ovid january 14 through february 27, 2008 an introduction to
TRANSCRIPT
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
TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria
Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandihoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!
He, she, it knows / does know
PICK UP THE ADVERB …
TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria
Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandihoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!
He, she, it knows / does knowHe, she, it does not know
FIND THE SUBJECT
not
TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria
Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandihoc 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 amandihoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!
If anyone does not knowthe art
WHAT’S LEFT?
TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria
Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandihoc 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 amandihoc 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 amandihoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!
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?
TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria
Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandihoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!
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?
TRANSLATING Ars AmatoriaIf anyone in this people does not know the art of loving
hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet!
let him read and let him lovehaving been taught
DIRECT OBJECT?
TRANSLATING Ars AmatoriaIf 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 lovethislet him read this and having been taught let him love
WHAT’S LEFT?
TRANSLATING Ars AmatoriaIf 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
by/with/from the poem
To/for; by/with/ from having been read
WHY IS THIS ABLATIVE?
by/with/ from having been read
TRANSLATING Ars AmatoriaIf 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
by/ with/ from having been read by/with/from the poem
ABLATIVE ABSOLUTE
ERGO…
with the poem having been read
TRANSLATING Ars Amatoria
Siquis in hoc artem populo non novit amandihoc 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 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!