Like Phaethon, this is one of the poem’s longest stories, although far more digressive than
the former – being told by not one but a series of internal narrators – and more complex in terms of its main conflict and the number of characters required to enact it. The story is based around characters of divine stature, and is less to do with characterisation and the results of personal motives than superhuman forces, their world-scale actions, and their limitations. The story’s ending contains both positive and tragic elements.
This group of stories, although at first complex and confusing (a veritable web of conflicts in fact), gives a particularly clear insight into several aspects of the philosophical view of the universe inherent within the poem which were not found (at least to the same extent) in
Phaethon. Most noteworthy among these is the explicit presentation of the metaphysical hierarchy of forces in the universe. We see gods depicted as superior to men, and some gods as superior to others (in both metaphysical power and authority), but the power of love as being above even the gods, and the power of the Fates above them all. As a corollary, we see that a number of factors express the idea that characters’ fates are likely to be determined by internal or external forces beyond their control. We also see that although a character may achieve a fate which seems deserved by their approach to morality, this does not mean that the two are logically connected; chance plays a part in many of these characters’ fates. Additionally, we see that the gods have a keen interest in how they are perceived and treated by lesser characters, and often punish those who spurn them. This is particularly noticeable in the case of Venus. Also likely to draw on negative consequences is the holding of particularly strong values, irrespective of the moral approach with which they are associated. The same goes for the qualities and skills one may have which are above the norm. Once again we see a link between personal value and emotion, and emotion and destruction. We also see in this story a number of values, actions, and moral principles depicted as intrinsic. These include: parental love; respect, fear, and obedience towards one’s superiors; and the good treatment of guests. The virtue of selflessness is also implied.
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1. Introduction
Given that the great majority of the stories in Ovid’s text are thoroughly interwoven with those around them, it has been hard to select complete units for study. In this chapter, I have chosen to deal primarily with the stories contained within the song of the unnamed Muse (5.341-661; hereafter referred to as the song of Calliope, because it is her song that the unnamed Muse retells). However, as it is my object to examine the work’s inherent philosophical outlook from the way in which these stories are told, it would be improper to ignore the context in which they are given.1 These all form part of the broader myth of the
contest of The Muses & The Pierides, as related to Minerva by the unnamed Muse and, as discussed below, these stories have been chosen consciously by Calliope for a specific purpose. More importantly, we will see throughout the course of this thesis that both the themes and implied philosophical outlook inherent in the stories contained in Calliope’s song are consistent not only with those already observed in the story of Phaethon, but indeed those found throughout the Metamorphoses in general. This is one of the reasons why this set of stories can be treated as reflective of the poem’s inherent philosophical outlook, and not merely a reflection of that held by the Muses.
The main aspects of the tale as found in the Metamorphoses2 are as follows: Venus, goddess of love, upset at being neglected, makes Dis, the god of the underworld, fall irresistibly in love with Proserpina, the chaste virgin daughter of Ceres, the goddess of grain, harvest, and fertility who, along with Dis, has previously remained a stranger to Venus’ power. Dis, having succumbed instantly, abducts Proserpina. Ceres, after a long and destructive period of searching for her daughter, discovers what has happened to her and persuades Juppiter, Proserpina’s father, to have her returned. Juppiter agrees, but a condition is set in accordance, he says, with the will of the Fates (the Parcae),3 that this is only to occur if she has not yet
1 As Mack (1988) rightly stresses “We have always to listen carefully to assess the stories Ovid’s narrators tell,
because they reflect the biases of their narrators” (p.135). Barchiesi (2006) similarly notes that what is told, and in what context, i.e. who is telling it, why (and what their agenda might be), can mean that when a story is looked at in conjunction with one or more stories around it, a completely different ethical or metaphysical meaning can be read than if one had just taken it as a stand-alone tale: “the identity of the narrator can have an implicit relation to a theme” (p.276). Consequently, such things must be considered carefully before accepting a story as directly reflecting what is consistently implied throughout the poem, and it must be kept in mind that what is explicitly stated or deliberately emphasised by an internal character is not necessarily supported by the text – consistent with that which is implicit in their actions and their results. See also Barchiesi (2002), pp.187-95, on this topic.
2 Referred to hereafter as the “Met. version,” rather than “Ovid’s version” on account of the fact that Ovid also
treated this story in his Fasti (4.417-620).
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tasted Tartarean food. This condition has already been broken and it is decided that Proserpina will spend half of each year with her mother and half with her new husband. Ceres causes the destruction which has been brought upon the earth during her search to be put to rights.
The legends surrounding the figures of Proserpina, Ceres and Dis – even the pre-Ovidian ones – are vast and disparate, and it is beyond the scope of this thesis to cover them thoroughly here. What is important is that there are a plethora of references associating Proserpina with Dis in the pre-Ovidian tradition, starting with Homer and Hesiod,4 many of
which deal with the abduction, but among these, the only two of significant length are the accounts found in the Homeric Hymn II to Demeter, and Diodorus Siculus’ Bibliotheca Historica 5.2.3-5.1, 5.68.2. Diodorus’ account of the abduction is largely made up of individual details, of which all the main mythological ones are consistent with those found in the Met. version, suggesting that this was Ovid’s primary model.5 Further evidence that this is so comes from the fact that the Met. version excludes all the same major alternate aspects of the myth that Diodorus’ does, and which are known to have been extent in Diodorus’ time, such as those given in the Homeric Hymn II to Demeter.6 Some of these differences are important for our analysis, because their presence or exclusion here (as opposed to earlier sources and the version given in the Fasti) help evidence what are or are not the story’s
explicit themes. For example, a plot point different from the Homeric Hymn is in the relationship of the pomegranate seeds to the story. In the earlier version, these were given deliberately by Dis in order to keep Proserpina in the underworld. As will be seen later, Dis in the Met. version, having been overcome by love, acts completely on emotion, without considering context and consequences – an explicit theme – and the tricking of Proserpina
4 Hom. Il. 9.455-7, 9.569; and throughout Od. Books 10 and 11; Hes. Theog. 913-4; Hom. Hymn II to Demeter;
Dio. Sic. 5.2.3-5.1; Verg. Georg. 1.36ff; Cic. De Nat. Deo. 2.26; Prop. 3.22; and Bacchyl. Book 1, Hymns, (from
Schol. ad Hes. Theog.).
5 The most significant difference is that Diodorus mentions Minerva and Diana as having been with Proserpina
when she was abducted, a fact made practically impossible in Ovid’s version by the context of presentation of the story; it is being told to Minerva. For alternate (and more widely accepted) theories of Ovid’s sources, see the discussion by Otis (1970), p.50, n.1, and the words of Anderson (1997), pp.534-5.
6 These include: the fact that Dis was prompted in his lust not by Venus, but Juppiter himself; the fact that it is
the sun – Phoebus (Helios) – who informs Ceres of what happened to her daughter; the inclusion of the goddess Hecate in the myth; the story of Demeter nursing or bringing up a child belonging to people who take her in on her wanderings. Elements of these are found in the Fasti version, strongly suggesting that the following of Diodorus’ version in the Metamorphoses is an entirely conscious choice. However, the influence of the Hymn can be seen in several places, such as the hymnic beginning to the song of Ceres (5.341-5), noted by Wilkinson (1957), p.200; Glenn (1986), p.62; Solodow (1988), p.20; and both Hill (1992) and Anderson (1997) on 5.341-5.
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into eating the seed would be inconsistent with this, being an act of cunning (considered thought). I discuss this further presently.
That the philosophical ideas we find to be inherent in this group of stories are not merely a reflection on the Muses’ own outlook, but on that of the Metamorphoses itself, can be seen from the fact that these ideas are consistent with what we find throughout the poem. Additionally, this can be seen from the fact that the tales the Muses tell are selected by them for specific purposes, and yet the ideas implicit in their tales undercut these purposes in some respects. We can see this from the context in which the story is told.
The nine mortal daughters of Pierus, arrogant in their opinion of their own excellence of voice and skill in song (5.310), challenge the nine Muses, goddesses of song, to a singing contest. Such an action shows the Pierides’ impious attitude towards the divine (a fact reinforced by their antagonistic behaviour upon losing, 5.663ff), and what happens to them shows the instigation of such a contest with divinities to have been thoroughly ill-advised. Consequently it is no surprise that the content of the Pierides song, just like their challenge and reactions at defeat, belittles the gods (by portraying them as cowardly, and describing a defiance and supposedly successful usurpation of their supremacy, 5.319-31). That the depiction of the gods’ metaphysical potency given in their song is false (evidenced here and throughout the poem), reflects the aspect of their characters (impiety and low opinion of the gods) that facilitated their own negative fates, and allowed them to make their challenge in the first place.
The Muses’ response is also reflective of their characters and view of the divine’s place in the universe. That the content of their song is deliberately chosen as a contrast to that of the Pierides is foreshadowed by the Muses’ statement that the Pierides lied (5.319-20), and evidenced by the fact that their own song rebuts the falsehoods of their challengers’ and, moreover, emphasises the impious and unwise actions of the Pierides that will eventually cause their ruin. Specifically, the Muses’ song begins with a true account of the Gigantomachy of which the Pierides sung,7 gives a fuller and truer account of the gods’ place in the universe’ hierarchy of forces, and tells of how the gods – mainly because of their potency – should be treated with respect and fear, and customarily wreak disastrous
7 Rosati (2002), pp.300-1, notes that the Muses, by referring to Typhoeus’ fate in their story, show that the
Pierides were selective and in a way dishonest in their narrative, and thus characterises them as falsifiers by their selection. The truth of the Muses’ sentiments in this respect is consistent with what the narrator said about Juppiter and the destruction of the giants at 1.152ff.
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consequences on inferiors who spurn or challenge them.8 The fact that all this is deliberate on the Muses’ part is further implied by the explicit themes of these stories being primarily to do with the metaphysical makeup and hierarchy of the universe, rather than characters and results of individuals’ actions, which is almost universally the case in the Metamorphoses. This reflects the contest in which they are involved.
However, although this story, told by divinities to the another divinity (Minerva), is understandably about divine superiority – as is explicitly stated in the Muses’ introduction (5.341-5)9 – and reveals the metaphysical hierarchy of forces in the universe, it still implicitly
contains several facts that undercut the majesty of the divine, and the intentions of the Muses’ story. For example, it shows the gods as capricious, fallible, and subject to both the commands of the Fates and their own uncontrollable and often excessive emotions.10 Also noteworthy is the fact that the Muses’ subject matter is strikingly incongruous to the expected interests of both themselves and Minerva.11 They deal with amor and emotions, subjects not suited to goddesses dedicated to virginity,12 whose proficiency in their respective fields is often associated with their being free from emotion.13 Further, they contain examples of the gods’ fallibility in these respects,14 combined with stories about those who aspire to be like
Minerva and the Muses enticing negative fates on account of the very qualities that make them similar to the goddesses.
Here we see (as we will again in later chapters) internal narrators clearly telling their stories with certain deliberate, explicit themes, the details of the stories they tell unwittingly reflect on matters that evidence suggests they do not intend. Thus the narrators are in fact unaware
8 The main function of the Muses’ story is described by Tarrant (2002) as “a vindication of the gods” (p.21).
9 See Solodow (1988), p.20.
10 See Otis (1970), p.58. Objections have been raised to the veracity of the tale the Muses tell by Galinsky
(1975) p.175, on account of the doubts expressed by Orpheus (10.26-9). However, although it could be argued that the validity of doubts is evidenced in the fact that he is supposed to be the son of one of the Muses (10.148) who, in their story to Minerva, stress their virginity (a point Galinsky never makes), these lines, given the context in which they are given, seem far more to be a pretend doubt, like that which Phaethon expresses to Phoebus, uttered to remind Dis and Proserpina of the fact that they should be able to sympathise with Orpheus’ situation, having felt similar emotions themselves. See also the observations of Hinds (1987) p.135.
11 See the observations of Otis (1970), p.153. We would expect the song to give a sympathetic treatment of
both Proserpina and Arethusa’s plights (which is not exactly what we get – discussed below), given that they are so alike both the narrators and audience of the Muses’ tale.
12 See 2.219, 5.254ff, 5.74; and 2.579, 2.765, 4.754, 14.468. See also Segal (1969a), p.53.
13 Dio. Sic. 4.7.1.
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of the implicit aspects of their tales.15 This, combined with the fact that the philosophical ideas we find present inherently in the Muses’ stories are consistent with those found throughout the poem (as we will see later in this chapter and throughout the course of this thesis), shows that regardless of what points these narrators clearly mean their stories to have, what we and our analyses can come up with is reflective of the deeper, overall inherent philosophical outlook inherent in the Metamorphoses as a whole.
2. Conflict
Although there are more conflicts in this story than that of Phaethon, the identification of the main conflict is in a sense easier – the motivations for the characters actions being more obvious. This is tied to the fact that the focus in this story is, unlike many in the
Metamorphoses, not so much on the choices and actions of individual characters, but rather on the relationships between the various forces active in the universe.16
There are four characters who instantly come to mind as likely candidates for inclusion as essential in the statement of the main conflict: Ceres, Dis, Proserpina and Venus. Since the whole story encompassed by Calliope’s song is – as is stated by Calliope – about Ceres: “All things are the gift of Ceres; she is to be the subject of my song.” “Cereris sunt omnia munus./ illa canenda mihi est” (5.343-4), and as it is with Dis that Ceres is superficially in conflict
over her daughter, Proserpina, one might at first glance think that the driving conflict, that upon which the story hangs, is Ceres v. Dis. However, if we remember the context of Dis’ actions – their being driven by Venus – we can see that Dis is merely a tool of Venus, and that it is with her that Ceres in primarily in conflict.
15 See Glenn (1986), pp.65ff, who notes the incongruity inherent in the Muse’s song, summing up that “The
best that one can say for her song is that it uneasily straddles two themes, one major, one minor” (p.66) – one explicit and one implicit. That this is deliberate on Ovid’s part both here, and in other stories, is noted by Rosati (1999), p.251. More broadly on the undercutting of the loftiness and perfection of the Muses and their tale, see Glenn (1986), pp.61ff; Galinsky (1975), p.175; and Mack (1988), pp.134-5. Specifically on the undercutting of the Muses through comedy and subtle highlighting of their imperfections, see the commentary by Anderson (1997), beginning at 5.269. His opinion of this internally narrated story is summed up when he says, in comparison with the Pierides, “the Muses prove equally obnoxious and incompetent, I think, by their poem; and we suffer it ad nauseam for more than three hundred meandering lines” (p.525).
16 That this is deliberate can be seen by the contrast between the Met. version of the story, and that given in
the Fasti (4.417-620), which is primarily focused on character. See discussions in Heinze (1919); Hinds (1987); Förster (1874); and Otis (1970), pp.50ff, who also summarises the less mainstream scholarship.
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Nevertheless, this does not mean that Venus is the protagonist. Although she is responsible for the inciting incident (the subjugation of Dis), which is the cause in action for the basic conflict (Dis v. Proserpina and thus in turn Ceres),17 it is not her decisions that move the story. That honour goes to Ceres, she is both the emotional focus of the story and the source of its momentum. It is Ceres who wishes and acts to find her daughter and bring her back from the underworld.
Because Proserpina is the issue over which the other characters come into conflict, and the conflicts of Ceres and Proserpina v. Dis come about because of Venus, it is clear that we cannot omit any of these four characters from the statement of the main conflict. Thus the