In
Odyssey VIII 271-368 the story is told how Aphrodite fell in love with with Ares.
Nothing abnormal you would say, but there is a problem: Aphrodite is married to
Hephaestos, the crippled smith of the god. Hephaestos is told by the Sun what
is going on and furious he makes a very thin and strong net to catch the two lovers
and indeed they are caught in fragrante
delicto!
Such
a Götterkomödie does not imply that the Greeks were careless about religion.
Funny stories about gods are as old as the Rig Veda and occur all over the
world. I think that there is more room for comic relief in polytheistic religions
and a greater possibility to humanize gods than in monotheistic religions,
where the only god must be as perfect as possible. It makes polytheistic
religions more fun to study! We must also keep in mind that the basis in
polytheistic religions is often not belief in a sacred text - like Christians
believe in the Bible and Muslims in the Quran - but ritual. However, Plato
scorned Homer for such stories and Greek philosophers had a quite different
concept of god and gods.
Such
a story could not be left aside by Ovid and he used it in book four of his
Metamorphoses. The context is that the daughters of king Minyas refuse to
attend the Bacchic rites. Instead they are spinning and shorten the time by
telling each other stories. Leuconoe tells the story of how the Sun once fell
in love. The prologue is the story about Mars and Venus and later Venus takes
revenge on the Sun by making him fall in love.
Ovid,
Metamorphoses IV 167-189
Desierat:
mediumque fuit breve tempus, et orsa est
dicere
Leuconoe: vocem tenuere sorores.
'hunc
quoque, siderea qui temperat omnia luce,
cepit
amor Solem: Solis referemus amores. 170
primus
adulterium Veneris cum Marte putatur
hic vidisse deus; videt hic deus omnia primus.
indoluit
facto, Iunonigenaeque marito
furta
tori furtique locum monstravit, at illi
et mens et quod opus fabrilis dextra tenebat 175
excidit:
extemplo graciles ex aere catenas
retiaque
et laqueos, quae lumina fallere possent,
elimat.
non illud opus tenuissima vincant
stamina,
non summo quae pendet aranea tigno;
utque
levis tactus momentaque parva sequantur, 180
efficit
et lecto circumdata collocat arte.
ut
venere torum coniunx et adulter in unum,
arte
viri vinclisque nova ratione paratis
in
mediis ambo deprensi amplexibus haerent.
Lemnius
extemplo valvas patefecit eburnas
185
inmisitque
deos; illi iacuere ligati
turpiter,
atque aliquis de dis non tristibus optat
sic
fieri turpis; superi risere, diuque
haec
fuit in toto notissima fabula caelo.
desino –sii:
to stop (i.e. the previous story)
medium:
in between
ordior - orsus sum:
to begin
teneo - tenui:
to hold, keep
hunc Solem
sidereus:
pertaining to the stars, starry (siderea omnia
= all stars)
tempero
(1): to temper
refero:
to tell
puto
(1): to regard
indolesco – indolui:
to be grieved (here with the abl. facto)
Iunoni-gena:
son of Iuno =Vulcan. Like his Germanic colleague Weyland he is cripple and
there are more examples of cripple (semi)divine smiths. It is not unlikely that
behind this theme there lies a social
reality of long ago: cripple men are unable to hunt or to work as a farmer or
herdsman, but what they can do is work as a smith.
maritus:
husband
furtum:
here: secret act, secret love
torus:
cushion (pars pro toto for bed)
monstro
(1): to show
illi:
ethical dative
excidit
governs both mens and (id,)
quod opus (this is called zeugma)
excido -
excidi: to drop down (excido mentem: to become mad, furious)
fabrilis dextra (manus):
right smith-hand
extemplo:
immediately
gracilis:
thin
aes, aeris:
bronze
catena:
chain
retia:
net
laqueus:
noose, snare
lumen, -inis:
as often: eye
fallo – fefelli –
falsus: to deceive
elimo
(1): to make
stamen, staminis
(n): thread
non summo quae pendet
aranea tigno = non aranea, quae pendet summon tigno
aranea:
spider
pendeo – pependi:
to hang down
tignum:
log, beam (tigmun specially refers to
building material, so the idea is the highest point in a house)
tactus, -us
(m): touch
momentum:
movement
parvus:
small
sequor - secutus sum:
to give way to, yield
efficio
–feci, -fectum: to put into work
lectus:
bed
circum-do (3) + dat.: to put around
colloco
(1): to place
venere:
poetic form of the 3 pl. plus.perf. ind.= venierant
in unum torum
vir, viri:
man, husband
vinclum
= vinculum: fetter, chain
paro
(1): design
in mediis amplexibus:
urbs condita construction: in the
midst of their embracings
ambo:
both
deprendo
(=deprehendo) – deprendi – deprensum: to
catch
Lemnius
= Vulcan. The island of Lemnos was
most dear to Vulcan and in the Odyssey he pretends to go there, making Mars
think it is save to go to Venus.
valvae:
the folds, valves of a door
patefacio:
to open
eburneus:
of ivory
iacuere poetic form of the 3 pl. plus.perf.
ind.= iacuerant
iaceo – iacui – iacitum:
to be thrown, lie
ligo
(1): to tie, bind
turpiter:
shamefully
dis
= deis
tristis:
sad. dis non tristibus: litotes: very
amused!
opto
(1): to wish. In the Odyssey it is Hermes who confesses to Apollo that he
wouldn’t mind being caught in this way making love to Aphrodite. I guess Ovid wouldn’t
have mind either
superi:
the (male) gods. Homer tells us that the goddesses didn’t want to look out of
shame.
diu:
for a long time
fabula:
`talk of the town’
Translation
(I could not resist to give a link to the translation by Arthur Golding of
1567, but there is a modern translation too on this site)
Maerten
van Heemskerck, Vulcan caught Venus and Mars in a net and shows them. (16th
century)
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