No More Learning

Shakespeare in Love's Labour's Lost appears to have recalled the idea
that nice discrimination of morality is appropriate only in old men, for
he observed,
Young blood will not obey an old decree.
Gray in a Latin ode to the Prince of Wales recalled the first soliloquy of
Byblis and echoed the phrasing of her address to Venus and Cupid.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK NINE
Iphis and Ianthe
With the abnormal passion of Byblis, which inspired horror and
resulted in disaster, Ovid planned to contrast an example of abnormal
passion that should inspire pity and end in happiness. The tale which
he selected had one association with that of Byblis. The events were
said to have occurred comparatively near Miletus, on the island of
Crete. Since the date of these events remained indefinite, Ovid imagined,
as a further association, that the experiences of Byblis and the events in
Crete were contemporary. The story of Byblis failed to attract atten-
tion on the island, he said, because the Cretans were preoccupied with an
amazing affair of their own, the recent transformation of a girl named
Iphis. Ovid proceeded to tell the story.
He adapted freely a tale of Nicander, which ran to the following
effect. Near the town of Phaestus, which occupies part of an inland
valley just south of Mt. Ida, there lived a certain Lamprus. Nicander
seemed to imply that he was prominent and wealthy, for he took as his
wife a Spartan woman named Galatea. Apparently Lamprus was harsh
and formidable in character. When the time drew near for his wife to
bear a child, he told her that, if the child should be a daughter, it must be
destroyed. To the ancients this attitude might appear cruel, but it was
not illegal. The Greek father seems to have been allowed to decide
whether he would raise his child or dispose of it by giving it away, sell-
ing it, or putting it to death. The Boman father certainly had this
right. Lamprus was an owner of sheep, which in summer would have to
be reared in the mountains far from home. Often it was necessary for
him to be absent for a long period. During one of these absences the child
was born. It proved to be a daughter.
The mother found several reasons for disobeying the father's order.
She pitied the child and shrank from the loneliness of the house. She
was encouraged also by dreams and by the advice of soothsayers, who
told her to rear the child as a boy. Following their counsel, she was able
to deceive her husband. It is probable that a Greek father, even when
he was at home, concerned himself very little with the care of young
children. And, in times when girls were supposed always to wear a dis-
tinctive dress, actual cases have shown that disguise in male attire can
be remarkably successful. Still, Nicander's idea was hardly more than
plausible.
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? IPHIS AND IANTHE
The child was named Leucippus. As it matured and assumed a dis-
tinctly feminine beauty, Galatea was fearful that Lamprus might be-
come aware of the deception. Visiting the shrine of Latona, she prayed
that her daughter might be transformed into a boy. To many of the
ancients, transformation of this kind appeared possible, for a man so
well informed as the Elder Pliny declared that in the north African town
of Thysdris he saw with his own eyes a person named Lucius Cassicus,
who had grown up as a woman and at the time of his wedding had become
a man. Greek mythology had recorded a number of instances. Accord-
ing to Nicander, Galatea herself reminded Latona of two cases where a
woman had become a man -- those of Caenis (cf. Bk. 12) and Hyperm-
nestra (cf. Bk. 8). And, less relevantly, she mentioned also the young
hunter Siproetes, whom Diana metamorphosed into a woman because he
saw the goddess bathing; and the seer Tiresias, who was metamorphosed
from a man into a woman and back again (cf. Bk. 3). It may have been
natural that Galatea should recall such examples of transformation, but
it detracted much from the wonder of the tale. Latona metamorphosed
Leucippus into a boy. The Phaestians erected a shrine to him and com-
memorated his transformation with an annual festival, at which bridal
couples did honor to the shrine.
In retelling the story Ovid showed more clearly the locality of
Phaestus. This village was in the central part of Crete, only a short
distance from Cnossus, the famous residence of King Minos. Ovid took
care to give as favorable an impression as possible of the husband's con-
duct. He described the husband as a man of excellent character but of
humble rank and poor. Ovid implied that his wife was a native of the
same district and of similar station. And perhaps to suggest further the
idea of humble folk, he changed their names to Ligdus and Telethusa.
According to Ovid, Ligdus informed his wife that he desired first
an easy childbirth and then a son. Realizing that his future child might
be a daughter, he took the following ground, which was not unreasonable.
Already he found it difficult to make a living. He might add a little
more difficulty by venturing to raise a boy, who soon would be able to
protect and provide for himself; but he could not undertake to raise a
girl, who would continue to be dependent and would need provision for
her marriage. Still he showed reluctance to command that a daughter
should be killed, and after doing so he wept. Although his wife pleaded
against the idea for a long time, he insisted on the course that seemed
wise.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK NINE
Nicander had supposed that after the child was born the mother
resolved to disobey orders, and he assigned a number of reasons. Ovid
imagined that she made her decision in advance and for a single im-
pressive reason. Nicander had spoken of dreams and of soothsayers, who
purported to give the will of the gods. Ovid imagined that Telethusa
had an experience which was both a dream and a direct expression of the
divine will. In the night a goddess visited, or seemed to visit, her. Ovid
declared that she was not Latona but the Egyptian Isis, whom the
Greeks had identified with Io (Bk. 1) and whom he indicated therefore
as the daughter of Inachus.
Isis had been originally a spirit of the grain field, and so Ovid
mentioned her wearing a wheaten garland in her hair. By long evolution
in the minds of her worshipers she had acquired a character of serene
dignity and had been associated with immortality. In Ovid's day she
already had become a favorite goddess among Roman ladies; two cen-
turies later the Emperor Caracalla formally recognized her as a deity
of Rome; and still later Egyptian and Greek representations of Isis
with the child Horus entered into the Roman Catholic conception of the
Virgin Mary. By introducing Isis, Ovid associated the tale with a god-
dess very interesting to his countrymen. He had also a chance to de-
scribe her impressive appearance and the remarkable company that
attended her.
The Egyptians often thought of Isis as taking the form of a cow,
an idea which Ovid had noted in the tale of the Pierids (Bk. 5), and as
wearing cow horns even when she appeared in human form. The Greeks,
identifying her with their lunar goddess Io, imagined these horns as
assuming the appearance of a crescent moon. Ovid described them ac-
cordingly. He then mentioned a number of other Egyptian deities,
whose attributes were becoming familiar to the Romans. There ap-
peared Anubis, with his head like that of a jackal; Bubastis formed in
part like the sacred cat; the black and white bull Apis; and Osiris, for
whom Isis never had wearied in searching. Ovid mentioned also the god
Horus. Egyptian sculptors had represented him as a naked child, with
a lotus flower in his hair and with his finger in his mouth. The Greeks,
misunderstanding the idea, had imagined that the child held his finger
to his lips in order to command silence, and Ovid described him in this
way.
There were also the sistra, instruments familiar in the worship of
Isis. Each of them consisted of two fixed metal rods and four mobile
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? IPHIS AND IANTHE
wooden rods, all fastened together loosely by metal rings. At various
times during the ceremonies they were shaken and made a loud rattling.
Finally as a symbol of Isis in her character of goddess of healing, there
followed that strange serpent, the asp or Egyptian cobra, which the
Romans may have associated chiefly with the suicide of Cleopatra.
Standing by the couch of Telethusa, Isis told her to disregard her
husband's order and assured her that she might expect aid in time of
need. After the departure of the goddess, Telethusa rose from her bed
and prayed that her vision might come true. Although Ovid did not men-
tion the seasonal absences of Ligdus with the sheep, he appears to have
accepted Nicander's idea. He implied that Ligdus was away at the time
of the vision, and he probably assumed that he still, or again, was absent
when the child was born.
Immediately after the daughter's birth, Telethusa began her pious
fraud by giving instructions to feed the boy. Fortunately the only per-
son aware of the deceit was a nurse, who willingly cooperated with her.
Probably Ovid imagined this nurse as hired to care for mother and child
until the mother should be able to resume her normal duties. The father,
believing that his child was a son, made offerings which he had promised
to the gods and named the infant after its grandfather. Nicander had
spoken of the child's receiving the name Leucippus. Ovid said more ap-
propriately that it was called Iphis, a name which was welcome to the
mother as being suitable either for a boy or for a girl.
Nicander had supposed that it was the daughter's womanly appear-
ance which caused the mother to fear discovery. Ovid rejected this idea.
The appearance of Iphis, he said, was favorable to the plan. Her fea-
tures, like those of Atalanta (Bk. 8), were attractive but not distinc-
tive either of a boy or a girl. Ovid imagined a more urgent cause for
alarm, the approaching marriage of Iphis. Among the ancients a boy
was thought old enough to marry at the age of fourteen, and a girl was
thought old enough at twelve. For Iphis, Ovid made the age thirteen.
The father chose a bride for his supposed son. She was Ianthe,
daughter of a Cretan named Telestes. She was of the same age as Iphis,
a native of the same valley, and she was regarded as the most beautiful
girl in Phaestus. Among the ancient Greeks there appear to have been
a few people with reddish yellow hair. The Iliad attributed such
hair to Menelaiis, and Euripides attributed it to the young princess
Iphigenia. Later it appeared regularly on the celebrated Tanagra fig-
urines. Among the Italians there seem always to have been a few people
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK NINE
with hair of this color. During the first century B. C. , it was greatly
desired by the fashionable women of Rome, most of whom had to be
content with tresses which were false or dyed. Accordingly, Roman poets
of the time often described their heroines as endowed with locks of this
coveted hue. Catullus attributed reddish yellow hair to the Alexan-
drian Empress Berenice, Tibullus mentioned it as characteristic of the
Roman lady Delia, Horace attributed it to more than one of his Roman
heroines, and Vergil ascribed it even to the Phoenician Dido. Ovid had
imagined Galanthis as having reddish-yellow hair. He now observed
that Ianthe was blest with locks of this rare and much desired color.
It would seem unlikely that obscure Ligdus could have arranged
for his son to marry a bride so attractive in all men's eyes. Apparently
Ovid had returned to Nicander's idea of the prominent and wealthy
Lamprus. Confirming this impression, he added that the father had given
Iphis schooling, an advantage hardly accessible to any but members of
the aristocracy. Ianthe too had attended school and had shared with
Iphis the same instruction from the same teachers.
As in the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe (Bk. 4), Ovid noted that
early association deepened unconsciously into love. He imagined pre-
sumably that Telethusa's divine patroness already was inspiring Iphis
with the attitude of a man and was preparing for the transformation.
But, he continued, although Ianthe and Iphis were alike in their affec-
tion, they were wholly different in their state of mind. Ianthe looked
forward joyfully to a happy marriage with the one whom she loved.
Iphis believed that marriage would reveal her carefully guarded secret
and part her from Ianthe, with discredit and forever.
Ovid now had reached the point of contrast with his previous tale of
Byblis. Again he presented a young woman tortured by an abnormal
passion and apparently without hope. But instead of arousing horror
he desired to arouse pity. In describing the despair of Iphis, it might
have been possible to emphasize dread of separation from a loved and
life-long companion and of disfavor in the eyes of one by whom she
desired above all to be held in esteem. Such ideas would have tended
clearly to awaken pity. But Ovid dwelt on the inability of Iphis to
satisfy their physical passion. This idea was unfortunate -- in more
than one respect, as Ovid, who was acquainted with the slander against
Sappho, may well have realized. But the idea lent itself to suspense and
paradox.
Feeling that her passion was hopeless, he said, Iphis loved the more
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? IPHIS AND IANTHE
violently. At this point Ovid seemed to imply that it is natural for ab-
sence of hope to increase the passion of love. Not long after, in a solilo-
quy of Iphis, Ovid seemed to take the opposite ground. We might sup-
pose that immediately both Iphis and her mother would have recalled
the promise of Isis and would have implored her to fulfill it. Ovid, anxious
to exploit their strange predicament, imagined their doing so only as a
last resort.
He showed Iphis lamenting her strange problem in a soliloquy. This
led him often to repeat ideas that had appeared in the lament of Nar-
cissus (Bk. 3). But he continued skillfully to express them in different
terms. As in the tale of Narcissus, he imagined a situation with many
elements of pathos, but he endangered his effect by ill-advised wit.
Like Narcissus, Iphis lamented first that no one ever had been
tortured with so strange a passion. If the gods wished to save her life,
she continued, they ought not to have let it become a mockery; and, if
they wished to destroy her, they ought to have imposed an affliction
which was normal and customary. In two respects, hers was without
parallel. It had no precedent in normal life. Enumerating many kinds
of animals, both domestic and wild, she found no instance of a female in
love with a female. And, even among monstrosities, her passion was
without parallel. That of Pasiphae had been monstrous -- Ovid empha-
sized the idea by speaking of a daughter of the sun in love with a bull.
Yet there was room for hope. It was otherwise with hers. If Daedalus
himself were to fly back on waxen wings, he could transform neither
Iphis nor Ianthe. She ought then to give up loving, unless she wanted to
deceive even herself.
She reflected that love normally begins and con-
tinues only where there is hope. ;
Iphis then pointed out that not only her passion but also her diffi-
culty was without parallel. This idea she considered from two aspects,
both leading to the conclusion that her problem was insoluble. Like
Narcissus, Iphis observed that the usual barriers were absent and yet
attainment was impossible. Narcissus had referred to opposition which
was impersonal and physical. No sea or wide stretch of land or moun-
tain range or city gates parted him from the object of his desire. Iphis
referred to opposition which was human. No armed guard or jealous
husband or cruel father or unwilling lady withheld her. Yet she was
doomed to fail. Narcissus had observed that all concerned were favor-
able, for the object of his desire was responsive in every possible way.
Iphis was able to state the idea more impressively. Both heaven and
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK NINE
earth were favorable to her. The gods had aided her to the limit of their
power. Her own father desired the marriage, Ianthe was eager for it,
the father of Ianthe was glad to cooperate. But Nature made all of this
of no avail. Even the time seemed propitious, for the wedding day was
at hand.
Narcissus had summed up his affliction in the following words:
plenty makes me poor. Iphis thought of a different paradox, suggested
by the traditional punishment of Tantalus: in the midst of water I shall
thirst. Juno and Hymenaeus, deities presiding over marriage, were to
attend a wedding where there should be no bridegroom and two brides.
During the time of preparation for the wedding, it was probable
that Iphis and Ianthe often would be together. Ianthe could hardly fail
to discover that Iphis was a girl. Even if no accident betrayed the fact,
the distress of Iphis presumably would have attracted Ianthe's atten-
tion and led to discovery. But Ovid assumed the contrary. He could
hope only to make the situation plausible, and in this he succeeded.
So long as possible, he said, Telethusa put off the day of the wed-
ding by alleging that some illness or evil omen made a given time in-
advisable. These expedients were exhausted, and the ceremony was to
occur on the morrow. Ovid then returned to Nicander's idea that the
mother visited the temple and implored aid. Iphis accompanied her.
After associating Isis with various well known places on the Egyptian
coast, Telethusa recalled the circumstances of her divine visitation and
noted that Isis had permitted the daughter to live and the mother to
escape detection. But now they were in desperate need. The idea of the
mother's recalling earlier examples of a woman transformed into a man
Ovid wisely rejected. Callimachus in a hymn to Apollo and Vergil in
his account of King Anius had spoken of the temple and the laurel trees
trembling at the approach of the god. Ovid noted similar manifestations
of Isis. Regarding them as a good omen but still feeling anxious, the
mother left the temple.
Iphis, accompanying her, walked with strides of unaccustomed
length and showed other characteristics of a young man, for the mar-
vellous transformation had occurred. As in the tale of Callisto (Bk. 2),
Ovid increased the vividness of the situation by suddenly addressing his
characters. "Go make your offerings in the temples! " he said, "rejoice
without fear! " Nicander had told of a shrine erected in commemoration
of the event. Ovid spoke of a tablet which bore the following inscription:
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? IPHIS AND IANTHE
The boy Iphis offered these gifts which he promised when a maid. Venus,
as well as Juno and Hymenaeus, attended the joyous wedding.
Ovid's account of Iphis and Ianthe attracted a number of later
authors. Dryden translated it. Ariosto imitated many of the circum-
stances, especially the idea of one young woman hopelessly in love with
another. His Fiordespina, in love with Bradamante, lamented her un-
paralleled affliction, following at many points the lament of Iphis. And,
although Ariosto solved the problem differently, by having a brother
Ricciardetto, impersonate Bradamente, he made this incident an occa-
sion for further imitation. Ricciardetto originally checked his admira-
tion of Fiordespina by the realization that love cannot continue without
hope. And, when he impersonated Bradamante, he pretended that he
had implored the aid of a goddess and been transformed into a man.
The early Italian dramatist Niccolo Secchi imitated many other
circumstances of Ovid's tale in a play called L'lnteresse. This work
Moliere used as the basis of his comedy he Depit Amoureuse. Moliere's
work resembled Ovid's in the following particulars. A certain man
thought it necessary that his future child should be a son. A daughter
was born. Taking advantage of the father's absence, the mother de-
ceived him and reared the child as a boy. In time the father planned to
have the supposed son marry a certain young woman. The story ended
happily, but by the different means of the daughter's contriving to
marry a youth named Valere.
Other authors recalled single details from Ovid. Byron, in his poet-
ical dedication of Childe Harold, applied the name Ianthe to Lady
Charlotte Harley. Shelley gave the name first to the heroine of Queen
Mab and then to his own daughter. Scott at the turning point of his
Waverley repeated the idea that love cannot continue without hope.
Shakespeare at the close of As You Like It recalled Ovid's statement
that Juno and Hymen preside over weddings. And in The Merchant of
Venice his Portia noted that when disguised as a young man she would
turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride.
In Ovid's Ninth Book more than half the important tales recounted
events in the career of Hercules, and the great majority of the lesser
tales were concerned with his exploits. All but one of these important
stories and almost all the lesser ones were of early origin and had ap-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK NINE
peared often in Greek literature. The tale of Acheloiis and some of the
exploits also had appeared frequently in Greek art. The events of later
Theban history and other tales recalled in the story of Iolaiis and the
account of the children of Aeolus recalled in the story of Byblis were
myths of early origin, and many of them had appeared often in Greek
literature. But almost all the tales in the latter half of the book were of
Alexandrian origin, and of these only the tale of Byblis had attracted
much attention. The Alexandrian versions either perished or became
inaccessible after ancient times. Ovid's Roman predecessors had retold
only one tale which appeared in his Ninth Book, the adventure of the
infant Hercules and the snakes. Roman authors after Ovid's time gave
much attention to a number of events in the career of Hercules and in
later Theban history but almost ignored the tales in the rest of the
book. It was Ovid who made accessible to later times the stories of
Galanthis, Dryope, Iolaiis, Byblis, and Iphis, and he saved the minor
story of Lotis from oblivion.
In combining the various tales, Ovid continually found difficulties
of adjustment. First he needed to associate the career of Hercules with
the last theme of his previous book -- the return of Theseus from the
Calydonian Boar Hunt. Then he must associate with the rest of his
material the rather isolated tale of Galanthis, which was much earlier
in time. The other events in the career of Hercules had a fairly close
connection, but Ovid needed to reconcile different versions of previous
authors. And many events did not include a metamorphosis. In the
latter half of the book the tale of Iolaiis had some relation to Hercules.
The other tales had little or no association either with him or with one
another. Continually Ovid must invent a connection and supply a
plausible relation of time.
He did this in the first tale of the book by continuing the device of
stories recounted at a banquet, and later he often let some character tell
one or more tales as events of his past experience. In the story of Iolaiis,
Ovid introduced other tales by the unusual method of including them in
a prediction. At several points Ovid wished to avoid a duplication of
material treated in the Heroides, the Fasti, or later stories of the Meta-
morphoses. And in the career of Hercules and in other events of Theban
history he must give novelty to material which for many of his con-
temporaries was a twice told tale. Chiefly for this reason he merely
alluded to a number of the lesser stories and left many of them unintel-
ligible, unless the reader was acquainted with some other version. Fre-
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? BOOK NINE
quently the problem of adjustment became too difficult for more than
partial solution, and oftener than usual Ovid's inconsistencies were
apparent.
For some allusions in the tale of Iolaiis, Ovid may have recalled the
Iliad and the Homeric Hymn to Venus. He followed the Odyssey in part
for the story of the children of Aeolus, and followed the Theogony in a
few circumstances of the adventure with the hydra. Sophocles often was
Ovid's authority in the chief tales about Hercules, Euripides furnished
the essential event in the story of Iolaiis, and probably both Sophocles
and Euripides were in part Ovid's authority for other events of Theban
history.
But throughout the book, Ovid relied chiefly on authors of the
Alexandrian period. Theocritus furnished part of the exploits with the
Cretan Bull and the Augean Stables. Appollonius and Parthenius were
important sources for the tale of Byblis. For events in the career of
Hercules, especially his many exploits, and for other events of Theban
history Ovid relied often on the Manual. Nicander became more prom-
inent than at any other time since Book Two. He contributed the minor
tale of Lichas, important material for the tales of Nessus, the death of
Hercules, and Byblis, and the outline for the three major tales of Galan-
this, Dryope, and Iphis. Alexandrian authors whom we cannot identify
supplied the tale of Lotis, part of the adventure with Diomed's horses,
and probably some of the myths recalled in the tale of Iolaiis.
All through the book Ovid handled his material with the freedom
and assurance of a mature artist. He enriched it repeatedly with ideas
from other sources. In the tale of Galanthis he drew on the Iliad. Oftener
than ever before, he profited by Greek tragedy. He used the many
dramas about Orestes to dignify his tale of Alcmaeon. He made im-
portant use of five tragedies of Euripides -- the Hercules Furens and
Medea for the death of Hercules; the Aeolus, Hippolytus, and Iphigenia
at Aulis for the tale of Byblis. Moschus suggested the dialogue of
Alcmena and Iole, which was an occasion for three important tales.
Ovid drew on Varro in the story of Lichas and probably in the deifica-
tion of Hercules. Vergil, although less important than usual, often sug-
gested a picturesque incident or a striking turn of phrase. Horace af-
forded valuable detail for the death of Hercules. In general Ovid bor-
rowed effectively, and he improved greatly on the work of his Alexan-
drian predecessors. But in the tales of Byblis and Iphis he lost much of
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK NINE
his advantage by bad taste, and in part of his account of Hercules he
invited unfortunate comparison with Sophocles and Euripides.
Very often in the Ninth Book, Ovid took ideas from previous work
of his own. The Heroides suggested a few circumstances for the death of
Hercules and many circumstances in the story of Byblis. Still more fre-
quently Ovid borrowed ideas from earlier tales of the Metamorphoses.
He resorted often to his previous method of a dramatic soliloquy and
twice repeated the method of complaint, which he had used in the tale of
Narcissus. In single passages, Ovid imitated five earlier tales, those of
the Heliads, Pyramus, Niobe, Scylla, and Meleager. But he repeated
himself with skill -- usually with different phrasing and always unob-
trusively. And he also improved his material from all sources by in-
venting much that was new. Such invention was frequent in the last half
of the book and gave the tales of Dryope and Iphis almost all their
value.
In later times the stories about Hercules became popular with
Ovid's Roman successors and continued to be important until the end
of the Renaissance. The story of the poisoned robe attracted frequent
attention until late in the nineteenth century. The latter half of the
book won favor more slowly. The tale of Byblis first became popular
with the medieval period, that of Iphis with the Renaissance. The tale
of Dryope became important only with the close of the seventeenth
century.
Among authors rarely showing the effect of Ovid, the Ninth Book
attracted the Elder Pliny, Boethius, and Carlyle. Gay translated many
of the stories. Jean de Meun retold all the major tales except that of
Acheloiis. Ovid's account of Hercules had an important effect on Seneca,
Hyginus, and Lewis Morris; and the story of Iphis was important in
the work of authors as different as Ariosto, Moliere, and Scott. Many
tales interested Chaucer and Spenser. Dante and Milton found the
Ninth Book especially valuable. But the most frequent and pervasive
effect appeared in the work of Shakespeare. Many of the tales about
Hercules attracted modern painters and sculptors, but masterpieces
were few.
304
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? BOOK TEN
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? I
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? CONTENTS OF BOOK TEN
PAGE
Orpheus and Ecrydice . . . . . . . .