He sailed westwards to the head of the gulf and
attacked
another ally of
Athens, King Nisus of Megara, as Ovid was to record in the opening lines
of the Eighth Book.
Athens, King Nisus of Megara, as Ovid was to record in the opening lines
of the Eighth Book.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
He showed Hercules descending through the cavern of Taenerus,
at the southern limit of Greece, an idea repeated by many authors.
In the Trachinian Women, Sophocles mentioned the capture of Cerberus
as one of the major labors of Hercules, and afterwards it was included
in every list.
Aristophanes noted in the Frogs that Hercules overcame the dog
by choking him. Euripides referred in the Hercules Furens to still other
circumstances. Before undertaking the quest, he said, Hercules became
initiated into the mysteries of Eleusis (cf. Proserpina, Bk. 5) and so
protected himself from the dangers of Hades. For the journey back
Hercules followed a route which brought him to Hermione in Boeotia.
The Manual added further circumstances. Apparently Hercules did
not find Cerberus at the entrance of Hades. He visited Pluto and ob-
tained leave to capture the dog, provided that he should use no weapons.
Covered by the Nemean lion skin, he then went in quest of Cerberus and
seized him in his arms. The dog fought savagely and bit the hero with
his dragon tail. But Hercules subdued him and led him off without fur-
ther resistance. According to the Manual, Hercules returned to the
upper world near the city of Troezen. After showing the monster to
Eurystheus, he restored him to Hades. Greek artists dealt often with the
famous tale. Many sculptured reliefs treated the initiation of Hercules
into the mysteries; forty extant vase paintings show his capture of
Cerberus. *
The event was associated at one time or another with every part of
Greece having a supposed entrance to Hades. The Boeotians transferred
it also to their colony of Heraclea in Pontus. Xenophon observed in his
*Seneca, in Hercules Furens, gave the best account of the adventure. His narra-
tive inspired the descriptions of Cerberus by Dante and Spenser and also Shake-
speare's allusion to the myth in Love's Labour's Lost.
122
? ? 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
? THE ORIGIN OF ACONITE
Anabasis that Hercules was reported to have emerged with the dog from
a gloomy cavern of the neighboring Mt. Achemsius. Repeating this idea,
Euphorion added other circumstances. Alarmed at the unfamiliar beams
of day, Cerberus renewed the struggle and foamed at all his mouths. The
foam, descending to the ground, became a poisonous plant, which is
called aconite because it flourishes on sharp, bare crags (aconae). The
aconite has many varieties, but Euphorion probably thought of one
having few leaves and a mass of white flowers.
It was poison made from aconite, said Ovid, with which Medea
hoped to destroy Theseus. Ovid observed that she brought the poison
from the Scythian shore, meaning probably that she obtained it from
Heraclea before sailing in the Argo. Ovid then repeated the chief de-
tails of Euphorion's account. In order to drag Cerberus out, he said,
Hercules used adamantine chains, and in the tale of Orpheus he spoke of
their being fastened about the middle one of the three necks. In the tale
of Athamas (Bk. 4) Ovid already had mentioned the foam of Cerberus
as one of the poisons used by Tisiphone.
While telling of Hercules and Cerberus, Ovid altered the usual se-
quence of events. Greek authors had regarded Hercules and Theseus as
contemporaries and had supposed that, when Hercules went in quest of
Cerberus, Theseus was a prisoner in the Lower World. Some years after
Theseus arrived in Athens, they said, Theseus and his friend Pirithoiis
tried to abduct Proserpina. Failing in the attempt, the two adventurers
were bound fast with chains, and they continued to be imprisoned in the
Lower World until the descent of Hercules. Having no occasion to tell
of Theseus and Pirithoiis in Hades, Ovid assumed that Hercules was
much older than Theseus and had captured Cerberus at least several
years before Theseus arrived in Athens. He then associated the quest of
Cerberus with the familiar tale of Medea's plot against Theseus and so
gave the tale added novelty and interest.
After the failure of Medea's plot, the Manual continued, Theseus
drove Medea and Medus from Athens. They departed, presumably in a
ship, and made their way to Colchis. Finding that Aeetes had been de-
throned by his brother, Medea restored him to power and spent the rest
of her life in Colchis. Apollonius had noted that after death she became
the wife of Achilles and dwelt in the Elysian Fields. The Manual re-
peated this account, changing their residence to Isles of the Blest.
Ovid did not speak of Medea's later career. He was content with "re-
cording a more impressive departure from Athens. Realizing that her
123
? ? 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 SEVEN
punishment was likely to be death, he said, Medea left the city in a storm
which her enchantment had raised. Apparently she rose in her dragon
car and vanished among the swift moving clouds.
Ariosto afterwards recalled Ovid's tale of the plot against Theseus.
When Marfisa narrowly escaped combat with the disguised Rogero, she
felt horror, he said, like that of Aegeus when he almost poisoned his son.
Hawthorne in The Wonder Book told of Medea's plot against Theseus
and of her escape in the dragon car. Spenser described Sir Calidore
dragging the Blatant Beast as proceeding
Like as whylome that strong Tirynthian swain
Brought forth with him the dreadfull dog of hell
Against his will, fast bound in yron chain
And roaring horribly; did him compell
To see the hatefull sun.
124
? ? 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
? DEEDS OF THESEUS AND PREPARATIONS OF MINOS
Deeds of Theseus and Preparations of Minos
Ovid's long account of Jason and Medea had brought him again to
the mythical history of Athens. He now continued with this history and
with related stories until the second tale of his Ninth Book.
After Aegeus had so narrowly escaped poisoning Theseus, Ovid
imagined that he held a festival of joy for the preservation of his son.
Athenians of all ranks took part and sang impromptu songs in honor of
the heroic prince. This gave Ovid a chance to mention the achievements
of Theseus before he established himself at Athens.
The traditional account had grown up chiefly in Attica and had
been influenced by the older myth of Hercules. Both Hercules and
Theseus were famous for destroying human malefactors and formidable
beasts. Greek tradition supposed that Theseus performed many of these
heroic feats in the course of his journey to Athens. It recorded them
somewhat as follows.
Theseus chose a road which led him westwards along the shore of
the Saronic Gulf. At Epidaurus, Periphetes, a son of Vulcan, was in the
habit of murdering travelers with his iron club. Theseus killed him and
took the club as his own weapon. On the Isthmus of Corinth another
villain named Sinis used to kill travelers by means of pine trees. Bending
a large tree until the crown touched the earth, he set his victim on the
top and released the tree, which sprang back and shot the traveler high
in the air. Theseus destroyed Sinis by the same device of a pine tree,
and then proceeded north over the Isthmus into the region of Megaris.
Near Crommyon, on the northern shore of the Gulf, the country was
harried by a formidable sow. Typhoeus and Echidna had been the par-
ents of the animal and an old woman named Phaea had reared it and
called it after herself. Theseus destroyed this creature also and then
followed the shore eastwards in the direction of Megara.
At the Scironian Cliffs, his way took him along a shelf of rock high
above the waves. Here the robber Sciron used to make the traveler wash
his feet and during the process to kick him off into the sea, where a turtle
waited to devour him. Hurling Sciron over the cliff, Theseus proceeded
to Eleusis. There he wrestled with the tyrant Cercyon, defeated him, and
put him to death. Leaving the shore, he then traveled up the course of
the Attic river Cephisus. At Erineus he encountered still another male-
125
? ? 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 SEVEN
factor, whose real name seems to have been Polypemon but whose crimes
had won him the title of Procrustes (the Stretcher). This villain used
forcibly to aiake the traveler fit one of his two beds. If his victim was
short, Procrustes laid him on the longer bed and hammered him out. If
the victim was tall, Procrustes laid him on the shorter bed and cut off the
superfluous length. Theseus killed Procrustes and then proceeded with-
out further adventure to Athens. *
Sappho had alluded to Theseus, and Bacchylides mentioned a num-
ber of his exploits. The Manual gave a brief, orderly account of them
all. Greek artists often treated the story. Vase painters pictured the
victories over Phaea and Sciron. Sculpture of the Athenian Treasury
at Delphi portrayed the death of Periphetes, Sciron, and Cercyon, and
a carving at the Theseum in Athens showed Sciron being hurled into the
sea, but it replaced the usual hungry turtle with a crab. Ovid himself
mentioned several of the hero's exploits both in the Epistle of Phyllis
and in the Ibis.
The heroic deeds of Theseus had not ended with his arrival in
Athens. Hercules, as one of his labors, had transported to the mainland
of Greece a savage Cretan bull. He released the animal near Thebes.
After wandering to many parts of Greece, the bull established itself in
the vicinity of Marathon, a day's journey north of Athens, and for a
long while caused terror and havoc in the neighboring country. Theseus,
when he had made the journey from Troezen, went almost immediately
in quest of the bull and captured it. He then led the animal to Athens
and offered it as a sacrifice to the gods. Callimachus in the Hecale told
of this adventure, indicating that Theseus undertook it on his own initia-
tive. The Manual associated the adventure with the plots of Medea. In
order to destroy the young hero, she persuaded Aegeus first to send him
against the bull and then to offer him poison. It was the account in the
Manual which Ovid followed by implication in his Metamorphoses.
All these achievements of Theseus Ovid mentioned, but without at-
tempting to record them in the usual order. For most of the adventures
he followed the narrative in the Manual. In the case of Sciron, he added
further details, suggested probably by an Alexandrian account which is
now lost. Neither the land nor the sea, he observed, was willing to hold
*This was the usual ancient account of the journey. But some authorities de-
scribed differently the methods of Sinis and Procrustes. Sinis, they declared, used
to fasten his victim to two pines, which rent him asunder as they sprang back, and
Procrustes fitted all travelers to one bed. In modern times this has been the usual
account both of Sinis and of Procrustes.
126
? ? 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
? DEEDS OF THESEUS AND PREPARATIONS OF MINOS
the robber's bones. After tossing about for a long while, they at last
were transformed into rocks. Ovid implied also that Theseus had done
many other deeds, for the Athenians declared that in number his achieve-
ments were more than his years.
Hawthorne in the Wonder Book recalled Ovid's account of Sciron
rejected by shore and sea. But he added that the robber's body had to
remain fixed in the air!
For Aegeus, Ovid continued, the joy of the festival was marred by
news of war declared by King Minos of Crete.
According to the Iliad, Minos was a son of Jupiter and Europa,
and his kingdom of Crete had a hundred cities. This afterwards con-
tinued to be the usual account. Thucydides declared that Minos obtained
also dominion over most of the Aegaean islands. The Manual gave the
cause of his hostility to Athens. Androgeus, a son of Minos, competed
in the Panathenian Games and by his victories excited the envy of the
Athenians. This resulted in his death, either because Aegeus sent him to
capture the Marathonian Bull or because he was waylaid by jealous com-
petitors. According to the Manual, the event occurred at the time when
Theseus was born. Ovid supposed that it occurred much later -- at the
time when Theseus arrived in Athens. Assuming that his readers were
acquainted with the fate of Androgeus, Ovid said only that Minos justlv
desired to avenge the death of his son.
According to the Manual, Minos proceeded at once to the coast
near Athens. Ovid imagined that he tried first to augment his power by
an alliance with the peoples of the Aegaean Isles. Beginning with those
nearest Crete, he visited one island after another until he came at length
to Preparethus, north of Euboea. Although Ovid did not mention Naxos
and a few others, probably he supposed that the Cretan visited them.
The inhabitants of the more southern islands allied themselves with
Crete, those of the northern held aloof.
If Minos was so powerful as both Greek tradition and Ovid sug-
gested, it was unlikely that he would be so anxious to gain allies. But the
idea gave Ovid several advantages. It allowed him to include the pic-
turesque names of many islands which were more or less familiar to his
Roman contemporaries and to add bits of descriptive detail. These were
striking but not necessarily accurate, for he spoke of Myconus as low-
lying, although in reality it was mountainous. It allowed him also to
mention a story of Arne. Through avarice she betrayed to the enemy the
island of Siphnus. Probably this enemy was not Minos but some leader
127
? ? 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 SEVEN
of an earlier time. As punishment she was transformed into a daw, a
bird which still covets gold. This tale Ovid may have learned from
Nicander. He merely alluded to it, because he soon was to tell a similar
and more remarkable tale of Scylla (Bk. 8).
But for Ovid this voyage among the Aegean Islands afforded an-
other and greater advantage. From Preparethus, he said, Minos turned
to the left and went southwards to still another island called Aegina,
which lay in the Saronic Gulf just opposite Athens. The incident made
it possible afterwards for Ovid to introduce several important tales.
According to Pindar and others, the island at first was called
Oenopia (Rich in Wine). The Manual noted that it was given the new
name Aegina in honor of the paramour of Jupiter (cf. Arachne, Bk. 6)
and the first ruler of the island was her son, Aeacus. This ruler, the
Manual continued, became the father of three sons, Telamon, Peleus, and
Phocus. The last of these was a child of the nereid Psamathe. Accepting
this account, Ovid added that Aeacus had been the first to name the
island Aegina. His three sons, Ovid continued, were among those hasten-
ing to behold Minos on his arrival. Aeacus himself, being now old and
infirm, arrived somewhat later.
Although Aeacus inquired the reason for the visit, he needed no
lengthy explanation. The period of negotiations between Minos and the
inhabitants of other isles had given him time to learn the cause of the
war. Minos had only to say that he desired help in avenging his son.
Aeacus declined, pleading a treaty of friendship with Athens. Minos,
unwilling to spend his strength in immediate war, departed with a threat.
He sailed westwards to the head of the gulf and attacked another ally of
Athens, King Nisus of Megara, as Ovid was to record in the opening lines
of the Eighth Book. From the point of view of military strategy the
conduct of Minos was hardly credible, for by seizing the island of Aegina
he would have not only a more convenient base for attacking Athens but
also control of the entire Saronic Gulf. Ovid was not interested in the
war for its own sake. He used it only as a plausible occasion for tales of
metamorphosis.
128
? ? 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
? CREATION OF THE MYRMIDONS
Creation of the Myrmidons
Not only Minos, Ovid continued, but also Aegeus desired the help
of Aegina. The Athenian king sent as his ambassador Cephalus. The
idea was not only an invention of Ovid's but a considerable anachronism.
Tradition had spoken of Cephalus as being contemporary with King
Pandion and as marrying Pandion's sister. He would have been in his
prime two long generations before the arrival of Theseus in Athens.
Ovid committed this anachronism because he desired to close the book
effectively with the story of Cephalus and Procris. He lessened the diffi-
culty by describing Cephalus as advanced in years and by avoiding until
much later any mention of his wife. To accompany the hero, Aegeus sent
two princes, Clytus and Butes, sons of his brother Pallas.
Opposed by an enemy so formidable as Minos, Aegeus probably
would have lost no time in despatching the embassy to Aegina. But Ovid
wisely sacrificed probability to literary effect. Aegeus delayed so long
that, when Cephalus arrived, the Cretan sails were disappearing on the
horizon.
Still attractive and striking in appearance, the hero landed in
Aegina, bearing in his right hand a spray of the olive tree which was
sacred to Athena, patron deity of Athens. Although he had not visited
the island for many years, the sons of Aeacus recognized him and wel-
comed him as an ally and as a personal friend. The leaders of both
parties entered the palace, and Cephalus delivered his message. Remind-
ing Aeacus of the ancient friendship between the two countries and of
their treaty, he requested aid, adding as a further incentive the rather
improbable idea that Minos intended to subdue the whole of Greece.
Aeacus urged him courteously to take whatever soldiers he desired, for
happily Aegina possessed soldiers in abundance. After commenting on
the remarkable number of young men in Aegina, Cephalus noted the ab-
sence of many persons whom he remembered from his earlier visit. Aeacus
then proceeded to explain the cause.
His explanation dealt with the origin of a people called Myrmidons.
The Iliad often had mentioned them as inhabiting Phthia in Thessaly
and as being subjects of Peleus and his son, Achilles. It added that
Peleus was a son of Aeacus and a grandson of Jupiter. The Iliad had
not associated the Myrmidons with the island of Aegina. But the Cata-
129
? ? 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 SEVEN
logues and subsequent tradition made this island their native country
and tried to account for the name Myrmidons by deriving it from the
Greek word for ant (myrmex). Jupiter had transformed the ants of
Aegina into the Myrmidons.
More than one cause was assigned for the event. According to the
Catalogues and the Manual, Aegina and her son were at first the only
inhabitants of the island, and Aeacus desired more human society. But
an Alexandrian author, whose work now is lost, gave a different explana-
tion. Originally, he said, there were other inhabitants of Aegina, and
Aeacus became their king. Juno, resenting the favor shown her rival,
caused a serpent to poison the water. This brought a plague and de-
stroyed so many lives that Jupiter repopulated the island by the trans-
formation of ants. The new story was mentioned by Ovid's Greek con-
temporary, Strabo. Ovid used it in his narrative of Aeacus. If such
remarkable events had occurred in a friendly island which lay opposite
the harbor of Athens and was plainly visible from the Acropolis, there
is no doubt that Cephalus would have been acquainted with the fact. But
Ovid assumed the contrary and obtained a situation most favorable for
telling the story.
Throughout human history there have occurred frequent epidemics
of disease, with rapid and extensive destruction of life. The underlying
cause has been uncleanly conditions and lowered vitality of the people,
occasioned often by poverty or famine. Under these circumstances a
virulent, contagious disease often appears and spreads rapidly. The in-
fection is transmitted by various means, but for a particular disease,
one means is apt to be most important. For bubonic plague it is the flea
which preys on rats and mice, for typhoid fever and cholera it is con-
taminated water, and for typhus fever it is the body louse. *
Of all such diseases the most formidable has been bubonic plague.
It was noted first in Libya during the third century B. C. In the sixth
century A. D. it invaded Europe and for fifty years spread through the
Roman Empire, causing immense loss of life. Towards the middle of the
fourteenth century the bubonic plague swept from China westwards into
? Typhus fever is thought to have been originally a disease of rats and mice. Often
the flea carries it from them to human beings, and for this reason there have been
periods of history, notably the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, when
typhus fever and bubonic plague were epidemic at the same time. But in many re-
gions typhus fever became regularly a malady of human beings and was transmitted
from one to another by the louse. Transmission of this kind was not possible for
bubonic plague. Probably for this reason bubonic plague spent its force in Europe
during the seventeenth century and then decreased rapidly, but typhus fever became
still more prevalent and reached its height in the eighteenth century.
130
? ? 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
? CREATION OF THE MYRMIDONS
Europe. This epidemic, known as the Black Death, was particularly
destructive in Italy and in England, but it visited almost all the con-
tinent of Europe and is believed to have destroyed a quarter of the entire
population. Among its victims the most celebrated were the Laura of
Petrarch's lyrics and Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt, whom Chaucer
commemorated in his Book of the Duchess. Again in the latter half of
the seventeenth century the bubonic plague devastated the greater part
of Europe. This epidemic was most severe in Naples, where three hundred
thousand people died, but it was notorious for its ravages in London.
Other destructive and recurrent epidemics have been due to small
pox; to typhoid fever, the dread scourge of armies until the period of
the Spanish American War; to cholera, a chronic disease of India; and
more recently to influenza, which spread over the whole world during
the Great War. But the earliest recorded plague was due to typhus
fever. This disease brought the famous epidemic in Athens of the fifth
century B. C. and probably the epidemic which Livy describes as oc-
curring at almost the same time in Rome. It reappeared in Europe at
frequent intervals until the period of the Great War. In modern times
epidemics of typhus have destroyed as many as a fifth of those who fell
sick. Under the less favorable conditions of the ancient world the death
rate probably was much higher.
Fortunately, all the diseases which occasion plagues have been lim-
ited by natural conditions. In the tropics the hot, dry weather of sum-
mer tends to lessen both the evil bacteria and the means of transmission.
In the temperate climates the cold of winter usually has a similar effect.
But unknown causes appear often to have operated powerfully in the
same direction and brought the pestilence to an end. Thus after the
great epidemic which invaded London during the middle of the seven-
teenth century, the bubonic plague spontaneously became less active
and gradually retreated eastwards, until in the latter half of the nine-
teenth century it was confined to small areas of Asia and East Africa.
Recently it has become active again and has shown a tendency to spread
widely. But all former causes of plague now are checked by more
hygienic conditions and better care of the sick.
Uncivilized nations often have personified the plague as a malignant
supernatural being. In a Russian folk-tale this being came as a white
hag to a certain peasant. Promising him immunity in his own person,
she mounted on his shoulders and required him to bear her far and wide.
At length she directed him towards a village by the river where lived his
131
? ? 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 SEVEN
own wife and children. Resolved to perish in their defense, he seized the
hag firmly and plunged into the river. The Plague rose to the surface
but fled, abashed at such unfaltering courage.
A similar idea influenced many Greek and Roman accounts. They
pictured an angry deity shooting arrows among men. And, since the
cause was supernatural and the event far off in time, they often imag-
ined the deity as afflicting also other forms of life which are useful to
man, such as cultivated plants and domestic animals. These authors
were mistaken in believing that a single malady would become a plague
both in plant and in animal life. Diseases which are contagious for one
of these forms are not contagious for the other. An animal or a human
being may sicken from eating an unhealthy plant, but the malady does
not spread to others.
And such authors greatly exaggerated the possibility of the same
disease afflicting both animals and men. Bubonic plague and typhus
fever often have originated among rats and spread to human beings.
Bubonic plague sometimes has become epidemic among other small
rodents and has been caught by individual animals as unlike as snakes,
dogs, and monkeys. But in general a disease contagious among animals
is not contagious among human beings. It stops with the individual who
has had contact with the animal. And this is true especially of diseases
which become epidemic among the larger domestic species. Nevertheless
it is a fact that famine often prepared the way for plague. Disease of
one kind which destroyed crops or livestock might open the way for
disease of another kind among human beings.
According to the Iliad, Apollo, angry at the treatment of his
priest, destroyed first the dogs and mules and then the soldiers of the
Greek army. Sophocles told how Apollo and Mars were offended at the
crimes of Oedipus and how they first blighted the ripe grain and the new-
born of cattle and human beings and then caused a general pestilence in
Thebes. Vergil told how the gods warned Aeneas that his choice of a
location for his new city was wrong by sending a pestilence on trees,
grain, and human beings. Livy recorded a plague which destroyed both
cattle and men until the Romans appeased the angry gods. And both
Livy and Ovid (Bk. 15) told of another plague from which the Romans
delivered themselves by sending to Epidaurus for the god Aesculapius. *
*In a similar manner the Old Testament named anger of Jehovah as cause of the
plagues which occurred after the Philistines captured the ark of God and after David
had taken a census of his people. But it spoke of these plagues as destroying only
human beings.
132
? ? 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
? CREATION OF THE MYRMIDONS
Thucydides was the first to describe a pestilence carefully and from
personal observation. He told in some detail of the plague which devas-
tated Athens and the neighboring country in the summer of the year
430 B. C. , hoping that his account might afford guidance in meeting
future visitations of the same kind. Believing it useless to seek the cause,
Thucydides confined himself to its effect.
Beginning in Aethiopia, the plague swept northwards into Egypt
and Libya, continued through the Persian Empire, and at the time of
the first Peloponnesian invasion arrived in Athens. Not realizing the
formidable nature of the disease, the Athenians at first combated it with
ordinary remedies. The physicians used their skill in vain and were
among the first to perish; the people in general resorted to prayers in
the temples or to oracles and found them utterly useless. Soon men felt
overwhelmed by the calamity and ceased to struggle against it.
Thucydides then described rather accurately the symptoms of
what we now recognize as typhus fever with complications of bronchitis.
In individual cases the disease began without warning and followed a
regular course. The patient experienced violent fever in the head and
inflammation of the eyes. The tongue and the inside of the throat suf-
fused with blood, respiration became unnatural and the breath fetid.
The malady then attacked the chest. It caused sneezing, hoarseness, and
a violent cough. It afterwards attacked the stomach and caused vomit-
ing and convulsions. The surface of the body was livid and was covered
with pustules. Externally there was little fever, but internally it was
intense. The sick could not bear any covering. They felt an overpower-
ing desire for coolness and an insatiable thirst. Many actually threw
themselves into cisterns but could get no relief, whether they drank little
or much. The sick were continually restless and unable to sleep. At this
stage the plague brought death to many, after afflicting them in all from
seven to nine days. If the patient survived, the malady descended into
the bowels, causing ulceration, diarrhea, and exhaustion, which often
proved fatal. Finally it settled in the extremities. Some lost fingers or
toes, some grew blind, and others were affected with such amnesia as not
to remember either themselves or their friends.
No remedy for the disease could be relied on. What was beneficial
to one man proved harmful to another. Most appalling was the despair
of those who found themselves attacked, for they did not even try to
save their lives. Hardly less appalling was the spread of the infection.
Those who ventured to care for the sick caught the plague themselves,
133
? ? 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 SEVEN
especially if they aspired to heroism. Often even friends and kindred of
the sick fled from the house, leaving them to die untended.
But fortunately those who recovered from the disease were im-
mune afterwards to serious attack and proved most valuable attendants
of the sufferers. All men congratulated them, and in excess of joy they
fancied they could not die of any other sickness. Such immunity to
further contagion is normal for those recovering from an attack of
typhus fever. But the condition of the patient is less fortunate than
Thucydides implied. After a few years he becomes susceptible again to
infection from others, and even after many years his original disease
may return in a virulent form.
In one respect, Thucydides continued, the malady was unique. At
other times birds, wild beasts of prey, and dogs would devour bodies
which lay unburied. Now such animals usually avoided the bodies of
those who died of the plague; and, if they did not, they soon caught
the disease themselves. In fact, they rarely were seen at this time -- a
proof, in the opinion of Thucydides, of their being destroyed by the
plague. If Thucydides was accurate in his statement of facts, his con-
clusion was improbable. The few animals which devoured the bodies
would succumb to typhus fever, but the disease would not become epi-
demic among the rest.
Because of the Spartan invasion, the country people crowded into
Athens during the heat of summer. This exposed them to the plague
and occasioned great loss of life. In their temporary lodgings the dead
lay one upon another. The dying crawled about every fountain. In the
emergency men no longer regarded the sancity of temples. These too
were used as lodgings and became filled with corpses. The customary
laws of burial were forgotten.
at the southern limit of Greece, an idea repeated by many authors.
In the Trachinian Women, Sophocles mentioned the capture of Cerberus
as one of the major labors of Hercules, and afterwards it was included
in every list.
Aristophanes noted in the Frogs that Hercules overcame the dog
by choking him. Euripides referred in the Hercules Furens to still other
circumstances. Before undertaking the quest, he said, Hercules became
initiated into the mysteries of Eleusis (cf. Proserpina, Bk. 5) and so
protected himself from the dangers of Hades. For the journey back
Hercules followed a route which brought him to Hermione in Boeotia.
The Manual added further circumstances. Apparently Hercules did
not find Cerberus at the entrance of Hades. He visited Pluto and ob-
tained leave to capture the dog, provided that he should use no weapons.
Covered by the Nemean lion skin, he then went in quest of Cerberus and
seized him in his arms. The dog fought savagely and bit the hero with
his dragon tail. But Hercules subdued him and led him off without fur-
ther resistance. According to the Manual, Hercules returned to the
upper world near the city of Troezen. After showing the monster to
Eurystheus, he restored him to Hades. Greek artists dealt often with the
famous tale. Many sculptured reliefs treated the initiation of Hercules
into the mysteries; forty extant vase paintings show his capture of
Cerberus. *
The event was associated at one time or another with every part of
Greece having a supposed entrance to Hades. The Boeotians transferred
it also to their colony of Heraclea in Pontus. Xenophon observed in his
*Seneca, in Hercules Furens, gave the best account of the adventure. His narra-
tive inspired the descriptions of Cerberus by Dante and Spenser and also Shake-
speare's allusion to the myth in Love's Labour's Lost.
122
? ? 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
? THE ORIGIN OF ACONITE
Anabasis that Hercules was reported to have emerged with the dog from
a gloomy cavern of the neighboring Mt. Achemsius. Repeating this idea,
Euphorion added other circumstances. Alarmed at the unfamiliar beams
of day, Cerberus renewed the struggle and foamed at all his mouths. The
foam, descending to the ground, became a poisonous plant, which is
called aconite because it flourishes on sharp, bare crags (aconae). The
aconite has many varieties, but Euphorion probably thought of one
having few leaves and a mass of white flowers.
It was poison made from aconite, said Ovid, with which Medea
hoped to destroy Theseus. Ovid observed that she brought the poison
from the Scythian shore, meaning probably that she obtained it from
Heraclea before sailing in the Argo. Ovid then repeated the chief de-
tails of Euphorion's account. In order to drag Cerberus out, he said,
Hercules used adamantine chains, and in the tale of Orpheus he spoke of
their being fastened about the middle one of the three necks. In the tale
of Athamas (Bk. 4) Ovid already had mentioned the foam of Cerberus
as one of the poisons used by Tisiphone.
While telling of Hercules and Cerberus, Ovid altered the usual se-
quence of events. Greek authors had regarded Hercules and Theseus as
contemporaries and had supposed that, when Hercules went in quest of
Cerberus, Theseus was a prisoner in the Lower World. Some years after
Theseus arrived in Athens, they said, Theseus and his friend Pirithoiis
tried to abduct Proserpina. Failing in the attempt, the two adventurers
were bound fast with chains, and they continued to be imprisoned in the
Lower World until the descent of Hercules. Having no occasion to tell
of Theseus and Pirithoiis in Hades, Ovid assumed that Hercules was
much older than Theseus and had captured Cerberus at least several
years before Theseus arrived in Athens. He then associated the quest of
Cerberus with the familiar tale of Medea's plot against Theseus and so
gave the tale added novelty and interest.
After the failure of Medea's plot, the Manual continued, Theseus
drove Medea and Medus from Athens. They departed, presumably in a
ship, and made their way to Colchis. Finding that Aeetes had been de-
throned by his brother, Medea restored him to power and spent the rest
of her life in Colchis. Apollonius had noted that after death she became
the wife of Achilles and dwelt in the Elysian Fields. The Manual re-
peated this account, changing their residence to Isles of the Blest.
Ovid did not speak of Medea's later career. He was content with "re-
cording a more impressive departure from Athens. Realizing that her
123
? ? 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 SEVEN
punishment was likely to be death, he said, Medea left the city in a storm
which her enchantment had raised. Apparently she rose in her dragon
car and vanished among the swift moving clouds.
Ariosto afterwards recalled Ovid's tale of the plot against Theseus.
When Marfisa narrowly escaped combat with the disguised Rogero, she
felt horror, he said, like that of Aegeus when he almost poisoned his son.
Hawthorne in The Wonder Book told of Medea's plot against Theseus
and of her escape in the dragon car. Spenser described Sir Calidore
dragging the Blatant Beast as proceeding
Like as whylome that strong Tirynthian swain
Brought forth with him the dreadfull dog of hell
Against his will, fast bound in yron chain
And roaring horribly; did him compell
To see the hatefull sun.
124
? ? 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
? DEEDS OF THESEUS AND PREPARATIONS OF MINOS
Deeds of Theseus and Preparations of Minos
Ovid's long account of Jason and Medea had brought him again to
the mythical history of Athens. He now continued with this history and
with related stories until the second tale of his Ninth Book.
After Aegeus had so narrowly escaped poisoning Theseus, Ovid
imagined that he held a festival of joy for the preservation of his son.
Athenians of all ranks took part and sang impromptu songs in honor of
the heroic prince. This gave Ovid a chance to mention the achievements
of Theseus before he established himself at Athens.
The traditional account had grown up chiefly in Attica and had
been influenced by the older myth of Hercules. Both Hercules and
Theseus were famous for destroying human malefactors and formidable
beasts. Greek tradition supposed that Theseus performed many of these
heroic feats in the course of his journey to Athens. It recorded them
somewhat as follows.
Theseus chose a road which led him westwards along the shore of
the Saronic Gulf. At Epidaurus, Periphetes, a son of Vulcan, was in the
habit of murdering travelers with his iron club. Theseus killed him and
took the club as his own weapon. On the Isthmus of Corinth another
villain named Sinis used to kill travelers by means of pine trees. Bending
a large tree until the crown touched the earth, he set his victim on the
top and released the tree, which sprang back and shot the traveler high
in the air. Theseus destroyed Sinis by the same device of a pine tree,
and then proceeded north over the Isthmus into the region of Megaris.
Near Crommyon, on the northern shore of the Gulf, the country was
harried by a formidable sow. Typhoeus and Echidna had been the par-
ents of the animal and an old woman named Phaea had reared it and
called it after herself. Theseus destroyed this creature also and then
followed the shore eastwards in the direction of Megara.
At the Scironian Cliffs, his way took him along a shelf of rock high
above the waves. Here the robber Sciron used to make the traveler wash
his feet and during the process to kick him off into the sea, where a turtle
waited to devour him. Hurling Sciron over the cliff, Theseus proceeded
to Eleusis. There he wrestled with the tyrant Cercyon, defeated him, and
put him to death. Leaving the shore, he then traveled up the course of
the Attic river Cephisus. At Erineus he encountered still another male-
125
? ? 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 SEVEN
factor, whose real name seems to have been Polypemon but whose crimes
had won him the title of Procrustes (the Stretcher). This villain used
forcibly to aiake the traveler fit one of his two beds. If his victim was
short, Procrustes laid him on the longer bed and hammered him out. If
the victim was tall, Procrustes laid him on the shorter bed and cut off the
superfluous length. Theseus killed Procrustes and then proceeded with-
out further adventure to Athens. *
Sappho had alluded to Theseus, and Bacchylides mentioned a num-
ber of his exploits. The Manual gave a brief, orderly account of them
all. Greek artists often treated the story. Vase painters pictured the
victories over Phaea and Sciron. Sculpture of the Athenian Treasury
at Delphi portrayed the death of Periphetes, Sciron, and Cercyon, and
a carving at the Theseum in Athens showed Sciron being hurled into the
sea, but it replaced the usual hungry turtle with a crab. Ovid himself
mentioned several of the hero's exploits both in the Epistle of Phyllis
and in the Ibis.
The heroic deeds of Theseus had not ended with his arrival in
Athens. Hercules, as one of his labors, had transported to the mainland
of Greece a savage Cretan bull. He released the animal near Thebes.
After wandering to many parts of Greece, the bull established itself in
the vicinity of Marathon, a day's journey north of Athens, and for a
long while caused terror and havoc in the neighboring country. Theseus,
when he had made the journey from Troezen, went almost immediately
in quest of the bull and captured it. He then led the animal to Athens
and offered it as a sacrifice to the gods. Callimachus in the Hecale told
of this adventure, indicating that Theseus undertook it on his own initia-
tive. The Manual associated the adventure with the plots of Medea. In
order to destroy the young hero, she persuaded Aegeus first to send him
against the bull and then to offer him poison. It was the account in the
Manual which Ovid followed by implication in his Metamorphoses.
All these achievements of Theseus Ovid mentioned, but without at-
tempting to record them in the usual order. For most of the adventures
he followed the narrative in the Manual. In the case of Sciron, he added
further details, suggested probably by an Alexandrian account which is
now lost. Neither the land nor the sea, he observed, was willing to hold
*This was the usual ancient account of the journey. But some authorities de-
scribed differently the methods of Sinis and Procrustes. Sinis, they declared, used
to fasten his victim to two pines, which rent him asunder as they sprang back, and
Procrustes fitted all travelers to one bed. In modern times this has been the usual
account both of Sinis and of Procrustes.
126
? ? 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
? DEEDS OF THESEUS AND PREPARATIONS OF MINOS
the robber's bones. After tossing about for a long while, they at last
were transformed into rocks. Ovid implied also that Theseus had done
many other deeds, for the Athenians declared that in number his achieve-
ments were more than his years.
Hawthorne in the Wonder Book recalled Ovid's account of Sciron
rejected by shore and sea. But he added that the robber's body had to
remain fixed in the air!
For Aegeus, Ovid continued, the joy of the festival was marred by
news of war declared by King Minos of Crete.
According to the Iliad, Minos was a son of Jupiter and Europa,
and his kingdom of Crete had a hundred cities. This afterwards con-
tinued to be the usual account. Thucydides declared that Minos obtained
also dominion over most of the Aegaean islands. The Manual gave the
cause of his hostility to Athens. Androgeus, a son of Minos, competed
in the Panathenian Games and by his victories excited the envy of the
Athenians. This resulted in his death, either because Aegeus sent him to
capture the Marathonian Bull or because he was waylaid by jealous com-
petitors. According to the Manual, the event occurred at the time when
Theseus was born. Ovid supposed that it occurred much later -- at the
time when Theseus arrived in Athens. Assuming that his readers were
acquainted with the fate of Androgeus, Ovid said only that Minos justlv
desired to avenge the death of his son.
According to the Manual, Minos proceeded at once to the coast
near Athens. Ovid imagined that he tried first to augment his power by
an alliance with the peoples of the Aegaean Isles. Beginning with those
nearest Crete, he visited one island after another until he came at length
to Preparethus, north of Euboea. Although Ovid did not mention Naxos
and a few others, probably he supposed that the Cretan visited them.
The inhabitants of the more southern islands allied themselves with
Crete, those of the northern held aloof.
If Minos was so powerful as both Greek tradition and Ovid sug-
gested, it was unlikely that he would be so anxious to gain allies. But the
idea gave Ovid several advantages. It allowed him to include the pic-
turesque names of many islands which were more or less familiar to his
Roman contemporaries and to add bits of descriptive detail. These were
striking but not necessarily accurate, for he spoke of Myconus as low-
lying, although in reality it was mountainous. It allowed him also to
mention a story of Arne. Through avarice she betrayed to the enemy the
island of Siphnus. Probably this enemy was not Minos but some leader
127
? ? 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 SEVEN
of an earlier time. As punishment she was transformed into a daw, a
bird which still covets gold. This tale Ovid may have learned from
Nicander. He merely alluded to it, because he soon was to tell a similar
and more remarkable tale of Scylla (Bk. 8).
But for Ovid this voyage among the Aegean Islands afforded an-
other and greater advantage. From Preparethus, he said, Minos turned
to the left and went southwards to still another island called Aegina,
which lay in the Saronic Gulf just opposite Athens. The incident made
it possible afterwards for Ovid to introduce several important tales.
According to Pindar and others, the island at first was called
Oenopia (Rich in Wine). The Manual noted that it was given the new
name Aegina in honor of the paramour of Jupiter (cf. Arachne, Bk. 6)
and the first ruler of the island was her son, Aeacus. This ruler, the
Manual continued, became the father of three sons, Telamon, Peleus, and
Phocus. The last of these was a child of the nereid Psamathe. Accepting
this account, Ovid added that Aeacus had been the first to name the
island Aegina. His three sons, Ovid continued, were among those hasten-
ing to behold Minos on his arrival. Aeacus himself, being now old and
infirm, arrived somewhat later.
Although Aeacus inquired the reason for the visit, he needed no
lengthy explanation. The period of negotiations between Minos and the
inhabitants of other isles had given him time to learn the cause of the
war. Minos had only to say that he desired help in avenging his son.
Aeacus declined, pleading a treaty of friendship with Athens. Minos,
unwilling to spend his strength in immediate war, departed with a threat.
He sailed westwards to the head of the gulf and attacked another ally of
Athens, King Nisus of Megara, as Ovid was to record in the opening lines
of the Eighth Book. From the point of view of military strategy the
conduct of Minos was hardly credible, for by seizing the island of Aegina
he would have not only a more convenient base for attacking Athens but
also control of the entire Saronic Gulf. Ovid was not interested in the
war for its own sake. He used it only as a plausible occasion for tales of
metamorphosis.
128
? ? 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
? CREATION OF THE MYRMIDONS
Creation of the Myrmidons
Not only Minos, Ovid continued, but also Aegeus desired the help
of Aegina. The Athenian king sent as his ambassador Cephalus. The
idea was not only an invention of Ovid's but a considerable anachronism.
Tradition had spoken of Cephalus as being contemporary with King
Pandion and as marrying Pandion's sister. He would have been in his
prime two long generations before the arrival of Theseus in Athens.
Ovid committed this anachronism because he desired to close the book
effectively with the story of Cephalus and Procris. He lessened the diffi-
culty by describing Cephalus as advanced in years and by avoiding until
much later any mention of his wife. To accompany the hero, Aegeus sent
two princes, Clytus and Butes, sons of his brother Pallas.
Opposed by an enemy so formidable as Minos, Aegeus probably
would have lost no time in despatching the embassy to Aegina. But Ovid
wisely sacrificed probability to literary effect. Aegeus delayed so long
that, when Cephalus arrived, the Cretan sails were disappearing on the
horizon.
Still attractive and striking in appearance, the hero landed in
Aegina, bearing in his right hand a spray of the olive tree which was
sacred to Athena, patron deity of Athens. Although he had not visited
the island for many years, the sons of Aeacus recognized him and wel-
comed him as an ally and as a personal friend. The leaders of both
parties entered the palace, and Cephalus delivered his message. Remind-
ing Aeacus of the ancient friendship between the two countries and of
their treaty, he requested aid, adding as a further incentive the rather
improbable idea that Minos intended to subdue the whole of Greece.
Aeacus urged him courteously to take whatever soldiers he desired, for
happily Aegina possessed soldiers in abundance. After commenting on
the remarkable number of young men in Aegina, Cephalus noted the ab-
sence of many persons whom he remembered from his earlier visit. Aeacus
then proceeded to explain the cause.
His explanation dealt with the origin of a people called Myrmidons.
The Iliad often had mentioned them as inhabiting Phthia in Thessaly
and as being subjects of Peleus and his son, Achilles. It added that
Peleus was a son of Aeacus and a grandson of Jupiter. The Iliad had
not associated the Myrmidons with the island of Aegina. But the Cata-
129
? ? 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 SEVEN
logues and subsequent tradition made this island their native country
and tried to account for the name Myrmidons by deriving it from the
Greek word for ant (myrmex). Jupiter had transformed the ants of
Aegina into the Myrmidons.
More than one cause was assigned for the event. According to the
Catalogues and the Manual, Aegina and her son were at first the only
inhabitants of the island, and Aeacus desired more human society. But
an Alexandrian author, whose work now is lost, gave a different explana-
tion. Originally, he said, there were other inhabitants of Aegina, and
Aeacus became their king. Juno, resenting the favor shown her rival,
caused a serpent to poison the water. This brought a plague and de-
stroyed so many lives that Jupiter repopulated the island by the trans-
formation of ants. The new story was mentioned by Ovid's Greek con-
temporary, Strabo. Ovid used it in his narrative of Aeacus. If such
remarkable events had occurred in a friendly island which lay opposite
the harbor of Athens and was plainly visible from the Acropolis, there
is no doubt that Cephalus would have been acquainted with the fact. But
Ovid assumed the contrary and obtained a situation most favorable for
telling the story.
Throughout human history there have occurred frequent epidemics
of disease, with rapid and extensive destruction of life. The underlying
cause has been uncleanly conditions and lowered vitality of the people,
occasioned often by poverty or famine. Under these circumstances a
virulent, contagious disease often appears and spreads rapidly. The in-
fection is transmitted by various means, but for a particular disease,
one means is apt to be most important. For bubonic plague it is the flea
which preys on rats and mice, for typhoid fever and cholera it is con-
taminated water, and for typhus fever it is the body louse. *
Of all such diseases the most formidable has been bubonic plague.
It was noted first in Libya during the third century B. C. In the sixth
century A. D. it invaded Europe and for fifty years spread through the
Roman Empire, causing immense loss of life. Towards the middle of the
fourteenth century the bubonic plague swept from China westwards into
? Typhus fever is thought to have been originally a disease of rats and mice. Often
the flea carries it from them to human beings, and for this reason there have been
periods of history, notably the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, when
typhus fever and bubonic plague were epidemic at the same time. But in many re-
gions typhus fever became regularly a malady of human beings and was transmitted
from one to another by the louse. Transmission of this kind was not possible for
bubonic plague. Probably for this reason bubonic plague spent its force in Europe
during the seventeenth century and then decreased rapidly, but typhus fever became
still more prevalent and reached its height in the eighteenth century.
130
? ? 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
? CREATION OF THE MYRMIDONS
Europe. This epidemic, known as the Black Death, was particularly
destructive in Italy and in England, but it visited almost all the con-
tinent of Europe and is believed to have destroyed a quarter of the entire
population. Among its victims the most celebrated were the Laura of
Petrarch's lyrics and Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt, whom Chaucer
commemorated in his Book of the Duchess. Again in the latter half of
the seventeenth century the bubonic plague devastated the greater part
of Europe. This epidemic was most severe in Naples, where three hundred
thousand people died, but it was notorious for its ravages in London.
Other destructive and recurrent epidemics have been due to small
pox; to typhoid fever, the dread scourge of armies until the period of
the Spanish American War; to cholera, a chronic disease of India; and
more recently to influenza, which spread over the whole world during
the Great War. But the earliest recorded plague was due to typhus
fever. This disease brought the famous epidemic in Athens of the fifth
century B. C. and probably the epidemic which Livy describes as oc-
curring at almost the same time in Rome. It reappeared in Europe at
frequent intervals until the period of the Great War. In modern times
epidemics of typhus have destroyed as many as a fifth of those who fell
sick. Under the less favorable conditions of the ancient world the death
rate probably was much higher.
Fortunately, all the diseases which occasion plagues have been lim-
ited by natural conditions. In the tropics the hot, dry weather of sum-
mer tends to lessen both the evil bacteria and the means of transmission.
In the temperate climates the cold of winter usually has a similar effect.
But unknown causes appear often to have operated powerfully in the
same direction and brought the pestilence to an end. Thus after the
great epidemic which invaded London during the middle of the seven-
teenth century, the bubonic plague spontaneously became less active
and gradually retreated eastwards, until in the latter half of the nine-
teenth century it was confined to small areas of Asia and East Africa.
Recently it has become active again and has shown a tendency to spread
widely. But all former causes of plague now are checked by more
hygienic conditions and better care of the sick.
Uncivilized nations often have personified the plague as a malignant
supernatural being. In a Russian folk-tale this being came as a white
hag to a certain peasant. Promising him immunity in his own person,
she mounted on his shoulders and required him to bear her far and wide.
At length she directed him towards a village by the river where lived his
131
? ? 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 SEVEN
own wife and children. Resolved to perish in their defense, he seized the
hag firmly and plunged into the river. The Plague rose to the surface
but fled, abashed at such unfaltering courage.
A similar idea influenced many Greek and Roman accounts. They
pictured an angry deity shooting arrows among men. And, since the
cause was supernatural and the event far off in time, they often imag-
ined the deity as afflicting also other forms of life which are useful to
man, such as cultivated plants and domestic animals. These authors
were mistaken in believing that a single malady would become a plague
both in plant and in animal life. Diseases which are contagious for one
of these forms are not contagious for the other. An animal or a human
being may sicken from eating an unhealthy plant, but the malady does
not spread to others.
And such authors greatly exaggerated the possibility of the same
disease afflicting both animals and men. Bubonic plague and typhus
fever often have originated among rats and spread to human beings.
Bubonic plague sometimes has become epidemic among other small
rodents and has been caught by individual animals as unlike as snakes,
dogs, and monkeys. But in general a disease contagious among animals
is not contagious among human beings. It stops with the individual who
has had contact with the animal. And this is true especially of diseases
which become epidemic among the larger domestic species. Nevertheless
it is a fact that famine often prepared the way for plague. Disease of
one kind which destroyed crops or livestock might open the way for
disease of another kind among human beings.
According to the Iliad, Apollo, angry at the treatment of his
priest, destroyed first the dogs and mules and then the soldiers of the
Greek army. Sophocles told how Apollo and Mars were offended at the
crimes of Oedipus and how they first blighted the ripe grain and the new-
born of cattle and human beings and then caused a general pestilence in
Thebes. Vergil told how the gods warned Aeneas that his choice of a
location for his new city was wrong by sending a pestilence on trees,
grain, and human beings. Livy recorded a plague which destroyed both
cattle and men until the Romans appeased the angry gods. And both
Livy and Ovid (Bk. 15) told of another plague from which the Romans
delivered themselves by sending to Epidaurus for the god Aesculapius. *
*In a similar manner the Old Testament named anger of Jehovah as cause of the
plagues which occurred after the Philistines captured the ark of God and after David
had taken a census of his people. But it spoke of these plagues as destroying only
human beings.
132
? ? 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
? CREATION OF THE MYRMIDONS
Thucydides was the first to describe a pestilence carefully and from
personal observation. He told in some detail of the plague which devas-
tated Athens and the neighboring country in the summer of the year
430 B. C. , hoping that his account might afford guidance in meeting
future visitations of the same kind. Believing it useless to seek the cause,
Thucydides confined himself to its effect.
Beginning in Aethiopia, the plague swept northwards into Egypt
and Libya, continued through the Persian Empire, and at the time of
the first Peloponnesian invasion arrived in Athens. Not realizing the
formidable nature of the disease, the Athenians at first combated it with
ordinary remedies. The physicians used their skill in vain and were
among the first to perish; the people in general resorted to prayers in
the temples or to oracles and found them utterly useless. Soon men felt
overwhelmed by the calamity and ceased to struggle against it.
Thucydides then described rather accurately the symptoms of
what we now recognize as typhus fever with complications of bronchitis.
In individual cases the disease began without warning and followed a
regular course. The patient experienced violent fever in the head and
inflammation of the eyes. The tongue and the inside of the throat suf-
fused with blood, respiration became unnatural and the breath fetid.
The malady then attacked the chest. It caused sneezing, hoarseness, and
a violent cough. It afterwards attacked the stomach and caused vomit-
ing and convulsions. The surface of the body was livid and was covered
with pustules. Externally there was little fever, but internally it was
intense. The sick could not bear any covering. They felt an overpower-
ing desire for coolness and an insatiable thirst. Many actually threw
themselves into cisterns but could get no relief, whether they drank little
or much. The sick were continually restless and unable to sleep. At this
stage the plague brought death to many, after afflicting them in all from
seven to nine days. If the patient survived, the malady descended into
the bowels, causing ulceration, diarrhea, and exhaustion, which often
proved fatal. Finally it settled in the extremities. Some lost fingers or
toes, some grew blind, and others were affected with such amnesia as not
to remember either themselves or their friends.
No remedy for the disease could be relied on. What was beneficial
to one man proved harmful to another. Most appalling was the despair
of those who found themselves attacked, for they did not even try to
save their lives. Hardly less appalling was the spread of the infection.
Those who ventured to care for the sick caught the plague themselves,
133
? ? 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 SEVEN
especially if they aspired to heroism. Often even friends and kindred of
the sick fled from the house, leaving them to die untended.
But fortunately those who recovered from the disease were im-
mune afterwards to serious attack and proved most valuable attendants
of the sufferers. All men congratulated them, and in excess of joy they
fancied they could not die of any other sickness. Such immunity to
further contagion is normal for those recovering from an attack of
typhus fever. But the condition of the patient is less fortunate than
Thucydides implied. After a few years he becomes susceptible again to
infection from others, and even after many years his original disease
may return in a virulent form.
In one respect, Thucydides continued, the malady was unique. At
other times birds, wild beasts of prey, and dogs would devour bodies
which lay unburied. Now such animals usually avoided the bodies of
those who died of the plague; and, if they did not, they soon caught
the disease themselves. In fact, they rarely were seen at this time -- a
proof, in the opinion of Thucydides, of their being destroyed by the
plague. If Thucydides was accurate in his statement of facts, his con-
clusion was improbable. The few animals which devoured the bodies
would succumb to typhus fever, but the disease would not become epi-
demic among the rest.
Because of the Spartan invasion, the country people crowded into
Athens during the heat of summer. This exposed them to the plague
and occasioned great loss of life. In their temporary lodgings the dead
lay one upon another. The dying crawled about every fountain. In the
emergency men no longer regarded the sancity of temples. These too
were used as lodgings and became filled with corpses. The customary
laws of burial were forgotten.
