You are not what you achieve, you are what you conquer or METAMORPHOSES IN LOARRE. Capital II

2023-02-07 16:31:00

After the first capital (I) we continue briefly as the Essays on Ovid’s Metamorphosis They decided to have space and harmony in the abbey founded by Sancho Ramírez in Loarre. The following capital, located in the apse of the church of San Pedro de Loarre, gives us another good example of this:

A legendary myth of a long series of adventures, the story of King Cadmus is as complex as a cluster of different stories that have been united into one.

Cadmus, a semi-legendary character, is a great warrior and faithful servant of the gods, tireless warrior, noble traveler, inventor of the Greek alphabet and beggar, warrior, king and founder of dynasties.

Among the many tasks performed by Cadmus, it is pointed out as the beginning to its final result, the damage done by him of the sanctuary of Ares and the killing of his guardian serpent.

In brief, Cadmus, led by the oracle of Apollo and in the preparations for the ritual sacrifice to the father of the gods, sent his servants to find water from the spring, until now inviolate, protected by serpent, daughter of Ares. . When he heard the hapless footsteps of the men approaching, he rose suddenly, unleashed his deadly attack and killed everyone.

Cadmus, when he learned this, went to seek revenge and attacked him in a long and hard fight with all the weapons he had at his disposal. First, he threw a large stone at him, and removed his skin, and struck him with a spear, which did not hurt his hilt, and he struck the spear with such force that it the snake’s neck. to oak wood pressed with such weight.

Etruscan cineraria. Cadmus fights the dragon. 2nd century BC

The scene of the fight in its three attempts: with a stone (on the left),

with a sword (on the right) and, throwing the end, in the middle.

As Cadmus watches his vanquished foe, he hears a voice that questions him about him and predicts that he too will end up looking like a snake. “Why was Agenor born, did you see the serpent that perished? You too will look like a snake when you look at him.” (Metamorphosis, L.III, 97-98) This prediction caused such a great shock that his hair stood on end and his eyes turned white.

After that and, following the instructions of Athena, Cadmus used the teeth of the defeated snake as a seed for a new generation that would found the Greek city of Thebes and would make his family king. Interesting in comparison with the behavior of Sancho Ramírez who followed the traditions of the Holy See, also buried the Mozarabic Rite as the seed of the new Roman tradition, combining with that vassalage his title of king and removing the Aragonese lands from the study of the kingdom of Navarra.

As an atonement for the crime committed against Ares, Cadmus spent eight years in his service and, during that time, the god gave him the daughter of Harmonia as a wife. Their union is such a great celebration that the gods themselves sit next to people at the table. But, despite his diligence towards them, Cadmus’ life is full of tragedies related to his family. Finally, the death of his daughter Semele who was enamored by the goddess Juno, he was jealous to know that the girl was expecting a child from Jupiter.

Now, an old man, when he had been in mourning for a long time, the grief was full of grief that he realized that his daughter and his children had died, and the great calamity that befell him overcame him, he went from his city and marry his wife and come there. The border of Illyria where he remembered the origin of his family and the snake he killed and whose teeth he planted as seeds, he asked the gods to become snakes himself. (Metamorphosis L.IV 575-589).

“I myself, I begged, spread out like a snake on my long belly.

He said and stretched like a snake on his long belly

and his hard, scaly skin grows

and its black body is contrasted with blue spots

and he fell on his chest, and gathered together.

little by little their legs disappear into the surrounding area

The arms are already left: the dead, the arms guard

and with tears flowing down the eyes of his remaining people:

“Closer, wife, closer, sad one,” he said,

“and as long as anything is left of me, it belongs to me and my hands

grab it, while it is at hand, while not everything is taken by the snake.”

In agony, the wife beat her chest and prayed to the gods, on the way, to turn back into a snake.

Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Ms. French 137, f. 61 r

The myth turns Cadmus into a snake, which is a symbol of wisdom, to show that this prince became wise by suffering calamities.

The metamorphoses of husbands or wives into snakes mark the transition to a completely different state from the previous one, a great change that indicates their overcoming of the human condition as a result of life experience and divine grace.Something that Saint Paul predicted would happen to us in the midst of apocalyptic despair: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall all be returned. For that which is corruptible must put on incorruption; (Corinthians 15:52-54)

The change that happened to Cadmus is not far from what we first experience when we want to model life according to our expectations. In the end it’s yours, life,

in its conditions, which shape us to guarantee the metamorphosis of our soul, at the cost, many times, of losing everything we have achieved.

You will be what you overcome and you are what you have overcome.

Health and Romanesque

To know more and better:

(1) Ovidius Nason, Publius

(2) Ovid’s Metamorphoses in prose
#achieve #conquer #METAMORPHOSES #LOARRE #Capital