Ovid

AN INTRODUCTION TO

Ovid January 14 through February 27, 2008

Vita 43BC c.29BC

Born March 20, in Sulmo Studies law at Rome with rhetoricians Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro. Frequents poetry recitals by Vergil, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius On track for a career in the Senate (tresviri monetales/capitales, decemuiri stlitibus iudicandis)

Participates in literary circle of Messalla (Propertius) 22-21BC Publishes Amores 15BC Publishes Heroides 12-7BC Publishes Amores 2nd edition 2BC-AD2 Publishes Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris AD2 Fasti, Metamorphoses in progress AD8 Relegated to Tomis (carmen et error) AD9-12 Ibis, Tristia AD13 Epistulae ex Ponto AD17/18 Dies in exile 25BC

carmen et error Though two crimes, a song and mistake, have destroyed me, on the cause of the one deed I have to remain silent for I am not worthy of reopening your wounds, Caesar, It is more than enough that you have been pained once. The other charge remains: I am accused of becoming by a shameful song a teacher of obscene adultery. Tristia 2.207

•

Was the carmen his Ars Amatoria ?

"Why did I see anything? Why did I make my eyes guilty? Why did I recklessly learn of a sin?" Tristia 2.103-104

Ovid: nachleben = Negative comments in 1st c. writers Seneca the Elder (licentiam carminum) Aemilius Scaurus (Ovidius nescit quod bene cessit relinquere) Quintillian lascivia

= Influenced Neronian authors Seneca the Younger, Lucan sententiae analysis of psychological dilemmas fearsome allegorical figures, eye for the grotesque thematic emphasis on reversed values

= Graffiti in Pompeii and Herculaneum attest to his popularity

= Popularity continues throughout antiquity.

Ovid: nachleben = Medieval rediscovery of poetry 12th c. described as aetas Ovidiana numbers of Ovid mss rival the Bible; (400 before the time printing began) poets in Italy, Spain & France lived and breathed Ovid

= In England Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare (to name but a few) knew and used Ovid’s Metamorphoses

= Painter’s Bible from 15th century on

Titian, Rape of Europa 1559-62 Gardner Museum Boston, MA, US

Ovid : nachleben = 19th c. Romanticism did not value the wit and playfulness of Ovid = 20th c. academic tastes formed by 19th c. = Resurgence of interest in Ovid at the end of the 20thc L.P. Wilkinson, Ovid Recalled (1955)

= Number of scholarly works has increased dramatically in the last two decades

= Ovid the subject of several works of fiction. Ransmayr,The Last World (1990) Malouf, An Imaginary Life (1996) After Ovid , collection of poetic renditions of Ovid (1996) Tales from Ovid , Ted Hughes, England’s late Poet Laureate (1999) Ovid Metamorphosed, collection of fiction with Ovid as the starting points (2001) Alison, The Love Artist (2002)

Ars Amatoria • mock didactic parody (ars grammatica) elegiac couplet exempla similes

• praeceptor amoris middle aged sympathetic but amused & detached observer of love affecting to be singed but never on fire advice given from maturity of experience no sentiment- love is an elaborate game

• books I-II for men • book III for women later edition • not a pornographic work

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!

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FIND THE MAIN VERB

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! He, she, it knows / does know

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PICK UP THE ADVERB …

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! not He, she, it knows / does does not knowknow

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FIND THE SUBJECT

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! quis = aliquis (after si, nisi, num or ne) If anyone

He, she, it does not know

If anyone does not know



FIND THE DIRECT OBJECT

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!

If anyone does not know the art



WHAT’S LEFT?

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! to/ for; by/ with/ from people



IS THERE AN ADJECTIVE TO HELP DETERMINE CASE ?

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! by/ with/ from this people



WHY IS THIS ABLATIVE?

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! in If anyone does not know artfrom in this by/ the with/ thispeople people

If anyone in this people does not know the art



WHAT’S LEFT?

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! If anyone in this people does not know the art of loving

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NEXT LINE, FIND THE VERBS

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria If anyone in this people does not know the art of loving

hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! let him read and



let him love

ANYTHING IN THE NOMINATIVE?

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria If anyone in this people does not know the art of loving

hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! let him read and



having been taught let him love

DIRECT OBJECT?

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria If anyone in this people does not know the art of loving

hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! this let him let read him this readand and



having havingbeen beentaught taught letlethim himlove love

WHAT’S LEFT?

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria If anyone in this people does not know the art of loving

hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! let him read this and

having been taught let him love

To/for; by/with/ by/with/ from having from having been read been read by/with/from the poem



WHY IS THIS ABLATIVE?

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria If anyone in this people does not know the art of loving

hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet! let him read this and

having been taught let him love

ABLATIVE with the poem ABSOLUTE having been read by/ with/ from having been read by/with/from the poem

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ERGO…

TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!

If anyone in this people does not know the art of loving let him read this and with the poem having been read having been taught let him love! If anyone in this population does not know the art of love let him read this and once the poem is read let him love as an expert!