Metamorphoses: Book 1: Daphne Summary & Analysis

Jealous of Apollo’s victory over Python, Cupid points his bow at Apollo. Apollo tells Cupid to put down the bow because he, Apollo, is the only one who can shoot without missing. Cupid retorts that he will make Apollo yield to him like a mortal. Cupid then draws two arrows from his quiver: a gold one that causes passion, and a lead one that repels passion. Cupid shoots Apollo with the gold arrow and Daphne, daughter of the river Penéus, with the lead arrow. Afterwards, Daphne avoids all suitors and plays in the forest with no thought of marriage or sex. When her father asks her for a grandson, she begs him to let her be a virgin forever.

By contrast, Apollo falls in love with Daphne and wants to possess her. Passion fills him like fire as he gazes at Daphne’s eyes, lips, and tempting limbs. He approaches her but she runs away. He runs after her, begging her to stop. He says he is not a predator trying to catch her but a man who loves her. He tells her that his father is Jupiter and that he’s an expert archer and healer, except that he cannot escape love’s arrow or heal from its disease. 

Daphne runs faster to escape Apollo. She looks even more beautiful running, and Apollo loses his patience. Like a predator closing in on its prey, he comes upon her. Desperate and afraid, Daphne prays to her father, the river Penéus, to take away her beauty. At once, Daphne turns into a tree. Still in love with her, Apollo clutches the tree and feels Daphne’s heart beating beneath the bark. Although he can’t marry her, he decides he’ll crown heroes with her leaves and flank palaces with her saplings. He makes her immortal like himself, and she waves her branches in assent.