0:00:09 > 0:00:13This year marks 2,000 years since the death of the Roman poet Ovid,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16one of the greatest storytellers of all time.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20His Metamorphoses, with its mythological tales of transformations,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24has transfixed readers and inspired artists ever since,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28including William Shakespeare.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31I'm Greg Doran, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company,
0:00:31 > 0:00:36and this autumn, we're looking at Ovid's influence on our house playwright.
0:00:36 > 0:00:37One contemporary wrote,
0:00:37 > 0:00:42"The witty soul of Ovid lives in the mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakespeare."
0:00:42 > 0:00:45I've been working with a group of actors to explore some of
0:00:45 > 0:00:48the key stories from the Metamorphoses,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50translated by Ted Hughes amongst others.
0:00:51 > 0:00:57First up is Simon Russell Beale with a speech by Ovid's sorceress Medea.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Here, she proclaims her power to rule over nature and shows the full
0:01:01 > 0:01:04extent of her magical witchcraft.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08References to Medea occur in plays like The Merchant Of Venice and
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Titus Andronicus, and the tale even inspired a famous passage
0:01:11 > 0:01:13from The Tempest.
0:01:13 > 0:01:19Ye airs and winds, the elves of hills of brooks, of woods alone,
0:01:19 > 0:01:23of standing lakes, and of the night, approach ye every one.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28Through help of whom, the crooked banks much wondering at the thing,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31I have compelled streams to run clean backward to their spring.
0:01:32 > 0:01:38By charms, I make the calm seas rough and make the rough seas plane.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42And cover all the sky with clouds and chase them thense again.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52And from the bowels of the Earth, both stones and trees do draw.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54Whole woods and forests I remove.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58I make the mountains shake and even the Earth itself to groan and
0:01:58 > 0:02:00fearfully to quake.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03I call up dead men from their graves,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05and thee, O lightsome Moon,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08I darken oft, though beaten brass abate thy peril soon.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19The flaming breath of fiery bulls ye quenched for my sake and cause to
0:02:19 > 0:02:22unwieldy necks the bended yoke to take.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26Among the Earth-bred brothers, you a mortal ward did set.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36There is, right at the end of Shakespeare's career in the
0:02:36 > 0:02:38last solely-authored play,
0:02:38 > 0:02:43The Tempest, there is a very, very direct borrowing from Ovid.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47In fact, it's from Medea, and I remember us,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50when we were rehearsing The Tempest last year, reading that.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53And it being a bit of a surprise.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55Yeah.
0:02:55 > 0:03:03Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07What Shakespeare's done, it's always fascinating what he does with this
0:03:07 > 0:03:08sort of material, isn't it?
0:03:08 > 0:03:13He's sort of smoothed the argument so it has a good, wonderful
0:03:13 > 0:03:18Porsche-like, Rolls-Royce acceleration through the speech.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Of course, the two-most or three-most,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23four-most famous lines in the speech are in fact entirely Shakespeare's
0:03:23 > 0:03:27invention, which is when Prospero breaks his staff and gives up his powers.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30But it means that the speech has a different...
0:03:30 > 0:03:35Has a regret about it, has a self-congratulatory element, of course,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38but it's also about what I did in the past and what I am now going to
0:03:38 > 0:03:42give up, which is a whole different tone to Medea thundering against...
0:03:43 > 0:03:47..you know, flexing her muscles against her own miserable situation.
0:03:47 > 0:03:48But this rough magic...
0:03:51 > 0:03:52..I hear abdure.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57And when I have required some heavenly music,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01which even now I do to work mine end upon their senses that this airy
0:04:01 > 0:04:02charm is for...
0:04:06 > 0:04:08I'll break my staff.
0:04:15 > 0:04:16Bury it.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20Set fathoms in the Earth.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24And deeper than did ever plummet sound.
0:04:30 > 0:04:31I'll drown my book.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37I mean, it's a wonderful speech and I enjoyed playing it, as you know,
0:04:37 > 0:04:38more than I can say.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43One of the most heartbreaking stories from the Metamorphoses is the tale
0:04:43 > 0:04:47of Proserpina. While gathering flowers one day, she's snatched away
0:04:47 > 0:04:50by the Lord of Hell to be his wife in the underworld.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54As Hannah Morrish here narrates,
0:04:54 > 0:04:59from the peerless translation by Ted Hughes, Proserpina's mother Ceres,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02the goddess of the harvest, tries to rescue her.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06But the young girl's simple act of eating a pomegranate traps her in
0:05:06 > 0:05:07Hell for half the year.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Shakespeare echoes Proserpina's flower-gathering
0:05:10 > 0:05:13in characters like Ophelia and Perdita in The Winter's Tale.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19Near Enna's walls is a deep lake known as Pergusa.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Trees encircling it knit their boughs
0:05:22 > 0:05:24to protect it from the sun's flame.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Their leaves nurse a glade of cool shade
0:05:27 > 0:05:30where it is always spring with spring's flowers.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Proserpina was playing in that glade with her companions.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41..excitedly among lilies and violets.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45She was heaping the fold of her dress with the flowers,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48hurrying to pick more, to gather most,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52piling more than any of her friends into baskets.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55There, the Lord of Hell suddenly saw her.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59In the sweep of a single glance, he fell in love
0:05:59 > 0:06:01and snatched her away.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Terrified, she screamed for her mother
0:06:07 > 0:06:09and screamed to her friends,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12but louder and again and again to her mother.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15She ripped her frock from her throat downwards
0:06:15 > 0:06:18so all her cherished flowers scattered in a shower.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Then, in her childishness,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24she screamed for her flowers as they fell
0:06:24 > 0:06:28while her ravisher leapt with her into his chariot.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30They were gone,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33leaving the ripped turf and the shocked faces.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37In despair, Ceres ransacked the earth.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40No dawn sodden with dew ever found her resting.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43The evening star never found her weary.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47The lands and the seas across which Ceres roamed
0:06:47 > 0:06:49make too long a list.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Searching the whole earth,
0:06:51 > 0:06:55she found herself right back where she had started, Sicily.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57She ripped her hair out in knots,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00she hammered her breasts with her clenched fists,
0:07:00 > 0:07:04yet still she knew nothing of where her daughter might be.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07She accused every country on earth,
0:07:07 > 0:07:09reproached them all for their ingratitude,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13called them unworthy of their harvests.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Then, Arathusa, the nymph that Alpheus loved,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18lifted her head from her pool,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20swept back her streaming hair,
0:07:20 > 0:07:21and called to Ceres,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24"Great Mother of earth's harvests,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26"you who have searched through the whole world
0:07:26 > 0:07:29"for your vanished daughter, you have laboured enough.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33"But have raged too much against the earth,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36"which was always loyal to you.
0:07:36 > 0:07:37"The earth is innocent.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40"While I was under the earth,
0:07:40 > 0:07:44"as I slid through the Stygian pool in the underworld,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48"I felt myself reflecting a face that looked down at me.
0:07:48 > 0:07:49"It was your Proserpina.
0:07:51 > 0:07:52"She was not happy.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54"Her face was pinched with fear.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56"Nevertheless...
0:08:01 > 0:08:05"She is the reigning consort of Hell's tyrant."
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Ceres seemed to be turning to stone as she listened.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12For a long time, she was like stone.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Then her stupor was shattered by a scream of fury
0:08:15 > 0:08:17as she leapt into her chariot.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Jupiter was astonished when she materialised in front of him,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23her hair one wild snarl of disarray,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26her face inflamed and swollen with sobbing,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29and her voice hacking at him, attacking.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37"If her mother's pleas are powerless,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40"maybe her father's heart will stir for her."
0:08:40 > 0:08:43The high god answered calmly...
0:08:44 > 0:08:47.."I love our daughter no less than you do.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50"I am bound to her by blood no less than you are.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52"But see things as they stand.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54"Let your words fit the facts.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02"Once you accept him, this is a son-in-law to be proud of.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06"Even if he were worthless, he is still the brother of Jupiter.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09"As it is, in everything, he is my equal,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11"only not so lucky in the lottery
0:09:11 > 0:09:13"that gave Heaven to me and Hell to him.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16"Still, if you are determined to take her from him,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19"you can have her, but on one condition.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23"The sole condition fixed by the Fates is this.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29"She can return to Heaven on condition, hear me, on condition,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31"that she never tasted Hell's food."
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Jupiter finished.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36And Ceres was away to collect her daughter,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38but the Fates stopped her.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Proserpina had eaten something.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Absently straying through Pluto's overloaded orchard...
0:09:47 > 0:09:49..picked its hard rind open,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52and sucked the glassy flesh from seven seeds.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53Almost nothing,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55but more than enough.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59So, closing Hell's gates on Proserpina.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Now, Jupiter intervened between his brother
0:10:02 > 0:10:03and his grieving sister.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07He parted the years round into two halves.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09From this day, Proserpina,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12the goddess who shares both kingdoms,
0:10:12 > 0:10:16divides her year between her husband in Hell among spectres
0:10:16 > 0:10:20and her mother on earth among flowers.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22Her nature, too, is divided.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26One moment gloomy as Hell's king, but the next...
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Of course, at the end of the Proserpina story,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41so she has been dragged down to the underworld.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Her mother, Ceres,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47rampages the earth, causing devastation,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50to try and find her daughter.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Eventually discovers that she has been taken down to the underworld
0:10:54 > 0:10:58and pleads with Jupiter
0:10:58 > 0:11:00to release her, and he says,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02"Yes, you can release her on one condition,
0:11:02 > 0:11:06"that she hasn't eaten anything while she was in the underworld."
0:11:06 > 0:11:10And, lo and behold, we discover that she's had seven pips,
0:11:10 > 0:11:12seven little seeds from a pomegranate.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16And, therefore, she can't come back.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18But the deal is made
0:11:18 > 0:11:24that she can come back for six months of the year.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Six months she has to spend in winter in her gloom,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32and six months she can spend in the flowery summer
0:11:32 > 0:11:34when her whole personality changes.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37It makes her quite schizophrenic as a personality.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39It's the worst custody settlement of all time!
0:11:39 > 0:11:42This poor daughter! "Do I have to go down there?
0:11:42 > 0:11:44"I'm sorry, it's really cold down there.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46"There's spectres and there's devils"
0:11:46 > 0:11:49"I much prefer it at your place. Don't make me go, don't make me go!"
0:11:49 > 0:11:51The most gruesome tale in the Metamorphoses
0:11:51 > 0:11:53must be Philomel and Tereus,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55about a king so overcome by lust
0:11:55 > 0:11:57for his wife's sister, that he rapes her.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02With a plot that heavily influenced Titus Andronicus,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05a play currently in performance at the RSC,
0:12:05 > 0:12:06the story describes King Tereus
0:12:06 > 0:12:10ripping out Philomel's tongue so she can tell no-one what happened.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14But she manages to inform her sister, the Queen Procne,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17and they conspire to murder the King's son Itys
0:12:17 > 0:12:21and serve him up to his father cooked in a pie.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Antony Byrne tells the whole story here,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26which will climax in the transformation
0:12:26 > 0:12:30of the three protagonists, Tereus, Philomel and Procne, into birds.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36When Tereus, the great King of Thrace,
0:12:36 > 0:12:39married Procne and begot Itys,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Procne spoke to her husband, stroking his face.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45"If you love me, give me the perfect gift,
0:12:45 > 0:12:47"the sight of my sister."
0:12:47 > 0:12:51At a command from Tereus, oar and sail brought him to Athens.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Tereus began to explain his unexpected arrival,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57how Procne longed for one glimpse of her sister.
0:12:57 > 0:13:03But just as he was promising the immediate return of Philomela,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07there, mid-sentence, Philomela herself...
0:13:08 > 0:13:11..arrayed in the wealth of the kingdom, entered.
0:13:12 > 0:13:13Still unaware that her own beauty
0:13:13 > 0:13:15was the most astounding of her jewels.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Tereus felt his blood alter thickly.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27His first thought was simply to grab her and carry her off,
0:13:27 > 0:13:28and fight to keep her.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31The sun went down.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34A royal banquet glittered and steamed.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37The guests, replete, slept.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Only the Thracian king Tereus tossed,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43remembering Philomela's every gesture.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Remembering...
0:13:56 > 0:14:00And seeming to see every part of her garments concealed...
0:14:01 > 0:14:03..just as he wanted it.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06So, he fed his lust...
0:14:07 > 0:14:09..and stared at the darkness.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15The oar was bent, and the wake broadened behind the painted ship.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20Philomela watched the land sinking, but Tereus laughed softly.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25"I've won. My prayers are granted. She's mine."
0:14:25 > 0:14:28The moment the ship touched his own shore,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30Tereus lifted Philomela onto a horse
0:14:30 > 0:14:34and hurried her to a fort behind high walls hidden in deep forest.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37And there he imprisoned her.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Bewildered and defenceless,
0:14:41 > 0:14:46failing to understand anything and in a growing fear of everything,
0:14:46 > 0:14:48she begged him to bring her to her sister.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52His answer was to rape her,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55ignoring her screams to her father,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57to her sister, to the gods.
0:15:02 > 0:15:08Afterwards, she crouched in a heap, shuddering.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11She clawed her hair and pounded her breasts with a fist
0:15:11 > 0:15:17shrieking at him, "You disgusting savage! You sadistic monster!
0:15:17 > 0:15:19"The gods are watching.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22"If they bother to notice what has happened,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25"if they are more than the puffs of air that go with their names,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28"then you will answer for this!
0:15:29 > 0:15:32"And shame will not stop me!
0:15:32 > 0:15:36"I shall tell everything to your own people, yes, to all Thrace.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38"Even if you keep me here...
0:15:43 > 0:15:47"The dumb rocks will witness, all Heaven will be my jury,
0:15:47 > 0:15:51"every god in Heaven will judge you!"
0:15:52 > 0:15:56Tereus was astonished to be defied and raged at
0:15:56 > 0:15:58and insulted by a human being.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01He hauled her up by the hair,
0:16:01 > 0:16:03twisted her arms behind her back
0:16:03 > 0:16:05and bound them, then drew his sword.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08As he caught her tongue with bronze pincers,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11dragged it out to its full length...
0:16:12 > 0:16:13..and cut it off at the root.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18The stump recoiled, silenced,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20into the back of her throat.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25But the tongue squirmed in the dust, babbling on,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28shaping words that were now soundless.
0:16:28 > 0:16:34Then, stuffing the whole hideous business deep among his secrets,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37he came home, smooth-faced, to his wife.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40When she asked for her sister...
0:16:41 > 0:16:43..he gave her the tale he had prepared.
0:16:44 > 0:16:45She was dead.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50His grief as he wept convinced everybody.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53A year went by.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59Philomela, staring at the massive stone walls
0:16:59 > 0:17:03and stared at by her guards, was still helpless.
0:17:03 > 0:17:04She set up a Thracian loom,
0:17:04 > 0:17:06and wove on a white fabric scarlet symbols
0:17:06 > 0:17:09that told in detail what had happened to her.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12A servant who understood her gestures, but...
0:17:15 > 0:17:17..took this gift to Procne, the queen.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22The tyrant's wife unrolled the tapestry
0:17:22 > 0:17:26and saw the only interpretation was the ruin of her life.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30In those moments, her restraint was superhuman.
0:17:37 > 0:17:43And tears were pushed aside by the devouring single idea of revenge.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Now came a festival of Bacchus,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51celebrated every third year by the young women of Thrace.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Dressed as a worshipper, Procne joined to the uproar.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59Berserk, she held herself through the darkness, terrifying.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01So she found the hidden fort in the forest.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07With howls to the god, her troupe tore down the gate,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09and Procne freed her sister,
0:18:09 > 0:18:14disguised her as a bacchante and brought her home to the palace.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17She was out of her mind with anger.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21"Oh, my sister, nothing now can soften the death
0:18:21 > 0:18:23"Tereus is going to die.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25"Let me break his jaw,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29"hang him up by his tongue and saw it through with a broken knife.
0:18:29 > 0:18:30"Then dig his eyes from their holes.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33"However we kill him..."
0:18:40 > 0:18:42While Procne raved,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Itys came in.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Her demented idea
0:18:47 > 0:18:48caught hold of his image.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53She whispered.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55Silent, her heart ice,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59she saw what had to be done.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Nevertheless, as he ran to her...
0:19:03 > 0:19:04..calling to her,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09..his five-year-old arms pulling at her to be kissed...
0:19:10 > 0:19:12..and to kiss her, and chattering lovingly
0:19:12 > 0:19:16through his loving laughter, her heart shrank.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21She felt her love for this child softening her ferocious will.
0:19:23 > 0:19:24And she turned to harden it,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26staring at her sister's face.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Then looked back at Itys, and again at her sister, crying,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33"He tells me all his love,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37"but she has no tongue to utter a word of hers.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40"He can call me mother, but she cannot call me sister."
0:19:42 > 0:19:44Catching Itys by the arm,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47she gave herself no more time to weaken.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49He saw what was coming.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53He tried to clasp her neck, screaming,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56"Mama, Mama!"
0:19:58 > 0:20:00But staring into his face...
0:20:01 > 0:20:04..Procne pushed a sword through his chest.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Then, though that wind was fatal enough...
0:20:11 > 0:20:12..slashed his throat.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Now, the two sisters ripped the hot little body
0:20:18 > 0:20:21into pulsating gobbets.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24The room was awash with blood as they cooked his remains.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28A feast followed.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32Procne invited one guest only - her husband.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34Tereus, ignorant and happy,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37lulled on the throne of his ancestors,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41and swallowed with smiles all his posterity
0:20:41 > 0:20:43as Procne served it up.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48He was so happy, he called for his son to join him.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50"Where's Itys? Bring him."
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Procne could not restrain herself any longer.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57"Your son," she said, "is here already.
0:21:00 > 0:21:01"He could not be closer to you."
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Tereus was mystified. He suspected some joke.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Perhaps Itys was hiding under his throne.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15He called again. "Come out! Show yourself!"
0:21:16 > 0:21:18The doors banged wide open.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Philomela burst into the throne room, her hair and gown bloody.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25She rushed forward, and her dismembering hands,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27red to the elbows,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31jammed into the face of Tereus a crimson dripping ball.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35The head of Itys.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39He tugged at his ribcage as if he might writhe himself open
0:21:39 > 0:21:41to empty out what he had eaten.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51Then gripped his sword hilt and steadied himself.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55As he saw the sisters running, he came after them,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58and they who had been running seemed to be flying.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02And suddenly they were...flying.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06And Tereus, charging blind in his delirium
0:22:06 > 0:22:08of grief and vengeance,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11no longer caring what happened...
0:22:15 > 0:22:17On his head and shoulders, a crest of feathers.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21Instead of a sword, a long, curved beak,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25like a warrior transfigured with battle frenzy dashing into battle.
0:22:25 > 0:22:26He had become a...
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Philomela mourned in the forest, a...
0:22:33 > 0:22:37Procne lamented round and the palace...
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Both you are currently in Titus Andronicus.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49It must've been quite interesting
0:22:49 > 0:22:52seeing just how closely the story reflects the play.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55There is something about the language of it,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59and the words that he uses, and the...
0:22:59 > 0:23:01Possibly, it is the Ovid, as well as Ted Hughes,
0:23:01 > 0:23:06but the getting inside the mind of Procne.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10The rage, and inside the terror of Philomel.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12I couldn't stop crying.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15It's such an amazing story.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20What Shakespeare doesn't do that Ovid does,
0:23:20 > 0:23:25is allow the metamorphosis of Lavina that Philomel has.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29She's able to...release from her suffering
0:23:29 > 0:23:31and her pain through
0:23:31 > 0:23:36becoming a nightingale and having that sort of transcendence.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40Titus Andronicus really pushes it, doesn't it?
0:23:40 > 0:23:42A girl is raped.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44She has her hands cut off,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46she has her tongue cut out.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48That's pretty extreme.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Have you encountered responses from the audience?
0:23:52 > 0:23:56Yeah, I spoke to a group of American students
0:23:56 > 0:23:59who were really disconcerted
0:23:59 > 0:24:04that there weren't any trigger warnings.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06And I didn't know what they meant.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11And they had to explain to me now that -
0:24:11 > 0:24:14is this right for live theatre
0:24:14 > 0:24:17and movies in the States? -
0:24:17 > 0:24:21there is a warning before you go in
0:24:21 > 0:24:24explicitly saying there are things
0:24:24 > 0:24:27that will happen in this thematically
0:24:27 > 0:24:32which might trigger an uncomfortable emotional response in you.
0:24:32 > 0:24:38In 2015, students at the University of Columbia petitioned the staff,
0:24:38 > 0:24:43apparently, that certain stories should be prefaced with -
0:24:43 > 0:24:45and these were Ovid's Metamorphoses,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47so Tereus And Philomel was one of them -
0:24:47 > 0:24:50that there should be a trigger warning alerting readers
0:24:50 > 0:24:55who might be disturbed by the violent sexual content.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57It's interesting, isn't it,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00- that Ovid has that power in the 21st century?- Yeah.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Ovid's Metamorphoses have offered inspiration
0:25:03 > 0:25:06to some of the greatest artists in history.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Perhaps most memorably, with the story of the hunter Actaeon,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13depicted in the vivid canvases of Titian.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15As Alex Waldmann reveals here,
0:25:15 > 0:25:19after accidentally catching sight of the goddess of the hunt, Diana,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23naked at her bath, Actaeon is transformed into a stag
0:25:23 > 0:25:27and devoured by his own hounds, a fate Shakespeare alludes to
0:25:27 > 0:25:31in passages from Twelfth Night and The Merry Wives Of Windsor.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37Destiny, not guilt, was enough for Actaeon.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40It's no crime to lose your way in a dark wood.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42It happened on a mountain,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45where hunters had slaughtered so many animals...
0:25:48 > 0:25:52When shadows were shortest and the sun's heat hottest,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54young Actaeon call a halt.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58"We've killed more than enough for the day."
0:25:59 > 0:26:02All concurred, and the hunt was over for the day.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08A deep cleft at the bottom of the mountain,
0:26:08 > 0:26:14dark with matted pine and spiky cypress, was known as Gargaphie,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17sacred to Diana, goddess of the hunt.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22Often to that grotto, aching and burning from her hunting,
0:26:22 > 0:26:27Diana came to cool the naked beauty she hid from the world.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30The goddess was there in her secret pool,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33naked and bowed, under those cascades
0:26:33 > 0:26:37from the mouths of jars, in the fastness of Gargaphie,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41when Actaeon, making a beeline home from the hunt,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44stumbled on this gorge.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47Surprised to find it, he pushed into it.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49Apprehensive, but...
0:26:52 > 0:26:55..his nudgings he felt only as surges of curiosity.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58So, he came to the clearing.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02He peered into the gloom to see the waterfall...
0:27:04 > 0:27:07..but what he saw were nymphs.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Their wild faces screaming at him in a commotion of water.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16And as his eyes adjusted, he saw they were naked,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19beating their breasts as they screamed at him.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23And he saw they were crowding together to hide something from him.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25He stared harder.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Those nymphs could not conceal Diana's whiteness.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30The tallest barely reached her navel.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34Actaeon stared at the goddess,
0:27:34 > 0:27:35who stared at him.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38She twisted her breasts away,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40showing him her back,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43glaring at him over her shoulder...
0:27:46 > 0:27:50..in that twilit grotto of winking reflections,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52and raged for a weapon,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54for her arrows to drive through his body.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58No weapon was to hand, only water, so she scooped up a handful
0:27:58 > 0:28:02and dashed it into his astonished eyes as she shouted...
0:28:07 > 0:28:09That was all she said.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13But as she said it, out of his forehead burst a rack of antlers.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16His neck lengthened, narrowed,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19and his ears folded to whiskery points.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21His hands were hooves.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23His arms - long, slender legs,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27his hunter's tunic slid from his dappled hide.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30With all this, the goddess poured a shocking stream
0:28:30 > 0:28:33of panicked terror through his heart like blood.
0:28:33 > 0:28:39Actaeon bounded out across the cave's pool in plunging leaps,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41amazed at his own likeness.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45And there, clear in the bulging mirror of his bow wave,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49he glimpsed his antlered head and cried,
0:28:49 > 0:28:51"What has happened to me?"
0:28:53 > 0:28:54No words came.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58No sound came, but a groan.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02His only voice was a groan, but then as he circled,
0:29:02 > 0:29:05his own hounds found him.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07The first to give tongue were Melampus,
0:29:07 > 0:29:12and the Spartan-Cretan crossbreeds, Lebros and Agriodus,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15Hylactor, with a high cracked voice
0:29:15 > 0:29:16and a host of others.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18Too many to name.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21The strung-out pack locked onto their quarry,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24flowed across the landscape over crags, over cliffs
0:29:24 > 0:29:26where no man could have followed,
0:29:26 > 0:29:28through places that seemed impossible,
0:29:28 > 0:29:30where Actaeon had so often strained,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33every hound to catch and kill the quarry.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Now he strained to shake the same hounds off.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38His own hounds.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40He tried to cry out...
0:29:44 > 0:29:47But his tongue lolled wordless,
0:29:47 > 0:29:51while the air belaboured his ears with hounds' voices.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55Suddenly, three hounds appeared ahead, raving towards him.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57They'd been last in the pack,
0:29:57 > 0:30:01but they'd thought it out and made a short cut over a mountain.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03As Actaeon turned,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06Melanchaetes, the ringleader of this breakaway trio,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09grabbed a rear ankle in the trap of his jaws.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11These three pinned their master
0:30:11 > 0:30:14as the pack poured onto him like an avalanche.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16Every hound filled its jaws
0:30:16 > 0:30:18until there was hardly a mouth
0:30:18 > 0:30:22not gagged and crammed with hair and muscle.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25Then begun the tugging and the ripping.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Actaeon's groan was neither human
0:30:28 > 0:30:31nor the natural sound of a stag.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34Now the hills he had played on so happily...
0:30:37 > 0:30:41His head and antlers reared from the heaving pile.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45But his friends, who had followed the pack to this unexpected kill,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49urged them to finish the work.
0:30:49 > 0:30:51Meanwhile, they shouted for Actaeon,
0:30:51 > 0:30:54over and over for Actaeon to hurry
0:30:54 > 0:31:00and witness this last kill of the day, and such a magnificent beast.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02As if he were absent.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08He heard his name and wished he were as far off as they thought him.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13Only when Actaeon's life had been torn from his bones
0:31:13 > 0:31:15to the last mouthful...
0:31:25 > 0:31:31It wasn't Actaeon's fault that he strayed into that cavern
0:31:31 > 0:31:33and saw Diana bathing.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38It's... That beautiful image that Titian paints so beautifully
0:31:38 > 0:31:42of Actaeon witnessing Diana and her nymphs,
0:31:42 > 0:31:44and then being turned into a stag.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47The attempt to try and get inside what it must feel like,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50as a human being, to try and get right inside the human condition,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52it's the humanity. It's always like,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55"What's it's like to feel like that person at that moment
0:31:55 > 0:31:56"with that happening to you?"
0:31:56 > 0:31:58That moment of extreme is happening to you.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00I guess, perhaps, that's why...
0:32:00 > 0:32:02That's what myths are about.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06It's the ability to...
0:32:06 > 0:32:09To explore the human condition and human experience
0:32:09 > 0:32:13and try and articulate what that actually means.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17But the image of Actaeon is used in Twelfth Night, for instance,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20without any reference to the name Actaeon,
0:32:20 > 0:32:26as Orsino describes his passion for the Countess Olivia.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29Ovid's stories provide morals in their narrative.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32In the tale of Niobe, the proud Phrygian queen
0:32:32 > 0:32:35is brought to her knees when she tells the world
0:32:35 > 0:32:38that she is more fortunate than the goddess Leto
0:32:38 > 0:32:42because Niobe has 14 children and Leto only two.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45In Nia Gwynne's telling of the tale here,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48we see that once Leto has effected the destruction
0:32:48 > 0:32:50of Niobe's entire family,
0:32:50 > 0:32:53the grief of the bereaved queen is so great
0:32:53 > 0:32:56that she is transformed into a weeping mountain.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59"All tears," as Hamlet says, "forever more."
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Niobe was proud.
0:33:03 > 0:33:08She was proud of the magical powers of her husband, Amphion, the king.
0:33:08 > 0:33:13Her greatest pride was her family, her 14 children.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15And it is true, Niobe, of all mothers,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18would have been the most blessed
0:33:18 > 0:33:21if only she had not boasted that she,
0:33:21 > 0:33:24of all mothers, was the most blessed.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26She looked magnificent,
0:33:26 > 0:33:30like a great flame in her robes of golden tissue.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33She reared her spectacular head,
0:33:33 > 0:33:38her hair coiled and piled like a serpent asleep on a heap of jewels.
0:33:42 > 0:33:48"Wherever my eyes rest in my house, they rest on fabulous wealth.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50"Nor can it be denied...
0:33:54 > 0:33:58"Tell me, how can I fear ill fortune?
0:33:58 > 0:34:02"Even if it came to the worst, if I lost some of my children,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06"I could never be left with only two. Only two!
0:34:06 > 0:34:08"Two is all that Leto ever had!
0:34:08 > 0:34:09"Two children?
0:34:09 > 0:34:11"You might as well have none.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13"Get rid of these laurels,
0:34:13 > 0:34:16"back to your homes, finish with this nonsense.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18"Finish, I say."
0:34:18 > 0:34:20Leto was enraged.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22She climbed to the top of Cynthus
0:34:22 > 0:34:25and cried out to her children, the twins,
0:34:25 > 0:34:27none other than Apollo and Diana,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31so lightly dismissed by the Phrygian queen,
0:34:31 > 0:34:34"Your mother is calling you!" she cried.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38"Your mother, who is so proud of being your mother,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42"in Heaven, I take second place to none except Juno herself.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46"Your mother's divinity is being denied.
0:34:46 > 0:34:47"The daughter of Tantalus
0:34:47 > 0:34:51"has inherited all her father's blasphemous folly.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53"She has not only emptied my temples,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57"she drives me mad with insults, derision
0:34:57 > 0:35:00"and tells the whole world her 14 children
0:35:00 > 0:35:04"are a thousand times superior to my two
0:35:04 > 0:35:08"Compared to her, I am childless.
0:35:08 > 0:35:09"And, my children...
0:35:13 > 0:35:15"Let her swallow its meaning."
0:35:15 > 0:35:21Leto would have gone on but her great son, Apollo, spoke.
0:35:21 > 0:35:26"Mother, your words merely prolong Niobe's delusion."
0:35:26 > 0:35:28He exchanged a signal with his sister.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36..till they hung over the city of Cadmus.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40Outside the city, a broad plain smoked like a burning ground.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Niobe's sons were out there,
0:35:42 > 0:35:44astride gaudy saddle cloths.
0:35:44 > 0:35:50Ismenus, Niobe's eldest, was reining his horse hard,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53bringing it round in a tight circle,
0:35:53 > 0:35:54when his spine snapped
0:35:54 > 0:35:57and a bellow forced his mouth open
0:35:57 > 0:36:01as a broad-headed, bright-red arrow came clean through him.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03The reins fell loose.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06For a moment, he embraced the horse's neck limply
0:36:06 > 0:36:10and then slid from its right shoulder.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12Ilioneus was last.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15He dropped to his knees and lifted his arms.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19"You, gods!" He cried. "All of you, hear me!
0:36:19 > 0:36:23"Spare me, protect me!"
0:36:30 > 0:36:33It stopped his heart before he felt the impact.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Now the news came looking for Niobe.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43..people huddling together then scattering
0:36:43 > 0:36:46in an uproar of wails until, at last,
0:36:46 > 0:36:50her own family burst in on her, shrieking.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53This was no longer Niobe the queen who had driven her people,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56as with a whip from Leto's altars.
0:36:56 > 0:36:57Now even those who hated her...
0:36:59 > 0:37:00..pitied her.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04She bowed over the cooling bodies of her sons.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07She kissed them as if she could give them a lifetime of kisses
0:37:07 > 0:37:09in these moments.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12She lifted her bruised arms.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15"Leto!" She cried.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20"Feast yourself on your triumph, which is my misery.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23"I have died seven deaths at your hands..."
0:37:29 > 0:37:35"..Gloat and exult and, yet, your victory is petty.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37"Though you have crushed me, I'm still far,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39"far more fortunate than you are.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43"I still have seven children!"
0:37:43 > 0:37:45And, even as she spoke,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48terror struck with an invisible arrow the seven sisters
0:37:48 > 0:37:51of the dead brothers stooped by the seven biers,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54loose hair over their shoulders, mourning,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56When six of them lay dead,
0:37:56 > 0:38:00Niobe grabbed the seventh and covered her with her limbs and body,
0:38:00 > 0:38:05and tried to protect in swathes of her robes, crying...
0:38:09 > 0:38:15"Leave me the smallest of all my children, let me keep this one!"
0:38:15 > 0:38:16But slender arrow
0:38:16 > 0:38:22had already located the child she tried to hide and pray for.
0:38:22 > 0:38:27Niobe gazed at the corpses - all her children were dead.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31Her face hardened and whitened and as the blood left it.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35Her very hair hardened like hair carved by a chisel.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43Life drained from every part of it.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Her tongue solidified in her stone mouth.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48Her feet could not move.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51Her hands could not move, they were stone.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54All stone, packed in stone
0:38:54 > 0:38:58and, yet, this stone woman wept.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00A hurricane caught her up
0:39:00 > 0:39:04and carried her into Phrygia, her homeland, and set her down
0:39:04 > 0:39:08on top of a mountain and, there, a monument to herself,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11Niobe still weeps.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13As the weather wears at her...
0:39:20 > 0:39:23In the story, she's not exactly the most sympathetic character, is she?
0:39:23 > 0:39:28No, she's not. And Niobe's crime is that she's proud.
0:39:28 > 0:39:33And she boasts, quite willingly, at her pride,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36and thus angers the goddess.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38She has 14 children, seven of each,
0:39:38 > 0:39:41and she's extremely proud of them,
0:39:41 > 0:39:44and she rather lamentably says,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46"I'm so fortunate,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49"I have so much that fate could never touch me.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53"Even if fate took from me most of my children,
0:39:53 > 0:39:56"I could never be only left with two.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00"Two is a pathetic amount of children to have,
0:40:00 > 0:40:01"like Leto."
0:40:01 > 0:40:04And Leto just happens to have rather good kids.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07And Leto's two children are Apollo...
0:40:07 > 0:40:10Apollo and Artemis, isn't it?
0:40:10 > 0:40:12Yeah. And, so...
0:40:12 > 0:40:15It's the wrong call to make, really.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18- She's the tiger mum from hell. - She is.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23And, as a consequence, her 14 children are...
0:40:23 > 0:40:28..executed by Apollo and her grief is such...
0:40:30 > 0:40:34..that she then metamorphoses into a mountain,
0:40:34 > 0:40:38and yet her grief is such that even the mountain weeps.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41It kind of goes beyond 3D. It's sort of...
0:40:41 > 0:40:43There's a sort of depth to it,
0:40:43 > 0:40:45It's almost, all of a sudden,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48you see Niobe kind of coming up and being there
0:40:48 > 0:40:52and the history of that story's alive to you as an audience.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54No tale of Ovid's has permeated modern culture
0:40:54 > 0:40:56more than Echo and Narcissus,
0:40:56 > 0:41:00which reverberates throughout Twelfth Night and Romeo And Juliet,
0:41:00 > 0:41:03and has given us the term "narcissism".
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Here, Fiona Shaw delivers Ted Hughes' version
0:41:06 > 0:41:10of this devastating story of the unrequited love of a nymph
0:41:10 > 0:41:12for a beautiful young man.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15In his 16th year,
0:41:15 > 0:41:17Narcissus,
0:41:17 > 0:41:19still a slender boy,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23but already a man, infatuated many.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27His beauty had flowered.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37A pride kept all his admirers at a distance.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41None dared be familiar...
0:41:41 > 0:41:43let alone touch him.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47A day came out on the mountains,
0:41:47 > 0:41:53Narcissus was driving and netting and killing the deer!
0:41:53 > 0:41:54When Echo saw him.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58Echo...
0:41:58 > 0:42:02..who cannot be silent when another speaks.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Echo, who cannot speak at all unless another has spoken.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16The moment Echo saw Narcissus,
0:42:16 > 0:42:17she was in love.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24She followed him, like a starving wolf following a stag
0:42:24 > 0:42:26too strong to be tackled,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29and like a cat in winter, at a fire,
0:42:29 > 0:42:35she could not edge close enough to what singed her and would burn her.
0:42:35 > 0:42:36She almost...
0:42:38 > 0:42:41..to call out to him...
0:42:41 > 0:42:44And, somehow, let him know how she felt.
0:42:48 > 0:42:49..for some other to speak.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52So she could snatch their last words
0:42:52 > 0:42:56with whatever sense they might lend her.
0:42:56 > 0:43:03It so happened Narcissus had strayed apart from his companions.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06He hello'd them.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10"Where are you? I'm here!"
0:43:11 > 0:43:14And Echo caught at the syllables
0:43:14 > 0:43:16as if they were precious.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18"I'm here!
0:43:18 > 0:43:21And, "I'm here!" And, "I'm here!"
0:43:23 > 0:43:26Narcissus looked around wildly.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31"I'll stay here," he shouted.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33"You..."
0:43:35 > 0:43:38And, "Come to me!" shouted Echo.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41"Come to me!
0:43:41 > 0:43:43"To me!
0:43:43 > 0:43:46"To me! To me!"
0:43:49 > 0:43:51Narcissus stood, baffled...
0:43:53 > 0:43:57..whether to stay or go.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59He began to run, calling as he ran.
0:43:59 > 0:44:00"Stay there!"
0:44:00 > 0:44:04But Echo cried back, weeping to utter it,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08"Stay there! Stay there! Stay there!"
0:44:10 > 0:44:12Narcissus stopped...
0:44:13 > 0:44:16..and listened.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18Then more quietly...
0:44:20 > 0:44:22"Let's meet halfway.
0:44:25 > 0:44:26"Come!"
0:44:28 > 0:44:32And Echo eagerly repeated it.
0:44:32 > 0:44:33"Come."
0:44:36 > 0:44:40But when she emerged from the undergrowth,
0:44:40 > 0:44:43her expression pleading,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47her arms raised to embrace him,
0:44:47 > 0:44:49Narcissus turned and ran.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53"No!" he cried, "No! I would sooner be dead than let you touch me!"
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Echo collapsed in sobs.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04Her voice lurched among the mountains.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15"Touch me. Touch me...
0:45:18 > 0:45:19"Touch me...
0:45:21 > 0:45:22"Touch me..."
0:45:25 > 0:45:28I had a poster of Narcissus and Echo in my bedroom,
0:45:28 > 0:45:30one of those Pre-Raphaelite posters,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32and I recently saw it again, I thought,
0:45:32 > 0:45:36"My God, that must have been in my mind since I was a teenager."
0:45:36 > 0:45:38I think Ovid is doing what all great writers do.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42I don't think there's anyone who hasn't got Narcissus in him or her.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45And there's probably no-one who hasn't got Echo in him or her.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49It's about the capacity of the human mind either be...
0:45:49 > 0:45:52..full of self-love or...
0:45:52 > 0:45:55..or to chase somebody who's out of reach.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59So, they are both fantastic aspects of the human consciousness.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03I was interested in it because I thought it was about reply.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05That it's very good.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09Yeats does a lot of poems where there's somebody speaking
0:46:09 > 0:46:13to somebody else and somebody in reply.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15And, in that way, it goes back earlier than the Romans
0:46:15 > 0:46:16to the Greeks, really,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20that somehow truth lies somewhere between the two people responding.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24They're not goodies and baddies, everyone is merely a point of view.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27Perhaps the greatest set piece of the Metamorphoses
0:46:27 > 0:46:29is the tale of Phaethon
0:46:29 > 0:46:33who longs to drive the chariot of his father, the sun god, Phoebus,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36as it plots its course across the sky.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38As our group tells the story here,
0:46:38 > 0:46:41despite Phaethon's father begging him not to go,
0:46:41 > 0:46:43the impetuous sun sets out
0:46:43 > 0:46:47only to create a cataclysm of global proportions.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50Phaethon's tragic story haunts the imagination
0:46:50 > 0:46:54of Shakespeare's King Richard II and the 14-year-old Juliet.
0:46:54 > 0:47:00When Phaethon bragged about his father, Phoebus, the sun god,
0:47:00 > 0:47:02his friends mocked him.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06"Your mother must be crazy or you're crazy to believe her.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09"How could the sun be anyone's father?
0:47:09 > 0:47:11ALL GIGGLE
0:47:11 > 0:47:15In a rage of humiliation, Phaethon came to his mother, Clymene.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18"They're all laughing at me, and I can't answer.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20"What can I say? It's horrible.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23"I have to stand like a dumb fool and be laughed at.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25"If it's true, Mother," he cried, "if the sun,
0:47:25 > 0:47:28"the high god, Phoebus, if he is my father, give me proof,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31"give me evidence that I belong to Heaven."
0:47:31 > 0:47:32Then he embraced her.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34Either moved by her child's distress
0:47:34 > 0:47:37or piqued to defend her honour
0:47:37 > 0:47:40against the old rumour, Clymene responded.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42She stretched out arms to the sun.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46"I swear, you are his child.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48"You are the son of that great star
0:47:48 > 0:47:51"which lights up the whole world.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54"If I lie, then I pray to go blind this moment
0:47:54 > 0:47:57"and never again to see the light of day."
0:47:57 > 0:47:59Phaethon rushed out.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02His head ablaze with the idea of Heaven.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06He crossed his own land and came to his father's Dawn Palace.
0:48:06 > 0:48:08He went straight into the royal presence
0:48:08 > 0:48:10but had to stand back.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16For there was the god.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Phoebus, the sun,
0:48:18 > 0:48:23robed in purple and sitting on a throne of emeralds that blazed,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26splitting and refracting his flames.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29The boy stared, dumbfounded,
0:48:29 > 0:48:31dazed by the marvel of it all.
0:48:31 > 0:48:38Then the great god turned on him the gaze that misses nothing and spoke.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41"Phaethon, my son.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46"Or rather, a man a father might be proud of.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48"Why are you here?
0:48:48 > 0:48:50"You must have come with a purpose.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52"What is it?"
0:48:52 > 0:48:54Phaethon replied,
0:48:54 > 0:48:56"Oh, god! Oh, light of creation!
0:48:56 > 0:48:58"Oh, Phoebus, my father,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00"if I may call you my father?
0:49:00 > 0:49:02"If Clymene is not protecting herself from some shame
0:49:02 > 0:49:07"by claiming your name for me, give me the solid proof?
0:49:07 > 0:49:11"Let it be known to the whole world that I am your son.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13"Remove all doubt."
0:49:13 > 0:49:15His father doffed his crown of blinding light and,
0:49:15 > 0:49:19beckoning Phaethon closer, embraced him.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21"Do not fear to call me father.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23"Your mother told you the truth.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28"To free yourself from doubt ask me for something.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31"I promise, you shall have it.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35"And though I've never seen the lake in Hell
0:49:35 > 0:49:38"by which we gods in Heaven make our oaths unviable,
0:49:38 > 0:49:42"I call on that lake now to witness this oath of mine."
0:49:42 > 0:49:44Phoebus had barely finished before Phaethon
0:49:44 > 0:49:46asked for the chariot of the sun
0:49:46 > 0:49:50and one whole day driving the winged horses.
0:49:50 > 0:49:51His father recoiled.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54He almost cursed his own oath.
0:49:54 > 0:49:59His head shook as if it were trying to break its promise.
0:49:59 > 0:50:05"Your foolish words," he said, "show me the tragic folly of mine.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09"If promises could be broken, I would break this.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13"I would deny you nothing except this.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16"No mortal could hope to manage those reins.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19"Not even the gods are allowed to touch them!
0:50:19 > 0:50:22"Only see how foolish you are.
0:50:23 > 0:50:24"The most conceited of the gods
0:50:24 > 0:50:27"knows better than to think he could survive
0:50:27 > 0:50:31"one day riding the burning axle-tree.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34"Even for me it's not easy.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36"Once they're fired up with the terrible burners
0:50:36 > 0:50:38"that they stoke in their deep chests
0:50:38 > 0:50:41"and belch flames from their mouths and nostrils...
0:50:43 > 0:50:47"Once their blood is up, they will hardly obey me.
0:50:47 > 0:50:48"And they know me.
0:50:50 > 0:50:51"Think again.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58"You ask me for solid proof you are my son?
0:50:59 > 0:51:05"My fears for your life are proof solid enough. Look at me.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07"If only your eyes could see through to my heart
0:51:07 > 0:51:09"and see it sick with a father's distress.
0:51:09 > 0:51:14"Choose anything else in Creation, it's yours.
0:51:14 > 0:51:19"But this one thing you've chosen I dare not grant it.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22"Choose again, Phaethon."
0:51:22 > 0:51:23Phaethon seemed not to have heard.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27He wanted nothing but to drive the chariot
0:51:27 > 0:51:28and horses of the sun!
0:51:28 > 0:51:32His father could find no other means to delay him.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34He led him out to the chariot.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38And, as Phaethon stood there, light-headed with confidence,
0:51:38 > 0:51:43giddy with admiration of the miraculous workmanship and detail...
0:51:49 > 0:51:52When the sun god saw that,
0:51:52 > 0:51:56and the reddening sky and the waning moon seeming to fall,
0:51:56 > 0:51:58he called the Hours to yoke the horses.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02But, now, as Phoebus anointed Phaethon with a medicinal blocker
0:52:02 > 0:52:05to protect him from the burning
0:52:05 > 0:52:08and fixed the crown of rays on the boy's head,
0:52:08 > 0:52:12he saw the tragedy to come and sighed.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14"At least...
0:52:17 > 0:52:20"First, use the whip not at all or lightly.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23"But rein the team hard, it's not easy.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26"Their whole inclination is to be gone.
0:52:26 > 0:52:31"Second, avoid careering over the whole five zones of Heaven.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34"Keep to the broad highway that curves within the three zones,
0:52:34 > 0:52:36"temperate and tropic.
0:52:36 > 0:52:38"Now, Fortune go with you
0:52:38 > 0:52:42"and I pray she will take better care of you
0:52:42 > 0:52:44"than you have taken care of yourself."
0:52:44 > 0:52:46But Phaethon...
0:52:48 > 0:52:51..ignored the grieving god and leapt aboard,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55and catching the reins from his father's hands joyfully thanked him.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59Pyrois, Eous, Aethon, Phlegon,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02the four winged horses stormed to be off.
0:53:02 > 0:53:08They burst upwards, they hurled themselves ahead of themselves.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11Winged hooves churning cloud,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14they outstripped those dawn winds from the east.
0:53:14 > 0:53:20But from the first moment, they felt something wrong with the chariot.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22The load was too light,
0:53:22 > 0:53:25more like a light pinnace,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27without ballast or cargo,
0:53:27 > 0:53:31without the deep-kneeled weight to hold a course...
0:53:33 > 0:53:36Sliding away sidelong at every gust.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40The chariot bounced and was whisked about as if it was empty.
0:53:40 > 0:53:45When the horses felt this, they panicked.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49They swerved off the highway and plunged into trackless Heaven.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Their driver, rigid with fear, gripped the chariot rail.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55It was true, he had...
0:53:58 > 0:54:02And even if he could have controlled the wild heads of the horses,
0:54:02 > 0:54:03he did not know the route.
0:54:03 > 0:54:08For the first time, the stars of the plough smoked.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11And though the Arctic Ocean was forbidden to them,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14they strained to quench themselves in it.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17And now Phaethon looked down from the zenith and...
0:54:23 > 0:54:27..his whole body seemed suddenly bloodless, his knees wobbled,
0:54:27 > 0:54:29his eyes dazzled and darkened,
0:54:29 > 0:54:32he wished he'd never seen his father's horses.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34He wished he'd never learned who his father was.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37He wished his father had broken his promise.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41Meanwhile, the chariot bounded along like a ship under a gale.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44What could he do? Much of the sky was behind him,
0:54:44 > 0:54:46but always more ahead.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48Then, the horses took off blindly,
0:54:48 > 0:54:52uncontrolled they let their madness fling them
0:54:52 > 0:54:54this way and that over the sky.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56They dashed in among the stars,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59switching the chariot along like a whiptail.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03They swept low till the clouds boiled in their wake
0:55:03 > 0:55:07and the Moon was astonished to see her brother's chariot below her.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09Earth began to burn.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12The summits first. Baked, the cracks gaped,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15all fields, all thickets,
0:55:15 > 0:55:17all crops were instant fuel...
0:55:19 > 0:55:22In the one flare, noble cities were rendered
0:55:22 > 0:55:24to black stumps of burnt stone.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27Whole nations, in all their variety,
0:55:27 > 0:55:30were clouds of hot ashes blowing in the wind.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34Now, Phaethon saw the whole world mapped with fire.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37He looked through flames and he breathed flames.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41Flame in and flame out, like a fire-eater,
0:55:41 > 0:55:42as the chariot sparked white-hot,
0:55:42 > 0:55:45he cowered from the showering cinders.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47His eyes streamed in the fire smoke and,
0:55:47 > 0:55:48in the boiling darkness,
0:55:48 > 0:55:52he no longer knew where he was or where he was going.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56He hung on as he could and left everything to the horses.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58The earth cracked open
0:55:58 > 0:56:02and the unnatural light beamed down into Hell,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04scaring the king and queen of that kingdom
0:56:04 > 0:56:07with their own terrific shadows.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10The Almighty, aroused, called on the gods,
0:56:10 > 0:56:13including Phoebus who had lent the chariot.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16He asked them to witness that Heaven and Earth
0:56:16 > 0:56:19could be saved only by what he now must do.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22He soared to the top of Heaven,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24into the cockpit of thunder.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27From here, he would pour the clouds and roll the thunders,
0:56:27 > 0:56:30and hurl bolts.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34But now he was cloudless.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36There was not a drop of rain in all Heaven.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39With a splitting crack of thunder,
0:56:39 > 0:56:42he lifted a bolt, poised it by his ear,
0:56:42 > 0:56:44then drove the barbed flash,
0:56:44 > 0:56:46point blank, into Phaethon.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49The explosion snuffed the ball of flame
0:56:49 > 0:56:52as it blew the chariot to fragments.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55Phaethon went spinning out of his life.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58The crazed horses scattered.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03They tore free with scraps of the yoke, trailing their broken reins.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10Shattered wheels gyrating far apart,
0:57:10 > 0:57:13shards of the car, the stripped axle,
0:57:13 > 0:57:16bits of the harness, all in slow motion,
0:57:16 > 0:57:18sprinkle through emptiness.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20Phaethon, hair ablaze,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23a fiery speck lengthening a vapour trail,
0:57:23 > 0:57:25plunged towards the earth
0:57:25 > 0:57:29like a star falling and burning out on a clear night.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33His father mourned, hidden, eclipsed with sorrow.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41The directness and immediacy of the stories, and particularly,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45if you hear someone reading it to you, it's like Jackanory on acid.
0:57:45 > 0:57:49In all of them, it feels that whatever crime the person
0:57:49 > 0:57:53may have committed, it's just the lesson they have to learn.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55You know, if Phaethon had been taught by his dad
0:57:55 > 0:57:58not to borrow the car keys for the weekend, you know,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02it's quite extreme for the universe to blow up around him.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05It's certainly... He won't be asking to borrow the car keys again,
0:58:05 > 0:58:08- I don't think.- There's a lovely quote that...
0:58:08 > 0:58:10..Ted Hughes himself said
0:58:10 > 0:58:15about why Shakespeare and Ovid have parallels.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18He said that both of them were interested in passion,
0:58:18 > 0:58:23or rather in what a passion feels like to one possessed by it.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27Not just ordinary passion, but human passion in extremis -
0:58:27 > 0:58:30passion where it combusts, or levitates,
0:58:30 > 0:58:34or mutates into an experience of the supernatural.
0:58:34 > 0:58:38Perhaps that's why... That's why we still read
0:58:38 > 0:58:40and we still NEED Ovid,
0:58:40 > 0:58:42and we still need Shakespeare.