At last they came
to a small, thatched cottage.
to a small, thatched cottage.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
Shakespeare in the Second Part of Henry Fourth
showed the page making a confused reference to Althaea's dream that
she was to bear a firebrand. * In the Second Part of Henry Sixth the
Duke of York, lamenting the loss of two provinces in France, observed,
The realms of England, France, and Ireland
Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood
As did that fatal brand Althaea burned
Unto the Prince's heart of Calydon.
Dante in the Paradiso appears to have remembered Ovid's comment on
the decision of Althaea, for he declared that Alcmaeon was pious by
impiety. Burke referred to the hidden fire that burned in the vitals of
Meleager and destroyed his life. In his Conciliation with America he
declared that Lord North's policy would cause an intestine fire in the
bowels of the Colonies that sooner or later would consume the whole em-
pire. Martial in an epigram recalled the transformation of Meleager's
sisters into guinea fowl.
Ovid's tale interested several modern artists. Rubens painted three
pictures of Meleager, one of them a masterpiece. Jordaens, Wildens,
and Poussin treated the same theme in painting, and Le Gros and
Lajeune treated it in sculpture. Reubens also made a painting of the
Boar Hunt.
'Such a dream was ascribed to Hecuba before the birth of Paris.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
The Echinades and Peeimele
Wishing at this point to include a number of isolated tales, Ovid
invented the idea that Theseus heard them while delayed in his return to
Athens. He imagined as cause for the delay a river, swollen by rains
until it was dangerous to cross. Some of the tales were associated with
the Acheloiis, largest river of Greece, which formed the boundary be-
tween Aetolia and Acarnania. Since this river lay near Calydon, Ovid
imagined that it was the Acheloiis which delayed the hero's return. In
doing so he forgot that Theseus would have gone eastwards from Caly-
don and the river Acheloiis lay at some distance to the west.
Vergil in the Georgics had told how the river nymph Cyrene invited
Aristaeus to enter her residence under the river Peneus. Ovid imagined
that Acheloiis gave a similar invitation to Theseus and included also his
traveling companions. Acheloiis, he said, mentioned the wisdom of allow-
ing the waters to subside, and Ovid gladly profited by the chance to
describe the fury of the flood. Vergil had told how Cyrene received
Aristaeus in a cavern the roof of which was pumice, entertained him at
a table to which the nymphs brought food and wine, and then gave him
some interesting information. Ovid followed Vergil, except that he spoke
of the walls as being of pumice. He gave a more elaborate description of
the cavern, noting its floor of moss and roof of shells.
The early Greeks and Romans had been accustomed to eat their
meals sitting at a table. Afterwards they changed their ways and
learned to recline on couches, which were placed near the table. They
usually supported part of their weight on the left elbow, leaving the
right hand free. Vergil in his Aeneid ignored the older custom. Repeat-
edly he spoke of Aeneas and other heroes of ancient times as reclining at
their feasts. Although Ovid had shown Tereus sitting at his tragic ban-
quet (Bk. 6), he ordinarily followed Vergil's example. He pictured
Theseus and his friends as lying on couches while they enjoyed the feast
given by Acheloiis, and a little later he gave a similar idea prominence
in his tale of Philemon and Baucis.
Ovid imagined the cavern of Acheloiis as being open to the air and
as commanding a view downstream to the confluence of the river and
the sea. Far off among the waves, land was visible but so indistinct that
Theseus could not tell whether it was a single island or an archipelago.
Ovid showed him inquiring about this land.
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? THE ECHINADES AND PERIMELE
The river god answered that it consisted of five islands called
Echinades, and he told their origin. At one time five nymphs who lived
near the Achelous held a festival in honor of the rural gods but forgot
to include the god of the river. Enraged at the slight, he rose in flood
and carried off the nymphs and the ground on which they were dancing.
At the edge of the sea they were transformed into land, which at first
was a single island but in time was divided into five parts by the action
of the river and the sea. This tale we know only from Ovid.
The god pointed out another island still farther away and told the
story of its origin. The Manual had noted that a certain Perimede bore
Achelous two sons, one of whom was named Hippodamas. Ovid probably
remembered the incident but followed the different version of some Alex-
andrian poet. He called the girl Perimele and said that Hippodamas
was her father. The river god seduced her, he continued, and so her
father threw her from a cliff into the sea. As she swam, the god sustained
her and prayed that Neptune might preserve her from drowning either
by providing some land for her or by turning her into an island. Nep-
tune transformed her into the island which bears her name.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Philemon and Baucis
Among the companions of Theseus, Ovid had named Pirithoiis.
His father was the impious Ixion, who tried to seduce Juno. He himself
was later to attempt the abduction of Proserpina. Ovid imagined that
he was habitually a scoffer at the gods and that on the present occasion
he went so far as to pronounce the story of Acheloiis incredible, because
gods could not transform human beings. The rest of the company dis-
approved of his objection, and an older man named Lelex offered to tell
a story illustrating the power of the gods.
Ovid introduced the tale with a preliminary passage similar to the
one in his account of the Lycian herdsmen (Bk. 6). Lelex declared that
in his youth he was sent on an errand to a little known part of Asia
Minor. In the course of his journey he came to a shrine near a marshy
lake, and he learned from a native the story of its origin. Probably Ovid
found both tales introduced in a similar manner by his Greek prede-
cessor.
Ovid mentioned the setting for the events which Lelex recounted
as an inland valley of Phrygia. Later he implied that it was in a
district called Bithynia, which bordered the northern end of the Helles-
pont. In that region Jupiter and Mercury often were worshipped to-
gether, and in the same region was the city of Lystra, where soon
after Ovid's time the Apostle Paul and his companion Barnabas were
mistaken for these deities and were obliged to decline a sacrifice of oxen.
Ovid's tale was concerned with a visit of Jupiter and Mercury to the
house of Philemon and Baucis.
The essential idea was one which occurs in the lore of many peoples
residing as far apart as India in the east and Germany in the west. A
deity or a great person once came unexpectedly to visit a certain human
being and gave him a chance to show piety and hospitality. In some
tales of this kind the identity of the visitor was known. Such was the
case in Ovid's account of Jupiter visiting Lycaon (Bk. 1) and in Mil-
ton's episode of the Archangel Raphael's sojourn with Adam and Eve.
But usually the visitor at first concealed his real nature and seemed to
be only a traveler who was poor and in need. In the Odyssey, Ulysses
came as a beggar to the swineherd Eumaeus, and in the Homeric Hymn
to Ceres, the goddess came as a forlorn wanderer to Celeus (cf. Proser-
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? PHILEMON AND BAUCIS
pina, Bk. 5). In tales of this kind, the visitor afterwards revealed him-
self and rewarded the kindness of his host. Sometimes he did so by ask-
ing him to say what he most desired and by granting his wish. This
occurred, for example, in the tale of Hyrieus, which Ovid included in his
Fasti.
According to many stories, the visitor came on purpose to test the
character of people living in a certain district. At a number of houses
he was repulsed churlishly, but at one he was received with kindness, and
he rewarded the people according to their desert. An idea similar to this
inspired that famous passage of the Gospels where the Savior distin-
guished the Sheep from the Goats, declaring that, when the Sheep had
been kind to humble folk who were in need, they also had been kind to
him. In certain tales the visitor tried the hospitality of two households;
one churlish, the other kindly. He offered to each the same reward, but
its value depended on the character of the person who received it. Ac-
cording to Grimm's fairy tale called The Rich Man and the Poor Man,
the Lord rewarded each householder by promising to fulfill three wishes.
Those of the hospitable man brought eternal blessedness, health and
sufficiency of food during his life, and an attractive house; those of the
inhospitable man brought only loss, unhappiness, and humiliation.
Occasionally the idea of reward and punishment was associated
with the tradition of a flood, which overwhelmed many wicked people but
spared a certain good man and his wife (cf. Deucalion, Bk. 1). In these
tales the flood occurred only within a limited area. A lake covered the
greater part of the district to which the divine visitor had come, destroy-
ing the churlish people, but the hospitable pair was saved. This idea
inspired an Italian tale about the Alpine valley of Angolo and the an-
cient Greek story of Philemon and Baucis. The Greek narrative appears
to have originated in Asia Minor and to have been included in that Alex-
andrian collection of Oriental tales from which Ovid already had taken
his stories of Pyramus, Leucothoe, and the Lycian herdsmen.
Like many Greek tales of similar nature, the story of Philemon and
Baucis was influenced by other themes congenial to the Alexandrians
and Romans. One was the idea of a former Golden Age, when men lived
in piety and simple virtue and deities often associated with them (cf.
The Four Ages, Bk. 1). Another was a longing for simple life in the
country, which made such life appear ideal. A feeling of this kind may
have entered literature first in the Electra of Euripides, where a kindly
peasant tried to relieve the heroine's affliction. With the Alexandrian
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
age it became important, and many leading poets showed fondness for
describing country life in exquisite detail, the most famous instance
being Theocritus in his Seventh Idyll. The same fondness appeared still
later in Alciphron's Letters and in several episodes of Nonnus. This
longing for simple country life affected the Roman Lucretius and was
prominent in the work of almost every important Augustan poet.
Such interest in the Golden Age and simple country life caused
Alexandrian and Roman poets to retell old stories in a new manner. In
tales of a deity or a great person visiting human beings they gave
special attention to the entertainment which was offered. The older
poet Pindar, telling how Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars visited Hyrieus,
may have shown interest only in their rewarding him with a son and
heir. But the Alexandrian poet Euphorion pictured in detail the humble
dwelling of Hyrieus and his preparation of a rustic meal. Callimachus
was especially fond of describing such incidents, and two of his stories
won general admiration. In his Origins he told how just before the vic-
tory over the Nemean Lion a shepherd named Molorchus offered hos-
pitality to Hercules. In his poem called Hecale, he told how shortly
before the capture of the Marathonian Bull a kindly old woman named
Hecale offered hospitality to Theseus. Both stories influenced all later
Alexandrian and Roman tales of similar nature. And, because Calli-
machus described both Molorchus and Hecale as old, there was a general
fondness for indicating that the hospitable people were advanced in
years. Ovid's Alexandrian predecessor gave this impression of Philemon
and Baucis.
In the original folk tale the essential idea had been a test of char-
acter, which Jupiter and Mercury applied to the people of a certain
district. But the Alexandrian author gave his main attention to the
entertainment. In accord with both the famous examples of Callimachus,
he described the preparation of an evening meal and indicated a pleas-
ant bustle of the elderly host. But, since Baucis would have the more
active part in household affairs, the author turned for most of his
details to the story of Hecale. Callimachus had suggested the poverty
of the old woman by describing her residence as humble and ill-furnished.
Among other matters he spoke of her inviting Theseus to sit on a bench,
which she covered with a rough cloth; and he may have noted that she
prepared supper on an unsteady table, which she had to prop with some
broken pottery. Ovid's Alexandrian predecessor described in a similar
way the home of Philemon and Baucis.
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? PHILEMON AND BAUCIS
Callimachus told of Hecale's-offering simple food produced in the
immediate vicinity, and he mentioned bacon, olives, and herbs from her
garden. The unknown Alexandrian author described a meal of this kind
as offered by Baucis. Callimachus may have intended to suggest poverty
also, by describing the meal as poor and scanty, for we do not know of
his mentioning anything else. But Theocritus had indicated in his
account of Polyphemus and in other poems that, although the country
folk had simple food, it was appetizing and pleasantly abundant. The
idea may have been usual in Alexandrian descriptions of idyllic life, for
it occurred repeatedly in similar passages of Vergil. Ovid's Alexan-
drian predecessor appears to have given this idea of the meal prepared
by Philemon and Baucis. He noted that after the more substantial part
of the supper they offered a second course, and he mentioned as one item
dry dates -- a characteristic dish of peasants in Egypt and the warmer
part of Asia Minor but not in Bithynia.
In more than one Alexandrian tale the host felt that he ought also
to honor his visitor by making a sacrifice. Molorchus offered to kill his
ram in honor of Hercules, and Hecale offered to make a sacrifice in
honor of Theseus. Hyrieus planned to kill his ox for the sake of his
three divine guests. For a similar reason Philemon and Baucis offered
to kill their only gander. In the story of Molorchus, Hercules forbade
the sacrifice of the ram, and in the tale of Philemon and Baucis the gods
forbade the killing of the gander. Molorchus and Hecale knew from the
beginning the identity of the visitor. But Hyrieus did not realize that
he was entertaining gods until his guests mentioned the name of Jupiter.
Philemon and Baucis learned the nature of their visitors by a more re-
markable occurrence. In many German legends and fairy tales a bowl
of wine, which had become empty, refilled itself magically. The same
incident occurred in the Greek story of Philemon and Baucis and af-
forded a means for revealing the divine character of the guests.
The author of the Odyssey had pictured Eumaeus as stating that
Jupiter was patron of travelers and expected the pious to treat them
hospitably. Philemon and Baucis had shown piety to Jupiter and will-
ingness to serve him. Their reward was in harmony with this idea.
After transforming their hut into a temple, Jupiter bade them say what
they most desired. They wanted to continue serving him, on a more
dignified level, as priest and priestess of the temple. They wished also
to spend the rest of their lives together and to die at the same time.
After some years Philemon was transformed into an oak tree and Baucis
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
into a linden. Their trunks stood close together, and their branches
interlaced. And these two trees became a local shrine.
Although other Roman poets showed more fondness for describing
simple life, Ovid shared the general feeling. His Fasti treated the theme
both in the incident of his own visit to the Peligni and in the tales of
Celeus and Hyrieus. But it was only in the story of Philemon that he
described idyllic life at some length and made it the center of attention.
Ovid seems to have repeated the circumstances given by his predecessor
but to have improved the effect with further details suggested by other
poets or by his own observation. Realizing the similarity of the story
to that of Hyrieus, he altered a few circumstances to give variety.
Ovid spoke first of Jupiter and Mercury as traveling in the guise
of mortals, and he noted that Mercury had laid aside his wings. In the
manner of a folk tale he mentioned their applying for shelter at a
thousand houses and being a thousand times repelled.
At last they came
to a small, thatched cottage. There the aged Philemon and Baucis had
spent their lives -- in poverty, but honestly and cheerfully accepting
their lot. They had no servant, Ovid continued, and neither exercised
dominion over the other but both shared their labors in mutual love and
respect. Ovid intended to show Hyrieus inviting the gods to his hut, and
so he spoke of Philemon as merely acceding to their request. He noted
their stooping in order to enter Philemon's lowly door.
In most tales of this kind the visitor arrived at the close of day and
received a supper and lodging for the night. In the tale of Hyrieus, Ovid
intended to follow the usual custom and to give a beautiful description
of the deepening dusk. He wanted to make the story of Philemon differ-
ent. Without stating the time, he implied that it was noon. And,
although he spoke of Philemon and Baucis as offering a meal, he said
nothing about lodging for the night. This change had the further ad-
vantage of allowing him to avoid delay in the conclusion of the story.
Following the Alexandrian custom, Ovid told in minute detail how
Baucis prepared the fire and got it burning under her little bronze
caldron. Horace had shown the farmer Ofellus mentioning cabbage
and ham as staple articles of food in the country. And Vergil's poem
called Moretum had spoken of Simylus as growing cabbages and other
vegetables in his carefully irrigated truck garden. Ovid spoke of Phile-
mon as fetching a cabbage from his well watered garden and as taking
down some ham from the smoky beam. Among the prehistoric Greeks,
meat always seems to have been cooked by roasting over the fire. The
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? PHILEMON AND BAUCIS
Alexandrians and Romans had learned to boil it. But Vergil had implied
that his Trojans boiled the venison brought in by Aeneas. Ovid went
further and stated clearly that meat was boiled, not only in the cannibal
feasts prepared by Lycaon and by Procne (Bk. 6) but also in the pleas-
ant country repast prepared by Baucis.
Callimachus had shown Hecale conversing with Theseus, while the
meal was cooking. The dialogue served pleasantly to bring out her
character, but its chief purpose was to let Theseus tell her of his quest.
In the tale of Philemon and Baucis this reason did not exist, and the
Greek author probably gave no conversation. Ovid noted that Philemon
and his guests beguiled the time with talk. It is unlikely that he quoted
any words, but at this point the manuscript is confused. It seems to
state only that Philemon offered his guests warm water in a wooden basin
for bathing their feet.
As in the previous tale of Acheloiis, Ovid assumed that people of
early times followed the contemporary practice of reclining at meals.
He described the humble nature of the couch which the old people made
ready for the gods. In the Roman countryside the most accessible and
convenient sort of wood appears to have been willow. Vergil had ob-
served in his Copa that the sickle of Priapus was carved from such
wood. Ovid noted that willow was the material used for the frame of the
couch. The mattress was made of coarse sedge grass. Over it the old
people spread drapery, which they reserved only for special occasions;
but even this was poor and worn by long use -- befitting a willow couch.
The Romans of Ovid's day preferred to eat their meals on a round table,
which had under the middle a single sturdy leg. Philemon and Baucis
had an old Tashioned table supported on three legs, one of which was
short and needed propping. Following Alexandrian and earlier Roman
descriptions of country life, Ovid added that most of the dishes were
earthenware and the cups were of beech wood polished with wax.
Ovid amplified his predecessor's account of the simple but attrac-
tive viands. He seems to have chosen details from the stories of Molor-
chus and Hecale, from Horace's discourse of Ofellus, and from Vergil's
descriptions in the Copa, the Moretum, and a passage in the Georgics
about the old Corycian. Undoubtedly he profited also by his own ob-
servation. First Baucis put on the table olives, cornel cherries pickled
in wine, endives, radishes, cream cheese, and eggs which were lightly
roasted in the ashes. Since it was early autumn, the olives were partly
ripe and mottled in color. Then came the boiled ham and cabbage and
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
some wine of recent vintage. After this, Baucis put on the second
course. There were nuts, figs, dry dates, baskets of fragrant apples,
newly gathered grapes, and, as a center-piece, a comb of white honey.
Above all, there were pleasant faces and abounding good will. Ovid gave
an impression of happy abundance and of hospitality that was cordial
and generous.
Yet, when the bowl of wine filled spontaneously, the old people
thought their food too meager for gods. They offered apologies and
then tried to make a sacrifice. Among farmers of several countries, geese
have served the purpose of a watch dog. The Vedas mentioned their
watchfulness, Chaucer alluded to the idea in his Parliament of Fowls,
and it still is known to farmers of Cape Cod. * Ovid referred often to
the subject. In the tale of Coronis (Bk. 2) he already had spoken of
geese as saving the Roman Capitol from the Gauls, and in the tale of
Ceyx (Bk. 11) he spoke of them as notably absent from the Cave of
Sleep. He described the gander of Philemon and Baucis as the watch-
man of their tiny farm. The bird eluded the old people, led them back
and forth in their unavailing chase, and at last took refuge with the
gods.
Jupiter and Mercury admitted their divine nature and promised to
exempt the old people from the punishment in store for their neighbors.
They bade Philemon and Baucis accompany them to the summit of a
near-by mountain. Intent on this difficult climb, the old people had
ascended within a bowshot of the top before they turned to look back.
Seeing the newly formed lake, they lamented the death of their neighbors.
Soon they observed their hut being transformed into a marble temple
with a golden roof. Ovid repeated the incident of Jupiter's Question and
the response of the old people. He recorded also the metamorphosis of
Philemon and Baucis into trees, adding that to the last each of them
said, "Farewell, dear mate. "
Ovid showed Lelex observing that he himself heard the tale from
reliable old men of the neighborhood and that he hung a votive wreath
on the trees. Since Theseus had enjoyed similar hospitality of Hecale,
Ovid observed, appropriately, that he found the tale especially im-
pressive. He indicated that even Pirithoiis was impressed, at least for
a while.
*In Argentina farmers often rely on the similar watchfulness of a native bird
called the chajas.
Apparently the Greeks began domesticating geese only in later Homeric times,
for the Iliad always refers to geese as wild, but the Odyssey mentions them as tame in
the farm yards of Menelaiis and of Penelope.
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? PHILEMON AND BAUCIS
Ovid's narrative of Philemon and Baucis attracted many leading
authors of later times. Dry den translated it. Three other authors re-
told it at some length, all of them giving more attention to the churlish
behavior of the neighbors.
La Fontaine repeated the tale as evidence that simple life is pref-
erable to the rank and wealth of a courtier. He was impressed by the
enduring affection of Philemon and Baucis and spoke of the two trees
as being visited by those desiring a happy marriage. In the course of
the tale he introduced a number of minor changes -- usually for the
worse. But he added with good effect the idea that his old people
lamented especially the death of their neighbors' animals.
Swift, retelling the story as comic narrative in verse, adapted it to
English life of his own day. The gods became two saints, and the bowl
of wine became a jug of ale. Towards the end of the story the cottage
turned into a country church, the transformation being described with
an extraordinary amount of humorous detail. Philemon wished to be-
come a threadbare country parson. At last the old couple were meta-
morphosed into yew trees growing in the churchyard, which were
pointed out to strangers by Goodman Dobson.
Hawthorne retold the story as a delightful children's tale, with a
setting in New England. He continually introduced miraculous inci-
dents, and, since Ovid had implied that Mercury had with him his winged
staff, he made much of its supernatural behavior. Instead of suggesting
poverty by humble and meager furnishings, Hawthorne indicated it,
less happily, by scanty food and the anxiety of Baucis. He lessened the
difficulty, however, by adding that humble fare was transformed into
viands of heavenly excellence. Hawthorne suggested a more appropriate
reward for the hospitable old people. They were given ample means for
showing hospitality. Their cottage became a palace.
Still other modern authors made brief allusions to Ovid's tale.
Shakespeare was impressed by the incongruity of Jupiter in a thatched
cottage, and he referred to the idea both in Much Ado About Nothing
and As You Like It. Goethe used the names of Philemon and Baucis and
a number of the circumstances in a scene of his Faust.
Ovid's narrative inspired paintings by Primaticcio and Abbate, by
Elsheimer, Rubens, Van der Haecke, and Restout, and a sketch by
Ingres. Gounod, following chiefly the version of La Fontaine, treated
the subject in an opera that enjoyed popularity for many years.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Peoteus
After Theseus had listened to the story of Philemon and Baucis,
Ovid supposed that he wished to hear more about the wonderful doings
of the gods. Achelous proceeded to tell some of them. He noted that
sometimes, as in the tales just told, a person assumed a new form and
continued in it indefinitely, but at other times a person changed succes-
sively into a number of forms. Achelous gave three examples. In two of
them there was power of changing into an unlimited number. The first
example was the sea god Proteus, who took one new form after another.
The second was the girl Hypermnestra, who took a new shape, returned
to her former shape, and then took another new shape, and so on through
many changes. In the third example, that of Achelous himself, there
was power to change often, but the number of forms was limited. Thus
Ovid was able to include three examples of successive metamorphoses,
each example different from the others.
Of Proteus the Odyssey had given a famous account. It ran to the
following effect. While Menelaiis was returning home from Troy, he was
becalmed in the isle of Pharos, which lay near the Egyptian coast, about
twelve miles distant from the Canopic mouth of the Nile. This isle
afterwards was chosen by Ptolemy as the site of the first lighthouse ever
built, which became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. A daughter
of Proteus took pity on Menelaiis and advised him to question her
father, who knew all things. She told him that Proteus had charge of
the seals and other marine herds of Neptune and that during the noon-
day heat he would come with them to sleep in a cave by the shore. Taking
advantage of this opportunity, Menelaiis could seize Proteus and hold
him fast. The god would try to escape by changing into strange forms;
he would become every sort of reptile and even water and fire. But, if
Menelaiis should continue to hold him fast, he would resume his original
shape and give the desired information. With the daughter's aid,
Menelaiis surprised and captured Proteus. The god assumed many
forms -- on the whole different from those previously mentioned. He
became a lion with a mane, a dragon, a leopard, a huge boar, flowing
water, and a tall, leafy tree. But Menelaiis held on resolutely until he
returned to his original shape.
Other ancient authors showed interest in Proteus. Herodotus iden-
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? PROTEUS
tified him with an Egyptian god called Cetes (Sea Monster). Plato
noted in his dialogue, Euthythro, that Proteus must be held until he
speaks. Plato referred to him as proverbial for escaping by clever dis-
guises and associated him with cunning evasion of obligations. Horace,
repeating this idea in a satire, noted various metamorphoses, two of
them -- those to a bird and a rock, not mentioned before. In an epistle,
Horace associated Proteus with the kindred idea of fickleness. Most
authors continued to think of the god as residing in Pharos.
Vergil in the Georgics gave Proteus a different residence. Usually,
he said, the god lived by the island of Carpathus between Crete and
Rhodes, but occasionally he visited the shores of Thessaly. In emula-
tion of the Odyssey Vergil told how during one of these visits Aristaeus
surprised and questioned him. Vergil imagined the nymph Cyrene as
giving the hero advice and assistance. On the whole he made the story
similar to that of the Odyssey. He recorded four of the same transfor-
mations -- those to a dragon, a boar, flowing water, and fire. But he
substituted a lioness for the lion, and he added two other metamorphoses
-- to a black tigress and to an unnamed horrible beast.
Ovid repeatedly showed his interest in the transformations of Pro-
teus. In the Amores he referred to the subject as one of many strange
fictions of the poets. In the tale of Phaethon (Bk. 2) he described
Proteus as of uncertain shape. He now showed Acheloiis discussing the
sea god's remarkable powers of transformation. Since Menelaiis had
encountered Proteus after the Trojan War -- a generation later than
Theseus, Ovid could not repeat the story told in the Odyssey. But he
took most of his ideas from this famous account. The Greek author
had implied that Proteus used his powers not only at the time when
he tried to escape Menelaiis but habitually. Ovid made the idea ex-
plicit. Following the Odyssey, he mentioned changes to a lion, a boar,
a stream, and a fire. In doing this he added a few effective epithets. For
example, where his predecessor spoke of the boar as huge, Ovid described
it, more interestingly, as impetuous. He added also three new trans-
formations -- to a youth, a bull, and a stone.
It would have been possible to repeat Vergil's account of Proteus
and Aristaeus. As father of Actaeon (Bk. 3), Aristaeus would have
lived long before the time of Theseus and could have been introduced in
a tale of the remote past. But Ovid intended to use the Georgics later
and still more effectively. Vergil had gained an advantage by using
ideas of the Odyssey for a story of his own. Ovid planned to use the
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
ideas of Vergil in a similar manner for a new story of Peleus and Thetis
(Bk. 11), making Proteus the deitj' assisting the hero and Thetis the
deity who endeavored to escape by many transformations. In the story
about Peleus he intended to make Carpathus the residence of Proteus.
Perhaps for this reason he did not mention any residence in the discus-
sion of Acheloiis.
Ovid's account of Proteus was in itself inconspicuous. During the
Middle Ages it seems to have aroused no particular interest in the sub-
ject. But during the Renaissance, when the Odyssey and the Georgics
became accessible, Ovid's version undoubtedly encouraged men to seek
further information in these poems and contributed to a lively interest
in Proteus and his numerous changes.
showed the page making a confused reference to Althaea's dream that
she was to bear a firebrand. * In the Second Part of Henry Sixth the
Duke of York, lamenting the loss of two provinces in France, observed,
The realms of England, France, and Ireland
Bear that proportion to my flesh and blood
As did that fatal brand Althaea burned
Unto the Prince's heart of Calydon.
Dante in the Paradiso appears to have remembered Ovid's comment on
the decision of Althaea, for he declared that Alcmaeon was pious by
impiety. Burke referred to the hidden fire that burned in the vitals of
Meleager and destroyed his life. In his Conciliation with America he
declared that Lord North's policy would cause an intestine fire in the
bowels of the Colonies that sooner or later would consume the whole em-
pire. Martial in an epigram recalled the transformation of Meleager's
sisters into guinea fowl.
Ovid's tale interested several modern artists. Rubens painted three
pictures of Meleager, one of them a masterpiece. Jordaens, Wildens,
and Poussin treated the same theme in painting, and Le Gros and
Lajeune treated it in sculpture. Reubens also made a painting of the
Boar Hunt.
'Such a dream was ascribed to Hecuba before the birth of Paris.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
The Echinades and Peeimele
Wishing at this point to include a number of isolated tales, Ovid
invented the idea that Theseus heard them while delayed in his return to
Athens. He imagined as cause for the delay a river, swollen by rains
until it was dangerous to cross. Some of the tales were associated with
the Acheloiis, largest river of Greece, which formed the boundary be-
tween Aetolia and Acarnania. Since this river lay near Calydon, Ovid
imagined that it was the Acheloiis which delayed the hero's return. In
doing so he forgot that Theseus would have gone eastwards from Caly-
don and the river Acheloiis lay at some distance to the west.
Vergil in the Georgics had told how the river nymph Cyrene invited
Aristaeus to enter her residence under the river Peneus. Ovid imagined
that Acheloiis gave a similar invitation to Theseus and included also his
traveling companions. Acheloiis, he said, mentioned the wisdom of allow-
ing the waters to subside, and Ovid gladly profited by the chance to
describe the fury of the flood. Vergil had told how Cyrene received
Aristaeus in a cavern the roof of which was pumice, entertained him at
a table to which the nymphs brought food and wine, and then gave him
some interesting information. Ovid followed Vergil, except that he spoke
of the walls as being of pumice. He gave a more elaborate description of
the cavern, noting its floor of moss and roof of shells.
The early Greeks and Romans had been accustomed to eat their
meals sitting at a table. Afterwards they changed their ways and
learned to recline on couches, which were placed near the table. They
usually supported part of their weight on the left elbow, leaving the
right hand free. Vergil in his Aeneid ignored the older custom. Repeat-
edly he spoke of Aeneas and other heroes of ancient times as reclining at
their feasts. Although Ovid had shown Tereus sitting at his tragic ban-
quet (Bk. 6), he ordinarily followed Vergil's example. He pictured
Theseus and his friends as lying on couches while they enjoyed the feast
given by Acheloiis, and a little later he gave a similar idea prominence
in his tale of Philemon and Baucis.
Ovid imagined the cavern of Acheloiis as being open to the air and
as commanding a view downstream to the confluence of the river and
the sea. Far off among the waves, land was visible but so indistinct that
Theseus could not tell whether it was a single island or an archipelago.
Ovid showed him inquiring about this land.
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? THE ECHINADES AND PERIMELE
The river god answered that it consisted of five islands called
Echinades, and he told their origin. At one time five nymphs who lived
near the Achelous held a festival in honor of the rural gods but forgot
to include the god of the river. Enraged at the slight, he rose in flood
and carried off the nymphs and the ground on which they were dancing.
At the edge of the sea they were transformed into land, which at first
was a single island but in time was divided into five parts by the action
of the river and the sea. This tale we know only from Ovid.
The god pointed out another island still farther away and told the
story of its origin. The Manual had noted that a certain Perimede bore
Achelous two sons, one of whom was named Hippodamas. Ovid probably
remembered the incident but followed the different version of some Alex-
andrian poet. He called the girl Perimele and said that Hippodamas
was her father. The river god seduced her, he continued, and so her
father threw her from a cliff into the sea. As she swam, the god sustained
her and prayed that Neptune might preserve her from drowning either
by providing some land for her or by turning her into an island. Nep-
tune transformed her into the island which bears her name.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Philemon and Baucis
Among the companions of Theseus, Ovid had named Pirithoiis.
His father was the impious Ixion, who tried to seduce Juno. He himself
was later to attempt the abduction of Proserpina. Ovid imagined that
he was habitually a scoffer at the gods and that on the present occasion
he went so far as to pronounce the story of Acheloiis incredible, because
gods could not transform human beings. The rest of the company dis-
approved of his objection, and an older man named Lelex offered to tell
a story illustrating the power of the gods.
Ovid introduced the tale with a preliminary passage similar to the
one in his account of the Lycian herdsmen (Bk. 6). Lelex declared that
in his youth he was sent on an errand to a little known part of Asia
Minor. In the course of his journey he came to a shrine near a marshy
lake, and he learned from a native the story of its origin. Probably Ovid
found both tales introduced in a similar manner by his Greek prede-
cessor.
Ovid mentioned the setting for the events which Lelex recounted
as an inland valley of Phrygia. Later he implied that it was in a
district called Bithynia, which bordered the northern end of the Helles-
pont. In that region Jupiter and Mercury often were worshipped to-
gether, and in the same region was the city of Lystra, where soon
after Ovid's time the Apostle Paul and his companion Barnabas were
mistaken for these deities and were obliged to decline a sacrifice of oxen.
Ovid's tale was concerned with a visit of Jupiter and Mercury to the
house of Philemon and Baucis.
The essential idea was one which occurs in the lore of many peoples
residing as far apart as India in the east and Germany in the west. A
deity or a great person once came unexpectedly to visit a certain human
being and gave him a chance to show piety and hospitality. In some
tales of this kind the identity of the visitor was known. Such was the
case in Ovid's account of Jupiter visiting Lycaon (Bk. 1) and in Mil-
ton's episode of the Archangel Raphael's sojourn with Adam and Eve.
But usually the visitor at first concealed his real nature and seemed to
be only a traveler who was poor and in need. In the Odyssey, Ulysses
came as a beggar to the swineherd Eumaeus, and in the Homeric Hymn
to Ceres, the goddess came as a forlorn wanderer to Celeus (cf. Proser-
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? PHILEMON AND BAUCIS
pina, Bk. 5). In tales of this kind, the visitor afterwards revealed him-
self and rewarded the kindness of his host. Sometimes he did so by ask-
ing him to say what he most desired and by granting his wish. This
occurred, for example, in the tale of Hyrieus, which Ovid included in his
Fasti.
According to many stories, the visitor came on purpose to test the
character of people living in a certain district. At a number of houses
he was repulsed churlishly, but at one he was received with kindness, and
he rewarded the people according to their desert. An idea similar to this
inspired that famous passage of the Gospels where the Savior distin-
guished the Sheep from the Goats, declaring that, when the Sheep had
been kind to humble folk who were in need, they also had been kind to
him. In certain tales the visitor tried the hospitality of two households;
one churlish, the other kindly. He offered to each the same reward, but
its value depended on the character of the person who received it. Ac-
cording to Grimm's fairy tale called The Rich Man and the Poor Man,
the Lord rewarded each householder by promising to fulfill three wishes.
Those of the hospitable man brought eternal blessedness, health and
sufficiency of food during his life, and an attractive house; those of the
inhospitable man brought only loss, unhappiness, and humiliation.
Occasionally the idea of reward and punishment was associated
with the tradition of a flood, which overwhelmed many wicked people but
spared a certain good man and his wife (cf. Deucalion, Bk. 1). In these
tales the flood occurred only within a limited area. A lake covered the
greater part of the district to which the divine visitor had come, destroy-
ing the churlish people, but the hospitable pair was saved. This idea
inspired an Italian tale about the Alpine valley of Angolo and the an-
cient Greek story of Philemon and Baucis. The Greek narrative appears
to have originated in Asia Minor and to have been included in that Alex-
andrian collection of Oriental tales from which Ovid already had taken
his stories of Pyramus, Leucothoe, and the Lycian herdsmen.
Like many Greek tales of similar nature, the story of Philemon and
Baucis was influenced by other themes congenial to the Alexandrians
and Romans. One was the idea of a former Golden Age, when men lived
in piety and simple virtue and deities often associated with them (cf.
The Four Ages, Bk. 1). Another was a longing for simple life in the
country, which made such life appear ideal. A feeling of this kind may
have entered literature first in the Electra of Euripides, where a kindly
peasant tried to relieve the heroine's affliction. With the Alexandrian
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
age it became important, and many leading poets showed fondness for
describing country life in exquisite detail, the most famous instance
being Theocritus in his Seventh Idyll. The same fondness appeared still
later in Alciphron's Letters and in several episodes of Nonnus. This
longing for simple country life affected the Roman Lucretius and was
prominent in the work of almost every important Augustan poet.
Such interest in the Golden Age and simple country life caused
Alexandrian and Roman poets to retell old stories in a new manner. In
tales of a deity or a great person visiting human beings they gave
special attention to the entertainment which was offered. The older
poet Pindar, telling how Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars visited Hyrieus,
may have shown interest only in their rewarding him with a son and
heir. But the Alexandrian poet Euphorion pictured in detail the humble
dwelling of Hyrieus and his preparation of a rustic meal. Callimachus
was especially fond of describing such incidents, and two of his stories
won general admiration. In his Origins he told how just before the vic-
tory over the Nemean Lion a shepherd named Molorchus offered hos-
pitality to Hercules. In his poem called Hecale, he told how shortly
before the capture of the Marathonian Bull a kindly old woman named
Hecale offered hospitality to Theseus. Both stories influenced all later
Alexandrian and Roman tales of similar nature. And, because Calli-
machus described both Molorchus and Hecale as old, there was a general
fondness for indicating that the hospitable people were advanced in
years. Ovid's Alexandrian predecessor gave this impression of Philemon
and Baucis.
In the original folk tale the essential idea had been a test of char-
acter, which Jupiter and Mercury applied to the people of a certain
district. But the Alexandrian author gave his main attention to the
entertainment. In accord with both the famous examples of Callimachus,
he described the preparation of an evening meal and indicated a pleas-
ant bustle of the elderly host. But, since Baucis would have the more
active part in household affairs, the author turned for most of his
details to the story of Hecale. Callimachus had suggested the poverty
of the old woman by describing her residence as humble and ill-furnished.
Among other matters he spoke of her inviting Theseus to sit on a bench,
which she covered with a rough cloth; and he may have noted that she
prepared supper on an unsteady table, which she had to prop with some
broken pottery. Ovid's Alexandrian predecessor described in a similar
way the home of Philemon and Baucis.
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? PHILEMON AND BAUCIS
Callimachus told of Hecale's-offering simple food produced in the
immediate vicinity, and he mentioned bacon, olives, and herbs from her
garden. The unknown Alexandrian author described a meal of this kind
as offered by Baucis. Callimachus may have intended to suggest poverty
also, by describing the meal as poor and scanty, for we do not know of
his mentioning anything else. But Theocritus had indicated in his
account of Polyphemus and in other poems that, although the country
folk had simple food, it was appetizing and pleasantly abundant. The
idea may have been usual in Alexandrian descriptions of idyllic life, for
it occurred repeatedly in similar passages of Vergil. Ovid's Alexan-
drian predecessor appears to have given this idea of the meal prepared
by Philemon and Baucis. He noted that after the more substantial part
of the supper they offered a second course, and he mentioned as one item
dry dates -- a characteristic dish of peasants in Egypt and the warmer
part of Asia Minor but not in Bithynia.
In more than one Alexandrian tale the host felt that he ought also
to honor his visitor by making a sacrifice. Molorchus offered to kill his
ram in honor of Hercules, and Hecale offered to make a sacrifice in
honor of Theseus. Hyrieus planned to kill his ox for the sake of his
three divine guests. For a similar reason Philemon and Baucis offered
to kill their only gander. In the story of Molorchus, Hercules forbade
the sacrifice of the ram, and in the tale of Philemon and Baucis the gods
forbade the killing of the gander. Molorchus and Hecale knew from the
beginning the identity of the visitor. But Hyrieus did not realize that
he was entertaining gods until his guests mentioned the name of Jupiter.
Philemon and Baucis learned the nature of their visitors by a more re-
markable occurrence. In many German legends and fairy tales a bowl
of wine, which had become empty, refilled itself magically. The same
incident occurred in the Greek story of Philemon and Baucis and af-
forded a means for revealing the divine character of the guests.
The author of the Odyssey had pictured Eumaeus as stating that
Jupiter was patron of travelers and expected the pious to treat them
hospitably. Philemon and Baucis had shown piety to Jupiter and will-
ingness to serve him. Their reward was in harmony with this idea.
After transforming their hut into a temple, Jupiter bade them say what
they most desired. They wanted to continue serving him, on a more
dignified level, as priest and priestess of the temple. They wished also
to spend the rest of their lives together and to die at the same time.
After some years Philemon was transformed into an oak tree and Baucis
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
into a linden. Their trunks stood close together, and their branches
interlaced. And these two trees became a local shrine.
Although other Roman poets showed more fondness for describing
simple life, Ovid shared the general feeling. His Fasti treated the theme
both in the incident of his own visit to the Peligni and in the tales of
Celeus and Hyrieus. But it was only in the story of Philemon that he
described idyllic life at some length and made it the center of attention.
Ovid seems to have repeated the circumstances given by his predecessor
but to have improved the effect with further details suggested by other
poets or by his own observation. Realizing the similarity of the story
to that of Hyrieus, he altered a few circumstances to give variety.
Ovid spoke first of Jupiter and Mercury as traveling in the guise
of mortals, and he noted that Mercury had laid aside his wings. In the
manner of a folk tale he mentioned their applying for shelter at a
thousand houses and being a thousand times repelled.
At last they came
to a small, thatched cottage. There the aged Philemon and Baucis had
spent their lives -- in poverty, but honestly and cheerfully accepting
their lot. They had no servant, Ovid continued, and neither exercised
dominion over the other but both shared their labors in mutual love and
respect. Ovid intended to show Hyrieus inviting the gods to his hut, and
so he spoke of Philemon as merely acceding to their request. He noted
their stooping in order to enter Philemon's lowly door.
In most tales of this kind the visitor arrived at the close of day and
received a supper and lodging for the night. In the tale of Hyrieus, Ovid
intended to follow the usual custom and to give a beautiful description
of the deepening dusk. He wanted to make the story of Philemon differ-
ent. Without stating the time, he implied that it was noon. And,
although he spoke of Philemon and Baucis as offering a meal, he said
nothing about lodging for the night. This change had the further ad-
vantage of allowing him to avoid delay in the conclusion of the story.
Following the Alexandrian custom, Ovid told in minute detail how
Baucis prepared the fire and got it burning under her little bronze
caldron. Horace had shown the farmer Ofellus mentioning cabbage
and ham as staple articles of food in the country. And Vergil's poem
called Moretum had spoken of Simylus as growing cabbages and other
vegetables in his carefully irrigated truck garden. Ovid spoke of Phile-
mon as fetching a cabbage from his well watered garden and as taking
down some ham from the smoky beam. Among the prehistoric Greeks,
meat always seems to have been cooked by roasting over the fire. The
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? PHILEMON AND BAUCIS
Alexandrians and Romans had learned to boil it. But Vergil had implied
that his Trojans boiled the venison brought in by Aeneas. Ovid went
further and stated clearly that meat was boiled, not only in the cannibal
feasts prepared by Lycaon and by Procne (Bk. 6) but also in the pleas-
ant country repast prepared by Baucis.
Callimachus had shown Hecale conversing with Theseus, while the
meal was cooking. The dialogue served pleasantly to bring out her
character, but its chief purpose was to let Theseus tell her of his quest.
In the tale of Philemon and Baucis this reason did not exist, and the
Greek author probably gave no conversation. Ovid noted that Philemon
and his guests beguiled the time with talk. It is unlikely that he quoted
any words, but at this point the manuscript is confused. It seems to
state only that Philemon offered his guests warm water in a wooden basin
for bathing their feet.
As in the previous tale of Acheloiis, Ovid assumed that people of
early times followed the contemporary practice of reclining at meals.
He described the humble nature of the couch which the old people made
ready for the gods. In the Roman countryside the most accessible and
convenient sort of wood appears to have been willow. Vergil had ob-
served in his Copa that the sickle of Priapus was carved from such
wood. Ovid noted that willow was the material used for the frame of the
couch. The mattress was made of coarse sedge grass. Over it the old
people spread drapery, which they reserved only for special occasions;
but even this was poor and worn by long use -- befitting a willow couch.
The Romans of Ovid's day preferred to eat their meals on a round table,
which had under the middle a single sturdy leg. Philemon and Baucis
had an old Tashioned table supported on three legs, one of which was
short and needed propping. Following Alexandrian and earlier Roman
descriptions of country life, Ovid added that most of the dishes were
earthenware and the cups were of beech wood polished with wax.
Ovid amplified his predecessor's account of the simple but attrac-
tive viands. He seems to have chosen details from the stories of Molor-
chus and Hecale, from Horace's discourse of Ofellus, and from Vergil's
descriptions in the Copa, the Moretum, and a passage in the Georgics
about the old Corycian. Undoubtedly he profited also by his own ob-
servation. First Baucis put on the table olives, cornel cherries pickled
in wine, endives, radishes, cream cheese, and eggs which were lightly
roasted in the ashes. Since it was early autumn, the olives were partly
ripe and mottled in color. Then came the boiled ham and cabbage and
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
some wine of recent vintage. After this, Baucis put on the second
course. There were nuts, figs, dry dates, baskets of fragrant apples,
newly gathered grapes, and, as a center-piece, a comb of white honey.
Above all, there were pleasant faces and abounding good will. Ovid gave
an impression of happy abundance and of hospitality that was cordial
and generous.
Yet, when the bowl of wine filled spontaneously, the old people
thought their food too meager for gods. They offered apologies and
then tried to make a sacrifice. Among farmers of several countries, geese
have served the purpose of a watch dog. The Vedas mentioned their
watchfulness, Chaucer alluded to the idea in his Parliament of Fowls,
and it still is known to farmers of Cape Cod. * Ovid referred often to
the subject. In the tale of Coronis (Bk. 2) he already had spoken of
geese as saving the Roman Capitol from the Gauls, and in the tale of
Ceyx (Bk. 11) he spoke of them as notably absent from the Cave of
Sleep. He described the gander of Philemon and Baucis as the watch-
man of their tiny farm. The bird eluded the old people, led them back
and forth in their unavailing chase, and at last took refuge with the
gods.
Jupiter and Mercury admitted their divine nature and promised to
exempt the old people from the punishment in store for their neighbors.
They bade Philemon and Baucis accompany them to the summit of a
near-by mountain. Intent on this difficult climb, the old people had
ascended within a bowshot of the top before they turned to look back.
Seeing the newly formed lake, they lamented the death of their neighbors.
Soon they observed their hut being transformed into a marble temple
with a golden roof. Ovid repeated the incident of Jupiter's Question and
the response of the old people. He recorded also the metamorphosis of
Philemon and Baucis into trees, adding that to the last each of them
said, "Farewell, dear mate. "
Ovid showed Lelex observing that he himself heard the tale from
reliable old men of the neighborhood and that he hung a votive wreath
on the trees. Since Theseus had enjoyed similar hospitality of Hecale,
Ovid observed, appropriately, that he found the tale especially im-
pressive. He indicated that even Pirithoiis was impressed, at least for
a while.
*In Argentina farmers often rely on the similar watchfulness of a native bird
called the chajas.
Apparently the Greeks began domesticating geese only in later Homeric times,
for the Iliad always refers to geese as wild, but the Odyssey mentions them as tame in
the farm yards of Menelaiis and of Penelope.
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? PHILEMON AND BAUCIS
Ovid's narrative of Philemon and Baucis attracted many leading
authors of later times. Dry den translated it. Three other authors re-
told it at some length, all of them giving more attention to the churlish
behavior of the neighbors.
La Fontaine repeated the tale as evidence that simple life is pref-
erable to the rank and wealth of a courtier. He was impressed by the
enduring affection of Philemon and Baucis and spoke of the two trees
as being visited by those desiring a happy marriage. In the course of
the tale he introduced a number of minor changes -- usually for the
worse. But he added with good effect the idea that his old people
lamented especially the death of their neighbors' animals.
Swift, retelling the story as comic narrative in verse, adapted it to
English life of his own day. The gods became two saints, and the bowl
of wine became a jug of ale. Towards the end of the story the cottage
turned into a country church, the transformation being described with
an extraordinary amount of humorous detail. Philemon wished to be-
come a threadbare country parson. At last the old couple were meta-
morphosed into yew trees growing in the churchyard, which were
pointed out to strangers by Goodman Dobson.
Hawthorne retold the story as a delightful children's tale, with a
setting in New England. He continually introduced miraculous inci-
dents, and, since Ovid had implied that Mercury had with him his winged
staff, he made much of its supernatural behavior. Instead of suggesting
poverty by humble and meager furnishings, Hawthorne indicated it,
less happily, by scanty food and the anxiety of Baucis. He lessened the
difficulty, however, by adding that humble fare was transformed into
viands of heavenly excellence. Hawthorne suggested a more appropriate
reward for the hospitable old people. They were given ample means for
showing hospitality. Their cottage became a palace.
Still other modern authors made brief allusions to Ovid's tale.
Shakespeare was impressed by the incongruity of Jupiter in a thatched
cottage, and he referred to the idea both in Much Ado About Nothing
and As You Like It. Goethe used the names of Philemon and Baucis and
a number of the circumstances in a scene of his Faust.
Ovid's narrative inspired paintings by Primaticcio and Abbate, by
Elsheimer, Rubens, Van der Haecke, and Restout, and a sketch by
Ingres. Gounod, following chiefly the version of La Fontaine, treated
the subject in an opera that enjoyed popularity for many years.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Peoteus
After Theseus had listened to the story of Philemon and Baucis,
Ovid supposed that he wished to hear more about the wonderful doings
of the gods. Achelous proceeded to tell some of them. He noted that
sometimes, as in the tales just told, a person assumed a new form and
continued in it indefinitely, but at other times a person changed succes-
sively into a number of forms. Achelous gave three examples. In two of
them there was power of changing into an unlimited number. The first
example was the sea god Proteus, who took one new form after another.
The second was the girl Hypermnestra, who took a new shape, returned
to her former shape, and then took another new shape, and so on through
many changes. In the third example, that of Achelous himself, there
was power to change often, but the number of forms was limited. Thus
Ovid was able to include three examples of successive metamorphoses,
each example different from the others.
Of Proteus the Odyssey had given a famous account. It ran to the
following effect. While Menelaiis was returning home from Troy, he was
becalmed in the isle of Pharos, which lay near the Egyptian coast, about
twelve miles distant from the Canopic mouth of the Nile. This isle
afterwards was chosen by Ptolemy as the site of the first lighthouse ever
built, which became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. A daughter
of Proteus took pity on Menelaiis and advised him to question her
father, who knew all things. She told him that Proteus had charge of
the seals and other marine herds of Neptune and that during the noon-
day heat he would come with them to sleep in a cave by the shore. Taking
advantage of this opportunity, Menelaiis could seize Proteus and hold
him fast. The god would try to escape by changing into strange forms;
he would become every sort of reptile and even water and fire. But, if
Menelaiis should continue to hold him fast, he would resume his original
shape and give the desired information. With the daughter's aid,
Menelaiis surprised and captured Proteus. The god assumed many
forms -- on the whole different from those previously mentioned. He
became a lion with a mane, a dragon, a leopard, a huge boar, flowing
water, and a tall, leafy tree. But Menelaiis held on resolutely until he
returned to his original shape.
Other ancient authors showed interest in Proteus. Herodotus iden-
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? PROTEUS
tified him with an Egyptian god called Cetes (Sea Monster). Plato
noted in his dialogue, Euthythro, that Proteus must be held until he
speaks. Plato referred to him as proverbial for escaping by clever dis-
guises and associated him with cunning evasion of obligations. Horace,
repeating this idea in a satire, noted various metamorphoses, two of
them -- those to a bird and a rock, not mentioned before. In an epistle,
Horace associated Proteus with the kindred idea of fickleness. Most
authors continued to think of the god as residing in Pharos.
Vergil in the Georgics gave Proteus a different residence. Usually,
he said, the god lived by the island of Carpathus between Crete and
Rhodes, but occasionally he visited the shores of Thessaly. In emula-
tion of the Odyssey Vergil told how during one of these visits Aristaeus
surprised and questioned him. Vergil imagined the nymph Cyrene as
giving the hero advice and assistance. On the whole he made the story
similar to that of the Odyssey. He recorded four of the same transfor-
mations -- those to a dragon, a boar, flowing water, and fire. But he
substituted a lioness for the lion, and he added two other metamorphoses
-- to a black tigress and to an unnamed horrible beast.
Ovid repeatedly showed his interest in the transformations of Pro-
teus. In the Amores he referred to the subject as one of many strange
fictions of the poets. In the tale of Phaethon (Bk. 2) he described
Proteus as of uncertain shape. He now showed Acheloiis discussing the
sea god's remarkable powers of transformation. Since Menelaiis had
encountered Proteus after the Trojan War -- a generation later than
Theseus, Ovid could not repeat the story told in the Odyssey. But he
took most of his ideas from this famous account. The Greek author
had implied that Proteus used his powers not only at the time when
he tried to escape Menelaiis but habitually. Ovid made the idea ex-
plicit. Following the Odyssey, he mentioned changes to a lion, a boar,
a stream, and a fire. In doing this he added a few effective epithets. For
example, where his predecessor spoke of the boar as huge, Ovid described
it, more interestingly, as impetuous. He added also three new trans-
formations -- to a youth, a bull, and a stone.
It would have been possible to repeat Vergil's account of Proteus
and Aristaeus. As father of Actaeon (Bk. 3), Aristaeus would have
lived long before the time of Theseus and could have been introduced in
a tale of the remote past. But Ovid intended to use the Georgics later
and still more effectively. Vergil had gained an advantage by using
ideas of the Odyssey for a story of his own. Ovid planned to use the
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
ideas of Vergil in a similar manner for a new story of Peleus and Thetis
(Bk. 11), making Proteus the deitj' assisting the hero and Thetis the
deity who endeavored to escape by many transformations. In the story
about Peleus he intended to make Carpathus the residence of Proteus.
Perhaps for this reason he did not mention any residence in the discus-
sion of Acheloiis.
Ovid's account of Proteus was in itself inconspicuous. During the
Middle Ages it seems to have aroused no particular interest in the sub-
ject. But during the Renaissance, when the Odyssey and the Georgics
became accessible, Ovid's version undoubtedly encouraged men to seek
further information in these poems and contributed to a lively interest
in Proteus and his numerous changes.
