Metamorphoses · Chapter
Story of Coronis, and Birth of Esculapius explained
Apollo learns from a raven, originally white-plumed, of Coronis's infidelity.
What happens
Apollo learns from a raven, originally white-plumed, of Coronis's infidelity. In a rage, he kills her but saves their unborn son, Esculapius, entrusting him to Chiron. The raven is punished by being turned black for its garrulity. The chapter also includes the daw's tale of her own transformation from a maid into a bird after being assaulted by Neptune, and her warning against tale-bearing.
Themes in this chapter
Transformation and Metamorphosis
The raven's plumage changes from white to black as punishment; the daw recounts her own transformation from a maiden into a bird.
Divine Power and Human Folly
Apollo's wrath leads to Coronis's death; the raven's garrulity brings about its own punishment, illustrating the folly of interfering with divine matters.
Love and Desire
Apollo's love for Coronis turns to jealousy and violence; Neptune's desire for the daw leads to her transformation.
Characters to notice
- Apollo
Apollo is the god who loves Coronis, kills her upon learning of her infidelity, saves their son Esculapius, and punishes the raven by turning its feathers black.
- Coronis
Coronis is a Thessalian nymph, Apollo's beloved, who is unfaithful and is killed by Apollo's arrow; she pleads for her unborn child before dying.
- Minerva
Minerva is the goddess who nursed Ericthonius and later punished the daw for revealing the secret, replacing her with the owl Nyctimene.
- Neptune
Neptune is the god who pursued the daw (formerly a maiden) and attempted to force her, leading to her transformation into a bird.
- Hercules
Chiron, the centaur, is mentioned as the one to whom Apollo entrusts the infant Esculapius; Chiron is associated with Hercules in myth.
Key passages
“The raven once in snowy plumes was dress'd, White as the whitest dove's unsullied breast, Fair as the guardian of the capitol, Soft as the swan, a large and lovely fowl; His tongue, his prating tongue, had changed him quite To sooty blackness from the purest white.”
The raven originally had pure white feathers, but his talkative nature caused him to be turned completely black.
Describes the raven's original appearance and the reason for its color change.
“The god was wroth, the colour left his look, The wreath his head, the harp his hand, forsook; His silver bow and feather'd shafts he took, And lodged an arrow in the tender breast That had so often to his own been press'd.”
Apollo became angry, dropped his laurel wreath and harp, grabbed his bow, and shot an arrow into the chest of Coronis, who had often been held in his arms.
Depicts Apollo's immediate reaction upon learning of Coronis's betrayal.
“He ripp'd her womb and set the child at large, And gave him to the centaur Chiron's charge; Then in his fury black'd the raven o'er, And bade him prate in his white plumes no more.”
Apollo cut open Coronis's womb to rescue the infant, entrusted him to the centaur Chiron, and then turned the raven's feathers black, silencing its chatter.
Describes the birth of Esculapius and the final punishment of the raven.