Vertumnus and Pomona (Roman folktale)

Author: Ovid

Time Period: 1 CE–500 CE

Country or Culture: Roman

Genre: Folktale

Overview

The tale of Vertumnus and Pomona, while not one of the most well-known stories from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, is unique for its inclusion of truly Roman gods rather than those of Greek origin. Ovid, a widely celebrated poet in his lifetime, would be exiled from Rome shortly after completing the Metamorphoses in 8 CE, and foremost among his concerns while telling the story of Vertumnus and Pomona was attempting to promote Augustan values, specifically those that Augustus, the first Roman emperor, sought to instill in Roman high society with the Julian marriage laws. To this end, Vertumnus and Pomona represent ideals for male and female behavior.

At the start of the tale, Pomona, whose name derives from the Latin word for “fruit,” is found in her orchard tending her abundant fruit trees. Her place in the orchard is meant to reflect her fertility, but at the same time, the high walls of the orchard, along with her lack of interest in physical love, are meant to represent her chastity as an unmarried woman. Likewise, Vertumnus, whose roots on the Italian peninsula predate the founding of Rome, is meant to be viewed as an ideal mate. He is both handsome and cunning, capable of weaving elaborate disguises for himself, and he attempts to gain access to Pomona’s orchard with a variety such of disguises; many of these, including fishermen, herders, and farmers, symbolize the extension of order over the natural world that would be necessary for running an efficient empire.

Her private orchards, wall’d on every side, / To lawless sylvans all access denied. / How oft the Satyrs and the wanton Fauns, / Who haunt the forests or frequent the lawns, / The God whose ensign scares the birds of prey, / And old Silenus, youthful in decay, / Employ’d their wiles and unavailing care / To pass the fences, and surprise the Fair? / Like these Vertumnus own’d his faithful flame, / Like these rejected by the scornful dame.

“Vertumnus and Pomona”

Eventually Vertumnus succeeds in gaining entry to Pomona’s garden by disguising himself as an old woman. While he may resort to deception in order to win Pomona’s heart, he insists that his love is pure and that he desires no one else. He tells Pomona that if she chooses him, he will never be unfaithful to her. Unlike many of the other stories of the Metamorphoses, which involve enamored gods using their powers to rape young women whom they desire, Vertumnus does not resort to force in order to have Pomona. Instead, he reveals his true form to her, and she, upon seeing his dazzling beauty, realizes that she shares his affections.

While these details may seem to describe a generic tale with a heavy-handed, didactic message, it is important to view the story of Vertumnus and Pomona as a glorification of Rome under Augustus, who, after passing the Julian marriage laws, was forced to exile his own daughter, Julia, for an extramarital affair. Compounding Augustus’s humiliation, while Ovid was writing, Augustus’s granddaughter Julia Minor was involved in an affair, which Ovid may have been aware of as he worked to finish his Metamorphoses. Thus, one should view the characters Vertumnus and Pomona and their orchard as archetypes meant to represent a new Rome in which civility is expected to replace barbarism. Similarly, the peaceful resolution of Vertumnus’s desire reflects a type of levelheadedness that Augustus, along with many others, must have longed for after years of conflict and civil war that constantly threatened to resurface.

Summary

Ovid’s poem “Vertumnus and Pomona,” as translated by Alexander Pope, tells how the Roman god Vertumnus wins the heart of the much-desired nymph Pomona. Ovid begins with a depiction of Pomona tending her orchard, exalting her skill as a cultivator of fruit trees. The poet takes time to point out that she wields pruning shears rather than “Cynthia’s spear” (Pope line 9), which could be interpreted as a javelin or arrow, since Cynthia was an alternate name for Artemis. Ovid then elaborates on Pomona’s mastery of pruning, detailing the care she spends on the smallest details of every branch on every tree. He tells how she changes the paths of nearby streams to bring her trees water when the weather is excessively dry. According to the poet, tending to her orchard keeps Pomona so busy that she makes no time in her life for love.

Despite her widely known lack of interest in love, Pomona is pursued by countless men, fauns, and satyrs—including Silenus, who in Greek mythology was the tutor of the wine god Dionysus—and she takes great pains to keep her many suitors from ever entering her orchard, which is surrounded by high walls all around. The walls represent both her chastity and the ordered infrastructure of the empire; the creatures of the forest, with their wild manners, will never truly be able to gain Pomona’s love. From outside her walls, only Vertumnus is determined to try, over and over again, to gain access to her orchard and win her love. Ovid tells how Vertumnus changes his appearance day after day in an attempt to fool her, appearing first as “a reaper from the fields” (Pope 30), then as an ox driver, a pruner, and a soldier, all in an attempt to “feast his longing eyes” (44) on Pomona.

Finally, after taking on the guise of an old woman, Vertumnus succeeds at passing through Pomona’s gate. Ovid takes great care to describe how convincing Vertumnus has made his disguises, sparing no detail. Vertumnus changes his hair color to so that his head appeared “thinly spread with silver hairs” (Pope 47), and he walks hunched over with a staff to aid him. He even wears a “mitre” (49), a type of headband commonly worn by women in ancient Greece, to complete his disguise. Just as he hopes, Pomona takes pity on Vertumnus, convinced that he is indeed an old woman, and lets him into her garden.

Once inside, Vertumnus praises both the beauty of Pomona’s garden as well as her own physical beauty and, in a comical moment, plants a heavy kiss on her while still in the form of an old woman. Pomona notices that the kiss is not the typical kind given from an older woman to a younger woman, but she does not comment. Then Vertumnus sits down and looks over the garden, noticing a tall elm with a grapevine wrapped around it, practically bursting with ripe grapes. He uses the vine and tree as a metaphor for marriage, encouraging Pomona to take a lover and warning that Venus can be cruel to those who refuse to love. He goes on to point out how many suitors she has and then declares that only Vertumnus is worthy of her love. Still in the guise of an old woman, Vertumnus tells Pomona how much the god Vertumnus appreciates her talents in the garden and loves all that she grows, but none more than herself. He tells her that while she has seen Vertumnus in a variety of forms (a testament to his godly powers), she is unaware of his true beauty, for as a god he is blessed with “youth immortal” (Pope 91). Yet Pomona exhibits the same indifference as ever to the possibility of taking a lover and seems unmoved by the old woman’s speech. When a frustrated Vertumnus sees that Pomona has not been convinced to accept his love, he decides to take more drastic measures and quickly sheds his disguise, appearing to her in his true form. Ovid compares the sudden brightness of his appearance to the sun breaking through clouds. For an instant, Vertumnus seems prepared to take Pomona by force, but he quickly decides against it. Much to his delight, Pomona is so awestruck by his physical appearance that she immediately falls in love with him.

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