Marco Antonio Tritonio: Love Comes in All Forms

Reciprocal Love:

Halcyon & Ceyx

Hermaphroditus & Smilax

Orpheus & Euridice

Philemon & Baucis

Progne & Philomela

Pyramus & Thisbe

Sirens & Proserpina

The Sisters of Phaeton

The ancients stated perfectly that friends are merely one soul in many bodies, and that friendship is nothing more than a mutual harmony of souls—so much so that we grieve when a friend grieves, and we rejoice when a friend is happy. Check out the following examples which highlight reciprocal love and kindness:

1. Isn’t the greatest example of matrimonial love Halcyone’s love for Ceyx, for she spotted him drowned in the ocean from far away and leapt into the waves, becoming a halcyon bird? Isn’t the greatest example of love Ceyx’s love for Halcyone, even in death he could feel his transformed wife’s kisses, and was himself transformed into the same type of bird? Don’t we see this mutual love shared among spouses in this couple?  [cf. Ovid’s Metamorphoses book 2, story 10]

2. Hermaphroditus [the son of Venus and Mercury] and Smilax [the nymph of the Salmacian spring] loved each other so much that they are said to have merged into one body. [Cf. book 4, story 2]  

3. Orpheus is known for his love of Eurydice. He descended into the Underworld when he was still alive to restore his dead wife back to life. [book 10, story 1]

4. There was so much spousal love between Philemon and Baucis that they lived a long life together in poverty and never argued. [book 8, story 7]

5. Procne could not live without her sister Philomela. When she found out that her husband had attacked her, she took revenge on her husband and forced him to devour [the body of] their son Itys. [book 6, story 29]

6. The Babylonian couple Pyramus and Thisbe loved each other so much, that Pyramus killed himself when he believed that his Thisbe had died, and Thisbe killed herself with the same sword that he used. [book 4. Story 4]

7. The Sirens held such love for Proserpina that they demanded wings from the gods in order to more easily find Proserpina on land & sea [after she had been abducted]. Because of this, they were transformed into birds, but retained their women’s faces and voices. [book 5, story 16]

8. Phaeton’s sisters wept so many tears when he fell from the sky* that they were transformed into trees. [book 2, story 2]

-- --M. Antonii Tritonii Utinenis, Mythologia, 1560 p. 8-9

Amor Aliquorum Mutuus.

Halcyon & Ceyx

Hermaphroditus & Smilax

Orpheus & Euridice

Philemon & Baucis

Progne & Philomela

Pyramus & Thisbe

Sirenes, et Proserpina

Sorores, et Phaeton

 Praeclare veteres dixerunt amicos esse tanquam unam animam in pluribus corporibus, nihil enim aliud est amicitia, quam mutuus quidam animorum consensus, adeo ut cum dolentibus amicis doleamus, cum gaudentibus laetemur, quare optime fabulosa haec exempla sunt perpendenda, quae nobis mutuum aliquorum amorem & benevolentiam demonstrant.

1. Nonne maximus fuit Halcyonis in Ceycem maritum amor, si longius illum in aequore submersum prospiciens ac in medias undas prosiliens in Halcyonem avem conversa est? Nonne maxima ipsius Ceycis in coniugem benevolentia, si vel mortuus uxoris in avem commutatae sentiebat oscula, cuius etiam cadaver in eiusdem generis volucrem fuit transmutatum? in quibus adhuc servatam inter coniuges benevolentiam perspicimus [lib.ii.fab.x]

2. Hermaphroditus Veneris & Mercurii filius & Smilax Salmacis fontis nympha ita mutuo se dilexerunt amore, ut e duobus corporibus in unum commutati dicantur.[lib.iiii.fab.ii]

3. Amor etiam Euridices, et Orphei notus est, is enim vivus ad inferos descendit, ut mortuam coniugem ad pristinam vitam & incolumitatem reduceret. [lib.x.fab.i]

4. Inter Philomonem, & Baucidem coniuges tanta fuit benevolentia, ut pauperitatem suam patienter ferentes sine ulla rixa longam traduxerint aetatem. [lib.viii.fab.vii]

5. Progne, sine sorore Philomela vivere non poterat, cumque illam a marito Tereo stupratam cognovisset, ut pro sorore de marito vindictam sumeret, illi proprium filium Ityn devorandum apposuit. [lib.vi.fab.xxix.]

6. Pyramus & Thibse Babylones tanto se mutuo prosecuti sunt amore, ut cum Pyramus amicam credens mortuam seipsum interfecisset, Thisbe amantem mortuum nacta eodem se gladio traiecerit. [lib.iiii.fab.iiii]

7 Syrenes tanto amore Prosperinam sunt prosequutae, ut a Diis alas flagitarent, quo facilius Proserpinam terra, marique possent inquirere. Quare ita in aves fuere conversae, ut facies tamen virginea, voxque humana remanserit. [lib.v.fab.xvi.]

8 Sorores Phaetontis fratrem coelo delapsum tot lacimis deplorarunt, ut in arbores demum sint commutatae; tantus inter fratrem, et sorores amore extitit. [lib. ii. fab.ii]

  

 

A Mother's Prayers for her Trans Son: Marco Antonio Tritonio on Telethusa

TELETHUSA: was the wife of a man named Ligdus. Because of her steadfast piety, she was able to get the goddess Isis to transform her son Iphis from a woman into a man. [cf. Ovid's Metamorphosis book 9, story 10]

--M. Antonii Tritonii Utinenis, Mythologia, 1560

TELETHUSA: Ligdi cuiusdam uxor ob immensam certe pietatem potuit ab Iside Dea impetrare, ut Iphis filius ex femina in marem converteretur. [lib.ix.fab.x]

 

The Marriage of Iphis & Ianthe: Faustus Sabaeus (1580)

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid

 Note: The last line is not published here, as it uses a bodily humor pun 

Iphis was a woman. By hiding in a man’s clothing

Even her father believed she was a man.

Her father promised her in marriage to pretty Ianthe,

A bride for a bride, a woman marrying a woman.

The day of the wedding draws near…

The bride approaches…

Venus was there

And Juno was there 

And Hymen was there...

and Iphis ended up marrying Ianthe.

 

De Iphide

Iphis erat mulier: latitantem in veste virili

vicini, immo pater credidit esse marem.

Deceptus genitor pulcram huic despondet Ianthem:

cum sponsa sponsa ut virgine virgo cubet.

Taede accenduntur: procedit nupta, Cythere,

Et Iuno praesens...et Hymen...

[et] potitur namque Iphis Ianthe.

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

The Death of Caeneus, Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.459-531

Name:     Ovid Date:       43 BCE – 17 CE Region:   Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 12.459-531

In some versions of this myth, Caeneus is a warrior in the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs; in other versions of the myth, he is a member of the next generation, and joins Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece as an Argonaut.  The following is an aristeia, an element of epic poetry which focuses on one particular hero’s battle exploits.

Nestor explains the exploits of Caeneus to Achilles and his other allies:

Nestor explains the exploits of Caeneus to Achilles and his other allies:

Caeneus brought down five centaurs: Styphelus, Bromus, Antimachus, Elymus, and ax-wielding Pyracmon; I don’t remember how they died, but I do remember their names.

Latreus, wearing the armor of Halesus (the warrior he had just slain), next advanced upon Caeneus. He was huge, with giant limbs and torso. He was in the prime of his life—not too young, not too old—he was still young, but with gray hair on his temples. He stood out with his Macedonian lance, his shield and helmet. Scanning both sides of the battle, he struck his shield with his lance and doing little prance, taunted:

“Hey little girl, will I put up with you? For you will always be a woman to me, you will always be my Caenis [dead name]. Doesn’t your gender assigned at birth [natalis origo] keep you in check, don’t you remember [mentem subit] the rape that caused you to be rewarded with the fake form of a man? Look at what you were born to be, or the rape that you suffered, and go back to your loom. Pluck your woolen thread with your thumb. Leave war for the men.”

While he was boasting this, Caeneus struck him in the side with his spear, and hit the centaur where the man and horse were fused. Maddened by pain, the centaur hit him point-blank in the face, but the weapon bounced right off of him, like hail bounces off a rooftop, or a rock skipping on the head of a drum.

They fought hand-to-hand, and the centaur tried to stab him in the side with his sword, but the sword could not pierce Caeneus.

“You won’t escape! Although my point of my blade is dull, I’ll still slit your throat with my sword-edge!” Saying this, the centaur twisted to the side and struck his groin. The blow made the sound as if hitting marble; as it struck Caeneus’ skin, the blade shattered.

Caeneus revealed his unwounded limbs to the shocked centaur and replied, “Now it’s my turn to try my blade against your flesh!” He thrust his sword into the centaur’s torso and twisted it through his guts, making wound upon wound.

With an immense shout, the centaurs rallied and all threw their weapons to one target. Their weapons fell away blunted; although bloodied, Caeneus remained unharmed from every wound.

The centaurs stood there, thunderstruck. Monychus cursed, “Such a disgrace—to be overcome by someone barely one man [ab uno vixque viro]! Although he is a man, we are what he was [i.e., women] by our lack of gumption!  What benefit do our huge limbs give us? Don’t our dual natures give us twice the strength? I guess a goddess didn’t birth us, I guess we’re not children of Ixion, who dared to hit on Juno—we’re defeated by a half-man [semimari…ab hoste]! Toss trees and boulders and even entire mountains on him! Throw the forest down over his head—let’s bury him alive, and he will suffocate!”

He finished speaking and, with immense strength, he grabbed a tree that was felled by the wind, and it struck his mighty enemy. This was the example they needed, and in a short amount of time, Othrys was empty of trees, and so was Pelion.

Caeneus was overwhelmed by such immense weight, and struggled under the weight of the trees heaped upon him that went up to his shoulders. But when the pile covered his face and mouth, and he could no longer breathe, his strength failed him as he tried in vain to lift the pile off of him. The heap moved then the way that we see Mt. Ida shake.

I’m not sure how he died. Some say the weight of the rocks killed him; but Mopsus doesn’t think so. He saw a bird flying up from the pile. I saw it, too—the first and only time I saw such a bird.  When Mopsus saw it swoop over our camp, giving a mighty caw, he watched it attentively and addressed it, saying,

“Hail, Caeneus, glory of the Lapiths! Once you were the mightiest of men, and now you are a rare bird!”

Quinque neci Caeneus dederat Styphelumque Bromumque
Antimachumque Elymumque securiferumque Pyracmon:               460
vulnera non memini, numerum nomenque notavi.
provolat Emathii spoliis armatus Halesi,
quem dederat leto, membris et corpore Latreus
maximus: huic aetas inter iuvenemque senemque,
vis iuvenalis erat, variabant tempora cani.               465
qui clipeo galeaque Macedoniaque sarisa
conspicuus faciemque obversus in agmen utrumque
armaque concussit certumque equitavit in orbem
verbaque tot fudit vacuas animosus in auras:
"et te, Caeni, feram? nam tu mihi femina semper,               470
tu mihi Caenis eris. nec te natalis origo
commonuit, mentemque subit, quo praemia facto
quaque viri falsam speciem mercede pararis?
quid sis nata, vide, vel quid sis passa, columque,
i, cape cum calathis et stamina pollice torque;               475
bella relinque viris." iactanti talia Caeneus
extentum cursu missa latus eruit hasta,
qua vir equo commissus erat. furit ille dolore
nudaque Phyllei iuvenis ferit ora sarisa:
non secus haec resilit, quam tecti a culmine grando,               480
aut siquis parvo feriat cava tympana saxo.
comminus adgreditur laterique recondere duro
luctatur gladium: gladio loca pervia non sunt.
"haut tamen effugies! medio iugulaberis ense,
quandoquidem mucro est hebes" inquit et in latus ensem               485
obliquat longaque amplectitur ilia dextra.
plaga facit gemitus ut corpore marmoris icto,
fractaque dissiluit percusso lammina callo.
ut satis inlaesos miranti praebuit artus,
"nunc age" ait Caeneus "nostro tua corpora ferro               490
temptemus!" capuloque tenus demisit in armos
ensem fatiferum caecamque in viscera movit
versavitque manum vulnusque in vulnere fecit.
ecce ruunt vasto rabidi clamore bimembres
telaque in hunc omnes unum mittuntque feruntque.               495
tela retusa cadunt: manet inperfossus ab omni
inque cruentatus Caeneus Elateius ictu.
fecerat attonitos nova res. "heu dedecus ingens!"
Monychus exclamat. "populus superamur ab uno
vixque viro; quamquam ille vir est, nos segnibus actis,               500
quod fuit ille, sumus. quid membra inmania prosunt?
quid geminae vires et quod fortissima rerum
in nobis natura duplex animalia iunxit?
nec nos matre dea, nec nos Ixione natos
esse reor, qui tantus erat, Iunonis ut altae               505
spem caperet: nos semimari superamur ab hoste!
saxa trabesque super totosque involvite montes
vivacemque animam missis elidite silvis!
massa premat fauces, et erit pro vulnere pondus."
dixit et insanis deiectam viribus austri               510
forte trabem nactus validum coniecit in hostem
exemplumque fuit, parvoque in tempore nudus
arboris Othrys erat, nec habebat Pelion umbras.
obrutus inmani cumulo sub pondere Caeneus
aestuat arboreo congestaque robora duris               515
fert umeris, sed enim postquam super ora caputque
crevit onus neque habet, quas ducat, spiritus auras,
deficit interdum, modo se super aera frustra
tollere conatur iactasque evolvere silvas
interdumque movet, veluti, quam cernimus, ecce,               520
ardua si terrae quatiatur motibus Ide.
exitus in dubio est: alii sub inania corpus
Tartara detrusum silvarum mole ferebant;
abnuit Ampycides medioque ex aggere fulvis
vidit avem pennis liquidas exire sub auras,               525
quae mihi tum primum, tunc est conspecta supremum.
hanc ubi lustrantem leni sua castra volatu
Mopsus et ingenti circum clangore sonantem
adspexit pariterque animis oculisque secutus
"o salve," dixit "Lapithaeae gloria gentis,               530
maxime vir quondam, sed nunc avis unica, Caencu!"
credita res auctore suo est: dolor addidit iram,
oppressumque aegre tulimus tot ab hostibus unum;
nec prius abstitimus ferro exercere dolorem,
quam data pars leto, partem fuga noxque removit.'               535

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.

 

 

 

 

 

The Transformation of Caeneus, Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.168 - 209

Name:   Ovid Date:     43 BCE – 17 CE Region:    Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 12.168-209

 Nestor Tells a Story to the Greeks:

While Achilles and the Greeks were marveling at this, Nestor told them:

“Cycnus was the best of your generation

to despise the blade, and yet not be wounded by one.

But with my own eyes I saw the Thessalian Caeneus

struck with a thousand blows, yet remain unharmed.

Caeneus, a man famous for his deeds in Othrys,

had something even more special about him:

he was born a woman [femina natus erat].

Moved by the unusual story, the Greeks asked

for Nestor to explain who Caeneus was.

Among them was Achilles, who said,

“Come on, old man, tell us! Give your wisdom to our generation!

We all want to hear about this!

Tell us who Caeneus was,

how he changed his gender [cur in contraria versus],

what military campaign you got to know him in,

how he fell in battle (if he could be taken down by anyone).”

Nestor replied, “Although old age has slowed me down,

and I can’t recall everything from my early years,

I do remember quite a lot.

Of all the things I did at home and on campaign,

this is the thing that sticks in my memory the most.

If old age can allow us to recall a lot of our deeds,

I have lived two hundred years, and now

I’m entering my third century.

Caenis was a pretty daughter of Elatus.

She was the prettiest maiden in all of Thessaly,

and many men from around the area

and around your towns (she was from your neighborhood, Achilles!)

sought to woo her in vain.

Your father Peleus might have even tried to woo her,

but either he was already engaged with your mother

or he had already gotten married.

But Caenis did not marry any of these men.

Instead, while walking on the beach one day,

she was raped by the Sea God (or so the story goes).

Neptune, delighted in taking her virginity, told her

“I’ll not refuse whatever you wish—just tell me what you’d like!”

And Caenis said (again, as the story continues),

“Your assault requires a great restitution. Give to me

The power to never be hurt that way again.

Make me no longer a woman,

and you’ll have fulfilled my every wish.”

The last words of the wish sounded deeper,  

as if they were spoken by a man.

and so he was. For the god of the high sea granted his prayer,

and what’s more, Neptune added

that Caeneus could no longer be susceptible to any wounds,

nor succumb to any blade.

And so Caeneus went away happily, and spent the remainder of his life

in manly pursuits as he wandered the lands of Thessaly. 

hoc ipse Aeacides, hoc mirabantur Achivi,
cum sic Nestor ait: 'vestro fuit unicus aevo
contemptor ferri nulloque forabilis ictu               170
Cycnus. at ipse olim patientem vulnera mille
corpore non laeso Perrhaebum Caenea vidi,
Caenea Perrhaebum, qui factis inclitus Othryn
incoluit, quoque id mirum magis esset in illo,
femina natus erat.' monstri novitate moventur               175
quisquis adest, narretque rogant: quos inter Achilles:
'dic age! nam cunctis eadem est audire voluntas,
o facunde senex, aevi prudentia nostri,
quis fuerit Caeneus, cur in contraria versus,
qua tibi militia, cuius certamine pugnae               180
cognitus, a quo sit victus, si victus ab ullo est.'
tum senior: 'quamvis obstet mihi tarda vetustas,
multaque me fugiant primis spectata sub annis,
plura tamen memini. nec quae magis haereat ulla
pectore res nostro est inter bellique domique               185
acta tot, ac si quem potuit spatiosa senectus
spectatorem operum multorum reddere, vixi
annos bis centum; nunc tertia vivitur aetas.
     'Clara decore fuit proles Elateia Caenis,
Thessalidum virgo pulcherrima, perque propinquas               190
perque tuas urbes (tibi enim popularis, Achille),
multorum frustra votis optata procorum.
temptasset Peleus thalamos quoque forsitan illos:
sed iam aut contigerant illi conubia matris
aut fuerant promissa tuae, nec Caenis in ullos               195
denupsit thalamos secretaque litora carpens
aequorei vim passa dei est (ita fama ferebat),
utque novae Veneris Neptunus gaudia cepit,
"sint tua vota licet" dixit "secura repulsae:
elige, quid voveas!" (eadem hoc quoque fama ferebat)               200
"magnum" Caenis ait "facit haec iniuria votum,
tale pati iam posse nihil; da, femina ne sim:
omnia praestiteris." graviore novissima dixit
verba sono poteratque viri vox illa videri,
sicut erat; nam iam voto deus aequoris alti               205
adnuerat dederatque super, nec saucius ullis
vulneribus fieri ferrove occumbere posset.
munere laetus abit studiisque virilibus aevum
exigit Atracides Peneiaque arva pererrat.

--Ovid, Metamorphoses XII.168 – 209

 

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.

I Thirst While Drowning in Waves: Iphis Yearns to Marry Ianthe, Ovid, Meta.9.665-795

Name:   Ovid Date:     43 BCE – 17 CE Region:    Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 9.735, 742 – 744, 755 – 763

In Ovid’s mythology-based epic, The Metamorphoses, Iphis prays to be transformed into a man in order to marry the love of their life, Ianthe:

“I wish I weren’t a girl! … Daedalus, the most intelligent man in the entire world, the one who flew away with waxen wings, could he do the same for me: make a girl into a boy? Could he even change you, Ianthe?

“...So far no part of my prayers have been in vain. The gods readily gave whatever they could to me and my family. They’ve provided what I want, what my father wants, what Ianthe wants, what my father-in-law wants. But Nature herself doesn’t want this, and she overrides us all.

“Look, the perfect occasion is here; the wedding day is here. Ianthe will soon be mine. But it’s no use! I thirst while drowning in waves. What’s the purpose of my matron of honor Juno being here? Why has Hymenaeus come? The groom is absent, but two brides are here.”

I Thirst While Drowning in Waves: Iphis Yearns to Marry Ianthe

Vellem nulla forem!

...ipse licet revolet ceratis Daedalus alis,

quid faciet? Num me puerum de virgine doctis

artibus efficiet? Num te mutabit, Ianthe?

...Nunc quoque votorum nulla est pars vana meorum,

dique mihi faciles, quicquid valuere, dederunt;

quodque ego, vult genitor, vult ipsa, socerque futurus.

At non vult natura, potentior omnibus istis,

quae mihi sola nocet. venit ecce optabile tempus,

Luxque iugalis adest, et iam mea fiet Ianthe—

nec mihi continget: mediis sitiemus in undis.

Pronuba quid Juno, quid ad haec, Hymenaee, venitis

sacra, quibus qui ducat abest, ubi nubimus ambae?”

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.

M/M: The Myth of Cyparissus, Ovid, Meta. 10.106-142

Name:     Ovid Date:       43 BCE – 17 CE Region:   Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 10.106-142

A cone-shaped cypress tree stood among the rest. It's a tree now, but it once was a youth beloved by the god who mastered bow-strings and lyre-strings.
Once upon a time, there was a stag sacred to the nymphs who dwelled in Carthaea. It was huge, and had giant antlers upon its head. These antlers glimmered in gold, and a gem encrusted collar hung upon its neck. A silver bulla dangled from its forehead, attached with leather thongs. Jeweled earrings glittered from its twin ears. Lacking a natural fear of man, it would roam from house to house, looking for people to pet it.
But Cyparissus, the loveliest of Ceans, loved it above all else. Cyparissus, you walked it from pasture to pasture, you led it to water, you wove flower-crowns for its antlers, and you rode upon it, bareback, with a purple bit in its mouth.
But one day, in the heat of midday, the tired deer lay down in the leafy shade. Cyparissus foolishly shot it with his deadly aim, and when he saw it dying, he wanted to die, too.
What words of comfort were left unsaid, Phoebus, to lighten the lad's grief?
But the teenager mourned and begged for one last gift from the gods: that he be allowed to mourn for all time. And now, his blood mixed with his tears, his limbs began to lighten into shades of green, and when his hair became shaggy and bristly, pointed their graceful tips to the starry heavens.
In sorrow, the god vent his grief, saying, "I shall mourn you, and you shall mourn others, you will be present when others grieve, too."

Adfuit huic turbae metas imitata cupressus,
nunc arbor, puer ante deo dilectus ab illo,
qui citharam nervis et nervis temperat arcum.
namque sacer nymphis Carthaea tenentibus arva
ingens cervus erat, lateque patentibus altas               
ipse suo capiti praebebat cornibus umbras.
cornua fulgebant auro, demissaque in armos
pendebant tereti gemmata monilia collo.
bulla super frontem parvis argentea loris
vincta movebatur; parilesque ex aere nitebant               
auribus e geminis circum cava tempora bacae;
isque metu vacuus naturalique pavore
deposito celebrare domos mulcendaque colla
quamlibet ignotis manibus praebere solebat.
sed tamen ante alios, Ceae pulcherrime gentis,               
gratus erat, Cyparisse, tibi: tu pabula cervum
ad nova, tu liquidi ducebas fontis ad undam,
tu modo texebas varios per cornua flores,
nunc eques in tergo residens huc laetus et illuc
mollia purpureis frenabas ora capistris.               
     Aestus erat mediusque dies, solisque vapore
concava litorei fervebant bracchia Cancri:
fessus in herbosa posuit sua corpora terra
cervus et arborea frigus ducebat ab umbra.
hunc puer inprudens iaculo Cyparissus acuto               
fixit et, ut saevo morientem vulnere vidit,
velle mori statuit. quae non solacia Phoebus
dixit et, ut leviter pro materiaque doleret,
admonuit! gemit ille tamen munusque supremum
hoc petit a superis, ut tempore lugeat omni.               
iamque per inmensos egesto sanguine fletus
in viridem verti coeperunt membra colorem,
et, modo qui nivea pendebant fronte capilli,
horrida caesaries fieri sumptoque rigore
sidereum gracili spectare cacumine caelum.               
ingemuit tristisque deus 'lugebere nobis
lugebisque alios aderisque dolentibus' inquit.

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.

Ace and Proud: Virgo's Origin Story, Part II: Ovid, Metam. 1.149 - 150

Name:   Ovid Date:     43 BCE – 17 CE Region:    Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation:  Metamorphoses 1.149 - 150

And in the end, when Piety lay crushed in defeat,
the maiden Astraea, the last of the divinities,
left the realm of humanity still dripping with blood.

Victa iacet pietas, et virgo caede madentis
ultima caelestum terras Astraea reliquit.

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.

I Don't Owe You Grandchildren: Daphne, Ovid's Meta.1.481-487

I Don’t Owe You Grandchildren

Name:   Ovid Date:     43 BCE – 17 CE Region:    Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 1.481 – 487

In his mythology-based epic poem The Metamorphoses, the poet Ovid uses the myth of Daphne and Apollo to explore the expectations of Roman women to marry and have children using the nymph Daphne as a foil to those expectations:

     

Often her father said, “Daughter, you owe me a son-in-law. Daughter, you owe me grandchildren!”

But Daphne, despising romance, would blush, embrace her father and reply, “Let me enjoy my virginity forever,dearest father! The goddess Diana's father let her do so; let me be free, too!”

 

I Don’t Owe You Grandchildren

Saepe pater dixit: “Generum mihi, filia, debes,”

Saepe pater dixit: “Debes mihi, nata, nepotes;”

illa velut crimen taedas exosa iugales

pulchra verecundo suffuderat ora rubore

inque patris blandis haerens cervice lacertis

“Da mihi perpetua, genitor carissime,” dixit

“virginitate frui! Dedit hoc pater ante Dianae.”

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.