THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

FABULA XII.
JUPITER IN TAUIIUM MUTATUIl; IIAPTUS EUIlOPjE.
J-i-'ter smitten with the love of Europa, the daughter of Agenor, orders Mer
cury to drive the herds of that prince to the sea-shore, where Europa \vith
ether vir0'.,is -was accustomed to take the air. Jupiter chants himself to a.
beautiful bull, and joins the herd. Europa, struck with his beauty, and en-
coura ^ed by his gentleness, takes a seat on his back, when he immediately
takes to the sea, and swims acre .13 into Crete.
EXPLICATIO.
THIS Fable, no doubt, rests upon an.-historical foundation the forcible
abduction of the Tyrian princess. Events of this kind were common in
the early ages ; and by no means rare in later times. The conquest of
Ireland, by the English, was in consequence of an act of this kind.
Herodotus, in his History, book i. Clio, says: Certain Greeks, concern
ing whose country writers disagree, but who really were of Crete, are
reported to have touched at Tyre, and to have carried away Europa, the
daughter of that prince. Diodorus Siculus, lib. iv. 70, says: Asterius
reigning in Crete, Jupiter carried Europa from Phenicia to Crete on a
bull, and, united with her, begot three sons, Minos, Rhadamanthus, and
Sarpedon. Afterwards, Asterius, the prince of the island, married Eu
ropa. Again, in lib. vi. 5, he says: Picus, the brother of Ninus, who
had also the name of Jupiter, was king of Italy for one hundred and
tvventy years. He had many sons and daughters of the most beautiful
women; for,using certain mystic prestiges he corrupted them, while they
believed they were possessed by a god. About to die, Jupiter ordered
his body to be buried in Crete. His sons raised a temple there, in which
they laid their father; which monument even now remains, and its
inscription is read, " Here lies Picus, or Jupiter, whom they also call
Zeus."
Callimachus, in his Hymn to Jupiter, speaks of this tomb existing in
the isle of Crete. As we never have mention of more than one Cretan
Jupiter, it is plain, from what has been quoted above, that Asterius, Picus,
and the fabled Jupiter, were all one and the same person. It is to be
noted, that Diodorus does not mention that Jupiter was changed into a
bull, but that he carried her away " on a bull," or " in a bull," (for tut,
Tarpon may be so rendered.) Europa, then, was evidently carried away
by the Cretan prince, who had assumed the name of Jupiter, in a ship
called Taurus, or whose figure-head was a bull; and hence arose the
fable. Some would regard Europa as the Sidonian Astarte, and refer the
fable to the cycle of the lunar worship. They consider the mythus to
have arisen from some statue of Diana drawn by bulls. The Sidonian
money was stamped with the representation of Jupiter, in the fovm of a
bull carrying away Europa. It is possible, that the rape of Europa is a
myth, founded upon the going out of some colony from Asia, in a ship
called the Bull, or bearing the figure of that animal.
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AS ubi verborum poenas mentisque profanaa
Cepit Atlantiades ; dictas a Pallade terras
Linquit, et ingreditur jactatis acthera ponnis.
Sevocat hunc gcnitor; nee causani fassus amoris.
Fide minister, ait, jussorum, nate, meorum,
Pelle moram, solitoque celer dolabere cursn :
Quaeque tuam matrcm tcllus a parte sinistra
Suspicil, (indigence Sidonida nomine dicunt,)
Hanc pete ; quodque procul montano gramme pasci
Armcntum regale vides. ad littora verte.
Dixit: et expulsi jamdudum monte juvenci
Littora -jussa petunt; ubi magni filia regis
Ludere, virginibus Tyriis comitata, solebat.
Non bene conveniunt, nee in una sede morantur,
NOTjE.
J. Verliorum: of the speech of | 13. Ludere .• to sport
Agraulos.
So said, and bounded up, and sought her Irain
2. Dictas a faUade: named from Pal Of dear companions, till of noble strain.
las. Of equal years and stature; penile, kind,
7. Tuam matrem. Maia, the mother of Sweet to the sight, find plensam lo the mind;
Mercury, and one of the Pleiades. Wilh whom she sported, when she led the choif
Or in the river's urn-like reservoir
7. Telltts. Phenicia, which lies on the She hnthed he- limbs, or in The meadow slept,
left to those who look towards the Ple And from its bo»v>.n odorous lilies crept.
iades.
MOSCHU«.
8. Sidonida. Sidonii, the name of the 13. Tyriis virgmibus: with the Tyrian
country of Phcnieia, taken from Sidon, its virgins. Tyre was a city ol Phenicia,
capital.
near Sidon.
11. Jamdndutn pctu-nt: are already seek 14. Non bene conveniunt .- do not well
ing. No sooner does Jupiter command agree. He expresses the some idea in his
than Mercury executes.
Epistles.
12. Filia regia. Europa, the daughter Nunc male res jnncta; ealor et reverentia pugof
Agenor.
nant. ErisTOLA xvii.
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