|
|
|
|
|
|
"vicimus! exclamat "mecum mea vota feruntur!"
exsultatque et vix animo sua gaudia differt
barbarus . . . |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
His cry of conquest marks a turning point. He now reveals the hidden savagery of his character and lifts the veil of assumed pietas (cf. 474 and 482). The first of the episode's four animal images follows at once, comparing him to an eagle carrying off a hare in its hooked talons (51618). The animal imagery will recur for the horrors of his crime (52729, 559) and for Procne's revenge (636f.), until it becomes reality in the metamorphosis at the end. In the tale's pattern of mimetic violence, the birds of prey initiate and close the cycle of crimes against kin (cf. 516f. and 673f.). Four interlocking motifs suppression of speech, corrupted pietas, barbarian status, and animality form the thematic armature of Ovid's tale. Together they shape the structure of reversals in which violence meets its condign punishment in an almost exact imitation of itself. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Time, Space, and Moral Order |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ovid also uses a more formal articulation of the action, punctuating the human events by a larger divine framework of seasonal or sacral time: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) iam tempora Titan
quinque per autumnos repetiti duxerat anni
cum blandita viro Progne . . . (43840);
(2) iam labor exiguus Phoebo restabat equique
pulsabant pedibus spatium declivis Olympi (486f.);
(3) signa deus bis sex acto lustraverat anno:
quid faciat Philomela? (571f.);
(4) tempus erat quo sacra solent trieterica Bacchi
Sithoniae celebrare nurus: nox conscia sacris (587f.). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of these temporal markers, the first sets the disaster into motion; the second introduces the success of Tereus' scheme; the third indicates the duration of Philomela's imprisonment; and the fourth leads her to freedom and vengeance. This temporal movement is measured by something grander than the impatience of human desire (cf. 514 and 653) or the necessary intervals of a long sea-voyage, although these too mark major stages of the narrative (cf. 422, 44446, 51120).24 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
24 There is also a progression here from the more or less neutral statements of the first two voyages to the third, which takes place under the sign of Tereus' lust, as his predatory eyes never leave Philomela (515). The significance of this last voyage is also marked by the suddenness of the violence in a cum-inversum clause after his arrival: iamque iter effectum iamque in sua litora fessis / puppibus exierant, cum rex Pandione natam / in stabula alta trahit . . . (51921). For other aspects of narrative structure see Ortega (1970) 215f.; Otis (1970) 408 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(footnote continued on next page) |
|
|
|
|
|