Ovid January 14 through February 27, 2008 AN INTRODUCTION TO

OvidJanuary 14 through February

27, 2008

ANINTRODUCTION

TO

Vita43BC Born March 20, in Sulmoc.29BC 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)

25BC Participates in literary circle of Messalla (Propertius)

22-21BC Publishes Amores15BC Publishes Heroides 12-7BC Publishes Amores 2nd edition2BC-AD2 Publishes Ars Amatoria, Remedia

AmorisAD2Fasti, Metamorphoses in progressAD8Relegated to Tomis (carmen et error)AD9-12 Ibis, TristiaAD13 Epistulae ex PontoAD17/18 Dies in exile

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 sententiaeanalysis of psychological dilemmasfearsome allegorical figures, eye for the grotesquethematic 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 Europa1559-62Gardner MuseumBoston, 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

20thcL.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 didacticparody (ars grammatica)elegiac coupletexemplasimiles

• praeceptor amorismiddle agedsympathetic but amused & detached observer of loveaffecting to be singed but never on fireadvice given from maturity of experienceno 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 amandihoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!

FIND THE MAIN VERB



He, she, it knows / does know

PICK UP THE ADVERB …



He, she, it knows / does knowHe, she, it does not know

FIND THE SUBJECT

not



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



If anyone does not knowthe art

WHAT’S LEFT?



to/ for; by/ with/ from people

IS THERE AN ADJECTIVE TO HELP DETERMINE CASE ?



by/ with/ from this people

WHY IS THIS ABLATIVE?



by/ with/ from this people

in

in this peopleIf anyone does not know the art

If anyone in this people does not know the art

WHAT’S LEFT?



If anyone in this people does not know the artof loving

NEXT LINE, FIND THE VERBS

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

hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!

let him read let him loveand

ANYTHING IN THE NOMINATIVE?



let him read and let him lovehaving been taught

DIRECT OBJECT?



let him read and having been taught let him lovethislet him read this and having been taught let him love

WHAT’S LEFT?



let him read this and having been taught let him love

by/with/from the poem

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

WHY IS THIS ABLATIVE?

by/with/ from having been read



let him read this and having been taught let him love

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

ABLATIVE ABSOLUTE

ERGO…

with the poem having been read



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 taughtlet 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!

Documents

Ovid January 14 through February 27, 2008 AN INTRODUCTION TO