Philostratus Minor, Imagines 15: Atalanta in the Calydonian boar hunt

Philostratus Minor, Imagines 15: Atalanta in the Calydonian boar hunt

3rd cent. CE

Mythography

Literary source

Are you surprised to see a girl entering into so great a contest and withstanding the attack of so savage and so huge a boar? For you see how bloodshot is his eye, how his crest bristles, and how abundant is the foam that drips from his long upright tusks, which are unblunted at the point; and you see how the beast’s bulk is proportional to his stride, which indeed is indicated by these tracks that are as large as those of a bull. For the painter has not failed to embody any of these points in his painting. But the scene before us is already terrible. For the boar has attacked Ancaeus here in the thigh, and the youth lies pouring out his blood in streams and with a long gaping wound in his thigh; therefore, now that the contest is already under way, Atalanta —for we must recognize that the girl is she—having put to the bowstring the arrow she has ready, is about to let it fly. She wears a garment that does not reach the knee and boots fastened on her feet; her arms are bare to the shoulders for freedom of movement, and the garment is fastened there by brooches; her beauty, which is naturally of the masculine type, is made more so by the occasion, since her glance is not alluring, but she strains her eyes to observe what is going on. The youths here are Meleager and Peleus, for the painting tells us that it is they who have slain the boar; Meleager in an attitude of defence throws his weight upon his left foot, and watching closely the boar’s advance, awaits his onset securely with couched spear.

Arthur Fairbanks, Philostratus the Elder, Imagines. Philostratus the Younger, Imagines. Callistratus, Descriptions (= Loeb Classical Library; 256), Cambridge, MA 1931.

θαυμάζεις ὁρῶν ἐς τοσοῦτον ἀγῶνα κόρην ὁρμῶσαν ἀγρίου τε οὕτω συὸς καὶ τοσούτου ὁρμὴν ὑφισταμένην; ὁρᾷς γάρ, ὡς ὕφαιμον μὲν αὐτῷ τὸ ὄμμα λοφιά τε φρίττουσα καὶ πολὺς ὁ κατὰ τῶν ὀδόντων ἀφρὸς ἐς πολὺ ἀνεστηκότων καὶ τὴν αἰχμὴν ἀτρίπτων τό τε εὖρος, ὡς πρὸς λόγου τῇ βάσει, ἣν δὴ καὶ τὰ ἴχνη ταυτὶ δείκνυσι ταύρων ἀποδέοντα οὐδέν: οὐδὲ γὰρ τούτων παρέλιπέ τι ὁ ζωγράφος ἐντυπώσας αὐτὰ τῇ γραφῇ. τὰ δὲ δρώμενα καὶ [p. 417] δεινὰ ἤδη: ἐμπεπτωκὼς γὰρ ὁ σῦς Ἀγκαίῳ τούτῳ κατὰ τὸν μηρὸν κεῖται ὁ νεανίας ἀθρόον ἐκρέων τὸ αἷμα καὶ ἐς πολὺ ἀνερρωγὼς τοῦ μηροῦ, ὅθεν ἐν χερσὶν ἤδη τοῦ ἄθλου ὄντος ἡ μὲν Ἀταλάντη, ταύτην γὰρ εἶναι τὴν κόρην νοεῖν χρή, πρόχειρον ἐπιθεῖσα τῇ νευρᾷ τὸ βέλος ἀφήσειν μέλλει. ἔσταλται δὲ ἐσθῆτι μὲν ὑπὲρ γόνυ, κρηπῖδα δὲ τοῖν ποδοῖν ἐνῆπται καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἐς ὦμον γυμναὶ διὰ τὸ ἐνεργοὺς εἶναι τῆς ἐσθῆτος ἐκεῖ ἐς περόνας ξυνεχομένης, τὸ δὲ κάλλος ἀρρενωπὸν ἐκ φύσεως ὂν ἀνίστησιν ὁ καιρὸς ἐπὶ μᾶλλον οὐκ ἐφίμερον βλεπούσης, ἀλλὰ τὰς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν βολὰς ἐς τὴν τῶν δρωμένων ἔννοιαν τεινούσης. οἱ νεανίαι δὲ οὗτοι Μελέαγρος καὶ Πηλεύς, τούτους γὰρ δὴ τοὺς καθελόντας τὸν σῦν φησὶν ῾εἶναἰ ἡ γραφή, ὁ μὲν ἐπερείσας ἐν προβολῇ τῷ λαιῷ ποδὶ ἑαυτὸν ὁ Μελέαγρος καὶ τὴν βάσιν τηρήσας ἀσφαλῶς ἐκδέχεται τὴν ὁρμὴν τοῦ συὸς λόγχην ὑποστήσας. φέρε δὴ καὶ τὰ περὶ αὐτὸν εἴπωμεν: στιφρὸς μὲν ὁ νεανίας καὶ πάντῃ σφριγῶν, κνῆμαι δ᾽ αὐτῷ εὐπαγεῖς καὶ ὀρθαὶ φέρειν τε ἔν τε τοῖς δρόμοις ἱκαναὶ καὶ ὑφισταμένῳ τὸν ἐκ χειρὸς ἀγῶνα φύλακες ἀγαθαὶ μηρός τε ξὺν ἐπιγουνίδι ὁμολογῶν τοῖς κάτω καὶ ἰσχίον οἷον διδόναι θαρσεῖν ὡς οὐκ ἀνατραπησομένου ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ συὸς ἐμβολῆς τοῦ νεανίου πλευρά τε βαθεῖα καὶ γαστὴρ ἀπέριττος καὶ στέρνα τὸ μέτριον προεκκείμενα καὶ βραχίων διηρθρωμένος καὶ ὦμοι πρὸς αὐχένα ἐρρωμένον ξυνάπτοντες καὶ βάσιν αὐτῷ διδόντες κόμη τε ἡλιῶσα καὶ ἀνεστηκυῖα νῦν ὑπὸ τοῦ τῆς ὁρμῆς ἐνεργοῦ καὶ χαροπὸν ἱκανῶς δεδορκὸς τὸ ὄμμα ἥ τε ὀφρὺς οὐκ ἀνειμένη, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῷ θυμῷ πᾶσα καὶ ἡ τοῦ προσώπου κατάστασις οὐδὲ ξυγχωροῦσα περὶ [p. 418] κάλλους τι λέγειν διὰ τὸ ἐπιτετάσθαι, ἐσθὴς δὲ λευκὴ ὑπὲρ γόνυ καὶ κρηπὶς ὑπὲρ σφυρὸν ἔρεισμα ἀσφαλὲς τῇ βάσει, χλαμύδα τε κοκκοβαφῆ ὑπὲρ αὐχένος κολπώσας τὸ θηρίον ὑφίσταται. ταυτὶ μέν σοι τὰ τοῦ Οἰνέως, Πηλεὺς δὲ οὗτος προβέβληται φοινικοῦν φᾶρος, μάχαιρα δὲ αὐτῷ ἡ παρ᾽ Ἡφαίστου ἐν χερσὶν ἐκδεξομένῳ τὴν τοῦ συὸς ὁρμήν, τὸ δὲ ὄμμα ἄτρεπτος καὶ ὀξὺ ὁρῶν καὶ οἷος μηδὲ ὑπερόριον ἆθλον τὸν ἐς Κόλχους σὺν Ἰάσονι δεῖσαι.

Carl L. Kayser (ed.), Flavii Philostrati Opera, vol 2, Leipzig 1871.