Book VI
Minerva congratulates the Muses on their victory and reflects on the justice of punishing mortals who doubt the gods. This reminds her of Arachne, a skilled weaver who claims to be Minerva’s equal in the craft. The goddess travels to Lydia to compete against Arachne. In describing Arachne’s beautiful weaving, the poet comments that anyone could tell she must have been taught by Minerva herself; however, Arachne would not credit the goddess. She claims she can beat anyone in a contest; if she somehow loses, she will “pay any forfeit.” Minerva disguises herself as an old woman and encourages Arachne to display some humility. Arachne rebukes and insults her instead; in reply, Minerva sheds her disguise. While the nymphs and the other women pay obeisance to the goddess, Arachne refuses, though she appears embarrassed.
Arachne and Minerva set up their looms and prepare to weave. Minerva creates a scene portraying a contest between the gods to name the mountain that would become the Areopagus. The gods are presented in their glory, with Minerva depicted in full armor. Along the edges of her tapestry, Minerva weaves stories of mortals challenging or usurping the powers of gods and being transformed into animals or objects. Arachne’s tapestry, however, exposes the sins of the gods, such as their many illicit affairs. Though the weaving itself is undeniably graceful, Minerva resents its message and destroys the artwork. The goddess begins to strike Arachne with a weaving tool, and Arachne tries to hang herself. Minerva instead changes the girl into a spider who will continue to weave forever.
A girlhood acquaintance of Arachne, Niobe, hears news of her defeat at the
hands of Minerva. Despite the punishment of her fellow Lydian, Niobe persists
in her own pride, which lies in her status and her fourteen children, seven of
each sex. The prophetess Manto, daughter of Teiresias, walks through town one
day urging citizens to give offerings to the goddess Latona, mother of Apollo
and Diana. Niobe refuses to pay homage to the goddess and instead publicly
questions why she is not worshiped. She reviews her impressive ancestry,
including Jupiter as a grandfather, and her current status as queen of Thebes.
These factors and her fourteen children, Niobe believes, are evidence of her
high rank, which she presumes to be higher than that of Latona. The queen
dismisses the worshipers from Latona’s shrine.
When Latona learns of this slight, she is outraged. Her children proceed to
shoot down each of Niobe’s seven sons in turn, killing all of Niobe and her
husband’s heirs in minutes. Her husband Amphion takes his own life when he
learns of his sons’ deaths. Niobe tries to take solace in her remaining seven
daughters, but the gods shoot them down one by one as they mourn their fallen
brothers. Niobe herself is frozen in stone, her profile making up a crag of a
mountain that appears as though she is crying for her children.
In the aftermath of the destruction of Niobe’s family, Thebans grow more devout in their worship of Latona. This new story of Latona’s wrath recalls an older tale of Lycian peasants who rejected her divinity and were punished. As such, a shrine was created to honor Latona, the goddess who had been turned away by all the world as she sought a place to give birth to her twins. Soon after welcoming Diana and Apollo, Latona ended up in Lycia, thirsty and exhausted from childbirth and travel. She saw some peasants working near a lake, where she was relieved she could drink some water. However, the men told...
(This entire section contains 1295 words.)
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her to stop drinking the water even though she explained her situation and tried to win their mercy. Instead, they insulted her and proceeded to get into the water and muddy it. Sickened by their behavior, Latona punished them by changing them into frogs.
Another Theban tells the story of Marsysas, a satyr who lost a flute contest to Latona’s son, Apollo. In response to challenging the god and losing, Marsyas was flayed. His friends mourned him, so much that their tears made a river that was then named in his honor. Moving from these older tales about Latona, the Thebans return to their current grief. There is more sympathy for Amphion than Niobe, but the proud queen has one mourner: her brother, Pelopsm who tears his clothes, exposing his strange body, which was reassembled after his father had dismembered him as a child.
Rulers from surrounding regions send condolences to Thebes. Athens, however, sends no representatives because they are in the midst of war. Tereus, the king of Thrace, sends aid to Athens, so King Pandion of Athens sends his daughter Procne to Tereus as a show of gratitude. Their union is marked by bad omens, but the couple thanks the gods and produces a son named Itys. After five years, Procne requests that her sister Philomela be permitted to visit; when Tereus sees Philomela, he desires her, so sets about the work of having her brought home with him for his own purposes. Philomela, for her part, begs her father to let her travel to Thrace, and Pandion asks Tereus to protect his daughter on her travels.
As soon as they reach Thrace, Tereus brings Philomela into a forest and rapes her. The maiden is utterly distraught, especially concerned about how this assault will impact her relationship with Procne. Philomela vows to gain revenge on Tereus someday and to make his misdeeds public. This angers Tereus, so he cuts out Philomela’s tongue before assaulting her yet again. He spreads a rumor that Philomela has died but keeps her hidden in a forest hut. Procne grieves for her sister and marks her death with an empty grave. Meanwhile, Philomela struggles to find a way to communicate what happened to her and get help. She weaves a message that spells out Tereus’s sins and gives it to one of Procne’s servants to bring to her sister. Procne is shocked by the message, but she escapes one night during Bacchic rites to find her sister. She knocks down the hut’s doors and brings Philomela to the palace. The latter is so ashamed of having been assaulted by Procne’s husband that she at first cannot look at her sister. Procne tells her sister they must act now to exact their revenge.
Procne tries to decide on her course of vengeance but is undecided until she sees her son. She loves him but weighs his life against her sister’s torture, then chooses to sacrifice her child. Both sisters stab the boy and then tear him limb from limb. Procne invites her husband to a feast, then she serves him a meal made of his son’s flesh. After Procne announces that the man has eaten his son, Philomela throws the boy’s head to his father. He strikes out at the women with his sword, but they are transformed into a nightingale and a sparrow to escape his blows. Tereus himself is changed into a hoopoe.
Pandion dies heartbroken over what has happened to his daughters and is succeeded in Athens by Erechtheus. The new king’s daughter, Orithyia, is pursued by the north wind Boreas, who quickly becomes angry when his initial wooing does not persuade the girl. Boreas vows to use the powers available to him as the north wind and aggressively travels looking for Orithyia. He kidnaps and forcibly weds her, and she bears twins, Zetes and Calais, who look like men but have wings like Boreas and will eventually join the Argonauts and travel with Jason to pursue the Golden Fleece.
