Mars & Pallas, Joined in Battle *and* Origin Stories: Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Epigrams, book 1 p.61-2

Mars & Pallas

Over here, you see a woman

Wearing an aegis, a helmet, and a spear,

And over there, there’s a splendid looking youth in full armor.

One is the daughter of Jupiter,

The other is a son of Juno.

Both are warriors, and wage war effectively.

Both are around the same age,

But have different origin stories:

Mars doesn’t have a dad,

And Minerva doesn’t have a mom.

 

 

 

De Marte et Pallade

Gorgone munitam & galea quam cernis & hasta

tectum armis iuvenem conspicuum, atque trucem

Illa Jovis nata est, Junonis filius iste, 

Bella gerunt ambo, & strenue & arma movent.

Pene pares aetate ambo, sed dispare ab ortu

patre quidem Mavors, matre Minerva caret.

 

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

The Death of Hippolytus & the Rebirth of Virbius, Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.530-546

Name:     Ovid Date:       43 BCE – 17 CE Region:   Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 15.530-546

"You think you can compare your grief to mine, nymph?

I saw the kingdom where no light shines

I soaked my wounded body in the Stygian waves,

And would have died without the intervention of Apollo’s son

Who brought me back to life;

Against He-Who-Rules the Underworld’s wishes

I was revived through Asclepius’ strong medicines

And with the help of Apollo’s skill.

In order to not attract attention to myself

Diana lifted me up into a cloud

And aged my form so I wouldn’t be recognized

In order to keep me safe.

For a while, she debated on whether she should

Give me a new home in Crete or Delos,

But then put me here [in Italy]

And ordered me to change my name

So I wouldn’t be reminded of my old life.

She told me, “You who were once Hippolytus,

Will now be Virbius!”

From that point on, I’ve dwelled in this grove,

One of the minor gods,

Safe under my lady’s protection

I attend her will.”

 

num potes aut audes cladi conponere nostrae,               
nympha, tuam? vidi quoque luce carentia regna
et lacerum fovi Phlegethontide corpus in unda,
nec nisi Apollineae valido medicamine prolis
reddita vita foret; quam postquam fortibus herbis
atque ope Paeonia Dite indignante recepi,               
tum mihi, ne praesens augerem muneris huius
invidiam, densas obiecit Cynthia nubes,
utque forem tutus possemque inpune videri,
addidit aetatem nec cognoscenda reliquit
ora mihi Cretenque diu dubitavit habendam               
traderet an Delon: Delo Creteque relictis
hic posuit nomenque simul, quod possit equorum
admonuisse, iubet deponere "qui" que "fuisti
Hippolytus," dixit "nunc idem Virbius esto!"
hoc nemus inde colo de disque minoribus unus               
numine sub dominae lateo atque accenseor illi.'

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 Iphis: Iohannis Posthius

Name: Johannes Posthius Date:   1537 – 1597 CE Region: [modern Germany] Citation:  Poems Inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book 9

 Lygdus ordered his wife to kill their child

If she gave birth to a girl,

But Isis came to her in a vision

While she was in labor

And told her instead to deceive her husband. 

Lygdus named the child after his grandfather Iphis

And then arranged him to marry a woman.

And Isis came to the rescue:

For Telethusa watched in wonder

As her Iphis entered the temple a girl

and left it as a boy. 

Si pareret Lygdo coniunx Telethusa puellam:

Protinus hanc letho clam dare iussa fuit;

Isis sed contra mandat sub imagine somni:

decipiat pariens ut Telethusa virum.

Iphis avus fuerat: suboli dat nomen avitum

Lygdus: et uxorem deligit inde pater.

affert Isis opem: nam quaemodo templa subibat

femina: mox puerum mater abire videt.

Johannes Posthius [1537 – 1597 CE, modern Germany] was a famous German poet and scholar.

Motherless Birth: Bacchus' Fiery and Tragic Origin Story, Lactantius Placidus, Narr. 3.3

Name: Lactantius Placidus Date:  5th or 6th century CE Region:    Unknown Citation:  Plots of Ovid’s Myths, Book 3, Story 3

When Juno suspected that Semele [the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia] was having an affair with Jupiter, she tried to get revenge without getting her own hands dirty. She turned into an old woman, went up to Semele and persuaded her to get Jupiter to visit her in the same form that he used whenever he visited Juno.

When Semele got Jupiter to do so, Jupiter entered Semele’s home with thunder and lightning. The poor girl got what she wanted, and her home went up in smoke. Jupiter took the unborn child [Bacchus / Liber / Dionysus] from her charred womb and sewed it into his own thigh. When it was time for Bacchus to be born, Jupiter secretly handed him over to the nymphs that hung out in the Indian Mt. Nysa so they could raise him.

Iuno suspectam Semelen, Cadmi et Harmoniae filiam, cum haberet, quod cum Iove concubuisset, in anum conversa est, ut se fallacia sine invidia cuiusquam ulcisceretur; ad eam venit persuadetque ei, ne alio Iovem apparatu recipiat ad cubile, quam solitus sit apparere Iunoni, quo ut illius auctoritas gravis, proinde ipsius concubitus insignis esset. quod cum impetravisset a cupiente, deus instructus tonitribus ac fulminibus domum Semeles ingressus est: tecta eius deceptae optatis flammis adurit Liberumque conceptum utero gravidae incendio eripit ac femore insuit suo. postea conpletis mensibus nymphis, quae Nysam montem Indiae perfrequentaret, clam tradidit nutriendum. 

Lactantius Placidus [5^th or 6^th century CE] is the name of the author attributed to a prose summary of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but little is known about the author or his time period.

Happily Ever After: The Myth of Iphis & Ianthe, Lactantius Placidus, Narr. 9. fab.10

The Transformation of Iphis

Name: Lactantius Placidus Date:  5th or 6th century CE Region:    Unknown Citation:  Plots of Ovid’s Myths, Book 9, Story 10

Ligdus, a man of noble birth and upstanding character, asked his pregnant wife Telethusa to kill their child if she gave birth to a girl, but to keep it if she gave birth to a boy. Unable to kill her daughter, Telethusa begged the goddess Isis to help her in her troubles. The goddess gave her reassurance, and so she told her husband that she had a son and raised the child as a boy. When Iphis grew up, his father had him betrothed to Ianthe, the daughter of Thelestis. They both fell madly in love with each other. Telethusa was terrified that Iphis would be outed, and Iphis was even more  so, so she once again asked the goddess Isis for help. Isis transformed Iphis into a boy so he could get married.

The Transformation of Iphis

Hic [In insula Creta] Ligdus generosae stirpis ac praestantis fidei cum petisset a Telethusa coniuge, ut, si puellam pareret, necaret, si puerum autem, sobolem patriae servaret, et uterque pro casu futuro lacrimas dedissent, mater nequiens adferre manus filiae Isidem in malis habuit auxilio; cuius pollicitis illa infantem pro puero, decepto patre filii opinione, nutrivit. Itaque cum aetas matura nuptiis increvisset, nihil suspicans pater obstrictus fide coniugis Ianthen ex Theleste genitam despondit. Qui inter se cum gravi amore premerentur, maxime Iphis (hoc enim pater nomine avi cum vocari voluerat), trepidante ergo matre, ne Iphis diu adversus virum cum infamia reperiretur, eadem dea fuit in auxlilio. Nam ut totis nuptiis iugari possint, Iphin in puerum transfiguravit.

Lactantius Placidus [5^th or 6^th century CE] is the name of the author attributed to a prose summary of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but little is known about the author or his time period.

RIP: Too Young to be a Bride: Greek Anthology 7.604

Name:  Paul the Silentiary Date:     6th century CE Region: Constantinople [Istanbul, modern Turkey] Citation: Greek Anthology 7.604

There is a special spot of sadness in Greek and Roman literature for girls who died unmarried, as every woman was expected to marry and provide their husbands with legitimate offspring (with very few exceptions). Notice that more attention is placed on this young girl's wedding in this poem than her own death.

O young lady, your funeral is being prepared,

Not your wedding.

Instead of a bridal bouquet, you get a funeral wreath.

You will miss the hardships of life and the pain of childbirth;

Your survivors have a bitter veil of grief.

Macedonia, the Fates have buried you at twelve years old,

At the peak of beauty, but with old school customs.

 

λέκτρα σοι ἀντὶ γάμων ἐπιτύμβια, παρθένε κούρη,

ἐστόρεσαν παλάμαις πενθαλέαις γενέται.

καὶ σὺ μὲν ἀμπλακίας βιότου καὶ μόχθον Ἐλευθοῦς

ἔκφυγες: οἱ δὲ γόων πικρὸν ἔχουσι νέφος.

δωδεκέτιν γὰρ μοῖρα, Μακηδονίη, σε καλύπτει,

κάλλεσιν ὁπλοτέρην, ἤθεσι γηραλέην.

 

Lectum tibi pro nuptiis sepulcralem, o virgo puella,

straverunt palmis luctuosis parentes.

Et tu quidem errores vitae et laborem Ilithyiae

effugisti: illi autem luctuum amaram habent nubem.

Duodecennem enim fatum, o Macedonia, te sepelit,

veneribus iuvenem, moribus grandaevam.

Translated into Latin by Hugo Grottius

 

Paul the Silentiary [Paulus Silentiarius; 6th century CE, modern Turkey] was a bureaucrat in the court of the Roman Emperor Justinian I [527 – 565 CE] in Constantinople [modern Istanbul, Turkey]. Dozens of his poems are preserved in the Greek Anthology.

Androgyonous Beauty: Ausonius Epig. 107

Name:  Ausonius Date:  310 – 395 CE Region:  Aquitania, Gaul [modern France] Citation: Epigram 107

While Nature wonders if she made a boy or a girl,

O lovely one, you were made a pretty--almost a girl--boy.

Dum dubitat Natura marem faceretne puellam,

Factus es, O pulcher, paene puella, puer.

--Ausonius, Epig. 107

 Ausonius [Decimus Magnus Ausonius; 310 – 395 CE, modern France] was a Roman poet from Aquitania, Gaul who lived during the 4th century CE. He is best known for his epic poem Mosella, which describes the Moselle River, and his Epistles, a series of literary poems between himself and the Christian poet Paulinus.

Philaenis, Adoption, and Motherhood

 According to Greek lore, Philaenis was a woman author who wrote a treatise on erotic arts. Because of this, the name Philaenis was used for a stock character of a woman who exceeded Greco-Roman gender roles. Whether she showed excessive lust, same-sex desire, or had children out of wedlock, the name Philaenis was used as an umbrella-term to cover these "unladylike" behaviors.  In these poems, the name Philaenis is used for a woman who adopts a child instead of birthing one. 

Philaenis gave birth to a daughter by herself, 

without Heliodorus. When he was upset at the child’s sex,

Six days later, she is said to have given him a son.

I guess we don’t need to worship fertility goddesses:

If everyone gives birth like her, what purpose will they serve?

οὐκ ἐν ῾γαστρὶ λαβοῦσα Φιλαίνιον Ἡλιοδώρῳ

θήλειαν τίκτει παῖδ᾽ ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου.

τοῦ δ᾽ ἐπὶ θηλείῃ λυπουμένου, ἓξ διαλείπει

ἤματα, καὶ τίκτειν ἄρσενα παῖδ᾽ ἔφατο.

οὕτως Βούβαστις καταλύεται: εἰ γὰρ ἑκάστη

τέξεται ὡς αὐτή, τίς θεοῦ ἐστι λόγος;

Non in ventre quae-conoeperat Philaenium Heliodoro

filiam peperit sponte fortuito.

Hoc autem de filia contristato, sex interponit

dies, et eniti se filium puerum dixit.

Sic Bubastis a-munere-solvitur: si enim quaeque

pariet ut illa, quid deae erit respectus?

--Nicharchus, Greek Anthology XI.18; Translated into Latin by Hugo Grotius

A Grieving Mother Dealing with Loss

Name:   Philippus of Thessolonica Date:      1st century CE Region:  Thessalonica [modern Greece] Citation: Greek Anthology 9.254

Every child that I have birthed—

Died.

I, Philaenis, a mother pregnant with grief

Who saw my third child buried,

Adopted another’s baby,

Hoping that a child I didn’t birth

Would live.

And so I adopted an unexpected child from a fertile mother.

But a demon wanted me

To not have the gift of another mother.

And now my adopted child has died!

I have become a source of grief

To even another’s mother.

 

ἡ πυρὶ πάντα τεκοῦσα Φιλαίνιον, ἡ βαρυπενθὴς μήτηρ, ἡ τέκνων τρισσὸν ἰδοῦσα τάφον, ἀλλοτρίαις ὠδῖσιν ἐφώρμισα: ἦ γὰρ ἐώλπειν πάντως μοι ζήσειν τοῦτον ὃν οὐκ ἔτεκον. ἡ δ᾽ εὔπαις θετὸν υἱὸν ἀνήγαγον ἀλλά με δαίμων. ἤθελε μηδ᾽ ἄλλης μητρὸς ἔχειν χάριτα. κληθεὶς ἡμέτερος γὰρ ἀπέφθιτο: νῦν δὲ τεκούσαις ἤδη καὶ λοιπαῖς πένθος ἐγὼ γέγονα.

Quae flammae cuncta peperi Philaenium, quae gravem mater, quae puerorum ternum vidi sepulcrum, luctum in-alienis partibus acquievi: sane enim speraveram fore ut omnino mihi viveret hic quem non pepereram. Ego tot-liberorum-mater subditum educabam. Sed me daemon voluit ne alius quidem matris habere donum. Daimon Vocatus enim noster periit. Nunc vero matribus iam et reliquis luctus ego facta-sum. Translated into Latin by Johann Friedrich Duebner

Philippus of Thessalonica [Philippus Epigrammaticus; 1st century CE] wrote Greek poetry during the first century CE, but is famous for creating a new, expanded edition of the Greek Anthology.

I'm Pregnant! Pregnancy Announcements from Pompeii

I’m Pregnant! Pregnancy Announcements from Pompeii

Name: Unknown Date: prior to 79 CE Region: found written in charcoal in a graveyard in Pompeii [modern Italy] Citation:   CIL  4.10231

 

Atimetus got me pregnant!

GRAVIDO ME TENE[t]

ATM[etus?]

 

Name: Unknown Date: prior to 79 CE Region: found written on insula 7 in Regio 5 in Pompeii [modern Italy] Citation:   CIL  4.7080

 

Ra.... got me pregnant!

GRAVIDO ME

TENET

RA[?????]

 

 

A Proud Mama Bear! Greek Anthology 7.742

A Proud Mama Bear

Name:  Antipater of Sidon Date:    2nd – 1st century BCE Region:     Sidon [modern Lebanon] Citation:     Greek Anthology 7.743

I, Hermocratea, have given birth to twenty-nine children, and none of them have died!

Apollo has not struck down my sons;

Artemis has not snatched away my weeping daughters!

Instead, Artemis has blessed each of my times in childbirth,

And Apollo has raised my children into manhood illness-free.

In this way I am better than Niobe, [1] both in [the amount of] my children and in a more modest tongue. 

---

[1] According to mythology, Niobe bragged that she was better than Leto [the mother of Apollo and Artemis] because she birthed seven times as many children. Enraged, Apollo murdered all of her sons, and Artemis murdered all of her daughters.

εἴκοσιν Ἑρμοκράτεια καὶ ἐννέα τέκνα τεκοῦσα οὔθ’ ἑνὸς οὔτε μιᾶς αὐγασάμην θάνατον. οὐ γὰρ ἀπωίστευσεν ἐμοὺς υἱῆας Ἀπόλλων, οὐ βαρυπενθήτους Ἄρτεμις εἷλε κόρας: ἔμπαλι δ᾽ ἁ μὲν ἔλυσεν ἐμῶν ὠδῖνα μολοῦσα, Φοῖβος δ᾽ εἰς ἥβαν ἄρσενας ἀγάγετο ἀβλαβέας νούσοισιν. ἴδ᾽ ὡς νίκημι δικαίως παισὶν καὶ γλώσσῃ σώφρονι Τανταλίδα.

Viginti Hermocratea et novem liberos enixa neque unum neque unam vidi mortuam. Non enim sagittis-configit meos filios Apollo, non graviter-lugendas Diana rapuit puellas: sed contra haec quidem solvit mearum partus adveniena Phoebus autem ad pubertatem mares duxit illaesos morbis. En quomodo vinco nec-immerito liberis et lingua modesta Tantalidem. Translated into Latin by Hugo Grotius

Antipater of Sidon [2nd – 1st century BCE, modern Lebanon] was a Greek poet who lived under Roman rule during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. Dozens of his poems were preserved in the Greek Anthology

A Woman's Choice: Marcia Remarries Cato, Lucan, Pharsalia 2.326-353

A Woman Says “I Do…” Again

Name:  Lucan Date:  d. 65 CE Region:  Corduba [modern Spain] / Rome [modern Italy] Citation:  Civil War 2.326-353

As the sun was chasing away the cool twilight,

A knock shook Cato’s front door.

It was the widowed Marcia, still grieving,

Who came straight from her husband's pyre.

[She was originally married to Cato, a much better man,

But when she had paid the price of three children,

Her fertile self was used to provide offspring to another's home,

By joining families with a mother's blood.]

After that husband's final funeral rites, 

With tear-stained face, her hair disheveled,

Her flesh mangled with grief's blows,

She begged Cato, upset:

“When I was still fertile,

I followed your orders, Cato.

I took another husband. 

I had this other husband's babies.

Now, post-menopausal, I return to you,

Unable to be bartered out again.

Let me return to our original marriage,

Let us return to our original pledge (even if only in name).

Let my tombstone read, ‘Here lies Marcia, *Cato's* husband,’

Don't let anyone question why I left your household the first time—guessing whether I left in shame or in duty.

I'm not here ‘for the good times,’

I come in bad times, to support you in your troubles.

I'll follow you into battle.

Why should I be left behind, sheltered in peace,

And not just as close—or closer—than Cornelia was in times of war?”

Cato heeded her words. And, although it wasn't an appropriate time for a wedding,

(Destiny was playing a reveille for war), they had a quiet ceremony.

There wasn't much fuss; the gods were the only guests to the wedding.

A Woman Says “I Do...” Again

Interea Phoebo gelidas pellente tenebras

pulsatae sonuere fores, quas sancta relicto

Hortensi maerens inrupit Marcia busto.

Quondam virgo toris melioris iuncta mariti,

mox, ubi conubii pretium mercesque soluta est                  

tertia iam suboles, alios fecunda penates

inpletura datur geminas et sanguine matris

permixtura domos; sed, postquam condidit urna

supremos cineres, miserando concita voltu,

effusas laniata comas contusaque pectus                  

verberibus crebris cineresque ingesta sepulchri,

non aliter placitura viro, sic maesta profatur:

“Dum sanguis inerat, dum vis materna, peregi

iussa, Cato, 

Et geminos excepi feta maritos:

visceribus lassis partuque exhausta revertor                  

iam nulli tradenda viro. Da foedera prisci

inlibata tori, da tantum nomen inane

conubii; liceat tumulo scripsisse ‘Catonis

Marcia’, nec dubium longo quaeratur in aevo

mutarim primas expulsa an tradita taedas.   

Non me laetorum sociam rebusque secundis

accipis: in curas venio partemque laborum.

Da mihi castra sequi: cur tuta in pace relinquar

et sit civili propior Cornelia bello?”

     Hae flexere virum voces, et, tempora quamquam                  

sint aliena toris iam fato in bella vocante,

foedera sola tamen vanaque carentia pompa

iura placent sacrisque deos admittere testes.

Lucan [Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, 39 – 65 CE, modern Spain] was a Roman poet born in Corduba [modern day Spain]. He was an influential poet during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, but his involvement in the Pisonian Conspiracy of 65 CE cut his life short. His most influential work, the Pharsalia, is an epic poem that recounts the Civil War of 49/48 BCE with Julius Caesar as the antagonist.