Iphis and Anaxarete in Ovid's Metamorphoses: Poem of the Shut-Out Lover.

摘要

In Metamorphoses, Ovid tells the story of Iphis and Anaxarete (1, book 14:698-761). Iphis of Salamis, a young man overcome with desire for a princess named Anaxarete, brings garlands and poetry to her house. She spurns him, so he returns to her house one last time and says, "You win, Anaxarete, and no longer will you have to endure disgust with me.... For you win, and I die gladly. Come, iron-hearted one, rejoice!" (1, book 14.718-721). Ovid then writes, "He spoke, and raising his moist eyes and pale limbs to the door-posts decorated often by garlands, when he fastened the cord of the noose to the top of the door-posts, he said, 'Are these garlands pleasing to you, cruel and wicked [woman]?' and inserted his head, but even then turned to her, and his lifeless weight hung, his throat crushed" (1, book 14.733-738).