The Marriage of Iphis & Ianthe: Faustus Sabaeus (1580)

 Note: The last line is not published here, as it uses a bodily humor pun 

De Iphide

Iphis erat mulier: latitantem in veste virili

vicini, immo pater credidit esse marem.

Deceptus genitor pulcram huic despondet Ianthem:

cum sponsa sponsa ut virgine virgo cubet.

Taede accenduntur: procedit nupta, Cythere,

Et Iuno praesens...et Hymen...

[et] potitur namque Iphis Ianthe.

--Faustus Sabaeus, Picta Poesis Ovidiana (1580)

Iphis was a woman. By hiding in a man’s clothing

Even her father believed she was a man.

Her father promised her in marriage to pretty Ianthe,

A bride for a bride, a woman marrying a woman.

The day of the wedding draws near…

The bride approaches…

Venus was there

And Juno was there 

And Hymen was there...

and Iphis ended up marrying Ianthe.

The Transformation of Iphis: Iohannis Posthius

 

Si pareret Lygdo coniunx Telethusa puellam:

Protinus hanc letho clam dare iussa fuit;

Isis sed contra mandat sub imagine somni:

decipiat pariens ut Telethusa virum.

Iphis avus fuerat: suboli dat nomen avitum

Lygdus: et uxorem deligit inde pater.

affert Isis opem: nam quaemodo templa subibat

femina: mox puerum mater abire videt.

--Iohannis Posthius, in Picta Poesis Ovidiana (1580)

Lygdus ordered his wife to kill their child

If she gave birth to a girl,

But Isis came to her in a vision

While she was in labor

And told her instead to deceive her husband. 

Lygdus named the child after his grandfather Iphis

And then arranged him to marry a woman.

And Isis came to the rescue:

For Telethusa watched in wonder

As her Iphis entered the temple a girl

and left it as a boy. 

M/M: Apollo Mourns Cyparissus

Flebat adhuc maerens cervo Cyparissus adempto:

quum sua conspexit cortice membra tegi.

Delius exclamat: quid nostro silva dolore

crescis? tu Daphnen, tu Cyparisson habes.

Cyparissus still weeps, mourning his slain stag.

When he saw his lover's limbs covered in bark,

Apollo exclaimed, "O forest, why do you double my pains?

You have my Daphne, you have my Cyparissus."

--Act. Syncerus. Sannazarii, published in Picta Poesis Ovidiana (1580)

M/M: Phaeton and Cycnus, Servius In Aen.10.189

[189] NAMQUE FERUNT LUCTU CYCNUM PHAETHONTIS AMATI Phaethon Clymenes et Solis filius fuit. qui cum doleret obiectum sibi ab Epapho, rege Aegypti, quod esset non de Sole, sed de adulterio procreatus, duce matre venit ad Solem et poposcit, ut si vere esset eius filius, petenda praestaret. quod cum Sol iurasset per Stygem paludem se esse facturum, petit ille ut eius currus agitaret. Sol post iusiurandum negare non potuit. acceptis itaque curribus Phaethon, cum orbitam solis exisset, et coepisset mundus ardere, a Iove fulminatus in Eridanum cecidit, qui et Padus vocatur. huius interitum flentes sorores, Phaethusa et Lampetusa, deorum miseratione in arbores commutatae sunt, ut hic dicit, in populos, ut in bucolicis, in alnos. fuit etiam quidam Ligus, Cycnus nomine, dulcedine cantus ab Apolline donatus, amator Phaethontis. qui cum eum fleret extinctum, longo luctu in avem sui nominis conversus est. qui postea ab Apolline inter sidera conlocatus est. cuius nunc filium Cupavonem dicit habere cycni pennas in galea ad formae paternae insigne monstrandum. 

--Servius, In Aen.10.189 

“FOR, IT IS SAID, OUT OF LOVE FOR HIS LOVER PHAETON, CYCNUS…”

Commentary: Phaeton was the son of Clymene and the Sun. When Phaeton got upset because Epaphus, the Pharoah of Egypt, told him that he wasn’t the son of the Sun but a bastard, his mother Clymene took him to meet his father.  Phaeton asked the Sun to grant him a wish to prove he was really his son. When the Sun swore on the river Styx that we would grant Phaeton his wish, Phaeton said he wished to drive his chariot, and the Sun could not refuse.  

Phaeton took charge of his father’s chariot, and when he deviated from the Sun’s track, he began to burn up the world. Jupiter shot him down with lightning and Phaeton fell in the Po river.  

His sisters, Phaethusa and Lampetusa, wept over his death until the gods took pity on them and transformed into alder trees.  

Phaeton was also mourned by his lover, a Ligurian named Cycnus, (a man who was endowed with an amazing singing voice by Apollo). Because Cycnus mourned excessively over Phaeton’s death, he was transformed into the bird he shares a name with (a swan). Later on, Apollo turned him into a constellation. His son Cupavo is said to have the feathers of a swan in the crest of his helmet in tribute of his father. 

SERVIUS	MAP:
Name:  Maurus Servius Honoratus Date:  4th – 5th c. CE (???) Works:  In Vergilii carmina comentarii	REGION  1
BIO:	Timeline:
Little is known about the author or manuscript tradition for the grammatical commentary of Vergil’s Aeneid.	BYZANTINE / LATE LATIN

 

Toxicity of Purity Culture: Publius Maenius and his daughter, Valerius Maximus

P. Maenius quam severum pudicitiae custodem egit! in libertum namque gratum admodum sibi animadvertit, quia eum nubilis iam aetatis filiae suae osculum dedisse cognoverat, cum praesertim non libidine sed errore lapsus videri posset. ceterum amaritudine poenae teneris adhuc puellae sensibus castitatis disciplinam ingenerari magni aestimavit, eique tam tristi exemplo praecepit ut non solum virginitatem illibatam sed etiam oscula ad virum sincere perferret. 

--Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium 6.1.4

What a stern guardian of [his daughter’s] chastity Publius Maenius was! When he found out that his favorite freedman had kissed his debutante daughter, Maenius put him to death even though it was done as a lapse in judgment and not done romantically. Maenius thought that the importance of chastity was best ingrained into his tender girl’s mind through the severity of the punishment, and with this awful event taught his daughter that she owed not only purity of her womb, but also unkissed lips to her future husband.

 

VALERIUS MAXIMUS	MAP:
Name:  Valerius Maximus Date:  1st c CE. Works:  Memorable Deeds and Sayings	REGION  UNKNOWN
BIO:	Timeline:
Little is known about the life of Valerius Maximus except that he wrote during the reign of the emperor Tiberius. His work, Memorable Deeds and Sayings, is a collection of examples from Roman and world history categorized by theme for the purpose of rhetorical exercises.	SILVER AGE LATIN