Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, ''invidia'' is the sense of envy, a "looking upon" associated with the

evil eye The Evil Eye ( grc, ὀφθαλμὸς βάσκανος; grc-koi, ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός; el, (κακό) μάτι; he, עַיִן הָרָע, ; Romanian: ''Deochi''; it, malocchio; es, mal de ojo; pt, mau-olhado, olho gordo; ar ...

, from ''invidere'', "to look against, to look in a hostile manner." ''Invidia'' ("Envy") is one of the

Seven Deadly Sins The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things ...

in Christian belief.

''Invidia'' and magic

The

material culture Material culture is the aspect of social reality grounded in the objects and architecture that surround people. It includes the usage, consumption, creation, and trade of objects as well as the behaviors, norms, and rituals that the objects crea ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

offer numerous examples of

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

s and

magic spell An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremo ...

s intended to avert ''invidia'' and the evil eye. When a Roman general celebrated a triumph, the

Vestal Virgin In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( la, Vestālēs, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty ...

s suspended a '' fascinus'', or phallic effigy, under the

chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&n ...

to ward off ''invidia''. Envy is the vice most associated with

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

es and magic. The witch's protruding tongue alludes to Ovid's Invidia who has a poisoned tongue. The witch and Invidia share a significant feature – the

Evil eye The Evil Eye ( grc, ὀφθαλμὸς βάσκανος; grc-koi, ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός; el, (κακό) μάτι; he, עַיִן הָרָע, ; Romanian: ''Deochi''; it, malocchio; es, mal de ojo; pt, mau-olhado, olho gordo; ar ...

. The term ''invidia'' stems from the Latin ''invidere'', "to look too closely". One type of the aggressive gaze is the "biting eye", often associated with envy, and reflects the ancient belief that envy originates from the eyes. Ovid feared that a witch who possessed eyes with double pupils would cast a burning fascination over his love affair. ''Fascinare'' means to

bewitch Bewitch (1945–1959) was a Thoroughbred race horse born in 1945 at Calumet Farm, Kentucky, United States in the same crop in which the stallion Bull Lea produced Citation and Coaltown. Each of them was eventually inaugurated into the Thoroughb ...

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His ...

in one of his love poems jokes nervously about ill wishers who might count the kisses he gives to his beloved and thus be able to "fascinate" the lovers with an evil, envious spell. A shepherd in one of

Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's poems looks at his lambs, all skin and bones, and concludes, "some eye or other is bewitching them fascinat''.html" ;"title="wiktionary:fascinat.html" ;"title="'wiktionary:fascinat">fascinat''">wiktionary:fascinat.html" ;"title="'wiktionary:fascinat">fascinat'' – to which the commentator Servius adds "[the shepherd] obliquely indicates that he has a handsome flock, since it was worth afflicting with the evil eye [''wiktionary:fascinari, fascinari'']". Any unusual felicity or success was felt to be subject to the unspecific but powerful force of envy invidia''.html" ;"title="wiktionary:invidia.html" ;"title="'wiktionary:invidia">invidia''">wiktionary:invidia.html" ;"title="'wiktionary:invidia">invidia'' That is why everyone from soldiers to infants to triumphing generals needed a ''fascinum'', a remedy against the evil eye, an antidote, something that would make the evil wisher look away.

''Invidia'' as emotion

The experience of ''invidia'', as Robert A. Kaster notes, is invariably an unpleasant one, whether feeling ''invidia'' or finding oneself its object. ''Invidia'' at the thought of another's good may be merely begrudging, Kaster observes, or begrudging and covetous at the same time: "I can feel ''dolor'' pain, sorrow, heartache"at seeing your good, just because it is your good, period, or I can feel that way because the good is yours and not mine." Such ''invidia'' is morally indefensible: compare the Aesop fable "

The Dog in the Manger The story and metaphor of The Dog in the Manger derives from an old Greek fable which has been transmitted in several different versions. Interpreted variously over the centuries, the metaphor is now used to speak of one who spitefully prevents o ...

". But by far the most common usage in Latin of ''invidia'' occurs in contexts where the sense of justice has been offended, and pain is experienced at the sight of ''undeserved'' wealth, prestige or authority, exercised without shame (''pudor''); this is the close parallel with Greek ''

nemesis In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view. Etymology The ...

'' (νέμεσις)

Latin literature

''Invidia'', defined as uneasy emotion denied by the shepherd Melipoeus in

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

's Eclogue 1. In Latin, ''invidia'' is the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ( grc, Ῥαμνουσία, Rhamnousía, the goddess of Rhamnous), was the goddess who personifies retribution, a central concept in the Greek world view. Etymology The ...

and Phthonus. ''Invidia'' can be for literary purposes a goddess and Roman equivalent to Nemesis in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...

as it received '' cultus'', notably at her sanctuary around

Rhamnous Rhamnous ( grc, Ῥαμνοῦς, Rhamnoûs; el, Ραμνούς, Ramnoús, label= Modern Greek), also Ramnous or Rhamnus, was an ancient Greek city in Attica situated on the coast, overlooking the Euboean Strait. Its impressive ruins lie north ...

north of Marathon, Greece.

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

describes the personification of Invidia at length in the ''Metamorphoses'' (2.760-832):

Her face was sickly pale, her whole body lean and wasted, and she squinted horribly; her teeth were discoloured and decayed, her poisonous breast of a greenish hue, and her tongue dripped venom. … Gnawing at others, and being gnawed, she was herself her own torment.

Jacques Callot, The Seven Deadly Sins - Envy

Allegorical ''invidia''

Among Christianity, Christians, ''Invidia'' is one of the

. In the allegorical mythography of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the three heads of Cerberus sometimes represent three kinds of ''invidia''. In International Gothic, Late Gothic and Renaissance iconography, ''Invidia'' is personification, personified invariably as a woman. Cesare Ripa's influential ''Iconologia'' (Rome, 1603) represented ''Invidia'' with a Serpent (mythology), serpent coiled round her breast and biting her heart, "to signify her self-devouring bitterness; she also raises one hand to her mouth to show she cares only for herself". The representational tradition drew on Latin authors such as

, Horace, and Pliny the Younger, Pliny, as well as Andrea Alciato's emblem book and Jacopo Sannazaro. Alciato portrayed her devouring her own heart in her anguish. ''Invidia'' is the fatal flaw of Iago in Othello, Shakespeare's ''Othello'': "O you are well tuned now; but I'll set down the pegs that make this music." (''Othello'' II.i).Kaster 2002 illustrates the process of ''invidia'' with a number of utterances of Iago, "the most fully rounded representative of such behavioral script, scripts" (p. 281).

Modern usage of the term

The name of the Nvidia Corporation comes from Invidia in Roman mythology.Nvidia, How The Company Got Its Name & Its Origins In Roman Mythology
(accessed 9 October 2016) Invidia is also the name of one of Final Fantasy XV's many battle themes.

Notes

References

Peter Aronoff, 2003. (Bryn Mawr Classical Review 20)
Review of David Konstan and Keith Rutter, eds. ''Envy, Spite and Jealousy: The Rivalrous Emotions in Ancient Greece.'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 2003; ).

External links

* {{Roman religion Roman goddesses Ancient Roman religion Vengeance goddesses Personifications in Roman mythology Seven deadly sins Emotions