batch.motif.roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley-gutenberg-l11973-l12064
---
record_id: batch.motif.roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley-gutenberg-l11973-l12064
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
passage_locator:
label: EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION.; lines 11973-12064
start: '11973'
end: '12064'
translation: The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'Æacus describes a devastating malady among his people: bodies lie everywhere;
prayers, sacrifices, and temple rites fail; sacrificial animals collapse before
being killed; corpses accumulate near sacred places; some people die by suicide;
funerary customs break down as the dead lie unburied or are burned without proper
honors; unlamented souls wander because survivors, tomb space, and funeral wood
are lacking.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The speaker says he hated life and wished to share the fate of his people.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The speaker saw a multitude of bodies strewn on the earth, compared to fallen
rotten apples and acorns.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: A lofty temple of Jupiter stands opposite the speaker, raised on long steps.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: People offered incense and prayers at the altars in vain; husbands and fathers
sometimes died at the altars while praying for family members.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Bulls brought for sacrifice fell while the priest prayed and poured wine between
their horns, before they were wounded.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The speaker’s own sacrificial victim to Jupiter collapsed without a blow,
had scanty blood, and diseased entrails that no longer showed true divine warnings.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: Carcasses lay before sacred doors and altars.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: Some people ended their lives by hanging, seeking to dispel fear of death
by death itself.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: 'Funeral rites broke down: processions could not pass through the city gates,
bodies lay unburied or were placed on pyres without customary honors, and people
fought over funeral piles.'
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: There were not enough mourners, tomb space, or trees for funeral fires; souls
of sons, husbands, old, and young wandered unlamented.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Æacus
description: The speaker of the passage, identified in the footnote as pointing
toward the temple while speaking.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Jupiter
description: The deity to whom the lofty temple belongs and to whom the speaker
offers sacrifice.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: the speaker’s people
description: The afflicted population among whom bodies are strewn, prayers fail,
deaths occur, and funerary rites collapse.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: husbands and fathers at the altars
description: Petitioners who pray for wives or sons and may die at the altars while
still holding frankincense.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: priest
description: A ritual officiant who prays and pours pure wine between the horns
of bulls brought to the temples.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: sacrificial bulls and victim
description: Animals brought or offered for sacrifice that collapse before being
wounded or without a blow.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: unlamented souls
description: Souls of sons, husbands, old, and young said to wander because mourners
are lacking.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: speaker-witness
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker recounts what he felt and saw during the calamity.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: sacrificer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker says he offered sacrifice to Jupiter for himself, his country,
and his three sons.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: temple deity and recipient of sacrifice
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The temple belongs to Jupiter, and sacrifice is offered to him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: plague-stricken community
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The passage describes the people dying in multitudes and overwhelming rites
and burial practices.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: role:5
label: failed petitioners
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Husbands and fathers entreat for family members at altars but do not prevail
and may die there.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: ritual officiant
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The priest makes supplications and pours wine during the temple sacrifice.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: sacrificial animals
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The animals are brought to temples or offered in sacrifice and collapse before
normal slaughter.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:8
label: unlamented dead
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Souls are described as wandering without mourners.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Jupiter’s temple
literal_form: lofty temple raised on high with long steps
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:2
label: altars
literal_form: altars where incense, prayers, deaths, and carcasses occur
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:7
- id: sym:3
label: frankincense or incense
literal_form: incense offered in vain and frankincense left unconsumed in a dead
petitioner’s hand
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: sacrificial wine
literal_form: pure wine poured between the horns of bulls
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: diseased entrails
literal_form: entrails that have lost marks of truth and divine warnings
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:6
label: funeral pyres and fires
literal_form: lofty pyres and fires used for the dead without usual honors
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: sym:7
label: halter
literal_form: halter used by some to end their lives
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:8
label: tombs and funeral wood
literal_form: insufficient tomb space and trees for funeral fires
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Witnessing the multitude of dead
summary: The speaker describes his despair and the sight of his people lying strewn
on the ground like fallen fruit.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Failed supplication at Jupiter’s temple
summary: The speaker points to Jupiter’s temple and recalls futile offerings, petitioners
dying at the altars, and incense left unconsumed.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: Sacrificial signs corrupted by disease
summary: Bulls and the speaker’s own sacrificial victim collapse before being struck,
while blood is scant and entrails no longer yield reliable divine warnings.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Death intrudes upon sacred places
summary: Carcasses are cast before sacred doors and altars, making death present
at the ritual sites.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Funerary collapse and unlamented wandering
summary: Some die by hanging; burial processions and rites cannot be maintained;
the dead are unburied or burned without honors; mourners, tomb space, and funeral
wood are insufficient, and souls wander unlamented.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: failed sacrifice and unanswered prayer during plague
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: The passage repeatedly shows incense, prayers, and animal sacrifice failing
amid disease and death at Jupiter’s temple and altars.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage emphasizes ritual failure but does not state a doctrinal reason
for the gods’ silence.
- id: motif:2
label: disease corrupts divinatory signs
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The sacrificial entrails are described as diseased and as having lost the
marks of truth and warnings of the gods.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a localized ritual-divinatory detail rather than a broad named
taxonomy motif in the supplied list.
- id: motif:3
label: mass death overwhelms funerary order
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The dead cannot be processed through city gates, receive no customary rites,
crowd pyres, and exceed available tomb space and funeral wood.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: No specific taxonomy reference supplied for plague-driven breakdown of
funeral rites.
- id: motif:4
label: unlamented souls wandering after improper funerary rites
taxonomy_refs:
- afterlife_journey_map
basis: The passage says souls of sons, husbands, old, and young wander unlamented
when mourners and proper burial provisions are lacking.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives an after-death condition but not a full afterlife journey
map.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 11973-11976
quote_or_summary: 'The speaker asks whether his feelings were proper: to hate life
and want to share the fate of his people.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: lines 11976-11980
quote_or_summary: "“there was the multitude strewed {on the earth}, just as when
rotten apples fall” and as acorns fall from a shaken holm-oak."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 11980-11984 and footnote 103
quote_or_summary: A lofty temple with long steps is identified as Jupiter’s; the
footnote explains that Æacus is supposed to point toward it while speaking.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 11984-11990
quote_or_summary: Incense is offered at altars in vain; husbands and fathers praying
for wives or sons sometimes die at the altars while still holding unconsumed frankincense.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 11990-11994
quote_or_summary: Bulls brought to temples fall before being wounded while the priest
prays and pours pure wine between their horns.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 11994-12001
quote_or_summary: The speaker offers sacrifice to Jupiter for himself, his country,
and his three sons; the victim collapses without a blow, has scanty blood, and
diseased entrails that have lost divine signs.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 12001-12004
quote_or_summary: Carcasses are seen thrown before sacred doors and even before
altars; the note says dead bodies were considered offensive to the gods.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 12004-12007
quote_or_summary: Some people end their lives with the halter, using death to dispel
fear of death and voluntarily inviting fate.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 12007-12014
quote_or_summary: Funeral rites cannot be performed as usual; city gates cannot
receive the processions, bodies lie unburied or are placed on pyres without honors,
and people struggle for funeral piles and burn the dead on others’ fires.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 12014-12018
quote_or_summary: Those who should weep are absent; souls of sons, husbands, old,
and young wander unlamented; there is not enough room for tombs or trees for fires.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Extraction is based on the supplied passage and footnotes. Motif assignment
is cautious because the passage centers on plague, ritual failure, and funerary
breakdown, while the supplied taxonomy includes only partial matches.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
No comparison claims were added because the passage itself does not support a specific historical or cross-traditional comparison beyond internal similes and general motif candidates.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley-gutenberg__l11973-l12064
passage_sha256=40f74dde017240aa02d07eb2d4fc55e159f987db368d5a8a89553b546e4f4a10