Heraclitus

Heraclitus said “We can never step into the same river twice, for different water is ever flowing” (12). The river which Heraclitus refers to, is a metaphor for time. Time continues on regardless of life, always changing. Although it may seem impossible to go back in time – impossible to step into the same river – there are times when moments in time seems to repeat themselves throughout history. Ovid refutes this maxim through the use of a common storyline throughout several of his stories. Many of his tales depict some sort of interaction between a god and a human in a way that usually results in the human doing something to upset the god and getting punished for it by being turned into something like an animal or plant. For example, Arachne
challenged Minerva to a weaving contest, which although she won, she refused to “give to the goddess / Your [her] gratitude for the gift” which was very egotistical in Minerva’s eyes. Thus, Minerva turned Arachne into a spider as punishment for her arrogance (Ovid 163). Similarly, although Niobe knew of the story of Arachne, “Arachne’s fate / Taught Nirobe nothing” and she was too proud to heed the almost definite punishment of disregarding the gods (Ovid 198). She believed that she should be honored and worshipped as a goddess for her status as the wife of a magical king and her noble blood and because of her fourteen children that she believed were “a thousand time superior / To my [Leto’s] two” children (Ovid 202). Of course as history showed, this only angered the gods, resulting in the death of all her children in addition to being turned into stone as punishment for her greed. Moreover, a group of pirates, who refused to heed the warning that tricking Bacchus was “not only wicked – it is stupid”, took advantage of Bacchus and kidnapped him (Ovid 181). So, Bacchus punished them by taking over their ship with ivy, forcing the pirates overboard, and turning them into dolphins. Lastly, history is repeated as Midas insulted Apollo by saying “Pan is the real thing – the true voice” and was obviously the winner of the challenge between Apollo and Pan (Ovid 195). Of course Midas was punished by Apollo for making such a ridiculous statement, when Pan himself admit Apollo was more talented. As seen in the previous three tales, Midas was also turned into something as his punishment, as his ears were turned into donkey ears. All four of these examples refute Heraclitus’ river metaphor referring to not being able to relive time. The pirates, Niobe, and Midas all repeat history as they are punished for their arrogance and disregard of the gods power and status by being turned into something, just as Arachne defied Minerva and was turned into a spider. Therefore, it is possible to step into the same moment of time – the same river – as history repeats itself over and over again.