Saturday, March 25, 2023

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.


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