Safe Thrills: The Minyeides as Internal Narrators in the Metamorphoses

Gregory P. Sears (Indiana University)

In Ovidian scholarship there is sometimes a tendency to ignore narrative voice. Some, like Castellani ("Two Divine Scandals: Ovid Met. 2.680 ff. and 4.171 ff. and His Sources.” TAPA 110 (1980)), prefer to seize upon individual stories and find correspondences between them. A fine technique, to be sure, but at the same time it is inadvisable to completely ignore the immediate context for any given story. The Metamorphoses is not always as disjointed as it may seem at first glance, and this is particularly so when the reader is faced with a four-story suite, complete with internal narrators, such as is found in the tales told by the daughters of Minyas (4.1-415). The concern which arises here is specifically what the Minyeides are doing with these tales, and what principles guide their selection and narration. The stories told – Pyramus and Thisbe, Clytie and Leucothoe, Mars and Venus, Salmacis and Hermaphroditus – are all erotically themed, and some (notably the Hermaphroditus tale) seem to indicate a penchant for rebellion among Minyas’ daughters. But far from engaging in the “beginning of freedom,” as Janan would have it ("Ovid’s Minyeides and the Feminine Imagination.” American Journal of Philology 115 (1994)), the Minyeides merely flirt with the idea of freedom. Their dread of actually crossing any boundaries whatsoever keeps them housebound and weaving while the rest of the city enjoys its Bacchic abandon. Paradoxically, Dionysus must use strong-arm tactics upon the Minyeides to enforce the freedom and lack of restraint he has temporarily decreed for Orchomenus by means of his festival. As Dionysus’ punishment demonstrates, the most grievous transgression is to never transgress at all.