History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Volume I Part 26

The proper subject of this epithalamium is the festivals held in Thessaly in honour of the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis; but it is chiefly occupied with a long episode, containing the story of Ariadne. It commences with the sailing of the s.h.i.+p Argo on the celebrated expedition to which that vessel has given name. The Nereids were so much struck with the unusual spectacle, that they all emerged from the deep; and Thetis, one of their number, fell in love with Peleus, who had accompanied the expedition, and who was instantly seized with a reciprocal pa.s.sion. Little is said as to the manner in which the courts.h.i.+p was conducted, and the poet hastens to the preparations for the nuptials. On this joyful occasion, all the inhabitants of Thessaly flock to its capital, Pharsalia. Every thing in the royal palace is on a magnificent scale; but the poet chiefly describes the _stragula_, or coverlet, of the nuptial couch, on which was depicted the concluding part of the story of Theseus and Ariadne. Ariadne is represented as standing on the beach, where she had been abandoned, while asleep, by Theseus, and gazing in fixed despair at the departing sail of her false lover. Never was there a finer picture drawn of complete mental desolation. She was incapable of exhibiting violent signs of grief: She neither beats her bosom, nor bursts into tears; but the diadem which had compressed her locks-the light mantle which had floated around her form-the veil which had covered her bosom-all neglected, and fallen at her feet, were the sport of the waves which dashed the strand, while she herself, regardless and stupified with horror at her frightful situation, stood like the motionless statue of a Bacchante,-

"Saxea ut effigies Bacchantis prospicit Evoe; Non flavo retinens subtilem vertice mitram, Non contecta levi velatum pectus amictu, Non tereti strophio luctantes vincta papillas; Omnia quae toto delapsa e corpore pa.s.sim Ipsius ante pedes fluctus salis alludebant."

The above pa.s.sage is thus imitated by the author of the elegant poem _Ciris_, which has been attributed to Virgil, and is not unworthy of his genius:

"Infelix virgo tota bacchatur in urbe: Non styrace Idaeo fragrantes picta capillos, Cognita non teneris pedibus Sicyonia servans, Non niveo retinens baccata monilia collo."-v. 167.

Catullus, leaving Ariadne in the att.i.tude above described, recapitulates the incidents, by which she had been placed in this agonizing situation.

He relates, in some excellent lines, the magnanimous enterprize of Theseus-his voyage, and arrival in Crete: He gives us a picture of the youthful innocence of Ariadne, reared in the bosom of her mother, like a myrtle springing up on the solitary banks of the Euphrates, or a flower whose blossom is brought forth by the breath of spring. The combat of Theseus with the Minotaur is but shortly and coldly described. It is obvious that the poet merely intended to raise our idea of the valour of Theseus, so far as to bestow interest and dignity on the pa.s.sion of Ariadne, and to excuse her for sacrificing to its gratification all feelings of domestic duty and affection. Having yielded and accompanied her lover, she was deserted by him, in that forlorn situation, her deep sense of which had changed her to the likeness of a Bacchante sculptured in stone. Her first feelings of horror and astonishment had deprived her of the power of utterance; but she at length bursts into exclamations against the perfidy of men, and their breach of vows, which

-- "Cuncta aerii discerpunt irrita venti.

Jam jam nulla viro juranti femina credat, Nulla viri speret sermones esse fideles: Qui, dum aliquid cupiens animus praegest.i.t apisci, Nil metuunt jurare, nihil promittere parc.u.n.t.

Sed simul ac cupidae mentis satiata libido est, Dicta nihil metuere, nihil perjuria curant."

This pa.s.sage has been obviously imitated by Ariosto, in his _Orlando_-

"Donne, alcuna di voi mai piu non sia Che a parole d'amante abbia a dar fede.

L'amante per aver quel che desia, Senza curar che Dio tutto ode e vede, Avviluppa promesse, e giuramenti, Che tutti spargon poi per l'aria i venti."

After indulging in such general reflections, Ariadne complains of the cruelty and ingrat.i.tude of Theseus in particular, whom she thus apostrophizes-

"Quaenam te genuit sola sub rupe leaena?

Quod mare conceptum spumantibus exspuit undis?

Quae Syrtis, quae Scylla, vorax quae vasta Charybdis?"

These lines seem to have been suggested by the address of Patroclus to Achilles, near the commencement of the sixteenth book of the Iliad-

"-- ??? a?a s?? ?e pat?? ?? ?pp?ta ???e??, ??de Tet?? ?t?? ??a??? de se t??te Ta?a.s.sa, ?et?a? d' ???at??, ?t? t?? ?e?? ?st?? ap????."

Catullus, having put the expression of this idea in the mouth of a princess abandoned by her lover, it became a sort of _Formula_ for deserted heroines among subsequent poets. Thus Ovid, in the eighth book of his _Metamorphoses_-

"Non genitrix Europa tibi est, sed inhospita Syrtis, Armeniae tigres, austroque agitata Charybdis;"

and thus Virgil makes Dido address aeneas-

"Nec tibi Diva parens, generis nec Darda.n.u.s auctor, Perfide, sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens Caucasus, Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres."

Ta.s.so, who was a great imitator of the Latin poets, attributes, from the lips of Armida, a similar genealogy to Rinaldo-

"Ne te Sofia produsse, e non sei nato Dell' Azzio sangue tu. Te l'onda insana Del mar produsse, e 'l Caucaso gelato, E le mamme allattar de tigre Ircana."

Boileau had happily enough parodied those rodomontades in the earlier editions of the _Lutrin_; but the pa.s.sage has been omitted in all those subsequent to that of 1683-

"Non, ton pere a Paris ne fut point boulanger, Et tu n'es point du sang de Gervais, l'horloger; Ta mere ne fut point la maitresse d'une coche: Caucase dans ses flancs te forma d'une roche, Une tigresse affreuse en quelque antre ecarte, Te fit sucer son lait avec sa cruaute."

I do not think the circ.u.mstances in which Armida pours forth her reproaches are judiciously selected. The Ariadne of Catullus vents her complaints when her betrayer is beyond reach of hearing, and Dido, though in his presence, before he had taken his departure: But Armida runs after, and overtakes Rinaldo, in which there is something degrading. She expresses, however, more tenderness and amorous devotedness amid her revilings, than any of her predecessors-

"Struggi la fede nostra; anch'io t'affretto; Che dico nostra? Ah non piu mia: fedele Sono a te solo, idolo mio crudele!"

When she has ended her complaints of the cruelty and ingrat.i.tude of Theseus, Ariadne expresses a very natural wish, that the s.h.i.+p Argo had never reached her native sh.o.r.es-

"Jupiter Omnipotens, utinam ne tempore primo Gnosia Cecropiae tetigissent littora puppes."

Thus, apparently, imitated by Virgil-

"Felix, heu nimium felix! si littora tantum Nunquam Dardaniae tetigissent nostra carinae."

But both these pa.s.sages, it is probable, were originally drawn from the beginning of the Medea of Euripides-

"???' ?fe?' ?????? ? d?aptas?a? s?af??

?????? e? a?a? ??a?ea? s?p???ada?."

Catullus proceeds with a much closer imitation of Euripides-

"Nunc quo me referam? quali spe perdita nitar?

An patris auxilium sperem, quemne ipsa reliqui?"

which is almost translated from the Medea-

"??? p?? t?ap?a?; p?te?a p??? pat??? d????

??? s?? p??d??sa ?a? pat?a? af?????."

The grief and repentance of Ariadne are at length followed by a sense of personal danger and hards.h.i.+p; and her pathetic soliloquy terminates with execrations on the author of her misfortunes, to which-

"Annuit invicto clestum numine rector; Quo tunc et tellus, atque horrida contremuerunt aequora, concussitque micantia sidera mundus,"

an image probably derived from the celebrated description in the Iliad-?

?a? ??a?e?s??, &c. This promise of Jupiter was speedily accomplished, in the well-known and miserable fate of aegeus, the father of Theseus.

We are naturally led to compare with Catullus, the efforts of his own countrymen, particularly those of Ovid and Virgil, in portraying the agonies of deserted nymphs and princesses. Both these poets have borrowed largely from their predecessor. Ovid has treated the subject of Ariadne not less than four times. In the epistle of Ariadne to Theseus, he has painted, like Catullus, her disordered person-her sense of desertion, and remembrance of the benefits she had conferred on Theseus: But the epistle is a cold production, chiefly because her grief is not immediately presented before us; and she merely tells that she had wept, and sighed, and raved. The minute detail, too, into which she enters, is inconsistent with her vehement pa.s.sion. She recollects too well each heap of sand which r.e.t.a.r.ded her steps, and the thorns on the summit of the mountain.

Returning from her wanderings, she addresses her couch, of which she asks advice, till she becomes overpowered by apprehension for the wild beasts and marine monsters, of which she presents her false lover with a faithful catalogue. The simple ideas of Catullus are frequently converted into conceits, and his natural bursts of pa.s.sion, into quibbles and artificial points. In the eighth book of the _Metamorphoses_, the melancholy part of Ariadne's story is only recalled, in order to introduce the transformation of her crown into a star. In the third book of the _Fasti_, she deplores the double desertion of Theseus and Bacchus. It is in the first book of the _Art of Love_, that Ovid approaches nearest to Catullus, particularly in the sudden contrast between the solitude and melancholy of Ariadne, and the revelry of the Baccha.n.a.lians. Some of Virgil's imitations of Catullus have been already pointed out: But part of the complaint of Dido is addressed to her betrayer, and contains a bitterness of sarcasm, and eloquence of reproof, which neither Catullus nor Ovid could reach.

The desertion of Olimpia by Bireno, related in the tenth canto of the _Orlando Furioso_, has, in its incidents at least, a strong resemblance to the poem of Catullus. Bireno, Duke of Zealand, while on a voyage from Holland to his own country, touches on Frisia; and, being smit with love for Olimpia, daughter of the king, carries her off with him; but, in the farther progress of the voyage, he lands on a desert island, and, while Olimpia is asleep, he leaves her, and sets sail in the darkness of night.

Olimpia awakes, and, finding herself alone, hurries to the beach, and then ascends a rock, whence she descries, by light of the moon, the departing sail of her lover. Here, and afterwards while in her tent, she pours forth her plaints against the treachery of Bireno. In the details of this story, Ariosto has chiefly copied from Ovid; but he has also availed himself of several pa.s.sages in Catullus. As Ariosto, in his story of Olimpia, princ.i.p.ally chose Ovid for his model, so Ta.s.so, in that of Armida, seems chiefly to have kept his eye on Virgil and Catullus. But Armida is not like Ariadne, an injured and innocent maid, nor a stately queen, like Dido; but a voluptuous and artful magician,

-- "Che nella doglia amara Gia tutte non obblia l'arte e le frodi."

It has been mentioned, that the desertion of Ariadne was represented on one compartment of the coverlet of the nuptial couch of Peleus-on another division of it the story of Bacchus and Ariadne was exhibited. The introduction of Bacchus and his train closes the episode with an animated picture, and forms a pleasing contrast to the melancholy scenes that precede it. At the same time, the poet, delicately breaking off without even hinting at the fair one's ready acceptance of her new lover, leaves the pity we feel for her abandonment unweakened on the mind.

65. _Ad Ortalum_. This is the first of the elegies of Catullus, and indeed the earliest of any length or celebrity which had hitherto appeared in the Latin language. Elegies were originally written by the Greeks in alternate hexameter and pentameter lines, "versibus impariter junctis." This measure, which was at first appropriated to deplore misfortunes, particularly the loss of friends, was soon employed to complain of unsuccessful love, and, by a very easy transition, to describe the delights of gratified pa.s.sion:

-- "Querimonia primum, Post etiam inclusa est voti sententia compos."

Matters were in this state in the age of Mimnermus, who was contemporary with Solon, and was the most celebrated elegiac poet of the Greeks. Hence, from his time every poem in that measure, whatever was the subject, came to be denominated elegy. The mixed species of verse, however, was always considered essential, so that the complaint of Bion on the death of Adonis, or that of Moschus on the loss of Bion, is hardly accounted such, being written in a different sort of measure. In the strict acceptation of the term, scarcely any Greek elegy has descended to us entire, except perhaps a few lines by Callimachus on the death of Herac.l.i.tus.

This elegy of Catullus may be considered as a sort of introduction to that which follows it. Hortalus, to whom it is addressed, had requested him to translate from Callimachus the poem _De Coma Berenices_. He apologizes for the delay which had taken place in complying with the wishes of his friend, on account of the grief he had experienced from the premature death of his brother, for whom he bursts forth into this pathetic lamentation:-

"Nunquam ego te, vita frater amabilior, Aspiciam posthac; at certe semper amabo, Semper msta tua carmina morte canam; Qualia sub densis ramorum concinit umbris Daulias, absumpti fata gemens Ityli."