Phyllem and Báucis (Metamorfoses VIII, 611-724), of Ovid

Abstract

Ovid's Metamorphoses, a work in 15 books, compose a vast web of disparate histories that are linked to each other through a complex process of association and approximation between them, ranging from the most derisive and almost imperceptible detail to its framing in a broad and common sense. Reading the Metamorphoses is therefore a continuous exercise of attention to the particular and, at the same time, to the general plan; that is, the meaning of an account lies in itself, but it also depends on the accounts that precede it and on those that come soon after. The story of Philemon and Báucis is the central episode in the series of reports during the banquet at the abode of the river Aqueloo, which illustrate different dispositions against the gods.