Editing Myrrha (section)

====John Dryden's translation====
[[File:John Dryden portrait.jpg|300px|thumb|The English poet [[John Dryden]] translated the myth of Myrrha for political purposes.]]

In 1700 English poet [[John Dryden]] published his translations of myths by Ovid, [[Homer]], and [[Giovanni Boccaccio|Boccaccio]] in the volume ''Fables, Ancient and Modern''. Literary critic Anthony W. Lee notes in his essay "Dryden's ''Cinyras and Myrrha''" that this translation, along with several others, can be interpreted as a subtle comment on the political scene of the late seventeenth-century England.<ref name="Drydenpaper">{{cite journal | title = Dryden's Cinyras and Myrrha | journal = The Explicator | year = 2004 | first = Anthony W. | last = Lee | volume = 62 | issue = 3 | pages = 141–144 | doi = 10.1080/00144940409597201 | s2cid = 161754795 }}</ref>

The translation of the myth of Myrrha as it appeared in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' is suggested as being a critique of the political settlement that followed the [[Glorious Revolution]]. The wife of the leader of this revolution, [[William III of England|William of Orange]], was [[Mary II of England|Mary]], daughter of [[James II of England|James II]]. Mary and William were crowned king and queen of England in 1689, and because Dryden was deeply sympathetic to James he lost his public offices and fell into political disfavor under the new reign. Dryden turned to translation and infused these translations with political satire in response - the myth of Myrrha being one of these translations.<ref name="Drydenpaper" />

In the opening lines of the poem Dryden describes King Cinyras just as Ovid did as a man who had been happier if he had not become a father. Lee suggests that this is a direct parallel to James who could have been counted as happier if he had not had his daughter, Mary, who betrayed him and usurped his monarchical position. When describing the act of incest Dryden uses a monster metaphor. Those lines are suggested as aimed at William III who invaded England from the Netherlands and whose presence Dryden describes as a curse or a punishment, according to Lee. A little further on the [[Convention Parliament (1689)|Convention Parliament]] is indicted. Lee suggests that Dryden critiques the intrusiveness of the Convention Parliament, because it acted without constituted legal authority. Finally the daughter, Mary as Myrrha,{{efn|Lee notes the phonetic similarity of the names. If you switch the vowels "Myrrha" becomes "Mary".<ref name="Drydenpaper" />}} is described as an impious outcast from civilization, whose greatest sin was her disrupting the natural line of succession thereby breaking both natural as well as divine statutes which resulted in fundamental social confusion. When Myrrha craves and achieves her father's (Cinyras') bed, Lee sees a parallel to Mary's ascending James' throne: both daughters incestuously occupied the place which belonged to their fathers.<ref name="Drydenpaper" />

Reading the translation of the myth of Myrrha by Dryden as a comment on the political scene, states Lee, is partly justified by the characterization done by the historian [[Julian Hoppit]] on the events of the revolution of 1688:<ref name="Drydenpaper" />

<blockquote>
To most a monarch was God's earthly representative, chosen by Him for the benefit of His people. For men to meddle in that choice was to tamper with the divine order, the inevitable price of which was chaos.<ref name="Hoppit21-22">{{Harvnb|Hoppit|2002|pp=21–22}}</ref>
</blockquote>