M/M: Phaeton and Cycnus, Servius In Aen.10.189

Name: Servius Date: 4th – 5th century CE Region: [modern Italy] Citation:   Commentary on the Aeneid, 10.189

“FOR, IT IS SAID, OUT OF LOVE FOR HIS LOVER PHAETON, CYCNUS…”

Commentary: Phaeton was the son of Clymene and the Sun. When Phaeton got upset because Epaphus, the Pharoah of Egypt, told him that he wasn’t the son of the Sun but a bastard, his mother Clymene took him to meet his father.  Phaeton asked the Sun to grant him a wish to prove he was really his son. When the Sun swore on the river Styx that we would grant Phaeton his wish, Phaeton said he wished to drive his chariot, and the Sun could not refuse.  

Phaeton took charge of his father’s chariot, and when he deviated from the Sun’s track, he began to burn up the world. Jupiter shot him down with lightning and Phaeton fell in the Po river.  

His sisters, Phaethusa and Lampetusa, wept over his death until the gods took pity on them and transformed into alder trees.  

Phaeton was also mourned by his lover, a Ligurian named Cycnus, (a man who was endowed with an amazing singing voice by Apollo). Because Cycnus mourned excessively over Phaeton’s death, he was transformed into the bird he shares a name with (a swan). Later on, Apollo turned him into a constellation. His son Cupavo is said to have the feathers of a swan in the crest of his helmet in tribute of his father. 

NAMQUE FERUNT LUCTU CYCNUM PHAETHONTIS AMATI Phaethon Clymenes et Solis filius fuit. qui cum doleret obiectum sibi ab Epapho, rege Aegypti, quod esset non de Sole, sed de adulterio procreatus, duce matre venit ad Solem et poposcit, ut si vere esset eius filius, petenda praestaret. quod cum Sol iurasset per Stygem paludem se esse facturum, petit ille ut eius currus agitaret. Sol post iusiurandum negare non potuit. acceptis itaque curribus Phaethon, cum orbitam solis exisset, et coepisset mundus ardere, a Iove fulminatus in Eridanum cecidit, qui et Padus vocatur. huius interitum flentes sorores, Phaethusa et Lampetusa, deorum miseratione in arbores commutatae sunt, ut hic dicit, in populos, ut in bucolicis, in alnos. fuit etiam quidam Ligus, Cycnus nomine, dulcedine cantus ab Apolline donatus, amator Phaethontis. qui cum eum fleret extinctum, longo luctu in avem sui nominis conversus est. qui postea ab Apolline inter sidera conlocatus est. cuius nunc filium Cupavonem dicit habere cycni pennas in galea ad formae paternae insigne monstrandum. 

--Servius, In Aen.10.189 

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: A Little Cygnet: Cupavo, Vergil, Aen. 10.185-195

Beloved Cygnet: The Story of Cupavo

Name:  Vergil Date:  70 – 19 BCE Region:  Mantua [modern northern Italy] Citation:  Aeneid 10.185-195

And I won’t fail to mention you,

Brave leader of the Ligures, Cynaris,

Or you, Cupavo, with your small band of warriors.

Cupavo, whose helmet crest had swan feathers

In defiance of Love, and to honor his father.

For they say his father Cygnus, out of love for his beloved Phaethon,

While singing in the leafy shade of his lover’s sisters [1] 

And consoling himself for his lost love with music,

His gray hairs turned to soft feathers

And leaving behind the earth as a singing swan,

He sought the stars.

His son Cupavo, accompanied by a troop of his peers

Steers the huge ship Centaur with its oars…

---

[1] According to myth, Phaethon's sisters, the Heliades, grieved so much that they were transformed into poplar trees, and their tears became amber.

Beloved Cygnet: The Story of Cupavo

Non ego te, Ligurum ductor fortissime bello,

transierim, Cynare, et paucis comitate Cupavo,

cuius olorinae surgunt de vertice pennae

(crimen, Amor, vestrum) formaeque insigne paternae.

Namque ferunt luctu Cycnum Phaethontis amati,

populeas inter frondes umbramque sororum

dum canit et maestum Musa solatur amorem,

canentem molli pluma duxisse senectam

linquentem terras et sidera voce sequentem.

Filius aequalis comitatus classe catervas

ingentem remis Centaurum promovet...

 

Vergil, also known as Virgil, [Publius Vergilius Maro; 70 – 19 BCE, modern Italy] was born in Mantua, Cisalpine Gaul, and lived during the tumultuous transition of Roman government from republic to monarchy. His writing talent earned him a place of honor among Maecenas’ fellow authors under Augustan rule. He was friends with numerous famous authors of the time period, including Horace and Asinius Pollio. His former slave Alexander was the most influential romantic partner in his life, and the poet memorialized his love for him under the pseudonym “Alexis” in Eclogue 2. His masterpiece, the Aeneid, tells the story of Aeneas’ migration from Troy to Italy; it was used for centuries as the pinnacle of Roman literature.