cephalus and Procris get a happy ending?????????? maybe???
we all know the story of Cephalus as one with a sad af ending, where he accidentally killed his love after finally being free from Eos.
but I stumbled upon a strange ending after that by Lembus
"The god told Cephalus, when he was consulting the oracle about children, to have sexual intercourse with whomever he should encounter first. He met a bear and through intercourse with the bear (arctus), he begot a woman, by whom it is said that Arceisius was appropriately named"
-Heraclides Lembus, On Constitutions
HMMMMMMM A BEAR HUH GEEE it kinda REMINDS me of how a different god Did bear things
"She chose to occupy herself with wild-beasts in the mountains together with Artemis, and, when she was seduced by Zeus, continued some time undetected by the goddess, but afterwards, when she was already with child, was seen by her bathing and so discovered. Upon this, the goddess was enraged and changed her into a beast. Thus she became a bear and gave birth to a son called Arcas" -Hesiod
HMMHMM HMMMM goddess of the hunt sure is connected to bears.
but its not like she would be connected to the cephalus/procris myth-
"When Diana saw her, she said to her : ‘virgins hunt with me, but you are not a virgin, leave my company.’ Procris revealed to her her misfortune and told her that she had been deceived by Aurora [Eos the Dawn]. Diana, moved by pity, gave her a javelin which no one could avoid, and the dog Laelaps which no wild beast could escape, and bade her go contend with Cephalus. With her hair cut, and in young man's attire, by the will of Diana [Artemis], she came to Cephalus and challenged him, and surpassed him in the hunt. When Cephalus saw that javelin and Dog were so irresistible, he asked the stranger to sell them to him, not knowing she was his wife. She refused. He promised her also a share in his kingdom [of Phokis]; she still refused. ‘But if,’ she said, ‘you really continue to want this, grant me what boys are won to grant.’ Inflamed by desire for the javelin and the Dog, he promised he would. When they had come into the bed-chamber, Procris took off her tunic and showed that she was a woman and his wife. Cephalus took the gifts and came again into her favour."
-Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae
wow Procris uses a disguise>
"devoted to the arts Diana [Artemis] loved . . . [After begging for Prokris' forgiveness she returned to him and] she gave me [Kephalos] too, as though herself were gift of small account, a hound [Lailaps] her own Cynthia [Artemis] had given her, saying ‘He'll outrun them all.’ The javelin too she gave me which you see."
-Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 732 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM wowie thats CRAZY, right she really gained favor with artemis/ diana just by being sad af
I THINK lembus was trying to make a connection of the bear BEING procris somehow returned by artemis/diana. the bear connection to the goddess, the fact that the bear never gets a name but the child birthed from the union IS.
and in other sources THAT CHILD IS THE CHILD OF CEPHELUS AND PROCRIS
"Procris. By her Cephalus had a son Arcesius, whose son was Laertes, Ulysses' father" -Hyginus, Fabulae
ladies and gentleman and that person over there
I think the bear and Procris might be the same. i think the god is artemis/diana. and I think I might be in denial about a very sad story.
this is my interpretation of Lembus's work.
