Week 2 Reading Diary: Ovid's Metamorphoses (Books1-4)

For this weeks diary post, my attention was drawn in first by the story of Mars and Venus within Ovid's Metamorphoses (translated into English by Tony Kline). The story between Mars and Venus is a classic revenge one; Venus being Vulcan's wife, has cheated on him with Mars. Upon hearing about what Vulcan's wife has done, he chooses to take revenge on them with the use of his good craftsman's work. Interestingly, Sol, the god who rules all the stars and see's all things that happen first before anyone else see's, informs Vulcan about the affair and shows him the exact couch where they are soon to meet again. Vulcan uses this information and his deep envy to take revenge upon them both. Wielding together a snare and net, he carefully takes time to make everything perfect and captures them. This particular story sparked my interest so much because in life, I have realized when I am very angry, it can become very easy to act upon your feelings and take actions out of hate or envy. The moral of this story is to show how cold revenge can be and also to show just how easily it can be for someone to take action on their first feelings.

(Vulcan capturing Mars and Venus in the act: Source)

Another character caught my attention while reading through Ovid's Metamorphoses; Semele, a wife of Zeus, has become pregnant with Jupiter's child. Zeus is similar to Vulcan in this story and acts very similarly on his feelings of revenge and hate. This story has a much more sad ending than the first one mentioned above, but also teaches a better lesson of regret than the first. Zeus summons a great storm upon Semele and immediately regrets it, but it is too late...