How does Ovid complicate heroism in Book 8 of the Metamorphoses PDF

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Dario Colajanni How does Ovid complicate heroism in Book 8 of the Metamorphoses? It is through Ovid’ Metamorphoses that a huge number of mythological stories from ancient Greece and Rome reached the attention of modern readers. These myths bring with themselves countless sparks for discussion, on several topics, which in Ovid’s poetry assume a new consistence, if compared to other authors of Greek and Roman literatures. The Metamorphoses are generally considered an epic poem; and such it probably was in Ovid’s intentions, since the work is composed in hexameters, the epic verse par excellence. However, scholars and critics in the XX century raised some perplexities for what concerns the topic. Ovid talks about an incredible number of stories whose sole trait in common is the theme of the metamorphosis, a fil rouge which holds together the contents of the poem. Usual epic poems, on the contrary, hinge on the story of the protagonist-hero, and particularly on his distinctive feature (Achilles’ wrath, Ulysses’ polytropon intelligence, Aeneas’ pietas). Also, according to Brooks Otis, even if Ovid’s purpose was to write an epic poem, he could not dismiss his nature of elegiac poet which persisted and prevented him from writing an epic poem in Virgilian sense. The result is a parody, an inferior version of the Aeneid. 1 Later, other studies on the matter, suggested that Ovid’s Metamorphoses cannot be classified into a specific genre; they rather embrace all the genres written in hexameter, which were popular in Rome at that time: satire, parody and of course epic. It is in the light of this consideration that we shall discuss the divergent concept of heroism in Metamorphoses Book 8. Since Otis’ suggestion that Ovid’s poem does not belong at all to the epic genre looks now extreme, it is worth considering in more detail one of the studies which put Ovid in the tradition of epic poetry, though not classifying the poem in a narrow sense. According to Charles Segal, the Metamorphoses are definitely into the tradition of epic mythology; moreover, they are particularly relevant since they reinvent such tradition in the context of western literature. 2 Ovid intentionally diminishes or even suppress the heroic element, orientating the focus of the poem elsewhere and adopting a tone which is characterized by lightness rather than by solemnity. In contrast, the usual focus of epic poems is on the protagonist’s heroism which is chanted through a solemn poetry. Also, under the influence of Hellenistic poetry, Ovid combines the epic elements with the erudition and

1 Brooks Otis, Ovid as an Epic Poet, Cambridge University Press, 1966 2 Charles Segal, La Metamorfosi, l'eroe, il poeta, in Ovidio e la poesia del mito: saggi sulle metamorfosi, Venezia, Marsilio, 1991.

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Dario Colajanni elegance of Callimachean poetry and with the themes of erotic elegy. Segal individuates in the idea itself of metamorphosis the modality in which the poet undermines the traditional heroic patterns. The choice of this theme is thus intentional: Ovid wanted to establish, since the beginning, an ambiguous relationship with epic. The American scholar then suggests four ways in which the metamorphosis dismantles the traditional idea of heroism in epic. I shall proceed now in outlining how the idea of heroism is changed according to Segal and, where relevant, draw examples from Book 8. The first way in which heroism is scaled down in Ovid’s poem regards the issue of identity.3 Traditional epic poems hinge around a character, the hero whose deeds are narrated and whose identity and personality are well defined. In such poems, the hero’s identity is part of his destiny and it proves to be a key factor in surpassing obstacles and accomplish the final mission. No one of the characters presented in the Metamorphoses has a precisely defined identity, whose features are easily identifiable as peculiar strengths. Every hero in Ovid is overwhelmed by the sequence of changes and events against which he often proves to be weak. In Book 8, a good example of this pattern is found in the longest myth of this unit: the story of the Calydonian boar occupies almost two hundred lines in the central part of the book. In brief, the story is about a violent boar which Artemis sent as a punishment for king Oeneus who had omitted the goddess at a festival in which he honoured the other gods. His son Meleager thus sets up a team of hunters, in which we find valorous figures of ancient mythology, in order to kill the boar. In this case Ovid provides us with a catalogue of the hunters, following a rather affirmed tradition of epic poetry, which appears also in tragedy – a famous example is the catalogue of the Theban heroes in Aeschylus’ Seven against Thebes. However, no hero is given more than a couple of details, a few of the huntsmen are not even identified in any way and only Acastus is characterized by a specific weapon. 4 Yet, the ranks of Meleager’s team are filled with mighty names: Jason, the Dioscuri, Peleus, Telamon, Nestor, Laertes, Amphiaratus; people from which the reader would expect wonderful deeds. Moreover, such heroes are defined as iuvenes at line 300, rather than viri: as suggested by Segal, Ovid’s heroes are often young lovers, not warriors, with immature and instable personalities. The team of huntsmen piles failures over failures: they suffer three casualties and 3 Segal, ibidem pp.57-60 4 Horsfall, N. (1979). Epic and Burlesque in Ovid, Met. viii. 260ff. The Classical Journal, 74(4), 319-332.

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Dario Colajanni their incompetence is stressed by the actions of Jason and Nestor. The former’s over-enthusiastic attempt proves to be ineffective, the latter, quite unheroically, prefers to take refuge on a tree with the excuse of looking down over the boar from a safe position. The sole person capable enough to wound the beast is Atalanta, the huntress, the only woman in the team. This is for sure the greatest failure for all the male hunters, of which some did not even want to take part in the hunt because they did not accept to fight side by side with a woman. The contrast is even more highlighted when Ovid says that the men’s reaction to Atalanta’s success, is quite feminine: they blush, erubuere viri, as Horsfall notes. Segal moves on to another point: the idea of metamorphosis suggests discontinuity and generalization. A key feature of traditional epic was the everlasting fame derived by the glorious deeds of the epic heroes; the epos represents the channel through which such fame is handed down from generation to generation. The metamorphosis, on the contrary, does not guarantee any eternal glory: though such changes the identity of the hero is further dissolved and comes to be a part of the immensity of nature, which its innate corruptibility and variety of animals and plants. In all the mythological stories, one of the characters – sometimes even more – start as an individual and finishes as a natural object, one amongst the many equal others.5 In Book 8, as for what regards the issue of identity, it is possible to find examples of how the metamorphosis prevent the continuation of fame and glory. It is the case of the princess Scylla, daughter of Nisus, king of Megara; she fell in love with Minos, the legendary king of Crete who was besieging Nisus’ city. Due to her feelings, the princess decided to betray her father. For Nisus had a magic purple lock of hair, which granted him the impossibility of being defeated. Scylla during the night cut it and presented it to Minos who finally took control of Megara. However, he decided to leave Scylla there, who in turn clung to Minos’ ship; she was transformed in a seabird, while followed by her father, who was transformed in a sea eagle. Here the metamorphosis destroys the courage Scylla had in taking Minos’ part in the conflict, betraying her father. A similar thing was done by Medea, whose key role in accomplishing Jason’s deeds was often acknowledged in traditional accounts and her semi-divine nature granted her immortal fame. However, in this specific case, there is a counter-example which instead seems to refute Segal’s consideration, although not in its entirety for the idea of the metamorphosis as obstacle to everlasting fame can still be applied to many episodes throughout the poem. In 5 Segal, ibidem pp.60-62 3

Dario Colajanni Book 8, we read the story of Baucis and Philemon: Zeus and Hermes came on earth in the form of ordinary peasants, seeking for hospitality in the region of Phrygia. No one offered them a place to sleep that night except for a poor couple of old spouses, Baucis and Philemon. When the two realized that their guests were gods, they asked for mercy and sacrificed their only goose. The gods though had decided to destroy the region in order to kill all the people who had not offered them hospitality, except of course for the old couple: their house was transformed into a temple and they were appointed as its guardians. Moreover, since they asked that in case one of them died, the other would die as well, when their time came, Zeus transformed them into two intertwined trees, a linden and an oak, which were worshipped for much time after the couple’s death. In this episode, the metamorphosis appears more as a prize rather than as an obstacle to everlasting fame, considering also that the pair of trees received worship. Moreover, the two trees, the oak and the linden, are not randomly chosen. The oak, symbol of strength and immortality, was Zeus/Jupiter’s sacred plant; the linden is also a symbol of longevity and fecundity, representing true love. It is true that the couple did not accomplish any deed that we would consider heroic, but they surely represent an example worth remembering according to the gods. Hospitality should be the normality, but we know that in all times a normal act can really become heroic: maybe that is what Ovid wanted to communicate to the reader, by using the metamorphosis as a vehicle for eternal memory, rather than as an obstacle to it. The third point individuated by Segal regards the lack of a unique model of heroic values. 6 The Metamorphoses consist in a great number of different stories, which often have nothing significant in common. All the stories are rather short: each episode is narrated in few dozens of verses. As we have already seen, few characters are described in a detailed way and their personality is only vaguely depicted. Also, due to the discontinuity in the stories and their restricted dimension, Ovid does not develop any figure in profundity, no single character becomes the paradigm of the heroic experience or embodies an entire system of absolute values. Each character represents just an aspect of human nature, which often is a bad aspect. It is the case of Erysichthon, the king of Thessaly, whose story is narrated at the very end of Book 8. He is depicted as a violent man whose impiety was so great that he did not fear the wrath of the gods. He intentionally cut the trees of a wood sacred to Demeter, who punished him with an implacable hunger, which hunted him forever. In order to get 6 Segal, ibidem p.62 4

Dario Colajanni food, he spent his entire patrimony and sold his daughter Mestra as a slave. And, since the girl was able to change her shape in that of every animal, she always came back home and was resold. In the end Erysichthon started eating himself, piece after piece. This myth, along with the other ones cited above, does not highlight any values worth of being considered as an absolute paradigm. Even in the story of Baucis and Philemon, all the other people do not respect any value of hospitality and generosity. The other anti-values are impiety, disrespect for family members, parents (Scylla and Nisus) and children (Erysichton and Mestra), incompetence and lack of courage (Jason and Nestor in the story of the Calydonian boar). The fourth way in which, according to Segal, the theme of the metamorphosis changes the traditional idea of heroism, regards the lack of a narrative centre. 7 Linked to the lack of absolute values and to the lack of a single protagonist-hero, the absence of a narrative core mirrors the mutable nature of the world itself. The plot of the poem undergoes continuous changes in the same way in which the world is subject to a perpetual change. The result of this structure, which might be defined as a literary metamorphosis of epic poetry, is that the reader does not receive any general idea of what heroism is. Ovid does not seem to deny that heroism exist at all, since we can find it in normal contexts (Baucis and Philemon do host two gods, but they realize it only after); heroism though – that is what Ovid, in my opinion, is saying – is not as simple as it appears in conventional epic poem, the matter is more complicated.

7 Segal, Ibidem pp.62-64 5...