DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9261#0117
PHOSEON Lib. X.
J
Exanimem , inque Juo jafiantcm [anguine
corpus i
fieftluit: pariterque finus, pariterque capillos
Rupit; & indignis percujjit peBora palmis.
Queftaque cumfatis,At non tamen omniaveftri
Juris erunt, inquit. luttus monument a ma-
nebunt Jlf
Semper, Adoni, mei: repetitaque mortis imago
Annua plangoris peraget fimulamina noftri.
At cruor in florem mutabitur. an tibi quondam
Femineos artus in olentes vert ere menthas,
Perfephone, limit I nobis Cinyreius herosj^O
Invidiae mutatus erit?fic fata, cruor em
Netware odorato jpargit: qui taBus ab illo
Intumuit >• fic, ut pluvio perlucida coelo
Surgere bulla folet. nec plena longior hora
Facta mora eft, cum fios e [anguine concolor
ortus. 735
Qualem, quae lento celant fub cortice granum,
Punicaferrefolent: brews eft tamen ufus in illo.
Namque male haerentem, & nimia levita-
te caducum
Excutiunt idem,qui praeflant nomina iVenti.
PHOSES. Book X. 359
Down with fwifc Flight {he plung'd, nor Rage
forbore,
At once her Garments, and her Hair me tore.
With cruel Blows flie beat her guiltlefs Breait,
The Fates upbraided , and her Love confelt.
Nor fliall they yet (me cry'd) the Whole devour
With uncontroul'd, inexorable Pow'r :
For thee , loft Youth, my Tears and reftlefs Pain
Shall in immortal Monuments remain.
With folemn Pomp in annual Rites return'd,
Be thou for ever, my Adorns, mourn'd.
Could Pluto's Queen with jealous Fury ftorm ,
And Menthe to a fragrant Herb transform ?
Yet dares not Venus with a Change furprile,
And in a Flow'r bid her fall'n Hero rife ?
Then on the Blood fweet Nectar fhe beftows,
The fcented Blood in little Bubbles rofe:
Little, as rainy Drops, which flutt'ring fly,
Born by the Winds , along a low'ring Sky.
Short time enfu'd, till where the Blood was flied,
A Flow'r began to rear it's purple Head:
Such, as on Punick Apples is reveal'd,
Or in the filmy Rind but half conceal'd.
Still here the Fate of lovely Forms we fee,
So fudden fades the fweet Anemonie.
The feeble Stems, to ftormy Blafts a Prey,
Their fickly Beauties droop, and pine away.
The Winds forbid the Flow'rs to flourim long,
Which owe to Winds their Names in Grecian Song.
EXPLICATION OF THE XIV. & XV. FABLES.
THeocrkus, Bion, Hygin, Ant. Liberalis, not to
mention other Authors , relate the Hiftory of
the Amours of Venus and Adonis > and Ovid, who
has treated of the fame Subject has not taken Notice
of all the Ci'rcumftances of it. He does not fay , as
thefe Audioes have done > that Mars , jealous of the
Paflion whicSx Venus had for Adonis, implored the
Help of Diana; that this Goddefs, to gratify his Re-
venge, fent the Boar that deftroyed the Youth> or,
ftill, according to other Authors, that Apollo him-
felf took the Form of that Animal j that the beautiful
Adonis going down to the Kingdom of Pluto, Pro-
ferpine fell in love with him and refufed to return
him back notwithftanding the repeated Orders of Ju-
piter : That Jupiter , being apprehenfive of dis-
pleafing both the Goddefles , referred the Decifion
of this Affair to Calliope , who thought to fatisfy
both Parties by ordering that Adonis mould fpend one
part of his Time with the Queen of Hell, and the
other with Venos: That it took up a Year before fo
delicate an affair could be determined > and that the
Hours, deputed to Pluto, brought Adonis at laft to
the Earth: And laftly that Venus to be revenged on .
Calliope, inftigated the Women of Thrace to kill her
Son Orpheus in the manner that Ovid has related it.
Almoft all the Mythologifts have applied this Fable
cither to NaturaJ Philofophy or Morality > for my
Part I believe the Foundation of it to be merely His-
torical. Cicerotells us, that there were feveralPer-
sons who had the Name of Venus■, and that the Fourth,
furnamed Aftarte, was of Syria , and had married
Adonis. That young Prince was the Son of Cinyras,
^ho, according to Homer, reigned in the Ifland of
Cyprus about the Time of the War of Troy. The An-
cients differ very much about his Genealogy, and we
find all their Opinions in Meziriac, on Ovid's Epijlles:
Tom. I. Tag. 3 57, &c. Apollodorus and Hygin may
aho be confulted upon this Fable, who mention fe-
(1) De Nat. De»r. Lib. III.
THE END OF TH
Tom. II.
veral Circumftances of it to which all other Authors
were entirely ftrangers. However this may be, Ado-
nis was a pallionate Lover of Hunting, and being one
Day at that Exercifein the Foreft of sAoxmt Libanus ,ii
Wild Boar wounded him in the Groin. The News
of this Accident threw Aftarte into an infupportable
Affliction. She made the City of Byblos echo to her
Groans, and all Syria put on Mourning. To make
the Memory of that young Prince immortal, Feafts
were eftablifhed in his Honour, which were to be re-
newed every Year: This Method was the common
Reffource of Courtiers upon the like Occafions and
Antiquity owes raoft of it's Gods to the Care they took
to honour the Dead in order to make themfelves more
agreeable to the Living.
I will not fpeak here of thofe Feafts of Adonis, upon
which I have made a Diflertation printed in the Third
Tome of the Memoirs of the Academie des Belles
Lettres. 1 mail only fay, That the Syrians, after ha-
ving mourned feveral Days for Adonis , rejoiced as if
he had been raifed again from the Dead, whence I con-
clude that he did not die of his Wound, and that the
Phyfician Cocutus cured him contrary to all Expec-
tation: That this Cure was looked upon as a Prodigy:
That the Syrians teftified their Joy at it by a Second
Feaft which was named . .. The Return: And that the
double Solemnity was continued during the reft of his
Life and even after his Death: In a word , that from
Syria and the Ifle of Cyprus, where the Worftiip of
Adonis began, it fpread into Judea> into Ajia Minor,
and feveral other Countries.
Several learned Authors believe that Adonis was
the fame Perfon with Ofiris and that the Affliction of
Venus reprefented that of J lis at the Death of her
Husband. But I have juft mentioned the Difference
there was in the Feafts and Worftiip of thefe two
Princes, and, not to repeat here what I have already
laid upon that Subject I defire the Reader to have
Recourfe to it,
E TENTH BOOK.
O P. O V I D I I
J
Exanimem , inque Juo jafiantcm [anguine
corpus i
fieftluit: pariterque finus, pariterque capillos
Rupit; & indignis percujjit peBora palmis.
Queftaque cumfatis,At non tamen omniaveftri
Juris erunt, inquit. luttus monument a ma-
nebunt Jlf
Semper, Adoni, mei: repetitaque mortis imago
Annua plangoris peraget fimulamina noftri.
At cruor in florem mutabitur. an tibi quondam
Femineos artus in olentes vert ere menthas,
Perfephone, limit I nobis Cinyreius herosj^O
Invidiae mutatus erit?fic fata, cruor em
Netware odorato jpargit: qui taBus ab illo
Intumuit >• fic, ut pluvio perlucida coelo
Surgere bulla folet. nec plena longior hora
Facta mora eft, cum fios e [anguine concolor
ortus. 735
Qualem, quae lento celant fub cortice granum,
Punicaferrefolent: brews eft tamen ufus in illo.
Namque male haerentem, & nimia levita-
te caducum
Excutiunt idem,qui praeflant nomina iVenti.
PHOSES. Book X. 359
Down with fwifc Flight {he plung'd, nor Rage
forbore,
At once her Garments, and her Hair me tore.
With cruel Blows flie beat her guiltlefs Breait,
The Fates upbraided , and her Love confelt.
Nor fliall they yet (me cry'd) the Whole devour
With uncontroul'd, inexorable Pow'r :
For thee , loft Youth, my Tears and reftlefs Pain
Shall in immortal Monuments remain.
With folemn Pomp in annual Rites return'd,
Be thou for ever, my Adorns, mourn'd.
Could Pluto's Queen with jealous Fury ftorm ,
And Menthe to a fragrant Herb transform ?
Yet dares not Venus with a Change furprile,
And in a Flow'r bid her fall'n Hero rife ?
Then on the Blood fweet Nectar fhe beftows,
The fcented Blood in little Bubbles rofe:
Little, as rainy Drops, which flutt'ring fly,
Born by the Winds , along a low'ring Sky.
Short time enfu'd, till where the Blood was flied,
A Flow'r began to rear it's purple Head:
Such, as on Punick Apples is reveal'd,
Or in the filmy Rind but half conceal'd.
Still here the Fate of lovely Forms we fee,
So fudden fades the fweet Anemonie.
The feeble Stems, to ftormy Blafts a Prey,
Their fickly Beauties droop, and pine away.
The Winds forbid the Flow'rs to flourim long,
Which owe to Winds their Names in Grecian Song.
EXPLICATION OF THE XIV. & XV. FABLES.
THeocrkus, Bion, Hygin, Ant. Liberalis, not to
mention other Authors , relate the Hiftory of
the Amours of Venus and Adonis > and Ovid, who
has treated of the fame Subject has not taken Notice
of all the Ci'rcumftances of it. He does not fay , as
thefe Audioes have done > that Mars , jealous of the
Paflion whicSx Venus had for Adonis, implored the
Help of Diana; that this Goddefs, to gratify his Re-
venge, fent the Boar that deftroyed the Youth> or,
ftill, according to other Authors, that Apollo him-
felf took the Form of that Animal j that the beautiful
Adonis going down to the Kingdom of Pluto, Pro-
ferpine fell in love with him and refufed to return
him back notwithftanding the repeated Orders of Ju-
piter : That Jupiter , being apprehenfive of dis-
pleafing both the Goddefles , referred the Decifion
of this Affair to Calliope , who thought to fatisfy
both Parties by ordering that Adonis mould fpend one
part of his Time with the Queen of Hell, and the
other with Venos: That it took up a Year before fo
delicate an affair could be determined > and that the
Hours, deputed to Pluto, brought Adonis at laft to
the Earth: And laftly that Venus to be revenged on .
Calliope, inftigated the Women of Thrace to kill her
Son Orpheus in the manner that Ovid has related it.
Almoft all the Mythologifts have applied this Fable
cither to NaturaJ Philofophy or Morality > for my
Part I believe the Foundation of it to be merely His-
torical. Cicerotells us, that there were feveralPer-
sons who had the Name of Venus■, and that the Fourth,
furnamed Aftarte, was of Syria , and had married
Adonis. That young Prince was the Son of Cinyras,
^ho, according to Homer, reigned in the Ifland of
Cyprus about the Time of the War of Troy. The An-
cients differ very much about his Genealogy, and we
find all their Opinions in Meziriac, on Ovid's Epijlles:
Tom. I. Tag. 3 57, &c. Apollodorus and Hygin may
aho be confulted upon this Fable, who mention fe-
(1) De Nat. De»r. Lib. III.
THE END OF TH
Tom. II.
veral Circumftances of it to which all other Authors
were entirely ftrangers. However this may be, Ado-
nis was a pallionate Lover of Hunting, and being one
Day at that Exercifein the Foreft of sAoxmt Libanus ,ii
Wild Boar wounded him in the Groin. The News
of this Accident threw Aftarte into an infupportable
Affliction. She made the City of Byblos echo to her
Groans, and all Syria put on Mourning. To make
the Memory of that young Prince immortal, Feafts
were eftablifhed in his Honour, which were to be re-
newed every Year: This Method was the common
Reffource of Courtiers upon the like Occafions and
Antiquity owes raoft of it's Gods to the Care they took
to honour the Dead in order to make themfelves more
agreeable to the Living.
I will not fpeak here of thofe Feafts of Adonis, upon
which I have made a Diflertation printed in the Third
Tome of the Memoirs of the Academie des Belles
Lettres. 1 mail only fay, That the Syrians, after ha-
ving mourned feveral Days for Adonis , rejoiced as if
he had been raifed again from the Dead, whence I con-
clude that he did not die of his Wound, and that the
Phyfician Cocutus cured him contrary to all Expec-
tation: That this Cure was looked upon as a Prodigy:
That the Syrians teftified their Joy at it by a Second
Feaft which was named . .. The Return: And that the
double Solemnity was continued during the reft of his
Life and even after his Death: In a word , that from
Syria and the Ifle of Cyprus, where the Worftiip of
Adonis began, it fpread into Judea> into Ajia Minor,
and feveral other Countries.
Several learned Authors believe that Adonis was
the fame Perfon with Ofiris and that the Affliction of
Venus reprefented that of J lis at the Death of her
Husband. But I have juft mentioned the Difference
there was in the Feafts and Worftiip of thefe two
Princes, and, not to repeat here what I have already
laid upon that Subject I defire the Reader to have
Recourfe to it,
E TENTH BOOK.
O P. O V I D I I