Bulfinch’s Mythology · Chapter
The Camenae explained
This chapter introduces the Camenae, the Latin equivalent of the Muses, who include fountain nymphs such as Egeria.
What happens
This chapter introduces the Camenae, the Latin equivalent of the Muses, who include fountain nymphs such as Egeria. It recounts the legend of Egeria's secret meetings with King Numa, where she imparted wisdom and laws for his new nation, and her subsequent transformation into a fountain after his death. The chapter includes poetic references by Byron and Tennyson that evoke the mystical encounters between the mortal king and the divine nymph.
Themes in this chapter
Cultural Transmission and Education
Egeria instructs King Numa in wisdom and law, symbolizing the transmission of knowledge from the divine to the mortal realm, foundational to Roman culture.
Love and Transformation
The nymph Egeria pines away after Numa's death and is transformed into a fountain, illustrating love's enduring yet metamorphic power.
Characters to notice
- Ovid
Referenced indirectly through the mythological tradition of the Camenae and Egeria, though not named in the excerpt.
Key passages
“It was said that Numa, the second king of Rome, was favored by this nymph with secret interviews, in which she taught him those lessons of wisdom and of law which he imbodied in the institutions of his rising nation.”
Legend holds that Numa, Rome's second king, held private meetings with the nymph Egeria, who instructed him in the wisdom and laws that he later incorporated into the foundations of his growing state.
Highlights the theme of cultural transmission through divine mentorship.
“After the death of Numa the nymph pined away and was changed into a fountain.”
Following Numa's death, the nymph Egeria wasted away from grief and was transformed into a spring.
Illustrates the theme of love and transformation, as well as the natural origin of sacred springs.