After Ovid's time many authors
recalled
the idea of Orpheus and
the supernatural power of his lyre.
the supernatural power of his lyre.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
Aris-
tophanes in the Frogs and Horace in the Art of Poetry observed that he
taught the Thracians to avoid bloodshed and to prepare food in a
civilized manner.
Even apart from the tale of Eurydice, Orpheus continually was
described as having supernatural power in music. Horace thought this
idea merely represented in a figurative way the persuasiveness of his
teaching. But most authors took the idea literally. They considered his
power with music as at least a very important element in his civilizing
influence. Greek artists pictured Orpheus playing his lyre in the middle
of an attentive group of Thracians or even of Satyrs. In early paintings
he wore a Greek costume. Later he appeared in Thracian dress, with a
wreath about his head.
According to actual experiment, music appears to have no effect
on certain kinds of animals. But, according to widespread popular
belief, all kinds respond to it. Eastern snake charmers, from time im-
memorial, have purported to govern cobras with the charm of their
piping. The Prose Edda told of a Norse hero condemned to die by
poisonous snakes and of his holding them fascinated by his music -- with
the fatal exception of a deaf adder. And German folklore recorded the
Pied Piper's leading away all the rats and mice of Hamlin. Similar
power was credited to Orpheus. The tradition seems to have been very
old. But Euripides in his Bacchanals, made the first unmistakable allu-
sion to it. After his time, many authors referred to the subject, one of
them being Ovid in the Amores. Popular songs of modern Bulgaria still
tell of the musician Orfen attracting birds and ravenous beasts from the
mountains.
The power of Orpheus over animals was also a favorite theme of
ancient Greek and Roman artists. Orpheus was pictured as sitting on a
grassy hill and playing his lyre to various birds and beasts. In work of
this kind there was an evident fondness for including exotic animals,
such as the lion. One artist, at Hadrumetum in North Africa, treated
the theme comically, representing Orpheus as a monkey. Early Chris-
tian artists identified the musician Orpheus with Christ. They tended
320
? ? 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
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
to replace wild creatures with sheep, goats, and doves -- animals
treated symbolically in Scripture, until in a fourth century mosaic at
Ravenna, Orpheus became merely the Good Shepherd caring for his
sheep.
Early Greek tradition had recorded also that Orpheus was able to
draw after him trees and inanimate objects and had ascribed to him
many powers commonly attributed to enchanters. Aeschylus noted in
the Agamemnon that Orpheus led all things by the magic power of sound.
Euripides declared in the Bacchanals that he caused both wild beasts
and trees to gather round him. In Iphigenia at Aulis, Euripides asserted
that he persuaded rocks to follow him. Phanocles observed that Or-
pheus had moved both deaf rocks and waters, melancholy with the bark-
ing of seals. Apollonius noted that he checked the flow of rivers. The
same poet told at some length of his effect on trees. By the charm of
the lyre, he said, Orpheus led oak trees down from the mountains of
Pieria to Zone on the Aegaean coast and caused them to form a well-
ordered grove, which survived in the poet's own time. Vergil in the
Culex mentioned the power of Orpheus to attract beasts and oak trees,
to check the flow of rivers, and to stay the course of the moon in the
sky. Horace referred to his command over winds, and afterwards Claud-
ian spoke even of his attracting mountains.
In accord with the tradition of Orpheus, Ovid observed that, sit-
ting on a grassy hill, he drew round him a circle of trees, beasts, and
birds. And in the opening lines of the Eleventh Book he added that
Orpheus persuaded stones to follow him. Ovid gave special attention to
the assembling of trees, for this allowed him to profit by another tra-
dition, the poetical listing of trees.
In a famous description of Calypso's residence, the poet of the
Odyssey had told of a grove near her dwelling. He enumerated several
kinds of trees, occasionally adding an effective epithet. There were the
alder, and poplar, the fragrant cypress, and the fruitful vine. Later,
while describing the garden of Alcinoiis, the poet made a similar list of
orchard trees. In both accounts he appears to have mentioned only
varieties which could have been found on a Mediterranean isle and to
have described them from observation. Vergil in the Aeneid gave a
similar list of trees which were brought together in the funeral pyre of
Misenus.
But in the Georgics, Vergil used a different method. Purporting to
describe trees of the Caucasus Mountains, he made a long enumeration
321
? ? 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 forest trees useful to man. Among them he mentioned the alder,
which he associated with the valley of the Po, and the hollow cork oak
offering a home to bees, which was characteristic only of mountains
near the warm Mediterranean shores. Vergil was not describing the for-
est of a particular region but forests in general, and he drew not merely
on observation but also on his reading. Seneca followed the same method
in his Oedipus and was followed in turn by Lucan and Statius. None
of these poets was describing a forest which one might see in nature.
Each of them was recalling details effective in the work of earlier au-
thors and was describing an imaginary forest which would promote the
interest of his poem. All of them were presenting more or less literary
groves. But the artificiality was latent and moderate. Since almost
every ancient author purported to describe some locality near the Medi-
terranean shore, and since the forests of this region varied but little, a
poet might select all his details from the work of his predecessors and
still keep his description reasonably near the fact. The reader might
suspect that his account was artificial and yet feel unable to call any
detail impossible.
The same fashion of describing literary groves appeared in The
Romance of the Rose and in other leading poems of the Middle Ages.
With them the artificial element became, obvious. Poets of northern
Europe, purporting to describe their own country, included trees of the
Mediterranean shore, which they knew only from the work of Roman
predecessors. In The Parliament of Fowls, for example, Chaucer de-
scribed a wood which included the olive for peace and the victor palm.
Such description of literary groves continued in leading poems of the
Renaissance. It appears to have ended with Dryden's funeral of
Arcite. *
Meanwhile Sophocles, telling of the wood at Colonus, had followed
still another method. He referred to the ivy not only as looking dark
with clustering berries but as having an association with Bacchus, and
to the olive tree not only as feeding the boys of Athens but as being the
creation of Athena. He related certain kinds of trees to persons of
mythology. Probably Alexandrian authors followed his example, but
their work is lost.
Vergil in the Culex described two groves of this kind. Near one of
them a shepherd took his noonday rest. This grove included the spread-
*Literary groves were described by Boccacio in the Teseide, Chaucer in The
Knight's Tale, Lydgate in The Complaint of the Black Knight, Camoens in the Lusiads,
Tasso in the Jerusalem Delivered, and Spenser in The Faerie Queene.
322
? ? 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
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
ing plane; the wicked lotus, which had beguiled the followers of Ulysses:
the Heliads transformed (into poplars) because of grief for Phaethon:
a maiden betrayed by Demophoon (the almond tree) ; the oaks, chanters
of fates (at Dodona) ; the bristling pine, glory of the ship Argo; black
ilex; weeping cypress; shady beeches; ivy, restraining the grief of the
poplars; and myrtle, remembering its fate of old (transformation of a
certain Myrsine). A second grove was planted round the tomb of the
gnat. It included laurel, beautiful in the eyes of Phoebus (because of
Daphne) ; oleander; Sabine juniper, associated with frankincense; shin-
ing ivy; and everblooming viburnum. Elsewhere in the poem Vergil men-
tioned still other trees, but without alluding to mythology. The flock, he
said, browsed on leaves of arbute, wild vine, pliant willow, alder, and
tender briar.
Ovid showed Orpheus calling together a grove similar to those of
the Culex. From them he took the suggestion for many of his trees. But,
by listing the varieties in a different order and with different descriptive
epithets, he gave a feeling of originality; and, by including fewer allu-
sions to mythology, he made the grove appear less artificial. With
changes of this kind, he took from the Culex the (oak) tree of Dodona;
the grove of the Heliads; the beech; the laurel, unmarried (because of
Daphne) ; the ilex, bending with acorns; the genial plane; the river-
haunting willow; the water lotus; the myrtle, double hued (because it
has both ripe purple and immature green berries) ; the viburnum, with
berries of dark blue; pliant footed ivy; the arbute loaded with ruddy
drupes; the pine with bristling crest (probably the stone pine of
Mediterranean shores) ; and the cypress, formed like a pyramid.
But Ovid went further. By drawing on other predecessors, he
obtained also an effect of richness. From the Georgics he took the soft
linden, the evergreen box, and perhaps the brittle hazel and the fir de-
void of knots. From the Aeneid he added the ash good for spears, the
rowan, and a second variety of pine (probably the Scotch pine of the
cooler mountain sides). He took from the Odyssey the tendrilled vine,
from Theocritus the slender tamarisk, and from an epistle of Horace
the elm tree clothed with grapevines -- characteristic of Italy rather
than Thrace. Ovid noted also the evergreen oak; the maple of varie-
gated wood (then fashionable at Rome); and the pliant palm, reward
of victors.
After alluding to metamorphoses of the Heliads and Daphne, Ovid
added two other transformations, both of them little known to his
323
? ? 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
Roman contemporaries. One of them was concerned with Attis, a
Phrygian deity whose worship was attracting notice at Rome. Attis,
like Bacchus, appears to have been thought of originally as a tree spirit
associated with vegetation and with fertility in general. In the autumn,
it was said, he departed to the Lower World; and in the spring he re-
turned, causing a revival of life, to which was related the hope of joyful
immortality. An annual festival, held at the vernal equinox, commemo-
rated his death and revival. Attis was associated with Cybele, the
Phrygian goddess of fertility. Hermesianax, the earliest Greek author
to mention him, noted that, like Adonis, he was killed by a wild boar.
The worship of Attis included another idea, which was unusual. At
religious festivals of Korea and Nigeria certain men have been per-
suaded to sacrifice their male organs and bury them in the fields, in order
to promote fertility of the crops and of life as a whole. A similar cus-
tom distinguished the worship of Cybele. Her priests at their initiation
became eunuchs and afterwards wore female attire. The initiation oc-
curred under a pine tree, and they were said to have followed the example
of Attis.
Callimachus told the story in a poem which now is lost. Catullus
repeated it to substantially the same effect. He implied that Attis had
grown up in the Phrygian town of Pessinus and that he departed from
there to the seashore near the Hermus River. With a number of follow-
ers he then sailed north to Mt. Ida. There he first made the sacrifice
with a sharp flint and then led a wild dance to the temple of Cybele and
became her handmaid for life.
Ovid in the Fasti recorded many further circumstances. He was
concerned chiefly with earlier events of the tale. Attis attracted the
love of Cybele, he said, and vowed fidelity, praying that any disloyalty
might be his last. Not long after, he fell in love with the nymph Sangari-
tis. Driven mad by Cybele, he fled from his home. Ovid supposed that
he went only to the neighboring Mt. Dindyma. There, believing that
Furies were pursuing him, he atoned by the sacrifice. His blood, sprink-
ling the ground, became purple violets.
The story of Attis appeared frequently in the works of ancient
artists, especially on medallions of the late Roman period. In such
representations, Attis appeared as a soft young man, dressed usually in
shepherd costume. Ancient artists noted that he was deified after his
revival and that he rode with Cybele in a triumphal car drawn by four
lions.
324
? ? 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
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid observed that the body of Attis had
been transformed into a pine tree and accordingly the pine is dear to
Cybele. This incident we know only from Ovid.
The second metamorphosis which Ovid recalled was concerned
with Cyparissus. The tale appears to have entered literature in the
Alexandrian period and to have been told in many different forms by
Alexandrian authors whom we can no longer identify. One form of the
tale afterwards was mentioned by Nonnus. The version from which
Ovid took his outline may have appeared in the work of Phanocles.
This account ran as follows. Apollo once loved a boy named
Cyparissus. The boy, who was a child of Telephus, lived in Carthaea on
the island of Ceos -- a little southeast of Attica. Since Telephus had
been reared by a doe, Cyparissus took an interest in deer, and Apollo
gave him a beautiful stag. The boy used to adorn the animal with
jewels and other kinds of decoration. Evidently the ancient Greeks
enjoyed gilding the horns of cattle, an idea mentioned by Greek authors
since the Iliad and repeated by Ovid in his tale of Aeson (Bk. 7). Calli-
machus referred to a similar practice of gilding antlers. The Alexan-
drian author whom Ovid was following spoke of Cyparissus as gilding
the antlers of the stag. One day, while the boy lay asleep in the shade,
the animal approached and suddenly wakened him. Mistaking the
creature for a wild beast, the boy killed it with a spear. He then became
inconsolable, and Apollo transformed him into the cypress, a tree asso-
ciated with mourning. Pompeiian frescos, treating the story, pictured
the stag adorned with jewels and Cyparissus with branches growing out
of his head.
After introducing Cyparissus, Ovid gave his chief attention to the
stag. The animal, he observed, wore a boss on his forehead. Roman
boys often used to wear an ornament of this kind as a protection from
witchcraft. Vergil had told in his Aeneid about a stag owned by Silvia.
Although the animal was of huge size, with wide-spreading antlers, he
was tame and was willing to be petted. Silvia enjoyed adorning his
antlers with garlands. She had taught him to obey her, and she often
led him to the pure spring. All these details Ovid repeated in describ-
ing the stag of Cyparissus. Alexandrian artists had pictured boys
mounted on stags, and Martial afterwards noted explicitly that boys
used to ride them in the circus. Ovid observed that Cyparissus rode the
animal, guiding him with purple reins.
Ovid rejected the Alexandrian author's account of the manner in
325
? ? 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
which the animal died, perhaps because he thought the mistake of Cypar-
issus too much like that of Cephalus (Bk. 7). Vergil had declared that
one hot day, while the stag of Silvia lay in the shade, Ascanius wounded
him by mistake. Ovid imagined that one day in the heat of early summer,
while the stag of Cyparissus lay in the shade, the boy accidentally gave
him a mortal wound. In the conclusion Ovid took details from his earlier
narratives of Byblis (Bk. 9) and Clytie (Bk. 4). Although Apollo tried
assiduously to comfort the boy, Cyparissus, like Byblis, was deaf to
consolation and wanted only to continue mourning. He even asked for
it as a privilege. And his pallor, like that of Clytie, altered easily into
the green of vegetation. Ovid recorded the change at some length.
After Ovid's time many authors recalled the idea of Orpheus and
the supernatural power of his lyre. Sometimes they preferred the ac-
counts of Vergil, Horace, or Claudian; and this was true of Shakes-
peare in his frequent allusions to the power of music. But in most of
their allusions later authors gave Ovid at least an equal share.
The Celtic lay of Orpheus told of the minstrel's enthralling wild
birds and beasts with his music. Camoens observed that the Portuguese
listened as attentively to Monsaide
As erst the bending forest stooped to hear
In Rhodope, when Orpheus' heavenly strain
Deplored his lost Eurydice in vain
Spenser alluded in his Ruins of Time to the harp with which Orpheus
led forests and wild beasts after him. Milton recalled the idea humor-
ously, first in the Sixth Prolusion and then in the Seventh. He con-
trasted Orpheus, who attracted only an audience of wild beasts, trees,
and perhaps rustic folk; with himself, who attracted the most learned
men of his day. And he reasoned in another connection that, if trees,
bushes, and whole groves hastened to enjoy the skilled playing of Or-
pheus ; they were not likely to welcome Ignorance into their society.
Congreve in the opening lines of his Mourning Bride showed a
princess meditating as follows:
Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
I've read that things inanimate have moved,
And, as with living souls, have been informed
By magic numbers and persuasive sound.
Am I more senseless grown than trees or flint?
32G
? ? 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
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
Cowper noted in The Task that plants from many lands assemble in
a greenhouse,
As if convened
By magic summons of the Orphean lyre;
and that moralists are inclined to boast, as if
They had indeed ability to smooth
The shag of savage nature and were each
An Orpheus and omnipotent in song.
Tennyson wrote a long, humorous description of the assembling of trees
but attributed the miracle to Amphion.
In describing literary groves, a number of authors clearly remem-
bered Ovid. Lucan mentioned the cypress associated with no common
woe, Claudian referred to the misanthropic laurel, and Chaucer noted
in his Parliament of Fowls both the cypress for mourning and the palm
as reward of conquerors.
The idea that a grapevine needs the support of an elm tree inter-
ested a number of English authors. Catullus had stated the idea clearly,
but, until the height of the Renaissance, his work was little known. Ver-
gil in the Georgics, Horace in an epistle, and Ovid in the account of
Orpheus had suggested the idea by implication. Vergil, who spoke of
the vines as embracing the elm, seems clearly to have inspired the simi-
lar idea of Sidney in his Arcadia and Giles Fletcher in his Licia. Both
Vergil and Ovid appear to have suggested Chaucer's mention in the
Parliament of Fowls of the pillar elm. Spenser probably followed both
Ovid and Chaucer. At the beginning of his Faerie Queen he referred to
the vine prop elm. Other poets echoed the same idea. Cowley noted in his
Death of Katherine Phelps that wit, too, needs the prop of virtue. Ben
Jonson observed in Sejanus that assassins of Drusus
Cut down that upright elm, withered his vines.
And Tennyson declared in his Amphion that, when the trees began fol-
lowing the piper,
Old elms came, breaking with the vine.
A few authors recalled Ovid's tales of transformation. Pigna, an
Italian author of the Renaissance, wrote a Latin poem on the meta-
morphosis of Attis to a pine, Camoens remembered how the pine is sacred
327
? ? 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
to Cybele, and Calpurnius Siculus followed both Vergil and Ovid in his
attractive description of a stag.
Modern artists who treated the power of Orpheus appear to have
been inspired chiefly by ancient pictorial versions but probably were at
least encouraged by acquaintance with Ovid. Delacroix made a famous
painting of Orpheus, pioneer of civilization, Gillis de Hondecoeter and
Fulton Brown pictured Orpheus with an audience of wild animals, and
Marcellin treated the same theme in sculpture.
328
? ? 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
Ganymede
When Orpheus had gathered his audience of trees and wild animals,
Ovid continued, he ceased playing long enough to tune his lyre and then,
touching the strings again, commenced to sing. With this introduction,
Ovid began the longest passage of his Metamorphoses which was given
in the words of a character.
Following the example of Aratus in his poem on the constellations
and of Vergil in a shepherd song of his Third Eclogue, Ovid showed
Orpheus beginning with Jupiter. Orpheus announced that on a former
occasion he had told in grave style about Jupiter's victory over the
Giants -- perhaps an allusion to Ovid's early epic, but that now in
lighter style he would sing of other themes. By the phrase "in lighter
style" Ovid meant only that his work should be less dignified than an
epic. None of the tales was to be comic, and a number of them were to
end in disaster. Orpheus mentioned two themes of the song -- boys who
were loved by the heavenly deities and girls who incurred punishment for
abnormal passion. Under the first heading Ovid planned to include the
stories of Ganymede, Hyacinthus, and Adonis; under the second he
planned to include the story of Myrrha and perhaps that of the Pro-
poetides. Other tales, such as those of Pygmalion and Atalanta, did not
fall under either heading. Ovid may have regarded them merely as im-
portant incidents of his main tales.
Phanocles, in the poem which Ovid had used for his account of
Orpheus, had included a story of Ganymede. This theme, Ovid showed
Orpheus treating as the first part of the song. In older versions of the
tale Ganymede appeared somewhat vaguely as one of those mortals
whom tradition spoke of as having been transported alive to heaven
(cf. Hercules, Bk. 9). According to the Iliad, the gods were pleased
with him and took him up to their own abode. In these particulars he
resembled the Biblical character Enoch. But Ganymede was distin-
guished for physical beauty. The Homeric Hymn to Venus added that
he was caught up in a whirlwind -- after the manner of Elijah and
Romulus. Pindar seemed to imagine that he was borne heavenwards in
a golden chariot. Early vase painters showed Jupiter raising Ganymede
in his arms.
According to one version of the tale, Ganymede was lifted to the
329
? ? 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
skies from the island of Crete. This version appeared in certain early
vase paintings and in Plato's dialogue, The Laws. But the Iliad spoke
of the event as occurring in the region of Troy, and this became the
usual opinion. Certain vase paintings indicated the plain near the city.
But Alexandrian authors imagined that Ganymede was on Mt. Ida, an
idea repeated by Vergil and Horace and also by Lucian.
Concerning Ganymede's father, there was a difference of opinion.
The Iliad and the Hymn to Venus declared that his father was Tros, and
Ovid repeated this idea in his tale of Aesacus (Bk. 11). The Little Iliad,
Pindar, and Euripides in the Trojan Women spoke of his father as
being Laomedon, son of Ilus. And Ovid followed their version in his
tale of Ganymede. Hellanicus and the Manual noted that Ganymede's
mother was Callirhoe, daughter of the river Scamander.
According to the Iliad, Ganymede was carried off in order that
he might serve as cupbearer of the gods. Afterwards this appears al-
ways to have been regarded as one motive for the abduction- But the
Hymn to Venus appeared to suggest also that Jupiter was in love with
the youth, for it noted Ganymede, Tithonus, and Anchises as evidence
that Troy was favored especially by the gods. This idea Ovid recalled
in his Epistle of Paris. Pindar recorded the second motive explicitly,
and afterwards it continually was mentioned, sometimes without any
illusion to service as cupbearer.
Some Greek authors observed that Jupiter offered compensation
to Ganymede's father. The Iliad mentioned a gift of horses, the best in
the world. The Manual, repeating this idea, described the animals as
mares. The Hymn to Venus added that Jupiter also comforted Gany-
mede's father with news of the boy's happy state among the gods. The
Little Iliad mentioned a different compensation, a supernatural vine
with soft golden leaves and clusters, which was a creation of Vulcan.
According to early versions of the tale, Ganymede was transported
to heaven in much the same way as other mortals favored by the gods.
With the fourth century B. C. new versions of the abduction appeared,
which tended to make this tale distinct from the rest. Phanocles imag-
ined that, during the period when Tantalus was admitted to the com-
pany of the gods, he carried off Ganymede and presented him to Jupiter.
Ovid rejected this idea, among other reasons because earlier in the Meta-
morphoses he had shown Tantalus already in Hades long before the
period of Tros and Laomedon. Ovid preferred still another Alexandrian
version.
330
? ? 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
In parts of North America and Africa and in Burma, primitive
tribes have associated thunderbolts descending from heaven with the
flight of some huge bird. In North America this bird was regarded as
an agent of the sky god, Manitu. A similar belief appeared among the
ancient Greeks. They thought of an eagle as carrying the thunderbolts
of Jupiter. For this reason Vergil spoke of the eagle as Jove's armor-
bearer. In several countries of Asia the eagle was believed to have done
other service for the heavenly god. According to the Hindus, Indra
employed an eagle to bring him the valued soma juice. And, although
in reality the eagle can lift only a weight of about seven pounds, other
peoples told of the heavenly god's employing him to abduct full-grown
human beings. The Sumerians of the Euphrates valley told of his trans-
porting to heaven King Etana of Kish, and the story was recorded after-
wards in a long Semitic poem. Influenced by this tale, the Greeks im-
agined that Jupiter had employed his eagle to carry away Ganymede.
The new idea seems first to have attracted Greek artists. Usually
they portrayed the eagle in the act of transporting the boy. Occasion-
ally, however, they showed Ganymede fondling the eagle or offering him
food. They represented the bird either as a golden eagle or as a Lam-
mergeier. Greek and Roman painters treated the theme of Ganymede
continually, as Plautus indicated in his Menaechmi* Greek sculptors
also were fond of the subject. Towards the middle of the fourth century
B. C. , Leochares made a famous statue of the abduction, of which more
than one copy still survives. Another sculptor, mentioned by Theocritus,
treated the theme in ivory and was unusual in having two eagles trans-
port the boy. From comparatively early times the abduction of Gany-
mede appeared on ancient coins. And in the period of the Roman Em-
pire, it became a favorite theme for decorating the graves of young men.
The author of the Manual spoke of an eagle as transporting Gany-
mede to heaven. Another Alexandrian author, whom we cannot identify,
retold the story as the theme of a tragedy. Ovid afterwards mentioned
his work in the Tristia. Phanocles treated the subject of Ganymede in
his narrative poem. In describing the abduction, one of these Alexan-
drian authors added the following circumstances. Ganymede was ac-
companied by some elderly attendants and by a number of dogs. He was
hunting stags in the darkness, probably before dawn. Then the eagle
bore him away, while the attendants raised their eyes to the stars and
the dogs barked fiercely. This incident Vergil described in his Aeneid.
*Plautus called the boy Catamitus, a name applied to him rather often by the
Romans.
331
? ? 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 other Alexandrian author spoke of Ganymede as tending cattle.
His version was recalled afterwards by Lucian and Nonnus.
The Alexandrian authors mentioned a number of circumstances
after Ganymede's arrival in heaven. One of these was his relation to
Hebe. The Iliad had implied that Ganymede was the original cup-
bearer of the gods and that Hebe succeeded him. The Alexandrians took
the opposite view. They declared that Hebe was the original cupbearer
and added that Ganymede supplanted her. The idea was repeated by
Lucian and Nonnus. The Alexandrians imagined Juno as resenting
Jupiter's fondness for Ganymede, and Vergil mentioned her jealousy as
one reason why she was hostile to Ganymede's kinsman, Aeneas. The
abduction, according to the Alexandrian authors, was associated with
two constellations which appear together in the sky. The eagle became
the constellation of that name (Aquila), Ganymede became the constel-
lation of the Water Carrier (Aquarius). To this event Ovid alluded in
his Fasti.
The Alexandrians also introduced a new idea of the manner in
which Ganymede was abducted. They reconciled the older belief that
Jupiter carried off the boy with the new idea of his employing an eagle.
In some parts of the world the sky god has been thought to assume the
form of a huge bird. In North America, Manitu himself sometimes was
regarded as the bird of thunder. The Scandinavian people told of Odin's
assuming the form of an eagle in order to steal the mead of poetic in-
spiration. According to the Greeks, Jupiter several times took the
form of an eagle in order to carry off young women. 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.
tophanes in the Frogs and Horace in the Art of Poetry observed that he
taught the Thracians to avoid bloodshed and to prepare food in a
civilized manner.
Even apart from the tale of Eurydice, Orpheus continually was
described as having supernatural power in music. Horace thought this
idea merely represented in a figurative way the persuasiveness of his
teaching. But most authors took the idea literally. They considered his
power with music as at least a very important element in his civilizing
influence. Greek artists pictured Orpheus playing his lyre in the middle
of an attentive group of Thracians or even of Satyrs. In early paintings
he wore a Greek costume. Later he appeared in Thracian dress, with a
wreath about his head.
According to actual experiment, music appears to have no effect
on certain kinds of animals. But, according to widespread popular
belief, all kinds respond to it. Eastern snake charmers, from time im-
memorial, have purported to govern cobras with the charm of their
piping. The Prose Edda told of a Norse hero condemned to die by
poisonous snakes and of his holding them fascinated by his music -- with
the fatal exception of a deaf adder. And German folklore recorded the
Pied Piper's leading away all the rats and mice of Hamlin. Similar
power was credited to Orpheus. The tradition seems to have been very
old. But Euripides in his Bacchanals, made the first unmistakable allu-
sion to it. After his time, many authors referred to the subject, one of
them being Ovid in the Amores. Popular songs of modern Bulgaria still
tell of the musician Orfen attracting birds and ravenous beasts from the
mountains.
The power of Orpheus over animals was also a favorite theme of
ancient Greek and Roman artists. Orpheus was pictured as sitting on a
grassy hill and playing his lyre to various birds and beasts. In work of
this kind there was an evident fondness for including exotic animals,
such as the lion. One artist, at Hadrumetum in North Africa, treated
the theme comically, representing Orpheus as a monkey. Early Chris-
tian artists identified the musician Orpheus with Christ. They tended
320
? ? 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
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
to replace wild creatures with sheep, goats, and doves -- animals
treated symbolically in Scripture, until in a fourth century mosaic at
Ravenna, Orpheus became merely the Good Shepherd caring for his
sheep.
Early Greek tradition had recorded also that Orpheus was able to
draw after him trees and inanimate objects and had ascribed to him
many powers commonly attributed to enchanters. Aeschylus noted in
the Agamemnon that Orpheus led all things by the magic power of sound.
Euripides declared in the Bacchanals that he caused both wild beasts
and trees to gather round him. In Iphigenia at Aulis, Euripides asserted
that he persuaded rocks to follow him. Phanocles observed that Or-
pheus had moved both deaf rocks and waters, melancholy with the bark-
ing of seals. Apollonius noted that he checked the flow of rivers. The
same poet told at some length of his effect on trees. By the charm of
the lyre, he said, Orpheus led oak trees down from the mountains of
Pieria to Zone on the Aegaean coast and caused them to form a well-
ordered grove, which survived in the poet's own time. Vergil in the
Culex mentioned the power of Orpheus to attract beasts and oak trees,
to check the flow of rivers, and to stay the course of the moon in the
sky. Horace referred to his command over winds, and afterwards Claud-
ian spoke even of his attracting mountains.
In accord with the tradition of Orpheus, Ovid observed that, sit-
ting on a grassy hill, he drew round him a circle of trees, beasts, and
birds. And in the opening lines of the Eleventh Book he added that
Orpheus persuaded stones to follow him. Ovid gave special attention to
the assembling of trees, for this allowed him to profit by another tra-
dition, the poetical listing of trees.
In a famous description of Calypso's residence, the poet of the
Odyssey had told of a grove near her dwelling. He enumerated several
kinds of trees, occasionally adding an effective epithet. There were the
alder, and poplar, the fragrant cypress, and the fruitful vine. Later,
while describing the garden of Alcinoiis, the poet made a similar list of
orchard trees. In both accounts he appears to have mentioned only
varieties which could have been found on a Mediterranean isle and to
have described them from observation. Vergil in the Aeneid gave a
similar list of trees which were brought together in the funeral pyre of
Misenus.
But in the Georgics, Vergil used a different method. Purporting to
describe trees of the Caucasus Mountains, he made a long enumeration
321
? ? 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 forest trees useful to man. Among them he mentioned the alder,
which he associated with the valley of the Po, and the hollow cork oak
offering a home to bees, which was characteristic only of mountains
near the warm Mediterranean shores. Vergil was not describing the for-
est of a particular region but forests in general, and he drew not merely
on observation but also on his reading. Seneca followed the same method
in his Oedipus and was followed in turn by Lucan and Statius. None
of these poets was describing a forest which one might see in nature.
Each of them was recalling details effective in the work of earlier au-
thors and was describing an imaginary forest which would promote the
interest of his poem. All of them were presenting more or less literary
groves. But the artificiality was latent and moderate. Since almost
every ancient author purported to describe some locality near the Medi-
terranean shore, and since the forests of this region varied but little, a
poet might select all his details from the work of his predecessors and
still keep his description reasonably near the fact. The reader might
suspect that his account was artificial and yet feel unable to call any
detail impossible.
The same fashion of describing literary groves appeared in The
Romance of the Rose and in other leading poems of the Middle Ages.
With them the artificial element became, obvious. Poets of northern
Europe, purporting to describe their own country, included trees of the
Mediterranean shore, which they knew only from the work of Roman
predecessors. In The Parliament of Fowls, for example, Chaucer de-
scribed a wood which included the olive for peace and the victor palm.
Such description of literary groves continued in leading poems of the
Renaissance. It appears to have ended with Dryden's funeral of
Arcite. *
Meanwhile Sophocles, telling of the wood at Colonus, had followed
still another method. He referred to the ivy not only as looking dark
with clustering berries but as having an association with Bacchus, and
to the olive tree not only as feeding the boys of Athens but as being the
creation of Athena. He related certain kinds of trees to persons of
mythology. Probably Alexandrian authors followed his example, but
their work is lost.
Vergil in the Culex described two groves of this kind. Near one of
them a shepherd took his noonday rest. This grove included the spread-
*Literary groves were described by Boccacio in the Teseide, Chaucer in The
Knight's Tale, Lydgate in The Complaint of the Black Knight, Camoens in the Lusiads,
Tasso in the Jerusalem Delivered, and Spenser in The Faerie Queene.
322
? ? 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
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
ing plane; the wicked lotus, which had beguiled the followers of Ulysses:
the Heliads transformed (into poplars) because of grief for Phaethon:
a maiden betrayed by Demophoon (the almond tree) ; the oaks, chanters
of fates (at Dodona) ; the bristling pine, glory of the ship Argo; black
ilex; weeping cypress; shady beeches; ivy, restraining the grief of the
poplars; and myrtle, remembering its fate of old (transformation of a
certain Myrsine). A second grove was planted round the tomb of the
gnat. It included laurel, beautiful in the eyes of Phoebus (because of
Daphne) ; oleander; Sabine juniper, associated with frankincense; shin-
ing ivy; and everblooming viburnum. Elsewhere in the poem Vergil men-
tioned still other trees, but without alluding to mythology. The flock, he
said, browsed on leaves of arbute, wild vine, pliant willow, alder, and
tender briar.
Ovid showed Orpheus calling together a grove similar to those of
the Culex. From them he took the suggestion for many of his trees. But,
by listing the varieties in a different order and with different descriptive
epithets, he gave a feeling of originality; and, by including fewer allu-
sions to mythology, he made the grove appear less artificial. With
changes of this kind, he took from the Culex the (oak) tree of Dodona;
the grove of the Heliads; the beech; the laurel, unmarried (because of
Daphne) ; the ilex, bending with acorns; the genial plane; the river-
haunting willow; the water lotus; the myrtle, double hued (because it
has both ripe purple and immature green berries) ; the viburnum, with
berries of dark blue; pliant footed ivy; the arbute loaded with ruddy
drupes; the pine with bristling crest (probably the stone pine of
Mediterranean shores) ; and the cypress, formed like a pyramid.
But Ovid went further. By drawing on other predecessors, he
obtained also an effect of richness. From the Georgics he took the soft
linden, the evergreen box, and perhaps the brittle hazel and the fir de-
void of knots. From the Aeneid he added the ash good for spears, the
rowan, and a second variety of pine (probably the Scotch pine of the
cooler mountain sides). He took from the Odyssey the tendrilled vine,
from Theocritus the slender tamarisk, and from an epistle of Horace
the elm tree clothed with grapevines -- characteristic of Italy rather
than Thrace. Ovid noted also the evergreen oak; the maple of varie-
gated wood (then fashionable at Rome); and the pliant palm, reward
of victors.
After alluding to metamorphoses of the Heliads and Daphne, Ovid
added two other transformations, both of them little known to his
323
? ? 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
Roman contemporaries. One of them was concerned with Attis, a
Phrygian deity whose worship was attracting notice at Rome. Attis,
like Bacchus, appears to have been thought of originally as a tree spirit
associated with vegetation and with fertility in general. In the autumn,
it was said, he departed to the Lower World; and in the spring he re-
turned, causing a revival of life, to which was related the hope of joyful
immortality. An annual festival, held at the vernal equinox, commemo-
rated his death and revival. Attis was associated with Cybele, the
Phrygian goddess of fertility. Hermesianax, the earliest Greek author
to mention him, noted that, like Adonis, he was killed by a wild boar.
The worship of Attis included another idea, which was unusual. At
religious festivals of Korea and Nigeria certain men have been per-
suaded to sacrifice their male organs and bury them in the fields, in order
to promote fertility of the crops and of life as a whole. A similar cus-
tom distinguished the worship of Cybele. Her priests at their initiation
became eunuchs and afterwards wore female attire. The initiation oc-
curred under a pine tree, and they were said to have followed the example
of Attis.
Callimachus told the story in a poem which now is lost. Catullus
repeated it to substantially the same effect. He implied that Attis had
grown up in the Phrygian town of Pessinus and that he departed from
there to the seashore near the Hermus River. With a number of follow-
ers he then sailed north to Mt. Ida. There he first made the sacrifice
with a sharp flint and then led a wild dance to the temple of Cybele and
became her handmaid for life.
Ovid in the Fasti recorded many further circumstances. He was
concerned chiefly with earlier events of the tale. Attis attracted the
love of Cybele, he said, and vowed fidelity, praying that any disloyalty
might be his last. Not long after, he fell in love with the nymph Sangari-
tis. Driven mad by Cybele, he fled from his home. Ovid supposed that
he went only to the neighboring Mt. Dindyma. There, believing that
Furies were pursuing him, he atoned by the sacrifice. His blood, sprink-
ling the ground, became purple violets.
The story of Attis appeared frequently in the works of ancient
artists, especially on medallions of the late Roman period. In such
representations, Attis appeared as a soft young man, dressed usually in
shepherd costume. Ancient artists noted that he was deified after his
revival and that he rode with Cybele in a triumphal car drawn by four
lions.
324
? ? 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
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid observed that the body of Attis had
been transformed into a pine tree and accordingly the pine is dear to
Cybele. This incident we know only from Ovid.
The second metamorphosis which Ovid recalled was concerned
with Cyparissus. The tale appears to have entered literature in the
Alexandrian period and to have been told in many different forms by
Alexandrian authors whom we can no longer identify. One form of the
tale afterwards was mentioned by Nonnus. The version from which
Ovid took his outline may have appeared in the work of Phanocles.
This account ran as follows. Apollo once loved a boy named
Cyparissus. The boy, who was a child of Telephus, lived in Carthaea on
the island of Ceos -- a little southeast of Attica. Since Telephus had
been reared by a doe, Cyparissus took an interest in deer, and Apollo
gave him a beautiful stag. The boy used to adorn the animal with
jewels and other kinds of decoration. Evidently the ancient Greeks
enjoyed gilding the horns of cattle, an idea mentioned by Greek authors
since the Iliad and repeated by Ovid in his tale of Aeson (Bk. 7). Calli-
machus referred to a similar practice of gilding antlers. The Alexan-
drian author whom Ovid was following spoke of Cyparissus as gilding
the antlers of the stag. One day, while the boy lay asleep in the shade,
the animal approached and suddenly wakened him. Mistaking the
creature for a wild beast, the boy killed it with a spear. He then became
inconsolable, and Apollo transformed him into the cypress, a tree asso-
ciated with mourning. Pompeiian frescos, treating the story, pictured
the stag adorned with jewels and Cyparissus with branches growing out
of his head.
After introducing Cyparissus, Ovid gave his chief attention to the
stag. The animal, he observed, wore a boss on his forehead. Roman
boys often used to wear an ornament of this kind as a protection from
witchcraft. Vergil had told in his Aeneid about a stag owned by Silvia.
Although the animal was of huge size, with wide-spreading antlers, he
was tame and was willing to be petted. Silvia enjoyed adorning his
antlers with garlands. She had taught him to obey her, and she often
led him to the pure spring. All these details Ovid repeated in describ-
ing the stag of Cyparissus. Alexandrian artists had pictured boys
mounted on stags, and Martial afterwards noted explicitly that boys
used to ride them in the circus. Ovid observed that Cyparissus rode the
animal, guiding him with purple reins.
Ovid rejected the Alexandrian author's account of the manner in
325
? ? 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
which the animal died, perhaps because he thought the mistake of Cypar-
issus too much like that of Cephalus (Bk. 7). Vergil had declared that
one hot day, while the stag of Silvia lay in the shade, Ascanius wounded
him by mistake. Ovid imagined that one day in the heat of early summer,
while the stag of Cyparissus lay in the shade, the boy accidentally gave
him a mortal wound. In the conclusion Ovid took details from his earlier
narratives of Byblis (Bk. 9) and Clytie (Bk. 4). Although Apollo tried
assiduously to comfort the boy, Cyparissus, like Byblis, was deaf to
consolation and wanted only to continue mourning. He even asked for
it as a privilege. And his pallor, like that of Clytie, altered easily into
the green of vegetation. Ovid recorded the change at some length.
After Ovid's time many authors recalled the idea of Orpheus and
the supernatural power of his lyre. Sometimes they preferred the ac-
counts of Vergil, Horace, or Claudian; and this was true of Shakes-
peare in his frequent allusions to the power of music. But in most of
their allusions later authors gave Ovid at least an equal share.
The Celtic lay of Orpheus told of the minstrel's enthralling wild
birds and beasts with his music. Camoens observed that the Portuguese
listened as attentively to Monsaide
As erst the bending forest stooped to hear
In Rhodope, when Orpheus' heavenly strain
Deplored his lost Eurydice in vain
Spenser alluded in his Ruins of Time to the harp with which Orpheus
led forests and wild beasts after him. Milton recalled the idea humor-
ously, first in the Sixth Prolusion and then in the Seventh. He con-
trasted Orpheus, who attracted only an audience of wild beasts, trees,
and perhaps rustic folk; with himself, who attracted the most learned
men of his day. And he reasoned in another connection that, if trees,
bushes, and whole groves hastened to enjoy the skilled playing of Or-
pheus ; they were not likely to welcome Ignorance into their society.
Congreve in the opening lines of his Mourning Bride showed a
princess meditating as follows:
Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
I've read that things inanimate have moved,
And, as with living souls, have been informed
By magic numbers and persuasive sound.
Am I more senseless grown than trees or flint?
32G
? ? 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
? ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL
Cowper noted in The Task that plants from many lands assemble in
a greenhouse,
As if convened
By magic summons of the Orphean lyre;
and that moralists are inclined to boast, as if
They had indeed ability to smooth
The shag of savage nature and were each
An Orpheus and omnipotent in song.
Tennyson wrote a long, humorous description of the assembling of trees
but attributed the miracle to Amphion.
In describing literary groves, a number of authors clearly remem-
bered Ovid. Lucan mentioned the cypress associated with no common
woe, Claudian referred to the misanthropic laurel, and Chaucer noted
in his Parliament of Fowls both the cypress for mourning and the palm
as reward of conquerors.
The idea that a grapevine needs the support of an elm tree inter-
ested a number of English authors. Catullus had stated the idea clearly,
but, until the height of the Renaissance, his work was little known. Ver-
gil in the Georgics, Horace in an epistle, and Ovid in the account of
Orpheus had suggested the idea by implication. Vergil, who spoke of
the vines as embracing the elm, seems clearly to have inspired the simi-
lar idea of Sidney in his Arcadia and Giles Fletcher in his Licia. Both
Vergil and Ovid appear to have suggested Chaucer's mention in the
Parliament of Fowls of the pillar elm. Spenser probably followed both
Ovid and Chaucer. At the beginning of his Faerie Queen he referred to
the vine prop elm. Other poets echoed the same idea. Cowley noted in his
Death of Katherine Phelps that wit, too, needs the prop of virtue. Ben
Jonson observed in Sejanus that assassins of Drusus
Cut down that upright elm, withered his vines.
And Tennyson declared in his Amphion that, when the trees began fol-
lowing the piper,
Old elms came, breaking with the vine.
A few authors recalled Ovid's tales of transformation. Pigna, an
Italian author of the Renaissance, wrote a Latin poem on the meta-
morphosis of Attis to a pine, Camoens remembered how the pine is sacred
327
? ? 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
to Cybele, and Calpurnius Siculus followed both Vergil and Ovid in his
attractive description of a stag.
Modern artists who treated the power of Orpheus appear to have
been inspired chiefly by ancient pictorial versions but probably were at
least encouraged by acquaintance with Ovid. Delacroix made a famous
painting of Orpheus, pioneer of civilization, Gillis de Hondecoeter and
Fulton Brown pictured Orpheus with an audience of wild animals, and
Marcellin treated the same theme in sculpture.
328
? ? 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
Ganymede
When Orpheus had gathered his audience of trees and wild animals,
Ovid continued, he ceased playing long enough to tune his lyre and then,
touching the strings again, commenced to sing. With this introduction,
Ovid began the longest passage of his Metamorphoses which was given
in the words of a character.
Following the example of Aratus in his poem on the constellations
and of Vergil in a shepherd song of his Third Eclogue, Ovid showed
Orpheus beginning with Jupiter. Orpheus announced that on a former
occasion he had told in grave style about Jupiter's victory over the
Giants -- perhaps an allusion to Ovid's early epic, but that now in
lighter style he would sing of other themes. By the phrase "in lighter
style" Ovid meant only that his work should be less dignified than an
epic. None of the tales was to be comic, and a number of them were to
end in disaster. Orpheus mentioned two themes of the song -- boys who
were loved by the heavenly deities and girls who incurred punishment for
abnormal passion. Under the first heading Ovid planned to include the
stories of Ganymede, Hyacinthus, and Adonis; under the second he
planned to include the story of Myrrha and perhaps that of the Pro-
poetides. Other tales, such as those of Pygmalion and Atalanta, did not
fall under either heading. Ovid may have regarded them merely as im-
portant incidents of his main tales.
Phanocles, in the poem which Ovid had used for his account of
Orpheus, had included a story of Ganymede. This theme, Ovid showed
Orpheus treating as the first part of the song. In older versions of the
tale Ganymede appeared somewhat vaguely as one of those mortals
whom tradition spoke of as having been transported alive to heaven
(cf. Hercules, Bk. 9). According to the Iliad, the gods were pleased
with him and took him up to their own abode. In these particulars he
resembled the Biblical character Enoch. But Ganymede was distin-
guished for physical beauty. The Homeric Hymn to Venus added that
he was caught up in a whirlwind -- after the manner of Elijah and
Romulus. Pindar seemed to imagine that he was borne heavenwards in
a golden chariot. Early vase painters showed Jupiter raising Ganymede
in his arms.
According to one version of the tale, Ganymede was lifted to the
329
? ? 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
skies from the island of Crete. This version appeared in certain early
vase paintings and in Plato's dialogue, The Laws. But the Iliad spoke
of the event as occurring in the region of Troy, and this became the
usual opinion. Certain vase paintings indicated the plain near the city.
But Alexandrian authors imagined that Ganymede was on Mt. Ida, an
idea repeated by Vergil and Horace and also by Lucian.
Concerning Ganymede's father, there was a difference of opinion.
The Iliad and the Hymn to Venus declared that his father was Tros, and
Ovid repeated this idea in his tale of Aesacus (Bk. 11). The Little Iliad,
Pindar, and Euripides in the Trojan Women spoke of his father as
being Laomedon, son of Ilus. And Ovid followed their version in his
tale of Ganymede. Hellanicus and the Manual noted that Ganymede's
mother was Callirhoe, daughter of the river Scamander.
According to the Iliad, Ganymede was carried off in order that
he might serve as cupbearer of the gods. Afterwards this appears al-
ways to have been regarded as one motive for the abduction- But the
Hymn to Venus appeared to suggest also that Jupiter was in love with
the youth, for it noted Ganymede, Tithonus, and Anchises as evidence
that Troy was favored especially by the gods. This idea Ovid recalled
in his Epistle of Paris. Pindar recorded the second motive explicitly,
and afterwards it continually was mentioned, sometimes without any
illusion to service as cupbearer.
Some Greek authors observed that Jupiter offered compensation
to Ganymede's father. The Iliad mentioned a gift of horses, the best in
the world. The Manual, repeating this idea, described the animals as
mares. The Hymn to Venus added that Jupiter also comforted Gany-
mede's father with news of the boy's happy state among the gods. The
Little Iliad mentioned a different compensation, a supernatural vine
with soft golden leaves and clusters, which was a creation of Vulcan.
According to early versions of the tale, Ganymede was transported
to heaven in much the same way as other mortals favored by the gods.
With the fourth century B. C. new versions of the abduction appeared,
which tended to make this tale distinct from the rest. Phanocles imag-
ined that, during the period when Tantalus was admitted to the com-
pany of the gods, he carried off Ganymede and presented him to Jupiter.
Ovid rejected this idea, among other reasons because earlier in the Meta-
morphoses he had shown Tantalus already in Hades long before the
period of Tros and Laomedon. Ovid preferred still another Alexandrian
version.
330
? ? 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
In parts of North America and Africa and in Burma, primitive
tribes have associated thunderbolts descending from heaven with the
flight of some huge bird. In North America this bird was regarded as
an agent of the sky god, Manitu. A similar belief appeared among the
ancient Greeks. They thought of an eagle as carrying the thunderbolts
of Jupiter. For this reason Vergil spoke of the eagle as Jove's armor-
bearer. In several countries of Asia the eagle was believed to have done
other service for the heavenly god. According to the Hindus, Indra
employed an eagle to bring him the valued soma juice. And, although
in reality the eagle can lift only a weight of about seven pounds, other
peoples told of the heavenly god's employing him to abduct full-grown
human beings. The Sumerians of the Euphrates valley told of his trans-
porting to heaven King Etana of Kish, and the story was recorded after-
wards in a long Semitic poem. Influenced by this tale, the Greeks im-
agined that Jupiter had employed his eagle to carry away Ganymede.
The new idea seems first to have attracted Greek artists. Usually
they portrayed the eagle in the act of transporting the boy. Occasion-
ally, however, they showed Ganymede fondling the eagle or offering him
food. They represented the bird either as a golden eagle or as a Lam-
mergeier. Greek and Roman painters treated the theme of Ganymede
continually, as Plautus indicated in his Menaechmi* Greek sculptors
also were fond of the subject. Towards the middle of the fourth century
B. C. , Leochares made a famous statue of the abduction, of which more
than one copy still survives. Another sculptor, mentioned by Theocritus,
treated the theme in ivory and was unusual in having two eagles trans-
port the boy. From comparatively early times the abduction of Gany-
mede appeared on ancient coins. And in the period of the Roman Em-
pire, it became a favorite theme for decorating the graves of young men.
The author of the Manual spoke of an eagle as transporting Gany-
mede to heaven. Another Alexandrian author, whom we cannot identify,
retold the story as the theme of a tragedy. Ovid afterwards mentioned
his work in the Tristia. Phanocles treated the subject of Ganymede in
his narrative poem. In describing the abduction, one of these Alexan-
drian authors added the following circumstances. Ganymede was ac-
companied by some elderly attendants and by a number of dogs. He was
hunting stags in the darkness, probably before dawn. Then the eagle
bore him away, while the attendants raised their eyes to the stars and
the dogs barked fiercely. This incident Vergil described in his Aeneid.
*Plautus called the boy Catamitus, a name applied to him rather often by the
Romans.
331
? ? 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 other Alexandrian author spoke of Ganymede as tending cattle.
His version was recalled afterwards by Lucian and Nonnus.
The Alexandrian authors mentioned a number of circumstances
after Ganymede's arrival in heaven. One of these was his relation to
Hebe. The Iliad had implied that Ganymede was the original cup-
bearer of the gods and that Hebe succeeded him. The Alexandrians took
the opposite view. They declared that Hebe was the original cupbearer
and added that Ganymede supplanted her. The idea was repeated by
Lucian and Nonnus. The Alexandrians imagined Juno as resenting
Jupiter's fondness for Ganymede, and Vergil mentioned her jealousy as
one reason why she was hostile to Ganymede's kinsman, Aeneas. The
abduction, according to the Alexandrian authors, was associated with
two constellations which appear together in the sky. The eagle became
the constellation of that name (Aquila), Ganymede became the constel-
lation of the Water Carrier (Aquarius). To this event Ovid alluded in
his Fasti.
The Alexandrians also introduced a new idea of the manner in
which Ganymede was abducted. They reconciled the older belief that
Jupiter carried off the boy with the new idea of his employing an eagle.
In some parts of the world the sky god has been thought to assume the
form of a huge bird. In North America, Manitu himself sometimes was
regarded as the bird of thunder. The Scandinavian people told of Odin's
assuming the form of an eagle in order to steal the mead of poetic in-
spiration. According to the Greeks, Jupiter several times took the
form of an eagle in order to carry off young women. 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.
