Metamorphoses: Book 9: Byblis Summary & Analysis

As Byblis and Caunus grow up, Byblis starts to desire and love her brother as more than a brother. She likes to kiss him on the lips and dresses up to visit him. She is jealous of the other girls who try to get his attention and hates that Caunus calls her his sister. She keeps her incestuous thoughts out of her head during the day, but at night she dreams that they have sex and become one body. When she wakes up, she rebukes herself for her incestuous thoughts, but decides that there is no harm in enjoying Caunus in dreams.

Byblis wishes that the gods’ rules and the world’s conventions would let her marry her brother. She dreads the day when another woman will give birth to Caunus’s child. She reflects how the gods often sleep with their siblings but recognizes that the gods live by different rules than humans. Byblis’s tormented desire makes her long to die. However, she knows that if Caunus fell in love with her, she wouldn’t refuse him. After wrestling with herself, she decides to write Caunus a letter confessing her feelings.

Byblis writes a message to Caunus on a tablet. She starts to call herself his sister, but then calls herself his lover. She reveals her name and describes her shame. She explains that she can’t help her love, and that it’s tormenting her. Caunus has the power to save her from dying, as long as he is willing to disregard the rules. Byblis believes that rules have no bearing on two people in love. She says that she and Caunus can hide their relationship under the guise of brother and sister. When she finishes her message, she hands the tablet to a servant to bring to Caunus.

When Caunus reads Byblis’s message, he is appalled and angry. He throws the tablet aside and threatens the servant who brought it to him. The servant runs to Byblis and relays Caunus’s refusal. Byblis feels cold with shame. She rebukes herself for writing the message. She wishes she had spoken to Caunus in person so that she could have embraced him and softened his resolve. Now, her incestuous intentions are revealed, and her mission is destroyed.

Byblis decides that she will beseech Caunus again and make him change his mind. Now that she has revealed her incestuous desire, she has nothing to lose by pursuing him. She wants Caunus to see that she loves him against her will. Byblis pursues Caunus, but he continuously rejects her and at last flees the city and sets up a new home in a faraway place.

After Caunus flees, Byblis goes mad. She leaves her homeland and wanders the earth, tearing at her clothes and beating her breast. At last, she collapses on the ground and presses her face into the leaves. Some nymphs try to console her, but she is deaf and motionless with heartbreak. Finally, Byblis wastes away. The nymphs collect her tears and use them to feed a mountain spring that is named after her.