Twice A Man: The Story of Hippolytus and Virbius, Serv. In Aen. 7.761

Name: Servius Date: 4th – 5th century CE Region: [modern Italy] Citation:   Commentary on the Aeneid, 7.761

And Virbius, the beautiful child of Hippolytus, came for war:

When Hippolyte died, Theseus put his son Hippolytus in the care of [his new wife] Phaedra. When Hippolytus rejected Phaedra’s sexual advances, she lied and told Theseus that he had tried to rape her. Theseus sought vengeance from his father Aegeus. When Hippolytus was driving his chariot, Aegeus* sent a seal to spook the horses, and the chariot crashed. Then Diana, moved by Hippolytus’ chastity, brought him back to life through the work of Aesculapius. 

[Aesculapius was the child of Apollo and Coronis, who was cut from his dying mother’s womb. It happened when Apollo heard from the crow he’d sent to spy on Coronis that she had cheated on him. Angered, he killed the heavily pregnant Coronis with his arrows, changed the crow’s color from white to black, and cut Aesculapius from Coronis’ womb. Aesculapius grew up and  became skilled in medicine. Later on, Jupiter killed him because he’d restored Hippolytus to life. And because of that, Apollo got angry and killed Jupiter’s ironworking cyclopes with his arrows. And because of that, Jupiter stripped Apollo of his divine powers and made him a shepherd of King Admetus’ flocks for nine years.]

Once Hippolytus was restored to life, Diana entrusted him to the nymph Aricia, and ordered him to now be called Virbius [‘twice a man’]. Now his son, called the same name, comes to battle: but this is really unbelievable. For Hippolytus was chaste, and always lived alone, but somehow has a son? Actually, as I said previously, Virbius is the name of a divinity linked with Diana, just like Cybele is linked with Attis, Minerva is linked with Erichthonis, and Venus is linked with Adonis.

7.[761] IBAT ET HIPPOLYTI PROLES PULCHERRIMA BELLO VIRBIUS: Theseus mortua Hippolyte Phaedram, Minois et Pasiphaae filiam, superduxit Hippolyto. qui cum illam de stupro interpellantem contempsisset, falso delatus ad patrem est, quod ei vim voluisset inferre. ille Aegeum patrem rogavit ut se ulcisceretur. qui agitanti currus Hippolyto inmisit focam, qua equi territi eum traxerunt. tunc Diana eius castitate commota revocavit eum in vitam per Aesculapium, filium Apollinis et Coronidis, qui natus erat exsecto matris ventre, ideo quod, cum Apollo audisset a corvo, eius custode, eam adulterium committere, iratus Coronidem maturo iam partu confixit sagittis—corvum vero nigrum fecit ex albo—et exsecto ventre Coronidis produxit ita Aesculapium, qui factus est medicinae peritus. hunc postea Iuppiter propter revocatum Hippolytum interemit: unde Apollo iratus Cyclopas fabricatores fulminum confixit sagittis: ob quam rem a Iove iussus est Admeti regis novem annis apud Amphrysum armenta pascere divinitate deposita. sed Diana Hippolytum, revocatum ab inferis, in Aricia nymphae commendavit Egeriae et eum Virbium, quasi bis virum, iussit vocari. cuius nunc filium cognominem dicit in bellum venire: adeo omnia ista fabulosa sunt. nam cum castus ubique inductus sit et qui semper solus habitaverit, habuisse tamen fingitur filium. re vera autem, ut et supra diximus, Virbius est numen coniunctum Dianae, ut matri deum Attis, Minervae Erichthonius, Veneri Adonis.

Servius [Maurus Servius Honoratus; 4th – 5th century CE] Servius’ name is unfortunately the only thing we know of this author. Little is known about the author or manuscript tradition for the grammatical commentary of Vergil’s Aeneid.

M/M: For the Love of Admetus, Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo, 47-54

 

Name: Callimachus Date:    305 – 240 BCE Region:   Cyrene [modern Libya] Citation:   Hymn to Apollo, 47 – 54

We also call Phoebus the “Shepherd,”

From the time that he watched over

Teams of horses on the banks of the Amphrysus River

All for the love of the youth Admetus.

The fields were full of cows,

The goats lacked no woolly kids;

The livestock under the watchful eye of Apollo

Were neither sterile nor barren;

Mother ewes suddenly birthed not just one offspring, but twins.

Φοῖβον καὶ Νόμιον κικλήσκομεν ἐξέτι κείνου, ἐξότ᾽ ἐπ᾽ Ἀμφρυσσῷ ζευγίτιδας ἔτρεφεν ἵππους ἠιθέου ὑπ᾽ ἔρωτι κεκαυμένος Ἀδμήτοιο. ῥεῖά κε βουβόσιον τελέθοι πλέον, οὐδέ κεν αἶγες δεύοιντο βρεφέων ἐπιμηλάδες ᾗδιν Ἀπόλλων βοσκομένῃσ᾽ ὀφθαλμὸν ἐπήγαγεν: οὐδ᾽ ἀγάλακτες οἴιες οὐδ᾽ ἄκυθοι, πᾶσαι δέ κεν εἶεν ὕπαρνοι, ἡ δέ κε μουνοτόκος διδυμητόκος αἶψα γένοιτο.

Phoebum etiam pastorem vocamus ex eo tempore, quo ad Amphrysum iugales pavit equas pueri Admeti ardens amore. Facile utique pascua sint plena bubus, neque caprae inerrantes lanigeris careant subole, quas Apollo pascentes respexerit: neque sine lacte oves, aut steriles fuerint, sed omnes prolem habeant, et unipara repente fiat gemellipara. Translated into Latin by Johann August Ernesti

Callimachus [310 – 240 BCE, modern Libya] is often regarded as one of the best Alexandrian [Greek] poets. Born in raised in Cyrene, Libya, he spent a majority of his career at the famous Library of Alexandria, where he used the resources there to create refined, artful poetry. Although much of his poetry is lost, the extant fragments of his works are a testament to both his talent as an artist and his erudition as a scholar.

Callimachus [310 – 240 BCE, modern Libya] is often regarded as one of the best Alexandrian [Greek] poets. Born in raised in Cyrene, Libya, he spent a majority of his career at the famous Library of Alexandria, where he used the resources there to create refined, artful poetry. Although much of his poetry is lost, the extant fragments of his works are a testament to both his talent as an artist and his erudition as a scholar.

M/M: Apollo's Love for Admetus, Tibullus Carm.2.3.11-15

A common theme in Roman lyric poetry is servitium amoris, ["enslavement to love"], where the narrator of the poem is willing to undergo humiliation in order to prove themselves to the object of their desire. The following poem shows Apollo's love for Admetus causes him to give up his posh lifestyle as an immortal in order to serve as the king's shepherd.  

Beautiful Apollo cared for Admetus’ bulls

His lyre & his long hair did not benefit him

Nor could his knowledge of medicinal herbs heal him;

Love conquered all of his medical skill.

The god Apollo fetched the cows from their stables…

 

pavit et Admeti tauros formosus Apollo,
    nec cithara intonsae profueruntue comae,
nec potuit curas sanare salubribus herbis:
    quidquid erat medicae vicerat artis amor.
ipse deus solitus stabulis expellere vaccas

--Tibullus, Carm. 2.3.11

 Tibullus was an Italian born equestrian Roman who lived during the tumultuous transition of Roman government from republic to monarchy.

His volumes of elegies provide insight into the lives and customs of Roman aristocrats. Like Catullus and Propertius, Tibullus used a pseudonym for the objects of his attention; many of his love poems were addressed to either “Delia” or “Marathus.”