The Episode of the Sibyl in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (14.103-56) For Edgar, who recalls the Sibyl in so many ways And even as in a cheyne eche linke within another wynds, And both with that that went before and that that followes binds: So every tale within this booke dooth seme to take his ground Of that that was reherst before, and enters in the bound Of that that folowes after it: and every one give’ light To other: so that whoo so meanes to understand them ryght, Must have a care as well to know the thing that went before, As that the which he presently desyres to see so sore. William Golding (1567)' [Ga ea) he episode of the Sibyl is fouind in Ovid's narrative of the jour- he ney of Aeneas from Troy to Rome (Met. 13.623-14.608). es ey] When Aeneas reaches Cumae in Italy, he goes to the Sibyl, EMea3e4 who resides there, and requests to visit the Underworld in order to consult the shade of his father. She grants his request and they go to fetch the Golden Bough. With this in hand, they descend to the Under- world, where Aeneas sees the sights as well as his father’s shade. When they are finished, Aeneas and the Sibyl trudge back up to the surface of the earth. As they proceed, Aeneas attempts to allay the toil of the passage by chatting amiably with the Sibyl. He expresses his gratitude and, conjecturing that she might be a goddess, promises to build her a temple when they reach the upper world. The Sibyl informs him that she is, in fact, not a goddess. She goes on to tell the story of how she was once desired by Apollo, who offered to grant her any wish she might make. She asked for as many years as grains in a nearby heap of sand— but forgot to wish for eternal youth as well. Apollo would have given her this too, if she had yielded to him, but she refused. As a result, she has lived 700 years to date, and must live 300 more. Ultimately, she will shrivel up and become merely a voice. The episode appears, at first glance, somewhat lopsided in its empha- ses. Before the descent, there is a short introductory passage devoted mostly to the Sibyl’s reply to Aeneas’s request to visit the Underworld (103-15; Sibyl’s reply: 108-13). The journey to the Underworld itself 4748 J. D. Ellsworth and the consultation with Anchises is mentioned in a summary of only four lines (116-19): paruit Aeneas et formidabilis Orci vidit opes atavosque suos umbramque senilem magnanimi Anchisae; didicit quoque iura locorum, quaeque novis essent adeunda pericula bellis. The ascent, on the other hand, is described at length (120-55), and con- sists mainly of a typical Ovidian love story (that of the Sibyl: 133-53). How is one to explain this episode? Why does Ovid omit any descrip- tion of the Underworld and it inhabitants? Why does he almost totally ignore the meeting of Aeneas with his father, the declared objective of the journey? And why does he have the Sibyl tell the story of how she was loved by Apollo, which has nothing to do, apparently, with Aeneas and his mission? Scholars have been quick to criticize Ovid for not sticking to the story of Aeneas in this part of the Metamorphoses, calling it “a bare frame for pleasant amatory episodes” that “contribute nothing to the development” (Otis); noting that Ovid “achieves an effect of destructive levity by insert- ing into Aeneas’s story seven hundred lines of racier and frothier stuff” (Segal); and seeing “a near total absence” of any endeavor to relate the extraneous love stories to that of Aeneas—they are “interruptions” (Galinsky).2 Is the love story of the Sibyl one of Ovid’s notorious digressions? Has he abandoned the plan of his work (whatever that is) simply to tell another pretty story to entertain the reader, once again demonstrating his ability as a master raconteur? My opinion is that he does not, and I will devote the remainder of this paper to showing how this episode, including the love story of the Sibyl, fits into its context, both the immediate and the more remote, in accord with the dicta of William Golding quoted in the epigraph.? One must assume that Ovid's intentions in this part of the Metamor- phoses are governed by those that he set for the work as a whole.* He states them in the first four lines of his poem: to illustrate the all-perva- sive nature of change in a continuous narrative of the mythological-his- torical past from the beginning of time down to his own day. Implicit in this proposal is the corollary that the tale be both roughly chronological and as complete as possible. Scholars have generally accepted him at his word, discerning further, from the work itself, a desire to treat his mate- rial in a new and different way, as well as an interest in the various forms that love may take.Episode of the Sibyl 49 In short, the principles governing Ovid's poem are: change, continuity, completeness, variety, and—as in most of his work—an examination of the nature of love. Any critical assessment of the Metamorphoses as a whole or in part must be determined by Ovid's success in combining these sometimes disparate elements into a coherent unity. It is immediately evident that the love story of the Sibyl, per se, fulfills two of these criteria. First, it contains the necessary metamorphosis, her withering away into a mere voice (152): “usque adeo mutata ferar.” Sec- ond, it is concerned with the theme of love. Galinsky even goes so far as to suggest that the “ultimate reason” Ovid told the story the way he did “may be found in his fascination with the effects of the passage of time on beauty and love.”* But that is not all. Both the story of the Sibyl, and the more extended episode of which it is a part, are much more intimately joined to their context than simply providing a metamorphosis at the end of a typical Ovidian love story. I will consider first the immediate context in which the episode as a whole is found. It occurs about half way through what is generally termed Ovid's “Aeneid” (13.623-14.608), that part of the Metamor- phoses that follows immediately upon his exposition of the Trojan War.” As noted above, one of Ovid’s primary aims in the Metamorphoses is to tell a continuous story reaching down to his own day. The story of Aeneas was especially suited to this aim, since it connects mythological Greece with historical Rome.® Since Vergil’s Aeneid had established itself as the standard account of Aeneas for the Roman people, Ovid chose to use a summary of Vergil’s work as his literary model for this part of the Metamorphoses.? Ovid’s episode of the meeting of Aeneas with the Sibyl, and the visit to the Underworld, is a compressed summary of Book 6 of Vergil’s Aeneid. Scholars have noted that Ovid leaves out much of the feeling of mystery and solemnity found in Vergil.’° Although this certainly reflects differ- ences of personality and poetic intent between the two authors, Due points out that Ovid is limited by the very nature of summarization itself (in 16 lines he summarizes approximately 657 lines of Vergil):"! A synopsis has to be short and it could not, without lapsing into pedantry, be loaded with references to all the scenes in Vergil, especially when these would automatically occur to the readers. And it would be tactless to try to tell things which Vergil had told with such perfection before. Ovid, then, may not be overly concerned here with telling the story in a different way than Vergil, much less with profaning or parodying his account, as some have claimed. '? To be sure, the desire to provide variety50 J. D. Ellsworth would impel Ovid to tell the story somewhat differently in any case. Since Vergil had described the visit in detail, Ovid naturally described it only in brief, More importantly, from the point of view of the integrity of Ovid’s own work, he had already offered complementary views of the Underworld in the stories of Athamas and Ino (Met, 4.43280), and Orpheus and Eurydice (Met. 10.12-63).'° The story of Apollo’s love for the Sibyl (120-56) does not occur in the Aeneid. Instead of the scene of Aeneas and the Sibyl making their upward way, Vergil has a brief account (893-99) of the twin gates of Sleep, with ‘Anchises escorting Aeneas unaque Sibyllam, who depart through the Gate of Ivory. That's the last we see of the Sibyl. In contrast to Ovid's genial Aeneas, Vergil’s doesn’t even take the time to bid her goodbye— perhaps because he is compelled by the force of destiny to pursue his mis- sion with all due speed. The Sibyl’s story seems to have been invented by Ovid, although he may have developed hints found in earlier authors."* Scholars have tried to explain this scene by saying that Ovid is interested in the Sibyl more as a person than in her function in the Aeneas story. They contend that Ovid's intention is to make her more human, in accord with his general tendency to de-sacralize and de-mystify Vergil’s account." Although Ovid did not adopt the love story of the Sibyl from Vergil, he did incorporate some Vergilian references into his narrative. Aeneas’s words of gratitude to the Sibyl as they ascend from the Underworld (14.127-28), “pro quibus aerias meritis evectus ad auras templa tibi statuam, tribuam tibi turis honores,” are an adaptation of the words Vergil has Aeneas address to the Sibyl when he first meets her before the descent (Aen. 6.71-74),!® “te quogue magna manent regnis penetralia nostris.. hic ego namque tuas sortis arcanaque fata dicta meae genti ponam, lectosque sacrabo, alma, viros.” In addition, there are two short verbal allusions to Aeneid 6 in Ovid's narrative. At the start of the ascent, Ovid says that Aeneas iter . . . ear- pit (14.122); Vergil has the Sibyl urge him on to the Elysian Fields with sed iam age, carpe viam (Aen. 6.629).'7 More portentous is the phrase longa dies in both works (Met. 14.148 and Aen. 6.745). In Ovid, it refers to the 1,000 years that the Sibyl will live before she fades away; in Vergil, it is the 1,000 years that souls must spend in the lower world before returning to the upper.'®Episode of the Sibyl Sa Ovid’s episode of the Sibyl, therefore, has several connections with its immediate context, the story of Aeneas as based on Vergil’s Aeneid, first, by providing a summary of Book 6 of the Aeneid, and, second, by allud- ing verbally to Vergil’s account. The idea, however, that Ovid should limit himself to telling the story of Aeneas in this part of the Metamorphoses is a requirement imposed on him by modern scholars alone. As was noted above, Ovid intended to make his work on the all-pervasive nature of change a complete one. The events after the Trojan War were not limited to the travels of Aeneas; they also encompassed the Returns of the Greeks, the most prominent being those of Odysseus and Agamemnon. To consider Odysseus first: his return from Troy was the best known of those of the Greek warriors, thanks to its memorialization in the Odyssey of Homer. In addition, it is unlikely that Ovid would ignore the Odyssey, considering its importance in Latin literature and its fascination to the Augustan poets, !? In fact, one of Ovid's major aims throughout his so-called ‘Aeneid’ is to tell the story of the Odyssey as completely as possible. He does this by re-telling parts of Homer's work, by including verbal references to it, and by telling apparently unrelated stories in such a way as to emphasize sim- ilarities between them and stories in the Odyssey.?° In the Sibyl episode, Ovid uses two of the above methods, verbal refer- ence and “thematic similarity?! to suggest stories in the Odyssey. As Aeneas is walking back to the upper world with the Sibyl, he addresses her as follows (Mer, 14.123-28): “seu dea tu praesens, seu dis gratissimay” dixit, “numinis instar eris semper mihi, meque fatebor muneris esse tui, . . pro quibus aerias meritis evectus ad auras templa tibi statuam, tribuam tibi turis honores.” Odysseus addresses Nausicaa in a similar manner the first time he meets her on the Island of Phaeacia (Od. 6.149-69): “Gounoumai se, anassa’ theos nu tis, é brotos essi; ei men tis theos essi, ” Aeneas’s words also recall the exchange of Odysseus and Nausicaa just before the hero departs from Phaeacia (Od. 8.461-69), when Nausicaa reminds him, “roi protéi zoagri’ ophelleis,” and Odysseus replies: 103 ken toi kai keithi theoi hos euchetooimen aiei émata panta: su gar m’ ebidsao, koure.”52 J. D. Ellsworth The implied comparison of the ancient Sibyl to the young Nausicaa adds even more to the pathos that Galinsky has seen in Ovid’s characteri- zation of the Sibyl.22 Another famous Return was that of Agamemnon, apparently ignored by Ovid in the Metamorphoses. Scholars have, however, noted that there is a striking similarity between the story the Sibyl tells of being loved by Apollo and that of Cassandra, loved by the same god.?3 Apollo gave Cas- sandra the art of prophecy, hoping that she would yield to him. When she did not, the god arranged it that no one believed her prophecies, even though they were always correct. Cassandra was alloted to Agamemnon as his prize of valor after Troy was taken. She returned to Argos with him, and died there at the hands of Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, as told in the best known account, the Aeschylus of Agamemnon, in which Cassandra is a main participant. Not only does the love story of the Sibyl allude to Agamemnon’s return in this way, thus helping to make Ovid's tale of the post-Trojan War period more complete, it provides continuity by glancing back at the immediately preceding period, since the affair of Apollo and Cassandra took place during or just before the Trojan War. Another link to that earlier period is provided by the similarity between the Sibyl’s story and the story of Tithonus.* The latter, a Trojan prince, and brother of Priam, king of Troy, was loved by Eos (Dawn). She obtained immortality for her lover from Zeus, but forgot to ask for eternal youth as well. When Tithonus reached old age, he continued to live on, always growing more decrepit. Tithonus himself is alluded to in Book 9 of the Metamorphoses (421-422), queritur veteres Pallantias annos / coniugis esse sui, in a list of goddesses who wish that their beloveds, now old, might be made young again. The story of the Sibyl provides continuity in a much wider sense: it reflects the movement of the Metamorphoses as a whole. At this point in the poem, Ovid is making a transition from the carefree mythological age to the more serious historical one.?* In its theme—the pursuit of a young virgin by a male god—the story looks back to the very earliest period when male gods engaged in this activity irresponsibly and haphazardly with carefree nymphs, Such are the stories of Apollo and Daphne (452— 567), and Jove and Io (568-746) in Book 1.2 The change in feeling is reflected in the Sibyl’s plaintive comment that she will reach a condition in which Apollo will not know her or deny that he loved her as con- trasted with his desire to keep Daphne in some sense by making her his tree.” And the story looks forward to the later, more serious period, as exem- plified by the love story of Vertumnus and Pomona.?® Vertumnus is notEpisode of the Sibyl 53 like the gods in the earlier part of the poem—he desires not just a physical relationship with Pomona, but to marry her. And Pomona is not the usual nymph living wild in the country, but rather an industrious cultiva- tor of plants. The very lifespan of the Sibyl coincides with this movement. She describes her first 700 years (142-43): “sed iam felicior aetas / terga dedit.” This is the Age of Mythology, which is drawing to an end.2? For the next 300 years, it will fade away (the Dark Ages), as will the Sibyl herself (143-44): “tremuloque gradu venit aegra senectus, / quae patienda diu est.” Her body will disappear around the time of Tarquinius Priscus,?¢ and only her voice will remain (150-53): “Phoebus quoque forsitan ipse vel non cognoscet vel dilexisse negabit: usque adeo mutata ferar nullique videnda, voce tamen noscar, vocem mihi fata relinquent.” This is the beginning of historical time and Ovid is perhaps referring to her last act, when she gave or sold the Sibylline oracles to Tarquinius. And, finally, the reverberations of the story of the Sibyl extend to the very end of the poem. Like the Sibyl, who will leave only a voice, Ovid concludes in the epilogue of his work that he too will fade away, leaving only his poem. To sum up in conclusion: Ovid’s accomplishment in the Sibyl epi- sode can only be measured by his overall aims in the Metamorphoses His aims, however, are multifarious, First in importance, the episode is part of his plan to bridge the gap between the Greek mythological world and Roman myth and history by presenting a summary of Virgil's Aeneid. The story of the Sibyl itself fulfills many other functions as well. It pro- vides the mandated metamorphosis. It fulfills his intention to give a com- plete story by including reminiscences of the story of Odysseus, and alluding to Agamemnon and Cassandra. It provides continuity by recall- ing both earlier and later parts of the Metamorphoses, and it presents an overview of the movement of the whole work. When considered, therefore, against the background of Ovid's aims in the Metamorphoses—and not those projected on him by modern schol- ars under the spell of Vergil—, the Sibyl episode is hardly a frivolous digression, but rather an organic part of a living whole, fully integrated into its context, whether that context be considered narrowly or broadly. J. D. ErtswortH University of Hawaii34 J. D. Ellsworth Notes 1. William Golding, “To the Reader,’ lines 206-212, from his translation of the Metamorphoses, ed. J. F. Nims (New York and London 1965) 428. 2. B. Otis, Ovid as an Epic Poet (Cambridge 1966 (2nd ed., 1970]) 314, ef. 279, 286; C. P. Segal, “Myth and Philosophy in the Metamorphoses: Ovid's Augustanism and the Augustan Conclusion of Book XV," AJP 90 (1969) 270; G. K. Galinsky, Ovid's Metamorphoses: An Introduction to the Basic Aspects (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1975) 221-22, ef. 245, 247. Cf. also H.-B. Guthmal- ler, Beobachtungen cum Aufbau der Metamorphosen Ovids (Diss. Marburg 1964) 110. 3. And, more recently, Galinsky (above, note 2) 217, on this section of the Metamorphoses in general: “we again must be careful not to view this part of the poem in artificial isolation, but in its natural context, i.e. the Metamorphoses in general and Ovid's techniques and attitudes in the other parts of the poem.” 4. Cf. Galinsky (above, note 2) 218-19. 5. See L. P. Wilkinson, Ovid Recalled (Cambridge 1955) 144-59; W. Lud- wig, Struktur und Einbeit in dem Metamorphosen Ovids (Berlin 1965) 75-86; E. J. Bernbeck, Beobachtungen zur Darstellungsart in Ovids Metamorphosen, Zetemata 43 (Munich 1967) 131-32; Otis (above, note 2) 45-49, 77-83; Galinsky (above, note 2) 1-109. For Ovid's interest in “love” of all types, see A. G. Elliot, “Ovid’s Metamorphoses: A Bibliography, 1968-78," CW 73 (1980) 388. 6. Galinsky (above, note 2) 229. 7. Cf. J.D. Ellsworth, “Ovid’s ‘Aeneid’ Reconsidered (Met, 13.623- 14.608);" Vergilius 32 (1986) 27-32; “Ovid's ‘Iliad’ (Metamorphoses 12.1- 13.622))" Prudentia 12 (1980) 23-29 8. Cf. R. Coleman, “Structure and Intention in the Metamorphoses,” CQ 21 (1971) 472; G. K. Galinsky (above, note 2) 218-19. 9. Several general works on the Metamorphoses consider the way in which Ovid adapted the Aeneid, e.g., $. Dopp, Virgilischer Einfluss im Werk Ovids (Diss. Munich 1968) 118-40. For a monograph devoted to the subject, see M. Stitz, Ovid and Vergils Aeneis: Interpretation Met. 13.623-14.608 (Diss. Freiburg 1962) 10. Stitz (above, note 9) 72-73; Guthmilller (above, note 2) 109-10; Dépp (above, note 9), 124; Bomer in M. von Albrecht and E. Zinn (eds.), Ovid, Wege der Forsch. 92 (Darmstadt 1968) 188-91; R. Lamacchia, “Precisazioni su alcuni aspetti dell’ epica ovidiana,” ACR 14 (1969) 8; Galinsky (above, note 2) 224.— For a complete discussion comparing the language of Ovid with the Vergilian see Stitz 72-79 and Bomer, 187-97. 11. O.S. Due, Changing Forms: Studies in the Metamorphoses of Ovid, Classica et Mediaevalia 10 (Copenhagen 1974) 38. Cf. also Galinsky (above, note 2) 224-25. 12. Guthmiiller (above, note 2) 111, suggests that Ovid profanes Vergil’s account, but ef. Galinsky (above, note 2) 225-29. Bernbeck (above, note 5) 122,Episode of the Sibyl 55 sees parody of Vergil’s Sibyl; Lamacchia (above, note 10) 9, note 21, does not, but rather “un ton elegiaco.” 13. Cf. Stitz (above, note 9) 78. 14. See M. Haupt, R, Ehwald, and M. von Albrecht, P. Ovidius Naso: Metamorphosen, vol. 2, Sth ed. (Zurich and Dublin 1966) 365; Guthmiller above, note 2) 111 15. Stitz (above, note 9) 71; Dopp (above, note 9) 113, note 15; Due (above, note 11) 39; Galinsky (above, note 2) 228-29. 16. Galinsky (above, note 2) 226; ef. also Guthmilller (above, note 2) 110, note 3; Haupt-Ehwald (above, note 14) 365; Lamacchia (above, note 10) 7. 17. Cf. Haupt-Ehwald (above, note 14) 364. 18. Haupt-Ehwald (above, note 14) 367; Galinsky (above, note 2) 229. Stitz (above, note 9) 71, notes that Ovid transfers longa dies to a different context: Vergil, it is a law of the universe; in Ovid, a special fate of one person. For a wider view of this fate, see below. 19. See R. J. Ball, Tibullus the Elegist: A Critical Survey, Hypomnemata 77 ttingen 1983) 50-65, esp. 64-65. © my article “Ovid’s ‘Odyssey’: Met. 13.623-14.608." Mnemosyne, forthcoming. 21. Galinsky’s (above, note 2) term, p. 221. 22. Galinsky (above, note 2) 228-29. 23. H. J. Rose, A Handbook of Greek Mythology (New York 1959) 143; Stitz (above, note 9) 142, note 258, Segal (above, note 2) 274, OCD, s.v. “Apollo.” 24. See W. Brewer, Ovid's Metamorphoses in European Culture, vol. 2, tev. ed. (Francestown, N.H., 1978) 1499. 25. Cf. Otis (above, note 2) 278-79, 288; Galinsky (above, note 2) 228-29. 26. Cf. Stitz (above, note 9) 71; Guthmiiller (above, note 2) 111; Galinsky (above, note 2) 228-29. 27. Stitz (above, note 9) 71, also notes that the last line (vocem mihi fata relin- quent) recalls the fate of Echo (3.339510). 28. Otis (above, note 2) 294-9 29. Seven hundred years would cover roughly the whole span of mythological time. Phoroneus, one of the earliest figures in mythology, was placed at 1753 B.C. by Eratosthenes, Deucalion at 1433 B.C. (see G. Grote, History of Greece [London and New York, n.d.), vol. 2, p. 159) 30. Haupt-Ehwald (above, note 14) 367, sets the time as around that of the reign of Tarquinius Priscus.