Arethusa

Family: Nymphs · Role: Alpheian Nymph · First appears: Fable 52

Life events

• Arethusa reveals that Proserpine is in the Underworld as Pluto’s queen.(Fable52 · 📍 Stygian stream)
  • With: Ceres Proserpine
  • “While, then, I was running under the earth, along the Stygian stream, thy Proserpine was there beheld by my eyes.”
• Diana transforms Arethusa into a stream to save her from Alpheus.(Fable53)
  • With: Diana
  • “Wherever I move my foot, {there} flows a lake; drops trickle from my hair, and, in less time than I take in acquainting thee with my fate, I was changed into a stream.”
• Alpheus changes into water to mingle with Arethusa.(Fable53)
  • With: Alpheus
  • “But still the river recognized the waters, the objects of his love; and, having laid aside the shape of a mortal, which he had assumed, he was changed into his own waters, that he might mingle with me.”
• Diana cleaves the ground and carries Arethusa through dark caverns to Ortygia.(Fable53 · 📍 Ortygia)
  • With: Diana
  • “{Thereupon}, the Delian Goddess cleaved the ground. Sinking, I was carried through dark caverns to Ortygia,[77]”

Fable 52

• with Ceres (Arethusa tells Ceres where she saw Proserpine and consoles her.) “I, Arethusa, now have this for my abode, this for my habitation; which, do thou, most kindly {Goddess}, preserve. Why I have been removed from my {native} place, and have been carried to Ortygia, through the waters of seas so spacious, a seasonable time will come for my telling thee, when thou shalt be eased of thy cares, and {wilt be} of more cheerful aspect.”
• with Proserpine (Arethusa saw Proserpine in the Underworld.) “While, then, I was running under the earth, along the Stygian stream, thy Proserpine was there beheld by my eyes.”

Fable 53

• with Ceres (Ceres questions Arethusa.) “The genial Ceres, {now} at ease on the recovery of her daughter, {thus} asks, ‘What was the cause of thy wanderings? Why art thou, Arethusa, a sacred spring?’”
• admirer->admired with Alpheus “But still the river recognized the waters, the objects of his love; and, having laid aside the shape of a mortal, which he had assumed, he was changed into his own waters, that he might mingle with me.”
• patron: Diana (Diana aids Arethusa, her armor-bearer.) “Wearied with the exertion of my flight, I said, ‘Give aid, Dictynna, to thy armor-bearer, {or} I am overtaken; {I}, to whom thou hast so often given thy bow to carry, and thy darts enclosed in a quiver.’”
• with Ceres (Ceres questions Arethusa.) “The genial Ceres, {now} at ease on the recovery of her daughter, {thus} asks, ‘What was the cause of thy wanderings? Why art thou, Arethusa, a sacred spring?’”
• admirer: Alpheus (Alpheus pursues Arethusa and is described as loving her.) “But still the river recognized the waters, the objects of his love; and, having laid aside the shape of a mortal, which he had assumed, he was changed into his own waters, that he might mingle with me.”
• with Diana (Diana protects Arethusa from Alpheus.) “Wearied with the exertion of my flight, I said, ‘Give aid, Dictynna, to thy armor-bearer, {or} I am overtaken; {I}, to whom thou hast so often given thy bow to carry, and thy darts enclosed in a quiver.’ The Goddess was moved, and, taking one of the dense clouds, she threw it over me.”

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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.