The
god lifted the crumpled form in his arms.
god lifted the crumpled form in his arms.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
Greek authors had
mentioned his taking this form in the courtship of Asterie and Aegina
(cf. Arachne, Bk. 6). Greek artists had shown Jupiter as an eagle car-
rying off a certain Thalia. The Alexandrians imagined a transforma-
tion of the same kind for the sake of Ganymede. Both paintings and
coins often represented Jupiter as the eagle carrying the boy in his
talons. Probably the same idea occurred also in the work of some Alex-
andrian author, for afterwards Jupiter's disguise was mentioned re-
peatedly by Nonnus.
In the Metamorphoses Ovid retold the famous tale. Probably be-
cause it was familiar to his contemporaries, he made it brief. He seems
to have followed an Alexandrian author whom we can no longer identify,
but he may have added a few circumstances from Vergil. In love with
Ganymede, he said, Jupiter found a shape which he desired even more
than his own, that of the bird which is able to carry his thunderbolts.
332
? ? 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
? GANYMEDE
Borne on these assumed wings, he stole the descendant of Ilus, who
against the will of Juno still serves him with nectar.
After Ovid's time the story of Ganymede continued to attract at-
tention. Many authors evidently recalled Vergil's allusion in the Aeneid.
Prominent among them were Dante in the Purgatorio and Tennyson in
Will Waterproof's Monologue. But a number of authors remembered
Ovid. Clement of Alexandria noted Ganymede and Hyacinthus as fa-
vorites of the gods. Spenser described Fancy as comparable in beauty
to Hylas or
that imp of Troy
Whom Jove did love and chose his cup to bear.
Milton observed in the Seventh Latin Elegy that Cupid appeared to him
in the guise of a youth, beautiful as Ganymede or Hylas. Boiardo and
Marini made important allusions to the abduction of Ganymede. The
flight of the eagle with the boy inspired lyrics of Goethe and Bulwer
Lytton and also a brilliant stanza in Tennyson's Palace of Art. Other
poets in tales of their own imitated the idea of the eagle's raising the
boy to the skies. Petrarch declared that he himself was the bird which
mounted high in air and uplifted her whom he honored in his verse.
Chaucer in The House of Fame told of being raised on high by Jove's
eagle and recalled Ganymede, who was carried off to be the god's
"butler. "
The idea that Ganymede continued as Jupiter's attendant inter-
ested leading poets of the Renaissance. Ariosto declared Alcina's feast
superior even to a banquet of Jupiter, with Ganymede attending. Milton
observed in Paradise Regained that Satan had ready, to serve his
banquet,
Fair stripling youths rich-clad, of fairer hue
Than Ganymede or Hylas.
And Shakespeare's Rosalind, disguising herself as a man, took no worse
name than Jove's own page. In Cymbeline, Shakespeare remembered
the eagle as Jove's bird.
The abduction of Ganymede was a popular theme for modern
artists. It inspired paintings by Rembrandt, von Marees, and Moreau,
a burlesque by Rubens, and a masterpiece by Correggio. It also at-
tracted the sculptors Filarete, Cellini, and Thorwaldsen. The sculptor
Bartolemeo gave an unusual version, with Ganymede riding on the
eagle. The painter Vanloo pictured Ganymede after his arrival on Mt.
Olympus.
333
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Hyacinthus
With Ganymede, the favorite of Jupiter, Ovid imagined that
Orpheus associated Hyacinthus, a favorite of Apollo.
The tradition of Hyacinthus grew up in Laconia and was related
in some measure to Sparta, but still more to Amyclae, a town on the
River Eurotas a few miles to the southeast. The prehistoric inhabitants
of Laconia worshiped Hyacinthus as a god of the spring season, who
departed beneath the earth with the coming of the hot, dry summer. Pre-
sumably they thought of his returning after a brief period, in manner
similar to that of Bacchus, Attis, and Adonis. They represented him by
the figure of a mature man. According to one part of the tradition, he
was father of the maidens called Hyacinthides, whose memory was hon-
ored at Athens. Pausanias described the grave of Hyacinthus at Amy-
clae. It was both a tomb and an altar. On the front it had a door, which
was opened when offerings were to be presented, and on this door the
Alexandrian sculptor Nicias had carved in relief the bearded Hyacinthus
and his sister Polyboea ascending to heaven.
The Dorian Greeks, who subdued Laconia at the beginning of his-
torical times, adopted the worship of Hyacinthus but combined it with
worship of their own gods and especially with that of Apollo. Accord-
ing to Pausanias, the tomb and altar at Amyclae was also the pedestal
for a great statue of Apollo, and Nicias had represented Hyacinthus
and Polyboea as escorted to heaven by Ceres, Pluto, Proserpina, and
with this form of the tradition. He declared that Apollo intended to
other divinities of the Greeks. Ovid seems to have had no acquaintance
honor Hyacinthus with a place in heaven, as Jupiter honored Gany-
mede, but was prevented by his untimely end.
The death and resurrection of Hyacinthus were commemorated by
an annual festival called the Hyacinthia. It occurred at some time later
than the middle of May. But Ovid indicated a period within a month
after the vernal equinox. In this he probably followed Nicander. Ovid
appears to have imagined a spring celebration like those of Bacchus,
and Attis. The Laconian festival honored both Hyacinthus and Apollo.
It continued for three days. The first day was a time of profound
mourning. Then followed a period of jubilation. Euripides in his Helen
mentioned revels by night and sacrifice of oxen. To this festival the
334
? ? 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
? HYACINTHUS
Laconians attached great importance. According to Herodotus and
others, they had been known to give up a military campaign in order
to go home and attend it.
Tradition declared that Apollo and Hyacinthus had engaged in the
pastime of throwing the discus. Presumably this event occurred near
the town of Amyclae. The game was well known to the Greeks of the
Homeric Age and continued popular throughout ancient times. Statius
described it at some length in his Thebaid. The discus of the earliest
period was made of stone. It was given a circular form, and it weighed
between four and five pounds. Keeping within limits which were marked
off to the right and left, each contestant was supposed to throw the dis-
cus as far as he could. Tradition noted that by some accident Apollo
killed Hyacinthus. According to Euripides, the discus went outside the
proper limit. Nicander observed in his Theriaca that it struck Hya-
cinthus in the temple. Apollo ordered the festival to be held annually in
his memory.
With the beginning of Alexandrian times, the story had become
very popular. Alexandrian authors mentioned a number of additional
circumstances. Many authors referred to Hyacinthus as the offspring of
Amyclas, king of Sparta. Nicander seems to have called him a grandson
of Amyclas and the son of a later king, Oebalus. This idea Ovid repeated
both in his own account of the story and later in his tale of Ajax (Bk.
13). Most authors regarded Hyacinthus as a native of Sparta. Ovid
followed them in his Metamorphoses, but in his Fasti spoke of him as
born in the village of Therapne, to the southeast. Alexandrian authors
departed very much from the older conception of Hyacinthus. They
regarded him not as a god but as a mortal, and they described him not
as a mature man but as a boy who was loved by Apollo. The Manual
stated this idea explicitly.
In the Laconian festival there appears to have been no thought of
relating Hyacinthus to any particular flower. But Alexandrian authors
continually associated him with the blossom of a plant which they called
the hyacinth. Among the Greeks, this flower seems always to have been
popular. The Homeric Hymn to Ceres mentioned it as one of the blos-
soms gathered by Proserpina, and Theocritus noted in his Tenth Idyll
that violets and hyacinths were favorites for garlands. According to the
Alexandrian authors, Apollo metamorphosed blood of the dying youth
into the well known flower. In the Metamorphoses, Ovid accepted this
335
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
idea. In the Fasti he declared that Flora performed the act of trans-
formation.
Like the crocus and violet and other flowers which were said to
have originated from human blood, the hyacinth was described as having
a color which resembled the sanguine hue. Theocritus called both the
violet and the hyacinth black. Other writers mentioned a shade of
purple. The hyacinth was described as unusual in having petals marked
with white. These markings were thought to have the shape of Greek
letters, an idea noted by Theocritus. Certain authors identified them
as the two capitals alpha and iota. Taken together, they would spell
the Greek interjection AI, corresponding to our phrase "O dear! ", and
both Euphorion and the Elegy for Bion referred to them as recording
the distressed cries of Apollo after the death of his favorite.
Euphorion spoke of the markings of the hyacinth as identical also
with the first two letters of the name Ajax. They commemorated, he said,
both the favorite of Apollo and the great son of Telamon. Vergil in his
Third Eclogue mentioned the double significance but explained it in an-
other way. The flower, he implied, has two groups of markings. One of
them, in memory of Ajax, takes the form of the capital letters alpha and
iota; the other, in memory of Hyacinthus, takes the form of the Greek
capital upsilon with a rough breathing, which corresponds to our letters
Hy. Evidently the flower described by these ancient authors was dif-
ferent from any that we should call a hyacinth. Modern scholars are
inclined to identify it as a species of iris.
At least three Alexandrian authors recorded the tragic story. Of
Bion's account only a few lines survive. Bion mentioned the horror of
Apollo after the fatal accident, his resorting in vain to the art of the
physician, and his denouncing medicine as of no avail. Nicander's ac-
count it lost. He spoke of Apollo as mourning the death of his favorite,
and he related the story to the annual appearance of the flower and the
Spartan festival. From Nicander, Ovid took the outline of the tale.
A third Alexandrian author, whom we cannot identify, introduced
a new cause for the tragedy. A wind god, either Zephyr or Boreas, was
an unsuccessful rival of Apollo for the boy's favor. This god spitefully
turned the discus aside and killed the boy. The Alexandrian author
noted that Apollo reproached the wind god for his cruel deed. This ver-
sion appeared later in the work of Lucian and of Nonnus.
After Ovid had introduced the theme of Apollo's fondness for the
boy, he described the god as playing the usual part of a lover in Alex-
336
? ? 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
? HYACINTHUS
andrian and Roman poetry. A lover was described as forsaking his
usual haunts for those of his beloved. Accordingly, Apollo forsook
Delphi, in order to frequent the valley of the Eurotas. Ovid alluded to
the fact that Sparta was unfortified in its great period.
A lover was described as giving up his usual pursuits for those of
his beloved. Apollo gave up playing the cither and shooting arrows. At
this point Ovid seems to have been following Nicander. According to
another version of the tale, Apollo took the opposite course. To win the
boy's favor, he used both music and archery. Vergil in the Sixth Eclogue
mentioned Eurotas as delighted with the songs of Apollo, and Philo-
stratus declared that the god promised to instruct his favorite in using
the lyre and the bow. Tibullus had counseled anyone desirous of pleas-
ing a boy, to engage with him in sports, such as hunting and athletic
games. Ovid in the Heroides had shown Phaedra expressing a desire to
do this for the sake of Hippolytus. He now showed Apollo taking a
similar course. Tibullus had advised often allowing the boy to carry off
the honors and always doing obsequious service. Ovid observed that
Apollo dutifully carried nets, held the dogs, and accompanied Hya-
cinthus over rugged spurs of the mountains. Ovid told briefly of Apollo's
courtship, because later he wished to dwell on the more remarkable idea
that Venus acted in a similar manner for the sake of Adonis.
Ovid imagined the contest with the discus as beginning at noon,
the tragic hour of Alexandrian poets. He mentioned the time by speak-
ing of the sun as in mid-course. In the tale of Phaethon (Bk. 2) Ovid
had spoken of Apollo as driving the car of the sun. This idea was ex-
cluded by the circumstances of the contest, and Ovid resorted to an
older belief that Titan was the charioteer.
Ovid supposed that first Apollo took position for throwing the
discus. Hyacinthus waited opposite the point where the missile was
expected to land, but at a safe distance to one side. Apollo displayed
both skill and strength and hurled the discus a remarkably long way
down the field. In actual contest this could not have been especially far.
The modern world's record is about a hundred and fifty-nine feet. But
Ovid described the discus as piercing the clouds in its mighty trajectory.
As it came down, the boy imprudently ran forward, in order to reach it
as soon as possible. The discus, falling on hard ground, gave an unex-
pected bounce and hit him in the face. Although Ovid's phrase was in-
definite, he evidently recalled the idea of mortal injury and speedy death.
Ovid imagined that Apollo had near by some materials for his art
337
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
of healing, and that with them he proceeded at once to the fallen boy.
Bion had observed that Apollo applied salves to the wound and tried
all remedies, but discovered that no medicine cures against the will of
the Fates. In the tale of Coronis (Bk. 2) Ovid had told of Apollo's rub-
bing the crumpled form of his wife -- to restore the normal circulation,
and of his vainly trying his art of medicine to conquer fate. He had
spoken of Cephalus as lifting Procris in his arms and endeavoring to
staunch the flow of blood. And in the tale of Daphne he spoke of Apollo
himself as afflicted with an incurable wound. All these circumstances
Ovid recalled in describing Apollo's attempt to revive Hyacinthus.
The
god lifted the crumpled form in his arms. He tried rubbing, he en-
deavored to staunch the flow of blood, and he applied stimulating herbs.
His art was of no avail; the wound was beyond cure of medicine; and
later Ovid showed Apollo declaring that he must yield to the law of fate.
At this point Ovid remembered a famous comparison of a young
man's death to the drooping of a flower. The Iliad had mentioned the
idea when an arrow of Teucer mortally wounded a certain Gorgythion.
The poet continued: as in a garden a poppy bows its head to one side,
laden with seed and the rains of spring; so he bowed his head to one side,
laden with his helmet. Catullus, handling the same idea, altered both the
form and the nature of the comparison. He mentioned first the applica-
tion to his own theme, and he imagined the flower as suffering violence.
Lesbia's conduct, he said, had caused his love to die, as a flower at the
meadow's edge after it is uprooted by the passing plow. In two pas-
sages of the Aeneid, Vergil recalled ideas of the Iliad but used the method
of Catullus. He observed of the dying Euryalus that his neck, drooping,
lay back on his shoulders; as when a purple flower, cut underneath by
the plow, languishes dying or poppies with tired neck lower their heads,
when they are weighted with rain. And he observed that Pallas lay on
his bier, as a flower broken by a maiden's finger, either a soft violet or a
languishing hyacinth. Its luster remains no longer, while its beauty de-
parts, nor does mother earth nourish it and provide strength.
Ovid followed the Iliad in giving the comparison first, and he elab-
orated his details from Vergil. As when in a garden, he said, someone has
broken violets or a stiff poppy or lilies bristling with tawny stamens,
fainting suddenly, they droop their withered heads and no longer can
stand erect but with their tops gaze on the earth; so the boy's dying
face sank down, and his neck, not having strength to bear its own weight,
lay back on his shoulder.
338
? ? 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
? HYACINTHUS
Although Nicander had spoken of Apollo's mourning for Hya-
cinthus, Ovid appears to have been the first to record a speech of lament.
The god blamed himself for shortening the boy's life but pleaded good
intentions. Regretting that he could neither restore life to his favorite
nor share his death, he predicted the boy's continual association with
his worship, as a new variety of flower. In accord with Euphorion, Ovid
showed Apollo observing that it should recall not only Hyacinthus but
at a later time Ajax, and that its petals were to be inscribed with
Apollo's lament. Ovid indicated a transformation of blood into the
flower, which was brighter than Tyrian dye and which resembled a lily,
except that a lily is white and this flower is purple. Description of a
newly created flower by likening it to some other blossom was habitual
with Ovid. He likened the heliotrope, into which Clytie had been trans-
formed, to a violet (Bk. 4) ; and later he compared the windflower, which
grew from blood of Adonis, to a blossom of the pomegranate. Ovid
mentioned Apollo's writing on the petals the words AI Al. Then, follow-
ing Nicander, he ended with the Spartan festival of the Hyacinthia.
In later times many authors recalled Ovid's tale. Marini repeated
it at some length in his Adonis. Statius, remembering Apollo's ability
with the discus, noted that one of his own contestants made a discus sail
through the clouds. Spenser mentioned, as the theme of a picture in the
House of Busyrane, Apollo lamenting the death of his favorite, and
added that Hyacinthus continues to live as a pansy. Spenser also men-
tioned the flower of Hyacinthus as appearing in the garden of Adonis.
Milton declared that Winter, who killed the Fair Infant, had no power
to commemorate her as Apollo commemorated Hyacinthus. In a Latin
poem, Nature and Old Age, Milton predicted that always the flower of
Phoebus should retain its fragrance and beauty. Camoens in his descrip-
tion of the Isle of Venus and Milton in Lycidas referred to the blossom
as inscribed with a word of lament. Pliny spoke of the white marks as
honoring both Hyacinthus and Ajax. Keats, forgetting the precise
nature of the metamorphosis, observed in his Endymion that his Indian
maiden proposed restoring the plant of Hyacinthus to its human form.
And Shakespeare in Venus and Adonis appears also to have forgotten
the precise nature of the change, for he declared that blood of Adonis
became a purple flower not inscribed, but checkered, with white.
Bosio used the classic tale as the theme of a painting.
339
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
The Cerastae and the Propoetides
With the pride which Sparta felt as the native place of Hya-
cinthus, Ovid showed Orpheus contrasting the shame which Amathus
felt as the native place of heinous offenders. In Greek times, Amathus
was an important town on the island of Cyprus. Ovid alluded to its
fame as a center of rich copper mines. The town was well known also
for worship of Venus. Ovid applied to the island as a whole the name
Ophiusa (Land of Snakes). This title had been given to other Mediter-
ranean Isles, but Ovid was alone in attributing it to Cyprus.
Ovid mentioned two households which brought disgrace on Ama-
thus. We know them only from his account. Probably he had read their
story in the work of the Alexandrian historian Philostephanus.
The first household included certain big, brutal men. According to
Ovid, they were known as Cerastae, because horns protruded from their
brows. Apparently this idea of horned men was of Semitic origin, allied
to the idea of the Minotaur (Bk. 8) and of the horned Moses repre-
sented in a statue by Michelangelo. The Cerastae used to murder trav-
elers, presumably in order to rob them; and, to aggravate the crime,
they used to commit such murders on an altar dedicated to Jupiter,
Patron of Hospitality. Venus felt such horror at their conduct, said
Ovid, that she thought of abandoning Cyprus. But she considered it
wiser to end the evil by transforming the Cerastae, and, noting their
horns, she metamorphosed them into the shape of fierce bulls.
Another household included the sisters called Propoetides. They
refused to acknowledge Venus as a goddess. Like certain other offenders
against Venus, they incurred the punishment of abnormal lust (cf.
Byblis, Bk. 9), and they became prostitutes, reputed to have been the
earliest of their kind. In time they grew so hardened that by an easy
transition they were changed into flint.
Ovid willingly included the metamorphoses of the Cerastae and the
Propoetides, but he was interested in their stories chiefly as a means for
introducing the more important tale of Pygmalion.
340
? ? 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
? PYGMALION
Pygmalion
From the tale of the Propoetides, Ovid showed Orpheus continuing
to that of Pygmalion.
The story grew out of a popular belief that a man may fall in love
with a woman's likeness in some work of art. The same belief underlies
the modern tradition of men who fell in love with Da "Vinci's painting
of the Mona Lisa and in despair were driven to suicide. It is related
often to some work of sculpture. According to Lucian, a certain young
man of Cnidus in Caria fell in love with the beautiful statue of Venus
by Praxiteles, which stood in the temple. According to a widespread
medieval tradition, a young man, who was engaged to marry, became
fascinated by another ancient statue of Venus and unwarily put the
future wedding ring on its finger. This medieval tale included a second
aspect of the popular belief, an idea that a woman's likeness may show
corresponding passion for the man. The statue of Venus withheld the
wedding ring, when the young man tried to regain it, and, after the
wedding, it entered the nuptial chamber and prevented him from ap-
proaching his bride. In some versions of the tale, the young man at last
obtained the ring and so overcame the opposition of the statue. But in
Merimee's Venus of IUe, the bronze arms of the statue embraced him and
crushed him to death.
Both aspects of the popular belief appeared in the Phoenician tale
of King Puni-Yathon and a likeness of the goddess Astarte. The king
fell in love with the work of sculpture, and the statue made some favor-
able response. At Carthage an early medallion associated the king and
the image of the divinity. Philostephanus recorded the tale in his His-
tory of Cyprus, which now is lost. Adapting the theme to Greek readers,
he named the king Pygmalion and spoke of the statue as a likeness of
Venus. He noted that it stood in a temple of Idalium, a Cyprian town
famous for her worship. Although early examples of sculpture appear
always to have shown the goddess fully clothed, Philostephanus imag-
ined the likeness according to Alexandrian fashion and spoke of it as
representing a naked figure.
In adapting the account of Philostephanus, Ovid altered many
particulars. He described Pygmalion as merely a citizen of a town in
Cyprus. He said nothing of Idalium and implied that his events oc-
341
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
curred in Amathus. He spoke of the statue as representing a mortal
woman. And, although he showed Venus responding favorably to Pyg-
malion, it was only as a kind presiding deity. Ovid also related the story
to another idea -- that one who is deprived of congenial human society
may obtain some comfort by lavishing affection on a statue.
Euripides had introduced the idea in his Alcestis. When the queen
lay dying, King Admetus declared that he would have a sculptor make a
life-like image of her and lay it on a bed, as if she were sleeping. Then
he should gain the sad comfort of addressing it by her loved name and
of embracing it and fancying that he still held his wife. Euripides pre-
sented the idea as a project, which later events made unnecessary. Ovid
carried the idea further. In the Epistle of Laodamia he described a
similar plan as actually in operation. During the absence of Protesilaiis,
Laodamia comforted herself, so far as possible, by lavishing affection
on his waxen image. Ovid showed her adding that his image was so life-
like that, if it should speak, one would believe it to be Protesilaiis.
Ovid imagined Pygmalion as following a similar course. But his
problem required a somewhat different answer. Both Admetus and
Laodamia had found a congenial human partner. Pygmalion had not.
The notorious conduct of the Propoetides, said Ovid, had impressed him
with the vices of actual women and made him unwilling to marry any
woman of his acquaintance. Therefore the statue did not represent some
particular individual but an ideal of womanhood.
Ovid imagined that Pygmalion himself made the statue, an idea
which added greatly to the interest of the tale. But he ought to have
warned his readers that Pygmalion had some training as a sculptor.
Ovid described the statue as carved in white ivory, a material used fre-
quently in ancient sculpture. He imagined a life-size figure standing on
a low pedestal. Made in ivory, this would require skillful joining of
many pieces. Probably the ivory was laid as a veneer over some other
material. The face, said Ovid, appeared to be that of a living woman,
with a warmth of feelings which modesty held in restraint. In the Art of
Love, Ovid had observed that, if art is concealed, it has a more desirable
effect. He now remarked that Pygmalion's art by concealing itself at-
tained the effect of life. Even Pygmalion was deceived. Although he
went so far as repeatedly to touch the statue with his hand, he could not
believe that it was ivory. He fell in love with his own creation. He even
fancied that it returned his kisses and that the surface yielded under
pressure of his fingers.
342
? ? 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
? PYGMALION
Up to this point, Ovid had been adapting the tale of Philoste-
phanus. Now, adding ideas of Euripides, he skillfully elaborated them.
Pygmalion embraced the statue and addressed loving words to it. He
also brought gifts which would be pleasing to a girl, and he arrayed the
loved figure in appropriate clothing and jewels. With such adornment
it was beautiful, yet unadorned it was equally beautiful. Pygmalion
laid the statue on a bed, which he had provided with coverlets of Tyrian
purple and soft pillows, and he called it his wife.
Ovid seems to have invented the incidents which followed. At the
next ensuing festival of Venus, Pygmalion brought a gift to the altar
and timidly prayed that his future wife might be--like his ivory maiden.
Venus, understanding his intent, gave a favorable omen. The altar fire
three times leaped high in air.
Pygmalion returned home, anxious to look again on the image.
Ovid implied that it lay in a room which opened on the inner court and
that, when Pygmalion bent over the couch, behind him the sky was
visible through the open doorway. As he kissed the loved figure, it
seemed to be warm; and, as he laid his hand on the breast, the ivory be-
came more and more soft and yielding. Unwisely Ovid tried to illustrate
the sensation by an experience of his stay in Athens. It was, he said,
as if bee's wax from Mt. Hymettus were warmed in the sun and then
were moulded by the thumb into numerous forms and grew more respon-
sive with use. Pygmalion, afraid to credit the evidence of his senses,
made repeated trials. It was real flesh, with a pulse beating under his
thumb. After pouring out gratitude to Venus, Pygmalion turned again
to the maiden. Feeling his kiss on her lips, she timidly opened her eyes
and beheld at the same time the sky and her lover.
Ovid's remarkable story attracted many authors of later times.
Dryden translated it, and a number of other poets alluded to it. Some
recalled Pygmalion's success as an artist. Petrarch complimented Mar-
tini's painting of Laura by declaring that it reminded him of Pygma-
lion's achievement and awakened the regret that he could not hope to
converse in a similar manner with the beautiful likeness. Chaucer in The
Physician's Tale and Thomson in The Castle of Indolence referred to
Pygmalion as a sculptor of superlative ability. Thomson in this pas-
sage spoke of the statue as carved in marble, an idea which appeared
often in modern times. Other modern authors recalled Pygmalion's fall-
ing in love with his work. Rousseau declared in the Confessions that he
himself felt a similar susceptibility. Cowper observed gloomily in his
343
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Progress of Error that Pygmalion was an ancient example of people
who love their own productions. Shelley in his Witch of Atlas remem-
bered both Pygmalion's skill in creation and his passion for the com-
pleted work.
Others recalled the transformation of the image into a living
woman. Shakespeare referred to it vaguely in Measure for Measure.
Schiller in his lyric The Ideal described it inaccurately. He declared
that just as Pygmalion, embracing the statue, had given it feeling; so
he himself, embracing Nature, had brought inanimate objects to life.
And Petrarch in his Triumph of Love noted among the god's followers
Pygmalion and his living bride.
A number of authors retold the story. Gower in the Confessio
Amantis followed Ovid closely. But most authors handled the subject
with considerable freedom. Jean de Meun expanded Ovid's account very
much, and, while recording the gifts which Pygmalion brought the
statue, he included almost every item of feminine dress and ornament.
He also added the circumstance that Pygmalion was in doubt whether
the statue had become a woman, until she spoke. This detail he seems
to have taken from the Epistle of Laodamia. The idea that Pygmalion
was convinced by her speaking appeared often in the work of modern
authors. John Marston chose Pygmalion as the subject of his first
work, a long narrative poem.
mentioned his taking this form in the courtship of Asterie and Aegina
(cf. Arachne, Bk. 6). Greek artists had shown Jupiter as an eagle car-
rying off a certain Thalia. The Alexandrians imagined a transforma-
tion of the same kind for the sake of Ganymede. Both paintings and
coins often represented Jupiter as the eagle carrying the boy in his
talons. Probably the same idea occurred also in the work of some Alex-
andrian author, for afterwards Jupiter's disguise was mentioned re-
peatedly by Nonnus.
In the Metamorphoses Ovid retold the famous tale. Probably be-
cause it was familiar to his contemporaries, he made it brief. He seems
to have followed an Alexandrian author whom we can no longer identify,
but he may have added a few circumstances from Vergil. In love with
Ganymede, he said, Jupiter found a shape which he desired even more
than his own, that of the bird which is able to carry his thunderbolts.
332
? ? 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
? GANYMEDE
Borne on these assumed wings, he stole the descendant of Ilus, who
against the will of Juno still serves him with nectar.
After Ovid's time the story of Ganymede continued to attract at-
tention. Many authors evidently recalled Vergil's allusion in the Aeneid.
Prominent among them were Dante in the Purgatorio and Tennyson in
Will Waterproof's Monologue. But a number of authors remembered
Ovid. Clement of Alexandria noted Ganymede and Hyacinthus as fa-
vorites of the gods. Spenser described Fancy as comparable in beauty
to Hylas or
that imp of Troy
Whom Jove did love and chose his cup to bear.
Milton observed in the Seventh Latin Elegy that Cupid appeared to him
in the guise of a youth, beautiful as Ganymede or Hylas. Boiardo and
Marini made important allusions to the abduction of Ganymede. The
flight of the eagle with the boy inspired lyrics of Goethe and Bulwer
Lytton and also a brilliant stanza in Tennyson's Palace of Art. Other
poets in tales of their own imitated the idea of the eagle's raising the
boy to the skies. Petrarch declared that he himself was the bird which
mounted high in air and uplifted her whom he honored in his verse.
Chaucer in The House of Fame told of being raised on high by Jove's
eagle and recalled Ganymede, who was carried off to be the god's
"butler. "
The idea that Ganymede continued as Jupiter's attendant inter-
ested leading poets of the Renaissance. Ariosto declared Alcina's feast
superior even to a banquet of Jupiter, with Ganymede attending. Milton
observed in Paradise Regained that Satan had ready, to serve his
banquet,
Fair stripling youths rich-clad, of fairer hue
Than Ganymede or Hylas.
And Shakespeare's Rosalind, disguising herself as a man, took no worse
name than Jove's own page. In Cymbeline, Shakespeare remembered
the eagle as Jove's bird.
The abduction of Ganymede was a popular theme for modern
artists. It inspired paintings by Rembrandt, von Marees, and Moreau,
a burlesque by Rubens, and a masterpiece by Correggio. It also at-
tracted the sculptors Filarete, Cellini, and Thorwaldsen. The sculptor
Bartolemeo gave an unusual version, with Ganymede riding on the
eagle. The painter Vanloo pictured Ganymede after his arrival on Mt.
Olympus.
333
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Hyacinthus
With Ganymede, the favorite of Jupiter, Ovid imagined that
Orpheus associated Hyacinthus, a favorite of Apollo.
The tradition of Hyacinthus grew up in Laconia and was related
in some measure to Sparta, but still more to Amyclae, a town on the
River Eurotas a few miles to the southeast. The prehistoric inhabitants
of Laconia worshiped Hyacinthus as a god of the spring season, who
departed beneath the earth with the coming of the hot, dry summer. Pre-
sumably they thought of his returning after a brief period, in manner
similar to that of Bacchus, Attis, and Adonis. They represented him by
the figure of a mature man. According to one part of the tradition, he
was father of the maidens called Hyacinthides, whose memory was hon-
ored at Athens. Pausanias described the grave of Hyacinthus at Amy-
clae. It was both a tomb and an altar. On the front it had a door, which
was opened when offerings were to be presented, and on this door the
Alexandrian sculptor Nicias had carved in relief the bearded Hyacinthus
and his sister Polyboea ascending to heaven.
The Dorian Greeks, who subdued Laconia at the beginning of his-
torical times, adopted the worship of Hyacinthus but combined it with
worship of their own gods and especially with that of Apollo. Accord-
ing to Pausanias, the tomb and altar at Amyclae was also the pedestal
for a great statue of Apollo, and Nicias had represented Hyacinthus
and Polyboea as escorted to heaven by Ceres, Pluto, Proserpina, and
with this form of the tradition. He declared that Apollo intended to
other divinities of the Greeks. Ovid seems to have had no acquaintance
honor Hyacinthus with a place in heaven, as Jupiter honored Gany-
mede, but was prevented by his untimely end.
The death and resurrection of Hyacinthus were commemorated by
an annual festival called the Hyacinthia. It occurred at some time later
than the middle of May. But Ovid indicated a period within a month
after the vernal equinox. In this he probably followed Nicander. Ovid
appears to have imagined a spring celebration like those of Bacchus,
and Attis. The Laconian festival honored both Hyacinthus and Apollo.
It continued for three days. The first day was a time of profound
mourning. Then followed a period of jubilation. Euripides in his Helen
mentioned revels by night and sacrifice of oxen. To this festival the
334
? ? 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
? HYACINTHUS
Laconians attached great importance. According to Herodotus and
others, they had been known to give up a military campaign in order
to go home and attend it.
Tradition declared that Apollo and Hyacinthus had engaged in the
pastime of throwing the discus. Presumably this event occurred near
the town of Amyclae. The game was well known to the Greeks of the
Homeric Age and continued popular throughout ancient times. Statius
described it at some length in his Thebaid. The discus of the earliest
period was made of stone. It was given a circular form, and it weighed
between four and five pounds. Keeping within limits which were marked
off to the right and left, each contestant was supposed to throw the dis-
cus as far as he could. Tradition noted that by some accident Apollo
killed Hyacinthus. According to Euripides, the discus went outside the
proper limit. Nicander observed in his Theriaca that it struck Hya-
cinthus in the temple. Apollo ordered the festival to be held annually in
his memory.
With the beginning of Alexandrian times, the story had become
very popular. Alexandrian authors mentioned a number of additional
circumstances. Many authors referred to Hyacinthus as the offspring of
Amyclas, king of Sparta. Nicander seems to have called him a grandson
of Amyclas and the son of a later king, Oebalus. This idea Ovid repeated
both in his own account of the story and later in his tale of Ajax (Bk.
13). Most authors regarded Hyacinthus as a native of Sparta. Ovid
followed them in his Metamorphoses, but in his Fasti spoke of him as
born in the village of Therapne, to the southeast. Alexandrian authors
departed very much from the older conception of Hyacinthus. They
regarded him not as a god but as a mortal, and they described him not
as a mature man but as a boy who was loved by Apollo. The Manual
stated this idea explicitly.
In the Laconian festival there appears to have been no thought of
relating Hyacinthus to any particular flower. But Alexandrian authors
continually associated him with the blossom of a plant which they called
the hyacinth. Among the Greeks, this flower seems always to have been
popular. The Homeric Hymn to Ceres mentioned it as one of the blos-
soms gathered by Proserpina, and Theocritus noted in his Tenth Idyll
that violets and hyacinths were favorites for garlands. According to the
Alexandrian authors, Apollo metamorphosed blood of the dying youth
into the well known flower. In the Metamorphoses, Ovid accepted this
335
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
idea. In the Fasti he declared that Flora performed the act of trans-
formation.
Like the crocus and violet and other flowers which were said to
have originated from human blood, the hyacinth was described as having
a color which resembled the sanguine hue. Theocritus called both the
violet and the hyacinth black. Other writers mentioned a shade of
purple. The hyacinth was described as unusual in having petals marked
with white. These markings were thought to have the shape of Greek
letters, an idea noted by Theocritus. Certain authors identified them
as the two capitals alpha and iota. Taken together, they would spell
the Greek interjection AI, corresponding to our phrase "O dear! ", and
both Euphorion and the Elegy for Bion referred to them as recording
the distressed cries of Apollo after the death of his favorite.
Euphorion spoke of the markings of the hyacinth as identical also
with the first two letters of the name Ajax. They commemorated, he said,
both the favorite of Apollo and the great son of Telamon. Vergil in his
Third Eclogue mentioned the double significance but explained it in an-
other way. The flower, he implied, has two groups of markings. One of
them, in memory of Ajax, takes the form of the capital letters alpha and
iota; the other, in memory of Hyacinthus, takes the form of the Greek
capital upsilon with a rough breathing, which corresponds to our letters
Hy. Evidently the flower described by these ancient authors was dif-
ferent from any that we should call a hyacinth. Modern scholars are
inclined to identify it as a species of iris.
At least three Alexandrian authors recorded the tragic story. Of
Bion's account only a few lines survive. Bion mentioned the horror of
Apollo after the fatal accident, his resorting in vain to the art of the
physician, and his denouncing medicine as of no avail. Nicander's ac-
count it lost. He spoke of Apollo as mourning the death of his favorite,
and he related the story to the annual appearance of the flower and the
Spartan festival. From Nicander, Ovid took the outline of the tale.
A third Alexandrian author, whom we cannot identify, introduced
a new cause for the tragedy. A wind god, either Zephyr or Boreas, was
an unsuccessful rival of Apollo for the boy's favor. This god spitefully
turned the discus aside and killed the boy. The Alexandrian author
noted that Apollo reproached the wind god for his cruel deed. This ver-
sion appeared later in the work of Lucian and of Nonnus.
After Ovid had introduced the theme of Apollo's fondness for the
boy, he described the god as playing the usual part of a lover in Alex-
336
? ? 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
? HYACINTHUS
andrian and Roman poetry. A lover was described as forsaking his
usual haunts for those of his beloved. Accordingly, Apollo forsook
Delphi, in order to frequent the valley of the Eurotas. Ovid alluded to
the fact that Sparta was unfortified in its great period.
A lover was described as giving up his usual pursuits for those of
his beloved. Apollo gave up playing the cither and shooting arrows. At
this point Ovid seems to have been following Nicander. According to
another version of the tale, Apollo took the opposite course. To win the
boy's favor, he used both music and archery. Vergil in the Sixth Eclogue
mentioned Eurotas as delighted with the songs of Apollo, and Philo-
stratus declared that the god promised to instruct his favorite in using
the lyre and the bow. Tibullus had counseled anyone desirous of pleas-
ing a boy, to engage with him in sports, such as hunting and athletic
games. Ovid in the Heroides had shown Phaedra expressing a desire to
do this for the sake of Hippolytus. He now showed Apollo taking a
similar course. Tibullus had advised often allowing the boy to carry off
the honors and always doing obsequious service. Ovid observed that
Apollo dutifully carried nets, held the dogs, and accompanied Hya-
cinthus over rugged spurs of the mountains. Ovid told briefly of Apollo's
courtship, because later he wished to dwell on the more remarkable idea
that Venus acted in a similar manner for the sake of Adonis.
Ovid imagined the contest with the discus as beginning at noon,
the tragic hour of Alexandrian poets. He mentioned the time by speak-
ing of the sun as in mid-course. In the tale of Phaethon (Bk. 2) Ovid
had spoken of Apollo as driving the car of the sun. This idea was ex-
cluded by the circumstances of the contest, and Ovid resorted to an
older belief that Titan was the charioteer.
Ovid supposed that first Apollo took position for throwing the
discus. Hyacinthus waited opposite the point where the missile was
expected to land, but at a safe distance to one side. Apollo displayed
both skill and strength and hurled the discus a remarkably long way
down the field. In actual contest this could not have been especially far.
The modern world's record is about a hundred and fifty-nine feet. But
Ovid described the discus as piercing the clouds in its mighty trajectory.
As it came down, the boy imprudently ran forward, in order to reach it
as soon as possible. The discus, falling on hard ground, gave an unex-
pected bounce and hit him in the face. Although Ovid's phrase was in-
definite, he evidently recalled the idea of mortal injury and speedy death.
Ovid imagined that Apollo had near by some materials for his art
337
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
of healing, and that with them he proceeded at once to the fallen boy.
Bion had observed that Apollo applied salves to the wound and tried
all remedies, but discovered that no medicine cures against the will of
the Fates. In the tale of Coronis (Bk. 2) Ovid had told of Apollo's rub-
bing the crumpled form of his wife -- to restore the normal circulation,
and of his vainly trying his art of medicine to conquer fate. He had
spoken of Cephalus as lifting Procris in his arms and endeavoring to
staunch the flow of blood. And in the tale of Daphne he spoke of Apollo
himself as afflicted with an incurable wound. All these circumstances
Ovid recalled in describing Apollo's attempt to revive Hyacinthus.
The
god lifted the crumpled form in his arms. He tried rubbing, he en-
deavored to staunch the flow of blood, and he applied stimulating herbs.
His art was of no avail; the wound was beyond cure of medicine; and
later Ovid showed Apollo declaring that he must yield to the law of fate.
At this point Ovid remembered a famous comparison of a young
man's death to the drooping of a flower. The Iliad had mentioned the
idea when an arrow of Teucer mortally wounded a certain Gorgythion.
The poet continued: as in a garden a poppy bows its head to one side,
laden with seed and the rains of spring; so he bowed his head to one side,
laden with his helmet. Catullus, handling the same idea, altered both the
form and the nature of the comparison. He mentioned first the applica-
tion to his own theme, and he imagined the flower as suffering violence.
Lesbia's conduct, he said, had caused his love to die, as a flower at the
meadow's edge after it is uprooted by the passing plow. In two pas-
sages of the Aeneid, Vergil recalled ideas of the Iliad but used the method
of Catullus. He observed of the dying Euryalus that his neck, drooping,
lay back on his shoulders; as when a purple flower, cut underneath by
the plow, languishes dying or poppies with tired neck lower their heads,
when they are weighted with rain. And he observed that Pallas lay on
his bier, as a flower broken by a maiden's finger, either a soft violet or a
languishing hyacinth. Its luster remains no longer, while its beauty de-
parts, nor does mother earth nourish it and provide strength.
Ovid followed the Iliad in giving the comparison first, and he elab-
orated his details from Vergil. As when in a garden, he said, someone has
broken violets or a stiff poppy or lilies bristling with tawny stamens,
fainting suddenly, they droop their withered heads and no longer can
stand erect but with their tops gaze on the earth; so the boy's dying
face sank down, and his neck, not having strength to bear its own weight,
lay back on his shoulder.
338
? ? 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
? HYACINTHUS
Although Nicander had spoken of Apollo's mourning for Hya-
cinthus, Ovid appears to have been the first to record a speech of lament.
The god blamed himself for shortening the boy's life but pleaded good
intentions. Regretting that he could neither restore life to his favorite
nor share his death, he predicted the boy's continual association with
his worship, as a new variety of flower. In accord with Euphorion, Ovid
showed Apollo observing that it should recall not only Hyacinthus but
at a later time Ajax, and that its petals were to be inscribed with
Apollo's lament. Ovid indicated a transformation of blood into the
flower, which was brighter than Tyrian dye and which resembled a lily,
except that a lily is white and this flower is purple. Description of a
newly created flower by likening it to some other blossom was habitual
with Ovid. He likened the heliotrope, into which Clytie had been trans-
formed, to a violet (Bk. 4) ; and later he compared the windflower, which
grew from blood of Adonis, to a blossom of the pomegranate. Ovid
mentioned Apollo's writing on the petals the words AI Al. Then, follow-
ing Nicander, he ended with the Spartan festival of the Hyacinthia.
In later times many authors recalled Ovid's tale. Marini repeated
it at some length in his Adonis. Statius, remembering Apollo's ability
with the discus, noted that one of his own contestants made a discus sail
through the clouds. Spenser mentioned, as the theme of a picture in the
House of Busyrane, Apollo lamenting the death of his favorite, and
added that Hyacinthus continues to live as a pansy. Spenser also men-
tioned the flower of Hyacinthus as appearing in the garden of Adonis.
Milton declared that Winter, who killed the Fair Infant, had no power
to commemorate her as Apollo commemorated Hyacinthus. In a Latin
poem, Nature and Old Age, Milton predicted that always the flower of
Phoebus should retain its fragrance and beauty. Camoens in his descrip-
tion of the Isle of Venus and Milton in Lycidas referred to the blossom
as inscribed with a word of lament. Pliny spoke of the white marks as
honoring both Hyacinthus and Ajax. Keats, forgetting the precise
nature of the metamorphosis, observed in his Endymion that his Indian
maiden proposed restoring the plant of Hyacinthus to its human form.
And Shakespeare in Venus and Adonis appears also to have forgotten
the precise nature of the change, for he declared that blood of Adonis
became a purple flower not inscribed, but checkered, with white.
Bosio used the classic tale as the theme of a painting.
339
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
The Cerastae and the Propoetides
With the pride which Sparta felt as the native place of Hya-
cinthus, Ovid showed Orpheus contrasting the shame which Amathus
felt as the native place of heinous offenders. In Greek times, Amathus
was an important town on the island of Cyprus. Ovid alluded to its
fame as a center of rich copper mines. The town was well known also
for worship of Venus. Ovid applied to the island as a whole the name
Ophiusa (Land of Snakes). This title had been given to other Mediter-
ranean Isles, but Ovid was alone in attributing it to Cyprus.
Ovid mentioned two households which brought disgrace on Ama-
thus. We know them only from his account. Probably he had read their
story in the work of the Alexandrian historian Philostephanus.
The first household included certain big, brutal men. According to
Ovid, they were known as Cerastae, because horns protruded from their
brows. Apparently this idea of horned men was of Semitic origin, allied
to the idea of the Minotaur (Bk. 8) and of the horned Moses repre-
sented in a statue by Michelangelo. The Cerastae used to murder trav-
elers, presumably in order to rob them; and, to aggravate the crime,
they used to commit such murders on an altar dedicated to Jupiter,
Patron of Hospitality. Venus felt such horror at their conduct, said
Ovid, that she thought of abandoning Cyprus. But she considered it
wiser to end the evil by transforming the Cerastae, and, noting their
horns, she metamorphosed them into the shape of fierce bulls.
Another household included the sisters called Propoetides. They
refused to acknowledge Venus as a goddess. Like certain other offenders
against Venus, they incurred the punishment of abnormal lust (cf.
Byblis, Bk. 9), and they became prostitutes, reputed to have been the
earliest of their kind. In time they grew so hardened that by an easy
transition they were changed into flint.
Ovid willingly included the metamorphoses of the Cerastae and the
Propoetides, but he was interested in their stories chiefly as a means for
introducing the more important tale of Pygmalion.
340
? ? 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
? PYGMALION
Pygmalion
From the tale of the Propoetides, Ovid showed Orpheus continuing
to that of Pygmalion.
The story grew out of a popular belief that a man may fall in love
with a woman's likeness in some work of art. The same belief underlies
the modern tradition of men who fell in love with Da "Vinci's painting
of the Mona Lisa and in despair were driven to suicide. It is related
often to some work of sculpture. According to Lucian, a certain young
man of Cnidus in Caria fell in love with the beautiful statue of Venus
by Praxiteles, which stood in the temple. According to a widespread
medieval tradition, a young man, who was engaged to marry, became
fascinated by another ancient statue of Venus and unwarily put the
future wedding ring on its finger. This medieval tale included a second
aspect of the popular belief, an idea that a woman's likeness may show
corresponding passion for the man. The statue of Venus withheld the
wedding ring, when the young man tried to regain it, and, after the
wedding, it entered the nuptial chamber and prevented him from ap-
proaching his bride. In some versions of the tale, the young man at last
obtained the ring and so overcame the opposition of the statue. But in
Merimee's Venus of IUe, the bronze arms of the statue embraced him and
crushed him to death.
Both aspects of the popular belief appeared in the Phoenician tale
of King Puni-Yathon and a likeness of the goddess Astarte. The king
fell in love with the work of sculpture, and the statue made some favor-
able response. At Carthage an early medallion associated the king and
the image of the divinity. Philostephanus recorded the tale in his His-
tory of Cyprus, which now is lost. Adapting the theme to Greek readers,
he named the king Pygmalion and spoke of the statue as a likeness of
Venus. He noted that it stood in a temple of Idalium, a Cyprian town
famous for her worship. Although early examples of sculpture appear
always to have shown the goddess fully clothed, Philostephanus imag-
ined the likeness according to Alexandrian fashion and spoke of it as
representing a naked figure.
In adapting the account of Philostephanus, Ovid altered many
particulars. He described Pygmalion as merely a citizen of a town in
Cyprus. He said nothing of Idalium and implied that his events oc-
341
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
curred in Amathus. He spoke of the statue as representing a mortal
woman. And, although he showed Venus responding favorably to Pyg-
malion, it was only as a kind presiding deity. Ovid also related the story
to another idea -- that one who is deprived of congenial human society
may obtain some comfort by lavishing affection on a statue.
Euripides had introduced the idea in his Alcestis. When the queen
lay dying, King Admetus declared that he would have a sculptor make a
life-like image of her and lay it on a bed, as if she were sleeping. Then
he should gain the sad comfort of addressing it by her loved name and
of embracing it and fancying that he still held his wife. Euripides pre-
sented the idea as a project, which later events made unnecessary. Ovid
carried the idea further. In the Epistle of Laodamia he described a
similar plan as actually in operation. During the absence of Protesilaiis,
Laodamia comforted herself, so far as possible, by lavishing affection
on his waxen image. Ovid showed her adding that his image was so life-
like that, if it should speak, one would believe it to be Protesilaiis.
Ovid imagined Pygmalion as following a similar course. But his
problem required a somewhat different answer. Both Admetus and
Laodamia had found a congenial human partner. Pygmalion had not.
The notorious conduct of the Propoetides, said Ovid, had impressed him
with the vices of actual women and made him unwilling to marry any
woman of his acquaintance. Therefore the statue did not represent some
particular individual but an ideal of womanhood.
Ovid imagined that Pygmalion himself made the statue, an idea
which added greatly to the interest of the tale. But he ought to have
warned his readers that Pygmalion had some training as a sculptor.
Ovid described the statue as carved in white ivory, a material used fre-
quently in ancient sculpture. He imagined a life-size figure standing on
a low pedestal. Made in ivory, this would require skillful joining of
many pieces. Probably the ivory was laid as a veneer over some other
material. The face, said Ovid, appeared to be that of a living woman,
with a warmth of feelings which modesty held in restraint. In the Art of
Love, Ovid had observed that, if art is concealed, it has a more desirable
effect. He now remarked that Pygmalion's art by concealing itself at-
tained the effect of life. Even Pygmalion was deceived. Although he
went so far as repeatedly to touch the statue with his hand, he could not
believe that it was ivory. He fell in love with his own creation. He even
fancied that it returned his kisses and that the surface yielded under
pressure of his fingers.
342
? ? 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
? PYGMALION
Up to this point, Ovid had been adapting the tale of Philoste-
phanus. Now, adding ideas of Euripides, he skillfully elaborated them.
Pygmalion embraced the statue and addressed loving words to it. He
also brought gifts which would be pleasing to a girl, and he arrayed the
loved figure in appropriate clothing and jewels. With such adornment
it was beautiful, yet unadorned it was equally beautiful. Pygmalion
laid the statue on a bed, which he had provided with coverlets of Tyrian
purple and soft pillows, and he called it his wife.
Ovid seems to have invented the incidents which followed. At the
next ensuing festival of Venus, Pygmalion brought a gift to the altar
and timidly prayed that his future wife might be--like his ivory maiden.
Venus, understanding his intent, gave a favorable omen. The altar fire
three times leaped high in air.
Pygmalion returned home, anxious to look again on the image.
Ovid implied that it lay in a room which opened on the inner court and
that, when Pygmalion bent over the couch, behind him the sky was
visible through the open doorway. As he kissed the loved figure, it
seemed to be warm; and, as he laid his hand on the breast, the ivory be-
came more and more soft and yielding. Unwisely Ovid tried to illustrate
the sensation by an experience of his stay in Athens. It was, he said,
as if bee's wax from Mt. Hymettus were warmed in the sun and then
were moulded by the thumb into numerous forms and grew more respon-
sive with use. Pygmalion, afraid to credit the evidence of his senses,
made repeated trials. It was real flesh, with a pulse beating under his
thumb. After pouring out gratitude to Venus, Pygmalion turned again
to the maiden. Feeling his kiss on her lips, she timidly opened her eyes
and beheld at the same time the sky and her lover.
Ovid's remarkable story attracted many authors of later times.
Dryden translated it, and a number of other poets alluded to it. Some
recalled Pygmalion's success as an artist. Petrarch complimented Mar-
tini's painting of Laura by declaring that it reminded him of Pygma-
lion's achievement and awakened the regret that he could not hope to
converse in a similar manner with the beautiful likeness. Chaucer in The
Physician's Tale and Thomson in The Castle of Indolence referred to
Pygmalion as a sculptor of superlative ability. Thomson in this pas-
sage spoke of the statue as carved in marble, an idea which appeared
often in modern times. Other modern authors recalled Pygmalion's fall-
ing in love with his work. Rousseau declared in the Confessions that he
himself felt a similar susceptibility. Cowper observed gloomily in his
343
? ? 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
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Progress of Error that Pygmalion was an ancient example of people
who love their own productions. Shelley in his Witch of Atlas remem-
bered both Pygmalion's skill in creation and his passion for the com-
pleted work.
Others recalled the transformation of the image into a living
woman. Shakespeare referred to it vaguely in Measure for Measure.
Schiller in his lyric The Ideal described it inaccurately. He declared
that just as Pygmalion, embracing the statue, had given it feeling; so
he himself, embracing Nature, had brought inanimate objects to life.
And Petrarch in his Triumph of Love noted among the god's followers
Pygmalion and his living bride.
A number of authors retold the story. Gower in the Confessio
Amantis followed Ovid closely. But most authors handled the subject
with considerable freedom. Jean de Meun expanded Ovid's account very
much, and, while recording the gifts which Pygmalion brought the
statue, he included almost every item of feminine dress and ornament.
He also added the circumstance that Pygmalion was in doubt whether
the statue had become a woman, until she spoke. This detail he seems
to have taken from the Epistle of Laodamia. The idea that Pygmalion
was convinced by her speaking appeared often in the work of modern
authors. John Marston chose Pygmalion as the subject of his first
work, a long narrative poem.
