M/M: A Love Among the Stars: Ampelus, Ovid, Fasti 3.409ff

The Transformation of Ampelus

Name:   Ovid Date:     43 BCE – 17 CE Region:    Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Fasti 3.409 - 414

It is said that in the Thracian mountains,

Bacchus loved the shaggy-haired Ampelus

(the son of a satyr and a nymph).

Bacchus created a vine for him

That hung on the branches of an elm.

That vine now holds his boyfriend’s name.

But while Ampelus was plucking grapes from a branch

Being careless, he fell;

And Bacchus, in grief, turned him into a constellation.

The Transformation of Ampelus

Ampelon intonsum satyro nymphaque creatum
fertur in Ismariis Bacchus amasse iugis.
Tradidit huic vitem pendentem frondibus ulmi,
quae nunc de pueri nomine nomen habet.
Dum legit in ramo pictas temerarius uvas,
decidit: amissum Liber in astra tulit.  

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.

Challenging Gender Roles: The Rights of Vestal Virgins, Caius, Inst. 130, 144, 145

130. A male child shall be liberated from their parents if he becomes a Flamen Dialis; a female child shall be liberated from their parents if they are chosen to become a Vestal Virgin.

144. It is allowed for parents to provide a guardian for the children under their care, including minor male children, and women of any age, even if they are married. For our ancestors wished for women (despite reaching the age of maturity) to be in the care of a guardian due to the fickleness of their mind.

145. And so if someone leaves their son *and* their daughter in the care of a guardian in their will, when both reach the age of maturity, the son will stop having a guardian, but the daughter will remain in the guardian’s care. This is how it is in the Lex Julia & Papia Popaea, that a woman is only freed from guardianship by the right of motherhood [iure liberorum].  I must add this: this does not apply to Vestal Virgins, whom our ancestors wished to remain free as a perk of their priesthood, as per the Twelve Tables.

130. Praeterea exeunt liberi virilis sexus de parentis potestate, si flamines Diales inaugurentur, et feminini sexus, si virgines Vestales capiantur. 

144. Permissum est itaque parentibus liberis, quos in potestate sua habent, testamento tutores dare: Masculini quidem sexus inpuberibus, feminini vero inpuberibus puberibusque, vel cum nuptae sint. Veteres enim voluerunt feminas, etiamsi perfectae aetatis sint, propter animi levitatem in tutela esse. 

145. Itaque si quis filio filiaeque testamento tutorem dederit, et ambo ad pubertatem pervenerint, filius quidem desinit habere tutorem, filia vero nihilo minus in tutela permanet: Tantum enim ex lege Iulia et Papia Poppaea iure liberorum a tutela liberantur feminae. Loquimur autem exceptis virginibus Vestalibus, quas etiam veteres in honorem sacerdotii liberas esse voluerunt: Itaque etiam lege XII tabularum cautum est.’’

--Caius, Institutiones I.130, 144, 145

 Little is known about the life of Caius / Gaius, except that he was an expert on Roman law. His citation of laws from the 2^nd century CE serve as an indication of the time period during which he lived. His four volume work, the Institutes, provide crucial insight into primary sources of Roman law.

Insights on the Treatment of Women in Early Rome: A Fragment of Naevius

Name: Naevius Date:   3rd century BCE Region:   [modern Italy] Citation:  Fragment 12

 

Desubito famam tollunt si quam solam videre in via.

--Naevius fr. 12, quoted in Nonius

Suddenly, they raise hell if they see a woman alone on the street.

Naevius was an Italian poet who wrote comedies, tragedies, and satires during the 3^rd century BCE. His works were often considered salacious; he was imprisoned, freed, and later exiled because of his works. Although he wrote dozens of plays and a history of the First Punic War, these are no longer extant; his works only survive in fragments and quotes preserved by other authors.

Challenging Gender Roles: Two Fragments of Accius on Achilles, Accius, fr. 28 & 304

Name: Accius  Date:   170 – 86 BCE Region:   Umbria [modern Italy] Citation:  fragment 28, 304

1) Achilles on Skyros: 

...cum virginali mundo clam pater

--Accius fr. 28, quoted in Festus

[Achilles], a father hiding in a maiden’s dress...

This fragment of early Latin poetry refers to the period of time prior to the Trojan War when Achilles lived as a maiden on the island of Skyros and impregnated the princess Deidamia. Together they will have a son named Neoptolemus / Pyrrhus, who will fight in the Trojan War after the death of his father.

2) On the Death of Patroclus:

Achilles: Mors amici subigit, quod mi est senium multo accerrimum.

--Accius fr. 304, quoted in Nonius

The death of a friend has overpowered me; it is by far the most bitterest grief.

Accius [Lucius Accius; 170 – 86 BCE, modern Italy]  was a freeborn child of a freedman parent. He was born in Pisaurum, Umbria [modern Italy] but later moved to Rome. He wrote several tragedies based on Greek myths, but only fragments remain of them.

I Like Both: Greek Anthology, 5.64

Jupiter approached the god-like Ganymede as an eagle;

And approached the blonde-haired mother of Helen [Leda] as a swan.

You cannot compare them. Of both of these options,

Some like the one, and others like the opposite;

But I like both.

Aquila Juppiter venit ad dium Ganymedem

cygnus ad flavam matrem Helenae

Sic utrumque non est discernibile: horum autem duorum

aliis aliud videtur praeferendum, mihi ambo.

Αιετος ο Ζεύς ήλθεν επ αντίθεον Γανυμήδην

κύκνος επί ξανθην μητέρα της Ελένης

Ούτως αμφότερ εστίν ασύγκριτα των δύο δ αυτών

άλλοις άλλο δοκεί κρείσσον εμοί τα δύο

--Anonymous, Greek Anthology v.64; Translated into Latin by Frederick Duebner

 The Greek Anthology is a modern collection of Greek lyric poetry compiled from various sources over the course of Greco-Roman literature. The current collection was created from two major sources, one from the 10^th century CE and one from the 14^th century CE. The anthology contains authors spanning the entirety of Greek literature, from archaic poets to Byzantine Christian poets. 

From Bride to Groom: A Medieval Tale of Iphis, Gower's Confessio Amantis 4.451ff

Name: John Gower Date: 1330 – 1408 CE Region:   [modern England] Citation:  Confession of a Lover 4.451ff

When King Ligdus threatened his pregnant Thelacusa that if she gave birth to a daughter, she ought to expose it. However, when she gave birth to a daughter, the goddess Isis advised her to name the child “Iphis,” (the name of a son), and to raise the child as a boy. Iphis’ father believed that he had a son, and when the child was an appropriate age, he betrothed Iphis into wedlock with the daughter of a certain lord. But since Iphis did not have the appropriate parts to consummate the marriage [debitum suae coniugi unde solvere non habuit], Iphis begged the gods to help; they pitied Iphis and transformed the suppliant from a girl into a boy, in every way necessary.

Hic ponit exemplum super eodem, qualiter rex Ligdus uxori suae Thelacusae pregnanti minabatur, quod si filiam pareret, infans occideretur, quae tamen postea cum filiam ediderat, Ysis dea partus tunc presens filiam nomine filii Yphi appellari ipsamque more masculi educare admonuit, quam pater filium credens, ipsam in maritagium filiae cuiusdam principis aetate solita copulavit, sed cum Yphis debitum suae coniugi unde solvere non habuit, deos in sui adiutorium interpellat, qui super hoc miserti femineum genus in masculinum ob affectum naturae in Yphe per omnia transmutarunt. 

John Gower [1330 – 1408 CE, modern England] was a 14th century English poet. He was a contemporary and peer of Geoffrey Chaucer; both authors use overlapping characters and themes. Although his Confession of a Lover [Confessio Amantis] was written in English, the Latin text of this story was taken from the summaries that the author wrote for each chapter in Latin.

From Bride to Groom: Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, IX.4.7

Arescon

Name: Aulus Gellius  Date: 125 – 180 CE Region:  Rome [modern Italy] Citation:  Athenian Nights 9.4.15 [1]

Although intersex children were treated horrifically during the early days of the Roman Republic, in the Imperial period, they were treated better.   

Licinius Mucianus revealed that he saw with his own eyes at Argos a man by the name of Arescontes, who used to be Arescusa; they had even been married to a man, but once they grew a beard and became a man, they married a woman.

---

[1] cf Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7.36

Arescon

Licinius Mucianus prodidit visum esse a se Argis Arescontem, cui nomen Arescusae fuisset; nupsisse etiam; mox barbam et virilitatem provenisse uxoremque duxisse.

Aulus Gellius [125 – 180 CE] lived during the 2nd century CE. His work, the Attic Nights, are a collection of anecdotes about literature, history, and grammar.  From internal evidence, we can deduce that he was in the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ social circle, having close friendships with Herodes Atticus and Fronto.