Chapter XI: Book THE EIGHTH: Fable I. Viii.1-151 (2)

[Footnote 29: _Palisades._--Ver. 286. The word ‘vallum’ is found
applied either to the whole, or a portion only, of the
fortifications of a Roman camp. It is derived from ‘vallus,’ ‘a
stake;’ and properly means the palisade which ran along the outer
edge of the ‘agger,’ or ‘mound:’ but it frequently includes the
‘agger’ also. The ‘vallum,’ in the latter sense, together with the
‘fossa,’ or ‘ditch,’ which surrounded the camp outside of the
‘vallum,’ formed a complete fortification.]

[Footnote 30: _Sons of Tyndarus._--Ver. 301. These were Castor and
Pollux, the putative sons of Tyndarus, but really the sons of
Jupiter, who seduced Leda under the form of a swan. According to
some, however, Pollux only was the son of Jupiter. Castor was
skilled in horsemanship, while Pollux excelled in the use of the
cestus.]

[Footnote 31: _Pirithoüs._--Ver. 303. He was the son of Ixion of
Larissa, and the bosom friend of Theseus.]

[Footnote 32: _Sons of Thestius._--Ver. 304. These were Toxeus and
Plexippus, the uncles of Meleager, and the brothers of Althæa, who
avenged their death in the manner afterwards described by Ovid.
Pausanias calls them Prothoüs and Cometes. Lactantius adds a
third, Agenor.]

[Footnote 33: _Lynceus._--Ver. 304. Lynceus and Idas were the sons
of Aphareus. From his skill in physical science, the former was
said to be able to see into the interior of the earth.]

[Footnote 34: _Cæneus._--Ver. 305. This person was originally a
female, by name Cænis. At her request, she was changed by Neptune
into a man, and was made invulnerable. Her story is related at
length in the 12th book of the Metamorphoses.]

[Footnote 35: _Leucippus._--Ver. 306. He was the son of Perieres,
and the brother of Aphareus. His daughters were Elaira, or Ilaira,
and Phœbe, whom Castor and Pollux attempted to carry off.]

[Footnote 36: _Acastus._--Ver. 306. He was the son of Pelias, king
of Thessaly.]

[Footnote 37: _Hippothoüs._--Ver. 307. According to Hyginus,
he was the son of Geryon, or rather, according to Pausanias,
of Cercyon.]

[Footnote 38: _Dryas._--Ver. 307. The son of Mars, or, according
to some writers, of Iapetus.]

[Footnote 39: _Phœnix._--Ver. 307. He was the son of Amyntor.
Having engaged in an intrigue, by the contrivance of his mother,
with his father’s mistress, he fled to the court of Peleus, king
of Thessaly, who entrusted to him the education of Achilles, and
the command of the Dolopians. He attended his pupil to the Trojan
war, and became blind in his latter years.]

[Footnote 40: _Two sons of Actor._--Ver. 308. These were Eurytus
and Cteatus, the sons of Actor, of Elis. They were afterwards
slain by Hercules.]

[Footnote 41: _Phyleus._--Ver. 308. He was the son of Augeas, king
of Elis, whose stables were cleansed by Hercules.]

[Footnote 42: _Telamon._--Ver. 309. He was the son of Æacus. Ajax
Telamon was his son.]

[Footnote 43: _Great Achilles._--Ver. 309. His father was Peleus,
the brother of Ajax, and the son of Æacus and Ægina. Peleus was
famed for his chastity.]

[Footnote 44: _The son of Pheres._--Ver. 310. This was Admetus,
the son of Pheres, of Pheræ, in Thessaly.]

[Footnote 45: _Hyantian Iolaüs._--Ver. 310. Iolaüs, the Bœotian,
the son of Iphiclus, aided Hercules in slaying the Hydra.]

[Footnote 46: _Eurytion._--Ver. 311. He was the son of Irus, and
attended the Argonautic expedition.]

[Footnote 47: _Echion._--Ver. 311. He was an Arcadian, the son of
Mercury and the Nymph Antianira, and was famous for his speed.]

[Footnote 48: _Narycian Lelex._--Ver. 312. So called from Naryx,
a city of the Locrians.]

[Footnote 49: _Panopeus._--Ver. 312. He was the son of Phocus, who
built the city of Panopæa, in Phocis, and was the father of
Epytus, who constructed the Trojan horse.]

[Footnote 50: _Hyleus._--Ver. 312. According to Callimachus,
he was slain, together with Rhœtus, by Atalanta, for making an
attempt upon her virtue.]

[Footnote 51: _Hippasus._--Ver. 313. He was a son of Eurytus.]

[Footnote 52: _Nestor._--Ver. 313. He was the son of Neleus and
Chloris. He was king of Pylos, and went to the Trojan war in his
ninetieth, or, as some writers say, in his two hundredth year.]

[Footnote 53: _Hippocoön._--Ver. 314. He was the son of Amycus. He
sent his four sons, Enæsimus, Alcon, Amycus, and Dexippus, to hunt
the Calydonian boar. The first was killed by the monster, and the
other three, with their father, were afterwards slain by
Hercules.]

[Footnote 54: _Amyclæ._--Ver. 314. This was an ancient city of
Laconia, built by Amycla, the son of Lacedæmon.]

[Footnote 55: _Of Penelope._--Ver. 315. This was Laërtes, the
father of Ulysses, the husband of Penelope, and king of Ithaca.]

[Footnote 56: _Ancæus._--Ver. 315. He was an Arcadian, the son of
Lycurgus.]

[Footnote 57: _Son of Ampycus._--Ver. 316. Ampycus was the son of
Titanor, and the father of Mopsus, a famous soothsayer.]

[Footnote 58: _Descendant Œclus._--Ver. 317. This was Amphiaraüs,
who, having the gift of prophecy, foresaw that he would not live
to return from the Theban war; and, therefore, hid himself, that
he might not be obliged to join in the expedition. His wife,
Eriphyle, being bribed by Adrastus with a gold necklace, betrayed
his hiding-place; on which, proceeding to Thebes, he was swallowed
up in the earth, together with his chariot. Ovid refers here to
the treachery of his wife.]

[Footnote 59: _Tegeæan._--Ver. 317. Atalanta was the daughter of
Iasius, and was a native of Tegeæa, in Arcadia. She was the mother
of Parthenopæus, by Meleager. She is thought, by some, to have
been a different person from Atalanta, the daughter of Schœneus,
famed for her swiftness in running, who is mentioned in the tenth
book of the Metamorphoses.]

[Footnote 60: _Son of Ampycus._--Ver. 350. Mopsus was a priest of
Apollo.]

[Footnote 61: _When it is aimed._--Ver. 357. When discharged from
the ‘balista,’ or ‘catapulta,’ or other engine of war.]

[Footnote 62: _Eupalamus and Pelagon._--Ver. 360. They are not
previously named in the list of combatants; and nothing further is
known of them.]

[Footnote 63: _Would have perished._--Ver. 365. What is here told
of Nestor, one of the Commentators on Homer attributes to
Thersites, who, according to him, being the son of Agrius, the
uncle of Meleager, was present on this occasion.]

[Footnote 64: _Othriades._--Ver. 371. Nothing further is known of
him.]

[Footnote 65: _Peleus._--Ver. 375. According to Apollodorus,
Peleus accidentally slew Eurytion on this occasion.]

[Footnote 66: _The Arcadian._--Ver. 391. This was Ancæus, who is
mentioned before, in line 215.]

[Footnote 67: _Warlike._--Ver. 437. ‘Mavortius’ may possibly mean
‘the son of Mars,’ as, according to Hyginus, Mars was engaged in
an intrigue with Althæa.]

[Footnote 68: _Sepulchral altars._--Ver. 480. The ‘sepulchralis
ara’ is the funeral pile, which was built in the form of an altar,
with four equal sides. Ovid also calls it ‘funeris ara,’ in the
Tristia, book iii. Elegy xiii. line 21.]

[Footnote 69: _Eumenides._--Ver. 482. This name properly signifies
‘the well-disposed,’ or ‘wellwishers,’ and was applied to the
Furies by way of euphemism, it being deemed unlucky to mention
their names.]

[Footnote 70: _Funeral offering._--Ver. 490. The ‘inferiæ’ were
sacrifices offered to the shades of the dead. The Romans appear to
have regarded the souls of the departed as Gods; for which reason
they presented them wine, milk, and garlands, and offered them
victims in sacrifice.]

[Footnote 71: _Hopes of his father._--Ver. 498. Œneus had other
sons besides Meleager, who were slain in the war that arose in
consequence of the death of Plexippus and Toxeus. Nicander says
they were five in number; Apollodorus names but three, Toxeus,
Tyreus, and Clymenus.]

[Footnote 72: _Twice five months._--Ver. 500. That is, lunar
months.]

[Footnote 73: _Of his bed._--Ver. 521. Antoninus Liberalis calls
her Cleopatra, but Hyginus says that her name was Alcyone. Homer,
however, reconciles this discrepancy, by saying that the original
name of the wife of Meleager was Cleopatra, but that she was
called Alcyone, because her mother had the same fate as Alcyone,
or Halcyone.]

[Footnote 74: _Evenus._--Ver. 527. Evenus was a river of Ætolia.]

[Footnote 75: _Piercing her entrails._--Ver. 531. Hyginus says
that she hanged herself.]

[Footnote 76: _Parthaon._--Ver. 541. Parthaon was the grandfather
of Meleager and his sisters, Œneus being his son.]

[Footnote 77: _Gorge._--Ver. 542. Gorge married Andræmon, and
Deïanira was the wife of Hercules, the son of Alcmena. The two
sisters of Meleager who were changed into birds were Eurymede and
Melanippe.]

EXPLANATION.

It is generally supposed that the story of the chase of the
Calydonian boar, though embracing much of the fabulous, is still
based upon historical facts. Homer, in the 9th book of the Iliad,
alludes to it, though in somewhat different terms from the account
here given by Ovid; and from the ancient historians we learn, that
Œneus, offering the first fruits to the Gods, forgot Diana in his
sacrifices. A wild boar, the same year having ravaged some part of
his dominions, and particularly a vineyard, on the cultivation of
which he had bestowed much pains, these circumstances, combined,
gave occasion for saying that the boar had been sent by Diana. As
the wild beast had killed some country people, Meleager collected
the neighbouring nobles, for the purpose of destroying it. Plexippus
and Toxeus, having been killed, in the manner mentioned by the Poet,
Althæa, their sister, in her grief, devoted her son to the Furies;
and, perhaps, having used some magical incantations, the story of
the fatal billet was invented.

Homer does not mention the death of Meleager; but, on the contrary,
says that his mother, Althæa, was pacified. Some writers, however,
think that he really was poisoned by his mother. The story of the
change of the sisters of Meleager into birds is only the common
poetical fiction, denoting the extent of their grief at the untimely
death of their brother.

FABLE V. [VIII.547-610]

Theseus, returning from the chase of the Calydonian boar, is stopped
by an inundation of the river Acheloüs, and accepts of an invitation
from the God of that river, to come to his grotto. After the repast,
Acheloüs gives him the history of the five Naiads, who had been
changed into the islands called Echinades, and an account of his own
amour with the Nymph Perimele, whom, being thrown by her father into
the sea, Neptune had transformed into an island.

In the meantime, Theseus having performed his part in the joint labour, was going to the Erecthean towers of Tritonis. {But} Acheloüs, swollen with rains, opposed his journey,[78] and caused him delay as he was going. “Come,” said he, “famous Cecropian, beneath my roof; and do not trust thyself to the rapid floods. They are wont to bear away strong beams, and to roll down stones, as they lie across, with immense roaring. I have seen high folds, contiguous to my banks, swept away, together with the flocks; nor was it of any avail there for the herd to be strong, nor for the horses to be swift. Many bodies, too, of young men has this torrent overwhelmed in its whirling eddies, when the snows of the mountains dissolved. Rest is the safer {for thee}; until the river runs within its usual bounds, until its own channel receives the flowing waters.”

To {this} the son of Ægeus agreed; and replied, “I will make use of thy dwelling and of thy advice, Acheloüs;” and both he did make use of. He entered an abode built of pumice stone with its many holes, and the sand-stone far from smooth. The floor was moist with soft moss, shells with alternate {rows of} murex arched the roof. And now, Hyperion having measured out two parts of the light, Theseus and the companions of his labours lay down upon couches; on the one side the son of Ixion,[79] on the other, Lelex, the hero of Trœzen, having his temples now covered with thin grey hairs; and some others whom the river of the Acarnanians, overjoyed with a guest so great, had graced with the like honour. Immediately, some Nymphs, barefoot, furnished with the banquet the tables that were set before them; and the dainties being removed, they served up wine in {bowls adorned with} gems. Then the mighty hero, surveying the seas that lay beneath his eyes, said, “What place is this?” and he pointed with his finger; “and inform me what name that island bears; although it does not seem to be one only?” In answer to these words, the River said, “It is not, indeed, one object that we see; five countries lie {there}; they deceive through their distance. And that thou mayst be the less surprised at the deeds of the despised Diana, these were Naiads; who, when they had slain twice five bullocks, and had invited the Gods of the country to a sacrifice, kept a joyous festival, regardless of me. {At this} I swelled, and I was as great as I ever am, in my course, when I am the fullest; and, redoubled both in rage and in flood, I tore away woods from woods, and fields from fields; and together with the spot, I hurled the Nymphs[80] into the sea, who then, at last, were mindful of me. My waves and those of the main divided the land, {before} continuous, and separated it into as many parts, as thou seest {islands, called} Echinades, in the midst of the waves.

“But yet, as thou thyself seest from afar, one island, see! was withdrawn far off from the rest, {an island} pleasing to me. The mariner calls it Perimele.[81] This beloved Nymph did I deprive of the name of a virgin. This her father, Hippodamas, took amiss, and pushed the body of his daughter, when about to bring forth, from a rock, into the sea. I received her; and bearing her up when swimming, I said, ‘O thou bearer of the Trident, who hast obtained, by lot, next in rank to the heavens, the realms of the flowing waters, in which we sacred rivers end, {and} to which we run; come hither, Neptune, and graciously listen to me, as I pray. Her, whom I am bearing up, I have injured. If her father, Hippodamas, had been mild and reasonable, or if he had been less unnatural, he ought to have pitied her, and to have forgiven me. Give thy assistance; and grant a place, Neptune, I beseech thee, to her, plunged in the waters by the cruelty of her father; or allow her to become a place herself. Her, even, {thus} will I embrace.’ The King of the ocean moved his head, and shook all the waters with his assent. The Nymph was afraid; but yet she swam. Her breast, as she was swimming, I myself touched, as it throbbed with a tremulous motion; and while I felt it, I perceived her whole body grow hard, and her breast become covered with earth growing over it. While I was speaking, fresh earth enclosed her floating limbs, and a heavy island grew upon her changed members.”

[Footnote 78: _Opposed his journey._--Ver. 548. It has been
objected to this passage, that the river Acheloüs, which rises in
Mount Pindus, and divides Acarnania from Ætolia, could not
possibly lie in the road of Theseus, as he returned from Calydon
to Athens.]

[Footnote 79: _Son of Ixion._--Ver. 566. Pirithoüs lay on the one
side, and Lelex on the other; the latter is called ‘Trœzenius,’
from the fact of his having lived with Pittheus, the king of
Trœzen.]

[Footnote 80: _I hurled the Nymphs._--Ver. 585. Clarke translates
‘Nymphas in freta provolvi,’ ‘I tumbled the nymphs into the sea.’]

[Footnote 81: _Perimele._--Ver. 590. According to Apollodorus, the
name of the wife of Acheloüs was Perimede; and she bore him two
sons, Hippodamas and Orestes. The Echinades were five small
islands in the Ionian Sea, near the coast of Acarnania, which are
now called Curzolari.]

EXPLANATION.

This story is simply based upon physical grounds. The river
Acheloüs, running between Acarnania and Ætolia, and flowing into the
Ionian Sea, carried with it a great quantity of sand and mud, which
probably formed the islands at its mouth, called the Echinades. The
same solution probably applies to the narrative of the fate of the
Nymph Perimele.

FABLE VI. [VIII.611-737]

Jupiter and Mercury, disguised in human shape, are received by
Philemon and Baucis, after having been refused admittance by their
neighbours. The Gods, in acknowledgment of their hospitality,
transform their cottage into a temple, of which, at their own
request, they are made the priest and priestess; and, after a long
life, the worthy couple are changed into trees. The village where
they live is laid under water, on account of the impiety of the
inhabitants, and is turned into a lake. Acheloüs here relates the
surprising changes of Proteus.

After these things the river was silent. The wondrous deed had astonished them all. The son of Ixion laughed at them,[82] believing {the story}; and as he was a despiser of the Gods, and of a haughty disposition, he said, “Acheloüs, thou dost relate a fiction, and dost deem the Gods more powerful than they are, if they both give and take away the form {of things}.” {At this} all were amazed, and did not approve of such language; and before all, Lelex, ripe in understanding and age, spoke thus: “The power of heaven is immense, and has no limits; and whatever the Gods above will, ’tis done.

“And that thou mayst the less doubt {of this}, there is upon the Phrygian hills, an oak near to the lime tree, enclosed by a low wall.[83] I, myself, have seen the spot; for Pittheus sent me into the land of Pelops, once governed by his father, {Pelops}. Not far thence is a standing water, formerly habitable ground, but now frequented by cormorants and coots, that delight in fens. Jupiter came hither in the shape of a man, and together with his parent, the grandson of Atlas, {Mercury}, the bearer of the Caduceus, having laid aside his wings. To a thousand houses did they go, asking for lodging and for rest. A thousand houses did the bolts fasten {against them}. Yet one received them, a small one indeed, thatched with straw,[84] and the reeds of the marsh. But a pious old woman {named} Baucis, and Philemon of a like age, were united in their youthful years in that {cottage}, and in it, they grew old together; and by owning their poverty, they rendered it light, and not to be endured with discontented mind. It matters not, whether you ask for the masters there, or for the servants; the whole family are but two; the same persons both obey and command. When, therefore, the inhabitants of heaven reached this little abode, and, bending their necks, entered the humble door, the old man bade them rest their limbs on a bench set {there}; upon which the attentive Baucis threw a coarse cloth. Then she moves the warm embers on the hearth, and stirs up the fire they had had the day before, and supplies it with leaves and dry bark, and with her aged breath kindles it into a flame; and brings out of the house faggots split into many pieces, and dry bits of branches, and breaks them, and puts them beneath a small boiler. Some pot-herbs, too, which her husband has gathered in the well-watered garden, she strips of their leaves.

“With a two-pronged fork {Philemon} lifts down[85] a rusty side of bacon, that hangs from a black beam; and cuts off a small portion from the chine that has been kept so long; and when cut, softens it in boiling water. In the meantime, with discourse they beguile the intervening hours; and suffer not the length of time to be perceived. There is a beechen trough there, that hangs on a peg by its crooked handle; this is filled with warm water, and receives their limbs to refresh them. On the middle of the couch, its feet and frame[86] being made of willow, is placed a cushion of soft sedge. This they cover with cloths, which they have not been accustomed to place there but on festive occasions; but even these cloths are coarse and old, {though} not unfitting for a couch of willow. The Gods seat themselves. The old woman, wearing an apron, and shaking {with palsy}, sets the table {before them}. But the third leg of the table is too short; a potsherd, {placed beneath}, makes it equal. After this, being placed beneath, has taken away the inequality, green mint rubs down the table {thus} made level. Here are set the double-tinted berries[87] of the chaste Minerva, and cornel-berries, gathered in autumn, {and} preserved in a thin pickle; endive, too, and radishes, and a large piece of curdled milk, and eggs, that have been gently turned in the slow embers; all {served} in earthenware. After this, an embossed goblet of similar clay is placed {there}; cups, too, made of beech wood, varnished, where they are hollowed out, with yellow wax.

“There is {now} a short pause;[88] the fire {then} sends up the warm repast; and wine kept no long time, is again put on; and {then}, set aside for a little time, it gives place to the second course. Here are nuts, {and} here are dried figs mixed with wrinkled dates, plums too, and fragrant apples in wide baskets, and grapes gathered from the purple vines. In the middle there is white honey-comb. Above all, there are welcome looks, and no indifferent and niggardly feelings. In the meanwhile, as oft as Baucis and the alarmed Philemon behold the goblet, {when} drunk off, replenish itself of its own accord, and the wine increase of itself, astonished at this singular event, they are frightened, and, with hands held up, they offer their prayers, and entreat pardon for their entertainment, and their want of preparation. There was a single goose, the guardian of their little cottage, which its owners were preparing to kill for the Deities, their guests. Swift with its wings, it wearied them, {rendered} slow by age, and it escaped them a long time, and at length seemed to fly for safety to the Gods themselves. The immortals forbade it[89] to be killed, and said, ‘We are Divinities, and this impious neighbourhood shall suffer deserved punishment. To you it will be allowed to be free from this calamity; only leave your habitation, and attend our steps, and go together to the summit of the mountain.’

“They both obeyed; and, supported by staffs, they endeavoured to place their feet {on the top} of the high hill. They were {now} as far from the top, as an arrow discharged can go at once, {when} they turned their eyes, and beheld the other parts sinking in a morass, {and} their own abode alone remaining. While they were wondering at these things, {and} while they were bewailing the fate of their {fellow countrymen}, that old cottage of {theirs}, {too} little for even two owners, was changed into a temple. Columns took the place of forked stakes, the thatch grew yellow, and the earth was covered with marble; the doors appeared carved, and the roof to be of gold. Then, the son of Saturn uttered such words as these with benign lips: ‘Tell us, good old man, and thou, wife, worthy of a husband {so} good, what it is you desire?’ Having spoken a few words to Baucis, Philemon discovered their joint request to the Gods: ‘We desire to be your priests, and to have the care of your temple; and, since we have passed our years in harmony, let the same hour take us off both together; and let me not ever see the tomb of my wife, nor let me be destined to be buried by her.’ Fulfilment attended their wishes. So long as life was granted, they were the keepers of the temple; and when, enervated by years and old age, they were standing, by chance, before the sacred steps, and were relating the fortunes of the spot, Baucis beheld Philemon, and the aged Philemon saw Baucis, {too}, shooting into leaf. And now the tops of the trees growing above their two faces, so long as they could they exchanged words with each other, and said together, ‘Farewell! my spouse;’ and at the same moment the branches covered their concealed faces. The inhabitants of Tyana[90] still shew these adjoining trees, made of their two bodies. Old men, no romancers, (and there was no reason why they should wish to deceive me) told me this. I, indeed, saw garlands hanging on the branches, and placing {there} some fresh ones {myself}, I said, ‘The good are the {peculiar} care of the Gods, and those who worshipped {the Gods}, are {now} worshipped {themselves}.’”

He had {now} ceased; and the thing {itself} and the relator {of it} had astonished them all; {and} especially Theseus, whom, desiring to hear of the wonderful actions of the Gods, the Calydonian river leaning on his elbow, addressed in words such as these: “There are, O most valiant {hero}, some things, whose form has been once changed, and {then} has continued under that change. There are some whose privilege it is to pass into many shapes, as thou, Proteus, inhabitant of the sea that embraces the earth. For people have seen thee one while a young man, and again a lion; at one time thou wast a furious boar, at another a serpent, which they dreaded to touch; {and} sometimes, horns rendered thee a bull. Ofttimes thou mightst be seen as a stone; often, too, as a tree. Sometimes imitating the appearance of flowing water, thou wast a river; sometimes fire, the {very} contrary of water.”

[Footnote 82: _Laughed at them._--Ver. 612. The Centaurs, from one
of whom Pirithoüs was sprung, were famed for their contempt of,
and enmity to, the Gods.]

[Footnote 83: _By a low wall._--Ver. 620. As a memorial of the
wonderful events here related by Lelex.]

[Footnote 84: _Thatched with straw._--Ver. 630. It was the custom
with the ancients, when reaping, to take off only the heads of the
corn, and to leave the stubble to be reaped at another time. From
this passage, we see that straw was used for the purpose of
thatching.]

[Footnote 85: _Lifts down._--Ver. 647. The lifting down the flitch
of bacon might induce us to believe that the account of this story
was written yesterday, and not nearly two thousand years since.
So true is it, that there is nothing new under the sun.]

[Footnote 86: _Feet and frame._--Ver. 659. ‘Sponda.’ This was the
frame of the bedstead, and more especially the sides of it. In the
case of a bed used for two persons, the two sides were
distinguished by different names; the side at which they entered
was open, and was called ‘sponda:’ the other side, which was
protected by a board, was called ‘pluteus.’ The two sides were
also called ‘torus exterior,’ or ‘sponda exterior,’ and ‘torus
interior,’ or ‘sponda interior.’]

[Footnote 87: _Double-tinted berries._--Ver. 664. Green on one
side, and swarthy on the other.]

[Footnote 88: _A short pause._--Ver. 671. This was the second
course. The Roman ‘cœna,’ or chief meal, consisted of three
stages. First, the ‘promulsis,’ ‘antecœna,’ or ‘gustatio,’ when
they ate such things as served to stimulate the appetite. Then
came the first course, which formed the substantial part of the
meal; and next the second course, at which the ‘bellaria,’
consisting of pastry and fruits, such as are now used at dessert,
were served.]

[Footnote 89: _Immortals forbade it._--Ver. 688. This act of
humanity reflects credit on the two Deities, and contrasts
favourably with their usual cruel and revengeful disposition, in
common with their fellow Divinities of the heathen Mythology.]

[Footnote 90: _Of Tyana._--Ver. 719. This was a city of
Cappadocia, in Asia Minor.]

EXPLANATION.

The story of Baucis and Philemon, which is here so beautifully
related by the Poet, is a moral tale, which shows the merit of
hospitality, and how, in some cases at least, virtue speedily brings
its own reward. If the story is based upon any actual facts, the
history of its origin is entirely unknown. Huet, the theologian,
indeed, supposes that it is founded on the history of the reception
of the Angels by Abraham. This is a bold surmise, but entirely in
accordance with his position, that the greatest part of the fictions
of the heathen mythology were mere glosses or perversions of the
histories of the Old Testament. If derived from Scripture, the story
is just as likely to be founded on the hospitable reception of the
Prophet Elijah by the woman of Zarephath; and the miraculous
increase of the wine in the goblet, calls to mind ‘the barrel of
meal that wasted not, and the cruse of oil that did not fail.’ The
story of the wretched fate of the inhospitable neighbours of Baucis
and Philemon is thought, by some modern writers, to be founded upon
the Scriptural account of the destruction of the wicked cities of
the plain.

Ancient writers have made many attempts to solve the wondrous story
of Proteus. Some say that he was an elegant orator, who charmed his
auditors by the force of his eloquence. Lucian says that he was an
actor of pantomime, so supple that he could assume various postures.
Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Clement of Alexandria, assert that
he was an ancient king of Egypt, successor to Pheron, and that he
lived at the time, of the Trojan war. Herodotus, who represents him
as a prince of great wisdom and justice, does not make any allusion
to his powers of transformation, which was his great merit in the
eyes of the poets. Diodorus Siculus says that his alleged changes
may have had their rise in a custom which Proteus had of adorning
his helmet, sometimes with the skin of a panther, sometimes with
that of a lion, and sometimes with that of a serpent, or of some
other animal. When Lycophron states that Neptune saved Proteus from
the fury of his children, by making him go through caverns from
Pallene to Egypt, he follows the tradition which says that he
originally came from that town in Thessaly, and that he retired
thence to Egypt. Virgil, and Servius, his Commentator, assert that
Proteus returned to Thessaly after the death of his children, who
were slain by Hercules; in which assertion, however, they are not
supported by Homer or Herodotus.

FABLE VII. [VIII.738-884]

Acheloüs continues his narrative with the story of Metra, the
daughter of Erisicthon, who is attacked with insatiable hunger, for
having cut down an oak, in one of the groves of Ceres. Metra begs of
Neptune, who was formerly in love with her, the power of
transforming herself into different shapes; that she may be enabled,
if possible, to satisfy the voracious appetite of her father. By
these means, Erisicthon, being obliged to expose her for sale, in
order to purchase himself food, always recovers her again; until,
by his repeated sale of her, the fraud is discovered. He at last
becomes the avenger of his own impiety, by devouring his own limbs.

“Nor has the wife of Autolycus,[91] the daughter of Erisicthon, less privileges {than he}. Her father was one who despised the majesty of the Gods; and he offered them no honours on their altars. He is likewise said to have profaned with an axe a grove of Ceres, and to have violated her ancient woods with the iron. In these there was standing an oak with an ancient trunk, a wood {in itself} alone, fillets and tablets, {as} memorials,[92] and garlands, proofs of wishes that had been granted, surrounded the middle of it. Often, beneath this {tree}, did the Dryads lead up the festive dance; often, too, with hands joined in order, did they go round the compass of its trunk; and the girth of the oak made up three times five ells. The rest of the wood, too, lay as much under this oak as the grass lay beneath the whole of the wood. Yet not on that account {even} did the son of Triopas[93] withhold the axe from it; and he ordered his servants to cut down the sacred oak; and when he saw them hesitate, {thus} ordered, the wicked {wretch}, snatching from one of them an axe, uttered these words: ‘Were it not only beloved by a Goddess, but even were it a Goddess itself, it should now touch the ground with its leafy top.’ {Thus} he said; and while he was poising his weapon for a side stroke, the Deoïan oak[94] shuddered, and uttered a groan; and at once, its green leaves, and, with them, its acorns began to turn pale; and the long branches to be moistened with sweat. As soon as his impious hand had made an incision in its trunk, the blood flowed from the severed bark no otherwise than, as, at the time when the bull, a large victim, falls before the altars, the blood pours forth from his divided neck. All were amazed and one of the number attempted to hinder the wicked design, and to restrain the cruel axe. The Thessalian eyes him, and says, ‘Take the reward of thy pious intentions,’ and turns the axe from the tree upon the man, and hews off his head; and {then} hacks at the oak again; when such words as these are uttered from the middle of the oak: ‘I, a Nymph,[95] most pleasing to Ceres, am beneath this wood; I, {now} dying, foretell to thee that the punishment of thy deeds, the solace of my death, is at hand.’

“He pursued his wicked design; and, at last, weakened by numberless blows, and pulled downward with ropes, the tree fell down, and with its weight levelled a great part of the wood. All her sisters, the Dryads, being shocked at the loss of the grove and their own, in their grief repaired to Ceres, in black array,[96] and requested the punishment of Erisicthon. She assented to their {request}, and the most beauteous Goddess, with the nodding of her head, shook the fields loaded with the heavy crops; and contrived {for him} a kind of punishment, lamentable, if he had not, for his crimes, been deserving of the sympathy of none, {namely}, to torment him with deadly Famine. And since that Goddess could not be approached by herself (for the Destinies do not allow Ceres and Famine to come together), in such words as these she addressed rustic Oreas, one of the mountain Deities: ‘There is an icy region in the extreme part of Scythia, a dreary soil, a land, desolate, without corn {and} without trees; there dwell drowsy Cold, and Paleness, and Trembling, and famishing Hunger; order her to bury herself in the breast of this sacrilegious {wretch}. Let no abundance of provisions overcome her; and let her surpass my powers in the contest. And that the length of the road may not alarm thee, take my chariot, take the dragons, which thou mayst guide aloft with the reins;’ and {then} she gave them to her.

“She, borne through the air on the chariot {thus} granted, arrived in Scythia; and, on the top of a steep mountain (they call it Caucasus), she unyoked the neck of the dragons, and beheld Famine, whom she was seeking, in a stony field, tearing up herbs, growing here and there, with her nails and with her teeth. Rough was her hair, her eyes hollow, paleness on her face, her lips white with scurf,[97] her jaws rough with rustiness; her skin hard, through which her bowels might be seen; her dry bones were projecting beneath her crooked loins; instead of a belly, there was {only} the place for a belly. You would think her breast was hanging, and was only supported from the chine[98] of the back. Leanness had, {to appearance}, increased her joints, and the caps of her knees were stiff, and excrescences projected from her overgrown ancles. Soon as {Oreas} beheld her at a distance (for she did not dare come near her), she delivered the commands of the Goddess; and, staying for so short a time, although she was at a distance from her, {and} although she had just come thither, still did she seem to feel hunger; and, turning the reins, she drove aloft the dragon’s back to Hæmonia.

“Famine executes the orders of Ceres (although she is ever opposing her operations), and is borne by the winds through the air to the assigned abode, and immediately enters the bedchamber of the sacrilegious {wretch}, and embraces him, sunk in a deep sleep ({for} it is night-time), with her two wings. She breathes herself into the man, and blows upon his jaws, and his breast, and his face; and she scatters hunger through his empty veins. And having {thus} executed her commission, she forsakes the fruitful world, and returns to her famished abode, her wonted fields. Gentle sleep is still soothing[99] Erisicthon with its balmy wings. In a vision of his sleep he craves for food, and moves his jaws to no purpose, and tires his teeth {grinding} upon teeth, and wearies his throat deluded with imaginary food; and, instead of victuals, he devours in vain the yielding air. But when sleep is banished, his desire for eating is outrageous, and holds sway over his craving jaws, and his insatiate entrails. And no delay {is there}; he calls what the sea, what the earth, what the air produces, and complains of hunger with the tables set before him, and requires food in {the midst of} food. And what might be enough for {whole} cities, and what {might be enough} for a {whole} people, is not sufficient for one man. The more, too, he swallows down into his stomach, the more does he desire. And just as the ocean receives rivers from the whole earth, and {yet} is not satiated with water, and drinks up the rivers of distant countries, and as the devouring fire never refuses fuel, and burns up beams of wood without number, and the greater the quantity that is given to it, the more does it crave, and it is the more voracious through the very abundance {of fuel}; so do the jaws of the impious Erisicthon receive all victuals {presented}, and at the same time ask for {more}. In him all food is {only} a ground for {more} food, and there is always room vacant for eating {still more}.

“And now, through his appetite, and the voracity of his capacious stomach, he had diminished his paternal estate; but yet, even then, did his shocking hunger remain undiminished, and the craving of his insatiable appetite continued in full vigour. At last, after he has swallowed down his estate into his paunch,[100] his daughter {alone} is remaining, undeserving of him for a father; her, too, he sells, pressed by want. Born of a noble race, she cannot brook a master; and stretching out her hands, over the neighbouring sea, she says, ‘Deliver me from a master, thou who dost possess the prize of my ravished virginity.’ This {prize} Neptune had {possessed himself of}. He, not despising her prayer, although, the moment before, she has been seen by her master in pursuit of her, both alters her form, and gives her the appearance of a man, and a habit befitting such as catch fish. Looking at her, her master says, ‘O thou manager of the rod, who dost cover the brazen {hook}, as it hangs, with tiny morsels, even so may the sea be smooth {for thee}, even so may the fish in the water be {ever} credulous for thee, and may they perceive no hook till caught; tell me where she is, who this moment was standing upon this shore (for standing on the shore I saw her), with her hair dishevelled, {and} in humble garb; for no further do her footsteps extend.’ She perceives that the favour of the God has turned to good purpose, and, well pleased that she is inquired after of herself, she replies to him, as he inquires, in these words: ‘Whoever thou art, excuse me, {but} I have not turned my eyes on any side from this water, and, busily employed, I have been attending to my pursuit. And that thou mayst the less disbelieve {me}, may the God of the sea so aid this employment of mine, no man has been for some time standing on this shore, myself only excepted, nor has any woman been standing {here}.’ Her master believed her, and, turning his feet {to go away}, he paced the sands, and, {thus} deceived, withdrew. Her own shape was restored to her.

“But when her father found that his {daughter} had a body capable of being transformed, he often sold the grand-daughter of Triopas to {other} masters. But she used to escape, sometimes as a mare, sometimes as a bird, now as a cow, now as a stag; and {so} provided a dishonest maintenance for her hungry parent. Yet, after this violence of his distemper had consumed all his provision, and had added fresh fuel to his dreadful malady: he himself, with mangling bites, began to tear his own limbs, and the miserable {wretch} used to feed his own body by diminishing it. {But} why do I dwell on the instances of others? I, too, O youths,[101] have a power of often changing my body, {though} limited in the number {of those changes}. For, one while, I appear what I now am, another while I am wreathed as a snake; then {as} the leader of a herd, I receive strength in my horns. In my horns, {I say}, so long as I could. Now, one side of my forehead is deprived of its weapons, as thou seest thyself.” Sighs followed his words.

[Footnote 91: _Autolycus._--Ver. 738. He was the father of
Anticlea, the mother of Ulysses, and was instructed by Mercury in
the art of thieving. His wife was Metra, whose transformations are
here described by the Poet.]

[Footnote 92: _Tablets as memorials._--Ver. 744. That is, they had
inscribed on them the grateful thanks of the parties who placed
them there to Ceres, for having granted their wishes.]

[Footnote 93: _Son of Triopas._--Ver. 751. Erisicthon was the son
of Triopas.]

[Footnote 94: _Deoïan oak._--Ver. 758. Belonging to Ceres. See
Book vi. line 114.]

[Footnote 95: _I, a Nymph._--Ver. 771. She was one of the
Hamadryads, whose lives terminated with those of the trees which
they respectively inhabited.]

[Footnote 96: _In black array._--Ver. 778. The Romans wore
mourning for the dead; which seems, in the time of the Republic,
to have been black or dark blue for either sex. Under the Empire,
the men continued to wear black, but the women wore white. On such
occasions all ornaments were laid aside.]

[Footnote 97: _With scurf._--Ver. 802. Clarke gives this
translation of ‘Labra incana situ:’ ‘Her lips very white with
nasty stuff.’]

[Footnote 98: _From the chine._--Ver. 806. ‘A spinæ tantummodo
crate teneri,’ is translated by Clarke, ‘Was only supported by the
wattling of her backbone.’]

[Footnote 99: _Is still soothing._--Ver. 823. Clarke renders the
words ‘Lenis adhuc somnus--Erisicthona pennis mulcebat;’ ‘Gentle
sleep as yet clapped Erisicthon with her wings.’]

[Footnote 100: _Into his paunch._--Ver. 846. Clarke translates
‘Tandem, demisso in viscera censu;’ ‘at last, after he had
swallowed down all his estate into his g--ts.’]

[Footnote 101: _I too, O youths._--Ver. 880. Acheloüs is
addressing Theseus, Pirithoüs, and Lelex. The words, ‘Etiam mihi
sæpe novandi Corporis, O Juvenes,’ is rendered by Clarke, ‘I too,
gentlemen, have the power of changing my body.’]

EXPLANATION.

The story of Metra and Erisicthon has no other foundation, in all
probability, than the diligent care which she took, as a dutiful
daughter, to support her father, when he had ruined himself by his
luxury and extravagance. She, probably, was a young woman, who, in
the hour of need, could, in common parlance, ‘turn her hand’ to any
useful employment. Some, however, suppose that, by her changes are
meant the wages she received from those whom she served in the
capacity of a slave, and which she gave to her father; and it must
be remembered that, in ancient times, as money was scarce, the wages
of domestics were often paid in kind. Other writers again suggest,
less to the credit of the damsel, that her changes denote the price
she received for her debaucheries. Ovid adds, that she married
Autolycus, the robber, who stole the oxen of Eurytus. Callimachus
also, in his Hymn to Ceres, gives the story of Erisicthon at length.
He was the great grandfather of Ulysses, and was probably a man
noted for his infidelity and impiety, as well as his riotous course
of life. The story is probably of Eastern origin, and if a little
expanded might vie with many of the interesting fictions which we
read in the Arabian Night’s Entertainments.