And again in the
nineteenth
century many prominent poets man-
ifested unusual interest.
ifested unusual interest.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
Ariosto often recalled
Ovid while narrating Bireno's wicked infatuation with the Princess of
Friesland. In a long ode Pontus de Tyard endeavored to show that his
own misfortunes exceeded those of the nightingale and the swallow. Sid-
ney retold Ovid's myth in his Nightingale. And Spenser's shepherd
Cuddie declared in a sestina
Hence with the nightingale will I complain,
That blessed bird that spends her time of sleep
In songs and plaintive pleas, the more to augment
The memory of his misdeed that bred her woe.
At other times narrative poets of the Renaissance recalled a par-
ticular circumstance of the tale. Camoens described Teresa as a worse
mother to Alonzo than Procne had been to Itys. Ariosto used the same
idea in a more general sense. If we are to consider Rome as the mother
of Alphonso, he declared, she was almost as cruel a mother as Procne
and Medea. And Ariosto likened Gabrina to Procne and Medea because
of her treacherous cruelty to a youth who was not in any sense her son.
Tasso followed both Vergil and Ovid in the weird incident of Gerniero's
severed hand. Still holding the sword with its trembling fingers, he said,
the hand glided over the earth, like the severed tail of a snake, in the
hope of reuniting itself with the body.
The name Philomel, synonymous with the nightingale, appeared in
the work of many poets from Shakespeare's Lucrece to an elegiac epi-
gram of Goethe. And Matthew Arnold, who followed Sophocles in all
other particulars, still called the nightingale Philomela.
Shakespeare displayed an extraordinary interest in Ovid's myth.
To the main theme he referred repeatedly. His Lucrece made a long
comparison of her own misfortunes to those of Philomela. In the drama
Cymbeline, Imogen read Ovid's tale the night when Iachimo spied on her,
and she turned down the page "where Philomel gave up. " Shakespeare
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? TEREUS AND PHILOMELA
used Ovid even more prominently hi Titus Andromcus. Adding circum-
stances which he may have taken indirectly from Boiardo, he presented
the following sensational story. Two young princes, Chiron and Deme-
trius, incited by their mother, plotted against Lavinia. After murder-
ing her husband, they dragged her into the forest and ravished her.
They then cut out her tongue, in order that she might not tell their deed,
and also cut off her hands, in order that she might not weave the story.
Lavinia's uncle, finding her, pointed out the likeness of almost all these
circumstances to those of Philomela. Lavinia then revealed to her father
and uncle the identity of her ravishers by showing them Ovid's myth and
writing the names in the dust. Announcing that he followed the example
of Procne, the father slew Chiron and Demetrius and served their flesh
to their guilty mother. The play Titus Andronicus proved very success-
ful for several years, and afforded Shakespeare valuable training as a
dramatist.
Shakespeare profited also by certain details of Ovid's myth. In
many works he mentioned the female nightingale as singing. In As You
Like It and The Tempest he spoke of Juno as the goddess presiding over
happy marriages. And again and again he named the owl as a prophet
of woe and death.
Milton found Ovid's account less congenial. Though showing great
fondness for the song of the nightingale, he described it ordinarily from
observation, and often he noted that the male bird sings. But the Ovidian
tradition influenced him in three passages of Paradise Lost where he
attributed song to the female; and in Paradise Regained, Ovid probably
suggested Milton's description of the nightingale as the attic bird.
Swinburne recalled a few circumstances from Ovid in his rhapsody
called Itylus.
In modern painting Ovid inspired work of Piombo and Rubens. And
in modern science he probably suggested the name of the east European
nightingale luscinia Philomela.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SIX
BoKEAS AND OaiTHYIA
After the death of King Pandion, Ovid noted the accession of Pan-
dion's son, Erechtheus, and proceeded to tell of the new king's children.
The Manual had named three sons and four daughters. Ovid mentioned
four of each but named only two daughters, Procris and Orithyia. The
Manual had told first of Procris -- her marriage to Cephalus, prince of
Phocis, and their tragic history -- and then had told of Orithyia. Ovid
recorded the marriage to Cephalus, but he reserved the story for a more
striking occasion at the close of the following book. He proceeded at
once to the story of Orithyia and the North Wind, whom he called indif-
ferently either Boreas or Aquilo.
The myth had attracted much attention among the Greeks. At first
Orithyia was regarded as daughter of a much earlier king, Cecrops, and
sister of the notorious Aglauros (cf. Bk. 2). This idea appeared in an
early vase painting, which showed Boreas, veiled in clouds, seizing Orith-
yia in the presence of her father and sisters. Many other vase paintings
dealt with the subject and pictured Boreas either as pursuing or as
seizing the maiden. Both the poet Simonides and the mythographer
Acusilaiis recorded the story. According to Acusilaiis, the royal maiden
was carrying a basket in a procession to Athena's temple, when the god
became enamored and suddenly carried her away.
Herodotus, alluding to the tale, declared that Orithyia was daugh-
ter not of Cecrops but of Erechtheus, and this became the usual version
of the story. Both Aeschylus and Sophocles treated the subject on the
stage. Pherecydes recorded it in prose. Plato alluded to it in his dia-
logue, the Phaedrus.
Apollonius retold the tale as follows. Orithyia was not taking part
in a religious procession but was dancing outside the walls near the river
Ilissus. Boreas carried her from there to the coast of wintry Thrace and
alighted near the river Erginus, on a rock called Sarpedon. In that re-
gion she bore two sons, Calais and Zetes. On their ankles they had wings,
which gleamed with golden scales and were capable of bearing them in
flight through the air. Both sons accompanied Jason in quest of the
Golden Fleece.
The Manual recorded the same tale but more briefly and vaguely.
While Orithyia was playing by the river Ilissus, it said, Boreas carried
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? BOREAS AND ORITHYIA
her away. She became the mother of two winged sons and these later
sailed with Jason in the Argo. The Manual named also two daughters.
Roman poets alluded often to Orithyia. Propertius twice mentioned
the abduction. Vergil in the Georgics named Orithyia as one of those
who lamented the death of Eurydice. Ovid referred to the abduction in
the Amores, the Epistle of Leander, and the Fasti. In the Epistle of
Paris he alluded to a rationalized version of the myth, otherwise un-
known, according to which Thracians carried off the princess in the
name of Boreas.
For the Metamorphoses Ovid used the Manual but elaborated the
story in a very interesting and original manner. He did not indicate the
circumstances under which Boreas first became aware of Orithyia. The
god, he said, courted her for a considerable period of time and at first
attempted to win her by obtaining the consent of her father. But the
disastrous marriage of Tereus and Procne made Erechtheus unwilling
to risk another alliance with a denizen of Thrace, even with the North
Wind himself. For some time the god continued his solicitation. Find-
ing at length that it was in vain, he reverted to his usual boisterous rage.
He reproached himself for descending to persuasion. He described the
range of his fierce storms and his airy combats with his brother winds,
which made the sky resound and lightning dart from the clouds. Lucre-
tius had supposed that violent winds, entering caves, shook the ground
and were the cause of earthquakes -- an idea repeated by Vergil in his
Aetna. Ovid added this to the other formidable activities of Boreas,
observing that such convulsions frightened even the shades in the realm
of the dead. In a similar, violent manner Boreas decided to obtain his
bride.
Rushing southwards in clouds of dust and vapor, the god caught
up the frightened Orithyia and bore her away. The Manual had not
given their destination. But Vergil had mentioned her as inhabiting the
region of the Cicones, a people living on the coast of Thrace, near the
Hellespont, and frequently referred to since the time of the Odyssey.
Ovid imagined that Boreas alighted in a town of the Cicones. He said
nothing about the two daughters but gave a rather long and original
description of the sons. They were twins, he said, and at first grew like
normal boys. But, when the down appeared on their cheeks, feathered
wings resembling those of their father began to sprout from their sides.
Ovid then mentioned them, rather abruptly, as followers of Jason in
quest of the Golden Fleece. At this point he digressed from the mythical
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SIX
history of Athens, and he did not return to it until the middle of the fol-
lowing book.
Ovid spoke of the twins as sailing with the Minyae. This name
ancient authors frequently used to designate the crew of the Argo. Its
origin appears to have been uncertain. Apollonius had suggested that
Jason and his bravest followers were descendants of King Minyas, the
founder of Orchomenus in Boeotia. Ovid spoke of the Argo as the first
ship to sail the seas. In this he followed a tradition common among the
ancients, to which he had alluded already in his Amores, but here
the statement obviously was contradicted by his preceding account of
Tereus.
After Ovid's time the myth of Orithyia was retold by Statius.
During the Renaissance Ovid's narrative interested two leading poets.
Camoens showed Orithyia persuading Boreas to allay the storm, in
order that Gama might arrive safely in India. Milton in his Elegy on a
Fair Infant declared that, when Boreas carried off Orithyia, Winter re-
solved to emulate his example. After long search he found a worthy
bride in the infant but unwittingly killed her with his cold embrace.
Piombo treated the story of Orithyia in painting. Rubens made it
the theme of a famous work. Flamen used it in a statue for the gardens
of the Tuileries.
*******
Of the seven major tales in Book Six the majority were of early
origin and often had been treated by Greek authors. The tales of Niobe,
Marsyas, and Orithyia also had been favorite themes of Greek art. Of
the twenty-seven lesser tales twelve were of early origin, and a number
of these had been popular with Greek authors and artists. But fifteen
had appeared only in Alexandrian times. Although Roman authors had
shown interest in many of the tales, they had told in full only those of
Alcmena and Philomela, and the Tereus of Accius afterwards perished
with the fall of Rome. It was Ovid who made these many stories acces-
sible during the Middle Ages, and his work continued to be the most
convenient source during modern times.
Although Ovid had the advantage of many stories which long had
attracted attention, he seldom used the earlier versions. In the tale of
Iphimidia he followed the Odyssey, and in the tale of Philomela he drew
much from Sophocles. Otherwise he took his outlines entirely from Alex-
andrian authors, and he owed the tale of Philyra to Vergil. Often Ovid
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? BOOK SIX
preferred an Alexandrian source merely because it happened to be the
most convenient, but sometimes by using a little known Alexandrian
author he was able to give the familiar tale a new and very interesting
development. To novelty of this kind in the older stories he added the
further novelty of many other stories which were unfamiliar or wholly
unknown.
In the Sixth Book, the influence of the Manual became more im-
portant than it had been since Book Three. The Manual furnished the
outline for more than half of the major tales, including the important
myth of Niobe, and for several of the lesser tales. The effect of Nicander
became more important than it had been during the preceding book.
Nicander provided the outline for the three major tales of Arachne, the
Lycian Peasants, and Marsyas. Callimachus supplied the important
minor tale of Latona at Delos, incidents of which appeared in each of
the three chief stories in the first half of the book. For three lesser myths
Ovid seems to have used Boeus. At least thirteen lesser tales he bor-
rowed from Alexandrian authors whom we cannot identify, and eight of
these we know only from him.
Throughout the book Ovid found a difficult problem of adjustment.
Almost always the tales which he selected had had no previous relation
to one another. Ovid was obliged to invent a plausible relation of time
and circumstance. On several occasions he was glad to repeat methods
which had proved helpful in his previous books. And in the tale of
Arachne he resorted again to the method of having a character in one
story narrate still others. But he did this in a new manner and with un-
usually brilliant success. In many cases the question of relative dates
proved exceedingly difficult. Ovid wished to give his tales an appearance
of orderly, historical succession. This was difficult in the case of tales
which hitherto had remained isolated. And it was much more difficult in
the case of many other tales which well-known tradition had associated
differently with stories appearing elsewhere in Ovid's poem. To remove
or lessen the inconsistency required continual use of tact and skill.
Ovid not only chose many tales which were new but improved his
material continually by valuable innovations. He took from Phidias sug-
gestions for the contest of Athena with Neptune and from Scopas an
important incident in the tragedy of Niobe. Theocritus and Varro of
Atax suggested a new transformation of Marsyas. Vergil aided Ovid in
many tales, notably those of Arachne, Philomela, and Orithyia. And
Ovid borrowed important incidents from his own earlier stories of Io and
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SIX
Pentheus. But he did not stop with these. Continually he added further
improvements of his own invention. And to the myth of Arachne he gave
special interest by contrasting it elaborately with the previous tale of
the Muses and the Pierids.
By the use of much new material, by great originality and manifold
skill, Ovid made the Sixth Book one of the most remarkable in his mas-
terpiece. And this despite much that was unattractive in his subjects.
Yet few of his books will show more numerous and glaring faults. The
justly famous tales of Arachne, Niobe, and Philomela are marred by
passages of crude maladjustment. The tales of Niobe and Philomela
afford flagrant examples of ill-timed wit. And the stories of Niobe,
Philomela, and Marsyas contain needless obscurities, which (in the case
of the two latter tales) have sometimes perplexed their warmest ad-
mirers. Readers greatly interested in the subject have been willing to
overlook these shortcomings in the treatment. But even those without
such interest will find these faults accompanied and more than compen-
sated by extraordinary merit.
During ancient times the Sixth Book had a very important influ-
ence. It affected interestingly the work of the younger Seneca, Lucan,
and Statius, and the tale of Arachne became a center of violent religious
controversy between Pagan and Christian. In the Middle Ages several
tales interested profoundly the leading poets of the time. With the
Renaissance the effect became still more important and more widely dif-
fused.
And again in the nineteenth century many prominent poets man-
ifested unusual interest.
Among authors not ordinarily showing influence of the Metamor-
phoses were Sidney, Byron, and Lesconte de Lisle. A notable effect ap-
peared in the case of Chretien de Troyes, Milton, and Lewis Morris.
Dante and Camoens showed their interest in a great number of tales.
And the Sixth Book as a whole affected deeply the work of Chaucer and
Shakespeare. But with no author was its influence so remarkable as with
Spenser.
A number of tales attracted modern painters and they became the
theme of several influential masterpieces. The tales of Leda, Antiopa,
and Orithyia interested modern sculptors. Those of Arachne and Philo-
mela had a notable effect on modern science.
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? BOOK SEVEN
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? CONTENTS OF BOOK SEVEN
PAGE
Jason and Medea . . . . . . . . . . 69
Aeson Rejuvenated . . . . . . . . . 97
Pelias and Medea's Flight to Athens . . . . . . 109
The Origin of Aconite . . . . . . . 120
Deeds of Theseus and Preparations of Minos . . . . 125
Creation of the Myrmidons . . . . . . . . 129
Cephalus and Procris . . . ? . . . . 142
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? JASON AND MEDEA
Jason and Medea
As Ovid had observed in the previous tale, the Argo was regarded
as the first ship ever launched on the sea. The name appears to have
meant originally Swift One, in allusion to the vessel's rapid motion. Af-
terwards the inventor of the ship was supposed to have been a certain
Argus inhabiting Iolcus, a port of Thessaly, and the Argo was thought
to have been named in his honor. The tradition of the voyage seems to
have originated with a prehistoric expedition undertaken by the people
of Iolcus about the middle of the thirteenth century B. C. King Pelias
made Jason commander of the Argo and sent him on a quest. The object
originally assigned is not clear, but probably it was some idea of finding
treasure or of obtaining wealth by trade. This voyage was regarded not
only as the first expedition by sea but as an ambitious and difficult one,
which passed the limit of the known world and encountered all the mys-
terious perils of sea and shore.
Jason went first to the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea, and
there Jason and Hypsipyle became parents of a son named Euneus.
Jason's visit was thought to account for an actual prehistoric settlement
made by Thessalians in the island of Lemnos. Proceeding from there,
Jason accomplished his mission and at length returned to Iolcus. At
least so much of the story had taken form earlier than the time of the
first recorded literature, for the Iliad spoke of Pelias as a former king
of Iolcus and of Euneus, son of Jason, as king of Lemnos at the period
of the Trojan War.
The Odyssey referred to the story of the Argo as well known to all
and noted many further circumstances. Pelias, it observed, was a son of
Neptune and of Tyro (cf. Arachne, Bk. 6), and Tyro later married
Cretheus, founder and first king of Iolcus, and became the mother of
Aeson. This implied that Pelias was a usurper and that Aeson ought
legally to have succeeded his father as king of Iolcus, an idea which later
authors mentioned explicitly. According to fairy lore popular in all
countries of the world, a young hero, going on a quest, visited the home
of a malevolent sorcerer and attained his object in spite of the sorcerer's
opposition. This, the Odyssey noted, was the case with Jason. He vis-
ited the home of Aeetes, child of the Sun and the Oceanid Perse, brother
of Circe the evil enchantress. And Aeetes himself was an evil enchanter.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Although subsequent authors did not repeat the statement that Aeetes
was an enchanter, they often implied that it was true.
While Jason was returning from the land of Aeetes, the Odyssey
continued, he encountered the Wanderers or Whirling Rocks (Planctae).
These were beetling cliffs, pounded by heavy waves and frequented by
storms of fire. Even the doves carrying ambrosia to Jupiter could not
pass this danger unharmed, for always the rock destroyed one of them
and Jupiter had to procure another in its place. Because Jason was spe-
cially favored by Juno, his vessel passed safely by; but other ships per-
ished with all on board. Circe afterwards informed Ulysses that the
Wanderers lay not far from her island and close to the home of the
Sirens, and she advised him to,choose a different route on which he would
meet the less formidable perils of Scylla and Charybdis.
Apollonius afterwards gave a clearer account of Jason's adventure.
The fire, he said, kept spurting out from the cliffs into a mist, which
always hid the sea; and great waves continually poured over sharp
ledges, which skirted the base of the rock. Juno persuaded Vulcan to
quench the fire while Jason was passing and she caused Thetis and other
nymphs to lift the Argo over the successive reefs, a labor so great that it
required an entire day in springtime. The Odyssey had not localized the
Wanderers definitely. Apollonius and other Alexandrian Greeks asso-
ciated them with the western Mediterranean and Sicily. In this region
were the mountainous Lipari Islands, still famous for Stromboli and
other active volcanoes.
Further details about Jason appeared in the Theogony. Pelias, it
seems, not only had usurped the throne of Aeson but had been guided by
an evil purpose when he sent Jason on the quest. This might have been
inferred from the account in the Odyssey, but the Theogony added much
that was new. According to popular fairy lore that suggested the ad-
venture with Aeetes, the enchanter had a beautiful daughter, and the
young hero loved her and carried her off. This was true in the tale of
Jason. Aeetes had married the Ocean nymph Idyia (Knowing One), and
they had a daughter Medea (Contriving One). Jason, aided by the gods,
carried off the fair-ankled Medea and at last brought her safely to
Iolcus. The Theogony added that Medea was distinguished by the bril-
liant eyes, which Apollonius later declared characteristic of all descend-
ants of the Sun. Medea bore a child, Medus, whom Chiron reared in the
mountains.
The Theogony seemed to imply that Medus was a child of Jason.
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? JASON AND MEDEA
Later authors thought ordinarily that he was the son of Aegeus of
Athens. They referred to him as founder of the race of Medes. The
Theogony did not speak of Medea as herself an enchantress. This idea
was recorded soon after in the epic called Returns, and it became an
essential part of the tale.
The evil enchantress Circe lived in an island so distressing for trav-
elers that it bore the name Aeaea (Oh Dear! Oh Dear! ). Her brother,
the evil enchanter Aeetes, inhabited a city so grievous for travelers that
it bore the similar name of Aea (Oh Dear! ). In fact the name Aeetes
appears to have signified "Man of Oh Dear. " Mimnermus, who first re-
corded the name of his residence, described the city as lying eastwards
by the margin of Ocean, where the flame of the Sun is stored in a treas-
ury. Presumably Aeetes lived near his father, the Sun, in the country of
the sunrise.
Meanwhile the Catalogues had mentioned other circumstances af-
fecting the voyage of the Argo. Chief among these was the tale of the
famous Fleece. A number of early peoples, after giving up the practice
of human sacrifice, have invented a myth to explain why human victims
were replaced by animals. In a noble Old Testament narrative God
tested the loyalty of Abraham by commanding him to offer his son Isaac
and then forbade the sacrifice of the child and accepted that of a ram.
In the Greek tale Jupiter commanded Athamas, ruler of Orchomenus in
Boeotia, to offer his son Phrixus but later directed that a ram should be
offered in his place.
The myth seems originally to have been as follows. Athamas and
his wife, the goddess Nephele (Cloud), became parents of a son Phrixus
and a daughter Helle. Jupiter for some reason devastated the country
with famine and inspired an oracle to the effect that he must be ap-
peased by the sacrifice of Phrixus. But he allowed Nephele to save her
child. From Mercury she obtained the supernatural ram which had been
the offspring of Neptune and Theophane (cf. Arachne, Bk. 6) and she
put on the creature's back both Phrixus and Helle. In Hindu mythology
the god Indra was once a ram which could travel by flight through the
air. A similar power was given the ram obtained by Nephele. Rising
from the ground, it proceeded in a northeasterly direction over land and
sea. As it flew above the strait leading from the Aegean to the Propontis,
Helle fell into the water and perished, giving the strait its historical
name, the Hellespont. Continuing to the eastern end of the Black Sea,
the ram descended to earth in the region called either Colchis or Colchos.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Then the animal, which was gifted with human speech, commanded
Phrixus to offer it as a sacrifice and in this way to free himself from the
requirement of Jupiter. Meanwhile the people of Orchomenus tried to
obey the oracle by sacrificing Athamas in place of his son, and, although
the king escaped, both Athamas and his descendants continued in dan-
ger of being sacrificed to Jupiter. They could be safe only if someone
should bring evidence that the god was appeased.
The Catalogues, Hecataeus, and Herodotus all alluded to the story.
Ovid while narrating Bireno's wicked infatuation with the Princess of
Friesland. In a long ode Pontus de Tyard endeavored to show that his
own misfortunes exceeded those of the nightingale and the swallow. Sid-
ney retold Ovid's myth in his Nightingale. And Spenser's shepherd
Cuddie declared in a sestina
Hence with the nightingale will I complain,
That blessed bird that spends her time of sleep
In songs and plaintive pleas, the more to augment
The memory of his misdeed that bred her woe.
At other times narrative poets of the Renaissance recalled a par-
ticular circumstance of the tale. Camoens described Teresa as a worse
mother to Alonzo than Procne had been to Itys. Ariosto used the same
idea in a more general sense. If we are to consider Rome as the mother
of Alphonso, he declared, she was almost as cruel a mother as Procne
and Medea. And Ariosto likened Gabrina to Procne and Medea because
of her treacherous cruelty to a youth who was not in any sense her son.
Tasso followed both Vergil and Ovid in the weird incident of Gerniero's
severed hand. Still holding the sword with its trembling fingers, he said,
the hand glided over the earth, like the severed tail of a snake, in the
hope of reuniting itself with the body.
The name Philomel, synonymous with the nightingale, appeared in
the work of many poets from Shakespeare's Lucrece to an elegiac epi-
gram of Goethe. And Matthew Arnold, who followed Sophocles in all
other particulars, still called the nightingale Philomela.
Shakespeare displayed an extraordinary interest in Ovid's myth.
To the main theme he referred repeatedly. His Lucrece made a long
comparison of her own misfortunes to those of Philomela. In the drama
Cymbeline, Imogen read Ovid's tale the night when Iachimo spied on her,
and she turned down the page "where Philomel gave up. " Shakespeare
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? TEREUS AND PHILOMELA
used Ovid even more prominently hi Titus Andromcus. Adding circum-
stances which he may have taken indirectly from Boiardo, he presented
the following sensational story. Two young princes, Chiron and Deme-
trius, incited by their mother, plotted against Lavinia. After murder-
ing her husband, they dragged her into the forest and ravished her.
They then cut out her tongue, in order that she might not tell their deed,
and also cut off her hands, in order that she might not weave the story.
Lavinia's uncle, finding her, pointed out the likeness of almost all these
circumstances to those of Philomela. Lavinia then revealed to her father
and uncle the identity of her ravishers by showing them Ovid's myth and
writing the names in the dust. Announcing that he followed the example
of Procne, the father slew Chiron and Demetrius and served their flesh
to their guilty mother. The play Titus Andronicus proved very success-
ful for several years, and afforded Shakespeare valuable training as a
dramatist.
Shakespeare profited also by certain details of Ovid's myth. In
many works he mentioned the female nightingale as singing. In As You
Like It and The Tempest he spoke of Juno as the goddess presiding over
happy marriages. And again and again he named the owl as a prophet
of woe and death.
Milton found Ovid's account less congenial. Though showing great
fondness for the song of the nightingale, he described it ordinarily from
observation, and often he noted that the male bird sings. But the Ovidian
tradition influenced him in three passages of Paradise Lost where he
attributed song to the female; and in Paradise Regained, Ovid probably
suggested Milton's description of the nightingale as the attic bird.
Swinburne recalled a few circumstances from Ovid in his rhapsody
called Itylus.
In modern painting Ovid inspired work of Piombo and Rubens. And
in modern science he probably suggested the name of the east European
nightingale luscinia Philomela.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SIX
BoKEAS AND OaiTHYIA
After the death of King Pandion, Ovid noted the accession of Pan-
dion's son, Erechtheus, and proceeded to tell of the new king's children.
The Manual had named three sons and four daughters. Ovid mentioned
four of each but named only two daughters, Procris and Orithyia. The
Manual had told first of Procris -- her marriage to Cephalus, prince of
Phocis, and their tragic history -- and then had told of Orithyia. Ovid
recorded the marriage to Cephalus, but he reserved the story for a more
striking occasion at the close of the following book. He proceeded at
once to the story of Orithyia and the North Wind, whom he called indif-
ferently either Boreas or Aquilo.
The myth had attracted much attention among the Greeks. At first
Orithyia was regarded as daughter of a much earlier king, Cecrops, and
sister of the notorious Aglauros (cf. Bk. 2). This idea appeared in an
early vase painting, which showed Boreas, veiled in clouds, seizing Orith-
yia in the presence of her father and sisters. Many other vase paintings
dealt with the subject and pictured Boreas either as pursuing or as
seizing the maiden. Both the poet Simonides and the mythographer
Acusilaiis recorded the story. According to Acusilaiis, the royal maiden
was carrying a basket in a procession to Athena's temple, when the god
became enamored and suddenly carried her away.
Herodotus, alluding to the tale, declared that Orithyia was daugh-
ter not of Cecrops but of Erechtheus, and this became the usual version
of the story. Both Aeschylus and Sophocles treated the subject on the
stage. Pherecydes recorded it in prose. Plato alluded to it in his dia-
logue, the Phaedrus.
Apollonius retold the tale as follows. Orithyia was not taking part
in a religious procession but was dancing outside the walls near the river
Ilissus. Boreas carried her from there to the coast of wintry Thrace and
alighted near the river Erginus, on a rock called Sarpedon. In that re-
gion she bore two sons, Calais and Zetes. On their ankles they had wings,
which gleamed with golden scales and were capable of bearing them in
flight through the air. Both sons accompanied Jason in quest of the
Golden Fleece.
The Manual recorded the same tale but more briefly and vaguely.
While Orithyia was playing by the river Ilissus, it said, Boreas carried
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? BOREAS AND ORITHYIA
her away. She became the mother of two winged sons and these later
sailed with Jason in the Argo. The Manual named also two daughters.
Roman poets alluded often to Orithyia. Propertius twice mentioned
the abduction. Vergil in the Georgics named Orithyia as one of those
who lamented the death of Eurydice. Ovid referred to the abduction in
the Amores, the Epistle of Leander, and the Fasti. In the Epistle of
Paris he alluded to a rationalized version of the myth, otherwise un-
known, according to which Thracians carried off the princess in the
name of Boreas.
For the Metamorphoses Ovid used the Manual but elaborated the
story in a very interesting and original manner. He did not indicate the
circumstances under which Boreas first became aware of Orithyia. The
god, he said, courted her for a considerable period of time and at first
attempted to win her by obtaining the consent of her father. But the
disastrous marriage of Tereus and Procne made Erechtheus unwilling
to risk another alliance with a denizen of Thrace, even with the North
Wind himself. For some time the god continued his solicitation. Find-
ing at length that it was in vain, he reverted to his usual boisterous rage.
He reproached himself for descending to persuasion. He described the
range of his fierce storms and his airy combats with his brother winds,
which made the sky resound and lightning dart from the clouds. Lucre-
tius had supposed that violent winds, entering caves, shook the ground
and were the cause of earthquakes -- an idea repeated by Vergil in his
Aetna. Ovid added this to the other formidable activities of Boreas,
observing that such convulsions frightened even the shades in the realm
of the dead. In a similar, violent manner Boreas decided to obtain his
bride.
Rushing southwards in clouds of dust and vapor, the god caught
up the frightened Orithyia and bore her away. The Manual had not
given their destination. But Vergil had mentioned her as inhabiting the
region of the Cicones, a people living on the coast of Thrace, near the
Hellespont, and frequently referred to since the time of the Odyssey.
Ovid imagined that Boreas alighted in a town of the Cicones. He said
nothing about the two daughters but gave a rather long and original
description of the sons. They were twins, he said, and at first grew like
normal boys. But, when the down appeared on their cheeks, feathered
wings resembling those of their father began to sprout from their sides.
Ovid then mentioned them, rather abruptly, as followers of Jason in
quest of the Golden Fleece. At this point he digressed from the mythical
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SIX
history of Athens, and he did not return to it until the middle of the fol-
lowing book.
Ovid spoke of the twins as sailing with the Minyae. This name
ancient authors frequently used to designate the crew of the Argo. Its
origin appears to have been uncertain. Apollonius had suggested that
Jason and his bravest followers were descendants of King Minyas, the
founder of Orchomenus in Boeotia. Ovid spoke of the Argo as the first
ship to sail the seas. In this he followed a tradition common among the
ancients, to which he had alluded already in his Amores, but here
the statement obviously was contradicted by his preceding account of
Tereus.
After Ovid's time the myth of Orithyia was retold by Statius.
During the Renaissance Ovid's narrative interested two leading poets.
Camoens showed Orithyia persuading Boreas to allay the storm, in
order that Gama might arrive safely in India. Milton in his Elegy on a
Fair Infant declared that, when Boreas carried off Orithyia, Winter re-
solved to emulate his example. After long search he found a worthy
bride in the infant but unwittingly killed her with his cold embrace.
Piombo treated the story of Orithyia in painting. Rubens made it
the theme of a famous work. Flamen used it in a statue for the gardens
of the Tuileries.
*******
Of the seven major tales in Book Six the majority were of early
origin and often had been treated by Greek authors. The tales of Niobe,
Marsyas, and Orithyia also had been favorite themes of Greek art. Of
the twenty-seven lesser tales twelve were of early origin, and a number
of these had been popular with Greek authors and artists. But fifteen
had appeared only in Alexandrian times. Although Roman authors had
shown interest in many of the tales, they had told in full only those of
Alcmena and Philomela, and the Tereus of Accius afterwards perished
with the fall of Rome. It was Ovid who made these many stories acces-
sible during the Middle Ages, and his work continued to be the most
convenient source during modern times.
Although Ovid had the advantage of many stories which long had
attracted attention, he seldom used the earlier versions. In the tale of
Iphimidia he followed the Odyssey, and in the tale of Philomela he drew
much from Sophocles. Otherwise he took his outlines entirely from Alex-
andrian authors, and he owed the tale of Philyra to Vergil. Often Ovid
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? BOOK SIX
preferred an Alexandrian source merely because it happened to be the
most convenient, but sometimes by using a little known Alexandrian
author he was able to give the familiar tale a new and very interesting
development. To novelty of this kind in the older stories he added the
further novelty of many other stories which were unfamiliar or wholly
unknown.
In the Sixth Book, the influence of the Manual became more im-
portant than it had been since Book Three. The Manual furnished the
outline for more than half of the major tales, including the important
myth of Niobe, and for several of the lesser tales. The effect of Nicander
became more important than it had been during the preceding book.
Nicander provided the outline for the three major tales of Arachne, the
Lycian Peasants, and Marsyas. Callimachus supplied the important
minor tale of Latona at Delos, incidents of which appeared in each of
the three chief stories in the first half of the book. For three lesser myths
Ovid seems to have used Boeus. At least thirteen lesser tales he bor-
rowed from Alexandrian authors whom we cannot identify, and eight of
these we know only from him.
Throughout the book Ovid found a difficult problem of adjustment.
Almost always the tales which he selected had had no previous relation
to one another. Ovid was obliged to invent a plausible relation of time
and circumstance. On several occasions he was glad to repeat methods
which had proved helpful in his previous books. And in the tale of
Arachne he resorted again to the method of having a character in one
story narrate still others. But he did this in a new manner and with un-
usually brilliant success. In many cases the question of relative dates
proved exceedingly difficult. Ovid wished to give his tales an appearance
of orderly, historical succession. This was difficult in the case of tales
which hitherto had remained isolated. And it was much more difficult in
the case of many other tales which well-known tradition had associated
differently with stories appearing elsewhere in Ovid's poem. To remove
or lessen the inconsistency required continual use of tact and skill.
Ovid not only chose many tales which were new but improved his
material continually by valuable innovations. He took from Phidias sug-
gestions for the contest of Athena with Neptune and from Scopas an
important incident in the tragedy of Niobe. Theocritus and Varro of
Atax suggested a new transformation of Marsyas. Vergil aided Ovid in
many tales, notably those of Arachne, Philomela, and Orithyia. And
Ovid borrowed important incidents from his own earlier stories of Io and
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SIX
Pentheus. But he did not stop with these. Continually he added further
improvements of his own invention. And to the myth of Arachne he gave
special interest by contrasting it elaborately with the previous tale of
the Muses and the Pierids.
By the use of much new material, by great originality and manifold
skill, Ovid made the Sixth Book one of the most remarkable in his mas-
terpiece. And this despite much that was unattractive in his subjects.
Yet few of his books will show more numerous and glaring faults. The
justly famous tales of Arachne, Niobe, and Philomela are marred by
passages of crude maladjustment. The tales of Niobe and Philomela
afford flagrant examples of ill-timed wit. And the stories of Niobe,
Philomela, and Marsyas contain needless obscurities, which (in the case
of the two latter tales) have sometimes perplexed their warmest ad-
mirers. Readers greatly interested in the subject have been willing to
overlook these shortcomings in the treatment. But even those without
such interest will find these faults accompanied and more than compen-
sated by extraordinary merit.
During ancient times the Sixth Book had a very important influ-
ence. It affected interestingly the work of the younger Seneca, Lucan,
and Statius, and the tale of Arachne became a center of violent religious
controversy between Pagan and Christian. In the Middle Ages several
tales interested profoundly the leading poets of the time. With the
Renaissance the effect became still more important and more widely dif-
fused.
And again in the nineteenth century many prominent poets man-
ifested unusual interest.
Among authors not ordinarily showing influence of the Metamor-
phoses were Sidney, Byron, and Lesconte de Lisle. A notable effect ap-
peared in the case of Chretien de Troyes, Milton, and Lewis Morris.
Dante and Camoens showed their interest in a great number of tales.
And the Sixth Book as a whole affected deeply the work of Chaucer and
Shakespeare. But with no author was its influence so remarkable as with
Spenser.
A number of tales attracted modern painters and they became the
theme of several influential masterpieces. The tales of Leda, Antiopa,
and Orithyia interested modern sculptors. Those of Arachne and Philo-
mela had a notable effect on modern science.
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? BOOK SEVEN
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? CONTENTS OF BOOK SEVEN
PAGE
Jason and Medea . . . . . . . . . . 69
Aeson Rejuvenated . . . . . . . . . 97
Pelias and Medea's Flight to Athens . . . . . . 109
The Origin of Aconite . . . . . . . 120
Deeds of Theseus and Preparations of Minos . . . . 125
Creation of the Myrmidons . . . . . . . . 129
Cephalus and Procris . . . ? . . . . 142
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? JASON AND MEDEA
Jason and Medea
As Ovid had observed in the previous tale, the Argo was regarded
as the first ship ever launched on the sea. The name appears to have
meant originally Swift One, in allusion to the vessel's rapid motion. Af-
terwards the inventor of the ship was supposed to have been a certain
Argus inhabiting Iolcus, a port of Thessaly, and the Argo was thought
to have been named in his honor. The tradition of the voyage seems to
have originated with a prehistoric expedition undertaken by the people
of Iolcus about the middle of the thirteenth century B. C. King Pelias
made Jason commander of the Argo and sent him on a quest. The object
originally assigned is not clear, but probably it was some idea of finding
treasure or of obtaining wealth by trade. This voyage was regarded not
only as the first expedition by sea but as an ambitious and difficult one,
which passed the limit of the known world and encountered all the mys-
terious perils of sea and shore.
Jason went first to the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea, and
there Jason and Hypsipyle became parents of a son named Euneus.
Jason's visit was thought to account for an actual prehistoric settlement
made by Thessalians in the island of Lemnos. Proceeding from there,
Jason accomplished his mission and at length returned to Iolcus. At
least so much of the story had taken form earlier than the time of the
first recorded literature, for the Iliad spoke of Pelias as a former king
of Iolcus and of Euneus, son of Jason, as king of Lemnos at the period
of the Trojan War.
The Odyssey referred to the story of the Argo as well known to all
and noted many further circumstances. Pelias, it observed, was a son of
Neptune and of Tyro (cf. Arachne, Bk. 6), and Tyro later married
Cretheus, founder and first king of Iolcus, and became the mother of
Aeson. This implied that Pelias was a usurper and that Aeson ought
legally to have succeeded his father as king of Iolcus, an idea which later
authors mentioned explicitly. According to fairy lore popular in all
countries of the world, a young hero, going on a quest, visited the home
of a malevolent sorcerer and attained his object in spite of the sorcerer's
opposition. This, the Odyssey noted, was the case with Jason. He vis-
ited the home of Aeetes, child of the Sun and the Oceanid Perse, brother
of Circe the evil enchantress. And Aeetes himself was an evil enchanter.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Although subsequent authors did not repeat the statement that Aeetes
was an enchanter, they often implied that it was true.
While Jason was returning from the land of Aeetes, the Odyssey
continued, he encountered the Wanderers or Whirling Rocks (Planctae).
These were beetling cliffs, pounded by heavy waves and frequented by
storms of fire. Even the doves carrying ambrosia to Jupiter could not
pass this danger unharmed, for always the rock destroyed one of them
and Jupiter had to procure another in its place. Because Jason was spe-
cially favored by Juno, his vessel passed safely by; but other ships per-
ished with all on board. Circe afterwards informed Ulysses that the
Wanderers lay not far from her island and close to the home of the
Sirens, and she advised him to,choose a different route on which he would
meet the less formidable perils of Scylla and Charybdis.
Apollonius afterwards gave a clearer account of Jason's adventure.
The fire, he said, kept spurting out from the cliffs into a mist, which
always hid the sea; and great waves continually poured over sharp
ledges, which skirted the base of the rock. Juno persuaded Vulcan to
quench the fire while Jason was passing and she caused Thetis and other
nymphs to lift the Argo over the successive reefs, a labor so great that it
required an entire day in springtime. The Odyssey had not localized the
Wanderers definitely. Apollonius and other Alexandrian Greeks asso-
ciated them with the western Mediterranean and Sicily. In this region
were the mountainous Lipari Islands, still famous for Stromboli and
other active volcanoes.
Further details about Jason appeared in the Theogony. Pelias, it
seems, not only had usurped the throne of Aeson but had been guided by
an evil purpose when he sent Jason on the quest. This might have been
inferred from the account in the Odyssey, but the Theogony added much
that was new. According to popular fairy lore that suggested the ad-
venture with Aeetes, the enchanter had a beautiful daughter, and the
young hero loved her and carried her off. This was true in the tale of
Jason. Aeetes had married the Ocean nymph Idyia (Knowing One), and
they had a daughter Medea (Contriving One). Jason, aided by the gods,
carried off the fair-ankled Medea and at last brought her safely to
Iolcus. The Theogony added that Medea was distinguished by the bril-
liant eyes, which Apollonius later declared characteristic of all descend-
ants of the Sun. Medea bore a child, Medus, whom Chiron reared in the
mountains.
The Theogony seemed to imply that Medus was a child of Jason.
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? JASON AND MEDEA
Later authors thought ordinarily that he was the son of Aegeus of
Athens. They referred to him as founder of the race of Medes. The
Theogony did not speak of Medea as herself an enchantress. This idea
was recorded soon after in the epic called Returns, and it became an
essential part of the tale.
The evil enchantress Circe lived in an island so distressing for trav-
elers that it bore the name Aeaea (Oh Dear! Oh Dear! ). Her brother,
the evil enchanter Aeetes, inhabited a city so grievous for travelers that
it bore the similar name of Aea (Oh Dear! ). In fact the name Aeetes
appears to have signified "Man of Oh Dear. " Mimnermus, who first re-
corded the name of his residence, described the city as lying eastwards
by the margin of Ocean, where the flame of the Sun is stored in a treas-
ury. Presumably Aeetes lived near his father, the Sun, in the country of
the sunrise.
Meanwhile the Catalogues had mentioned other circumstances af-
fecting the voyage of the Argo. Chief among these was the tale of the
famous Fleece. A number of early peoples, after giving up the practice
of human sacrifice, have invented a myth to explain why human victims
were replaced by animals. In a noble Old Testament narrative God
tested the loyalty of Abraham by commanding him to offer his son Isaac
and then forbade the sacrifice of the child and accepted that of a ram.
In the Greek tale Jupiter commanded Athamas, ruler of Orchomenus in
Boeotia, to offer his son Phrixus but later directed that a ram should be
offered in his place.
The myth seems originally to have been as follows. Athamas and
his wife, the goddess Nephele (Cloud), became parents of a son Phrixus
and a daughter Helle. Jupiter for some reason devastated the country
with famine and inspired an oracle to the effect that he must be ap-
peased by the sacrifice of Phrixus. But he allowed Nephele to save her
child. From Mercury she obtained the supernatural ram which had been
the offspring of Neptune and Theophane (cf. Arachne, Bk. 6) and she
put on the creature's back both Phrixus and Helle. In Hindu mythology
the god Indra was once a ram which could travel by flight through the
air. A similar power was given the ram obtained by Nephele. Rising
from the ground, it proceeded in a northeasterly direction over land and
sea. As it flew above the strait leading from the Aegean to the Propontis,
Helle fell into the water and perished, giving the strait its historical
name, the Hellespont. Continuing to the eastern end of the Black Sea,
the ram descended to earth in the region called either Colchis or Colchos.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Then the animal, which was gifted with human speech, commanded
Phrixus to offer it as a sacrifice and in this way to free himself from the
requirement of Jupiter. Meanwhile the people of Orchomenus tried to
obey the oracle by sacrificing Athamas in place of his son, and, although
the king escaped, both Athamas and his descendants continued in dan-
ger of being sacrificed to Jupiter. They could be safe only if someone
should bring evidence that the god was appeased.
The Catalogues, Hecataeus, and Herodotus all alluded to the story.
