Ovid: the art of love
Study Guide for Ovid: The Art ofLove
Notes for the translation by Rolfe Humphries of selections from theAmores and the Ars Amatoria.
Publius Ovidus Naso (Ovid):The Loves (25-16 BCE?)
Read the introduction to this translation. Some of the references to modernculture have dated since 1957, but it is still interesting and useful. WhatHumphries does not make clear is that these originally rather frivolous poems hada momentous influence on later European civilization. It was not only Chaucer whoread Ovid's love poetry; every educated person with the slightest interest in thesubject did so. Unfortunately much of his humor was lost on Medievalinterpreters, and they often discussed his ideas over-seriously in the contextwhich came to be known as "courtly love"--a concept which would havebeen alien--and ridiculous--to Ovid.
His beloved was typically a pretty butordinary courtesan, not a noble lady in a tower. He makes it clear repeatedlythat for him love (read "sex") is a game much like poker, demandinggreat powers of strategy and deception, but not the very foundation of lifeitself. The continuing fame of these poems was owed partly to his authorship of amuch greater work, the Metamorphoses, by far the most importantsource for Greco-Roman mythology for later Europeans. His Tristiarecount his lonely banishment away from Rome at the end of his life. It issometimes suggested that the puritanical Emperor Augustus exiled him because hewas offended by Ovid's love poetry, but this is uncertain.
If his voice seems amazingly contemporary it is because of his "modern"cynicism and frank pleasure in sex for its own sake.
Some readers find himoffensive, but in a familiar way: there are plenty of men around today who thinkjust like him. What can take the edge of the offense is his self-deprecatinghumor. Note the many passages in which he is clearly making fun of himself. Whatis definitely not contemporary about Ovid is his love for mythological allusion.The modern reader may feel frustrated by these "interruptions" whichwere read fluently as decorative touches in his own time by an audience extremelyfamiliar with the myths to which he alludes. Feel free to skim through thesepassages, but you may find that the following notes add a lot to yourunderstanding of these writings by explaining the various allusions.
He returnsto some stories over and over again. Rather than constantly repeat the sameexplanations, I have created links so that you may look up figures discussedearlier. Remember that after following a link you need to click the "back" buttonto return to the spot where you were reading. In these notes the Roman names aregenerally used, i.e. "Ulysses" rather than "Odysseus,""Jupiter" rather than "Zeus.
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Book I:
Elegy I
Ovid's contemporary Virgil had begun his mostfamous poem, the Aeneid, with the line "Arms and the man Ising." These elegies are written in lines shorter by one foot than thehexameters that are used for more solemn epic works like the Aeneid.
Minerva (Greek Athena) is the goddess of wisdom, not normallymixed up with the love-goddess Venus. Ceres is thegrain-goddess, Diana the huntress of the forests. Apollo is the god of peaceful arts like poetry and music, Mars the god of war. Orpheus was also ademigod of music.
In other words: "Don't mix things up: stick to what you'regood at."
Helicon was the home of the Muses,inspirers of the arts; so Cupid is rebuking Ovid for thinking that he is thecenter of the creative universe when he's only a participant on the fringes. Notehow even Ovid, always heterosexual, casually offers homosexuality as analternative.
How does Cupid answer his claim that he cannot write love poetrybecause he is not in love with anyone?
Myrtle is associated with Venus.
Elegy II
The stereotype of the sleepless lovesick youth waslong established by the time Ovid expressed it, but he conveys a particularlyvivid impression of it. Remember that such love-longing was diagnosed as aclinical illness in ancient times, usually treatable only by lovemaking.
Notehis ingenious examples of self-defeating struggle. He gladly surrenders to Cupid,telling him that he can celebrate a triumphal procession of the kind allotted tomilitary leaders who succeeded in adding territory to the Roman Empire, butdecorated with objects associated with Venus, such as a myrtle wreath substitutedfor the usual laurel. Captured prisoners were a feature of such processions.
"Hosannahs" is of course biblical Hebrew, and only a loose translationfor a word meaning "cheers."
What sort of companions does he sayLove has?
Bacchus was thought of as an "eastern" god, and said tohave invaded and conquered India.
The final lines are an obsequious complimentto the mercy of Augustus, the same ruler who--nevertheless--was to banish thepoet from Rome.
Elegy IV
Most of these poems are addressed to single young women, mostly courtesans. Thisparticularly outrageous example of Ovid's humor may well be a cynical fiction.Obviously if he was trying to keep an affair such as this secret, he would nothave published the poem. (Publishing consisted in the hand-copying of works forsale, and Ovid was a best-selling author.) The humor of the poem lies in thepoet's frantic jealousy of his mistresses' husband. His elaborate system ofsymbolic gestures is meant more to be amusing than serious, as the conclusionreveals.
To understand this poem one needs to understand that dining was normallydone reclining on couches, leaning on one elbow, two to a couch.
The Lapithking Peirithoüs tried to make peace with the savage Centaurs, half-man, halfhorse, by inviting them to his wedding. However, the drunken Centaurs tried tocarry off the Lapith women and restarted the war they had been fighting earlier.The scene was often depicted in sculpture, notably on the pediment of the Templeof Zeus at Olympia.
The ancient Greeks and Romans mixed their water with wineto prevent its being too intoxicating, unless they were single-mindedly bent ongetting drunk.
Why is the poet especially anxious about the acts that may behidden under the couples' robes?
Note the traditional reference to the"cruel door.
"
Note the assumption that men's pleasure in lovemakingis strongly dependent on that of women.
What effect do the last two lines haveon your impression of his relationship to this woman?
Elegy V
This one is pure sex. If you are liable to be offended by the subject matter, youmay skip it. The time is the mid-day break, when almost all Italians still takean after-lunch nap. Here we meet Corinna, the main subject of these poems.
Semiramis was a mighty Assyrian Queen whose original name was Sammuramat (r.
810-805 BCE), and who was responsible for huge construction projects during herreign. However, legends developed around her, first transforming her into agoddess and later into a highly romantic figure. One of these legends is retoldin Rossini's opera Semiramide.
Lais was a Corinthian courtesanlegendary for her extraordinary beauty.
Pro forma meanssomething like "for appearances' sake."
Ovid belongs to the oldschool of thought which does not take women's reluctance to engage in sexseriously.
Although this pattern of thought has caused a lot of damage over thecenturies, and continues to do so, it is important to remember that in the pastboth men and women accepted the notion that courtship usually involved theovercoming of resistance, the latter necessary to prove that the woman was notutterly debauched. This poem would not have conveyed any notion of rape toancient readers. This is the most explicit poem about lovemaking in all ofClassical Latin literature.
Elegy VI
The door poem (Greek paraklausithyron) was a highly stereotypedform. It is enough for the poet to mention a door, and the entire situation isbrought to mind: the lover shut out, complaining, from the woman locked within.This one, however, is original in that it is addressed to the doorkeeper, chainedto his post.
The refrain printed in italics suggests a ritual hymn, for it is notthe sort of thing normally used in secular poems like this.
This poemintroduces another traditional symptom of lovesickness: loss of appetite. Underwhat condition would the poet be willing to be a slave like the doorkeeper?
Boreas, the north wind, fell in love with Oreithiya, daughter of Erectheus, kingof Athens. Since the north wind blew to Greece from the direction of Thrace,Boreas was thought of as a Thracian, a people hated by the Athenians. Rejected byher father, he swooped down on Oreithiya and carried her off to Thrace.
A "chaplet" is a decorative garland worn to parties.
It was traditional for lovers to hang their garlands on the beloveds' doors as anoffering, but he flings his on the doorstep as a symbol of his wasted night. Notealthough the poem recounts his utter failure, by retelling the story in a poem heclearly hopes to influence the woman who has instructed her slave to keep thedoor locked.
Elegy VII
For most of its length, this poem seems a sincere attempt at repenting hisviolence against Corinna. He realizes he has brutalized her and is trying to makeup with her by accusing himself. However, the final impish line is ambiguous. Itcould mean that he isn't truly repentant: he is more embarrassed than contrite.
Or it could be a satire on his own superficiality.
At first, trying to justifyhis use of violence, he cites other wild madmen from the past, including Ajax,the great Trojan War hero, who in a crazed fit of spite at having not beenawarded the dead Achilles' arms, ran amuck among the herds under the delusionthat the cows were his Greek enemies.
Orestes was famous for avenging themurder of his father Agamemnon by killing his faithless mother Clytemnestra. Hewas punished for this deed by madness.
Note how he quickly rejects his ownargument.
The beautiful princess Atalanta was abandoned as a baby, butsuckled by a bear and raised by hunters.
She swore to remain unmarried so shecould continue to pursue her favorite but unfeminine pastime of hunting. Herfather Iasus was king of Maenalus
Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos ofCrete who helped Theseus slay the Minotaur and for her pains was abandoned byhim on the island of Naxos.
Cassandra was a Trojan princess who resistedApollo's attempts to seduce her. According to one story, he granted her the giftof true prophecy, but when she continued to resist, he cursed her: no one wouldever believe her prophecies. At the fall of Troy, Ajax raped her at the foot ofthe altar of Athena. In the original all three of these are loosely linked byreferences to their hair.
The Greek Diomedes was said to have wounded Venus(who sided with the Trojans) in battle.
Ovid goes on sarcastically to urgehimself to celebrate his "triumph" over Corinna with a procession likethat described above in the notes to Elegy II.
Jove isanother name for Jupiter, the mighty sky god of thunder and lightning.
Whatare the two alternatives he says he wished had happened instead of his brutalassault on her?
Paros was renowned for its white marble.
Whatever you thinkof his behavior, the final lines reveal considerable insight into the nature ofguilt. What two alternatives does he offer to make himself feel better?
Elegy XIII
"The bright one" is Aurora, the dawn, who leaves the bed of her agedlover Tithonus each morning, her rosy fingers turning the sky pink.
Because shegets no pleasure from him any longer, she is jealous of other lovers. Memnon washer son, an Ethiopian king, the smoke from whose funeral pyre was transformedinto starlings which returned annually to his grave to sprinkle it with water.
This is one of many poems calling upon the dawn to hold back its coming so thatthe delights of nighttime may be prolonged. The line "Run slowly, slowly,horses of the night" is frequently quoted. What other kinds of peoplebesides lovers does he say would like the nights to be longer?
Spinning andweaving were enormously time-consuming tasks that almost all women engaged inwhenever they were not doing other work.
The sun was imagined to ride acrossthe sky in a chariot, so Ovid wishes its axle would break.
Aurora asked thegods to give her Tithonus immortal life, but she forgot to ask them to keep himyoung. Tragically, he aged indefinitely and grew ugly and repulsive to her.
When the virginal moon goddess Luna fell in love with the beautiful youthEndymion he was punished by Jupiter by being put permanently, eternally tosleep.
Jupiter, desiring Amphitryon's wife Alcmene, disguised himself as herhusband and miraculously prolonged the night in order to prolong his pleasurewith her. As a result, she bore the hero Hercules.
Note the humor in the finallines.
Ovid often portrays himself as a loser.
Book II
Elegy II
This is one of Ovid's cynical celebrations of adultery as a harmless game. Inthe Middle Ages adultery was to become transformed into a quasi-religious ritual,very different from this, but often involving the same complications.
Bagoasis the slave employed by Ovid's mistress' husband to guard over her. Ovidthreatens and cajoles him in an attempt to have some "harmless" funwith the wife. This list of instructions may be compared with those to the wifein Book I, Elegy 4.
The Palatine Hill overlooking the Forumwas the site of the homes of rulers of Rome.
The rites of Isis were supposedto be attended only by women, so the guard would have to stay outside.
"Gaol" is the English spelling for "jail."
Tantalus was punished in Hades by being confined in a poolwith a fruit tree bending over it. When he stooped to drink the water, it flowedaway; when he reached for the fruit, it sprang out of his reach,tantalizing him.
"Argo" seems here to be simply asynonym for Argus , the hundred-eyed guard set to guard Io.
Flagrantedilecto is a legal term meaning "in the act" (literally"flagrantly committing the crime").
Elegy VI
Ovid's elegy to a pet bird is much longer and more complex than Catullus', a fact which does not necessarily makeit better. The main difference is that Ovid plunges into the realm of myth, as heso often does, to develop his thought. One can see why this poet went on to writethe Metamorphoses.
Note that Corinna's parrot came from India,a distant land on the borders of the empire which was reputed to harbor allmanner of wonders.
All birds are summoned to perform the funeral rites:scratching one's cheeks and breast was a standard form of ritual grieving.
Philomela is the nightingale. Itys was killed, cutup, and cooked by his mother Procne and fed to her husband Tereus in vengeancefor his rape of her sister Philomela.
Damon and Pythias were friends inSyracuse whose loyalty to each other became legendary.
It seems odd thatquails were reputed to be especially long-lived, since it is in fact parrots whichhave been known to live quite long lives.
"Water, perfectly pure" implies that no wine was mixed with it: pure water was the preferred drink of advocates of the simple life as a means to health.
Pursued by Triton, a Phocian princess prayed to Minerva to be rescued, and was turned into a raven which became the goddess' companion.
However, later Minerva rejected the bird for tale-telling in favor of the owl.
Protesilaus was aneager hero, the first to land (and die) at the Trojan War whereas Thersites wasan ugly, deformed coward who jeered at his own leaders. Similarly, Homer depictsHector (who killed Protesilaus) as the courageous leader of the Trojan forces,disdainful of his younger brother Paris, who had caused the war by carrying offAgamemnon's wife Helen.
Hector's father Priam opposed the war from thebeginning, had to plead with the Greeks for his son's body, and was ignominiouslyslain at the end of the war.
The thread of life was spun out, measured, andcut by the three women known as Fates.
Elysium (or "the ElysianFields") was a paradise mortals who had been made immortal lived.
Somewriters like Ovid portray it as a reward for virtue: in others it is simply theabode of those who have pleased the gods, not always by good behavior.
Therewas only one phoenix which periodically set itself on fire and was reborn. It isnot usually associated with Elysium, but Ovid is reaching for relevantmythological birds.
Juno, the wife of Jupiter, had as her companion apeacock.
Which of the parrot's qualities attracts most of Ovid's attention(unsurprisingly, given his vocation as a writer)?
Elegies VII & VIII
This pair of elegies inspires indignation in some readers: What an outrageousliar and cheat! The mean-spirited attempt at blackmail at the conclusion of ElegyVIII is especially revolting. Other readers find the poet's impish antics highlyamusing.
But it is important to remember that it is Ovid the poet who has createdthese two works and set them side by side to create the portrait of anunscrupulous philanderer that results. This is no pair of private letters, but asatirical set piece, carefully conceived to portray a probably fictional loverwho thinks he can get away with anything, but who is in fact in deeptrouble--rejected both by Corinna and Cypassis. The narrator in these, as in allthe poems, is a persona created by the author but not necessarily to beidentified with him on every point.
Both Agamemnonand Achilles were great warriors infatuated byslaves.
Elegy XIII
Abortion, though disapproved of in Rome, was notuncommon; but the means used were highly dangerous to the woman. On what groundsdoes the poet object to Corinna's abortion attempt?
Posse="could be;" esse= "is.
" The poet prays to theEgyptian goddess Isis, the special guardian of women. Osiris is herbrother/husband.
The passage about the Gallic horsemen evidently refers tosculptures near the temple of Isis. Note how Ovid observes his own tactlessnessin the final lines.
Elegy IX
Corinna's husband (unmentioned previously) seems to be making her affair with thepoet insufficiently difficult. The poet argues that obstacles created by hisrival stimulate his passion.
This sort of sophisticated perversity is far removedfrom the direct passion of a Sappho. Clearly the poem is not to be readliterally. He would not have sent this poem to the betrayed husband; he is merelysatirizing what he sees as his foolish tolerance. Cuckolds (men whose wivescommit adultery) are the object of much satirical humor from ancient timesthrough the 18th century. He also tries to arouse jealous fears in the husband,taunting him.
Danae's father Acrisius, learning from anoracle that his grandson would kill him, imprisoned her in a bronze cell butJupiter (Jove) impregnated her in the form of a shower of gold.
Juno's jealousattempt to prevent Jove from making love with Io by turning her into a cow failedwhen he continued to pursue her.
The tablets brought by the maid would havebeen letters which were inscribed on wax-covered tablets.
Book III
Elegy II
This is a wonderfully livelyportrait of a day at the races by a man who would rather look at women thanhorses. This translation is particularly colloquial, with many modern touches notstrictly faithful to the original; but the spirit is captured vividly.
Pelopswon the hand of the Princess Hippodameia by cheating in a chariot race,sabotaging his rival's vehicle. He thinks his girlfriend mayhave prettier legs than even the beautiful Atalanta who raced against and wonmany suitors for her hand, only to be overtaken by Milanion when he distractedher with three golden apples given him by Venus.
Diana the huntress was alsoreputedly a swift runner. Thus does the poet combine his themes: beautiful womenand racing.
The victory the poet prays for is of course over the woman'sresistance.
Neptune was god of the sea, which Ovid hated.
A common sort ofmiracle in ancient Rome was the reported nodding of the head of a god's statue,signifying approval of a prayer.
The poet says he will worship the woman morethan Venus herself.
Ovid reworked this poem in a passage ofBook I of The Art of Love.
Elegy IV
This is a variation of the address to the cuckoldedhusband, but this time the argument is that possessiveness only makes a wiferestive and more likely to betray her spouse. Sentiments like these were repeatedin countless tales and poems in the late Middle Ages. Jealousy, it was insisted,destroys love. This is of course a convenient philosophy for a would-be seducerof wives.
Her "person" is her body.
Argus is usually said tohave been killed by Hermes, but Ovid says he was blinded by love.
See thenotes to Book II, Elegy XIX for Danae.
Penelope wasUlysses' (Odysseus') wife, who waited faithfully for his return from the TrojanWar for twenty years, despite being besieged by numerous suitors.
The poeteven goes so far as to argue impudently that adultery (strictly outlawed inAugustine's Rome, though the law was frequently broken) is not only a trivialmatter, but can be highly respectable, citing instances from mythology, whichindeed abounds with illicit unions--one of the reasons that the Greeks and Romansdid not base their ethics on their religion.
The notion that all womenbeautiful enough to attract lovers will have them is repeatedly endlessly in lateMedieval and Renaissance satires. An entire book of Rabelais' Gargantuaand Pantagruel is based on this theme.
Obviously those who thought ofthemselves as potential lovers hoped this was so. From ancient times to the 19thcentury, the stereotype of the uncontrollable sexuality of women dominated muchthinking about them. The rise of Victorianism, which viewed men as more sexualthan women, marked a revolutionary change in European thinking, and one which didnot go unchallenged.
According to Ovid, what are the advantages of being acuckold?
Elegy XIA & B
Ovid tries to bid farewell to the fickle Corinna, but finds he cannot.
Thereis a saying that "Jove laughs as the oaths of lovers." Ovid accuses thegods of corruption in supporting such laxity.
Even if she rejects him, he willcontinue to love her.
The Art of Love (2-1 BCE)
The Art of Love uses the same impudent, witty tone that pervadesmuch of the Loves, but without their anguish. It had enormousinfluence in the Middle Ages, when it was studied seriously as a source on thetrue nature of love, but was also often considered scandalous.
Book I
"Car" in this translation means "chariot." The word"car" existed in English for horse-drawn vehicles long before theinvention of automobiles.
Automedon was Achilles' charioteer in the TrojanWar.
Tiphys steered the Argo through many hazards under the leadership ofJason.
Achilles was educated as a boy by the aged centaur Chiron.
Achilles kills Hector in one of the climactic scenes of theIliad. Apollo inspired lofty lyric verse, Clio was sometimesconsidered the muse of epic poetry. Why does Ovid say he doesn't need divineinspiration to write this work?
Perseus' wife Andromeda came from Ethiopia,not India; but ancient writers often confused the two countries as equallydistant and exotic.
The Grecian girl Paris took was of course Helen, wife ofAgamemnon.
The sheltered spots convenient for meeting women include Pompey'sportico built to shelter people at the theater in case of rain, the Portico ofOctavia, the sister of Augustus (born Octavian), and the Portico of Livia. TheTemple of Palatine Apollo was built during Augustus' reign and was surrounded byporch decorated with statues of the fifty daughters of Danaus who murdered theirhusbands. All were popular shady gathering spots near places of entertainment.The other spots mentioned are places of worship in Rome where Ovid says willingwomen can be encountered.
Many Jews lived in Rome, and a considerable numberof Romans converted to the religion.
The section on the lawcourts involves anelaborate series of puns in Latin comparing legal battles to courtship.
In the section on the theater he depicts the abduction of theSabine women , which took place at an outdoor festival they had been invited to(see the note for the "Vigil ofVenus.") Then follows the racetrack passage whichreworks Book III, Elegy II. Most scholars prefer the firstversion; can you see why?
No aspect of Roman life, despite the violence of ourpopular entertainments, is more alien to us than the pleasure the Romans took inwatching human beings be killed in gladiatorial shows. How does Ovid say thespectator can become the victim at one of these shows?
Our translation here skips ahead to a passage about looking for women at amilitary triumph. He uses it as an excuse to flatter shamelessly the politicalaccomplishments of Augustus Caesar and his grandson Gaius Caesar who failed tosucceed him as emperor, despite Ovid's prophecies of a brilliant career. Heimagines that their campaign against the Parthians will result in a brillianttriumphal march, thus justifying this lengthy digression.
In the section onparties, he warns against falling at love while under the influence of wine. Paris was asked by Venus, Juno, and Minerva to judge which ofthem was the most beautiful (the scene, called "The Judgment of Paris,"has been often depicted in paintings).
What does he say is the otherdisadvantage to falling for a woman at a party?
Baiae was a resort nearNaples. Women frequently attended processions in honor of Diana Nemorensis atAricia, about ten miles south of Rome. Propertius writes about Cynthia'sparticipation.
Having established where women are to be found, Ovid now begins to describe howto seduce them.
Summarize his views on feminine psychology in the sectionbeginning "First: be a confident soul."
There follows a list ofmonstrous feminine passions from mythology whose point is that if women have beenknown to go to such lengths for passion's sake, surely they will be willing toengage in a more normal love affair.
For Byblis, see theMetamorphoses, ix:, ll. 447-665. Myrrha, like Byblis, repented ofher incestuous passion and hanged herself.
QueenPasiphae's affair with the great bull of Crete resulted in the birth of theminotaur.
As he often does, Ovid proceeds to group together myths with a similartheme, in this case humans and cattle. Europa was carried off by Jupiter in theform of a bull, a scene often depicted in art. After mentioning Io and Europa,Ovid returns to Pasiphae and the wooden cow she had built to enable her to matewith the bull.
Aerope, wife of Atreus, had an affair with her brother-in-lawThyestes which led to a deadly feud, leading ultimately the infamous banquet atwhich Thyestes was deceived into eating the dead bodies of his own children. Inhorror, day turned to night, described here as Phoebus Apollo, charioteer of thesun, turning his vehicle around to abort its rising.
Scylla's magic lock ofhair protected him until his daughter betrayed him out of love for Minos.
ThisScylla is here identified with the sea-monster described in the Odyssey.
Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces at Troy,returned home to be slain by his faithless wife Clytemnestra.
Creusa was the princess that Jason married after he rejectedMedea. Medea took vengeance by killing her with a poisoned robe and thenmurdering her own children (see Euripides' Medea).
The next threeexamples of monstrous female passion involve women who, frustrated in theirattempts to seduce men, falsely accuse them of rape. The most famous is Phaedra, who tried to seduce her stepson Hippolytus (and isthe subject of another tragedy by Euripides, the Hippolytus).
Why doyou suppose that such stories are so popular in many cultures?
The passage recommending securing the cooperation of the maid recalls Book II, Elegies VII & VIII, although he here warns againstactually seducing her--at least until her mistress has been safely bedded.
After ten years of fruitless siege at Troy, the Greeks pretended to depart,leaving behind an enormous wooden horse, secretly filled with soldiers. After thecelebrating Trojans had hauled the horse inside the city, the soldiers sneakedout under cover of darkness and threw open the gates of Troy to the waiting Greektroops.
How does Ovid recommend lovers take advantage of a woman's anger withanother man?
Why does he say it is an advantage to have succeeded in seducingthe maid?
The Battle of the River Allia in 390 BCE was remembered bitterly asa disastrous defeat for the Roman (Latian) forces at the hands of the Gauls.
Jews in Rome popularized the idea of a Sabbath day of rest and the seven-dayweek.
Why does he recommend against courting on a woman's birthday?
Thescene with the peddler is a delightful little vignette which one could easilyimagine being acted on the stage.
The language is here somewhat modernized: the"check" is actually a promise to pay; but birthday cakes were genuinelyRoman.
After Achilles killed Prince Hector at Troy and treated the bodysavagely, he was nevertheless persuaded to return it to King Priam for burial.
Cydippe was tricked into marrying her lover Acontius when he rolled in front of her an appleon which he had inscribed "I swear by Artemis to marry Acontius." Shepicked it up, read it aloud, and realized she was now bound by the oath.
The next section recommends the study of rhetoric as it was studied by lawyers.Clever oratory was much admired in Rome.
"Periods" are phrases.
Penelope's suitors tried to get her to marry for many years, but she resistedthem until her husband Ulysses returned home, twenty years after he had left. Ittook ten years to conquer Troy. What do you think of his advice onpersistence?
The lover has to turn around to see the woman he loves in thetheater audience because females were confined by law to the last few rows.
Rome did have actresses, but males also commonly played female parts.
Some mendid curl their hair, but were not considered very manly for doing so.
Thepriests of the cult of Cybele shaved their legs as well as castratingthemselves.
Adonis was a handsome youth with whom Venus fell in love.
Bacchus is the god of wine: he is suggesting that wine may help seduce a woman.This is the excuse for the story which follows. When Ariadne had been abandonedon Naxos by Theseus, she uttered long, bitter laments which became a stereotypein poetry; but Ovid rejects the version of the story which has her committingsuicide and has her rescued promptly by Bacchus.
Hymenaeus is the god ofmarriage.
Note the assumption that the woman may well be married, though this isnot suggested elsewhere. Severe penalties against adultery were enacted about thetime this was written, and it has sometimes been supposed that Ovid's repeatedcelebration of the seducing of other men's wives may have been one of the causesof his exile.
This section is developed out of materials originally used in The Loves Book I, Elegy IV. Eurytion was one of thecentaurs killed in the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs when the lattergot drunk at the marriage feast of Pirithous.
What does Ovid say are theadvantages of pretending to be drunk? His toast "to the fellow she sleepswith" is ambiguous, of course: the listeners think he is speaking of herhusband, she knows he is speaking of the lover.
Juno and Pallas lost the beauty contest to Venus when judged by Paris.
It wasclaimed that when Jupiter was carrying on his affair with Io, he swore falsely toJuno that he was not. From that time on he ordained that lovers should not bepunished for their false oaths.
Styx, the river of death, was the only entityby which the gods swore.
What is his excuse for saying it is all right tocheat women?
The myth of King Busiris of Egypt may reflect a distant memoryof human sacrifices carried out in Egypt.
Since it never rains in Egypt, therains referred to may be those far upstream which cause the Nile to swell.
Phalaris was a historical figure, the cruel tyrant of Acragas in Sicily c.
570-554 BCE. He had a hollow bronze bull designed in which to roast humansacrifices; but the first victim was its designer.
Note the repeated insistence that women's resistance is not to be takenseriously. The Romans tended sometimes to romanticize rape, as in the rape of theSabine women, although it could also beconsidered a terrible crime, as in the rape of Lucretia, who was praised forcommitting suicide when raped by Sextus Tarquinius after making her husband swearto kill the rapist.
Phoebe and Hilaira were sisters abducted by the Dioscuri,considered sons of Jupiter: Castor and Pollux.
Achilles' mother Thetis triedto thwart the prophecy that he would die at Troy by isolating him on the islandof Scyros and having him raised as a girl.
However, he fell in love with theprincess Deidamia, revealing his gender when he raped her.
The triumph ofVenus on Mount Ida was her winning of the beauty contest judged by Paris. Shewon by bribing Paris with Helen, an act which triggered the Trojan War.
PallasAthena, though female, was also awar goddess, and is usually portrayed withhelmet, spear, and shield.
Achilles killed Hector with a spear, of course, andnot a skein of wool
What evidence is there toward the end of this section thatalthough Ovid has few scruples about using force, he isn't really enthusiasticabout it?
Here is introduced another element in the description of love-longing which wasto become standardized for centuries: pallor.
The legends of Orion and Daphnis("the shepherd-boy") referred to here are lost, but the point isclear.
Thinness is another classic symptom of love-longing.
Patroclus andAchilles were such close friends that the latter was persuaded to rejoin thebattle against Troy after quitting because he felt cheated of his proper battlespoils only when Patroclus was killed by Hector, and Achilles felt bound toavenge his friend. This is the central action of Homer's Iliad. Part of those spoils was the maiden Briseis, whoserelationship to Achilles Patroclus respected.
Achates is the loyal companionof Aeneas in Virgil's Aeneid, and his name became synonymous withfriendship.
Proteus was famous for his ability to transform himself intomyriad shapes.
Book II
The first two parts of the book have explained how to find and capture a woman.This part tells how to keep her.
Homer and Hesiod were the early writers whorecorded the classic myths, serving almost as a Bible to the Greeks.
Pelopswon Hippodamia in a chariot race. The story of Daedalus has been often retold,including by Ovid himself, in the Metamorphoses. One can see himedging toward that work in such passages as these where he allows himself to getcarried away with recounting a myth.
To say one is willing to swim the Styx isto say that one is willing to face death itself, since Styx is the riverseparating Hades from the land of the living.
The heat of the sun melted thewax holding Icarus' feathers together. His story was often told to illustrate theconsequences of reckless and immoderate behavior. The conclusion is simply thatlove cannot be controlled.
It was believed that foals were born with a growthon their foreheads which was immediately bitten off by its mother. However, ifone could be secured intact it would be a wonderful love potion.
Medea was a powerful sorceress but she could not keep Jasonfrom leaving her for Creüsa, whom she killed with a poisoned cloak. Ulysses'men were transformed into animals by the sorceress Circe, but he managed to savehimself and his men despite her magical powers.
What does he recommend insteadof magic potions?
What are the most important qualities in a man, according toOvid?
Ulysses lived with Circe on the island of Aeaea for a whole year andwith the nymph Calypso on Ogygia even longer. In both cases he had difficultyconvincing the women to let him go.
Rhesus was an ally of the Trojans,betrayed by a Trojan prisoner (Dolon) to the Greeks. How does Calypso use thetelling of this story to argue against his departure?
Ovid makes it clear thathis ideas of courtship do not aim at marriage.
As in most ancient cultures, Romanmarriages were arranged.
He alludes back to the incident depicted in theLoves, Book I, Elegy VII. He takes for granted that hisearlier poems are well known to his readers. How is his advice in this sectiondifferent from that at the end of Book I?
Atalanta was the athletic virginwho outran all her suitors although they ran naked, she in armor. Melanionfinally caught her, however, with the trick described in thenotes to the Loves, Book III, Elegy II.
Women used tobe routinely advised to lose at games in order to please men; what is Ovid'sadvice to men?
"Mules" are slippers.
According to some Romanwriters, after the mighty Hercules defiled the temple of the oracle at Delphi, hewas condemned to slavery and sold to Queen Omphale of Lydia, who, among othermore heroic tasks, required him to dress as a woman, sing, and spin. The image ofthe hyper-masculine Hercules forced to behave in such an effeminate manner hasamused many writers and artists. After many sufferings, Hercules was finallyallowed to become an immortal and live among the gods.
Ovid compares love towar, but he does not emphasize aggression. What aspects of war does he use asmetaphors for love?
When Apollo dared to restore a dead man to life, Jupiterpunished him severely, and his continued defiance led to a sentence of working asa slave for a mortal for a year. It was at Admetus' court that he labored.
TheGreek Leander swam across the Hellespont to be with his beloved Hero.Noblesse oblige is a French phrase for the sort of politeness thatsocial superiors owe to their inferiors.
On July 7th of each year the Romanscelebrated the feast of Juno Caprotina ("under the fig tree") inmemory of an incident in which the Gauls had demanded the Romans hand over tothem certain matrons and virgins. Their maidservants were substituted, and whenthey were to be collected, signalled to the Roman troops to fall on the Gauls anddestroy them.
Amaryllis is a typical Arcadian figure whose fondness forchestnuts was mentioned in Virgil's Eclogue 2, line 52.
What does Ovid have tosay about the value of poetry?
Medusa was a ferocious monster with snakes forhair whose fierce looks literally froze those who looked upon her.
What limitdoes Ovid place on the would-be lover's attentions to his beloved when she isill?
When Demophoon deserted his bride Phyllis, shecommitted suicide, and his own death ultimately resulted.
Laodamia grieved sofor the husband she had lost at Troy that Hermes brought him back from the deadfor three hours, but when he returned to Hades at the end of that time, shekilled herself. These stories are all extreme examples of the saying"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."
The counter-example, ofcourse, is Menelaus. Most ancient authors were prone to blame Helen for herdesertion of Menelaus, but Ovid, ever sympathetic to adulterous wives, is anexception.
Female worshippers of Bacchus, when filled with Dionysian frenzy,were supposed to be capable of ripping apart animals and even men with their barehands.
Notice that the warning against jealousy is directed especially athusbands.
Clytemnestra hated her husband for many reasons, notably havingsacrificed their daughter Iphigeneia to secure fair winds for Troy. His claiming of Briseis was a minor issue. He broughtCassandra, daughter of Priam, back from Troy as his prize. Clytemnestra's loverAegisthus, according to some versions, helped her murder Agamemnon upon hisreturn home. The adulterous pair were subsequently murdered by her son Orestes.
Ovid claims she was mainly motivated by jealousy in order to make her examplesuit his purpose.
Note how subtle is Ovid's advice about effective lying.
Ovid's list of aphrodisiacs is translated somewhat loosely here.
Ovid's flipdefense of his own inconsistency sows how unserious much of this advice is.
Fortuna was a very important goddess; those she smiled on were said to befortunate.
Roucoulade is a French word referring to the cooingof doves.
According to some ancient thinkers, the universe was created out ofa chaotic void. The world was not so much created as organized. Ovid's creationstory concentrates on how creatures learned to mate. The lesson is: doing it isnature's way.
Machaon, son of Asclepius, was a physician from the Greek sideat Troy.
On the temple of Apollo at Delphi was inscribed the famous motto,"Know thyself.
"
In what way is Ovid's advice of showing yourself offto best advantage self-deprecating?
The honey of Mount Hybla (andconsequently its bees) was especially prized.
Ovid recommends the conventionalgesture of hanging a garland on the woman's door, referred toearlier.
The Oracle of Dodona was where Aeneas went for advice. Note howOvid admits that he doesn't always take his own advice.
When Venus wascommitting adultery with Mars, her husband Vulcan trapped them in a net andcalled the other gods to witness the crime; but they were amused instead and theresult was shame for Vulcan rather than Venus. The lame Vulcan was the armorer ofthe gods, and worked at his forge inside the volcanic Mt.
Aetna.
The sun-godis Apollo.
Paphos was an island sacred to Venus.
The famous Eleusinianmysteries of Ceres swore their participants to the utmost secrecy.
One versionof the story of Tantalus says that he stole the sacred nectar and ambrosia of thegods and shared their secret with humanity. His punishment is discussed above, in the notes to the Loves, Book II, Elegy II.
Venuswas almost always portrayed nude, but often attempting to conceal her breasts andgroin (see the Cnidian Aphrodite of Praxiteles or the Venus deMedici).
Easily-shocked readers are warned that the following sectiongets graphic. Again, "person" is archaic English for"body."
Andromeda was an Ethiopian, but was generally consideredbeautiful. The prejudice against dark skin was mild, but pervasive. Perseusrescued her from a sea monster.
Andromache was wife of Hector, prince ofTroy.
What a Young Girl Ought to Know was first published in1895 by Mary Wood-Allen, National Superintendent of the Purity Department ofWoman's Christian Temperance Union and remained the standard (very restrained)book on sex for young women for decades. This is one of our translator's littlejokes.
Affairs with adolescent males were commonplace (though oftendisapproved of) in classical Rome, but the boys were not supposed to receive muchpleasure from the sex involved. His objection to such affairs is not moral: hesimply thinks the best sex delights both lovers. Much of Ovid's graphic advice onlovemaking seems very contemporary.
Helen's daughter Hermione was aboutnineteen when she was promised to both Orestes and Neoptolemus as a bride.
Hector was mostly famous as a warrior, but he did manage to wed Andromache.
Briseis was the captive Achilles won in the Trojan War.
Although expertson sex now advise against striving with undo anxiety for simultaneous orgasm,Ovid's endorsement of it is generous, not self-centered.
The palm branch is asymbolic award for victory in a contest.
Nestor was the wise olderadvisor of the Greeks at Troy.
The rest were as described.
Automedon wasAchilles ' charioteer.
The Amazons were female allies ofthe Trojans defeated by Achilles and the Greeks.
Spoils from a victory werededicated to the gods.
Book III
Ovid now turns to advice for women.
Amphiaraus wasone of the heroes of the disastrous battle of the Seven against Thebes, and wassaved from the shame of being speared in the back only by being sent by Jupiterdirectly to Hades, where the chief river was the Styx (" Stygian " isthe adjectival form).
Eriphyle was bribed to betray her husband into death,which helped trigger the battle that ended the life of Amphiaraus, so likeMenelaus and Agamemnon, he was a good man wronged by a wicked woman, though lessdirectly.
When Admetus was told he could only be spared if someone else gavehis or her life in his place, his wife Alcestis volunteered. Euripides'Alcestis is a moving depiction of this story. Evadne committedsuicide on the pyre of her husband Capaneus after his death in the battle of theSeven against Thebes. Note how readily Ovid condemns men as compared to women.
When Demophoon abandoned Phyllis , she ran nine times to the sea in search ofhim.
The woods were said to have shed their leaves out of pity for her.
Aeneas, after having seduced Queen Dido of Carthage, abandonedher to continue to Italy, and she committed suicide.
Stesichorus wrote a poemexpressing the conventional view that Helen was to blame for the Trojan War, butVenus angrily blinded him and he wrote a second poem claiming that she neverdeserted her husband, that the entire episode with Paris was a divinely-causedillusion. This story is the basis for the remarkably comic "tragedy"Helen by Euripides.
Myrtle was associated with Venus.
Notehow his first advice is no warning against love, but a conventional carpe diem warning, taken to grotesquelengths.
He is not really giving women defenses against men, but urging them togive in. Diana was normally chaste, but she fell in love with Endymion, who came from the region of Kariae, near Mount Latmos. Aurora (the dawn) was so infatuated with Cephalus that she carried himoff, but the pink sky each morning reflects her shameful blushes.
HandsomeAdonis was killed by a boar before Venus could make love with him.
The sonVenus had by Anchises was the famous hero Aeneas.
She bore several childrento her lover Mars, including Harmonia (an allegory for love overcoming war,creating harmony).
The next section concentrates on how women should makethemselves seductive, but Ovid takes time to develop another passage flatteringAugustus for his construction projects, though he says the most importantimprovements have been in manners rather than architecture. His time is stillconsidered the "golden age" of imperial Rome.
Gold threads weresometimes woven into extravagant clothing.
These "makeover" tipswill sound familiar to readers of modern women's magazines.
Note how Ovidenthusiastically celebrates variety.
Hercules won Iole in an archery contestwith her father.
According to some versions, abandoned Ariadne did not killherself but was rescued and wed by Bacchus.
Purple Tyrian dye was rare andprecious.
Neireids were sea-nymphs. The Romans and Greek made most of theirgarments from wool, though it was often very finely woven so as to be quitelight, even translucent.
Andromeda was so beautiful that the jealous godspunished her island home of Seriphos.
Both Greeks and Romans generallypracticed the removal of all body hair, at least when young.
A "Mysianmere" would be a lake where barbarians live.
The Art ofBeauty, a treatise on make-up, is printed in this volume, but seemsnever to have been finished. What is his general attitude toward beauty aids?
The girl with the upside-down hair had of course snatched up her wig toohastily.
Parthian warriors were known for their trick of riding their horses backward in battle in order to shoot at those pursuing them; Ovid is joking that topsy-turvy hair is suitable only for barbaric Parthian women.
The women he says he is not trying toteach were all naturally famous beauties.
The stripes he mentions aredecorative borders to clothing, permitted only to nobles.
Although his adviceon hiding unattractive features may be exasperating, we've all heard advice likeit by modern writers.
The Golden Mean--"nothing in excess"--was asolemnly-held ideal of the Greeks, here given a frivolous twist.
Ulysses hadhimself tied to the mast so that he could safely hear the alluring but dangeroussong of the sirens while his men rowed safely on with their ears plugged.
Women were often depicted as musicians in Roman art.
Orpheus persuaded thespirits of the dead to restore his wife Eurydice to him through his skill on thelyre.
The Phoenician psaltery is a ten- or twelve-stringed instrument.
Hislist of love poets includes some we have read, and his contemporary and modelTibullus.
"Arms and the man" is the opening of Virgil'sAeneid.
Lethe is the stream of death that obliterates all memory;Ovid is claiming his works will live on after him, and doing a little advertisingfor his books at the same time.
"Rolling the bones" is casting thedice: he is speaking of gambling.
The Romans did not play chess, but ourtranslator here cleverly updates Ovid's references to another board game.
Onewonders what would have happened if a man, having read Ovid'sadvice in Book II to lose, were to play against a woman who had read hissimilar advice to women here.
Such inconsistencies reveal his essential light andfrivolous attitude.
His praise is once more directed to "our leader"Augustus, who in his youth had defeated the rebellious naval forces of Antony andCleopatra at the battle of Actium. Agrippa was Augustus' son-in-law, who built amemorial to the battle.
The crimson on the sand and the games was blood fromthe gladiatorial combats.
In the section about over-elegant men Ovid finallyoffers some advice for women which can legitimately be called defensive.
[Themeaning of the reference to Priam is disputed.
]
Note the gifts-for-sexequation which is still popular among many men today.
Hemlock and aconite arepowerful poisons.
It is audacious of Ovid to suggest that a woman's refusal tohave sex is equivalent to violating the sanctity of the Temple of the VestalVirgins.
Etna is a volcano.
Medusa's glance turned men to stone.
Minerva was said to have invented the aulos, or double flute;but when she saw how playing it distorted her features by looking at herreflection in the water, she abandoned it.
Tecmessa was Ajax 's captive wife,melancholy at having been enslaved.
Andromache's rolein myth as the wife, then widow of Hector, was a sad one. Ovid may be thinking ofher image in Euripides' drama named after and in his Trojan Women. A herald precedes a notable person, announcing his or her name.
Cynthia wasPropertius' beloved, Lesbia Catullus'. For the now more obscure Nemesis, Tibullus' love, our translator has substituted Delia, one of Diana's names, but oftenused as a name for women generally.
Note how after having criticized his ownart as useless, he here praises it. Clearly he is aware that his advice will beread skeptically; he is simply trying to charm by being amusing.
Ovid prettyconsistently recommends mature men as lovers. What are his objections to youngmen in this section?
The advice about stimulating love through jealousyrecalls the Loves, Book II, Elegy XIX, but less amusingly.
Thais was a famous Athenian courtesan; as a professional shecould choose her lovers as she pleased.
The passage about women "setfree, and not too long ago" is addressed to recently-freed slave women,called "libertinae.
"
For Danae, see the notes onthe Loves, Book II, Elegy XIX.
Bona Dea (the " Good Goddess ")was worshipped only by women.
Note how Ovid characteristically interruptshimself, amazed at giving his secrets away.
The story of Procris is another of the long interpolations whichanticipate the Metamorphoses, and differs substantially from more familiaraccounts of her story.
He repeats his comments on drinking at parties, thistime directed at women, for whom they may have more dire consequences.
Havingearlier recommended attractive postures for repose, he now goes so far as tosuggest which lovemaking positions are the most attractive in a passage whichreadily calls to mind the term "sex object.
"
Note that although hesuggests faking an orgasm if necessary, he regrets having to do so. He is fairlyconsistently sympathetic with women's needs for pleasure.
The finalrecommendation against asking for gifts seems rather self-interested.
Which ofOvid's suggestions do you find most objectionable? Which do you most agreewith?
The Remedies for Love (1 CE?)
Most of the mythological references have been explained above. Use your "find"menu if you cannot recall one.
Like the Loves, this book beginswith a dialogue with Cupid in which Ovid defines the purpose of the book: not totake back what he has said in The Art of Love, but to help thosewho have experienced unhappiness in love.
Diomede wounded Venus at Troy,sending her fleeing the battlefield. Cupid's stepfather is Mars, the god ofwar.
Telephus' wound could only be healed by rust scraped from the spear whichcaused it. Phyllis, Dido, and Medea are all familiar examples of abandoned women used inThe Art of Love.
The stories of Medea, Tereus and Pasiphae allillustrate extreme actions undertaken for love.
Nisus was betrayed by hisdaughter
Scylla for the love of Minos.
Myrrha seduced her father and wasturned into the tree which "weeps" myrrh.
Philoctetes' wound smelled so horribly that hisfellow-Greeks abandoned him on the Island of
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