The
terrified
people left their homes
and took refuge in the city.
and took refuge in the city.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
and threatening the palace with fire. Then Cleopatra pleaded with
Meleager to save his people. Meleager saved them but got no reward.
This tale the hero Phoenix told in order to persuade Achilles that he
ought to accept the reward offered by Agamemnon and bring timely aid
to the Greeks.
Stesichorus told of Meleager in his poem The Boar Hunt, but his
account is lost.
The Iliad in recording the story had spoken as if Meleager were
an only son of King Oeneus. Elsewhere it noted that, before the out-
break of the Trojan War, Oeneus and his sons, including the fair
haired Meleager, were dead. Presumably these other sons were born
after the time of the Boar Hunt. But later authors thought otherwise
and often spoke of them as having some part in the adventure with the
boar. In the tale of Meleager the Iliad had spoken as if there existed
only a single Fury. Later authors thought of more than one. Aeschylus
imagined the Furies as numerous enough to form the entire chorus of
his tragedy called Eumenides. Euripides limited the number to three,
and afterwards this was the usual view. The Manual gave their names
as Tisiphone, Allecto, and Megaera. These three often entered into
Alexandrian versions of the Boar Hunt.
According to the Iliad, the Fury seems to have responded to
Althaea's curse and in some way to have caused the death of her son.
The Catalogues stated explicitly that Apollo killed Meleager with
arrows, as he fought for his country against the Curetes. It added that
one of Meleager's sisters was Deianira, who married Hercules. The
Manual, repeating the story of Meleager, agreed in most particulars
with the Iliad and the Catalogues. But it said that Meleager killed more
than one uncle, and it did not mention Apollo. This version of the tale
Ovid followed in his Epistle of Briseis to Achilles.
With the close of the sixth century B. C. the story took also a dif-
ferent form. Savage peoples often have thought it possible for a man's
soul to live permanently apart from his body and to inhabit some ani-
mal, plant, or inanimate object. While the residence of the soul is
intact, the man is immune to injury or death. But, if it were injured,
the man would suffer corresponding injury, and, if it were destroyed, he
would die*. In Australia the idea was common until recent years, and
in Rhodesia it still is current. It affected the ancient Greek tale of
? This belief was allied to the idea of a man's soul residing in his hair, which
occurred in the early Greek versions of Ovid's tale entitled King Minos and Scylla.
186
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
Meleager. The hero's soul resided in a certain piece of fire wood, and,
while this wood remained safe, he was immune to injury.
In German and Scandinavian folklore we find occasionally that a
man's soul entered a lighted candle or some other object which was
burning. The fire had to be quenched in order to save his life. This idea
appeared in the Greek tale of Meleager. The hero's soul entered a
piece of wood which was burning in the fire. His mother put out the
flame and hid the brand in a safe place. Apparently no one else, not even
Meleager himself, was aware of its importance. Carefully guarding her
secret, Althaea allowed her son to grow up and win power and fame.
But, when she heard that Meleager had killed his uncle, she burned the
fatal brand. Meleager, fighting the Curetes under the walls of Pleuron,
died with the destruction of the wood. This tale Phrynichus introduced
in his tragedy called Women of Pleuron.
Bacchylides repeated the story, adding further circumstances.
Oeneus realized his mistake, he said, and vainly tried to appease Diana
by offering many goats and oxen. When the hunters encountered the
boar, the monster fought with them for six days and killed Meleager's
brothers, Ancaeus and Agelaus. During the subsequent war, Meleager
killed two uncles. Although he did this unwittingly in a confused melee,
Althaea made no allowance for extenuating circumstances. As Meleager
vanquished a certain Clymenus, he felt life ebbing away and wept at his
untimely death. Later authors altered several of these details. They
said nothing of an attempt to appease Diana. They indicated that
Meleager's brothers took no part in the hunt and that the conflict with
the monster was much briefer. But they spoke of the boar's killing
Ancaeus, a hunter from Arcadia.
Aeschylus in his Choephorae alluded to the burning of the fatal
brand, observing that Meleager's soul had entered it immediately after
his birth. Afterwards most authors accepted this idea, but the author
of the Manual spoke of the event as occurring, more plausibly, when
Meleager was seven days old. Sophocles told of the boar hunt in his
tragedy called Meleager, but his account is lost. Nicander gave a more
precise narrative of the quarrel over spoils. Meleager, he said, claimed
both head and skin. His uncles claimed the skin for the Curetes. In the
sequel Nicander combined some ideas from the Iliad with others from
Phrynichus. When Meleager killed his uncles, Althaea was content at
first with cursing him, and Meleager refused to fight. But when the
187
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Curetes threatened Calydon, he attacked them again, and Althaea
burned the brand. All Meleager's brothers fell in battle.
Euripides in his tragedy Meleager brought in a new idea. The
prehistoric Greeks had worshipped a divine huntress not only under the
name of Diana but also under the name of Atalanta. In time they dis-
tinguished between the two and regarded Diana as a goddess and
Atalanta as a mortal. Like the nymph Callisto (Bk. 2), she was asso-
ciated with Diana's sacred animal, for she was reported to have been
nursed by a she bear, and, like Callisto, she grew up a virgin huntress
attending Diana. Atalanta was localized either in Arcadia or in Boeo-
tia. Most Greek authors thought of her as inhabiting the Arcadian
village of Tegea near Mt. Maenalus. Euripides imagined her as coming
from there to join the Calydonian hunt and as having an important part
in the fate of Meleager.
The hero, he said, was dissatisfied with Cleopatra. Falling in love
with Atalanta, he confided to his mother that he desired to marry her
and obtain fine children. Althaea opposed the plan and protested not
only to Meleager but also to Atalanta. The maiden assured Althaea
that she wished to remain a virgin huntress but added that her mode of
life should qualify one to bear fine children. Meleager's uncles learned of
his fondness for Atalanta, and they too opposed it. Before telling of the
hunt, Euripides included a brief list of the assembled heroes. Atalanta,
he said, was the first to wound the boar, and Meleager killed it.
Euripides gave a new account of the quarrel. The other hunters
had no objection to Meleager's taking the spoils, and they freely
awarded them to him. But they objected to his showing fondness for
Atalanta. When Meleager presented the spoils to her, his uncles took
them away. She appealed for redress to Meleager. Euripides gave a
new account of the death of the uncles. Meleager did not kill them un-
wittingly in a subsequent war but knowingly in the quarrel over spoils.
While he was returning to Calydon, Althaea learned their fate. She
debated with herself the contrary claims of her brothers and her son.
Deciding in favor of the brothers, she threw the brand in the fire. Too
late she repented and offered her dying son the compensation of honors
after death. Meleager declined them. Although Althaea longed to kill
herself, she lacked the courage to do it. Accius afterwards made an
adaptation of Euripides for the Roman stage. Of his work there re-
mains only a part of Althaea's soliloquy.
In the Phoenissae Euripides spoke of Atalanta as herself killing
188
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
the boar with arrows, an idea not mentioned elsewhere. He added that
after the hunt she returned to Arcadia and still was living there when
her son, Parthenopaeus, joined the expedition of the Seven against
Thebes. Callimachus referred to the boar hunters as finding no fault
with Atalanta's ability as a huntress. He noted that Atalanta took the
boar's head back to Tegea and that it still was there in his own time.
Pausanias observed that it remained in Tegea until it was carried to
Rome in the reign of Augustus.
The Manual, recording the tale of Meleager, gave both an older
version resembling that of the Iliad and a newer version resembling that
of Euripides. In the latter it introduced a number of important changes.
Meleager was thought by some to have been a child of Mars. Soon after
his birth the three Fates visited Althaea and informed her that her son
was destined to be famous and brave and to perish with a brand which
was consuming in the fire.
The Manual introduced a new account of the havoc wrought by the
monster. The boar prevented grain from being sown and destroyed
both domestic animals and human beings. The list of hunters became
very long and included not only the name of each hero but also his
parentage and native district. Four uncles of Meleager were mentioned
as taking part. After naming Atalanta, the Manual observed that some
called her the daughter of Schoeneus*. Before the heroes set out on
their dangerous quest, King Oeneus entertained them nine days.
Although the Manual spoke of Meleager's love for Atalanta, it
said nothing of opposition by his mother and uncles and gave a different
cause for the tragedy. Some of the hunters were displeased at the idea
of Atalanta's sharing in a venture which they thought suitable only for
men. Before commencing the hunt, two heroes, Cepheus and Ancaeus,
protested vigorously. They were natives of Tegea, fellow townsmen of
Atalanta. Both Apollonius and the Manual had mentioned Ancaeus as
taking a rather prominent part in the voyage of the Argo. For the time,
Meleager overcame their opposition. In recording the hunt the Manual
seems to have amplified the account of Euripides. Two hunters, Hyleus
and Ancaeus, fell victims to the fury of the beast. A third named Eury-
tion was killed accidentally by Peleus. The arrow of Atalanta struck
in the monster's back, that of Amphiariaus pierced an eye, and Meleager
drove a spear through the creature's flank into a vital spot. When
*The complete list of hunters is lost. A brief selection from it survives in the
work of Apollodorus and a longer selection in that of Hyginus.
189
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Meleager gave the spoils to Atalanta, the smoldering jealousy of the
other hunters broke out anew. Leading the opposition, the uncles de-
clared that, if Meleager did not want the spoils for himself, their claim
stood next in order of merit. After the death of Meleager, both Atalanta
and Cleopatra hanged themselves.
Sophocles had noted that Meleager's sisters mourned his death until
two of them became guinea fowl, which were known from this event by
the name of Meleagrides. The Manual alluded vaguely to their trans-
formation. Nicander gave a precise account. These two sisters, he
observed, were named Eurymede and Melanippe. Diana transformed
the girls by striking them with a wand and then transported them to a
distant island of Leros, near the shores of Caria. In this new home they
continued to mourn annually for the death of Meleager. Diana had in-
tended to metamorphose two other sisters, Deianira and Gorge, but
refrained at the wish of Bacchus.
The tale of Meleager interested many Greek painters and sculp-
tors. Some of them delighted in picturing the hero, often with an allu-
sion to the monster boar. Others presented the hunt itself. Scopas
carved the subject on a pediment of Athena's temple at Tegea. Many
sculptors used the theme to adorn Greek and Roman sarcophagi. Still
other artists showed Meleager disputing with his uncles or Althaea
burning the brand, and in portraying either subject they often repre-
sented the three Furies attending. A Neapolitan vase pictured the dying
Meleager surrounded by his family.
The older poets of Rome made few allusions to the story. Vergil in
his Aeneid showed Juno reminding herself that Diana was able to obtain
vengeance on the people of Calydon. Propertius declared that in the
Roman domain a mother never kindles fire to destroy her absent son.
Ovid recalled the tale on many occasions. In his Epistles of Acon-
tius and Cydippe he mentioned the neglect of Diana and spoke of the
goddess as causing ferocity not only in the boar but also in Althaea. In
the Epistle of Phaedra he spoke of Meleager's yielding to the charms of
Atalanta. In his Ibis he alluded to Meleager's death by the fatal brand.
In the Metamorphoses Ovid retold the whole story. Beginning with
the harvest festival of Oeneus, he used freely both the Iliad and the
Manual. Ovid implied that Oeneus did not err through mere forgetful-
ness ; and, by indicating the care with which other deities were honored,
he emphasized the neglect of Diana. In describing the monster, Ovid
may have followed suggestions of Euripides, but he added striking
190
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
details of his own. The boar, he said, was as large as the biggest bull of
Epirus, a region mentioned first by Aristotle for the remarkable size
of its cattle. The monster had red, fiery eyes and a high, unbending
neck. Its bristles stood out like spear shafts. The tusks were as long as
those of an Indian elephant. Foam drifted back from the jaws and
flecked its broad shoulders, and its hot breath shrivelled the leaves. *
In describing the devastation, Ovid recalled both the Iliad and the
Manual but chose details of his own. The boar wrought havoc from
early spring until the end of summer. It trampled both sprouting and
ripe grain, overthrew the loaded grape vines, and ruined the fruitful
olive trees. Neither dogs nor shepherd could protect the sheep, and fierce
bulls could not protect the cattle.
The terrified people left their homes
and took refuge in the city.
Following the Manual, Ovid gave a list of hunters, sometimes re-
cording them by name and at other times designating them only by
their country or family connection. He did not repeat the whole list
given in the Manual but selected enough names to indicate a large, illus-
trious company. Ovid prudently spoke of only two uncles, Toxeus and
Plexippus, as engaging in the hunt. The name Toxeus had been given
sometimes to a brother of Meleager, but Ovid seems to have been alone
in giving it to an uncle. Twenty-four other heroes Ovid took from the
Manual. t Prominent among them were Jason, Ancaeus, and the twin
sons of Leda, Castor and Pollux. These two Ovid spoke of later as
riding white horses. The idea was suggested by a familiar representa-
tion of them on Roman coins, but it was made unlikely by the circum-
stances of the hunt. Probably Ovid took also from the Manual the names
of nine other hunters, including the youthful Nestor, but we find them
only in Ovid's account.
Ovid's predecessors merely included the name and parentage of
Atalanta at some convenient point in their catalogue of hunters. Ovid
saw a chance to do better. Vergil, enumerating the Italian leaders op-
posed to Aeneas, had reserved for his emphatic final position the war-
*Ovid seems to have imagined the creature as breathing fire. The idea of fire-
breathing animals occurred often in Greek lore. It appeared regularly in the tale of
Jason taming the Colchian bulls (cf. Bk. 7), and some authors included it in three
labors of Hercules: the conquests of Diomed's horses, the Cerynitian hind, and the
Cretan Bull (cf. Bk. 9). Lucretius attributed fiery breath to the horses, Quintus
Smyrnaeus attributed it to the hind and the bull.
t Fifteen names agree with those listed both by Apollodorus and by Hyginus.
Three others, including the seer Amphiaratis, agree only with the list of Apollodorus.
Seven names, including Iolaiis and the uncle Plexippus, agree only with the list of
Hyginus.
191
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
rior maiden Camilla and had added a brilliant description of her beauty
and her effect on the spectators. Vergil set her apart and gave her
special distinction. Ovid followed Vergil's example. But, since he was
going to speak later of Atalanta as unpopular with many of the hunt-
ers, he told only of her effect on Meleager.
He spoke of Atalanta as native to Tegea in southern Arcadia,
although afterwards he inconsistently mentioned her as coming from
the north Arcadian village of Nonacris. In describing her appearance
he seems to have remembered the huntress Diana of Alexandrian sculp-
ture. He noted that Atalanta's face was maidenly for a boy and boyish
for a maiden. Ovid indicated that she was a daughter of the Arcadian
Iasus. Evidently he desired his readers to think of her as different from
Atalanta, daughter of the Boeotian Schoeneus, whom he was to speak
of later as marrying Hippomenes (Bk. 10).
Wishing the reader to sympathize with Meleager, Ovid avoided
until late in the tale any mention of his wife. The hero, he said, loved
Atalanta at once but modestly concealed his passion from her. By
observing that some god was unfavorable, Ovid suggested a tragic out-
come. He did not make it clear what was to be the cause. Euripides
had supposed that Meleager's relatives were opposed to Atalanta as the
hero's prospective wife. Ovid seemed at first to reject this opinion. He
implied that Meleager concealed his love for Atalanta from his mother
and his uncles, indicating -- to make the idea plausible -- a briefer in-
terval of preparation than the nine days recorded by the Manual. But
later, during the quarrel, he recalled Euripides and showed the uncles
alluding in a derogatory manner to the hero's love affair. The Manual
had supposed that some of the other hunters objected to Atalanta as a
woman assuming prerogatives of men. Ovid seemed to reject this idea
also, for at the beginning of the hunt, he omitted the remonstrance of
Cepheus and Ancaeus. But afterwards, in accord with the idea of the
Manual, he showed Ancaeus talking disdainfully about ineffectual weap-
ons of a girl. Although Ovid failed to make a clear decision, he seems
to have imagined opposition to Atalanta both as a favorite of Meleager
and as a huntress presuming to associate on equal terms with men.
The Odyssey, recording a boar hunt undertaken by Ulysses and the
sons of Autolycus, told of the hunters ascending a wooded mountain-
side; passing over the ridges; and entering a deep, secluded valley.
There in a thicket they encountered a huge boar. Ovid appears to have
combined these circumstances with details from the account of Euripi-
192
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
des. Leaving cultivated ground, he said, the heroes proceeded up an
open hillside to virgin forest, which crowned the summit and extended
over mountainous country behind. At the edge of the trees they set up
nets and unleashed the dogs. Then eager for danger they followed a
trail into the woods. It led them into a deep valley -- to a swampy
area, thick with reeds and small willows. In this marshy thicket the
boar assailed their dogs, breaking down the willow trees with the fury
of his advance. The heroes, deploying in a semi-circle through the
woods, boldly awaited the monster.
For the combat Ovid invented much vivid detail, and he marked the
stages carefully. The boar, he said, killed at least two heroes whose
death was not recorded in any previous account, and it compelled
Nestor to escape by vaulting into a tree. Following Apollonius, Ovid
pictured Ancaeus as wielding a two-edged axe. Ovid spoke of him as
not only arrogant, but as impious to Diana, and with the Manual he
agreed that Ancaeus perished by the tusks of the boar. Following both
Euripides and the Manual, he noted that Atalanta was the first to wound
the monster. He added that Meleager commended her and promised to
honor her --r an attractive demonstration of his feelings but also pro-
vocation to the jealous hunters.
Ovid imagined an unusual number of incidents in Meleager's combat
with the boar. First, he said, the hero wounded the beast. Then, recall-
ing the boar hunt in the Odyssey, he declared that Meleager attacked
the monster at close quarters and drove a spear through its shoulder.
The other heroes congratulated Meleager and gazed at the huge beast,
still hardly daring to touch it. Then each hunter dipped his spear in
the blood. Probably Ovid remembered a savage idea that virtues of a
fallen enemy could be absorbed by eating part of his flesh or by contact
with his blood.
In telling of the quarrel Ovid seems to have elaborated the story
given by the Manual. He implied that both the skin and the head of the
boar were removed from the carcass and were awarded to Meleager.
The hero immediately presented them to Atalanta, and she rejoiced not
only at the gift but also at the giver. The other hunters were displeased
and uttered a general murmur of disapproval. If they felt both jealousy
of Atalanta and resentment at Meleager's fondness for her, this would
have been probable. But Ovid's narrative had not prepared the reader
for such general dissent. The uncles, asserting their claim as next in
order, threatened Atalanta and even suggested that Meleager would
193
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
lack the courage to defend her. Ovid noted appropriately that Meleager
was called a son of Mars. Perhaps to increase the sense of unheeding
rage, he did not say that Atalanta appealed for redress. He told clearly
Meleager's unsparing vengeance.
For the conduct of Althaea, Ovid probably recalled Euripides. He
first indicated the following events. As soon as Meleager killed the boar,
a messenger ran with this good news to the palace. Althaea, proceeding
at once to the temple, offered thanks to the gods for her son's victory.
Before she had ended the ceremony, a bier arrived with the dead bodies
of Toxeus and Plexippus. Althaea did not wait to learn more but re-
turned, loudly lamenting, to the palace and put on mourning. Then
she heard the circumstances of her brothers' death and longed for ven-
geance. Ovid retold briefly the traditional story of the prophecy given
at Meleager's birth, adding that the Fates themselves laid the piece of
wood on the fire. This brand the mother now took from its place of
concealment. She ordered servants to fetch and light a heap of kindling
and then prepared to throw the brand into the flames.
Euripides had imagined Althaea's hesitating between desire to
avenge her brothers and natural love for her son. Ovid saw a chance to
dwell on the extraordinary conflict of passions. First he described
Althaea's appearance and behavior -- how again and again her face
reddened with anger and her eyes flashed as she moved to throw the
wood on the fire, how again and again she turned pale and shed tears of
pity as she suddenly drew back. He likened her, effectively, to a ship
borne back and forth with the contrary forces of wind and tide.
Then Ovid showed Althaea debating the question in a soliloquy.
Recalling the idea of Greek artists, he noted that she invoked the three
Furies to witness an act of vengeance which was to cost the life of her
son. But again she oscillated between contrary desires. She spoke of
Meleager as the only hope of his father and the state. Here Ovid seems
to have followed the idea of the Iliad that Meleager was the only son,
although later he mentioned the hero's brothers. At last Althaea re-
flected that twice she had given Meleager life -- once at his birth and
again with the quenching of the brand, and that he had repaid the gift
by murdering her brothers. This idea proved decisive. She resolved on
vengeance -- although she felt that it meant her own death.
Ovid had been describing not only a conflict of passions but also a
conflict of duties. Althaea felt at the same time an obligation to avenge
her brothers and a contrary obligation to protect her son. She believed
?
194
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
that she must choose between them and heed one at the cost of disregard-
ing the other. Ovid might well have been content with letting the reader
see clearly this tragic situation. But he could not resist a temptation
to go further and to dazzle him with examples of verbal paradox. In-
stead of keeping attention on the anguish of a mother obliged to trample
under foot her dearest feelings, he diverted it to conceits, such as "to
soothe the ghosts of her blood relations with blood, she was pious by
impiety. "
While describing the fatal result, Ovid introduced a new idea. Skil-
fully he suggested an identity of the wood and the hero. As the brand
fell among the flames, it seemed to utter a groan, and it burned with
difficulty -- as if it were a human body. In describing the parallel expe-
rience of Meleager, Ovid recalled Vergil's account of Dido in love, whom
an unseen fire consumed from within.
Although Meleager still was far away and unaware of his mother's
act, his flesh seemed to burn and his vitals to be scorching with unseen
fire. This agony he bore with fortitude. But he lamented that he was to
die passively without glory, and he envied the fate of Ancaeus. As his
strength waned, he called the names of his father, brothers, and sisters,
his wife, and perhaps also his mother. It had been usual to imagine the
family as present during his last moments. Ovid wisely implied the con-
trary and allowed him to remain unaware that he suffered by his mother's
hand. The pain decreased with the fire, and the spirit departed, as ashes
overspread the glowing coals. This was one of the few occasions when
Ovid reached the level of heroic poetry.
Tradition had implied that during these tragic events Oeneus re-
mained strangely passive. Ovid increased the impression by implying
that he was absent even at the time of Meleager's death. He gave the
idea plausibility by suggesting more than once that Oeneus was very old.
In the Epistle of Deianira, Ovid had mentioned an otherwise unknown
idea that Althaea killed herself with a sword. This he repeated in his
Metamorphoses.
The Manual had recorded also the deaths of Meleager's brothers
and of Cleopatra. Ovid may have expected his readers to recall the
fact and to think of this further loss as increasing the national calamity.
But he spoke as if the grief of Calydon were entirely on account of
Meleager, and his description made it appear excessive. The poet of the
Iliad had observed that he could not enumerate the soldiers of the Greeks,
even if he had ten tongues, ten mouths, and a tireless voice. Vergil in the
195
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Georgics had declared that he could not name all varieties of trees, even
if he had a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, and a voice of iron; and
in the Aeneid, he repeated the idea, referring to the punishments of Tar-
tarus. Ovid declared that, if he had a hundred mouths each with a
tongue, a master's genius, and all the gifts of Helicon, he could not tell
the grief of Meleager's sisters. And, although he improved the epic
formula, his context gave a painful sense of anticlimax.
Although Meleager had suffered the tortures of fire, Ovid thought
of his body as unconsumed. The Calydonians were able to cremate it in
the usual manner and to lay his ashes under a monumental stone. At
every stage of the ceremony Meleager's sisters renewed their grief.
Following the account of Nicander, Ovid noted that Diana spared
Gorge and Deianira but metamorphosed the other two into birds.
For men of later times Ovid's narrative of Atalanta and Meleager
became the version which was at once the most accessible and the most
brilliant. It attracted a number of leading authors. Chaucer in his
Troilus and Cressida showed Cassandra telling Troilus the whole story.
Dryden translated Ovid's work, censuring in a preface its loose connec-
tion with the preceding tales of the book. Swinburne's Atalanta in
Calydon followed chiefly the Meleager of Euripides but continually took
ideas from the Metamorphoses. Anxious, like Ovid, to have the reader
sympathize with Meleager, Swinburne went still further and implied
that his hero was unmarried.
Erasmus appears to have been impressed by the offerings which
Oeneus made to the gods and by their failure because of the ill nature of
Diana. He described Folly as being complacent -- in contrast with
other deities, who are so scrupulous and exacting that it often is less
dangerous manfully to defy them than sneakingly to attempt the diffi-
cult task of pleasing them.
The formidable boar attracted several interesting references.
Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra showed the queen of Egypt in-
accurately likening Antony's anger to that of the boar of Thessaly.
And in Venus and Adonis Shakespeare took from Ovid many details for
the goddess's long description of the boar. Boethius, describing the
Erymanthean boar, remembered Ovid's idea that foam drifted back and
flecked the animal's shoulders. In the Knight's Tale Chaucer spoke of
the Calydonian hunt as pictured on the walls of Diana's temple. And
Tasso seems to have remembered both Vergil's enumeration of warriors
and Ovid's list of Calydonian hunters, when he closed his account of
196
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
Mohammedan leaders with a gorgeous description of the sorceress Ar-
mida.
The fatal brand was remembered more than once. When Dante
asked how it was possible for spirits of the gluttons to become lean with
hunger, Virgil noted that it was fully as remarkable for Meleager to
perish with the brand. 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.
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
and threatening the palace with fire. Then Cleopatra pleaded with
Meleager to save his people. Meleager saved them but got no reward.
This tale the hero Phoenix told in order to persuade Achilles that he
ought to accept the reward offered by Agamemnon and bring timely aid
to the Greeks.
Stesichorus told of Meleager in his poem The Boar Hunt, but his
account is lost.
The Iliad in recording the story had spoken as if Meleager were
an only son of King Oeneus. Elsewhere it noted that, before the out-
break of the Trojan War, Oeneus and his sons, including the fair
haired Meleager, were dead. Presumably these other sons were born
after the time of the Boar Hunt. But later authors thought otherwise
and often spoke of them as having some part in the adventure with the
boar. In the tale of Meleager the Iliad had spoken as if there existed
only a single Fury. Later authors thought of more than one. Aeschylus
imagined the Furies as numerous enough to form the entire chorus of
his tragedy called Eumenides. Euripides limited the number to three,
and afterwards this was the usual view. The Manual gave their names
as Tisiphone, Allecto, and Megaera. These three often entered into
Alexandrian versions of the Boar Hunt.
According to the Iliad, the Fury seems to have responded to
Althaea's curse and in some way to have caused the death of her son.
The Catalogues stated explicitly that Apollo killed Meleager with
arrows, as he fought for his country against the Curetes. It added that
one of Meleager's sisters was Deianira, who married Hercules. The
Manual, repeating the story of Meleager, agreed in most particulars
with the Iliad and the Catalogues. But it said that Meleager killed more
than one uncle, and it did not mention Apollo. This version of the tale
Ovid followed in his Epistle of Briseis to Achilles.
With the close of the sixth century B. C. the story took also a dif-
ferent form. Savage peoples often have thought it possible for a man's
soul to live permanently apart from his body and to inhabit some ani-
mal, plant, or inanimate object. While the residence of the soul is
intact, the man is immune to injury or death. But, if it were injured,
the man would suffer corresponding injury, and, if it were destroyed, he
would die*. In Australia the idea was common until recent years, and
in Rhodesia it still is current. It affected the ancient Greek tale of
? This belief was allied to the idea of a man's soul residing in his hair, which
occurred in the early Greek versions of Ovid's tale entitled King Minos and Scylla.
186
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
Meleager. The hero's soul resided in a certain piece of fire wood, and,
while this wood remained safe, he was immune to injury.
In German and Scandinavian folklore we find occasionally that a
man's soul entered a lighted candle or some other object which was
burning. The fire had to be quenched in order to save his life. This idea
appeared in the Greek tale of Meleager. The hero's soul entered a
piece of wood which was burning in the fire. His mother put out the
flame and hid the brand in a safe place. Apparently no one else, not even
Meleager himself, was aware of its importance. Carefully guarding her
secret, Althaea allowed her son to grow up and win power and fame.
But, when she heard that Meleager had killed his uncle, she burned the
fatal brand. Meleager, fighting the Curetes under the walls of Pleuron,
died with the destruction of the wood. This tale Phrynichus introduced
in his tragedy called Women of Pleuron.
Bacchylides repeated the story, adding further circumstances.
Oeneus realized his mistake, he said, and vainly tried to appease Diana
by offering many goats and oxen. When the hunters encountered the
boar, the monster fought with them for six days and killed Meleager's
brothers, Ancaeus and Agelaus. During the subsequent war, Meleager
killed two uncles. Although he did this unwittingly in a confused melee,
Althaea made no allowance for extenuating circumstances. As Meleager
vanquished a certain Clymenus, he felt life ebbing away and wept at his
untimely death. Later authors altered several of these details. They
said nothing of an attempt to appease Diana. They indicated that
Meleager's brothers took no part in the hunt and that the conflict with
the monster was much briefer. But they spoke of the boar's killing
Ancaeus, a hunter from Arcadia.
Aeschylus in his Choephorae alluded to the burning of the fatal
brand, observing that Meleager's soul had entered it immediately after
his birth. Afterwards most authors accepted this idea, but the author
of the Manual spoke of the event as occurring, more plausibly, when
Meleager was seven days old. Sophocles told of the boar hunt in his
tragedy called Meleager, but his account is lost. Nicander gave a more
precise narrative of the quarrel over spoils. Meleager, he said, claimed
both head and skin. His uncles claimed the skin for the Curetes. In the
sequel Nicander combined some ideas from the Iliad with others from
Phrynichus. When Meleager killed his uncles, Althaea was content at
first with cursing him, and Meleager refused to fight. But when the
187
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Curetes threatened Calydon, he attacked them again, and Althaea
burned the brand. All Meleager's brothers fell in battle.
Euripides in his tragedy Meleager brought in a new idea. The
prehistoric Greeks had worshipped a divine huntress not only under the
name of Diana but also under the name of Atalanta. In time they dis-
tinguished between the two and regarded Diana as a goddess and
Atalanta as a mortal. Like the nymph Callisto (Bk. 2), she was asso-
ciated with Diana's sacred animal, for she was reported to have been
nursed by a she bear, and, like Callisto, she grew up a virgin huntress
attending Diana. Atalanta was localized either in Arcadia or in Boeo-
tia. Most Greek authors thought of her as inhabiting the Arcadian
village of Tegea near Mt. Maenalus. Euripides imagined her as coming
from there to join the Calydonian hunt and as having an important part
in the fate of Meleager.
The hero, he said, was dissatisfied with Cleopatra. Falling in love
with Atalanta, he confided to his mother that he desired to marry her
and obtain fine children. Althaea opposed the plan and protested not
only to Meleager but also to Atalanta. The maiden assured Althaea
that she wished to remain a virgin huntress but added that her mode of
life should qualify one to bear fine children. Meleager's uncles learned of
his fondness for Atalanta, and they too opposed it. Before telling of the
hunt, Euripides included a brief list of the assembled heroes. Atalanta,
he said, was the first to wound the boar, and Meleager killed it.
Euripides gave a new account of the quarrel. The other hunters
had no objection to Meleager's taking the spoils, and they freely
awarded them to him. But they objected to his showing fondness for
Atalanta. When Meleager presented the spoils to her, his uncles took
them away. She appealed for redress to Meleager. Euripides gave a
new account of the death of the uncles. Meleager did not kill them un-
wittingly in a subsequent war but knowingly in the quarrel over spoils.
While he was returning to Calydon, Althaea learned their fate. She
debated with herself the contrary claims of her brothers and her son.
Deciding in favor of the brothers, she threw the brand in the fire. Too
late she repented and offered her dying son the compensation of honors
after death. Meleager declined them. Although Althaea longed to kill
herself, she lacked the courage to do it. Accius afterwards made an
adaptation of Euripides for the Roman stage. Of his work there re-
mains only a part of Althaea's soliloquy.
In the Phoenissae Euripides spoke of Atalanta as herself killing
188
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
the boar with arrows, an idea not mentioned elsewhere. He added that
after the hunt she returned to Arcadia and still was living there when
her son, Parthenopaeus, joined the expedition of the Seven against
Thebes. Callimachus referred to the boar hunters as finding no fault
with Atalanta's ability as a huntress. He noted that Atalanta took the
boar's head back to Tegea and that it still was there in his own time.
Pausanias observed that it remained in Tegea until it was carried to
Rome in the reign of Augustus.
The Manual, recording the tale of Meleager, gave both an older
version resembling that of the Iliad and a newer version resembling that
of Euripides. In the latter it introduced a number of important changes.
Meleager was thought by some to have been a child of Mars. Soon after
his birth the three Fates visited Althaea and informed her that her son
was destined to be famous and brave and to perish with a brand which
was consuming in the fire.
The Manual introduced a new account of the havoc wrought by the
monster. The boar prevented grain from being sown and destroyed
both domestic animals and human beings. The list of hunters became
very long and included not only the name of each hero but also his
parentage and native district. Four uncles of Meleager were mentioned
as taking part. After naming Atalanta, the Manual observed that some
called her the daughter of Schoeneus*. Before the heroes set out on
their dangerous quest, King Oeneus entertained them nine days.
Although the Manual spoke of Meleager's love for Atalanta, it
said nothing of opposition by his mother and uncles and gave a different
cause for the tragedy. Some of the hunters were displeased at the idea
of Atalanta's sharing in a venture which they thought suitable only for
men. Before commencing the hunt, two heroes, Cepheus and Ancaeus,
protested vigorously. They were natives of Tegea, fellow townsmen of
Atalanta. Both Apollonius and the Manual had mentioned Ancaeus as
taking a rather prominent part in the voyage of the Argo. For the time,
Meleager overcame their opposition. In recording the hunt the Manual
seems to have amplified the account of Euripides. Two hunters, Hyleus
and Ancaeus, fell victims to the fury of the beast. A third named Eury-
tion was killed accidentally by Peleus. The arrow of Atalanta struck
in the monster's back, that of Amphiariaus pierced an eye, and Meleager
drove a spear through the creature's flank into a vital spot. When
*The complete list of hunters is lost. A brief selection from it survives in the
work of Apollodorus and a longer selection in that of Hyginus.
189
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Meleager gave the spoils to Atalanta, the smoldering jealousy of the
other hunters broke out anew. Leading the opposition, the uncles de-
clared that, if Meleager did not want the spoils for himself, their claim
stood next in order of merit. After the death of Meleager, both Atalanta
and Cleopatra hanged themselves.
Sophocles had noted that Meleager's sisters mourned his death until
two of them became guinea fowl, which were known from this event by
the name of Meleagrides. The Manual alluded vaguely to their trans-
formation. Nicander gave a precise account. These two sisters, he
observed, were named Eurymede and Melanippe. Diana transformed
the girls by striking them with a wand and then transported them to a
distant island of Leros, near the shores of Caria. In this new home they
continued to mourn annually for the death of Meleager. Diana had in-
tended to metamorphose two other sisters, Deianira and Gorge, but
refrained at the wish of Bacchus.
The tale of Meleager interested many Greek painters and sculp-
tors. Some of them delighted in picturing the hero, often with an allu-
sion to the monster boar. Others presented the hunt itself. Scopas
carved the subject on a pediment of Athena's temple at Tegea. Many
sculptors used the theme to adorn Greek and Roman sarcophagi. Still
other artists showed Meleager disputing with his uncles or Althaea
burning the brand, and in portraying either subject they often repre-
sented the three Furies attending. A Neapolitan vase pictured the dying
Meleager surrounded by his family.
The older poets of Rome made few allusions to the story. Vergil in
his Aeneid showed Juno reminding herself that Diana was able to obtain
vengeance on the people of Calydon. Propertius declared that in the
Roman domain a mother never kindles fire to destroy her absent son.
Ovid recalled the tale on many occasions. In his Epistles of Acon-
tius and Cydippe he mentioned the neglect of Diana and spoke of the
goddess as causing ferocity not only in the boar but also in Althaea. In
the Epistle of Phaedra he spoke of Meleager's yielding to the charms of
Atalanta. In his Ibis he alluded to Meleager's death by the fatal brand.
In the Metamorphoses Ovid retold the whole story. Beginning with
the harvest festival of Oeneus, he used freely both the Iliad and the
Manual. Ovid implied that Oeneus did not err through mere forgetful-
ness ; and, by indicating the care with which other deities were honored,
he emphasized the neglect of Diana. In describing the monster, Ovid
may have followed suggestions of Euripides, but he added striking
190
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
details of his own. The boar, he said, was as large as the biggest bull of
Epirus, a region mentioned first by Aristotle for the remarkable size
of its cattle. The monster had red, fiery eyes and a high, unbending
neck. Its bristles stood out like spear shafts. The tusks were as long as
those of an Indian elephant. Foam drifted back from the jaws and
flecked its broad shoulders, and its hot breath shrivelled the leaves. *
In describing the devastation, Ovid recalled both the Iliad and the
Manual but chose details of his own. The boar wrought havoc from
early spring until the end of summer. It trampled both sprouting and
ripe grain, overthrew the loaded grape vines, and ruined the fruitful
olive trees. Neither dogs nor shepherd could protect the sheep, and fierce
bulls could not protect the cattle.
The terrified people left their homes
and took refuge in the city.
Following the Manual, Ovid gave a list of hunters, sometimes re-
cording them by name and at other times designating them only by
their country or family connection. He did not repeat the whole list
given in the Manual but selected enough names to indicate a large, illus-
trious company. Ovid prudently spoke of only two uncles, Toxeus and
Plexippus, as engaging in the hunt. The name Toxeus had been given
sometimes to a brother of Meleager, but Ovid seems to have been alone
in giving it to an uncle. Twenty-four other heroes Ovid took from the
Manual. t Prominent among them were Jason, Ancaeus, and the twin
sons of Leda, Castor and Pollux. These two Ovid spoke of later as
riding white horses. The idea was suggested by a familiar representa-
tion of them on Roman coins, but it was made unlikely by the circum-
stances of the hunt. Probably Ovid took also from the Manual the names
of nine other hunters, including the youthful Nestor, but we find them
only in Ovid's account.
Ovid's predecessors merely included the name and parentage of
Atalanta at some convenient point in their catalogue of hunters. Ovid
saw a chance to do better. Vergil, enumerating the Italian leaders op-
posed to Aeneas, had reserved for his emphatic final position the war-
*Ovid seems to have imagined the creature as breathing fire. The idea of fire-
breathing animals occurred often in Greek lore. It appeared regularly in the tale of
Jason taming the Colchian bulls (cf. Bk. 7), and some authors included it in three
labors of Hercules: the conquests of Diomed's horses, the Cerynitian hind, and the
Cretan Bull (cf. Bk. 9). Lucretius attributed fiery breath to the horses, Quintus
Smyrnaeus attributed it to the hind and the bull.
t Fifteen names agree with those listed both by Apollodorus and by Hyginus.
Three others, including the seer Amphiaratis, agree only with the list of Apollodorus.
Seven names, including Iolaiis and the uncle Plexippus, agree only with the list of
Hyginus.
191
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
rior maiden Camilla and had added a brilliant description of her beauty
and her effect on the spectators. Vergil set her apart and gave her
special distinction. Ovid followed Vergil's example. But, since he was
going to speak later of Atalanta as unpopular with many of the hunt-
ers, he told only of her effect on Meleager.
He spoke of Atalanta as native to Tegea in southern Arcadia,
although afterwards he inconsistently mentioned her as coming from
the north Arcadian village of Nonacris. In describing her appearance
he seems to have remembered the huntress Diana of Alexandrian sculp-
ture. He noted that Atalanta's face was maidenly for a boy and boyish
for a maiden. Ovid indicated that she was a daughter of the Arcadian
Iasus. Evidently he desired his readers to think of her as different from
Atalanta, daughter of the Boeotian Schoeneus, whom he was to speak
of later as marrying Hippomenes (Bk. 10).
Wishing the reader to sympathize with Meleager, Ovid avoided
until late in the tale any mention of his wife. The hero, he said, loved
Atalanta at once but modestly concealed his passion from her. By
observing that some god was unfavorable, Ovid suggested a tragic out-
come. He did not make it clear what was to be the cause. Euripides
had supposed that Meleager's relatives were opposed to Atalanta as the
hero's prospective wife. Ovid seemed at first to reject this opinion. He
implied that Meleager concealed his love for Atalanta from his mother
and his uncles, indicating -- to make the idea plausible -- a briefer in-
terval of preparation than the nine days recorded by the Manual. But
later, during the quarrel, he recalled Euripides and showed the uncles
alluding in a derogatory manner to the hero's love affair. The Manual
had supposed that some of the other hunters objected to Atalanta as a
woman assuming prerogatives of men. Ovid seemed to reject this idea
also, for at the beginning of the hunt, he omitted the remonstrance of
Cepheus and Ancaeus. But afterwards, in accord with the idea of the
Manual, he showed Ancaeus talking disdainfully about ineffectual weap-
ons of a girl. Although Ovid failed to make a clear decision, he seems
to have imagined opposition to Atalanta both as a favorite of Meleager
and as a huntress presuming to associate on equal terms with men.
The Odyssey, recording a boar hunt undertaken by Ulysses and the
sons of Autolycus, told of the hunters ascending a wooded mountain-
side; passing over the ridges; and entering a deep, secluded valley.
There in a thicket they encountered a huge boar. Ovid appears to have
combined these circumstances with details from the account of Euripi-
192
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
des. Leaving cultivated ground, he said, the heroes proceeded up an
open hillside to virgin forest, which crowned the summit and extended
over mountainous country behind. At the edge of the trees they set up
nets and unleashed the dogs. Then eager for danger they followed a
trail into the woods. It led them into a deep valley -- to a swampy
area, thick with reeds and small willows. In this marshy thicket the
boar assailed their dogs, breaking down the willow trees with the fury
of his advance. The heroes, deploying in a semi-circle through the
woods, boldly awaited the monster.
For the combat Ovid invented much vivid detail, and he marked the
stages carefully. The boar, he said, killed at least two heroes whose
death was not recorded in any previous account, and it compelled
Nestor to escape by vaulting into a tree. Following Apollonius, Ovid
pictured Ancaeus as wielding a two-edged axe. Ovid spoke of him as
not only arrogant, but as impious to Diana, and with the Manual he
agreed that Ancaeus perished by the tusks of the boar. Following both
Euripides and the Manual, he noted that Atalanta was the first to wound
the monster. He added that Meleager commended her and promised to
honor her --r an attractive demonstration of his feelings but also pro-
vocation to the jealous hunters.
Ovid imagined an unusual number of incidents in Meleager's combat
with the boar. First, he said, the hero wounded the beast. Then, recall-
ing the boar hunt in the Odyssey, he declared that Meleager attacked
the monster at close quarters and drove a spear through its shoulder.
The other heroes congratulated Meleager and gazed at the huge beast,
still hardly daring to touch it. Then each hunter dipped his spear in
the blood. Probably Ovid remembered a savage idea that virtues of a
fallen enemy could be absorbed by eating part of his flesh or by contact
with his blood.
In telling of the quarrel Ovid seems to have elaborated the story
given by the Manual. He implied that both the skin and the head of the
boar were removed from the carcass and were awarded to Meleager.
The hero immediately presented them to Atalanta, and she rejoiced not
only at the gift but also at the giver. The other hunters were displeased
and uttered a general murmur of disapproval. If they felt both jealousy
of Atalanta and resentment at Meleager's fondness for her, this would
have been probable. But Ovid's narrative had not prepared the reader
for such general dissent. The uncles, asserting their claim as next in
order, threatened Atalanta and even suggested that Meleager would
193
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
lack the courage to defend her. Ovid noted appropriately that Meleager
was called a son of Mars. Perhaps to increase the sense of unheeding
rage, he did not say that Atalanta appealed for redress. He told clearly
Meleager's unsparing vengeance.
For the conduct of Althaea, Ovid probably recalled Euripides. He
first indicated the following events. As soon as Meleager killed the boar,
a messenger ran with this good news to the palace. Althaea, proceeding
at once to the temple, offered thanks to the gods for her son's victory.
Before she had ended the ceremony, a bier arrived with the dead bodies
of Toxeus and Plexippus. Althaea did not wait to learn more but re-
turned, loudly lamenting, to the palace and put on mourning. Then
she heard the circumstances of her brothers' death and longed for ven-
geance. Ovid retold briefly the traditional story of the prophecy given
at Meleager's birth, adding that the Fates themselves laid the piece of
wood on the fire. This brand the mother now took from its place of
concealment. She ordered servants to fetch and light a heap of kindling
and then prepared to throw the brand into the flames.
Euripides had imagined Althaea's hesitating between desire to
avenge her brothers and natural love for her son. Ovid saw a chance to
dwell on the extraordinary conflict of passions. First he described
Althaea's appearance and behavior -- how again and again her face
reddened with anger and her eyes flashed as she moved to throw the
wood on the fire, how again and again she turned pale and shed tears of
pity as she suddenly drew back. He likened her, effectively, to a ship
borne back and forth with the contrary forces of wind and tide.
Then Ovid showed Althaea debating the question in a soliloquy.
Recalling the idea of Greek artists, he noted that she invoked the three
Furies to witness an act of vengeance which was to cost the life of her
son. But again she oscillated between contrary desires. She spoke of
Meleager as the only hope of his father and the state. Here Ovid seems
to have followed the idea of the Iliad that Meleager was the only son,
although later he mentioned the hero's brothers. At last Althaea re-
flected that twice she had given Meleager life -- once at his birth and
again with the quenching of the brand, and that he had repaid the gift
by murdering her brothers. This idea proved decisive. She resolved on
vengeance -- although she felt that it meant her own death.
Ovid had been describing not only a conflict of passions but also a
conflict of duties. Althaea felt at the same time an obligation to avenge
her brothers and a contrary obligation to protect her son. She believed
?
194
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
that she must choose between them and heed one at the cost of disregard-
ing the other. Ovid might well have been content with letting the reader
see clearly this tragic situation. But he could not resist a temptation
to go further and to dazzle him with examples of verbal paradox. In-
stead of keeping attention on the anguish of a mother obliged to trample
under foot her dearest feelings, he diverted it to conceits, such as "to
soothe the ghosts of her blood relations with blood, she was pious by
impiety. "
While describing the fatal result, Ovid introduced a new idea. Skil-
fully he suggested an identity of the wood and the hero. As the brand
fell among the flames, it seemed to utter a groan, and it burned with
difficulty -- as if it were a human body. In describing the parallel expe-
rience of Meleager, Ovid recalled Vergil's account of Dido in love, whom
an unseen fire consumed from within.
Although Meleager still was far away and unaware of his mother's
act, his flesh seemed to burn and his vitals to be scorching with unseen
fire. This agony he bore with fortitude. But he lamented that he was to
die passively without glory, and he envied the fate of Ancaeus. As his
strength waned, he called the names of his father, brothers, and sisters,
his wife, and perhaps also his mother. It had been usual to imagine the
family as present during his last moments. Ovid wisely implied the con-
trary and allowed him to remain unaware that he suffered by his mother's
hand. The pain decreased with the fire, and the spirit departed, as ashes
overspread the glowing coals. This was one of the few occasions when
Ovid reached the level of heroic poetry.
Tradition had implied that during these tragic events Oeneus re-
mained strangely passive. Ovid increased the impression by implying
that he was absent even at the time of Meleager's death. He gave the
idea plausibility by suggesting more than once that Oeneus was very old.
In the Epistle of Deianira, Ovid had mentioned an otherwise unknown
idea that Althaea killed herself with a sword. This he repeated in his
Metamorphoses.
The Manual had recorded also the deaths of Meleager's brothers
and of Cleopatra. Ovid may have expected his readers to recall the
fact and to think of this further loss as increasing the national calamity.
But he spoke as if the grief of Calydon were entirely on account of
Meleager, and his description made it appear excessive. The poet of the
Iliad had observed that he could not enumerate the soldiers of the Greeks,
even if he had ten tongues, ten mouths, and a tireless voice. Vergil in the
195
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK EIGHT
Georgics had declared that he could not name all varieties of trees, even
if he had a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, and a voice of iron; and
in the Aeneid, he repeated the idea, referring to the punishments of Tar-
tarus. Ovid declared that, if he had a hundred mouths each with a
tongue, a master's genius, and all the gifts of Helicon, he could not tell
the grief of Meleager's sisters. And, although he improved the epic
formula, his context gave a painful sense of anticlimax.
Although Meleager had suffered the tortures of fire, Ovid thought
of his body as unconsumed. The Calydonians were able to cremate it in
the usual manner and to lay his ashes under a monumental stone. At
every stage of the ceremony Meleager's sisters renewed their grief.
Following the account of Nicander, Ovid noted that Diana spared
Gorge and Deianira but metamorphosed the other two into birds.
For men of later times Ovid's narrative of Atalanta and Meleager
became the version which was at once the most accessible and the most
brilliant. It attracted a number of leading authors. Chaucer in his
Troilus and Cressida showed Cassandra telling Troilus the whole story.
Dryden translated Ovid's work, censuring in a preface its loose connec-
tion with the preceding tales of the book. Swinburne's Atalanta in
Calydon followed chiefly the Meleager of Euripides but continually took
ideas from the Metamorphoses. Anxious, like Ovid, to have the reader
sympathize with Meleager, Swinburne went still further and implied
that his hero was unmarried.
Erasmus appears to have been impressed by the offerings which
Oeneus made to the gods and by their failure because of the ill nature of
Diana. He described Folly as being complacent -- in contrast with
other deities, who are so scrupulous and exacting that it often is less
dangerous manfully to defy them than sneakingly to attempt the diffi-
cult task of pleasing them.
The formidable boar attracted several interesting references.
Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra showed the queen of Egypt in-
accurately likening Antony's anger to that of the boar of Thessaly.
And in Venus and Adonis Shakespeare took from Ovid many details for
the goddess's long description of the boar. Boethius, describing the
Erymanthean boar, remembered Ovid's idea that foam drifted back and
flecked the animal's shoulders. In the Knight's Tale Chaucer spoke of
the Calydonian hunt as pictured on the walls of Diana's temple. And
Tasso seems to have remembered both Vergil's enumeration of warriors
and Ovid's list of Calydonian hunters, when he closed his account of
196
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:21 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015005276665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? MELEAGER AND ATALANTA
Mohammedan leaders with a gorgeous description of the sorceress Ar-
mida.
The fatal brand was remembered more than once. When Dante
asked how it was possible for spirits of the gluttons to become lean with
hunger, Virgil noted that it was fully as remarkable for Meleager to
perish with the brand. 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.
