OVID

Ovid was not Greek but Roman, and his life spanned the end of the first century BCE and the beginning of the first century CE he was a conte!porary of the e!peror "ugustus#$ It can be disorienting to %u!p fro! the &o!eric &y!ns, co!posed between '(( and )(( BCE, to the Metamorphoses of Ovid$ *he reason for including Ovid so early in this course is to !ake the point that the Greek !yths survived as a living tradition for !any centuries$ Even when the Greek city+states were absorbed into the ,o!an E!pire, the !yths were adopted by educated ,o!ans and beca!e the basis for a whole new literature in the Latin language the language spoken by the ,o!ans#$ Ovid was a highly sophisticated !e!ber of the urban upper class$ &e did not have to work for a living and his friends included so!e of the wealthiest and !ost powerful people in ,o!e$ &e was eventually e-iled by Augustus, the first e!peror, to a s!all town on the Black .ea$ *he reasons for his e-ile included /a poe! and a !istake0/ !ost scholars think that the poe! was The Art of Love, a seduction !anual in verse, and that the /!istake/ was Ovid1s involve!ent in the love intrigues of the e!peror1s daughter 2ulia although it is not believed that he was her lover0 perhaps he was a go+between#$ By contrast with the serious tone of !ost of the &o!eric &y!ns, Ovid1s narrative voice is often tongue+in+cheek, flippant, and irreverent$ &e tells scandalous stories about the gods with obvious en%oy!ent, although he so!eti!es pretends to be shocked$ *he Metamorphoses, his

longest poe! fro! which we will read selections#, is written in epic !eter, but it is al!ost an anti+epic in its re%ection of a single plot line and a consistent, serious tone$ It begins with an account of creation and ends with the apotheosis of 2ulius Caesar, but there is no over+arching plot structure0 one !yth follows another with only the slightest apparent connection$ *he poe! is held together by two themes3 transfor!ation, or changes of shape the !eaning of the Greek word metamorphoses#, and se-ual love$ Ovid chooses to retell !yths in which either or both of these the!es are pro!inent$ 4otice that the two the!es overlap because falling in or out of love is a kind of transfor!ation$ *he physical changes5usually fro! hu!an for! to ani!al, plant, or inani!ate ob%ect5are often introduced as the outco!e or se6uel of a love affair$ *he sense of helplessness that co!es over the characters as they are transfor!ed rese!bles their inability to resist the effects of se-ual desire$ .ince even the gods feel se-ual love, even they can be seen as its victi!s$ In their efforts to satisfy their desires, they can !ake the!selves look ridiculous, as when 7eus turns Io into a cow or "pollo pursues Daphne$ Because you are reading the Metamorphoses in translation, you will need to read especially carefully for the tone of Ovid1s poetry$ 8ou !ight try reading out loud, since tone refers in the first place to the tone of voice with which words are spoken$ "sk yourself, /&ow did Ovid !ean this to be taken9 .eriously, or in a !ore playful vein9/ .o!eti!es he does assu!e a serious attitude, but often he is hu!orous or even !ocking$ I have chosen a poetic translation that tries to capture this range of tones as well as the beauty in the sounds of words$ *he sound of language is a focus of great poetry in every language$ Give yourself ti!e to re+read and pay

attention to word choices, which carry nuances of tone$ Be alert for details that suggest an irreverent attitude toward the gods$ ,e!e!ber that even if Ovid is /an ancient ,o!an/ to you, he was a hip conte!porary to his original audience$