190
51
ovm's Metamorphoses
morphosis, prepares for the immediately ~allowing story: . Daphne
changes into the laurel tree. Longo . . . crzne: the long hatr of the
ever-youthful Apollo, like that of Bacchus, was a stand?-'"d el~ment
in his pictorial representation. de quali~et arbore: havmg b~1thely
dropped a preposition in 447, Ovid here mserts one, to make mstrumental ablative into one of source (cf. 440).
APOLLO AND DAPHNE (452-567)
The brief account of Apollo's victory over Python ends Ovid's
interest in the area around Parnassus and in mighty feats, and he now
elaborately develops a second and unheroic myth about ~?olio, which
features him as a frustrated elegiac lover, farther north m Thessaly.
Boasting of his prowess with the bow, Apollo incurs the anger of
Cupid, who quickly demonstrates that he is the s~pe~or ~cher by
striking Apollo with an arrow of love and thus su_bJectmg him helplessly to amatory passions. To insure that the g~d wtll ~ave no success,
Cupid wounds Daphne, the nymph ~poll~ ~esrres, ~tth an arrow that
repels love. The main development m Ovt~ s narrattve, then, focu~es
on erotic symptoms that rob the god of ~IS p~wers and ~educe hnn
to human elegiac level (490 ff.), especially m the woomg speech
which he calls out to fleeing Daphne as he pursues her (504 ff.).
When polite wooing fails, Apollo presses on, determined to force his
will on the nymph, and, what the nymph has feared all along, namely,
rape, is almost perpetrated. But just as the long chase (530-44) see:ns
destined to end in Daphne's misery, she appeals for rescue, asking
that the beautiful form, which has so attracted the god, be changed.
In answer to that prayer, her feminine bo~y becomes a laurel. Ap~llo
does the best he can with this defeat of hts lust and takes possessiOn
of the tree, making it his emblem.
This highly polished story is essentially Ovid's free invention,
constructed to fit into the themes of his poem and indeed to provide
the first representation of love, a major topic of the Met. Earlier
versions of Apollo's love for Daphne existed, b~t they seem to ha~e
been late Hellenistic creations, and they were set m the area of Lacorua
in the Peloponessus, not in Thessaly. Parthenius -15 summarizes their
narratives, which differed substantially, in detail, theme, and tone,
from the account here produced. Ovid uses Apollo to develop a thematic representation of male erotic desire, an obvio~sly flawed kind
of love. Exploiting the familiar motifs of elegy, he lightly mocks the
god's almost human helplessness and_also li~htly hints at the se~fish
violence that lurks underneath those trite elegtac formulae of woomg.
Daphne, too, proves a loser: she cannot su~ive as a virgin a~d prefers
to sacrifice her human form rather than yteld to an undesired god.
Book 1
(Notes 452-60)-Apollo and Daphne
191
Yet she is not being punished for insisting on virginity. The next
stories, featuring lusty gods who gratify their rapist desires on reluctant
nymphs, will elaborate the wretched disorientation that results from
such selfish violence. So Ovid does not invite the audience to fault
Daphne here; the main stress of his account dwells on the distorting
effects of amor on a god (and implicitly on human males).
452- primus amor: as in English "first love," the abstract noun stands for
53 the person loved. Ovid slyly emphasizes ""first," because Apollo was
no more "monogamous" than the other gods. Cf. the way Tacitus in
Annals introduces Nero's reign of terror with the phrase primum
/acinus, "the first crime." Peneia: as the daughter of the river Peneus,
Daphne lives in Thessaly near the idyllic vale of Tempe. Various
forms of the patronymic occur at 472, 504, 525, and finally Ovid
presents the father himself at 569. quem: i.e., amor. Naturally, many
MSS have "corrected" this reading to quam, i.e., Daphne. fors 453:
though blind chance often accounts for love, in this case a special
explanation exists.
454- Delius: the first of numerous references to Apollo in connection with
55 Delos, the island of his birth (an event later discussed in greater detail
at 6.186 ff.). hunc: Cupid. victo serpente: Latin and Ovid feel free
to treat this noun as masculine or feminine; cf. above 439 and 447.
Ablative of respect. adducto ... nervo 455: Cupid was bending his
bow by pulling back the string. Since some ancient bows were not
only tipped with hom but actually made of two horns connected by
a central piece of wood that could bend and give spring, cornua by
metonymy could denote the bow. Ovid compares two archers, the
arrogant Apollo and the playful but powerful Cupid.
quidque ... dixerat: using ~que as a casual connective, Ovid continues
in the pluperfect with a speech by Apollo that sets him up for humiliation. quid . .. tibi ... cum: like English "What do you want with?"
or "What are you doing with?" The pronoun is dative of reference
and functions with an assumed verb such as vis or visfacere. Apollo,
sneers at Cupid: dangerous weapons should not be trusted to a boy.
gestamina 457: a word borrowed from epic poetry, used twice by
Vergil in the A en. and three times by Ovid only in the Met. It characterizes proud Apollo. In 458, the unconvincing rhetoric of his boast is
further diminished by the lilting series of dactyls.
Note the pompous "editorial we." Compare the god's version in 459
of the serpent's sprawling size with the Ovidian narrator's casual
familiarity (urbane apostrophe) in 440. The epic epithet pestifero is
no accident. For the actual killing, 460 corresponds to earlier 44344. What Apollo calls "countless" arrows were comically counted by
the narrator.
192
ovm's Metamorphoses
461- face . . . tua: Apollo tries to limit Cupid to the us~ of his ~haracteri_st!c
torch. As BOmer points out, in the Aeneid Vergii descnbed Cupid s
62
work to create in Dido love for Aeneas entirely in the metaphorical
terms of fire ( 1. 657 ff.). nescio quos: the tone of contemptuous indift:erence is obvious. inritare ... nee ... adsere 462: more offensive
language to Cupid. Instead, for example, of using an ~ppropriate
metaphorical verb such as injlammare, Apollo reduces the Importance
of Cupid's activities.
463- figat . . . arcus: an example of the so-called apo koinou structure; cf.
certa ... vulnera 458. The verb from the first clause must be used
65
in the second (though in the future indicative); the noun from the
second functions in the first. That leaves "your" and "my." omnia
and te to create the desired antithesis. Assigning a concessive sense
to fig~t and supplying future figet in the second clause, t:ansl~te:
"Although your bow may strike everything else, my bow wdl stnke
you." quanta ... tanto 464-65: coordinate clauses using ablative of
degree of difference. Since Ovid has unbalanced _the structur: of the
two clauses by using cedunt in the first to be equtval~nt t~ nu~or_est
in the second, translation should bring out the emphasiS on mfenonty.
nostra: ablative of comparison. Cupid's speech ends on the key word
asserting his superiority.
.
. .
466- elisa ... pennis: as BOmer notes, Ovid contrives a ~escnptton ?f
flying which, because of the unusual -~erb~ employed, gtves to Cuptd
67
an impression of heroic energy. As ~IS wmgs ~eat along,_ they force
the air out of the way. This sounds hke the action of a nughty eagle
more than that of the boy with usually small wings. inpiger ...
arce 467: the adjective "heroizes" Cupid. He takes his stance in a
dominating spot atop Parnassus, again like a ~elodramatic hero. arce:
ablative of place where, without the prepositiOn.
468- sagittifera: epic compound to cOunter Apollo's in 459. Both Catull~s
and Vergil had used it of warriors or hunters who bear arrows. Ovid
69
extends the usage. Note that Cupid needs only one arrow for Apollo,
then a second one for Daphne. hoc ... illud 469: since we lack
details yet about the two arrows, the pronouns can be loosely translate_d
as "this" and "that" or "one" and "the other." However, from this
~point on, we have to pay attention so that we correctly assign the
pronouns at 472. The arrow that bat:tishe~ love comes as somewhat
of a surprise, and Ovid keeps us bnefly m suspense as to how the
. two arrows of contrasting effects will be employed.
sub harundine: at the end of the shaft, where we would expect the
471
point.
.
472- hoc ... illo: when two items have been descnbed, the pronoun hoc
refers by "this" to the nearer of the two, the last mentioned. Hence,
73
Latin regularly specifies "the latter" before "the former," unlike En-
Book I
(Notes 473-82)-Apollo and Daphne
193
glish. deus: Ovid calls Cupid a god as he demonstrates his power
~ot puer (which fits metrically), as Apollo contemptuously has done~
m nympha . . . ./ixit: an easy variation for the construction used in
463-64. Apollineas 473: Ovid has invented this word here.
474 fugit: if the arrow has put love to flight in her, then logically she flees
the word lover and the role it implies. But the verb also fixes attention
on literal flight and chase, which will be enacted now (cf. 502). nomen
amanti~: the "lover" _is not herself, but. a male, like Apollo.'
475- The~e lines charactenze Daphne as a virginal huntress; hunting is her
77
passiOn, an alternative to love. innuptae: properly applied to unmarried
human maidens, who were destined to become wives in the future
this word became a fixed epithet for certain goddesses who neve;
married, but were permanently virginal. Diana is one such· another
is Minerva, to whom Vergil had applied the word inAen. 2.31. Ovid
uses the adjective to introduce the theme of marriage, a natural future
for Daphne, one that her father very much desires (cf. 478 ff. and 481
ff.). aemula Phoebes: the first word, whether adjective or substantive
usually has_ a pejorative sense in Ovid, but not here. Daphne does no~
co~~ete Wlt~ but admiringly copies Diana. The word takes objective
g_emtiVe. Ovtd used Phoebe in 11 to denote the moon; here, she is
srster of Apollo (called Phoebus above at 463). In 477, Ovid captures
several typical features of the virginal huntress in connection with her
hairstyle: she wears a simple ribbon, no fancy jewelry, and the hair
hangs freely, _not braided or curled by any maid. Thus, Daphne fits
the role of a Simple outdoors person. sine lege: not according to law
hence freely.
'
478 Folktales and myths regularly stage the competition of suitors for the
hand of the beautiful rilaid (often princess). Such a situation can be
developed several ways. When Ovid does it with multi (-ae) illam
(~um), the many serve as a foil to the decision of the person wooed;
etthern~body ?r a surprising individual is preferred. Cf. the description
of ~arct~sus m 3.353 ff. _and that of the centaur Cyllaris (a comic
van~t) m 12.404. For other scenes where men compete for the
attentron and hand of a girl, cf. 2.571 (Coronis), 10.315 (Myrrha),
and 10.582 (Atalanta). We find this motif earlier in Catullus 62.42
and in Vergil's account of the suitors who vied for Lavinia (Aen.
7.54). The three elisions that Ovid allows himself in 478 are, as Lee
notes, unusual.
479- vir~: "?u~band"; genitive with both preceding adjectives. nemora avia:
80 Ovid unitates a phrase of Lucretius 2.145. Daphne avoids frequented
places and thus escapes male attention.
The exact repetition of the initial half-lines led to understandable
problems in part of the MSS tradition: line 481 had to be written in
the margin, when its omission was noticed.
194
oviD's Metamorphoses
483- velut crimen: Daphne's hostility to marriage sounds extreme here,
84 almost as if she were a Vestal Virgin. taedas: by meto?ymy,_ t~e
torches stand for marriage. exosa: this word first appears m Latm m
Vergillian epic.
485- An embrace around the neck frequently accompanies w~rds of requ~st
87
to a beloved parent or mate; cf. 1.734 and 762. blandls .. la~ertl~:
same phrase in 2.100, when Phaethon embraces and pleads wtth his
father, the Sun, to borrow the fatal chariot. The word ~rder entangl~s
the separate phrases: inque patris . . . cervice and blandzs . . . lacertzs.
virginitate frui 487: the noun occurs more often in Ov~d ~an in ~II
his predecessors put together; that probably reflects hts mtere_st m
erotic situations. dedit . . . Dianae: Daphne appeals to the ex~~e~ce
of her model (cf. 476) and Jupiter's tolerance toward her vrrgtmt?'As commentators note, Ovid is citing Callimachus' Hymn to Artemzs,
where the young goddess sat on her father's lap and successfully
begged him for this favor.
.
.
.
488- quidem: emphasizes the first clause, to enhance the anttthests with
89 the second. It is an irony of the Met. that beauty (or form) frustrates
conscious plans and efforts. Daphne's own beauty liter~ly figh~s
against her desire. quod optas 1esse: i.e., virgo esse. tuo tua:Juxtaposttion stresses the conflict.
490- amat: Jinks with 474. The particular cruelty of Cupid's vengeance
now emerges: the god has been made to fall ~in love with a girl who
91
hates Jove. conuhia: Apollo does not use this word as Daphne had
earlier in 480: she meant "marriage," whereas the s~lfish god ~erely
desires sexual intercourse. quodque 491: the connective go~s with ~e
main verb, sperat. A typical elegiac lover, Apollo l~ts his passiOn
create a false hope, and then Ovid comments on the trony, that the
. .
god of prophecy is failed by his own oracles.
492- The rural fires in these similes do not lend Apollo's Jove much dt?mty.
94 adolentur. this verb, which originally meant "to make an offe~mg at
the altar," came to describe burning anywhere and unde~ any circumstances, as here. viator 493: like a careless traveller, Cuptd has caused
..
Apollo to burn up with love:
495- in jlammas abiit: the verb wtth the preposttlO? forms a synony~ for
96 «change," as earlier at 236 with Lyc~on. Su?Ject to ~ove, the rm~hty
god suffers psychological transformatiOn, as tfbecormng fir~. stenlem
amorem 496: the love would be "unproductive," vam because
~f Cupid's arrow to Daphne. sperando: links with sperat 491, the
point from which the simile had taken off. .
.
.
497- inornatos: cf. 477, positos sine lege. Her ha.tr, not bemg bratded or
curled or piled up on her head, hangs freely and, to Apollo:s eye,
501
attractively. However, he tries to imagine how_it would !oo~ tf carefully arranged. quid si comantur 498: hypothetical question m unreal
Book I
(Notes 502-9)-Apollo and Daphne
195
condition. igne ... oculos: we would probably simply say "eyes
flashing like stars," but Ovid has specified that they flash with fire.
oscula 499: kisses, since they are given and stolen from the lips, can
by metonymy suggest lips themselves. Alternatively, since this word
for kiss derives from a lost Archaic Latin diminutive of the word for
mo~th,_ os, it may m~an "darling little mouth." Apollo's eyes are
begmmng to work their way down from the hair; they reach hidden
parts at 502. laudat ... lacertos 500-501: although we might have
expected the god to start with the shoulders and travel down the arms
of Daphne with his glance, Ovid reverses the order of the anatomy
lesson. That is probably because the upper arms, being half-bared,
arouse erotic excitement. This passage provides a good illustration of
the difference between bracchia and lacerti, forearms and upper arms.
502- What is witty and amusing here, when adapted in remarkably similar
3 terms to a vicious rapist like Tereus (6.451 ff.), wi11 be revealed as
ruthles_sly sel_fish lust. Like Tereus at 6.492, Apollo's imagination
fires h1s passiOn. jugit ocior aura: this clause is closely modeled on
Aen. 12.733,fugit ocior Euro, Turnus' last desperate flight when his
sword shatters (cf. also Aen. 8.223, of Cacus). Ovid has eroticized
the heroic life-and-death flight. haec revocantis verba 503: this announces the speech that follows (504-24) and the rather comic dramatic situation: Apollo, running after Daphne and trying to get her
to stop and listen, breathlessly calls to her back as he calls her back.
504- Penei: vocative of Peneis; cf. 4 72. The final two syllables are sepa7 rately sounded, not a diphthong. Consequently, the caesura in this
line is the so-called «weak" or trochaic. Lee calls attention to the fact
th~t <?vid uses this caesura with unusual frequency in Apollo's speech
(SIX lmes up to 521). He suggests that "it is used to express the hurry
of the race." Alternatively, since this caesura itself is less important
than the fact that, where it occurs, the line breaks into three distinctive
units, with caesurae also at 3 and 7, Ovid is indicating by these brief
units the breathlessness of the running god. non insequor hostis: the
v~rb reveals ~at Apollo is chasing the fleeing nymph, not just standing
sttll and calling after her (cf. 507). The animal similes of the next
two l~nes form a ~colon, and, in standard rhetorical organization,
the thrrd member IS longer, occupying the entire line of 506. hostes
... amor 507: Apollo creates his own special definition of "enemy",
n~ely; predators intent on killing and eating their prey. By contrast,
he Implies, love, the antithesis of enmity, absolves him from all blame.
me miserum: accusative in an exclamation. Apollo pretends to be in
great distress. The following three clauses, all subjunctives, introduced
b~ ne, might be p~hibitions, i.e., negative commands; but negative
WIShes seem more likely. The god hopes that Daphne will not trip or
be scratched on her pretty bare shins by brambles.
196
Book I
oviD'S Metamorphoses
moderatius: the word is prosaic, the idea is absurd, and the calculating
lover is revealed.
512- Apollo tries 3. second ploy: to identify himself as. an important god.
cui placeas: indirect question. The verb, th_ough 1t J?aY se~m rather
16
tepid in English, regularly occurs in an erotic sense m elegiac poetry
and in the Met.; cf. 2.543, again of a girl who has attracted the
attention of Apollo. With a tricolon o_f negativ~ clau_ses, the god
510
52526
scornfully denies that he is a usual inhabitant of thts rustle realm. The
longer third member, with its adje~tive ho_rridus 514, co~veys the
prejudice of a citified snob. temerana: she IS rash to _flee htm_ an~ so
Jose a chance for a good match, he suggests. quemfugras 515: I~drre~t
question. ideo: argumentative conjunctions do no~ appear often m eptc
or amatory poetry; this is the only occurr~nce _m the_ N!et. Its ve~
usage may undennine the god's pose o! smce~~- ml~l .. · serv1~.
Apollo now indirectly reveals himself wtth~ut gtvmg his name. Vanous lands, from Delphi to Patara, act as hts slaves. The t~e places
named in 516 are all situated in Asia Minor: Tenedos, an tsland ne~
Troy, mentioned in Iliad 1.452 as a cult-site of Apo~lo and late: m
Met. 13.174; Claros, a famous oracle-site on the Ion~an coast, ctted
in Met. 11.413; and Patara in Lycia, whose cult explams why A~llo
is occasionally called by Roman poets ''the L ~cian god." By nammg
sites increasingly remote from nearby ~elp~1, h~ suggest~ the vast
extent of his domain. The god ends his hst wtth a ftond phrase
that gives inaccurate emphasis to Patara-it had no "palace" or
royal residence-and thus falsely stresses his supp?sed mastery.
Continuing
with clues to his identity, Apollo names hts father Juptter,
517then some of his attributes. Notice the pompous anaphora.' per me,
18
and the excessive use of -que. concordant: nonnally used wtth cum +
ablative; Ovid has dared a dative without preposition. Apollo regularly
appears in art and poetry wi_th ~e lyre.
.
519- certa . . . certior: clever chtasttc arrangement, as Apollo r~veals ~IS
weakness and defeat by Cupid; cf. 463 ff. The second nostra IS ablative
20
of comparison. vacuo ... pectore: an "empty" breast connotes a heart
.
"
d "
free of love.
521- Paradoxically, the god of medicine cann~t Cur~ his. own wou~ ~
and "sickness" of love. opifer: Apollo churns this eptthe~, but thts ~s
22
its first appearance in extant Latin. Possibly Ov_id h~s revtved the eptc
compound from Ennius; he uses it a second time m 15.653 to refer
.
to the god's son Aesculapius, also a doc~or.
523- ei mihi: a convenient dactylic verse-operung, of the same ~eamng as
me miserum (508), which extends to position 3. sanabilis: mtr~duced
24
to Latin probably by Cicero; Ovid is the first poet to employ 1t. The
"incurability" of love was an elegiac topos. prosunt: .. pro~~nt 524:
typically in such repetitions,_ Ovid alters the rnetncal posttton and
52729
53032
(Notes 525-38)-Apollo and Daphne
197
h~nce stress _that the word receives. domino ... artes: Ovid plays
wtth a rhetoncal commonplace that can be used with trao"ic overtones
as in Thucydides' (and imitators' such as Ovid in 7.561-62) accoun~
o~ plagues, ":'here self-sacrificing doctors are caught up in the contagiOn and pensh.
Ovid likes to cut speeches short and vary the usually stately epic
formula fo~ closure. plura locuturum ... fugit: Apollo may have
becomes? mtenton his verbiage that he failed to keep up with Daphne.
cur:zque zpso verba. 526: for this variation on a pair of accusative
ObJects, cf._217. It IS easy to imagine Apollo with still-open mouth.
d~c~ns: Ovid: who has already stated the paradox that Daphne's decor
rmhtates agamst her virginal wishes (488-89), here concentrates on
the blowing of long robes away from the limbs to reveal more of the
desired body. That theme is fully repeated in the Golden Line, 528·
and 529 adds pictorial detail about Daphne's windblown tresses. '
auctaque forma fuga est: summarizes the paradox, that flight only
makes Daphne seem more beautiful. sed enim: a common einphatic
«but" in Vergil, as later in Met. 5. 636, this expression seems somewhat
un~sua! he~e because Ovid has separated it radically from the context
wh1ch 1t wlll alter, namely 525-26. Yet what he has reported in the
mtervenmg hoes about that increased beauty has much to do with the
sudden change in Apollo's line of action. The god has been left
unheard by the fugitive, but that does not matter anymore because he
has no further interest in words. blanditias 531: signifies in elegy and
love poetry the soft and often deceptive words of lovers. amor 532:
the "love" that Apollo declared pure, friendly, and selfless in 507
reveals its essential nature. admisso sequitur . .. passu: back in pursuit
(cf. 504, 507, 511), Apollo has a pace that has suddenly been freed
from restraint. The usual noun with the participle is equo, and the
phrase means "at full speed'' (for the horse has been given the rein).
However, as the following simile suggests, Ovid may have been
thinking of a hunting dog on a leash, when set loose to track the
quarry. Hence, the use' of vestigia here and in 536.
ut canis . . . Gallicus: Apollo has now become the animal "enemy"
of Daphne that he expressly disclaimed earlier in 504 ff. The "Gallic
hound" was one of many hunting dog types used by Romans. hie ...
ille 534: not the idiomatic arrangement of "latter" and "fonner" that
appeared earlier at 472; Ovid maintains attention on Apollo and refers
to him as hie.
alter ... alter: Ovid neatly divides the four lines, allotting two to
each beast, dog first, then hare. inhaesuro similis: ·•as though he were
about to hang or fasten on to" the hare. The verb inhaereo can also
be used to describe the embrace of a lover (cf. Trist. 1.3. 79). iam
iamque tenere: with these words, Ovid reveals the model for this part
198
ovm's Metamorphoses
of the simile, namely, Vergil's comparison of the purs?it of Tu~us
by Aeneas inAen. 12.754 to the chase of a deer by a baymg, snappmg
hound (haeret hians, iam iamque tenet similisque tenenti). Ovid has
transferred the grim epic situation to this erotic context, V.:here, as we
shall see, the outcome is ambiguous (though Daphne, llke Tumus,
ceases to be human). sperat 536: Apollo still hopes in vain (cf. 491,
496). extento ... rostra: a literal picture of a hound just grazing the
feet of its prey as it strains its·muzzle (and snapping teeth) forward.
an sit conprensus 537: indirect question, an replacmg utrum_, as Roman
writers often did. The perfect passive is not entirely logtcal; surely
the hare would have known whether it had been caught (for there
would be pain to inform it). The form presumably replaces present
passive subjunctive, unmetrical comp~ehendatur; th~ shorter and_~et­
rical comprendatur does not appear If! Augustan literature. erzpltur
538: passive for reflexive (or middle); "it tears itself away." relinquit:
the simile ends with the same verb as in 526.
virgo: first use of this word for Daphne or for any human female. It
539
will recur frequently hereafter in contexts of_ rape ~r ~ear-rape. The
synaloephe (elision) with est at the caesura IS n~t m Itsel~ unusual,
but nonnal practice links the est syntactically with the elided word
and makes the caesura functional as a sense-pause. Here, the caesura
and synaloephe obscure the sense-units.
.
_
540- insequitur: obviously, Apollo (cf. 504, 511, 532). penms a~zu~us
amoris: as BOmer nicely observes, it is important not to capitalize
42
amoris, because Cupid has decisively doomed Apollo's pa_ssion and
the winged "help" he gets from his own love will result m a most
ironic "catch." With these wings, he becomes like a bird of prey (cf.
506). Four clauses crowded into 541-42, each slightly longer than
the previous one, emphasize the gradual superiority of Apollo as ~e
overtakes Daphne. crinem sparsum cervicibus 542: the loose hair,
which Ovid has described as catching Apollo's attention (497-98)
and blown back by the breeze while she flees (529), here see~~ to
him, as he looms over her, to spread over her neck. For a stmtlar
description of a pursuer breathing on the hair and neck of a fleeing
.
.
.
nymph, cf. Arethusa's story in 5.6!6-17.
543- expalluit: this verb is restricted to the perfect tense ~nd, I~ Ovid, to
this particular form. Pallor serves as a sign of exhaustiOn. v1cta l~ore
45
fugae 544: cf. Arethusafessa Iabore fugae (5.618). Tel/us: Ovid has
not mentioned her before, and there is no evidence that Daphne appeals
to her as her mother, but as a corrunon refuge available to any human
being. It is thus conventional for people in desperation to ask the
earth to open up and swallow them. Cf. Dido's prayer in A en. 4._24;
her phrase is tellus ... dehiscat. Since death and total phystcal
disappearance run counter to the themes of Ovid's poem, Daphne
Book I
(Notes 546-55)-Apollo and Daphne
199
proposes an alternative, metamorphosis, in istam .. _jiguram. Her
beauty has caused her crisis-the imminence of rape-so her only
recourse is to destroy it. For a similar situation, where loss by change
of body answers the appeal for help, cf. 13.669 ff.
Daphne also appeals to her father with the formulaic fer . . . opem:
cf. 1.380, 647, 2. 700, 3.719, and 5.618. Unlike the Olympian deities,
rivers in Ovid's poem do not possess the power to transfonn others.
It is with the roles of Earth and Peneos that some of Ovid's readers
and thence the MSS had troUble. Our eariiest extant evidence (not all
that early) gives lines 544-46 as this text does. That means that Daphne
makes a stronger appeal to Tellus than to her father, that Tellus is
invoked as the agent of transformation. The two MSS that most
commonly seem to preserve the authentic text, MN, apparently had
those same three lines, but subsequently parts of 545 and 546 were
erased. Those erasures suggest that a later scribe wanted to change
MN to fit a different text found in other traditions. In those other
traditions, the role of Peneos is expanded. A new line 547 appears,
which assigns to the river the task of destroying Daphne's beauty by
metamorphosis. To prepare for it and make the father the first to
whom Daphne prays, 544 is altered to victa Labore fugae, spectans
Peneidas undas [=544a]. In fact, Ovid does not say which deity, if
either, answered the prayer. But the transformation into a tree (and
the later confusion as to Peneos' reaction to the change, 578) imply
that Tellus alone has acted with her earthly powers.
The juxtaposition of metamorphosis to the prayer requesting it suggests, but does not prove, that the gods have responded. torpor: since
the limbs are. in active motion of flight, this sudden heaviness is
especially striking. It might well inspire a statue such as Bernini's
famous group, where Daphne has just begun to turn into a laureL
occupat: a benevolent "occupation" in place of hostile or erotic (cf.
11.239) possession. cinguntur 549: Daphne's form now becomes
clothed or girt, as it were, with a thin covering of bark. Bernini shows
this effect nicely. The bark, of course, finally destroys the female
beauty, as Daphne wanted.
For feet to become roots is traditional; Ovid adds pathos by contrasting
"slow" with the recent "speedy". remanet nitor unus 552: the only
bit of physical continuity between the girl Daphne and the laurel is
the sensuously healthy glow of its leaves ( = skin).
hanc: Daphne in this altered form; but the feminine could also apply
to arbor and laurus, the new genus. stipite: the lovely body of the
girl has turned into a tree trunk. adhuc . .. novo 554: different aspects
of metamorphosis: continuity on the one hand and novelty on the
other.
ramos, utmembra: above at550, Ovid identified the source of branches
200
ovm's Metamorphoses
as bracchia. Here, he needs a shorter word. Apollo is m:owing his
56
arms around what once were Daphne's arms, in order to kiss _her; but
the botanical detail makes the scene silly rather than sentimental.
oscula 556: earlier, at 499, Apollo had been excited by her mouth
and the thought of kisses that could be planted there. But Daphne
continues to avoid the touch of the god.
557- cui: Apollo addresses the wood and personifies it, a comic to~ch that
59 Ovid emphasizes by moving back and forth between botan_Ical and
human terms. coniunx: it has been clear that ~polio_ has_ not mt:ncted
more than a passing sexual gratifi.catio~ for himself m _his pursmt and
'~love" of Daphne. Moreover, Apollo m myth never dtd have a longterm consort or "wife." arbor . .. mea 558: the exchange of tree for
wife, emphasized by the repeated but ~elayed possessi;e, shoul~ be
an anticlimax. Iaure 559: the new form IS at last n~ed tn.a vocauv.e.
560- The speech of Apollo to the laurel, because of Its subject and Its
formal use of second person singular pronouns, follows the patt~
61
of hymns and prayers. Ironically, after causing Daphne'~ destruction
by his "disrespect," the god appe~ to treat ti:e "wood" w1t~ rever~nce
and to appropriate it as a fit attnbute of his own wo~hip. d~czbus
Latiis: the laurel was a regular symbol of a Roman ~umph m ~he
crown worn by the celebrating generals. The MSS all g1ve t~e readmg
laetis, which would be acceptable in its~If•. b~t s~ei?s otlos~ when
the same adjective recurs in the line. Hem~ms bnlhant conJectun:,
Latiis, fits with Ovid's tendency to modernize myths, to stress. their
non-Greek applications. cane~ ; .. vi~ent 5.61: ~e verbs pm~t to
regular action of the future (Ovtd s and h~s audtence s pres~nt). Tnumphal parades started in the Campus Martms and, after passmg through
the Circus Maximus, made their way through the Fo~~ and ~p the
Via Triumphalis to the Temple of Jupiter on the Capttolme Hill.
postibus
Augustis: Augustus lived in a rather modest home .on t~e
56263 Palatine HilL In the Senatorial actions that focused on ~aking his
official name Augustus (instead of Octavian) in 27 B.c., .It was a.lso
decreed that a crown of oak leaves (which symbolized hts salvation
of citizens by ending civil war) be awarded him and.per:nan~ntly hun~
on his door, along with laurel to commemorate his v1ctones. stabls
... quercum 563: the detail indicates that laurel bushes were grobabl~
planted on either side of Augustus' doorway and thus could look at
the oak crown in between.
564- Apollo ends up with a comparison b~tween him~elf an~ the laurel ~at
seems strained syntactically and logically. The munedi~te connect10.n
65
between god and bush consists in the likeness of long barr on Apollo s
head and foliage crowning the laurel bush. Therefore,. he may be
thought to be saying that, as his hair is the eternal crownmg glory of
his handsome young head, so the laurel will have an eternal crown
Book I
(Notes 566-67)-Apollo and Daphne
20 I
of evergreen foliage. The recent translation of A. D. Melville has
made that point: "My brow is ever young, my locks unshorn; I So
keep your leaves' proud glory ever green." The repetition of "ever"
regularizes the comparison that Ovid made patently irregular. Even
after explicating the comparison and its syntax, problems remain.
First, the exact sense ofjrondis honores. Is the genitive, as translation
and discussion so far have implied, objective? Does the foliage receive
honor from its greenery,.and is that v.:hat Apollo, in his still warm
affection for Daphne, desires? The parallel phrase at 449, frondis
honorem, at the beginning of this narrative, seems to negate that
interpretation. There, the foliage is possessive; it confers honor. And
that, after all, is what Apollo wants. The second problem arises as
to the start of the comparison. Is it neutral, or is the god naively proud
of his youth? Does he aim to exploit this laurel, which he has now
appropriated, as his eternal ornament?
566- Paean: this name properly attaches to Apollo in his capacity as healer.
67 However, Apollo has healed nothing; he has promoted his own triumph
over frustration. factis modo: another formulaic way of referring to
metamorphosis. ramis I adnuit: the verb, which means to nod assent
(by a forward movement among the Romans), would assume that the
instrumental ablative refers to the head. Earlier, Ovid said that the
girl's arms became branches (550) and that Apollo embraced them
(i.e., her arms and waist) with his arms (555). Now, apparently we
must ignore that equation and imagine the branches that lead into the
crowning foliage, which are then part of the whole nodding movement.
utque flaput ... cacumen: at 552, Ovid made the treetop take over
the human face. At the end, then, the humanity inside the laurel,
which resisted Apollo's efforts to continue his amatory purposes,
acquiesces in the "nobler" designs of the god. Ovid leaves it unclear
whether Apollo's triumph is her defeat or her victory, too. Such
ambiguity is not an atypical conclusion.
Io (568-746)
The final story of Book I reuses elements of the Daphne-story, but
in this case Ovid features Jupiter as lover of the nymph, and the love
(or lust) quickly results in rape. Ovid then continues with new storymotifs: namely, the guilt of Jupiter as not only rapist but also adulterer,
his trivial sense of morality and commitment as lover, the jealousy
of Juno, a new reason for metamorphosis, the continued human awareness of Io after metamorphosis and her half-comic, half-tragic sense
of suffering, and finally her restoration as a human being (or nymph).
Ovid is a master of this technique of theme and variation.
The story of Io can be traced back to the Greek epic cycles, but