What this project is about.
This one is from Book 7.
How long it took to read this (aloud): 10 mins 46s
What it’s “about”:
Minos is looking for allies in his war.
He convinces a king to side with him.
There is a plague. An astonishing plague. ‘Beautiful’ stuff
Words I didn’t know: xx
Quotable quotes:
“And yet it is always true that pleasure conceals the shadows of anxiety….”
AND
“At first the plague seemed of an earthly source,
And while it seemed so, we called in physicians;
Yet soon enough it had outwitted us,
And spread destruction till it dazed our arts.
Skies seemed to fall on us in darkest heat:
Four times the moon’s horns grew to their full circle,
And four times dwindled to their slender shape;
Yet the South Wind poured deadly heat upon us,
And all that time the evil sickness entered
Our springs and wells. In every field a thousand
Serpents writhed and poured green spittle in our rivers:
First dogs, wild game, birds, cattle were struck down,
And luckless farmers stumbled at the plough
To see their teams fall sick within the furrow;
The wool-clothed sheep fell naked to the ground,
Their bodies dwindled into bones and skin.
Race horses lost their spirit on the track,
Forgot their victories and, trembling, whinnied
Toward death within their darkened stalls.
The wild boar lost his rage, the deer his swiftness,
The bear his will to fight ‘gainst stronger creatures.
Lank sickness held them all; forest and road
Piled up with dead whose stench poisoned the air.
Even dogs, grey wolves, and vultures kept away,
While rotting filth spread sickness on the wind.
AND
….Nor was
Their thirst relieved as long as they had life;
Dying as they drank they tainted every well.
And as they leaped out of plague-ridden beds
Some rolled to earth and died, while others ran
From homes, and since the cause of death remained
Unseen, even the least of shaded shelters
Seemed like doom. Some half-dead creatures walked
To death along the highways, others sat
Weeping their lives away. Still others turned
Glazed, sightless eyes to heaven, while their neighbours
Reached up their futile arms to darkened skies
Each went to death, however death had caught him.
How it lands to my eco-sensibility: Just, wow. This is an astonishing poetic representation of plague and death
Obvious allusions, ways it was used (that I am aware of already) : xx
What I know I didn’t ‘get’: xx
To my knowledge, who’s used it why/how (RACC): xx
Further research questions: What WAS the plague? Any records, indications?
Anything else:
As per Joanna Kenty
“Book 7 ends in Aegina, off the coast of Athens, where King Aeacus tells Cephalus about a recent plague. You could read this poem 50 times and find something new every time, I suspect, not only because it’s so long and complex but because we change as readers and focus on different things. It’s why scholars can still find new things to say about 2,000-year-old poems, and why every new translator offers new understanding as well as new words.”
Metamorphoses 7: Plague. A blog about teaching Ovid’s… | by Joanna Kenty | Medium
marchudson.net 
Leave a comment