Ovid represents him finally as biting into his own flesh, that his body might thus furnish nourishment for itself.
Vis tamen illa mali postquam consumserat omnem
Materiam ...
Ipse suos artus lacero divellere morsu
Cœpit· et infelix minuendo corpus alebat.
The hideous harpies were made loathsome and obscene in order that the hunger occasioned by their carrying off of the food might be the more horrible. Hear the complaints of Phineus in Apollonius:[[167]]—
τυτθὸν δ’ ἦν ἄρα δή ποτ’ ἐδητύος ἄμμι λίπωσι,
πνεῖ τόδε μυδαλέον τε καὶ οὐ τλητὸν μένος ὀδμῆς.
οὔ κέ τις οὐδὲ μίνυνθα βροτῶν ἄνσχοιτο πελάσσας,
οὐδ’ εἰ οἱ ἀδάμαντος ἐληλαμένον κέαρ εἴη.