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Page 351 133 huc adde: the imperative might continue to refer to Cadmus, or it 35 might now address the Ovidian audience. genus de coniuge tanta: one might have expected tantum with genus, but the MSS universally agree on the ablative, which emphasizes the eminence of this semi- divine wife. natas natosque 134: a few MSS have chauvinistically assumed that sons would always take priority over daughters and reversed the nouns. However, Cadmus seems to have had only one son, named Polydorus; he disappears rather quickly, yielding center stage to his four sisters, whose tragic stories inspire Ovid in most of Books 3 and 4. pignora cara: children and grandchildren are consid- ered "guarantees" of the family and its prosperous survival. The metaphor is ironic in the case of Cadmus' grandsons. iam iuvenes 135: the third generation has already reached young manhood; about fifty years had passed. 135 homini 136: dative of agent with passive periphrastic. The sentiment 37 is particularly attributed to Solon by Herodotus 1.32, who then demon- strates the truth of Greek wisdom by tracing the ruin of Croesus.

Actaeon (138252) Having mentioned Cadmus' grandsons, Ovid proceeds to follow their wretched fates, ignoring strict chronology in favor of narrative importance. The two who appear in Book 2 are Actaeon and Pentheus, and Ovid places them not together, but at the start and end of the book. Why he chooses to start with Actaeon, Autonoe's son, instead of Pentheus, he does not say. I suspect that Actaeon serves immediate poetic purposes better because he is a hunter who suffers the wrath of Diana, and his story can be seen as parallel to those of other unfortunate hunters, notably Callisto. The myth of Actaeon knew several variants. Always a hunter, young Actaeon was early presented as one who outraged Diana, whether by challenging her to a competition in hunting, by violating her sanctuary, or by trying to rape her (cf. Hyginus 180), and for his guilt he was changed into a deer and hunted to his death by his own hounds. At latest by the time of Callimachus, Actaeon's "crime" had become less outrageous: he had chanced upon Diana bathing. Ovid takes that situation and builds it into a powerful story of human innocence abused, as was Callisto's innocence, by a ruthless deity. Actaeon, in Ovid's narrative, had no intention of spying on Diana, accidently stumbled onto her bathing, and, before he even had a chance to react, was branded as guilty and punished with metamorphosis by the indignant, plainly unjust goddess. As a deer, Actaeon does not stand a chance. Trapped inside the animal form, he cannot communicate his human feelings, and he dies a helpless beast of prey, torn to

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Page 352 bits by his own dogs who are urged on by his own recent hunting companions. The pathos of this human deer and the cruelty of angry, unreasonable Diana align us with the innocent victim. In terms of the basic theme of beholding the forbidden and holy, Actaeon is even less guilty and more abused than his grandfather Cadmus, who was innocent in his trespassing on the dragon's lair, but brought trouble on himself by attacking and killing this creature of Mars. 138 The poet begins his story, avoiding the name of Actaeon and describing 40 him for the clever audience through key details, namely, the horns on his head (an allusion to his becoming a deer) and his death as victim of his own dogs. The name Actaeon will finally first appear when the deer vainly tries to identify itself as the prince before falling prey to the hounds (cf. 230 below). The word order of 13839 may be simplified as follows: prima causa luctus inter . . . secundas fuit nepos. Notice that the poet once again addresses Cadmus. The circumlocutions to avoid naming Actaeon allow the poet to introduce (in 13940) key elements of the tragic tale he plans to tell. But they do not seem tragic at this stage, especially with the apostrophe to the dogs. 141 si quaeras . . . invenies 142: a mixed condition of subjunctive and 42 indicative. The second person may continue the conversation with Cadmus and offer him comfort, but the audience would naturally feel addressed by it, too. The narrator is raising the common question about a sudden, cruel death: what did the dead man do to deserve his death? He insists, against earlier tradition about Actaeon, that, if there was a misdeed, it should be attributed to fortune. Then, he goes on to contrast scelus and error: scelus would be an act of deliberate evil (such as openly insulting Diana from foolish pride); error would be accidental wandering, whether literally from the path or figuratively from the truth. It turns out that Actaeon's mistake is one of literal wandering (cf. 174 ff.). He did not mean to intrude on Diana's bath, and he certainly does not have time to think of scelus before she angrily punishes him. 143 infectus: the verb of dyeing has so many bad connotations, e.g., 45 "soaked, infected, poisoned," that it is hard to read this description of animal slaughter as neutral. Ironically, the blood of other animals that he has copiously shed as the story opens will be matched (and avenged) by the hunter's own blood at the end, blood shed from a seeming animal. dies medius 144: Ovid devotes two lines to the representation of high noon (cf. 50). In the Met., this is a frequent setting for disaster. meta . . . utraque 145: ablative of place from which, without preposition. The metaphor of a racetrack is common

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Page 353 for the Sun, especially since he is imagined to drive a chariot and four swift horses. The two metae or turning posts are the east from which he rises and west where he sets. Ovid slows down the rhythm in 145 with four spondees just before introducing his main character. 146 iuvenis . . . Hyantius: first of several epic circumlocutions designed 47 to avoid naming the "hero." The adjective probably appears here for the first time in Latin; it means "Boeotian." Along with placido . . . ore, it frames the scene. Actaeon's serenity is designedly emphasized, in contrast to the common tradition about his violence and arrogance. He is almost an ideal Vergilian prince. 148 Like the narrator in 143, Actaeon registers in 148 the bloody success of 49 he hunt, and perhaps he distances himself from its cruel wastefulness. fortunamque dies habuit satis 149: one early fragment emended the accusative to partitive genitive with satis, but the change is unnecessary. In light of the narrator's introduction at 141, the statement here by Actaeon must seem ironic. He thinks of fortune as favorable and asks no more of it after his hunting successes; but fortune now has a crime to inflict on him. Its day has just begun. 149 altera lucem / cum . . . Aurora reducet: the normally initial temporal 52 cum yields to more significant words. Instead of saying "another day," Actaeon expands with a description of Dawn (which he will never see). Phoebus utraque / distat idem terra 15152: variant on 145. idem replaces ex aequo, and utraque . . . terra replaces the racing image of the turning post with the limits of the earth. 153 tollite lina: Actaeon's speech ends on the same word with which it 54 began. That suggests not only Ovid's cleverness but also the prince's sense of order. The hunters have used nets to trap the deer: now they are to take them up. intermittuntque laborem 154: we have already had descriptions of tired hunters and the ways in which they relieve their toil. Ovid does not need to spell that out. However, earlier tired hunters rested only with drastic results. When Ovid stops here and turns to another hunter, he is either breaking or postponing a pattern. 155 The poet begins an ecphrasis without indicating its pertinence to what 58 has preceded. Actaeon has apparently been on a mountain (cf. 143); now the scene shifts, by this description, to a thickly wooded valley. There was a spring near Plataea, below the mountains, which the Greeks called Gargaphie. Ovid is the first to name the valley such. succinctae . . . Dianae 156: as the huntress goddess, Diana hitched up her long robes to facilitate the chase. In both 9.89 and 10.536, Ovid uses the phrase ritu succincta Dianae to liken other women to the goddess. antrum nemorale 157: this is the second cave in Book 3, and it acquires menace from the previous one. arte laboratum nulla 158: ostensibly, Ovid means only that it is a natural cave; but he also

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Page 354 refers to the contemporary Augustan delight in artificial caves, which were planned for aristocratic gardens, as later in eighteenth century England. 158 Not content with praising the artlessness of Nature, the narrator argues 60 that Nature is a superior artist, working with its own genius. It had constructed an arch from native stone. The dragon's cave also had an arch (cf. 30). the picturesque focus of its threat. pumice . . . tofis 15960: ablative of material with the customary ex omitted. Both of these materials derive from volcanic regions; they were soft and easily worked. 161 The spring matches the fresh water abundantly gushing near the drag- 62 on's cave in 31 (cf. 27); the similarity of the two settings implies similarity of trouble for Actaeon. tenui . . . unda: ablative of respect. The adjective, applied to water, means "clear." The transparency of water connotes freshness and purity, and it befits the virginal goddess. However, when Actaeon stumbles onto the scene, we can suspect a less dignified relevance in the word: he can see through the liquid the naked body of Diana, or so she suspects. In 162, Ovid completes his picture of false idyllic serenity. Right up to the very opening of the spring, grass grows and frames it. There is no mud, no rough stones: it is perfect, another masterpiece of Nature the artist. hiatus 162: accusative with perfect passive participle; cf. 1.265, 270. 163 dea silvarum: Ovid invents a plausible epithet for Diana. venatu fessa: 64 the tired huntress, like Callisto, has been the target for rape in earlier lines. However, Ovid created two tired hunters, and both settle down to relax. How is he going to bring them into relationship and make one victim, the other aggressor? The language of 164 is ostentatiously literary, putting special poetic emphasis on the site of Diana's bath. 165 nympharum . . . uni: although this is the first indication of the presence 67 of nymphs with the goddess, stories and paintings regularly assign her such companions; they attended her in the account of Callisto. armigerae 166: Plautus used this word in comedy, but Vergil treated it as an epic compound. Ovid's innovation is to use it for a female. This first nymph takes various items of hunting (each recalling the scene of Callisto's disarming before rest and rape, 2.419 ff.). Others take her clothes. subiecit bracchia 167: like a lady's maid, this nymph held out her arms so that the robe could be neatly laid out on them. 168 It takes two maids to remove Diana's sandals. From the feet, Ovid 70 jumps up to the head, where specially skilled Crocale arranges the hair for the bath. Normally, Diana wears her hair loose (sparsos), as her maids continue to do. But for obvious convenience during the bath, she has her tresses bound in a knot. Most readers recognize that Ovid indulges in anachronism here by describing Diana as an imperious Roman lady who is waited on by a large set of servants. Ismenis 169:

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Page 355 Theban, derived from the nearby river. Ovid invents the epithet. At 171, Diana, completely nude, with her hair properly arranged, is ready for her bath. In the usual written and pictorial versions, she plunges into a pool (exactly as she did earlier in 2.459). But Ovid has started to describe her as a rich Roman matron, and so her bath must be in Augustan style: servants must draw water in urns and pour it over her as she stands. Thus, he adds five more attendants to the five he has already allotted the goddess, and this time he ostentatiously names them. The names are all Greek, several associated with water, and they all have a mellifluous dactylic flow (except Ranis). The light rhythm results in five dactyls in 171 and two initial dactyls in 172. 173 perluitur . . . lympha: careful alliteration with liquid l. solita: cf. 76 solebat 163. Titania: Diana was granddaughter of the Titan Coeus by her mother Latona. ecce nepos Cadmi 174: here, the poet suddenly interrupts the sedate bath and switches our attention back to Actaeon, now presented with another epithet that reminds us of the ominous theme of precious family members (cf. 134, 138). dilata . . . la- borum: this clause picks up 154, where we left the hunter. Now perhaps we realize that Ovid did not give Actaeon there a setting for rest, and he fills in the deficiency here by bringing him to Diana's idyllic spot, as an unwitting intruder, not as a rapist. The details of 175, climaxing in the thematic errans, force the innocence of the boy on us, the audience. In one of his poems from exile (Tr. 2.131 ff.), Ovid used the innocence of Actaeon as in this version to parallel his own guiltlessness in connection with Augustus. He thus seems to have had a special feeling about this Theban prince. sic illum fata ferebant 176: more of the same emphasis, with fata serving loosely as the equivalent of fortuna earlier in 141. Ovid has simplified a famous line of Vergil, where the audience was offered by cautious Aeneas a choice of explanations for the enthusiasm of some Trojans to bring the horse inside the walls: sive dolo seu iam Troiae sic fata ferebant (Aen. 2.34). The biased narrator allows us no choice here, nor is this a situation with massive epic import. 177 qui simul intravit: by using the relative as a connective with 176, 79 Ovid seems to continue his focus on Actaeon. But again he surprises us by veering away from his "hero" at this key moment, when, if we were in his shoes, we certainly would have reacted in some way. Ovid denies us the satisfaction of attributing any reaction whatsoever to the prince, thus by deliberate omission implying his lack of guilt. rorantia fontibus antra: poetic plural, presumably to facilitate the dactylic ending of the participle. The phrase summarizes details of 15762. sicut erant, viso nudae . . . viro 17879: the MSS early fell into two camps over this passage. With the above text, Ovid does not limit the picture of the nymphs "as they were," and so invites us to

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Page 356 recall the whole scene of the ten attendants collected around their mistress. He has not told us that they were also nude, nor do they seem so much concerned over their own nudity as that of Diana. A rival reading of good MSS gives nudae viso, which would presumably require punctuation after the first word and its grouping with sicut erant. The passage would then put the emphasis on the nude nymphs, who at sight of a man shrieked because of their nudity. That seems a misplaced emphasis, and the reading has been rejected. Ovid certainly wants us to picture the pretty nudes and their disarray, so as to wonder about Actaeon's response and be surprised and disappointed by its elision. We supply the erotic element that innocent Actaeon and irately virginal Diana have eliminated from the anticipated situation. 179 ululatibus: howling or shrieking of women that can fit a variety of 82 circumstances, though, as here, it often accompanies panic and dis- tress. Vergil before Ovid in Aen. 7.395 described how women filled the air with shrieking. circumfusaeque 180: the passive functions in a middle" or reflexive sense. The simple verb might ironically recall fundunt of 172 and point to the confusion caused by Actaeon. It also helps Ovid to compose a rare four-word hexameter here. tamen altior . . . supereminet omnes 18182: Ovid exploits another famous passage of Vergil, who introduced Dido through a simile about Diana (bor- rowed in turn from Homer) and put special emphasis with the same final words on the imposing size of queen and goddess. In Vergil's simile, however, Diana, like Dido, grand and majestic, advances among her lesser companions. Cf. Aen. 1.498502. In Ovid's passage, on the contrary, the tallness of Diana stirs our erotic responses (but apparently not Actaeon's). The taller the goddess, the less the nymphs shield and the more she exposes. Ovid fussily specifies, where Vergil does not need to, that we can see the goddess down to her neck. 183 Diana blushes with modesty and wrath, and Ovid develops that blush 85 pictorially by simile. He seems to refer to opposite times of day, sunset and sunrise. ab ictu: strictly speaking, the preposition is unnecessary. purpureae Aurorae 184: a rare double spondee so organized that hiatus occurs and metrical stress falls on the final syllable of the adjective, where the word is not accented; and thus the usual coincidence in the fifth foot disappears. Since red sunsets and colorful dawns strike us as beautiful, we may be lulled by this simile into eroticism and then be shocked, by Ovid's intention, at the drastic actions of Diana. visae sine veste 185: a deliberate understatement. As the narrator seems to attenuate the gravity of the situation, he actually broaches the basic theme of the story: the automatic disaster of those who see the forbidden. 186 quamquam comitum turba stipata: quamquam with participle renders

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Page 357 89 precisely our English "although closely pressed." Ovid is recalling the actions of Diana's maids at 18081. Feeling still exposed, the goddess turns her body and her head sharply to keep prying eyes from seeing her sexual parts and her face. The famous statue of the crouching Venus seems to assume that that goddess has been intruded upon, too, while bathing and modestly tries to prevent erotic inspection. ut vellet . . . sic hausit 18889: correlative clauses. "Much as she wanted . . . still she drew some water." The subjunctive is not normally employed in such clauses. Ovid may suggest, as Bömer believes, the form of Diana's wish (ut vellem), or he may seek a metrically useful alternative for volebat or voluit. quas . . . aquas: in his typical manner of creating suspense, Ovid puts the relative clause before its anteced- ent. Diana "had" water, of course, in the pool pouring over her nude body or immediately available in one of the urns of her attendants. 189 Splashing Actaeon's face and hair, Diana immediately causes his 93 metamorphosis to start there (19495), but she continues to change the rest of the body (19697), to complete the deer-form. ultricibus undis 190: the water, personified, carries out the vengeful purposes of the goddess. cladis 191: objective genitive. posito visam velamine 192: another delicate circumlocution for nudam visam (cf. 185). Here, Ovid uses ablative absolute. The most even Diana attributes to Actaeon is open boasting that he has seen her nude. This is a long way from the blasphemy or lust assigned him in earlier tradition. (That will differentiate him considerably from his cousin Pentheus later in Book 3.) By starting the metamorphosis at the head, she rapidly robs him of the capacity of speech (cf. 210). narres: at first, this seems a jussive subjunctive, but then the delayed licet changes its syntax and reduces the certainty of narration. 193 sparso 194: cf. spargens 190. vivacis cornua cervi: starting from the 95 horns that rise above the head, Ovid works his way down the external form of the deer, before focusing on key internal features (198 ff.). This phrase comes verbatim from Vergil Ecl. 7.30, where horns are, fittingly enough, dedicated to Diana. It was a fixed popular belief that deers lived a long life. Here, the adjective is ironic, because as a deer Actaeon will meet his death in minutes. Like Io in 1.64041, he will be shocked to see his horns reflected in a pool (cf. 2001). The next changes require in 195 broadening the human neck and tipping the human ears. In Hawthorne's The Marble Faun, and in the Roman statue that inspired the novel, the faun has tipped animal ears, the only external indication of his special nature. cacuminat: invented by Ovid for this line and used only here. 196 Once she has started the changes in parts where the water splashed, 97 Diana continues on to parts where the water did not touch. cum

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Page 358 pedibusque manus: taking his viewpoint from the front of the beast, the narrator now registers what happens to the hands and arms, which become feet and legs, obviously forelegs. In converting a human biped to a quadriped, the imagination has no difficulty in changing legs to back legs: the dramatic change occurs when arms become forelegs, and the erect human being falls down on all fours. (Cf. the transforma- tion of Callisto at 2.476 ff.) Loss of hands also means loss of the gesture of human prayer and appeal; which frustrates Io and Callisto and becomes emblematic of the fatal helplessness of Actaeon (cf. 24041). velat . . . corpus 197: instead of indicating that the white human skin becomes a dappled hide, Ovid suggests that the human being is "veiled," as if enclosed, by the hide. Thus, he is able to continue with his special thematic situation: human consciousness struggling to cope with animal form and to communicate with its former human associates. 198 additus et pavor est: the verb echoes addidit at 191, as Ovid switches 99 from physical to psychological changes. Fear, characteristic of a deer, is antipathetic to the bold human hunter, and Actaeon is surprised and confused by what happens to him: he flees. fugit Autonoeius heros: the narrator seems to lighten the tone momentarily by catching the comic paradox. The epic epithet and the noun heros set up a context with which the verb clashes (cf. 2.676). The epithet creates another circumlocution to avoid naming Actaeon, here referring to his mother Autonoe, Cadmus' daughter. It is another flamboyant neologism of Ovid, used only here in Latin. The poet has packed much art into this line, including five dactyls to reinforce the speed of the unheroic flight. cursu . . . in ipso 199: in the act of running. Needless to say, a deer runs much more swiftly than a human being, and the man inside the deer is amazed to see how much ground he (ambiguity of se) covers. 200 in unda: since he has raced away, Actaeon does not see his new 1 reflection in Diana's spring. It must be in some forest pool, where he pauses. vox nulla 201: start of the fatal series of frustrations for the "human deer." He cannot voice his self-pity; later, he will not be able to call out his name (cf. 22930). 202 ingemuit: Ovid echoes the scene where Callisto expresses her human 3 despair and frustration with bear-like groans (cf. 2.48586). He as- signs pathetic tears here to Actaeon, which he omits from the description of Callisto (because less surprising in a woman?). But he takes pains to comment in both cases on the original mens or human consciousness that survives the metamorphosis inside the animal form. 204 quid faciat? deliberative subjunctive. Ovid used the same phrase earlier 5 as his narrator intruded to invite the audience to share the uncertainty of Phaethon in 2.187. Often, as here, the words introduce a dilemma

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Page 359 (Latin, dubitatio) that can be explored. For the first person quid faciam, cf. Narcissus below at 3.465. The problem of this man-deer points to his double identity: as Actaeon, he wants to go back to the palace, but as deer he needs to hide in the woods, hoc . . . illud 205: usually, in Latin, these words mean respectively ''the latter" and "the former" (i.e., the nearer and the farther) in reference to two previously stated alternatives. Thus, the prince's shame (and pride) interferes with his return to the palace, and the fear he has acquired as a deer deters him from facing wild animals in the woods. 206 dum dubitat: Ovid alludes to the rhetorical dubitatio, with which he is playing. videre canes: this settles all uncertainties. The deer will act, but will not be able to hide: he will have to race away again (cf. 228). Up to this point, Ovid has not mentioned the hunting dogs with Actaeon; he has been saving them for this key juncture and the grotesque "epic catalogue" with which he will list a gigantic pack of thirty-five hounds in 20624, then add three more at 232. The names are all Greek, not because Ovid copied them from some handbook, but because he shows off his mastery of Greek and amuses his philhellenic audience in Rome. This catalogue is an Ovidian tour de force. Hyginus 181 greatly expands Ovid's list, attempting somewhat clumsily to arrange the dogs into males and females. 206 Two hounds, Spartan Melampus and Cretan Ichnobates, start the 8 chase; both types are noted for speed. Their names mean "Black-foot" and "Tracker." 209 Ovid supports the quick rush of the pack with three straight dactyls 10 in 209. The three names in 210 mean respectively "All-consuming," "Sharp-eyed," and "Mountain-ranging." Arcades omnes 210: this phrase looks like a clever variant on Vergil's Arcades ambo (Ecl. 7.4); Vergil was talking about two herdsmen, proper residents of pastoral Arcadia, whereas Ovid refers to three dogs. 211 The three names of this line mean "Deer-killer," "Hurricane," and "Hunter." 212 Feet are especially good for "Wing-foot," and the nose for "Chase." 213 Hylaeus ("Made-of-wood") had recently been struck, no doubt lightly, by the tusk of a boar. 214 Nape's mother has mated with a wolf; her name means "Wooded 15 glen." Poemenis, "Shepherdess," gets her name from her function described in 214. Harpy is an apt name for a hound. 216 Ladon, named for a river, has its flanks drawn up as it races along. Ovid devised the phrase and uses it metaphorically at 11.752 of a swift and maneuverable seagull. 217 This line consists exclusively of five names and connectives: "Runner," "Uproar," "Spotted," "Tiger," and "Courage." 218 Ovid varies the pattern with a neat chiasmus covering two hounds, Leucon ("Whitey") with white hair and Asbolos ("Soot") with black.

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Page 36 Ovid wrote much faster than Vergil, and he and his elegist friends had developed definite techniques to deal with metrical problems. For example, the reader will encounter instances of apostrophe where perhaps the narrator is being familiar with his characters, but also is availing himself of a means to avoid a long syllable: illa quidem nollet, sed te quoque, maxime Python, tum genuit, populisque novis, incognite serpens. (1.43889) The short syllable of the vocative enables the poet to achieve the expected dactyl in the fifth foot, whereas the ending of the nominative singular would have made a long syllable with the following consonant. (There is also an appealing impudence in the poet's apparent epic respect for the monster.) The need for a dactyl in the fifth foot helps to explain also the use and localization of third declension nouns, especially invented "epic-sounding" words ending in -men. To start from the opening of Book 1, note origine 3, tempora 4, semina 9, lumina 10, aëre 12, corpore 18, pace 25, pondere 26, levitate 28, litora 37, tellure 48, frigore 51, fulgora 56, flamina 59, sole 63, gravitate 67. The ablative singular of any such noun and the nominative or accusative plurals of neuter nouns gave Ovid the means of gaining a dactyl in the fifth foot. When you add the feminine nominative singular of first declension nouns and adjectives, the neuter plurals (nominative and accusative) of third declension adjectives and participles (e.g., omnia), and the active infinitives, you have accounted for the mass of Ovid's fifth feet. The often mechanical practices by which he ground out the endings of his lines resulted in what seem like stereo-typed clausules, such as: fiducia formae 2.731, 3.270, 4.687; crinibus angues 4.454, 495, 792; pectora palmis 2.584, 3.481, 5.473; causa plus 3-syllable genitive nouns like doloris 1.509, 736, laboris 4.739 or genitives of the gerund such as sequendi 1.507, dolendi 2.614, videndi 5.258. Ovid worked out some initial dactylic formulae also for the beginning of a narrative sequence; e.g., hactenus (2.610 and nine other times), protinus (1.128 and twenty-eight other lines), dixerat (1.367 and ten other times), dixet et (1.466 and

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Page 360 219 Lacon, like the Spartan that he is, has massive strength; Aello, as his whirlwind-name implies, runs swiftly. 220 Thoos means "Ready." Lycisce ("She-wolf") connotes ferocity in a hound. When Messalina, wife of the emperor Claudius, adopted that as her prostitute-name, it had other connotations. Cyprio: it is not clear whether this is a name or an adjective referring to the origins on Cyprus of this dog's breed. 221 Ovid spares us a name in 221 as he accumulates descriptive details 22 about Harpalos ("Greedy''), then continues in 222 with "Blackie" and "Soft-haired." 223 Another two-line unit, introducing the three offspring of a Cretan sire 24 and Laconian dam ("Furious," "Savage-toothed," and "Barker") as the genitive of description etymologizes the name. 225 quosque referre mora est: having devoted nineteen lines to this incred- 27 ible dog-catalogue, Ovid impudently smiles and says he will not waste timethough in fact he intends to list three more in 23233. We might call this passage the first "Shaggy Dog Story." As if to prove his serious haste, the poet avails himself of five dactyls in 225 and lavishes detail on the savage course of the hounds over varieties of terrain, which grows increasingly wild and pathless with each new detail. Note especially 227. 228 Now Ovid returns to Actaeon-deer, whom he abandoned at 206. 31 Covering roughly the same terrain as the hounds, he nevertheless accumulates pathetic details that point up the paradoxical changes that have befallen him. The hunted beast was, less than an hour ago, hunter in these very places. Next paradox in 229, supported by alliteration: he flees his own "creatures," who recently cowered before him and obeyed his every command. Even more pathetic paradox: his human consciousness yearns to identify himself as Actaeonhere at last the name occurs, just as he has ceased to be Actaeon except to himself but the quoted speech of 230 proves to be entirely imaginary. The reality is that he looks like a deer, and his physical features as a deer frustrate any emergence of his humanity. Hence, the poet captures the cruel irony in 231: not a word, apparently not even a sound, escapes the deer, and the air reverberates with the baying of the killer dogs. amino 231: dative of reference. The noun, synonymous with mens, reminds us of Ovid's special theme of dualism and frustration: the human consciousness persists, suffering and impotent, inside the animal form that conceals it. 232 As if to emphasize the sudden onslaught of the dogs, Ovid cleverly 33 introduces three new hounds, whose unexpected appearance he then explains in 23435. Two of them leap on the deer's back, the third on his shoulder. Their names are epic-sounding compounds, the last

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Page 361 actually Homeric: respectively, "Black-haired," "Tamer-of-wild- animals," and "Mountain-bred." 234 exierat: one early fragment and several good later MSS changed the 36 singular here to plural, thinking that the poet should refer to all three dogs. But Ovid is providing a gloss on the last dog's name: it, and it alone, knows all the short-cuts in the mountains, because they are its native haunts. dominum 235: Ovid placed this word in the same metrical position as it had in 230, to stress the ironic result of Actaeon's effort to identify himself as master. retinentibus illis: ablative absolute. The sound effects in 236 would go with the savage tearing of flesh. 237 iam loca vulneribus desunt: Ovid spares us the gory details of the 39 reduction of the deer's body: he is exclusively interested in the human feelings inside all this savagery. In agony, Actaeon tries to groan humanly, but the sound emerges neither quite human nor entirely deer-like. sonumque: object of habet in 239. quem . . . possit / cervus 23839: relative clause of characteristic qualifying the sound. iuga nota: another reminder of the irony noted in 228. querellis: the human lament that Ovid's audience knew especially from Roman elegy. However, Actaeon has lost the capacity to communicate as a human being. 240 The desperately wounded Actaeon-deer wants to assume the pose and 41 gestures of the suppliant. Ovid says he does succeed in kneeling apparently on its forelegs (once arms)but he lacks arms and hands to carry out the formulaic gesture. From the biased perspective of the narrator, the deer seems to be pleading with silent gaze as it looks around at dogs and hunters, but nobody else interprets the situation that way, alas for Actaeon. This scene has outdone that of Callisto's frustrated supplication in 2.477 and 487, but Ovid will still outdo this with Pentheus at 3.721 ff. 242 Failing to establish authority over his dogs, Actaeon also fails to 44 communicate with his hunting companions, who join in the kill. rabidum: this is the reading of two early fragments, against the prevail- ing rapidum of the later tradition. Considering that it is both more appropriate to hounds in hot pursuit and contact with the prey and also easily corruptible in a single letter, it should be accepted. ignari 243: Ovid presses the dramatic irony. Actaeona 24344: the name twice in the same metrical position gives the suggestion of repeated calls to the "absent" friend. 245 The poet explores the pathetic irony. The man inside the deer hears 46 every wordthat is the obvious point of the parenthesis at 245that his friends loudly address to the forest, hears them criticize him as lazy for missing this prey that luck has presented them (oblatae prae- dae 246).

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Page 362 247 vellet: subjunctive conveying the hopelessness of the wish (in a conces- 48 sive sense). Ovid neatly creates a pair of antitheses in the verbs abesse vs. adest and videre vs. sentire, which stress in the second terms the grim reality. 249 The subject of the plural verbs is clear from the reference to the dogs 50 in 248. They swarm over the body and literally tear it to pieces in the typical ending of hunts whose only rationale is the chase and kill (not the meat). dilacerant 250: this picture of the human being torn apart by animals goes back to the pathetic image Ariadne conjures in her fear: dilaceranda feris dabor (Catullus 64.152). The narrator explicates the irony: the dogs rend their master literally under the deer's form. The human being is what counts; he was still there for killing. 251 Heinsius took exception to these two lines and wanted to remove 52 them; but Ovid's narration turns from the innocent human victim to the needlessly vengeful goddess in order to invite our human protest and that of people within the narrative frame (cf. 253 ff.). finita . . . vita: ablative absolute. The final line of the story in 252 is nicely balanced around fertur, a verb that distances narrator and us from events. pharetratae: standard epithet of Diana the huntress; but ironically the last time we saw her she was not wearing her quiver or anything else to lend her dignity.

Semele (253315) From Diana, whose harshness against Actaeon stirs mixed comment in Thebes, Ovid turns to Juno, who nurses a grievance against Cadmus' daughter Semele. Semele has become pregnant by JupiterOvid leaves the circumstances untouchedand Juno dedicates herself to destroying this rival and the beauty of which she is so proud. Borrowing a device that Vergil had employed, the poet invents a dramatic scene where, disguised as Semele's loyal old nurse Beroe, Juno insidiously persuades the naive girl to try to act out her rivalry: to ask that her lover come to her in all the power and energy that he manifests to his divine wife. Swearing by the Styx, Jupiter makes his typical foolish promise before learning the details of Semele's wish, and so he must carry out the desire of his beloved even though it will prove fatal. When he does appear in full (or slightly attenuated) force, his divinity is of course too strong, when revealed, for a mere mortal. Having seen and experienced what is forbidden for a human being, Semele is incinerated. At the last minute, however, Jupiter rescues the embryo of the son, who will become irresistible Bacchus, and, after bringing it to full term on his own body, entrusts the newborn to Semele's

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