid's version continued to be the most accessible and the best
known, and almost always it contributed at least a few details to the
modern author.
Three leading poets retold the familiar tale: Lope de Vega in his
play, The Constant Husband, Phineas Fletcher in The Purple Island,
and Pope in the Ode on St. Cecilia's Day. Goethe planned to introduce
Orpheus in a scene where Faust was to visit Proserpina and obtain Helen
of Troy, but he left the scene unwritten. Other poets treated the story
in a new form. William King, writing in the first years of the eighteenth
century, presented Ovid's tale as a clever burlesque. Lewis Morris in his
Epic of Hades imagined that Eurydice repeatedly called Orpheus by
name and so led him to forget the warning. Brookes More gave a
similar version in his Orpheus and Eurydice.
A number of modern authors alluded to the story as a whole.
Herrera and Swinburne referred to it at some length in sonnets. Spenser
mentioned the tale briefly both in his Ruins of Time and in his Epitha-
lamion. In his Daphnaida he confused the descent of Orpheus for Eu-
rydice, with the quest of Ceres for Proserpina. Milton, speaking of his
Paradise Lost declared,
With other notes than to the Orphean lyre,
I sung of Chaos and eternal Night,
Taught by the Heavenly Muse to venture down
The dark descent and up to reascend;
Though hard and rare.
Modern poets often recalled only one part of the tale. In a Hymn
to Love, Spenser referred to the descent into Hades, as evidence that
Love can make his servants heedless of danger. The eloquent pleading
of Orpheus repeatedly interested Milton. In a Latin poem to his father
Milton declared that it was the song of Orpheus, not the music of his
lyre, which made the plea effective. In 11 Penseroso, Milton averred
that Orpheus
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek
And made Hell grant what Love did seek.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Philip Freneau treated the incident of the plea in his Prayer of Orpheus.
Tennyson-Turner alluded to the circumstance that Orpheus relieved the
penance of Hades. Milton observed in L'Allegro that Orpheus failed in
the quest, and Lowell presented the idea as an allegory of youth, which
we soon lose and never quite regain. Fielding spoke of Tom Jones as
leading Mrs. Waters to safety and as looking back at her, unwisely, yet
with better fortune than Orpheus. Browning described Eurydice as re-
calling with joy her lover's unforgettable look.
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice attracted a great number of
modern artists. Both hero and heroine appeared in two medallions by
Luca Signorelli and in paintings by Giorgione, Rubens, Demont, Potter,
and Beyschlag. G. F. Watts and Frederick Leighton pictured the inci-
dent of the hero's looking back at his wife. Orpheus appeared separately
in paintings by Caravaggio, Podesta, Gerard de Lairesse, Regnault,
Deuilly, Restout, and Loefftz, and in a painting which decorates the
Town Hall of Dantzig. And Orpheus was the theme of a masterpiece
by Moreau. Poussin showed the hero inquiring his way to Hades,
Bandinelli and Peinte pictured his encounter with Cerberus, and
Verlet portrayed his grief after the fatal mistake. Ricketts, Crawford,
and Swan treated Orpheus in sculpture. Still others took a special in-
terest in Eurydice. Corot painted her just after she suffered the fatal
bite, and both de Medina and Legendre-Heral treated her as a theme for
sculpture.
The story became very prominent also in the history of music. It
inspired important early operas by Peri, Monteverdi, and Gliick, and
the popular comic opera by Offenbach. It suggested also a fragmentary
opera by Haydn, which often was adapted to other forms of music.
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? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
Okpheus the Minstrel
When Ovid had recounted the loss of Eurydice, he proceeded to
later events in the story of Orpheus. Both Phanocles and Vergil had
given some account of them. They agreed that Orpheus avoided the
society of all other women and that in time he offended the women of
Thrace. They differed as to the nature of the offence. According to
Phanocles, Orpheus taught others to neglect women. Orpheus gave his
attention to an attractive boy, Calais son of Boreas, and by his example
led the Thracians in general to prefer boys. According to Vergil, Or-
pheus offended merely by indifference of his own. For seven months he
continued to mourn Eurydice, and his grief for her made him heedless
of all others. In fact the period of mourning ended only with his death.
Ovid took suggestions both from Phanocles and from Vergil. With
Phanocles he agreed that Orpheus by his example led the Thracians to
prefer boys. But he did not mention Calais. Ovid imagined further that
Orpheus was comforted sufficiently to think of still other matters, and
this allowed him to introduce many tales which otherwise had no rela-
tion to the sequence of his poem. Ovid noted the passage of three years
after the loss of Eurydice, observing that three times the sun had en-
tered the constellation of the Fishes -- the time just before the spring
equinox. With Vergil, Ovid agreed that Orpheus offended the Thracian
women by indifference of his own. He added that some of them made
overtures and were repulsed.
Both Phanocles and Vergil had referred to Orpheus as in the habit
of singing among wild surroundings. According to Phanocles, he used
to sit in the forest and sing of Calais. According to Vergil, he sang of
his lost Eurydice, either by the cold headwaters of the river Strymon or
northwards in the region of the Don and the Ural Mountains, and the
beauty of his lament softened tigers and caused oak trees to follow him. *
Ovid saw a chance to profit by the tradition of Orpheus and the super-
natural power of his music.
Since early times the Greeks had regarded Orpheus as the pioneer
*In the time of Orpheus, tigers appear to have been absent from any country that
Orpheus is supposed to have visited, and at the close of the fifth century B. C. , Xeno-
phon, telling of his army's return from Persia through Armenia, made no allusion to
tigers. But afterwards they migrated westwards into the region of the Caucasus
Mountains, and their presence often was mentioned by Roman poets. This fact may
have led Vergil to imagine that Orpheus found them in the adjacent region of the
Don.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
of culture in Thrace and even in all parts of the Greek world. Some
authors mentioned his teaching religion. Euripides in the Rhesus cred-
ited him with establishing the rites of Bacchus. Apollonius told of his
instructing the Argonauts in the worship of Apollo. Others mentioned
his improving the daily life of the people. In the Alcestis, Euripides
declared that Orpheus first recorded the precepts of medicine. Aris-
tophanes in the Frogs and Horace in the Art of Poetry observed that he
taught the Thracians to avoid bloodshed and to prepare food in a
civilized manner.
Even apart from the tale of Eurydice, Orpheus continually was
described as having supernatural power in music. Horace thought this
idea merely represented in a figurative way the persuasiveness of his
teaching. But most authors took the idea literally. They considered his
power with music as at least a very important element in his civilizing
influence. Greek artists pictured Orpheus playing his lyre in the middle
of an attentive group of Thracians or even of Satyrs. In early paintings
he wore a Greek costume. Later he appeared in Thracian dress, with a
wreath about his head.
According to actual experiment, music appears to have no effect
on certain kinds of animals. But, according to widespread popular
belief, all kinds respond to it. Eastern snake charmers, from time im-
memorial, have purported to govern cobras with the charm of their
piping. The Prose Edda told of a Norse hero condemned to die by
poisonous snakes and of his holding them fascinated by his music -- with
the fatal exception of a deaf adder. And German folklore recorded the
Pied Piper's leading away all the rats and mice of Hamlin. Similar
power was credited to Orpheus. The tradition seems to have been very
old. But Euripides in his Bacchanals, made the first unmistakable allu-
sion to it. After his time, many authors referred to the subject, one of
them being Ovid in the Amores. Popular songs of modern Bulgaria still
tell of the musician Orfen attracting birds and ravenous beasts from the
mountains.
The power of Orpheus over animals was also a favorite theme of
ancient Greek and Roman artists. Orpheus was pictured as sitting on a
grassy hill and playing his lyre to various birds and beasts. In work of
this kind there was an evident fondness for including exotic animals,
such as the lion.
One artist, at Hadrumetum in North Africa, treated
the theme comically, representing Orpheus as a monkey. Early Chris-
tian artists identified the musician Orpheus with Christ. They tended
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? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
to replace wild creatures with sheep, goats, and doves -- animals
treated symbolically in Scripture, until in a fourth century mosaic at
Ravenna, Orpheus became merely the Good Shepherd caring for his
sheep.
Early Greek tradition had recorded also that Orpheus was able to
draw after him trees and inanimate objects and had ascribed to him
many powers commonly attributed to enchanters. Aeschylus noted in
the Agamemnon that Orpheus led all things by the magic power of sound.
Euripides declared in the Bacchanals that he caused both wild beasts
and trees to gather round him. In Iphigenia at Aulis, Euripides asserted
that he persuaded rocks to follow him. Phanocles observed that Or-
pheus had moved both deaf rocks and waters, melancholy with the bark-
ing of seals. Apollonius noted that he checked the flow of rivers. The
same poet told at some length of his effect on trees. By the charm of
the lyre, he said, Orpheus led oak trees down from the mountains of
Pieria to Zone on the Aegaean coast and caused them to form a well-
ordered grove, which survived in the poet's own time. Vergil in the
Culex mentioned the power of Orpheus to attract beasts and oak trees,
to check the flow of rivers, and to stay the course of the moon in the
sky. Horace referred to his command over winds, and afterwards Claud-
ian spoke even of his attracting mountains.
In accord with the tradition of Orpheus, Ovid observed that, sit-
ting on a grassy hill, he drew round him a circle of trees, beasts, and
birds. And in the opening lines of the Eleventh Book he added that
Orpheus persuaded stones to follow him. Ovid gave special attention to
the assembling of trees, for this allowed him to profit by another tra-
dition, the poetical listing of trees.
In a famous description of Calypso's residence, the poet of the
Odyssey had told of a grove near her dwelling. He enumerated several
kinds of trees, occasionally adding an effective epithet. There were the
alder, and poplar, the fragrant cypress, and the fruitful vine. Later,
while describing the garden of Alcinoiis, the poet made a similar list of
orchard trees. In both accounts he appears to have mentioned only
varieties which could have been found on a Mediterranean isle and to
have described them from observation. Vergil in the Aeneid gave a
similar list of trees which were brought together in the funeral pyre of
Misenus.
But in the Georgics, Vergil used a different method. Purporting to
describe trees of the Caucasus Mountains, he made a long enumeration
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
of forest trees useful to man. Among them he mentioned the alder,
which he associated with the valley of the Po, and the hollow cork oak
offering a home to bees, which was characteristic only of mountains
near the warm Mediterranean shores. Vergil was not describing the for-
est of a particular region but forests in general, and he drew not merely
on observation but also on his reading. Seneca followed the same method
in his Oedipus and was followed in turn by Lucan and Statius. None
of these poets was describing a forest which one might see in nature.
Each of them was recalling details effective in the work of earlier au-
thors and was describing an imaginary forest which would promote the
interest of his poem. All of them were presenting more or less literary
groves. But the artificiality was latent and moderate. Since almost
every ancient author purported to describe some locality near the Medi-
terranean shore, and since the forests of this region varied but little, a
poet might select all his details from the work of his predecessors and
still keep his description reasonably near the fact. The reader might
suspect that his account was artificial and yet feel unable to call any
detail impossible.
The same fashion of describing literary groves appeared in The
Romance of the Rose and in other leading poems of the Middle Ages.
With them the artificial element became, obvious. Poets of northern
Europe, purporting to describe their own country, included trees of the
Mediterranean shore, which they knew only from the work of Roman
predecessors. In The Parliament of Fowls, for example, Chaucer de-
scribed a wood which included the olive for peace and the victor palm.
Such description of literary groves continued in leading poems of the
Renaissance. It appears to have ended with Dryden's funeral of
Arcite. *
Meanwhile Sophocles, telling of the wood at Colonus, had followed
still another method. He referred to the ivy not only as looking dark
with clustering berries but as having an association with Bacchus, and
to the olive tree not only as feeding the boys of Athens but as being the
creation of Athena. He related certain kinds of trees to persons of
mythology. Probably Alexandrian authors followed his example, but
their work is lost.
Vergil in the Culex described two groves of this kind. Near one of
them a shepherd took his noonday rest. This grove included the spread-
*Literary groves were described by Boccacio in the Teseide, Chaucer in The
Knight's Tale, Lydgate in The Complaint of the Black Knight, Camoens in the Lusiads,
Tasso in the Jerusalem Delivered, and Spenser in The Faerie Queene.
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? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
ing plane; the wicked lotus, which had beguiled the followers of Ulysses:
the Heliads transformed (into poplars) because of grief for Phaethon:
a maiden betrayed by Demophoon (the almond tree) ; the oaks, chanters
of fates (at Dodona) ; the bristling pine, glory of the ship Argo; black
ilex; weeping cypress; shady beeches; ivy, restraining the grief of the
poplars; and myrtle, remembering its fate of old (transformation of a
certain Myrsine). A second grove was planted round the tomb of the
gnat. It included laurel, beautiful in the eyes of Phoebus (because of
Daphne) ; oleander; Sabine juniper, associated with frankincense; shin-
ing ivy; and everblooming viburnum. Elsewhere in the poem Vergil men-
tioned still other trees, but without alluding to mythology. The flock, he
said, browsed on leaves of arbute, wild vine, pliant willow, alder, and
tender briar.
Ovid showed Orpheus calling together a grove similar to those of
the Culex. From them he took the suggestion for many of his trees. But,
by listing the varieties in a different order and with different descriptive
epithets, he gave a feeling of originality; and, by including fewer allu-
sions to mythology, he made the grove appear less artificial. With
changes of this kind, he took from the Culex the (oak) tree of Dodona;
the grove of the Heliads; the beech; the laurel, unmarried (because of
Daphne) ; the ilex, bending with acorns; the genial plane; the river-
haunting willow; the water lotus; the myrtle, double hued (because it
has both ripe purple and immature green berries) ; the viburnum, with
berries of dark blue; pliant footed ivy; the arbute loaded with ruddy
drupes; the pine with bristling crest (probably the stone pine of
Mediterranean shores) ; and the cypress, formed like a pyramid.
But Ovid went further. By drawing on other predecessors, he
obtained also an effect of richness. From the Georgics he took the soft
linden, the evergreen box, and perhaps the brittle hazel and the fir de-
void of knots. From the Aeneid he added the ash good for spears, the
rowan, and a second variety of pine (probably the Scotch pine of the
cooler mountain sides). He took from the Odyssey the tendrilled vine,
from Theocritus the slender tamarisk, and from an epistle of Horace
the elm tree clothed with grapevines -- characteristic of Italy rather
than Thrace. Ovid noted also the evergreen oak; the maple of varie-
gated wood (then fashionable at Rome); and the pliant palm, reward
of victors.
After alluding to metamorphoses of the Heliads and Daphne, Ovid
added two other transformations, both of them little known to his
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Roman contemporaries. One of them was concerned with Attis, a
Phrygian deity whose worship was attracting notice at Rome. Attis,
like Bacchus, appears to have been thought of originally as a tree spirit
associated with vegetation and with fertility in general. In the autumn,
it was said, he departed to the Lower World; and in the spring he re-
turned, causing a revival of life, to which was related the hope of joyful
immortality. An annual festival, held at the vernal equinox, commemo-
rated his death and revival. Attis was associated with Cybele, the
Phrygian goddess of fertility. Hermesianax, the earliest Greek author
to mention him, noted that, like Adonis, he was killed by a wild boar.
The worship of Attis included another idea, which was unusual. At
religious festivals of Korea and Nigeria certain men have been per-
suaded to sacrifice their male organs and bury them in the fields, in order
to promote fertility of the crops and of life as a whole. A similar cus-
tom distinguished the worship of Cybele. Her priests at their initiation
became eunuchs and afterwards wore female attire. The initiation oc-
curred under a pine tree, and they were said to have followed the example
of Attis.
Callimachus told the story in a poem which now is lost. Catullus
repeated it to substantially the same effect. He implied that Attis had
grown up in the Phrygian town of Pessinus and that he departed from
there to the seashore near the Hermus River. With a number of follow-
ers he then sailed north to Mt. Ida. There he first made the sacrifice
with a sharp flint and then led a wild dance to the temple of Cybele and
became her handmaid for life.
Ovid in the Fasti recorded many further circumstances. He was
concerned chiefly with earlier events of the tale. Attis attracted the
love of Cybele, he said, and vowed fidelity, praying that any disloyalty
might be his last. Not long after, he fell in love with the nymph Sangari-
tis. Driven mad by Cybele, he fled from his home. Ovid supposed that
he went only to the neighboring Mt. Dindyma. There, believing that
Furies were pursuing him, he atoned by the sacrifice. His blood, sprink-
ling the ground, became purple violets.
The story of Attis appeared frequently in the works of ancient
artists, especially on medallions of the late Roman period. In such
representations, Attis appeared as a soft young man, dressed usually in
shepherd costume. Ancient artists noted that he was deified after his
revival and that he rode with Cybele in a triumphal car drawn by four
lions.
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? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid observed that the body of Attis had
been transformed into a pine tree and accordingly the pine is dear to
Cybele. This incident we know only from Ovid.
The second metamorphosis which Ovid recalled was concerned
with Cyparissus. The tale appears to have entered literature in the
Alexandrian period and to have been told in many different forms by
Alexandrian authors whom we can no longer identify. One form of the
tale afterwards was mentioned by Nonnus. The version from which
Ovid took his outline may have appeared in the work of Phanocles.
This account ran as follows. Apollo once loved a boy named
Cyparissus. The boy, who was a child of Telephus, lived in Carthaea on
the island of Ceos -- a little southeast of Attica. Since Telephus had
been reared by a doe, Cyparissus took an interest in deer, and Apollo
gave him a beautiful stag. The boy used to adorn the animal with
jewels and other kinds of decoration. Evidently the ancient Greeks
enjoyed gilding the horns of cattle, an idea mentioned by Greek authors
since the Iliad and repeated by Ovid in his tale of Aeson (Bk. 7). Calli-
machus referred to a similar practice of gilding antlers. The Alexan-
drian author whom Ovid was following spoke of Cyparissus as gilding
the antlers of the stag. One day, while the boy lay asleep in the shade,
the animal approached and suddenly wakened him. Mistaking the
creature for a wild beast, the boy killed it with a spear. He then became
inconsolable, and Apollo transformed him into the cypress, a tree asso-
ciated with mourning. Pompeiian frescos, treating the story, pictured
the stag adorned with jewels and Cyparissus with branches growing out
of his head.
After introducing Cyparissus, Ovid gave his chief attention to the
stag. The animal, he observed, wore a boss on his forehead. Roman
boys often used to wear an ornament of this kind as a protection from
witchcraft. Vergil had told in his Aeneid about a stag owned by Silvia.
Although the animal was of huge size, with wide-spreading antlers, he
was tame and was willing to be petted. Silvia enjoyed adorning his
antlers with garlands. She had taught him to obey her, and she often
led him to the pure spring. All these details Ovid repeated in describ-
ing the stag of Cyparissus. Alexandrian artists had pictured boys
mounted on stags, and Martial afterwards noted explicitly that boys
used to ride them in the circus. Ovid observed that Cyparissus rode the
animal, guiding him with purple reins.
Ovid rejected the Alexandrian author's account of the manner in
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
which the animal died, perhaps because he thought the mistake of Cypar-
issus too much like that of Cephalus (Bk. 7). Vergil had declared that
one hot day, while the stag of Silvia lay in the shade, Ascanius wounded
him by mistake. Ovid imagined that one day in the heat of early summer,
while the stag of Cyparissus lay in the shade, the boy accidentally gave
him a mortal wound. In the conclusion Ovid took details from his earlier
narratives of Byblis (Bk. 9) and Clytie (Bk. 4). Although Apollo tried
assiduously to comfort the boy, Cyparissus, like Byblis, was deaf to
consolation and wanted only to continue mourning. He even asked for
it as a privilege. And his pallor, like that of Clytie, altered easily into
the green of vegetation. Ovid recorded the change at some length.
After Ovid's time many authors recalled the idea of Orpheus and
the supernatural power of his lyre. Sometimes they preferred the ac-
counts of Vergil, Horace, or Claudian; and this was true of Shakes-
peare in his frequent allusions to the power of music. But in most of
their allusions later authors gave Ovid at least an equal share.
The Celtic lay of Orpheus told of the minstrel's enthralling wild
birds and beasts with his music. Camoens observed that the Portuguese
listened as attentively to Monsaide
As erst the bending forest stooped to hear
In Rhodope, when Orpheus' heavenly strain
Deplored his lost Eurydice in vain
Spenser alluded in his Ruins of Time to the harp with which Orpheus
led forests and wild beasts after him. Milton recalled the idea humor-
ously, first in the Sixth Prolusion and then in the Seventh. He con-
trasted Orpheus, who attracted only an audience of wild beasts, trees,
and perhaps rustic folk; with himself, who attracted the most learned
men of his day. And he reasoned in another connection that, if trees,
bushes, and whole groves hastened to enjoy the skilled playing of Or-
pheus ; they were not likely to welcome Ignorance into their society.
Congreve in the opening lines of his Mourning Bride showed a
princess meditating as follows:
Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
I've read that things inanimate have moved,
And, as with living souls, have been informed
By magic numbers and persuasive sound.
Am I more senseless grown than trees or flint?
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? 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.
came slowly, because she still was lame from the wound. This pathetic
detail was in accord with a world-wide belief of primitive men that an
injury which occurs to the body of a dead person will continue to afflict
the spirit. Vergil in his Aeneid had given the belief prominence when he
described the shade of Dei'phobus as appearing with an extremely muti-
lated face. But the idea that Eurydice suffered from lameness was not in
harmony with Ovid's later account of her following Orpheus up a diffi-
cult path to the world above. Ovid stated the condition that Orpheus
was not to look back at his wife until they had passed beyond the realm
of Hades.
Then, following the implication of Vergil, he noted clearly the cir-
cumstance of the path's leading them up a steep slope to Avernus. Ovid
left no doubt as to the reason why his hero forgot the warning. Orpheus
wanted to reassure himself that Eurydice was following. This idea seems
to have been original with Ovid. As Eurydice glided away towards the
depths, Ovid continued, Orpheus tried vainly to hold her. Ovid recalled
Vergil's statement that, when Aeneas attempted to hold the departing
shade of Creiisa, he embraced only yielding air. He mentioned a similar
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
experience of Orpheus. Vergil had shown Eurydice complaining to her
husband. But Ovid declared that she could not complain of his loving
her and that she merely uttered the word "farewell", which hardly
reached his ears. Ovid gave the impression that she drifted back all the
way to her former place in Hades.
On losing his wife a second time, Ovid continued, Orpheus resembled
a man who had been turned into stone. Ovid likened him first to a name-
less man, who, seeing Hercules drag forth Cerberus, was petrified with
terror, and then to Olenus and Lethaea, who became two stones on the
Mt. Ida near Troy. Ovid added that Lethaea was transformed for boast-
ing over much of her own beauty and that Olenus, who was innocent of
the offence, volunteered to share the fate of his beloved. Ovid implied
that his Roman audience was familiar with both stories. We know them
only from him. By alluding to these tales, he was able to give his account
the needed metamorphosis, but at the cost of diverting the reader's atten-
tion unduly from Orpheus.
Following Vergil, Ovid noted that Charon refused to convey Or-
pheus a second time over the River Styx. Ovid invented the idea that
Orpheus remained seven days on the bank, squalid and fasting. And, as
in the case of the psalmist and of Clytie (Bk. 4), tears were his only
nourishment. At last Orpheus returned, lamenting, to his native coun-
try-
During the later Roman period Seneca made a rather long allu-
sion to Orpheus in his Hercules on Mt. Oeta, Hyginus retold the tale
briefly in his Astronomy, and Boethius recalled a few circumstances in
order to point the moral that one must not look back at worldly joys,
while ascending to heaven. On the whole, these authors followed either
Greek versions of the tale or the account in Vergil's Georgics. But Sen-
eca noted Ovid's idea that Pluto could not resist the plea of Orpheus and
showed Pluto declaring himself overcome. Claudian recalled Ovid, as
he told how the sufferers in Hades were relieved at the arrival of Proser-
pina.
With the fall of Rome, Ovid's narrative of Orpheus and Eurydice
became the only full account which remained accessible. It was well
known and exceedingly popular with medieval authors. Probably it en-
couraged even the anonymous account of a French poet who followed
Boethius. This author told how a fiend guided Orpheus down to the
Lower World and on the way back caused him to turn by making a sud-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
den uproar behind him. Undoubtedly Ovid's narrative contributed to
the work of many authors who relied chiefly on earlier medieval versions.
Both the Flamenca and the Romance of the Seven Sages alluded
to the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Petrarch referred to it in his
double sestina and in his Triumph of Love. In an ode to Laura, he re-
called the accident of treading on the snake. Nicholas Trivet recorded
the tale of Eurydice in his Chronicle, inspiring later the Scottish poeti-
cal version of Henryson. And Guillaume de Machaut retold the myth
in his Comfort d'Ami.
Meanwhile the Bretons had made over the classic story into an
elaborate Celtic fairy tale. The chief circumstances of their version
were as follows. Orpheus and Eurydice were king and queen of Thrace.
One day, after the queen had appeared to be a long time asleep in her
garden, she awoke and acted as if she were in a frenzy. Orpheus eventu-
ally learned from her that a king of fairy land, with a company of
knights and ladies, had carried her off to his castle and had brought her
back, with the assurance that on the morrow he would take her again
and forever. Although King Orpheus appointed many knights to pre-
vent the abduction, the queen vanished from among them. After arrang-
ing the affairs of his kingdom, Orpheus withdrew into the forest, taking
only his haxp. For ten years he lived a wretched life but often en-
thralled the wild birds and beasts with his music. At last he saw Eury-
dice with some other ladies, and, following them, at last gained admit-
tance to the court of fairy land. By his music he so delighted both king
and queen that the king granted him in advance any reward that he
might ask. Orpheus begged for the return of Eurydice, and the king con-
sented. After further adventures Orpheus and Eurydice regained their
throne and lived happily to the end of their days.
In this lay, more than in any other medieval version of a classic
tale, the ancient theme was permeated with the lore of Celtic fairy land.
The lay of Orpheus appeared at least as early as the middle of the twelfth
century and was mentioned by Marie de France. It inspired three very
popular medieval romances -- the first in French, the second in English,
and the third in Italian. And the English poem is the only known ex-
ample of a medieval romance which afterwards inspired a popular
ballad. *
With the coming of the Renaissance, Vergil's treatments of the
*The French and the Italian romances were called Sir Orfeo. The English ro-
mance was called, in one version, Kyng Orfew and, in another version Orpheo and
Heurodis.
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
theme became accessible. His Cvlex probably suggested to Spenser the
idea that Scudamour, rescuing Amoret from the Temple of Venus was
threatened by enemies, as Orpheus recovering Eurydice was threatened
by Cerberus. The Georgics influenced many authors, notably Ariosto in
his drama Orpheus and Aristaeus, and Landor in a narrative poem.
But Ovid's version continued to be the most accessible and the best
known, and almost always it contributed at least a few details to the
modern author.
Three leading poets retold the familiar tale: Lope de Vega in his
play, The Constant Husband, Phineas Fletcher in The Purple Island,
and Pope in the Ode on St. Cecilia's Day. Goethe planned to introduce
Orpheus in a scene where Faust was to visit Proserpina and obtain Helen
of Troy, but he left the scene unwritten. Other poets treated the story
in a new form. William King, writing in the first years of the eighteenth
century, presented Ovid's tale as a clever burlesque. Lewis Morris in his
Epic of Hades imagined that Eurydice repeatedly called Orpheus by
name and so led him to forget the warning. Brookes More gave a
similar version in his Orpheus and Eurydice.
A number of modern authors alluded to the story as a whole.
Herrera and Swinburne referred to it at some length in sonnets. Spenser
mentioned the tale briefly both in his Ruins of Time and in his Epitha-
lamion. In his Daphnaida he confused the descent of Orpheus for Eu-
rydice, with the quest of Ceres for Proserpina. Milton, speaking of his
Paradise Lost declared,
With other notes than to the Orphean lyre,
I sung of Chaos and eternal Night,
Taught by the Heavenly Muse to venture down
The dark descent and up to reascend;
Though hard and rare.
Modern poets often recalled only one part of the tale. In a Hymn
to Love, Spenser referred to the descent into Hades, as evidence that
Love can make his servants heedless of danger. The eloquent pleading
of Orpheus repeatedly interested Milton. In a Latin poem to his father
Milton declared that it was the song of Orpheus, not the music of his
lyre, which made the plea effective. In 11 Penseroso, Milton averred
that Orpheus
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek
And made Hell grant what Love did seek.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Philip Freneau treated the incident of the plea in his Prayer of Orpheus.
Tennyson-Turner alluded to the circumstance that Orpheus relieved the
penance of Hades. Milton observed in L'Allegro that Orpheus failed in
the quest, and Lowell presented the idea as an allegory of youth, which
we soon lose and never quite regain. Fielding spoke of Tom Jones as
leading Mrs. Waters to safety and as looking back at her, unwisely, yet
with better fortune than Orpheus. Browning described Eurydice as re-
calling with joy her lover's unforgettable look.
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice attracted a great number of
modern artists. Both hero and heroine appeared in two medallions by
Luca Signorelli and in paintings by Giorgione, Rubens, Demont, Potter,
and Beyschlag. G. F. Watts and Frederick Leighton pictured the inci-
dent of the hero's looking back at his wife. Orpheus appeared separately
in paintings by Caravaggio, Podesta, Gerard de Lairesse, Regnault,
Deuilly, Restout, and Loefftz, and in a painting which decorates the
Town Hall of Dantzig. And Orpheus was the theme of a masterpiece
by Moreau. Poussin showed the hero inquiring his way to Hades,
Bandinelli and Peinte pictured his encounter with Cerberus, and
Verlet portrayed his grief after the fatal mistake. Ricketts, Crawford,
and Swan treated Orpheus in sculpture. Still others took a special in-
terest in Eurydice. Corot painted her just after she suffered the fatal
bite, and both de Medina and Legendre-Heral treated her as a theme for
sculpture.
The story became very prominent also in the history of music. It
inspired important early operas by Peri, Monteverdi, and Gliick, and
the popular comic opera by Offenbach. It suggested also a fragmentary
opera by Haydn, which often was adapted to other forms of music.
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? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
Okpheus the Minstrel
When Ovid had recounted the loss of Eurydice, he proceeded to
later events in the story of Orpheus. Both Phanocles and Vergil had
given some account of them. They agreed that Orpheus avoided the
society of all other women and that in time he offended the women of
Thrace. They differed as to the nature of the offence. According to
Phanocles, Orpheus taught others to neglect women. Orpheus gave his
attention to an attractive boy, Calais son of Boreas, and by his example
led the Thracians in general to prefer boys. According to Vergil, Or-
pheus offended merely by indifference of his own. For seven months he
continued to mourn Eurydice, and his grief for her made him heedless
of all others. In fact the period of mourning ended only with his death.
Ovid took suggestions both from Phanocles and from Vergil. With
Phanocles he agreed that Orpheus by his example led the Thracians to
prefer boys. But he did not mention Calais. Ovid imagined further that
Orpheus was comforted sufficiently to think of still other matters, and
this allowed him to introduce many tales which otherwise had no rela-
tion to the sequence of his poem. Ovid noted the passage of three years
after the loss of Eurydice, observing that three times the sun had en-
tered the constellation of the Fishes -- the time just before the spring
equinox. With Vergil, Ovid agreed that Orpheus offended the Thracian
women by indifference of his own. He added that some of them made
overtures and were repulsed.
Both Phanocles and Vergil had referred to Orpheus as in the habit
of singing among wild surroundings. According to Phanocles, he used
to sit in the forest and sing of Calais. According to Vergil, he sang of
his lost Eurydice, either by the cold headwaters of the river Strymon or
northwards in the region of the Don and the Ural Mountains, and the
beauty of his lament softened tigers and caused oak trees to follow him. *
Ovid saw a chance to profit by the tradition of Orpheus and the super-
natural power of his music.
Since early times the Greeks had regarded Orpheus as the pioneer
*In the time of Orpheus, tigers appear to have been absent from any country that
Orpheus is supposed to have visited, and at the close of the fifth century B. C. , Xeno-
phon, telling of his army's return from Persia through Armenia, made no allusion to
tigers. But afterwards they migrated westwards into the region of the Caucasus
Mountains, and their presence often was mentioned by Roman poets. This fact may
have led Vergil to imagine that Orpheus found them in the adjacent region of the
Don.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
of culture in Thrace and even in all parts of the Greek world. Some
authors mentioned his teaching religion. Euripides in the Rhesus cred-
ited him with establishing the rites of Bacchus. Apollonius told of his
instructing the Argonauts in the worship of Apollo. Others mentioned
his improving the daily life of the people. In the Alcestis, Euripides
declared that Orpheus first recorded the precepts of medicine. Aris-
tophanes in the Frogs and Horace in the Art of Poetry observed that he
taught the Thracians to avoid bloodshed and to prepare food in a
civilized manner.
Even apart from the tale of Eurydice, Orpheus continually was
described as having supernatural power in music. Horace thought this
idea merely represented in a figurative way the persuasiveness of his
teaching. But most authors took the idea literally. They considered his
power with music as at least a very important element in his civilizing
influence. Greek artists pictured Orpheus playing his lyre in the middle
of an attentive group of Thracians or even of Satyrs. In early paintings
he wore a Greek costume. Later he appeared in Thracian dress, with a
wreath about his head.
According to actual experiment, music appears to have no effect
on certain kinds of animals. But, according to widespread popular
belief, all kinds respond to it. Eastern snake charmers, from time im-
memorial, have purported to govern cobras with the charm of their
piping. The Prose Edda told of a Norse hero condemned to die by
poisonous snakes and of his holding them fascinated by his music -- with
the fatal exception of a deaf adder. And German folklore recorded the
Pied Piper's leading away all the rats and mice of Hamlin. Similar
power was credited to Orpheus. The tradition seems to have been very
old. But Euripides in his Bacchanals, made the first unmistakable allu-
sion to it. After his time, many authors referred to the subject, one of
them being Ovid in the Amores. Popular songs of modern Bulgaria still
tell of the musician Orfen attracting birds and ravenous beasts from the
mountains.
The power of Orpheus over animals was also a favorite theme of
ancient Greek and Roman artists. Orpheus was pictured as sitting on a
grassy hill and playing his lyre to various birds and beasts. In work of
this kind there was an evident fondness for including exotic animals,
such as the lion.
One artist, at Hadrumetum in North Africa, treated
the theme comically, representing Orpheus as a monkey. Early Chris-
tian artists identified the musician Orpheus with Christ. They tended
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? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
to replace wild creatures with sheep, goats, and doves -- animals
treated symbolically in Scripture, until in a fourth century mosaic at
Ravenna, Orpheus became merely the Good Shepherd caring for his
sheep.
Early Greek tradition had recorded also that Orpheus was able to
draw after him trees and inanimate objects and had ascribed to him
many powers commonly attributed to enchanters. Aeschylus noted in
the Agamemnon that Orpheus led all things by the magic power of sound.
Euripides declared in the Bacchanals that he caused both wild beasts
and trees to gather round him. In Iphigenia at Aulis, Euripides asserted
that he persuaded rocks to follow him. Phanocles observed that Or-
pheus had moved both deaf rocks and waters, melancholy with the bark-
ing of seals. Apollonius noted that he checked the flow of rivers. The
same poet told at some length of his effect on trees. By the charm of
the lyre, he said, Orpheus led oak trees down from the mountains of
Pieria to Zone on the Aegaean coast and caused them to form a well-
ordered grove, which survived in the poet's own time. Vergil in the
Culex mentioned the power of Orpheus to attract beasts and oak trees,
to check the flow of rivers, and to stay the course of the moon in the
sky. Horace referred to his command over winds, and afterwards Claud-
ian spoke even of his attracting mountains.
In accord with the tradition of Orpheus, Ovid observed that, sit-
ting on a grassy hill, he drew round him a circle of trees, beasts, and
birds. And in the opening lines of the Eleventh Book he added that
Orpheus persuaded stones to follow him. Ovid gave special attention to
the assembling of trees, for this allowed him to profit by another tra-
dition, the poetical listing of trees.
In a famous description of Calypso's residence, the poet of the
Odyssey had told of a grove near her dwelling. He enumerated several
kinds of trees, occasionally adding an effective epithet. There were the
alder, and poplar, the fragrant cypress, and the fruitful vine. Later,
while describing the garden of Alcinoiis, the poet made a similar list of
orchard trees. In both accounts he appears to have mentioned only
varieties which could have been found on a Mediterranean isle and to
have described them from observation. Vergil in the Aeneid gave a
similar list of trees which were brought together in the funeral pyre of
Misenus.
But in the Georgics, Vergil used a different method. Purporting to
describe trees of the Caucasus Mountains, he made a long enumeration
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
of forest trees useful to man. Among them he mentioned the alder,
which he associated with the valley of the Po, and the hollow cork oak
offering a home to bees, which was characteristic only of mountains
near the warm Mediterranean shores. Vergil was not describing the for-
est of a particular region but forests in general, and he drew not merely
on observation but also on his reading. Seneca followed the same method
in his Oedipus and was followed in turn by Lucan and Statius. None
of these poets was describing a forest which one might see in nature.
Each of them was recalling details effective in the work of earlier au-
thors and was describing an imaginary forest which would promote the
interest of his poem. All of them were presenting more or less literary
groves. But the artificiality was latent and moderate. Since almost
every ancient author purported to describe some locality near the Medi-
terranean shore, and since the forests of this region varied but little, a
poet might select all his details from the work of his predecessors and
still keep his description reasonably near the fact. The reader might
suspect that his account was artificial and yet feel unable to call any
detail impossible.
The same fashion of describing literary groves appeared in The
Romance of the Rose and in other leading poems of the Middle Ages.
With them the artificial element became, obvious. Poets of northern
Europe, purporting to describe their own country, included trees of the
Mediterranean shore, which they knew only from the work of Roman
predecessors. In The Parliament of Fowls, for example, Chaucer de-
scribed a wood which included the olive for peace and the victor palm.
Such description of literary groves continued in leading poems of the
Renaissance. It appears to have ended with Dryden's funeral of
Arcite. *
Meanwhile Sophocles, telling of the wood at Colonus, had followed
still another method. He referred to the ivy not only as looking dark
with clustering berries but as having an association with Bacchus, and
to the olive tree not only as feeding the boys of Athens but as being the
creation of Athena. He related certain kinds of trees to persons of
mythology. Probably Alexandrian authors followed his example, but
their work is lost.
Vergil in the Culex described two groves of this kind. Near one of
them a shepherd took his noonday rest. This grove included the spread-
*Literary groves were described by Boccacio in the Teseide, Chaucer in The
Knight's Tale, Lydgate in The Complaint of the Black Knight, Camoens in the Lusiads,
Tasso in the Jerusalem Delivered, and Spenser in The Faerie Queene.
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? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
ing plane; the wicked lotus, which had beguiled the followers of Ulysses:
the Heliads transformed (into poplars) because of grief for Phaethon:
a maiden betrayed by Demophoon (the almond tree) ; the oaks, chanters
of fates (at Dodona) ; the bristling pine, glory of the ship Argo; black
ilex; weeping cypress; shady beeches; ivy, restraining the grief of the
poplars; and myrtle, remembering its fate of old (transformation of a
certain Myrsine). A second grove was planted round the tomb of the
gnat. It included laurel, beautiful in the eyes of Phoebus (because of
Daphne) ; oleander; Sabine juniper, associated with frankincense; shin-
ing ivy; and everblooming viburnum. Elsewhere in the poem Vergil men-
tioned still other trees, but without alluding to mythology. The flock, he
said, browsed on leaves of arbute, wild vine, pliant willow, alder, and
tender briar.
Ovid showed Orpheus calling together a grove similar to those of
the Culex. From them he took the suggestion for many of his trees. But,
by listing the varieties in a different order and with different descriptive
epithets, he gave a feeling of originality; and, by including fewer allu-
sions to mythology, he made the grove appear less artificial. With
changes of this kind, he took from the Culex the (oak) tree of Dodona;
the grove of the Heliads; the beech; the laurel, unmarried (because of
Daphne) ; the ilex, bending with acorns; the genial plane; the river-
haunting willow; the water lotus; the myrtle, double hued (because it
has both ripe purple and immature green berries) ; the viburnum, with
berries of dark blue; pliant footed ivy; the arbute loaded with ruddy
drupes; the pine with bristling crest (probably the stone pine of
Mediterranean shores) ; and the cypress, formed like a pyramid.
But Ovid went further. By drawing on other predecessors, he
obtained also an effect of richness. From the Georgics he took the soft
linden, the evergreen box, and perhaps the brittle hazel and the fir de-
void of knots. From the Aeneid he added the ash good for spears, the
rowan, and a second variety of pine (probably the Scotch pine of the
cooler mountain sides). He took from the Odyssey the tendrilled vine,
from Theocritus the slender tamarisk, and from an epistle of Horace
the elm tree clothed with grapevines -- characteristic of Italy rather
than Thrace. Ovid noted also the evergreen oak; the maple of varie-
gated wood (then fashionable at Rome); and the pliant palm, reward
of victors.
After alluding to metamorphoses of the Heliads and Daphne, Ovid
added two other transformations, both of them little known to his
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Roman contemporaries. One of them was concerned with Attis, a
Phrygian deity whose worship was attracting notice at Rome. Attis,
like Bacchus, appears to have been thought of originally as a tree spirit
associated with vegetation and with fertility in general. In the autumn,
it was said, he departed to the Lower World; and in the spring he re-
turned, causing a revival of life, to which was related the hope of joyful
immortality. An annual festival, held at the vernal equinox, commemo-
rated his death and revival. Attis was associated with Cybele, the
Phrygian goddess of fertility. Hermesianax, the earliest Greek author
to mention him, noted that, like Adonis, he was killed by a wild boar.
The worship of Attis included another idea, which was unusual. At
religious festivals of Korea and Nigeria certain men have been per-
suaded to sacrifice their male organs and bury them in the fields, in order
to promote fertility of the crops and of life as a whole. A similar cus-
tom distinguished the worship of Cybele. Her priests at their initiation
became eunuchs and afterwards wore female attire. The initiation oc-
curred under a pine tree, and they were said to have followed the example
of Attis.
Callimachus told the story in a poem which now is lost. Catullus
repeated it to substantially the same effect. He implied that Attis had
grown up in the Phrygian town of Pessinus and that he departed from
there to the seashore near the Hermus River. With a number of follow-
ers he then sailed north to Mt. Ida. There he first made the sacrifice
with a sharp flint and then led a wild dance to the temple of Cybele and
became her handmaid for life.
Ovid in the Fasti recorded many further circumstances. He was
concerned chiefly with earlier events of the tale. Attis attracted the
love of Cybele, he said, and vowed fidelity, praying that any disloyalty
might be his last. Not long after, he fell in love with the nymph Sangari-
tis. Driven mad by Cybele, he fled from his home. Ovid supposed that
he went only to the neighboring Mt. Dindyma. There, believing that
Furies were pursuing him, he atoned by the sacrifice. His blood, sprink-
ling the ground, became purple violets.
The story of Attis appeared frequently in the works of ancient
artists, especially on medallions of the late Roman period. In such
representations, Attis appeared as a soft young man, dressed usually in
shepherd costume. Ancient artists noted that he was deified after his
revival and that he rode with Cybele in a triumphal car drawn by four
lions.
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? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid observed that the body of Attis had
been transformed into a pine tree and accordingly the pine is dear to
Cybele. This incident we know only from Ovid.
The second metamorphosis which Ovid recalled was concerned
with Cyparissus. The tale appears to have entered literature in the
Alexandrian period and to have been told in many different forms by
Alexandrian authors whom we can no longer identify. One form of the
tale afterwards was mentioned by Nonnus. The version from which
Ovid took his outline may have appeared in the work of Phanocles.
This account ran as follows. Apollo once loved a boy named
Cyparissus. The boy, who was a child of Telephus, lived in Carthaea on
the island of Ceos -- a little southeast of Attica. Since Telephus had
been reared by a doe, Cyparissus took an interest in deer, and Apollo
gave him a beautiful stag. The boy used to adorn the animal with
jewels and other kinds of decoration. Evidently the ancient Greeks
enjoyed gilding the horns of cattle, an idea mentioned by Greek authors
since the Iliad and repeated by Ovid in his tale of Aeson (Bk. 7). Calli-
machus referred to a similar practice of gilding antlers. The Alexan-
drian author whom Ovid was following spoke of Cyparissus as gilding
the antlers of the stag. One day, while the boy lay asleep in the shade,
the animal approached and suddenly wakened him. Mistaking the
creature for a wild beast, the boy killed it with a spear. He then became
inconsolable, and Apollo transformed him into the cypress, a tree asso-
ciated with mourning. Pompeiian frescos, treating the story, pictured
the stag adorned with jewels and Cyparissus with branches growing out
of his head.
After introducing Cyparissus, Ovid gave his chief attention to the
stag. The animal, he observed, wore a boss on his forehead. Roman
boys often used to wear an ornament of this kind as a protection from
witchcraft. Vergil had told in his Aeneid about a stag owned by Silvia.
Although the animal was of huge size, with wide-spreading antlers, he
was tame and was willing to be petted. Silvia enjoyed adorning his
antlers with garlands. She had taught him to obey her, and she often
led him to the pure spring. All these details Ovid repeated in describ-
ing the stag of Cyparissus. Alexandrian artists had pictured boys
mounted on stags, and Martial afterwards noted explicitly that boys
used to ride them in the circus. Ovid observed that Cyparissus rode the
animal, guiding him with purple reins.
Ovid rejected the Alexandrian author's account of the manner in
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
which the animal died, perhaps because he thought the mistake of Cypar-
issus too much like that of Cephalus (Bk. 7). Vergil had declared that
one hot day, while the stag of Silvia lay in the shade, Ascanius wounded
him by mistake. Ovid imagined that one day in the heat of early summer,
while the stag of Cyparissus lay in the shade, the boy accidentally gave
him a mortal wound. In the conclusion Ovid took details from his earlier
narratives of Byblis (Bk. 9) and Clytie (Bk. 4). Although Apollo tried
assiduously to comfort the boy, Cyparissus, like Byblis, was deaf to
consolation and wanted only to continue mourning. He even asked for
it as a privilege. And his pallor, like that of Clytie, altered easily into
the green of vegetation. Ovid recorded the change at some length.
After Ovid's time many authors recalled the idea of Orpheus and
the supernatural power of his lyre. Sometimes they preferred the ac-
counts of Vergil, Horace, or Claudian; and this was true of Shakes-
peare in his frequent allusions to the power of music. But in most of
their allusions later authors gave Ovid at least an equal share.
The Celtic lay of Orpheus told of the minstrel's enthralling wild
birds and beasts with his music. Camoens observed that the Portuguese
listened as attentively to Monsaide
As erst the bending forest stooped to hear
In Rhodope, when Orpheus' heavenly strain
Deplored his lost Eurydice in vain
Spenser alluded in his Ruins of Time to the harp with which Orpheus
led forests and wild beasts after him. Milton recalled the idea humor-
ously, first in the Sixth Prolusion and then in the Seventh. He con-
trasted Orpheus, who attracted only an audience of wild beasts, trees,
and perhaps rustic folk; with himself, who attracted the most learned
men of his day. And he reasoned in another connection that, if trees,
bushes, and whole groves hastened to enjoy the skilled playing of Or-
pheus ; they were not likely to welcome Ignorance into their society.
Congreve in the opening lines of his Mourning Bride showed a
princess meditating as follows:
Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
I've read that things inanimate have moved,
And, as with living souls, have been informed
By magic numbers and persuasive sound.
Am I more senseless grown than trees or flint?
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? 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.
