5 A Greater Poetic Pylades et Orestes: Ovid, Epistulae Ex Ponto 3.2.67-102
The Athenian tragedian Euripides provided antiquity’s most renowned version of the friendship of Orestes and Pylades in his play “Iphigenia at Tauris” (c. 414 BCE). When the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE – 17/18 CE) was exiled in Tomis on the shores of the Black Sea near Tauris, he drew inspiration from Euripides’ account—and a now-lost version of the play by the early Roman tragedian Pacuvius (220 – c. 130 BCE)—as he sought help from his friends back in Rome, including the addressee of this poem, Cotta. The excerpt below picks up as Ovid relates that he once heard the tale of Orestes and Pylades from an old man in Tomis.
Orestes and Pylades arrive in Tauris and quickly find themselves threatened by the local inhabitants and taken to be sacrificed in the Temple of Artemis.
| 67 | cum duo vēliferā iuvenēs vēnēre carīnā
pressēruntque suō lītora nostra pede. Pār fuit hīs aetās et amor, quōrum alter Orestēs, |
| 70 |
ast Pyladēs alter: nōmina fāma tenet. Prōtinus inmītem Triviae dūcuntur ad āram, ēvīnctī geminās ad sua terga manūs. Spargit aquā captōs lūstrālī Grāia sacerdōs, ambiat ut fulvās īnfula longa comās, |
| 67 | vēnēre = vēnērunt, the alternative form common in poetry |
| 68 | suō: remember that the third person possessive adjective, suus -a -um always refers back to the subject, in this case the duo iuvenēs (i.e., Orestes and Pylades) → “their” |
| 69 | hīs: referring back to the duo iuvenēs; hīs is the antecendent of quōrum. |
| 71 | Triviae: Trivia was an epithet of Diana (or Hecate), because shrines often appeared at crossroads (trivium). Orestes and Pylades had travelled to Tauris to retrieve the cult statue of Artemis, after receiving a prophecy that it would free him from the Furies, who were punishing him for murdering his own mother, Clytemnestra, who had killed Orestes father (and her husband). |
| 72 | geminās… manūs: an accusative of respect, as often with parts of the body, “bound (ēvīnctī)in respect to their twinned hands to their own backs”; “twinned” in the sense that each youth has two hands, but also that both of the pair were bound. |
| 73 | Grāia sacerdōs: we readers know this “Greek priestess” will be revealed to be Orestes’ lost sister, Iphigenia, who readies the two captives (captōs) for sacrifice by purifying them with water (aquā… lūstrālī) and binding them with a ceremonial ribbon or “fillet” (īnfula). |
| 74 | ambiat ut: the grammatical introduction of the subordinate clause, ut, is postponed, as frequently in poetry, after the subjunctive (ambiat). |
Iphigenia prepares the sacrifice but is moved by pity to offer that only one of the two must die, while the other will be sent back to Greece to report what happened.
| 75 | dumque parat sacrum, dum vēlat tempora vittīs,
dum tardae causās invenit ipsa morae: “Nōn ego crūdēlis, iuvenēs, ignōscite,” dīxit, “sacra suō faciō barbariōra locō. Rītus is est gentis. Quā vōs tamen urbe venītis |
| 80 |
quodve parum faustā puppe petīstis iter?” Dīxit et audītō patriae pia nōmine virgō cōnsortēs urbis comperit esse suae: “Alter ut ē vōbīs, inquit, cadat hostia sacrīs, ad patriās sēdēs nūntius alter eat.” |
| 75 | Ovid raises the tension with a tricolon of dum-clauses; note the indicative verbs, showing that the three actions happen simultaneously or in rapid sequence. |
| 78 | suō…locō: ablative of comparison cued by barbariōra. |
| 80 | quod-ve
Orestes and Pylades have made their journey on a ship (puppe) that is insufficiently (parum) fortunate (faustā). petī(vi)stis: a syncopated perfect. |
| 81 | audītō patriae… nōmine: ablative absolute. |
| 83 | Alter… alter: picking up on the alter… alter in 69–70; Iphigenia commands that one (alter) be sacrificed and the other (alter) bring the news back to Greece.
ut: the introduction of the subordinate purpose clause (in 84) is positioned first to signal that there will be a reason for one to sacrifice themselves. cadat hostia sacrīs: jussive subjunctive, “let one (alter) fall…”; hostia: in apposition with alter. |
| 84 | eat: subjunctive < eō īre. |
Orestes and Pylades fight to be the one who will be sacrificed; meanwhile Iphigenia writes a letter to her brother Orestes, who she doesn’t realize is one of the strangers!
| 85 | Īre iubet Pyladēs cārum peritūrus Orestem;
hic negat inque vicēs pugnat uterque morī. Extitit hoc ūnum quō nōn convēnerit illīs: cētera pār concors et sine līte fuit. Dum peragunt iuvenēs pulchrī certāmen amōris, |
| 90 |
ad frātrem scrīptās exarat illa notās. Ad frātrem mandāta dabat, cuique illa dabantur, —hūmānōs cāsūs aspice!—frāter erat. |
| 85 | peritūrus: the future active participle conveys Pylades’ intent to die. |
| 86 | hic: i.e., Orestes (at the end of the previous line).
morī: infinitive of the deponent morior. |
| 87 | quō: ablative with the impersonal nōn convēnerit, “(in) which they did not agree.” |
| 88 | cētera: the neuter plural is adverbial, “in other respects” |
| 89 | pulchrī: modifying primarily the iuvenēs, but it also colors amōris. |
| 90 | illa: Iphigenia, who intends to send a letter to Orestes, whom she believes is still in Greece, rather than standing before her!
exarat: literally, ‘plough’, “write down” in tablets. |
| 91 | Ovid revels in the irony of the situation.
illa: neuter plural, referring to the mandāta (i.e., the letter). |
When they realize the truth, Orestes Pylades, and Iphigenia all flee, but their friendship is still known in Tomis.
| 93 | Nec mora, dē templō rapiunt simulācra Diānae
clamque per inmēnsās puppe feruntur aquās. |
| 95 | Mīrus amor iuvenum; quamvīs abiēre tot annī, 95
in Scythiā magnum nunc quoque nōmen habent.” |
| 93 | Nec mora [est]
simulācra Diānae: this is the wooden cult statue of Artemis that Orestes had to retrieve (see above, on line 71). All three (Orestes, Pylades, and Iphigenia) steal (rapiunt) the statue. |
| 95 | abiēre: alternate perfect. |
Ovid compares the durable memory of this friendship in Tomis with Rome, where his friends seem to have forgotten him.
| 97 | Fābula nārrāta est postquam vulgāris ab illō,
laudārunt omnēs facta piamque fidem. Scīlicet hāc etiam, quā nūlla ferōcior ōra est, |
| 100 | nōmen amīcitiae barbara corda movet.
Quid facere Ausoniā genitī dēbētis in urbe, cum tangant dūrōs tālia facta Getās? |
| 97 | vulgāris: “common(ly known)”, rather than having a negative connotations
ab illō: the entire story was being told by an old man whom Ovid had encountered in Tomis.
|
| 98 | laudā(ve)runt: syncopated perfect. |
| 99 | Ovid now addresses Cotta, the addressee of the letter, directly, to draw the analogy between the esteem for friendship in distant Tomis and how it should be revered in Rome.
hāc: i.e., the shore (ora) of Tomis, where Ovid is in exile. |
| 100 | nōmen amīcitiae: the old man telling the story also mentioned the “the name of friendship” (in line 43) |
| 101 | dēbētis: i.e., Cotta and Ovid’s other friends.
Ausoniā… in urbe: “in the Ausonian (western) city”, i.e., Rome. tangant: subjunctive in a circumstantial cum-clause. |
