Metamorphoses ~ Book IX

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Book IX

 

Achelous & Hercules / Hercules, Deianira, Nessus / Hercules & Deianira / Alcmena / Dryope / Iolaus / Byblis & Caunus / Iphis & Ianthe

 

Hercules and Achelous
Cornelius van Haarlem
source Wikimedia Commons

Achelous relates how he lost his horn in a fight with Hercules when they both contended for the hand of Deianira.  First he had attempted to persuade the girl’s father by disparaging Hercules, but Hercules discounted words, instead wanting to fight.  Finally overpowered, Achelous first attempted to transform himself into a snake and then a bull, but his enemy tore off his horn, which the Naiads took and filled with fruit and flowers, now called a sacred Cornucopia.  Sophocles’ play, The Women on Trachis, recalls this battle between Achelous and Hercules.

 

While Hercules was journeying back to Tiryns with his bride, Deianira, a rushing river stopped their path.  Nessus, a centaur, offered to take the lovely bride safely to the other shore, while Hercules swam over.  Once on the other side, Hercules hears cries and sees that the centaur is attempting to kidnap the girl.  Yelling threats, he threaded his bow and shot the arrow which hit the centaur in the spine coming out on the other side.  Knowing that Hercules had dipped the arrow in the venom of the Hydra, as life ebbed from him, Nessus gave his envenomed, blood-soaked tunic to Deianira, promising that it would kindle the love of Hercules.  

Nessus kidnaps Deianeira (c. 1600)
Hans Rottenhammer
source Wikimedia Commons

Juno hated Hercules for his mighty deeds and while he was away, she had Rumor go to his loving wife, whispering lies of his love of Iole.  Deianira, being a sister of Meleager (I thought they were all turned into guinea hens – see Book VIII), devises a plan of revenge: to cut the throat of her rival, but meanwhile, she will send Hercules the tunic of Nessus to rekindle his love.  As he wears it, the venom courses through Hercules’ body, bringing searing pain, but when he tries to take it off, he tears his flesh with it.  Before he perishes in agony, he hurls his attendant, Lichas, into the sea, blaming him for bringing the gift and the man becomes a stone in the Euboean Sea.  The gods are dismayed at what will happen to the earth’s defender and Jove decides to deify him,  riding down in his chariot to cloak him in a cloud and then place him in the sky.
 
Birth of Heracles
Jean Jacques François de Barbier
source Wikipedia

Because of his father’s wishes, Hyllus, the son of Hercules, wed Iole who is now pregnant. Hercules’ mother, Alcmena gives the girl advice and tells her of her own birth pangs.  Cruel Juno, angry at Jove’s impregnating Alcmena, sits outside, crosses her legs and her fingers to block the birth.  But Galanthis, the servant girl, cleverly recognizes the goddess and announces that Alcmena has given birth.  Juno is astounded, leap up and with the unlinking of her knees and fingers, the knot was undone and Alcmena finally gave birth.  Yet Galanthis makes the mistake of jeering at Juno who turns her into a weasel.

Iole tells of her half-sister, Dryope, who was raped by Delphi’s deity (Phoebus), nevertheless Andraemon happily married her.  One day, as she was walking with her infant son and Iole, she picked the purple blossoms of a lotus, which dripped blood with her plucking.  The lotus was a nymph who had transformed herself after being chased by Priapus, but from Dryope’s innocent carnage, the lotus begins to transform her as well.  Sister, husband and father, all rush to the scene just in time to hear Dryope’s final plea for her son to visit and know her, then she gives the boy a final kiss before her lips are sealed forever.

Iolaus appears in the doorway, this nephew of Hercules having his youth restored by his uncle’s request to Hebe, the wife he married when he was placed in the sky.  Hebe wishes never to perform the task again, but her vow is stopped by Themis, the prophetess, telling of many times this similar event would take place in different ways. Even the gods wish for such favours for their favourites but through examples of Minos, Rhadamanthus and Aeacus, Jove demonstrates all are not so blessed and the deities settle down.

Old Minos is concerned about an overthrow by young Miletus, but Miletus sails away and starts his own city at the mouth of the Meander.  He finds a Cyanee, is lured by her body and she gives birth to twins, Byblis and Caunus.  Byblis develops an unsisterly love for Caunus, pining for him with a startling intensity.  Finally, she sends him a letter confessing her love, which he receives with a burgeoning rage.  He escapes, leaving the land and her obscene love, but she follows him in a frenzy of passionate despair, travelling all over until completely insane, she collapses, her tears transforming her into a fountain.

Byblis turning into a spring (1866)
Jean-Jacques Henner
source Wikimedia Commons

In Phaestus, Crete, there lived a freeborn man called Ligdus with a pregnant wife, Telethusa.  He wishes only two things for his “dear” wife (please, sense the beginning of sarcasm here):  that she suffers little pain in childbirth and that the child may be a boy, because if it turns out to be a girl, he will put her to death.  Both distraught over his decision, as Telethusa is about to give birth she sees the (Egyptian) gods, Anubis, Bubastis, Apis, Osiris’ son, Isis, Osiris, and the Egyptian snake who tell her to let the child live.  So Telethusa is able to fool everyone into thinking that the child is a boy, and thirteen years later the boy, Iphis (really a girl), is betrothed to the lovely Ianthe.  Now Iphis actually longs for Ianthe, but is distraught over her sex, thinking that nothing can come of the union.  The girl prays to Isis, and behold!  On the day of the marriage Iphis is transformed into a young man and gets his/her desire.

❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈ ❈

I must say that in spite of the distastefulness of some of these tales, Ovid has outdone himself.  His metamorphoses are not just simply humans changing to bulls, birds and whatnot, but a broader transformation of gender, alliances, and even unnatural love.

 

Metamorphoses
Lichas ❥  hard stone
Hercules  ❥  a god
Galanthis  ❥  weasel
Nymph  ❥  lotus
Dryope  ❥  lotus tree
Iolaus  ❥  youth
Boys  ❥  men
Byblis  ❥  fountain
Iphis  ❥  young man

 

 

The Metamorphosis of the Lovers (1938)
Andre Masson
source Wikiart

 

 
 
 

 

The Pickwick Papers Read-Along ( A Long Read-Along! )

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O at Behold the Stars is hosting a read-along of The Pickwick Papers beginning March 1, 2016.  Now, this is not just any read-along, but a read-along with a twist.  We are actually going to be reading along with the same serial publication schedule in which the book was published, which means that this read-along is going to take about a year and a half to finish.  Does that sound too long?  I challenge you to try it.  Not only will you get the real Pickwick Papers experience, it’s not too heavy of a commitment, so it won’t interfere very much with other reads.  I’ve also found it beneficial to read a bit of a book and then let it percolate in your mind; you can often get more out of it that way.  In any case, I’m really excited about this read-along!  Here’s the schedule:

I – March 2016 (chapters 1–2)
II – April 2016 (chapters 3–5)
III – May 2016 (chapters 6–8)
IV – June 2016 (chapters 9-11)
V – July 2016 (chapters 12–14)
VI – August 2016 (chapters 15–17)
VII – September 2016 (chapters 18–20)
VIII – October 2016 (chapters 21–23)
IX – November 2016 (chapters 24–26)
X – December 2016 (chapters 27–29)
XI – January 2017 (chapters 30–32)
XII – February 2017 (chapters 33–34)
XIII – March 2017 (chapters 35–37)
XIV – April 2017 (chapters 38–40)
XV – June 2017 (chapters 41–43)
XVI – July 2017 (chapters 44–46)
XVII – August 2017 (chapters 47-49)
XVIII – September 2017 (chapters 50–52)
XIX – October 2017 (chapters 53–55)
XX – November 2017 (chapters 56–57)

So, if this read-along appeals to you, grab your Pickwick Papers and join us for a realistic reading experience!

Metamorphoses – Book VIII

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Book VIII
Scylla, Nisus, Minos / Daedalus, the Minotaur, Theseus & Ariadne / Daedalus & Icarus / Daedalus & Perdix / The Calydonian Hunt / Althaea & Meleager / Theseus & Achelous / The Echinades & Perimele / Baucis & Philemon / Erysichthon’s Sin / Erysichthon & Famine / Erysichthon’s Daughter/ Achelous
  
Minos & Scylla
17th century etching
source Wikimedia Commons
Minos, the son of Europa and king of Crete, besieges Alcathous and the coast of Megara, and its king, Nisus, amid his grey hairs, has a gleaming purple tuft which holds the security of his kingdom.  Now, his daughter, Scylla, climbs to the top of the tower of the king to watch the siege and falls madly in love with Minos.  She convinces herself that if she is taken hostage, the war will end. With such thoughts, she sneaks into her father’s bedroom, tears off his tuft, and hurries out to find Minos.  King Minos, however is appalled at her present, and claiming her a disgrace, calls for her banishment.  Imposing just wars on the Megarians, Minos set sail for home, leaving lovelorn Scylla spewing poison and lamenting her fate.  Finally, she decided to follow Minos, diving into the waves and holding fast to his ship.  Yet, her father now is a tawny osprey, and he dives at her, dislodging her from the stern.  Scylla transforms into a bird, called the Ciris, meaning to cut, for she had shorn her father’s tuft.
The Minotaur (1884)
George Frederick Watts
source Wikimedia Commons
Minos arrives home and sacrifices to Jove, but there is a shame lurking in Crete.  The adulterous liaison of Mino’s mother and a bull, has produced an hideous offspring which must be concealed.  Minos gets the famed builder, Daedelus, to construct a labyrinth that is so intricate, the monster will never get out.  In this maze, the Minotaur is imprisoned, but Theseus kills it three years later, with the help of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, who gives him a thread to find his way out.  While Theseus took Ariadne with him, he left her on Naxos, but in her desolation and tears, Bacchus gave her a place in the constellations as the Northern Corona, her crown a diadem of stars.
Daedalus, weary of his sojourn in Crete, decides to escape, and “at once he starts to work on unknown arts to alter nature”.  Constructing wings make of reeds, twine, feathers and wax, he cautions his son, Icarus, that he must follow him and not fly too high nor too low to avoid being wetted by the ocean or scorched by the sun.  At first, the boy flies right behind his father but then, delight and audacity come upon him and he soars up into the open sky.  The wax on the wings melt and he plunges to the sea and to his death.  Daedalus finally discovers his son’s plight and builds a tomb for him on an island now called Icaria.
 
Lament for Icarus (1897)
Herbert James Draper
source Wikimedia Commons
 
As Daedalus builds the tomb, an irate partridge comes out of a muddy ditch to scold him.  This bird is Perdix, his nephew, who at twelve years old was trusted to his care and teaching.  But the boy proved too clever and bright, and in his envy of the child, Daedalus threw him from Minerva’s sacred citadel, lying and saying that he’d fallen.  Minerva, however, scooped the child up in mid-air and transformed him into a partridge.  Now Daedalus, spent and ragged, arrives as a suppliant near Aetna (Sicily) where King Cocalus gives him refuge but wisely prepares his troops for an invasion by Minos.
The Calydonian Boar Hunt (1611-12)
Peter Paul Reubens
source Wikimedia Commons
Because of Theseus’ bravery and success, Athens is relieved of paying tribute to Crete and all lands praise him and ask for his assistance in peril.  Oenus, king of Calydon requires his assistance when a massive boar is sent by the goddess Diana, who is incensed because all the gods had been given a gift of the harvest, yet her alter lay bare.  A legion of men gather, some of whom are familiar, including Achilles’ father (Peleus), Jason, Telamon, and wise Nestor in his youth (from The Iliad), and the Calydonian hunt begins.  The men charge the boar who becomes enraged and nothing seems to be able to slow his frenzy. Finally, Atlanta, the only woman in the hunt, manages to draw blood, and Meleager praises her bravery.  The rest of the men, however, are angered at being bested by a woman, and rather forcefully, yet thoughtlessly, attempt to kill the animal.  Finally Meleager kills the massive beast, and all applaud him, but when he gives part of the his glory to Atlanta, dissent rumbles through the hunters.  His uncles emerge to reclaim his gift, angering Meleager who kills them both.
Althaea, Meleager’s mother, is in the process of giving gifts to the gods for his victory, when she sees the bodies of her brothers being borne into the city. Agonized over their deaths, she recalls a prophecy where the Fates assigned the same life to a log as to Meleager.  His mother had secreted the log away, but with this murder she resurrects it.  Her agony as to whether or not to burn it is riveting:
” ……Within Althaea, mother wars with sister;
those two names tear apart her single heart.
First she grows pale with fear of what she plans,
a crime so foul; but then her seething wrath
inflames her eyes with its own color, red.
Now she appears to be most menacing —
a horrid thing —- and now you’d swear that she
was merciful.  When savage frenzy dries
her tears again.  Althaea cries.  She’s like
a ship that, driven by the wind and by
a current running counter, is the prey
of both and — in uncertainty — obeys
two forces ……”
After a Gollum-like conversation with herself, finally she calls on the Furies to witness her deed, hurling the log into the fire.  As the log burns, so does Meleager until he is only ash.  His sisters are distraught, his father is agonized, his mother commits suicide and Diana is content.  She turns his sisters into guinea hens.
Theseus, sailing away from Calydon and the carnage, is warned by the river-god Achelous, to take refuge in his house.  Heavy rains have swelled the Achelous river and he is in danger if he attempts to cross.  Aegus’ son accepts the hospitality and he is given a feast.  
Theseus asks Achelous about an island that he sees far off and the river god informs him that it is not one, but five islands.  They used to be five Naiads, but when they sacrificed ten bulls for a festival dance and forgot to invite Achelous, he swelled with rage, sweeping the nymphs away and tearing away a piece of land to form five parts, now called the Echinades.  There is yet another island, Perimele, named for his love, who he, by force, took her virginity.  Her father threw her from a cliff into the sea, however Achelous bore her up, calling on Neptune, who changed her into an island.
Mercury & Jupiter in the House of Philemon & Baucis (c. 17th century)
Jacob an Oost
source Wikimedia Commons
Pirithous, the son of Ixion, scoffed at the river god’s tale, feeling that the gods were given too much power, but Lelex countermands his profession with a story to tell.  In the Phrygian hills, there once was a devolted old couple named Baucis and Philemon.  One day, the gods Jupiter and Mercury came seeking shelter in the guise of men.  The poor doddering couple gave them lodging and the best of the food they had to offer.  When they saw that their wine bowl was magically being replenished they were frightened that their food was not good enough and went to kill their only goose who guarded their land.  But the poor goose gave them a chase and they gave up exhausted, when finally the gods revealed themselves.  They took the couple on a long walk and when they looked back, their house was turned into a temple.  When asked for their desire, they asked to become priests of the temple and die together when their time came.  All came to fruition, but as their lives faded, one was transformed into an oak tree and the other, a linden.
Theseus is quite stirred by these tales and wishes to hear another.  Achelous tells of the transformations of Proteus, then relates a story of Erysichthon, who scorned the gods, chopping down a sacred grove of Ceres, including a sacred oak, causing the tree to bleed as the nymph inside is killed.  She utters a prophesy of punishment for Erysichthon’s sin, but still Erysichthon is heedless.
 
In punish for Erysichthon’s heartless deed, Ceres sends her nymph to Famine (as she cannot go herself for their purposes are opposed), and Famine pays the sinner a visit, breathing on him until he dreams of gnawing, burning hunger, but he can only eat air.  
 
Erysichthon Sells His Daughter (1650-60)
Jan Havicksz Steen
source Wikimedia Commons
Erysichthon’s hunger becomes so unbearable that he sells his daughter, but she escapes her master by changing herself into the shape of a man.  When father sees daughter again, he sells her to master after master, all of whom she eludes by changing form.  Finally, the ravenousness of Erysichthon causes him to eat all he has and, in desperation, he “began to rend his flesh, to bite his limbs, to feed on his own body.”
 
Achelous wonders why he tells of the metamorphoses of others when he, too, has undergone many changes.  In fact, he removes his head-wreath showing not two, but one horn upon his head.  Then he groans.
 
 
 
Metamorphoses
King Nisus  ❥  osprey
Scylla  ❥  bird
Ariadne  ❥  Northern Corona constellation
Perdix  ❥  partridge
Meleager’s sisters  ❥  guinea hen
Five Naiads  ❥  the Echinades islands
Perimele  ❥  island
Baucis & Philemon  ❥  oak and linden trees
Proteus  ❥  boar, serpent, bull, stone, plant, stream, fire
Erysichthon’s daughter  ❥  man, mare, bird, deer, etc.
Achelous  ❥  river, snake, bull

Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons

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“It is difficult to make a dull garden, but old Mr. Wither had succeeded.”

Stella Gibbons writes rather odd books.  Cold Comfort Farm, her best known and highly acclaimed novel, follows an orphaned, pert young woman to a mucky, rural farm and observes while she neatens and tidies all the morose, lurking, and deranged occupants into their proper places, finding love in the process.  Gibbons has a knack for depicting rather unusual and sometimes bizarre characters, and this flair for the unique has continued in her writing of Nightingale Wood. The introduction to the story labels it as a “fairy tale” and it is, although not along the usual lines one would expect from such a tale.  Gibbons’ evil creatures often have angelic faces, and her happily-ever-afters can leave the reader uncertain of reality.  In playing with her characters, Gibbons appears to play with society and even the reader himself.  Her writing is not easily defined.

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Out Of Your Car, Off Your Horse by Wendell Berry

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This “essay” is set up in point-form with the sub-title, Twenty-seven Propositions About Global Thinking and the Sustainability of Cities.  It’s going to be difficult to review, not only because of the structure, but also because Berry is such an original thinker and has so much of value to say.  It is almost a shame to leave anything out.

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Metamorphoses Book VII

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Book VII

 

Medea and Jason / Medea and Aeson / Medea and Pelias / The Flight of Medea / Theseus and Aegus / Minos / Cephalus / The Plague / The Myrmidons / Cephalus, Procris & Aurora

 

Jason and Medea (1907)
John William Waterhouse
source Wikiart

The twin sons of Boreas assist King Phineus, who aids them in their journey to Colchis, where Jason meets with King Aeëtes to claim the Golden Fleece. The king agrees to relinquish his prize upon Jason completing three horrendous tasks. Yet Medea, daughter of the king, has fallen madly in love with Jason.  In spite of Jason’s foreign origin and the loyalty she owes to her father, she agrees to help Jason succeed in his trials in exchange for his promise of marriage.  First, he tames the dangerous bulls with herbs of Hecate given to him by Medea, yoking them to plow a field that has never before been plowed.  As he drops snake’s teeth into the ground from a bronze helmet, each takes the shape of an armoured warrior who attacks Jason.  But the young man hurls a stone into their ranks and they turn on each other, perishing in a civil war.  In his last test, Jason puts to sleep a dragon with juices from a hypnagogic herb, gains the Fleece and sails home with his new wife.

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Lysistrata by Aristophanes

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“The War shall be women’s business …….”

Staged during the Peloponnesian War and a mere two years after the disastrous defeat of Athens during the Sicilian Expedition, Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata ( Λυσιστραταη), meaning “disbander of the army”, as a protest against the waste of both resources and lives caused by the acts of war.

The play begins in the year 411 B.C., the twentieth year of the Peloponnesian War between the city states of Athens and Sparta, and the women of the participating factions are becoming disaffected by the incessant fighting.  Lysistrata, a woman of Athens, gathers neighbouring women from the areas of Sparta, Bœotia, Corinth, Peloponnese, etc. in protest of this gratuitous war.

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A Man’s A Man For A’ That by Robert Burns

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A Man’s a Man For A’ That
By Robert Burns

 

Is there, for honest poverty,
         That hings his head, an’ a’ that?
The coward slave, we pass him by,
         We dare be poor for a’ that!
                For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
                        Our toils obscure, an’ a’ that;
                The rank is but the guinea’s stamp;
                        The man’s the gowd for a’ that,

 

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Metamorphoses – Book VI

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Book VI

 

Arachne / Niobe / Latona and the Lycian Peasants / Marsyas / Pelops / Tereus, Prochne, Philomela / Boreas and Orithyia

The Fable of Arachne or The Spinner (1656)
Diego Velazquez
source Wikiart

Minerva is quite pleased by the Muses’ story, but, wanting to punish someone herself, she finds Arachne, a girl of lowly birth raised up by the renown of her artistic weaving. Minerva, in the guise of an old woman, attempts to warn her of her pride, but Arachne shows complete contempt for the goddess, who reveals herself and accepts the girl’s spinning challenge. As a warning, Minvera weaves in the four corners of her cloth:  Thracians, Rhodope and Haemus, who took names from the gods and were turned into mountains; the Pygmaean queen who defeated Juno and was transformed into a crane; Antigone, daughter of the Trojan king, for being Jove’s consort was changed into a stork; and because of the boasting of their beauty, King Cinyras’ daughters were tranformed into the marble steps of Juno’s temple.  In what appears to be a forceful indictment against the gods, Arachne weaves into her cloth various scenes of the gods, representing deceptions, manipulations and transformations of humans.  Furious, Minerva strikes her; Arachne takes a nooses and hangs herself but in pity, Minerva allows her to live but in the form of a spider.

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Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus

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“You citizens of Cadmus, he must speak home
that in the ship’s prow, watches the event
and guides the rudder, his eyes not drooped in sleep.”

Produced in 467 B.C. and winning first prize in the City Dionysia drama competition, The Seven Against Thebes is assumed to be the last of a trilogy of plays which dealt with the Oedipus cycle, the other two being called Laius, and Oedipus, both lost, as was the concluding satyr play, The Sphinx.  Driven mostly by dialogue, this play requires some background history to add some further insight.

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