Momus
Momus (/ˈmoʊməs/; Ancient Greek: Μῶμος Momos) in Greek mythology was the personification of satire and mockery, two stories about whom figure among Aesop's Fables. During the Renaissance, several literary works used him as a mouthpiece for their criticism of tyranny, while others later made him a critic of contemporary society. Onstage he finally became the figure of harmless fun.
In classical literature
As a sharp-tongued spirit of unfair criticism, Momus was eventually expelled from the company of the gods on
Two of
As another result, Momus became a by-word for fault-finding, and the saying that if not even he could criticize something then that was the sign of its perfection. Thus a poem in the Greek Anthology remarks of statues by Praxiteles that "Momus himself will cry out, 'Father Zeus, this was perfect skill'."[8] Looking the lovely Aphrodite over, according to a second fable of Aesop's, number 455 in the Perry Index, it was light-heartedly noted that he could not find anything about her to fault except that her sandals squeaked.[9]
Political satire
In Lucian's 2nd-century social comedy The Gods in Council, Momus takes a leading role in a discussion on how to purge Olympus of foreign gods and barbarian demi-gods who are lowering its heavenly tone.[10]
Renaissance author Leon Battista Alberti wrote the political work Momus, or The Prince (1446), which continued the god's story after his exile to earth. Since his continued criticism of the gods was destabilizing the divine establishment, Jupiter bound him to a rock and had him castrated. Later, however, missing his candor, Jupiter sought out a manuscript that Momus had left behind in which was described how a land could be ruled with strictly regulated justice.[11]
At the start of the 16th century, Erasmus also presented Momus as a champion of the legitimate criticism of authorities. Allowing that the god was "not quite as popular as others, because few people freely admit criticism, yet I dare say of the whole crowd of gods celebrated by the poets, none was more useful."[12] Giordano Bruno's philosophical treatise The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast (1584)[13] also looks back to Lucian's example. Momus there plays an integral part in the series of dialogues conducted by the Olympian deities and Bruno's narrators as Jupiter seeks to purge the universe of evil.[14]
Social satire
17th-century English writers introduced the figure of Momus in a gentler spirit of fun, as in Thomas Carew's masque Coelum Britannicum (1634), which was acted before King Charles I and his court. In Coelum Britannicum, Momus and Mercury draw up a plan to reform the "Star Chamber" of Heaven. Two centuries later, Coelum Britannicum influenced Henry David Thoreau[how?] as he was preparing to write his Walden.[15]
John Dryden's short "Secular Masque" (1700) mocks contemporary society through the medium of the Classical divinities, with Momus playing a leading part in deflating with sarcastic wit the sports represented by Diana (hunting), Mars (war), and Venus (love), for "'Tis better to laugh than to cry."[16] It is with similar wryness that Carl Sandburg's statue of "Momus" (1914) surveys the never-changing human scene, "On men who play in terrible earnest the old, known, solemn repetitions of history", as they continue to overpopulate the world and then bleed it.[17]
Comedy
Elsewhere in Europe, Momus was becoming softened into a figure of light-hearted and sentimental comedy, the equivalent of
By this period, Momus was the patron of humorous satire, partnering the figures of comedy and tragedy. As such he appeared flanked by these female figures on the frontispiece to The Beauties of the English Stage (1737),[20] while in Leonard Defraine's Figures of Fabled Gods (1820), he partners Comus, god of Carnival, and Themis, patroness of assemblies.[21] Because of the Harlequin connection, and as the character able to make home-truths palatable through the use of humour, Momus had now taken the place of the Fool on a French Minchiate card pack. He also lent his name to George Saville Carey's satirical poem, Momus, or a critical examination into the merits of the performers and comic pieces at the Theatre-Royal in the Hay-Market (1767).[22] The god himself plays no part there, only "Momus' sons," the comic actors.
References
- ^ "Greek Word Study Tool". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 214
- ^ David Marsh, Lucian and the Latins, University of Michigan 1998, p.116
- ^ Dana Ferris Sutton, "A handlist of satyr plays", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology vo.78 (1974), p.112
- ^ "MOMUS AND THE GODS". mythfolklore.net. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, History of the Graeco-latin Fable, Vol.3, Brill NL 2003, pp.131-3
- ^ Hermotimus or the Rival Philosophies, p.52
- ^ Henderson, Jeffrey. "The Greek Anthology 16". Loeb Classical Library. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ Adrados, pp.512-3
- ^ "Works of Lucian, Vol. IV: The Gods in Council". www.sacred-texts.com. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ David Cast, "Marten van Heemskerck's 'Momus criticizing the work of the gods': a problem of Erasmian iconography. Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Volume 7.1 (1974), pp.25
- ^ Margaret Mann Phillips, The Adages of Erasmus: A Study with Translations, pp.34-5
- ^ Bruno, Giordano (1713). Spaccio della bestia trionfante. Or the Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast. Translated by William Morehead. London.
- ISBN 9780231500340.
- ^ Robin Grey, The Complicity of Imagination: The American Renaissance, Contests of Authority, and Seventeenth-Century English Culture, Cambridge University 2009, pp.133-136
- ^ "Wikispaces". britlitwiki.wikispaces.com. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ Magazine, Poetry (August 31, 2019). "Momus by Carl Sandburg". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ Derek F. Connon, Identity and Transformation in the Plays of Alexis Piron, London 2007, pp.125-6
- ^ French language outline online
- ^ "Image gallery: print / frontispiece". British Museum. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ "Comus, Themis and Momus, Greek Gods Giclee Print by Leonard Defraine at AllPosters.com". AllPosters.com. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ Carey, George Saville (September 30, 2008). Momus, a poem; or a critical examination into the merits of the performers, and comic pieces, at the Theatre-Royal in the Hay-Market. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
External links
- Media related to Momus at Wikimedia Commons