In advance she had
prepared
a considerable amount of wood, which was
split into very small, inflammable pieces.
split into very small, inflammable pieces.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
In the tale of Aeson, Ovid now
planned to deal at still greater length with Medea's use of magic, and he
proceeded to draw many suggestions from his Greek and Roman prede-
cessors.
Although ancient poets believed that magic could be practised any-
where, certain regions were famous for it. One region was Thessaly.
There Chiron had resided and had taught Aesculapius and others the
use of potent herbs. There Medea had dealt in magic when she plotted
against Pelias. By Ovid's time the country appears to have acquired a
fame for witchcraft in general, which Lucan commemorated afterwards
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
in his Pharsalia. Thessaly was auspicious for the scene of a new story
of Medea and the process of magic.
Theocritus had told of Simaetha pronouncing her incantation
under the light of a full moon. Following his example, Vergil spoke of
the Massylian priestess as gathering herbs under a full moon. He noted
also that, when she performed magic rites, her hair was streaming down
her back. He observed that Dido, when she performed such rites, was
dressed in flowing robes and had one foot bare. Ovid followed Vergil.
Medea delayed her gathering of herbs until the moon shone full, and she
went forth with her hair streaming over her shoulders and with flowing
robes. Ovid added that her foot was bare, and, although his phrase was
ambiguous, he seems to have meant that one foot was covered and the
other bare.
Theocritus had contrasted briefly the peace of nature with the
wakeful activity of Simaetha. Horace in his Epode made a similar brief
contrast between the repose of wild creatures in the forest and the fierce
zeal of Canidia invoking the deities who preside over witchcraft. And
Vergil in a very beautiful passage had pictured the calm of night and
the unsleeping sorrow of Dido. Ovid showed the influence of all three.
He contrasted the peace of nature with the wakeful activity of Medea;
he showed her choosing this quiet hour for an invocation of the deities
governing witchcraft; and he described at some length the calm of night.
But the details of his description were as original as they were beautiful.
Theocritus had pictured Simaetha as performing each of her rites
three times. Vergil in his Eighth Eclogue noted a similar threefold repe-
tition and added that by such uneven numbers the deity is pleased. Ac-
cordingly Ovid observed that Medea turned about three times, sprinkled
her hair three times with water taken from a flowing stream, and uttered
three wailing cries. Simaetha, according to Theocritus, had invoked the
goddess Hecate. Vergil's Massylian priestess invoked threefold Hecate,
the triple-faced maiden Diana, alluding picturesquely to the idea that
Hecate, Diana, and the Moon (Luna) were three manifestations of the
same goddess. Canidia in Horace's Epode invoked Night and also
Diana, who presides at the hour when mysterious rites are performed.
Ovid combined freely ideas taken from Vergil and Horace. Medea ad-
dressed both three-headed Hecate and Night, but it was Night to whom
she attributed the care of mysterious rites.
Simaetha had invoked vaguely the other deities associated with
night and the Lower World. The Massylian priestess addressed speci-
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? AESON REJUVENATED
fically Erebus, Chaos, and other divinities, three hundred in all. Ovid
showed Medea, too, invoking the deities associated with night. But she
named also Earth and the many forces of nature -- appropriately, for
these would be potent in furnishing her magic herbs. In this way Ovid
obtained an unusually impressive list. He did not mention any deities
associated exclusively with the Lower World because later Medea would
invoke their special aid to save Aeson from the imminence of death.
From impressive enumeration of deities Medea passed to the theme
of reversing natural law. This had been a favorite subject of ancient
poetry. Euripides had treated it first in a chorus of his Medea. So
great, he said, was the injustice done the heroine that it would seem to
be impossible -- one could now imagine all the laws of nature giving way
to their opposites. Theocritus and Horace used the same idea, and in
the Tristia, Ovid was to associate it with the disloyalty of a trusted
friend. Vergil in his First Eclogue gave the theme a new direction.
Speaking of a certain act which had not occurred, he declared that its
occurrence was impossible -- one could imagine as easily a reversal of
nature. Propertius followed his example, and Ovid was soon to follow
it in the Ibis.
In all these instances ancient authors had considered the possibility
that laws of nature might give way. In still other instances they believed
that such laws had given way. Greek tradition noted in the tales of
Orpheus and a few others that they yielded to the power of song, and,
beginning with Cicero's plea for Archias, the idea had been repeated by
the Romans. Such reversal of nature was associated chiefly with the in-
cantation of witches. Both Vergil and Horace gave the subject promi-
nence. Ovid had mentioned it in his Epistle of Hypsipyle and in his
treatise on cosmetics. He now considered it at some length in the invo-
cation of Medea.
Although Greek and Roman authors, when they discussed a reversal
of nature, tended to be original in their choice of illustrative detail, there
were a few circumstances of which they were especially fond. Euripides
had introduced a very popular idea of rivers flowing back to their
sources. Vergil and Horace had spoken of drawing the moon down from
heaven and of raising ghosts from the grave. Vergil in his eclogue noted
the power of sorcery to make serpents burst and to shift grain from one
field to another. In the Aeneid he described the Massylian priestess as
able to make ash trees descend from the mountains, stop the flow of
rivers, and cause the earth to rumble beneath her feet.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Some of these traditional marvels Ovid had mentioned separately in
his Amores and his treatise on cosmetics. In the Epistle of Hypsipyle
he recorded several of them. Medea, he said, was able to bring down the
reluctant moon, to move from their places woods and living rocks and
to stop the flow of rivers. He added also that she was able to control
the motion of the seas and to hide in darkness the horses of the Sun.
When Jason had lulled the Colchian dragon, Ovid emphasized the power
of his incantation, noting that it was capable of staying the swollen sea
and swift flowing rivers.
In the tale of Aeson, Ovid proceeded to give an impressive list of
marvels. He not only repeated all the traditional examples but added
many others. While invoking the deities, he said, Medea recalled pre-
vious miracles which they had helped her to perform. Rivers had flowed
backwards; seas had been quieted or made stormy; clouds and winds
had dispersed or assembled; the jaws of vipers had burst; rocks, oak
trees, and forests had moved from their places; mountains had trembled;
earth rumbled; and ghosts had come forth from their tombs. The moon
had been drawn down, the Sun and the Dawn had grown pale.
When Vergil and Horace mentioned the power of an enchantress to
bring down the moon from heaven, they probably meant literally that
the moon descended to the earth. And later, in the tale of the Centaurs
(Bk. 12), when Ovid spoke of Mycale as drawing down the crescent
moon, he appears to have imagined the same occurrence. But in the tale
of Aeson he thought that the moon suffered eclipse and he alluded to an-
other superstition world wide among uncivilised peoples. For such tribes
an eclipse of the moon or the sun was a cause of terror. Without warn-
ing the bright luminary grew rapidly dimmer and seemed to be strug-
gling for its life. In the case of the moon, its color altered to a
ghastly red. Some unknown monster, they thought, must have seized
their familiar luminary in his jaws and must have begun to swallow it
forever. Against such a monster human strength would be of little
avail, although often they launched arrows and other missiles wildly
towards the sky. But it might be possible with noise to frighten or con-
fuse the monster and so cause him to release his prey. With all haste
they rushed forth, yelling, beating their dogs, pounding on drums,
clanging shields and cymbals, and keeping up an indescribable din until
at length darkness departed and the harassed luminary returned again
to its tranquil splendor. Such fears assailed the Greeks and Romans
during an eclipse, and they resorted chiefly to clashing of bronze ves-
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? AESON REJUVENATED
sels. Ovid had alluded to the practice in his account of Hermaphro-
ditus (Bk. 4). He alluded to it again in relation to the achievements
of Medea, and he observed that against her magic the clash of bronze
was of no avail.
After recalling wonders which the deities had helped her perform
for other purposes, Medea spoke of those which they had allowed her
to perform in behalf of Jason -- conquest of fiery bulls, earth-born
warriors, and the unsleeping dragon. In Jason's behalf she must now
try to make an old man young. This was her present task, and she im-
plied that it was the most difficult of all.
In Vergil's eclogue the enchanter declared suddenly that his incan-
tation was successful, and he mentioned as evidence two mystic signs --
ashes on the altar gave out flame and the dog, Hylax, barked outside
the door. Ovid imitated the incident. But as Medea's attempt to reju-
venate Aeson was much rarer and stranger than the attempt to recall
an unfaithful lover, so her signs were proportionately more remarkable,
a car drawn by winged dragons.
The stars gave a sudden flash, and at the same moment there drew near
According to Greek tradition, Ceres had a dragon car, which con-
veyed her rapidly through the air (cf. Triptolemus, Bk. 5). A similar
car was attributed to Medea's grandfather, the Sun. When Medea was
about to leave Corinth, Euripides declared that her grandfather sent her
this car and allowed her to depart through the air to Athens. Accord-
ing to Euripides, Medea was then using the car for the first time. Ovid
thought otherwise. Announcing the arrival of this marvellous chariot,
his Medea implied that she had expected its coming and was familiar
with its use. Apparently she often had summoned the car when she went
in search of her magic ingredients. By this change Ovid added greatly
to the wonder of the quest.
Entering the dragon car, Medea first ascended rapidly to a great
altitude, in order that she might observe places likely to afford her
suitable material. Below, all Thessaly spread out westward and north-
ward, in the light of the full moon. Medea had left the ground at a
point near Iolcus, in southeastern Thessaly, and she was still circling
high above it. But now she could look northwards to the most distant
part of this region and could discern there the deep vale of Tempe, wind-
ing darkly below her. And her keen gaze noted successively many other
prominent geographical features of the country.
Directly beneath the car lay the expanse of the landlocked Pagas-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
aean Gulf, with Iolcus crowded into a small area at its northern ex-
tremity. Immediately behind the town rose Mt. Pelion, first of a chain
of mountains, which ran northwards along the coast. Conspicuous
among these, appeared Mt. Ossa, with Lake Boebais glimmering to the
westward at its base. Still farther to the north, beyond the River Peneus
and the Vale of Tempe, Mt. Olympus rose from the sea and with its
snowy summit marked the limit of her view. Other mountains almost as
lofty, extended from Olympus westwards and met at right angles with
yet another lofty range. This range, culminating in Mt. Pindus, ran
southwards, the rugged sides dark with forests, the peaks and ridges
bare and gleaming pale in the moon light. So it continued the entire
length of Thessaly, dividing it from the more western region of Epirus.
A lower range, reaching its height in the peaks of Tymphrestus and
Othrys, ran from the Pindus mountains eastward nearly to the Pagas-
aean Gulf and formed the southern border of the country.
The chief rivers were visible also, their course indicated by the
unusual darkness of the valley and by heavy vegetation. Many of them
began in the general region of Mt. Othrys, near the southern limits of
Thessaly, and all of them flowed in a northerly direction. Rising on the
slopes of Mt. Othrys, the Apidanus and the Enipeus ran northwest-
ward, met in the inland plain of Thessaly, and then continued north-
wards to join the Peneus. The Amphrysius, rising a little to the east of
the others, found a different course northeastwards along the foot of the
Othrys Range and entered the gulf not far from Iolcus. From her lofty
vantage point Medea could even look southward over the crests of the
Othrys Range and observe the course of the River Spercheus, from its
beginning in the ravines of Tymphrestus eastwards until it entered the
narrow Malian Gulf.
All these places Ovid named, but he did not give them in orderly
succession. He appears rather to have sought a studied disorder.
Although Medea's practised eye noted immediately the regions of great-
est promise, her materials were rare and difficult to find. It was neces-
sary to fly back and forth, this way and that, and to scrutinize every
locality again and again. This idea Ovid probably wished to convey.
Although Medea was later to use animal and mineral ingredients, Ovid
indicated that her present quest was wholly for herbs. Some of these,
he said, she pulled up by their roots, others she cut with a sickle. And,
since Vergil had spoken of the Massylian priestess as using a sickle of
bronze, Ovid followed him here and was to do so again in the Fasti.
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? AESON REJUVENATED
Medea gave much attention to grasses, searching every moist region of
Thessaly. She even made a long flight southeastwards to the Boeotian
shore and plucked at Anthedon a species of grass which later was famous
for the transformation of Glaucus into a sea god (Bk. 13).
The search continued through nine days and nights -- three times
the propitious number three. Then Medea returned and alighted in the
open country near Iolcus. As she did so, the herbs gave evidence of their
power. According to ancient belief, the serpent is able by casting his
skin to renew his youth. The mere scent of Medea's herbs, Ovid tells us,
was potent enough to rejuvenate her dragons. As they alighted, they
began to cast their skins, wrinkled with the passage of many years.
As Ovid recorded the subsequent actions of Medea, he seems to have
been influenced by the spring rites of the Bacchanals. Medea was careful
to remain in the open air and to observe chastity during the time of
preparation; and, although she was willing herself to give Jason and
others the necessary instructions, she allowed no one to be present at
the rites of rejuvenation. Tradition had not indicated that these rites
were secret in the case of Aeson, and it had indicated the contrary in the
case of Pelias, for they were witnessed by his daughters. By this inno-
vation Ovid not only made the stories different from each other but
enhanced the picturesqueness of the rites in behalf of Aeson.
Medea propitiated first Hecate and Hebe, goddess of youth. To
each of them she erected an altar of turf, adorning it with boughs from
the forest. These goddesses were to exert their influence for restoring
Aeson's youth. Then she propitiated the divinities of Earth and the
Lower World. She did this by offerings which ancient tradition had pre-
scribed for attracting the dead. In the Odyssey, Ulysses dug a pit and
killed sheep, at least one of which was black, allowing their blood to flow
into the pit. In Horace's Satire the witches made a similar offering of a
black ram. The Odyssey added that Ulysses afterwards poured into the
pit wine and other ingredients. Ovid said therefore that Medea dug a
pit, killed over it a black sheep, and then poured in bowls of wine and
of warm milk. Meanwhile in prayers to Pluto, Proserpina, and the rest,
she urged these divinities to defer their claim on Aeson's life.
Having obtained the favor of the gods, Medea commanded that
Aeson should be carried out and laid on a bed of herbs. Lulling him
magically to sleep, she loosened her hair in the manner of a Bacchante.
In advance she had prepared a considerable amount of wood, which was
split into very small, inflammable pieces. These she dipped in the blood
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
of the sheep and afterwards kindled at the fire on the altar. Then she
purified the old man successively with fire, water, and sulphur, perform-
ing each rite three times.
Before commencing these rites over Aeson's body, Medea had
kindled a fire and had set over it a caldron, containing powerful ingre-
dients. These now were boiling vigorously. Already they included a
great variety of Thessalian plants --- their roots, seeds, flowers, and
keen juices. But, as they foamed and leaped up with the heat, Medea
added more wonderful materials. Some of these were remarkable for
their distant origin. In Vergil's Eighth Eclogue the enchanter used
herbs brought from remote Pontus, and Horace's Canidia used herbs
gathered in Thessaly and Spain. But Medea introduced materials ob-
tained at a much more astonishing distance -- pebbles found in the
farthest Orient and sands gathered on the beach of that Ocean which
formed the eastern limit of the world.
Other materials were distinguished by their strange, uncanny na-
ture. Sophocles in the Root Cutters had spoken of collecting hoar frost
which came down as dew from the moon. Such frost Medea combined
with the other ingredients of her caldron. Horace had mentioned Cani-
dia's using eggs and feathers of the screech owl, and Vergil had spoken
of a sorcerer Moeris who could change himself at will from a human
being to a wolf. Portions of both these ghastly creatures were intro-
duced by Medea. She added the wings and flesh of the screech owl and
the entrails of the eerie werewolf.
Still other materials were not only strange in nature but were ob-
viously appropriate for helping rejuvenation. Medea used the skin of a
Tripolitan water snake -- symbol of its perennial youth, the liver of a
stag-- a creature supposed to enjoy extraordinary longevity*, and the
head of a crow nine centuries old. To increase the uncanny effect Ovid
reminded his readers that Medea was no ordinary enchantress but a bar-
barian woman from unfamiliar regions of Asia.
Ovid invented two incidental metamorphoses that added much to
the interest of the tale. When at last the strange mixture was complete,
Medea stirred it thoroughly. For this purpose she chose an olive branch
which long ago had withered to a dry stick. As it moved about in the
rejuvenating liquid, the stick suddenly revived and soon put forth leaves
and fruit. Meanwhile the caldron boiled over from time to time and
*Th;s id"T Ovid had mentioned, with unconscious irony, during the transformation
of Actaeon (Bk. 3).
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? AESON REJUVENATED
clothed the dry ground beneath with the soft grass and flowers of spring.
Aware that her magic fluid was ready, Medea cut the throat of
Aeson and let out his aged blood. Then she applied the contents of the
caldron. Ovid's authority had not indicated how she applied it, and per-
haps for this reason, Ovid left the reader in doubt whether she immersed
Aeson in the liquid or poured it over him. In the tale immediately fol-
lowing, Ovid was to say clearly that Medea plunged the body of Pelias
into the caldron. The mixture, Ovid continued, entered both Aeson's
mouth and the wound in his throat; it coursed through his veins and
began quickly to remove every sign of age. Ovid pictured the transfor-
mation vividly and in considerable detail. According to Ovid's Greek
predecessor, Aeson changed into a boy. But Ovid did not carry the
process so far. Aeson, he said, became the black bearded young man that
he used to be forty years earlier.
This marvellous achievement was followed by another. In the
Nurses of Bacchus, Aeschylus had told how the god rewarded the nymphs
of Nysa by persuading Medea to restore them, and also their husbands,
to youth. The Alexandrian preface to the Medea of Euripides repeated
this tale briefly but did not relate it to the tale of Aeson. Ovid associated
the two events. Impressed by the rejuvenation of Jason's father, Bacchus
persuaded Medea to rejuvenate the nurses. Although this achievement
affected several persons and therefore was the more remarkable, it was
in nature the same as the other and so Ovid recounted it as briefly as
possible, not mentioning the husbands.
In the century following Ovid's death, magic continued to be a
theme of great interest for the Romans. Seneca treated it elaborately in
his Medea, and Lucan gave it extraordinary prominence in his Pharsalia.
Both poets took many of the details from Ovid's account of Medea and
Aeson.
Authors of the Renaissance displayed similar interest in the tale.
Erasmus noted that Folly would make it needless to invoke Medea or
Circe for restoring youth. Ariosto, recalling Ovid, spoke of the witch
Melissa as able to move the solid earth, check the course of the sun,
illumine night, and darken the day. He attributed similar powers to a
naiad who was supposed to have befriended Ricciardetto.
Shakespeare found Ovid's tale of great interest. In The Merchant
of Venice Jessica compared the moonlit night at Belmont to the night
when
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Medea gathered the enchanted herbs
That did renew old Aeson.
In A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare described Hecate as triple.
Both in King Lear and in Macbeth he spoke of her as presiding over
night and witches. In Hamlet the poison used against the Player King
was composed
Of midnight weeds collected,
With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected.
Prospero in The Tempest described Caliban's mother as a witch
That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs.
And Prospero himself in a long, beautiful passage emulated Medea's in-
vocation of the terrestrial deities and her account of the marvels which
they helped her perform. The famous witch scenes of Macbeth owed
much to the Ovidian account of Medea's rites about her caldron. Shake-
speare spoke of gathering a vaporous drop on the moon, even before it
should fall to earth; he mentioned repeatedly the threefold rites per-
formed by the witches ; he showed them uttering incantations about their
caldron; and he told how they added to their mixture a long series of
strange, ghastly ingredients.
Milton too gave evidence of his fondness for the tale of Aeson. In a
Latin elegy he declared the university beadle worthy to regain his youth
by Thessalian juices and to enjoy a life as long as that of Jason's father.
In Comus, Milton gave the name Haemony to the beneficial herb which
afforded protection from evil enchantment, Furies, and other malignant
influences. And Medea's dragon car appears to have suggested the idea
mentioned in II Penseroso that a similar car was used by the moon:
While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke
Lightly o'er the accustomed oak.
Chateaubriand seemed to remember the weird ingredients of Medea's
caldron, for he showed the aged hero of his A tola comparing his long life
to that of the stag or the crow.
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? PELIAS AND MEDEA'S FLIGHT TO ATHENS
Pelias and Medea's Flight to Athens
In the tale of Aeson, Ovid treated a popular belief that by judicious
use of fire it is possible to make an old man young. In the story which
followed, Ovid was concerned with an idea related so closely to belief in
rejuvenation by fire that many popular tales deal first with one and then
with the other.
The European folk stories which tell how Christ or Satan restored
an old person by treating him either in a forge or in a caldron, tell often
how some bungler tried later to imitate the magic process but was un-
successful. Other popular tales record how the magician himself first
rejuvenated some old person but later was urged to perform another
miracle for the benefit of someone with whom he was displeased, and how
he intentionally failed. According to the Shans of Lakon in Cambodia,
the decrepit old prince was not content with his transformation to a
beau but insisted on a repetition of the treatment, hoping in this way to
become still more attractive. The magician, angered at his persistence,
again cut him to pieces and laid him in a caldron but did not apply the
magic process. In still other popular tales the magician first gave a
demonstration of his power by rejuvenating an animal. According to
another Cambodian myth, a Brahmin restored a dog and then tried the
experiment, unsuccessfully, with a human being.
Greek tradition recorded a similar myth about the wicked King
Pelias. The tale ran usually as follows. Not content with usurping the
throne of Iolcus and sending Jason in quest of the Fleece, Pelias re-
solved to kill his brother, Aeson. The latter, feeling that he could not
escape, drank poison. His wife committed suicide, and Pelias murdered
their infant son, Promachus. When Jason returned from Colchis, he at
first was unable to punish the crime. He delivered the Fleece to Pelias,
dedicated the Argo in Neptune's grove at Corinth, and settled once more
in Iolcus. Then he appealed for aid to Medea. She took advantage of
the fact that Pelias had become old and feeble. Informing his daughters
that it was possible to restore his youth, she won their confidence by a
demonstration with a ram. She cut the animal to pieces, boiled it in her
caldron of herbs, and metamorphosed it into a lamb. By her advice the
daughters minced and boiled their father. But this time the caldron
held nothing but ordinary water. Acastus, son of Pelias, tried to punish
Jason and Medea, but they escaped by fleeing to Corinth.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Pindar alluded to the tale, Sophocles treated it in his Root Cutters,
and Euripides made it the theme of his Daughters of Pelias and men-
tioned it prominently in his Medea. The Manual told the tale in full,
naming four daughters of the king. Greek vase painters imagined that
Medea persuaded Pelias, as well as his daughters. They showed the king
and two of the princesses looking on with surprise and joy, while Medea
brought forth a lamb from her caldron.
Among earlier Roman authors the story appears to have been well
known. In Cicero's dialogue On Old Age, Cato declared that he would
not be tempted by such a boon as Medea promised to confer on Pelias.
He would not desire to regain youth by sacrificing all the experience of a
long life. Propertius alluded to the death of Pelias in Medea's caldron.
And Ovid in his Epistle of Medea spoke of the daughters cutting their
father to pieces.
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid rejected the first part of the story.
With the Theogony and the Returns he imagined that, when Jason re-
visited Iolcus, Aeson was still alive. Pelias suffered not for the murder
but for his earlier acts of hostility. Ovid said nothing of Jason's inciting
his wife against Pelias. According to the Medea of Euripides, Jason
took no part in the treacherous murder, but he knew Medea's purpose
and was willing to profit by the crime. He would not play false and yet
would wrongly win. Following Euripides, Ovid implied that Medea took
the initiative and that Jason was careful not to interfere.
For the deception of Pelias's daughters, Ovid elaborated and im-
proved the incidents given by the Manual. Medea, he said, pretended to
quarrel with Jason and took refuge in the palace of the king. Because
of age and infirmity, Pelias had left the management of his household to
his children, and Ovid, following the Manual, implied that Acastus hap-
pened to be absent, leaving the four daughters in charge. Deceived by
Medea's pretense, they entertained her hospitably and gave her a chance
to continue her plot. According to the Manual, Medea had offered to
rejuvenate the king. Ovid supposed that she was more cautious and
allowed the suggestion to come from the daughters. Beginning with the
idea of rejuvenation in general, she proceeded to tell at some length of
her recent success with Aeson. The daughters then urged her to confer
a similar blessing on Pelias and offered to give any reward that she might
ask. Still careful to disarm suspicion, Medea hesitated for a while and
then offered to give a preliminary demonstration with a ram. Let them
choose the oldest of their flock.
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? PELIAS AND MEDEA'S FLIGHT TO ATHENS
Since Ovid had told in the previous story of Medea's collecting
herbs and of her incantations, he proceeded immediately to the treat-
ment of the animal. The tottering old ram was brought to the caldron.
As before in the case of Aeson, Medea did not cut the body to pieces but
merely severed the throat. This gave Ovid another chance to indicate
the senility of the ram. Vergil in the Georgics had observed that animals
exhausted by the plague would hardly stain the sacrificial knife with their
blood. To such a pass, Ovid continued, age alone had brought this feeble
ram. Yet the potent herbs soon had their effect. Ovid pictured the result
and told humorously of the lamb which jumped out of the caldron and
frisked about in search of his mother. The daughters now were even more
eager to have Medea undertake the rejuvenation of their father.
For the circumstances of the king's death Ovid probably took
suggestions from the Root Cutters of Sophocles. Without warning the
father of their intent, the daughters made their plans. They waited three
days -- a magic number. On the night following, Medea prepared her
caldron. Tradition had spoken of her as using merely water. Ovid
imagined plausibly that she added some herbs without potency. Then
magically she lulled Pelias and his guards to sleep.
At Medea's bidding, the daughters gathered with drawn swords
about their father's couch. By this extraordinary method they felt sure
of delivering their loved father from infirmity and approaching death.
Yet they hesitated, reluctant to strike. Medea was obliged to urge them
on. In the name of filial piety she besought them to let out their father's
exhausted blood and to drive away his grievous old age. The more dutiful
they were, the more quickly they would respond to such an appeal. Ovid
noted the tragic fact but unwisely diverted the reader's attention with
an ill-timed play on words. As each is filial, he said, she is the first to be
unfilial, and in order to avoid being criminal she commits the crime. Even
so, the girls could not bear to see their father bleed. They turned away
and struck blindly with their swords.
Although old Pelias had been lulled to sleep, he wakened with the
pain and found his own daughters mangling him with their bloody swords.
He tried feebly to rise and cried out at their unnatural cruelty. Ovid
softened the traditional horror of the catastrophe. The daughters, he
said, lost their courage and ceased. It was Medea who killed old Pelias
and plunged his body into the caldron.
Ovid already had made it clear that for Pelias there was no recov-
ery. He passed at once to the events which followed. Having said noth-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
ing of Acastus, Ovid did not introduce him as the one who tried to punish
Medea. He probably assumed that his readers were acquainted with the
circumstance, but in any case they might well infer a similar attempt by
the daughters.
planned to deal at still greater length with Medea's use of magic, and he
proceeded to draw many suggestions from his Greek and Roman prede-
cessors.
Although ancient poets believed that magic could be practised any-
where, certain regions were famous for it. One region was Thessaly.
There Chiron had resided and had taught Aesculapius and others the
use of potent herbs. There Medea had dealt in magic when she plotted
against Pelias. By Ovid's time the country appears to have acquired a
fame for witchcraft in general, which Lucan commemorated afterwards
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
in his Pharsalia. Thessaly was auspicious for the scene of a new story
of Medea and the process of magic.
Theocritus had told of Simaetha pronouncing her incantation
under the light of a full moon. Following his example, Vergil spoke of
the Massylian priestess as gathering herbs under a full moon. He noted
also that, when she performed magic rites, her hair was streaming down
her back. He observed that Dido, when she performed such rites, was
dressed in flowing robes and had one foot bare. Ovid followed Vergil.
Medea delayed her gathering of herbs until the moon shone full, and she
went forth with her hair streaming over her shoulders and with flowing
robes. Ovid added that her foot was bare, and, although his phrase was
ambiguous, he seems to have meant that one foot was covered and the
other bare.
Theocritus had contrasted briefly the peace of nature with the
wakeful activity of Simaetha. Horace in his Epode made a similar brief
contrast between the repose of wild creatures in the forest and the fierce
zeal of Canidia invoking the deities who preside over witchcraft. And
Vergil in a very beautiful passage had pictured the calm of night and
the unsleeping sorrow of Dido. Ovid showed the influence of all three.
He contrasted the peace of nature with the wakeful activity of Medea;
he showed her choosing this quiet hour for an invocation of the deities
governing witchcraft; and he described at some length the calm of night.
But the details of his description were as original as they were beautiful.
Theocritus had pictured Simaetha as performing each of her rites
three times. Vergil in his Eighth Eclogue noted a similar threefold repe-
tition and added that by such uneven numbers the deity is pleased. Ac-
cordingly Ovid observed that Medea turned about three times, sprinkled
her hair three times with water taken from a flowing stream, and uttered
three wailing cries. Simaetha, according to Theocritus, had invoked the
goddess Hecate. Vergil's Massylian priestess invoked threefold Hecate,
the triple-faced maiden Diana, alluding picturesquely to the idea that
Hecate, Diana, and the Moon (Luna) were three manifestations of the
same goddess. Canidia in Horace's Epode invoked Night and also
Diana, who presides at the hour when mysterious rites are performed.
Ovid combined freely ideas taken from Vergil and Horace. Medea ad-
dressed both three-headed Hecate and Night, but it was Night to whom
she attributed the care of mysterious rites.
Simaetha had invoked vaguely the other deities associated with
night and the Lower World. The Massylian priestess addressed speci-
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? AESON REJUVENATED
fically Erebus, Chaos, and other divinities, three hundred in all. Ovid
showed Medea, too, invoking the deities associated with night. But she
named also Earth and the many forces of nature -- appropriately, for
these would be potent in furnishing her magic herbs. In this way Ovid
obtained an unusually impressive list. He did not mention any deities
associated exclusively with the Lower World because later Medea would
invoke their special aid to save Aeson from the imminence of death.
From impressive enumeration of deities Medea passed to the theme
of reversing natural law. This had been a favorite subject of ancient
poetry. Euripides had treated it first in a chorus of his Medea. So
great, he said, was the injustice done the heroine that it would seem to
be impossible -- one could now imagine all the laws of nature giving way
to their opposites. Theocritus and Horace used the same idea, and in
the Tristia, Ovid was to associate it with the disloyalty of a trusted
friend. Vergil in his First Eclogue gave the theme a new direction.
Speaking of a certain act which had not occurred, he declared that its
occurrence was impossible -- one could imagine as easily a reversal of
nature. Propertius followed his example, and Ovid was soon to follow
it in the Ibis.
In all these instances ancient authors had considered the possibility
that laws of nature might give way. In still other instances they believed
that such laws had given way. Greek tradition noted in the tales of
Orpheus and a few others that they yielded to the power of song, and,
beginning with Cicero's plea for Archias, the idea had been repeated by
the Romans. Such reversal of nature was associated chiefly with the in-
cantation of witches. Both Vergil and Horace gave the subject promi-
nence. Ovid had mentioned it in his Epistle of Hypsipyle and in his
treatise on cosmetics. He now considered it at some length in the invo-
cation of Medea.
Although Greek and Roman authors, when they discussed a reversal
of nature, tended to be original in their choice of illustrative detail, there
were a few circumstances of which they were especially fond. Euripides
had introduced a very popular idea of rivers flowing back to their
sources. Vergil and Horace had spoken of drawing the moon down from
heaven and of raising ghosts from the grave. Vergil in his eclogue noted
the power of sorcery to make serpents burst and to shift grain from one
field to another. In the Aeneid he described the Massylian priestess as
able to make ash trees descend from the mountains, stop the flow of
rivers, and cause the earth to rumble beneath her feet.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Some of these traditional marvels Ovid had mentioned separately in
his Amores and his treatise on cosmetics. In the Epistle of Hypsipyle
he recorded several of them. Medea, he said, was able to bring down the
reluctant moon, to move from their places woods and living rocks and
to stop the flow of rivers. He added also that she was able to control
the motion of the seas and to hide in darkness the horses of the Sun.
When Jason had lulled the Colchian dragon, Ovid emphasized the power
of his incantation, noting that it was capable of staying the swollen sea
and swift flowing rivers.
In the tale of Aeson, Ovid proceeded to give an impressive list of
marvels. He not only repeated all the traditional examples but added
many others. While invoking the deities, he said, Medea recalled pre-
vious miracles which they had helped her to perform. Rivers had flowed
backwards; seas had been quieted or made stormy; clouds and winds
had dispersed or assembled; the jaws of vipers had burst; rocks, oak
trees, and forests had moved from their places; mountains had trembled;
earth rumbled; and ghosts had come forth from their tombs. The moon
had been drawn down, the Sun and the Dawn had grown pale.
When Vergil and Horace mentioned the power of an enchantress to
bring down the moon from heaven, they probably meant literally that
the moon descended to the earth. And later, in the tale of the Centaurs
(Bk. 12), when Ovid spoke of Mycale as drawing down the crescent
moon, he appears to have imagined the same occurrence. But in the tale
of Aeson he thought that the moon suffered eclipse and he alluded to an-
other superstition world wide among uncivilised peoples. For such tribes
an eclipse of the moon or the sun was a cause of terror. Without warn-
ing the bright luminary grew rapidly dimmer and seemed to be strug-
gling for its life. In the case of the moon, its color altered to a
ghastly red. Some unknown monster, they thought, must have seized
their familiar luminary in his jaws and must have begun to swallow it
forever. Against such a monster human strength would be of little
avail, although often they launched arrows and other missiles wildly
towards the sky. But it might be possible with noise to frighten or con-
fuse the monster and so cause him to release his prey. With all haste
they rushed forth, yelling, beating their dogs, pounding on drums,
clanging shields and cymbals, and keeping up an indescribable din until
at length darkness departed and the harassed luminary returned again
to its tranquil splendor. Such fears assailed the Greeks and Romans
during an eclipse, and they resorted chiefly to clashing of bronze ves-
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? AESON REJUVENATED
sels. Ovid had alluded to the practice in his account of Hermaphro-
ditus (Bk. 4). He alluded to it again in relation to the achievements
of Medea, and he observed that against her magic the clash of bronze
was of no avail.
After recalling wonders which the deities had helped her perform
for other purposes, Medea spoke of those which they had allowed her
to perform in behalf of Jason -- conquest of fiery bulls, earth-born
warriors, and the unsleeping dragon. In Jason's behalf she must now
try to make an old man young. This was her present task, and she im-
plied that it was the most difficult of all.
In Vergil's eclogue the enchanter declared suddenly that his incan-
tation was successful, and he mentioned as evidence two mystic signs --
ashes on the altar gave out flame and the dog, Hylax, barked outside
the door. Ovid imitated the incident. But as Medea's attempt to reju-
venate Aeson was much rarer and stranger than the attempt to recall
an unfaithful lover, so her signs were proportionately more remarkable,
a car drawn by winged dragons.
The stars gave a sudden flash, and at the same moment there drew near
According to Greek tradition, Ceres had a dragon car, which con-
veyed her rapidly through the air (cf. Triptolemus, Bk. 5). A similar
car was attributed to Medea's grandfather, the Sun. When Medea was
about to leave Corinth, Euripides declared that her grandfather sent her
this car and allowed her to depart through the air to Athens. Accord-
ing to Euripides, Medea was then using the car for the first time. Ovid
thought otherwise. Announcing the arrival of this marvellous chariot,
his Medea implied that she had expected its coming and was familiar
with its use. Apparently she often had summoned the car when she went
in search of her magic ingredients. By this change Ovid added greatly
to the wonder of the quest.
Entering the dragon car, Medea first ascended rapidly to a great
altitude, in order that she might observe places likely to afford her
suitable material. Below, all Thessaly spread out westward and north-
ward, in the light of the full moon. Medea had left the ground at a
point near Iolcus, in southeastern Thessaly, and she was still circling
high above it. But now she could look northwards to the most distant
part of this region and could discern there the deep vale of Tempe, wind-
ing darkly below her. And her keen gaze noted successively many other
prominent geographical features of the country.
Directly beneath the car lay the expanse of the landlocked Pagas-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
aean Gulf, with Iolcus crowded into a small area at its northern ex-
tremity. Immediately behind the town rose Mt. Pelion, first of a chain
of mountains, which ran northwards along the coast. Conspicuous
among these, appeared Mt. Ossa, with Lake Boebais glimmering to the
westward at its base. Still farther to the north, beyond the River Peneus
and the Vale of Tempe, Mt. Olympus rose from the sea and with its
snowy summit marked the limit of her view. Other mountains almost as
lofty, extended from Olympus westwards and met at right angles with
yet another lofty range. This range, culminating in Mt. Pindus, ran
southwards, the rugged sides dark with forests, the peaks and ridges
bare and gleaming pale in the moon light. So it continued the entire
length of Thessaly, dividing it from the more western region of Epirus.
A lower range, reaching its height in the peaks of Tymphrestus and
Othrys, ran from the Pindus mountains eastward nearly to the Pagas-
aean Gulf and formed the southern border of the country.
The chief rivers were visible also, their course indicated by the
unusual darkness of the valley and by heavy vegetation. Many of them
began in the general region of Mt. Othrys, near the southern limits of
Thessaly, and all of them flowed in a northerly direction. Rising on the
slopes of Mt. Othrys, the Apidanus and the Enipeus ran northwest-
ward, met in the inland plain of Thessaly, and then continued north-
wards to join the Peneus. The Amphrysius, rising a little to the east of
the others, found a different course northeastwards along the foot of the
Othrys Range and entered the gulf not far from Iolcus. From her lofty
vantage point Medea could even look southward over the crests of the
Othrys Range and observe the course of the River Spercheus, from its
beginning in the ravines of Tymphrestus eastwards until it entered the
narrow Malian Gulf.
All these places Ovid named, but he did not give them in orderly
succession. He appears rather to have sought a studied disorder.
Although Medea's practised eye noted immediately the regions of great-
est promise, her materials were rare and difficult to find. It was neces-
sary to fly back and forth, this way and that, and to scrutinize every
locality again and again. This idea Ovid probably wished to convey.
Although Medea was later to use animal and mineral ingredients, Ovid
indicated that her present quest was wholly for herbs. Some of these,
he said, she pulled up by their roots, others she cut with a sickle. And,
since Vergil had spoken of the Massylian priestess as using a sickle of
bronze, Ovid followed him here and was to do so again in the Fasti.
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? AESON REJUVENATED
Medea gave much attention to grasses, searching every moist region of
Thessaly. She even made a long flight southeastwards to the Boeotian
shore and plucked at Anthedon a species of grass which later was famous
for the transformation of Glaucus into a sea god (Bk. 13).
The search continued through nine days and nights -- three times
the propitious number three. Then Medea returned and alighted in the
open country near Iolcus. As she did so, the herbs gave evidence of their
power. According to ancient belief, the serpent is able by casting his
skin to renew his youth. The mere scent of Medea's herbs, Ovid tells us,
was potent enough to rejuvenate her dragons. As they alighted, they
began to cast their skins, wrinkled with the passage of many years.
As Ovid recorded the subsequent actions of Medea, he seems to have
been influenced by the spring rites of the Bacchanals. Medea was careful
to remain in the open air and to observe chastity during the time of
preparation; and, although she was willing herself to give Jason and
others the necessary instructions, she allowed no one to be present at
the rites of rejuvenation. Tradition had not indicated that these rites
were secret in the case of Aeson, and it had indicated the contrary in the
case of Pelias, for they were witnessed by his daughters. By this inno-
vation Ovid not only made the stories different from each other but
enhanced the picturesqueness of the rites in behalf of Aeson.
Medea propitiated first Hecate and Hebe, goddess of youth. To
each of them she erected an altar of turf, adorning it with boughs from
the forest. These goddesses were to exert their influence for restoring
Aeson's youth. Then she propitiated the divinities of Earth and the
Lower World. She did this by offerings which ancient tradition had pre-
scribed for attracting the dead. In the Odyssey, Ulysses dug a pit and
killed sheep, at least one of which was black, allowing their blood to flow
into the pit. In Horace's Satire the witches made a similar offering of a
black ram. The Odyssey added that Ulysses afterwards poured into the
pit wine and other ingredients. Ovid said therefore that Medea dug a
pit, killed over it a black sheep, and then poured in bowls of wine and
of warm milk. Meanwhile in prayers to Pluto, Proserpina, and the rest,
she urged these divinities to defer their claim on Aeson's life.
Having obtained the favor of the gods, Medea commanded that
Aeson should be carried out and laid on a bed of herbs. Lulling him
magically to sleep, she loosened her hair in the manner of a Bacchante.
In advance she had prepared a considerable amount of wood, which was
split into very small, inflammable pieces. These she dipped in the blood
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
of the sheep and afterwards kindled at the fire on the altar. Then she
purified the old man successively with fire, water, and sulphur, perform-
ing each rite three times.
Before commencing these rites over Aeson's body, Medea had
kindled a fire and had set over it a caldron, containing powerful ingre-
dients. These now were boiling vigorously. Already they included a
great variety of Thessalian plants --- their roots, seeds, flowers, and
keen juices. But, as they foamed and leaped up with the heat, Medea
added more wonderful materials. Some of these were remarkable for
their distant origin. In Vergil's Eighth Eclogue the enchanter used
herbs brought from remote Pontus, and Horace's Canidia used herbs
gathered in Thessaly and Spain. But Medea introduced materials ob-
tained at a much more astonishing distance -- pebbles found in the
farthest Orient and sands gathered on the beach of that Ocean which
formed the eastern limit of the world.
Other materials were distinguished by their strange, uncanny na-
ture. Sophocles in the Root Cutters had spoken of collecting hoar frost
which came down as dew from the moon. Such frost Medea combined
with the other ingredients of her caldron. Horace had mentioned Cani-
dia's using eggs and feathers of the screech owl, and Vergil had spoken
of a sorcerer Moeris who could change himself at will from a human
being to a wolf. Portions of both these ghastly creatures were intro-
duced by Medea. She added the wings and flesh of the screech owl and
the entrails of the eerie werewolf.
Still other materials were not only strange in nature but were ob-
viously appropriate for helping rejuvenation. Medea used the skin of a
Tripolitan water snake -- symbol of its perennial youth, the liver of a
stag-- a creature supposed to enjoy extraordinary longevity*, and the
head of a crow nine centuries old. To increase the uncanny effect Ovid
reminded his readers that Medea was no ordinary enchantress but a bar-
barian woman from unfamiliar regions of Asia.
Ovid invented two incidental metamorphoses that added much to
the interest of the tale. When at last the strange mixture was complete,
Medea stirred it thoroughly. For this purpose she chose an olive branch
which long ago had withered to a dry stick. As it moved about in the
rejuvenating liquid, the stick suddenly revived and soon put forth leaves
and fruit. Meanwhile the caldron boiled over from time to time and
*Th;s id"T Ovid had mentioned, with unconscious irony, during the transformation
of Actaeon (Bk. 3).
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? AESON REJUVENATED
clothed the dry ground beneath with the soft grass and flowers of spring.
Aware that her magic fluid was ready, Medea cut the throat of
Aeson and let out his aged blood. Then she applied the contents of the
caldron. Ovid's authority had not indicated how she applied it, and per-
haps for this reason, Ovid left the reader in doubt whether she immersed
Aeson in the liquid or poured it over him. In the tale immediately fol-
lowing, Ovid was to say clearly that Medea plunged the body of Pelias
into the caldron. The mixture, Ovid continued, entered both Aeson's
mouth and the wound in his throat; it coursed through his veins and
began quickly to remove every sign of age. Ovid pictured the transfor-
mation vividly and in considerable detail. According to Ovid's Greek
predecessor, Aeson changed into a boy. But Ovid did not carry the
process so far. Aeson, he said, became the black bearded young man that
he used to be forty years earlier.
This marvellous achievement was followed by another. In the
Nurses of Bacchus, Aeschylus had told how the god rewarded the nymphs
of Nysa by persuading Medea to restore them, and also their husbands,
to youth. The Alexandrian preface to the Medea of Euripides repeated
this tale briefly but did not relate it to the tale of Aeson. Ovid associated
the two events. Impressed by the rejuvenation of Jason's father, Bacchus
persuaded Medea to rejuvenate the nurses. Although this achievement
affected several persons and therefore was the more remarkable, it was
in nature the same as the other and so Ovid recounted it as briefly as
possible, not mentioning the husbands.
In the century following Ovid's death, magic continued to be a
theme of great interest for the Romans. Seneca treated it elaborately in
his Medea, and Lucan gave it extraordinary prominence in his Pharsalia.
Both poets took many of the details from Ovid's account of Medea and
Aeson.
Authors of the Renaissance displayed similar interest in the tale.
Erasmus noted that Folly would make it needless to invoke Medea or
Circe for restoring youth. Ariosto, recalling Ovid, spoke of the witch
Melissa as able to move the solid earth, check the course of the sun,
illumine night, and darken the day. He attributed similar powers to a
naiad who was supposed to have befriended Ricciardetto.
Shakespeare found Ovid's tale of great interest. In The Merchant
of Venice Jessica compared the moonlit night at Belmont to the night
when
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Medea gathered the enchanted herbs
That did renew old Aeson.
In A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare described Hecate as triple.
Both in King Lear and in Macbeth he spoke of her as presiding over
night and witches. In Hamlet the poison used against the Player King
was composed
Of midnight weeds collected,
With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice infected.
Prospero in The Tempest described Caliban's mother as a witch
That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs.
And Prospero himself in a long, beautiful passage emulated Medea's in-
vocation of the terrestrial deities and her account of the marvels which
they helped her perform. The famous witch scenes of Macbeth owed
much to the Ovidian account of Medea's rites about her caldron. Shake-
speare spoke of gathering a vaporous drop on the moon, even before it
should fall to earth; he mentioned repeatedly the threefold rites per-
formed by the witches ; he showed them uttering incantations about their
caldron; and he told how they added to their mixture a long series of
strange, ghastly ingredients.
Milton too gave evidence of his fondness for the tale of Aeson. In a
Latin elegy he declared the university beadle worthy to regain his youth
by Thessalian juices and to enjoy a life as long as that of Jason's father.
In Comus, Milton gave the name Haemony to the beneficial herb which
afforded protection from evil enchantment, Furies, and other malignant
influences. And Medea's dragon car appears to have suggested the idea
mentioned in II Penseroso that a similar car was used by the moon:
While Cynthia checks her dragon yoke
Lightly o'er the accustomed oak.
Chateaubriand seemed to remember the weird ingredients of Medea's
caldron, for he showed the aged hero of his A tola comparing his long life
to that of the stag or the crow.
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? PELIAS AND MEDEA'S FLIGHT TO ATHENS
Pelias and Medea's Flight to Athens
In the tale of Aeson, Ovid treated a popular belief that by judicious
use of fire it is possible to make an old man young. In the story which
followed, Ovid was concerned with an idea related so closely to belief in
rejuvenation by fire that many popular tales deal first with one and then
with the other.
The European folk stories which tell how Christ or Satan restored
an old person by treating him either in a forge or in a caldron, tell often
how some bungler tried later to imitate the magic process but was un-
successful. Other popular tales record how the magician himself first
rejuvenated some old person but later was urged to perform another
miracle for the benefit of someone with whom he was displeased, and how
he intentionally failed. According to the Shans of Lakon in Cambodia,
the decrepit old prince was not content with his transformation to a
beau but insisted on a repetition of the treatment, hoping in this way to
become still more attractive. The magician, angered at his persistence,
again cut him to pieces and laid him in a caldron but did not apply the
magic process. In still other popular tales the magician first gave a
demonstration of his power by rejuvenating an animal. According to
another Cambodian myth, a Brahmin restored a dog and then tried the
experiment, unsuccessfully, with a human being.
Greek tradition recorded a similar myth about the wicked King
Pelias. The tale ran usually as follows. Not content with usurping the
throne of Iolcus and sending Jason in quest of the Fleece, Pelias re-
solved to kill his brother, Aeson. The latter, feeling that he could not
escape, drank poison. His wife committed suicide, and Pelias murdered
their infant son, Promachus. When Jason returned from Colchis, he at
first was unable to punish the crime. He delivered the Fleece to Pelias,
dedicated the Argo in Neptune's grove at Corinth, and settled once more
in Iolcus. Then he appealed for aid to Medea. She took advantage of
the fact that Pelias had become old and feeble. Informing his daughters
that it was possible to restore his youth, she won their confidence by a
demonstration with a ram. She cut the animal to pieces, boiled it in her
caldron of herbs, and metamorphosed it into a lamb. By her advice the
daughters minced and boiled their father. But this time the caldron
held nothing but ordinary water. Acastus, son of Pelias, tried to punish
Jason and Medea, but they escaped by fleeing to Corinth.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
Pindar alluded to the tale, Sophocles treated it in his Root Cutters,
and Euripides made it the theme of his Daughters of Pelias and men-
tioned it prominently in his Medea. The Manual told the tale in full,
naming four daughters of the king. Greek vase painters imagined that
Medea persuaded Pelias, as well as his daughters. They showed the king
and two of the princesses looking on with surprise and joy, while Medea
brought forth a lamb from her caldron.
Among earlier Roman authors the story appears to have been well
known. In Cicero's dialogue On Old Age, Cato declared that he would
not be tempted by such a boon as Medea promised to confer on Pelias.
He would not desire to regain youth by sacrificing all the experience of a
long life. Propertius alluded to the death of Pelias in Medea's caldron.
And Ovid in his Epistle of Medea spoke of the daughters cutting their
father to pieces.
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid rejected the first part of the story.
With the Theogony and the Returns he imagined that, when Jason re-
visited Iolcus, Aeson was still alive. Pelias suffered not for the murder
but for his earlier acts of hostility. Ovid said nothing of Jason's inciting
his wife against Pelias. According to the Medea of Euripides, Jason
took no part in the treacherous murder, but he knew Medea's purpose
and was willing to profit by the crime. He would not play false and yet
would wrongly win. Following Euripides, Ovid implied that Medea took
the initiative and that Jason was careful not to interfere.
For the deception of Pelias's daughters, Ovid elaborated and im-
proved the incidents given by the Manual. Medea, he said, pretended to
quarrel with Jason and took refuge in the palace of the king. Because
of age and infirmity, Pelias had left the management of his household to
his children, and Ovid, following the Manual, implied that Acastus hap-
pened to be absent, leaving the four daughters in charge. Deceived by
Medea's pretense, they entertained her hospitably and gave her a chance
to continue her plot. According to the Manual, Medea had offered to
rejuvenate the king. Ovid supposed that she was more cautious and
allowed the suggestion to come from the daughters. Beginning with the
idea of rejuvenation in general, she proceeded to tell at some length of
her recent success with Aeson. The daughters then urged her to confer
a similar blessing on Pelias and offered to give any reward that she might
ask. Still careful to disarm suspicion, Medea hesitated for a while and
then offered to give a preliminary demonstration with a ram. Let them
choose the oldest of their flock.
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? PELIAS AND MEDEA'S FLIGHT TO ATHENS
Since Ovid had told in the previous story of Medea's collecting
herbs and of her incantations, he proceeded immediately to the treat-
ment of the animal. The tottering old ram was brought to the caldron.
As before in the case of Aeson, Medea did not cut the body to pieces but
merely severed the throat. This gave Ovid another chance to indicate
the senility of the ram. Vergil in the Georgics had observed that animals
exhausted by the plague would hardly stain the sacrificial knife with their
blood. To such a pass, Ovid continued, age alone had brought this feeble
ram. Yet the potent herbs soon had their effect. Ovid pictured the result
and told humorously of the lamb which jumped out of the caldron and
frisked about in search of his mother. The daughters now were even more
eager to have Medea undertake the rejuvenation of their father.
For the circumstances of the king's death Ovid probably took
suggestions from the Root Cutters of Sophocles. Without warning the
father of their intent, the daughters made their plans. They waited three
days -- a magic number. On the night following, Medea prepared her
caldron. Tradition had spoken of her as using merely water. Ovid
imagined plausibly that she added some herbs without potency. Then
magically she lulled Pelias and his guards to sleep.
At Medea's bidding, the daughters gathered with drawn swords
about their father's couch. By this extraordinary method they felt sure
of delivering their loved father from infirmity and approaching death.
Yet they hesitated, reluctant to strike. Medea was obliged to urge them
on. In the name of filial piety she besought them to let out their father's
exhausted blood and to drive away his grievous old age. The more dutiful
they were, the more quickly they would respond to such an appeal. Ovid
noted the tragic fact but unwisely diverted the reader's attention with
an ill-timed play on words. As each is filial, he said, she is the first to be
unfilial, and in order to avoid being criminal she commits the crime. Even
so, the girls could not bear to see their father bleed. They turned away
and struck blindly with their swords.
Although old Pelias had been lulled to sleep, he wakened with the
pain and found his own daughters mangling him with their bloody swords.
He tried feebly to rise and cried out at their unnatural cruelty. Ovid
softened the traditional horror of the catastrophe. The daughters, he
said, lost their courage and ceased. It was Medea who killed old Pelias
and plunged his body into the caldron.
Ovid already had made it clear that for Pelias there was no recov-
ery. He passed at once to the events which followed. Having said noth-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
ing of Acastus, Ovid did not introduce him as the one who tried to punish
Medea. He probably assumed that his readers were acquainted with the
circumstance, but in any case they might well infer a similar attempt by
the daughters.
