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"My nature suits any role:
turn me to which you wish, and I shall fit it well"
[Vertumnus. Propertius,
Elegies
4.2]
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Vertumnus, either Tuscan or Latian, is mostly
remembered for his shape-shifting power and his
seduction of Pomona.
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Etruscan deity perhaps
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Very little is known about Vertumnus or
Vortumnus, whom some take for an Etruscan
deity—perhaps patron of the city of Volsinii
(now Orvieto)—, transferred to Rome after the
defeat of the Volsinians by the Romans in
historical times (264 BC). But there is no general
agreement about this, and one poet affirms that
Vertumnus was brought by the Etruscans when they
came to aid Rome against the Sabines commanded by
Tatius.
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Roman poets
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Some Roman poets have asserted that Vertumnus
presides over change and that he has the power of
shape-shifting; this, they say, can be read in the
god's name, which is derived from vertere
(to turn). However, this account has later been
regarded as based in false etymologies—Latin
but hardly Etruscan—, and accordingly it has
been dismissed by learned posterity.
This 'turning' refers to the river Tiber, the
course of which the god changed, making marshes and
pools recede, but also to the turning year when the
first fruits of the season were, apparently,
offered to him.
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God of the turning year
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From this association with change come the many
forms under which Vertumnus makes his appearance: a
girl clad in silks, a man in toga, a reaper, a
hunter, a fisherman, a shepherd, a charioteer, and
many others. But above all, he is the god whose
hands
... are filled
with the garden's choicest fruit ...
And he says:
It is for me
that the first grape darkens on the purpling
cluster, and the spiky corn-ear swells with milky
grain; at my feet you see sweet cherries, at my
feet autumn plums and the mulberry blushing in the
summertime ... [Propertius,
Elegies
4.2]
This is why Vertumnus, the god of the turning
year, came to the orchard of Pomona: to woo her who
bring all fruits to completion.
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Pomona
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The encounter took place at the time when Proca
was king of Alba Longa, two generations before the
foundation of Rome by
Romulus.
Pomona was a nymph skilled in garden-culture and
the care of fruit-trees. The poet Publius Ovidius
Naso says that she cared nothing for woods and
rivers, but only for the fields and the fruits of
trees. Thus she spent her days repressing the too
luxuriant growth, cutting back branches, inserting
scions of one tree into another, and watering the
roots.
And being this her only love, she shut herself
within her orchard to guard herself against the
approaches of men and gods such as the
SATYRS or the PANS, or
Silvanus or Priapus.
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Vertumnus' many forms
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Yet, deft Vertumnus, changing his appearance
many times, managed to approach her. Sometimes in
the garb of a reaper, bringing her baskets of
barley-ears; at other times as a haymaker, just
coming from tossing the hay in the meadow; or as a
vine-pruner with hook in hand; or else he would
come along with a ladder on his shoulder as if
about to gather apples. He also came as a soldier
with a sword and as a fisherman with a rod; and by
means of his many disguises, Vertumnus did succeed
in obtaining admission to Pomona's
orchard—having much joy when looking on her
beauty—, but he was unable to curb the nymph's
shyness.
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The Old Woman
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So finally, having put on a wig of grey hair,
bound his temples with a head-cloth, and leaning on
a staff, Vertumnus entered Pomona's garden as an
old woman, and after admiring the fruit said:
But you are
far more beautiful
... kissing her, as the poet says
... as no real
old woman ever would have done. [Ovid,
Metamorphoses
14.662]
Then the old creature started to patiently work
on Pomona, so as to persuade her of the blessings
of wedlock, saying that if she wished to be joined
to another she would have more suitors than
Helen or Hippodamia 4 or
Penelope ever had; for
besides a thousand men, many Alban gods would
desire her.
But, the old creature added, the wisest for
Pomona was to listen to an old woman who loved her
more than anyone else, and choose Vertumnus as
consort. For he did not wander idly, but dwelt in
the neighbourhood alone; and he did not fall in
love with every girl he met: in fact, the old woman
said, Pomona would be his first and last love.
The old woman also bade Pomona to consider that
Vertumnus was young and charming, that he could
assume whatever form he desired, and that he could
satisfy whatever wishes Pomona could conceive. She
also reassured the nymph that although her tastes
were similar to his, and consequently he would
cherish Pomona's gifts with joy, yet he neither
desired the fruit of her trees, nor the sweet herbs
of her garden, but her alone.
The old woman gave her guaranty for Vertumnus,
affirming that
... he is not
better known to himself than he is to me.
[Ovid,
Metamorphoses
14.679]
Then she exhorted Pomona to pity his ardour and
fear the
goddesses—Aphrodite
and Nemesis—who
detest the hard of heart. To that purpose she told
her the story of Iphis 5, who loved Anaxarete but,
as he was mocked by her, hanged himself in front of
her door, being later discovered by her, whose eyes
stiffened before she turned into stone.
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Pomona falls in love
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Thus pleaded Vertumnus his cause, but in vain:
Pomona was unmoved.
So he returned to his youthful form, and when
Pomona saw him standing in full radiance, she was
suddenly smitten by the god's beauty and fell in
love with him.
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Vertumnus shows himself to
Pomona
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