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| Narcissus (Painting by Caravaggio) |
“Father of History” Herodotus was fond of pointing out that God’s lightning bolts “fall ever on the highest houses and the tallest trees.” This would be the Ancient Greek equivalent of “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
Back in Herodotus’ day, the word on the street was that
Nemesis was somehow involved. At least that’s what was said about Narcissus. Wikipedia describes Narcissus as a mythological hunter who was “renowned for his beauty,” but his arrogance (known then as hubris) exceeded even his comeliness. He was particularly poor at loving anyone or anything that wasn’t himself. How surprised he must have therefore felt to fall in love with an image that he thought was someone else.
As the story goes, Narcissus was out walking one sunny day when his own reflection gazed back at him from a pond’s glassy surface. Because his brain was nowhere near as fully developed as his biceps, Narcissus did not realize that this lovely stranger was, in fact, just a quirk of physics (as well we all might be). He therefore felt a new sensation welling up from his toes to his nose. “Egads!” thought he. “This must be love.”
Tragically, it was only Nemesis (Goddess of Payback-is-a-You-Know-What) whose own hubris drove her to give everyone just what she thought they had coming. When Nemesis learned of Narcissus’ EGO problem, her immediate response was “I’ll fix him – er, it!” This she accomplished by luring him to the pond,
watching him make a predictable fool of himself, then leaving him there to drown in his sorrows forever.
The modern-day version of this sad tale can be found in (of all places) Medical News Today. A January 24,
2012 article titled “Narcissistic Men May Pay With Their Health” reports on a new study which suggests that “even when such men are not under stress, they have high levels of cortisol in their bloodstream, increasing their risk for developing cardiovascular problems.” Although this might not be quite as torturous as leaning over a pond forever, it can be every bit as lethal.
Resources
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240692.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(mythology)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_(mythology)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotus
Copyright February 8, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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