batch.motif.roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley-gutenberg-l5286-l5376
---
record_id: batch.motif.roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley-gutenberg-l5286-l5376
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
passage_locator:
label: EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION.; lines 5286-5376
start: '5286'
end: '5376'
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: A youth remains by a stream, refusing food and rest while gazing at a reflected
image. He addresses the woods and the image, realizes that the beloved form is
himself, and wastes away from grief and self-directed desire. Echo repeats his
cries and farewell. After his death, nymphs mourn him and prepare funeral rites,
but his body is gone and a yellow flower with white leaves is found in its place.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Food and repose cannot draw the youth away from the place where he lies on
shaded grass and gazes at an image.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The image is described as fallacious, and the youth is said to be undone by
his own sight.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The youth addresses the surrounding woods and says he is fatally in love.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: He says the object of desire is separated from him only by a little water,
not by sea, distance, mountains, or a closed city.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The reflected figure appears to return his gestures, smiles, tears, nods,
and silent mouth movements.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: The youth recognizes that the beloved figure is himself and says he burns
with love of himself.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: His tears disturb the water and deface the reflected form, prompting him to
beg it not to leave.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: While grieving, he tears his garment and beats his breast, which becomes reddened
where struck.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: He wastes away by degrees, compared to wax near fire and morning frost under
the sun.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:10
text: Echo grieves and repeats the youth’s cries and farewell sounds.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: obs:11
text: The youth lays his head on the grass and dies; after being received into the
infernal abodes, he continues to look at himself in Stygian waters.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:12
text: His Naiad sisters and the Dryads lament him; funeral preparations are made,
but the body is not found.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:13
text: In place of the body, a yellow flower with white leaves around its middle
is found.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: the unhappy youth / speaker
description: A beautiful youth who lies by the water, gazes at his own reflected
image, recognizes himself as the beloved, wastes away, and dies.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: fallacious image in the water
description: A reflected form in the stream that appears to imitate the youth’s
gestures, smiles, tears, and nods; later recognized by him as himself.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Echo
description: A figure who had formerly loved the youth and now grieves, repeating
his cries, sounds, and farewell.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Naiad sisters
description: The youth’s Naiad sisters lament him and lay their cut hair over their
brother.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Dryads
description: Wood nymphs who lament the youth after his death.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: self-gazing lover
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The youth gazes at the reflected image, recognizes it as himself, and says
he burns with love of himself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: dying youth
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He wastes away, lays his head on the grass, and dies.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: mistaken beloved / reflected self
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The image appears to respond to the youth’s gestures and is later identified
by him as himself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: echoing mourner
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Echo repeats his cries, the sound of blows, and his farewell while grieving.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: mourning nymphs
assigned_to:
- fig:4
- fig:5
basis: The Naiads and Dryads lament the youth after his death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: separating and reflecting water
literal_form: limpid stream, little water, moving stream, Stygian waters
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: sym:2
label: desire as fire
literal_form: burning with love, hidden flame, wax with fire
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: replacement flower
literal_form: yellow flower with white leaves encompassing it in the middle
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:4
label: reflected image
literal_form: fallacious image in water
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Gazing at the inaccessible image
summary: The youth refuses food and rest, lies on grass, gazes at the reflected
form, and complains that only a little water separates him from the beloved figure.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Recognition of self-love
summary: The youth realizes that the beloved figure is himself and states that he
both causes and endures the flames of his own love.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Grief, fading, and Echo’s response
summary: His tears disturb the water, he beats his breast, and he wastes away while
Echo repeats his cries and sounds.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Death, lament, and flower in place of body
summary: The youth dies on the grass, continues looking at himself in Stygian waters,
and is mourned by Echo, Naiads, and Dryads; funeral rites are prepared, but his
body is gone and a flower is found.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: fatal self-love through reflected image
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The youth becomes fixed on a reflected image, recognizes it as himself, and
dies after wasting away from that desire.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage does not give an external taxonomy label for this motif.
- id: motif:2
label: unattainable beloved separated by a slight boundary
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The youth says no major barrier separates him from the beloved image, only
a little water that prevents touch.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The beloved is not an independent person but the speaker’s reflection.
- id: motif:3
label: wasting death from love as hidden flame
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The youth describes himself as burning with love, and the narration says
he wastes away like wax near fire or frost under sun.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The flame is figurative in the passage, not a literal burning event.
- id: motif:4
label: body replaced by flower after death
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
basis: After funeral preparations, the body is missing and a yellow flower with
white leaves is found in its place.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The available taxonomy lacks a precise metamorphosis-into-flower category;
death_rebirth is an approximate fit.
- id: motif:5
label: afterlife continuation of earthly fixation
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: After death and reception into the infernal abodes, the youth still looks
at himself in Stygian waters.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage mentions the afterlife behavior but does not narrate an extended
journey or map.
- id: motif:6
label: echoed lament and farewell
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Echo repeats the youth’s cries, the sound of his blows, and his final farewell.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: This is a passage-level pattern rather than a taxonomy-linked motif here.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 5286-5290
quote_or_summary: Food and rest cannot draw the youth away; he lies on shaded grass
and gazes at a fallacious image until he is undone by his own sight.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 5291-5319
quote_or_summary: He addresses the woods, says he is fatally in love, describes
the little water separating him from the image, and notes that the figure appears
to return his gestures, smiles, tears, nods, and silent words.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 5320-5332
quote_or_summary: "“In thee ’tis I, I {now} perceive... I burn with the love of
myself, and both raise the flames and endure them.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 5333-5352
quote_or_summary: He returns to the reflection, tears disturb the water and deface
the form, he calls for it to stay, tears his garment, beats his breast, and begins
to waste away like wax by fire or morning frost in sun.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 5353-5358
quote_or_summary: Echo sees his decline, grieves despite anger, repeats his cry
of “Alas,” and returns the sound when he strikes his arms.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 5359-5368
quote_or_summary: He says farewell to the beloved youth in vain, Echo repeats farewell,
he lays his head on the grass and dies; even in the infernal abodes he looks at
himself in Stygian waters.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 5368-5376
quote_or_summary: The Naiad sisters, Dryads, and Echo lament him; funeral pile,
torches, and bier are prepared, but the body is nowhere found, and a yellow flower
with white leaves is found instead.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The main narrative sequence is explicit. Taxonomy mapping is limited because
the available motif list lacks a precise category for reflection-based self-love
or plant metamorphosis.
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: |-
Only the supplied passage and metadata were used; comparison claims were left empty because the passage itself does not support an explicit cross-text comparison.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-1-7-riley-gutenberg__l5286-l5376
passage_sha256=e447549343194236b74d12500d937ae42fecf07127b17df63ca1502b681c10dc