I. HEROIDES, EPISTOLA V. 1. OENONE PARIDI. EP. V. THE loves of Paris and Oenone, and the legend regarding the birth and early history of the former, which form the groundwork of this epistle, were unknown to Homer. What follows is the substance of the tale as narrated by Apollodorus. Hector was the first-born of Priam and Hecuba. When Hecuba was about to produce a second child, she dreamed that she had given birth to a blazing torch, which kindled a conflagration that spread over the whole city. Priam, having been informed by her of the vision, sent for Aesacus (his son by Arisbe, a former wife), who was skilled in the interpretation of dreams, an art which he had been taught by Merops, his maternal grandfather. Aesacus pronounced that the boy would prove the destruction of his country, and bade them expose the babe. Priam, as soon as it was born, gave it to one of his herdmen, named Agelaus, to be conveyed to Ida and there abandoned. The infant, left to perish, was nurtured for five days by a she-bear, when Agelaus, finding it thus miraculously preserved, took it up and bore it to his dwelling, where he reared it as his own son, under the name of Paris1. The child having grown up to manhood, excelled both in comeliness and valour, and soon received the additional appellation of Alexander2, because he withstood and drove away the robbers who attacked the flocks. Not long after he discovered his parents. 1 A fanciful derivation of Πάρις is here indicated, ἀπὸ τοῦ παρελθεῖν τὸν μópov. Vid. Schol. on Hom. II. 3. 325. 2 A similar derivation of ̓Αλέξανδρος, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀλεξεῖν. Το this we find an allusion in the Epistle of Paris to Helen, Her. 16. 357: 'Pene puer caesis abducta armenta recepi Hostibus et causam nominis inde tuli.' B While yet a shepherd in the hills 1, he wedded Oenone, daughter of the river Cebren. This nymph, having learned the art of prophecy from Rhea 2, warned Alexander not to sail in quest of Helen; but finding that her remonstrances were unheeded, she then enjoined him, should he be wounded, to come to her for aid, since she alone had power to heal him. After this Paris bore away Helen from Sparta, and being pierced, during the war against Troy, by an arrow shot by Philoctetes from the bow of Hercules, he returned again to Ida to seek Oenone's aid. But she, cherishing resentment, refused to exert her skill. Alexander was borne back to Troy and there expired. Oenone having repented, brought drugs to heal his wound, and finding him a corpse, hanged herself for grief. It will be seen that Ovid adheres, for the most part, closely to the above tale, departing from it in one or two points only. PERLEGIS? an coniux prohibet nova? perlege; non est Ista Mycenaea litera facta manu. Pegasis Oenone, Phrygiis celeberrima silvis, Servus eras; servo nubere Nympha tuli. 5 ΙΟ 15 1 So Ovid. The period of his marriage with Oenone is not specified by Apollodorus, 2 Ovid says nothing of her prophetic powers; but in this Epistle he tells that Apollo instructed her in the healing art. Quis tibi monstrabat saltus venatibus aptos, Saepe citos egi per iuga summa canes. Et legor Oenone, falce notata, tua. Et quantum trunci, tantum mea nomina crescunt: Cum Paris Oenone poterit spirare relicta, Ad fontem Xanthi versa recurret aqua. Xanthe, retro propera, versaeque recurrite lymphae : Illa dies fatum miserae mihi dixit: ab illa Pessima mutati coepit amoris hiems; Qua Venus et Iuno, sumptisque decentior armis Vt mihi narrasti, dura per ossa tremor. Non sic appositis vincitur vitibus ulmus, Vt tua sunt collo brachia nexa meo. 20 25 30 35 40 45 |