OVID.
(1) LIFE.
Ovid’s own writings (especially Tr. iv. 10) supply nearly all the information we possess regarding his life. The biographies in the MSS. are valueless.
P. Ovidius Naso was his full name, in which the MSS. agree. He speaks of himself as Naso simply, and Statius and Martial refer to him by that name; Tacitus and the two Senecas use the nomen Ovidius.
He was born in Sulmo, one of the three divisions of the Paelignian country, B.C. 43—the year in which Hirtius and Pansa fell at Mutina. Tr. iv. 10, 3,
‘Sulmo mihi patria est, gelidis uberrimus undis,
milia qui novies distat ab urbe decem.
Editus hic ego sum; nec non ut tempora noris,
cum cecidit fato consul uterque pari.’
His birthday was 20th March—the second day of the festival of the Quinquatria (cf. Fast. iii. 809-814), l. 13,
‘Haec est armiferae festis de quinque Minervae,
quae fieri pugna prima cruenta solet.’
He belonged to an equestrian family, and he frequently contrasts himself with those who had reached that dignity by military service or by possessing the requisite fortune; ibid. l. 7,
‘Si quid id est, usque a proavis vetus ordinis heres,
non sum fortunae munere factus eques.’
Cf. Am. i. 3, 7; iii. 8, 9; iii. 15, 5; Pont. iv. 8, 17.
Along with his elder brother, he received a careful education at Rome, and studied also at Athens. He practised rhetoric under Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro. Tr. iv. 10, 15,
‘Protinus excolimur teneri, curaque parentis
imus ad insignes urbis ab arte viros.’
Tr. i. 2, 77,
‘Non peto quas quondam petii studiosus Athenas.’
Sen. Contr. ii. 10, 8, ‘Hanc controversiam memini ab Ovidio Nasone declamari apud rhetorem Arellium Fuscum, cuius auditor fuit, nam Latronis admirator erat, cum diversum sequeretur dicendi genus.’ Seneca says that Met. xiii. 121, and Am. i. 2, 11, were borrowed from Latro.
But, in spite of his father’s remonstrances, Ovid preferred poetry to public life. Tr. iv. 10, 19,
‘At mihi iam parvo caelestia sacra placebant,
inque suum furtim Musa trahebat opus.
Saepe pater dixit, “studium quid inutile temptas?
Maeonides nullas ipse reliquit opes.”
Motus eram dictis totoque Helicone relicto
scribere conabar verba soluta modis:
sponte sua carmen numeros veniebat ad aptos;
quicquid temptabam dicere, versus erat.’
In due time he assumed the toga virilis, and with it the broad purple stripe worn by prospective senators. He also held two of the minor offices of the vigintiviratus, the preliminary to a senatorial career, being (1) triumvir capitalis or else triumvir monetalis, (2) decemvir stlitibus iudicandis. Tr. iv. 10, 28,
‘Liberior fratri sumpta mihique toga est,
induiturque umeris cum lato purpura clavo’;
l. 33,
‘Cepimus et tenerae primos aetatis honores,
deque viris quondam pars tribus una fui.’
Fast. iv. 384,
‘Inter bis quinos usus honore viros.’
In virtue of this second office he sat in the centumviral court;[67] and he also acted as an arbitrator. Tr. ii. 93,
‘Nec male commissa est nobis fortuna reorum
lisque decem deciens inspicienda viris.
Res quoque privatas statui sine crimine iudex.’
He sought no higher office, having neither strength nor inclination for the Senate; he assumed the narrow stripe of the eques, and devoted himself to poetry and pleasure. Tr. iv. 10, 35,
‘Curia restabat: clavi mensura coacta est:
maius erat nostris viribus illud onus.
Nec patiens corpus, nec mens fuit apta labori,
sollicitaeque fugax ambitionis eram.
Et petere Aoniae suadebant tuta sorores
otia, iudicio semper amata meo.’
He made a tour in Asia (including Troy) and Sicily in the company of the poet Pompeius Macer: the date of this journey is unknown, but he was almost a year in Sicily. Pont. ii. 10, 21-29 (to Macer),
‘Te duce magnificas Asiae perspeximus urbes,
Trinacris est oculis te duce nota meis, ...
Hic mihi labentis pars anni magna peracta est.’
Fast. vi. 423,
‘Cura videre fuit: vidi templumque locumque,’
(of the temple of Pallas at Troy).
Towards the end of A.D. 8, Ovid was banished by imperial edict to Tomi, on the Black Sea, near the mouth of the Danube, the cause alleged being the publication of the Ars Amatoria. Ovid mentions this edict, but also hints at another reason, connected with the imperial family. Tr. ii. 207,
‘Perdiderint cum me duo crimina, carmen et error,
alterius facti culpa silenda mihi;
nam non sum tanti renovem ut tua vulnera, Caesar,
quem nimio plus est indoluisse semel.
Altera pars superest, qua turpi carmine factus
arguor obscaeni doctor adulterii.’
He was guilty of no crime of his own, but was banished for witnessing the crime of another. Cf. Tr. iii. 5, 49,
‘Inscia quod crimen viderunt lumina, plector,
peccatumque oculos est habuisse meum.’
It is probable that the real reason[68] of Ovid’s banishment was that he was privy to a guilty intrigue between D. Silanus and Julia, the grand-daughter of Augustus. Julia was banished in A.D. 9, and Tacitus (Ann. iii. 24) tells us of the intrigue, for which Silanus (like Ovid) suffered relegatio. His knowledge of the offence was betrayed by friends and domestics. Cf. Tr. iv. 10, 101,
‘Quid referam comitumque nefas famulosque nocentes?’
The date of his banishment is given Tr. iv. 10, 95,
‘Postque meos ortus Pisaea vinctus oliva
abstulerat decies praemia victor equus,
cum maris Euxini positos ad laeva Tomitas
quaerere me laesi principis ira iubet.’
[Here an Olympiad is reckoned as five years.] His punishment was relegatio, involving banishment to a fixed spot, but not confiscation of property; Tr. ii. 135,
‘Adde quod edictum, quamvis immite minaxque,
attamen in poenae nomine lene fuit;
quippe relegatus, non exul, dicor in illo,
privaque fortunae sunt ibi verba meae.’
In Tomi he spent the remaining years of his life, far from friends and books; Tr. v. 12, 53,
‘Non liber hic ullus, non qui mihi commodet aurem,
verbaque significent quid mea norit, adest’;
suffering from illness (Tr. iii. 3) and the climate, and fighting against the barbarians; Tr. iv. 1, 71,
‘Aspera militiae iuvenis certamina fugi,
nec nisi lusura movimus arma manu:
nunc senior gladioque latus scutoque sinistram,
canitiem galeae subicioque meam.’
On the other hand he learned the language of the people, and actually wrote poems in it; Tr. v. 12, 57,
‘Ipse mihi videor iam dedidicisse Latine:
nam didici Getice Sarmaticeque loqui.’
Pont. iv. 13, 19,
‘A! pudet, et Getico scripsi sermone libellum,
structaque sunt nostris barbara verba modis,
et placui—gratare mihi—coepique poetae
inter inhumanos nomen habere Getas!
materiam quaeris? laudes de Caesare dixi.’
For his popularity with the natives cf. Pont. iv. 14, 53,
‘Solus adhuc ego sum vestris immunis in oris,
exceptis si qui munera legis habent.
Tempora sacrata mea sunt velata corona,
publicus invito quam favor imposuit’;
also Pont. iv. 9, 101.
Ovid’s death took place in A.D. 18: Jerome yr. Abr. 2033, ‘Ovidius poeta in exilio diem obiit et iuxta oppidum Tomos sepelitur.’ He was thrice married; Tr. iv. 10, 69,
‘Paene mihi puero nec digna nec utilis uxor
est data, quae tempus per breve nupta fuit;
illi successit quamvis sine crimine coniunx,
non tamen in nostro firma futura toro;
ultima, quae mecum seros permansit in annos,
sustinuit coniunx exulis esse viri.’
His third wife belonged to the gens Fabia. Cf. Pont. i. 2, 138 (to Fabius Maximus),
‘Ille ego, de vestra cui data nupta domo est.’
The filia mentioned Tr. iv. 10, 75, may have been either a daughter or step-daughter of Ovid’s. Some think that she is the Perilla of Tr. iii. 7.
Ovid’s social position was of the highest, as may be inferred from his relations with the palace. He was intimate with Messalla, the patron of Tibullus, and wrote an elegy on him (now lost). Cf. Pont. i. 7, 27 (to Messalinus),
‘Nec tuus est genitor nos infitiatus amicos,
hortator studii causaque faxque mei:
cui nos et lacrimas, supremum in funere munus,
et dedimus medio scripta canenda foro.’
Among the friends to whom the Epp. ex Ponto are written may be mentioned Albinovanus, Carus, Rufus, Severus, Fabius Maximus Cotta, Tuticanus, the younger Macer, all poets; and other literary men of distinction, e.g. Graecinus, Atticus, Brutus, Sex. Pompeius, Gallio. For his intimacy with the learned Hyginus cf. Sueton. Gramm. 20, ‘fuit familiarissimus Ovidio poetae.’
He was old enough to have seen Virgil, and hear Aemilius Macer and Horace recite; with Propertius, Tibullus, Ponticus, and Bassus he was on terms of close intimacy (Am. iii. 9 is a lament for Tibullus), Tr. iv. 10, 41-52,
‘Temporis illius colui fovique poetas,
quotque aderant vates, rebar adesse deos.
Saepe suas volucres legit mihi grandior aevo,
quaeque necet serpens, quae iuvet herba, Macer.
Saepe suos solitus recitare Propertius ignes,
iure sodalicii qui mihi iunctus erat.
Ponticus heroo, Bassus quoque clarus iambis
dulcia convictus membra fuere mei.
Detinuit nostras numerosus Horatius aures,
dum ferit Ausonia carmina culta lyra.
Vergilium vidi tantum; nec amara Tibullo
tempus amicitiae fata dedere meae.’
Besides the rura paterna at Sulmo, Ovid possessed an estate on the via Clodia, near Rome; Pont. i. 8, 41,
‘Non meus amissos animus desiderat agros
ruraque Paeligno conspicienda solo,
nec quos piniferis positos in collibus hortos
spectat Flaminiae Clodia iuncta viae.’
He cannot have been poor, in spite of his complaints, e.g. Pont. iv. 8, 32,
‘Carpsit opes illa ruina meas.’
(2) WORKS.
1. Amores, at first in five Books, but in a second edition reduced to three; cf. the motto prefixed to the Book,
‘Qui modo Nasonis fueramus quinque libelli,
Tres sumus.’
The poems are nearly all on Corinna, a name which probably does not stand for any real person, but merely for an abstraction around which Ovid groups his own fancies. To suppose, as Sidonius Apollinaris did (23, 157)[69] that Augustus’ daughter Julia was meant, is absurd, for Corinna is a meretrix. The identity of Corinna was unknown; Am. ii. 17, 28,
‘Et multae per me nomen habere volunt.
Novi aliquam, quae se circumferat esse Corinnam’;
and twenty years afterwards Ovid could write (A.A. iii. 538),
‘Et multi, quae sit nostra Corinna, rogant.’
The Amores, in their original form, constituted Ovid’s earliest work, written in his youth. The extant poems are not all that he wrote on Corinna; Tr. iv. 10, 57,
‘Carmina cum primum populo iuvenilia legi,
barba resecta mihi bisve semelve fuit.
Moverat ingenium totam cantata per urbem
nomine non vero dicta Corinna mihi.
Multa quidem scripsi; sed quae vitiosa putavi,
emendaturis ignibus ipse dedi.’
The lament for Tibullus (iii. 9) must have been written in Ovid’s twenty-fourth year.
2. Heroides.—Some of these at least were written before the second edition of the Amores, for in Am. ii. 18, 21-6 nine of them are mentioned by name. The title Heroides is due to the grammarian Priscian; in the MSS. they are called Epistulae, and so Ovid himself refers to them, A.A. iii. 345,
‘Vel tibi composita cantetur epistula voce:
ignotum hoc aliis ille novavit opus.’
Of the twenty letters in our collection 1-14 are letters from heroines to their lovers; 15-20 are in pairs, e.g. Paris to Helen and Helen to Paris. The authenticity of these last six is doubted, partly because the title Heroides cannot apply to half of them, and also because of their inferiority in style. In the use of the epistolary form in love poetry Ovid had no predecessor, and he himself calls attention to the novelty (A.A. above). The style shows the influence of Ovid’s rhetorical training: the Epistles are suasoriae in verse, and of suasoriae we know that he was particularly fond (Sen. Contr. ii. 10, 12, ‘Declamabat Naso raro controversias et non nisi ethicas: libentius dicebat suasorias. Molesta illi erat omnis argumentatio.’). His matter he would naturally draw from Homer, the Cypria, Apollonius Rhodius, and the Greek tragedians.
3. Between the two editions of the Amores he wrote the lost tragedy Medea. It was later than Am. iii. 1, where he pictures the Muses of Elegy and Tragedy as contending for his homage, and he finally decides (ll. 67-8),
‘Exiguum vati concede, Tragoedia, tempus:
tu labor aeternus; quod petit illa breve est.’
On the other hand, it was earlier than Am. ii. 18, 13,
‘Sceptra tamen sumpsi, curaque tragoedia nostra
crevit, et huic operi quamlibet aptus eram.’
The drama enjoyed a high reputation in antiquity. Cf. Quint. x. 1, 98, ‘Ovidii Medea videtur mihi ostendere, quantum ille vir praestare potuerit, si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset.’
4. Medicamina Faciei Femineae, an incomplete poem of 100 lines, giving directions for the toilet. Cf. A.A. iii. 205,
‘Est mihi, quo dixi vestrae medicamina formae,
parvus, sed cura grande, libellus, opus.’
5. Ars Amatoria, a didactic poem in three Books, on the art of love-intrigue. The title given by the MSS. is doubtless correct: Ovid himself speaks of ‘ars amandi,’ or simply ‘ars’ or ‘artes.’ It was written about B.C. 2, from the allusion, i. 171, to the ‘naumachia’ in that year,
‘Quid, modo cum belli navalis imagine Caesar
Persidas induxit Cecropiasque rates?’
The Ars must have been in view when he wrote Am. ii. 18, 19,
‘Quod licet, aut artes teneri profitemur amoris—
ei mihi, praeceptis urgeor ipse meis!’
6. Remedia Amoris, written next, while professing to be a recantation of the last-named work, exhibits, if possible, a more immoral tone. Cf. l. 487,
‘Quaeris, ubi invenias? artes, i, perlege nostras.’
7. Ovid now produced a work of greater compass, the Metamorphoses, in fifteen Books of heroic verse. When it was composed is not known, but he had the idea of it in his mind when he wrote Am. iii. 12, 21-40. At the time of his banishment the poem had been written, but not revised. He committed his MS. to the flames, but copies were in the hands of friends; Tr. i. 7, 13-16,
‘Carmina mutatas hominum dicentia formas,
infelix domini quod fuga rupit opus.
Haec ego discedens, sicut bene multa meorum,
ipse mea posui maestus in igne manu.Quae quoniam non sunt penitus sublata, sed extant, (l. 23)
pluribus exemplis scripta fuisse reor.Ablatum mediis opus est incudibus illud, (l. 29)
defuit et scriptis ultima lima meis.’
The poem consists of a collection of stories of the transformation of human beings into animals. Cf. i. 1,
‘In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas
corpora.’
The idea, title, and much of the subject-matter was borrowed from the Alexandrians, e.g. the Μεταμορφώσεις of Parthenius, the Ἑτεροιούμενα of Nicander.
8. In the Fasti, in six Books, Ovid furnishes a poetical calendar of the Roman year. Each month has a Book allotted to it, and he speaks of having written twelve Books; Tr. ii. 549,
‘Sex ego Fastorum scripsi totidemque libellos,
cumque suo finem mense volumen habet.
Idque tuo nuper scriptum sub nomine, Caesar,
et tibi sacratum sors mea rupit opus.’
Probably the second six Books were never completed; but there are references to portions of them, e.g. iii. 57,
‘Vester honos veniet, cum Larentalia dicam;
acceptus Geniis illa December habet.’
The Fasti had been written side by side with the Metam. and interrupted at the sixth Book by Ovid’s banishment. During his exile he added some passages, but found that his Muse was fit only for melancholy themes; iv. 81,
‘Sulmonis gelidi—patriae, Germanice, nostrae—
me miserum, Scythico quam procul illa solo est!’
i. 540,
‘Felix, exilium cui locus ille fuit!’
The design is stated at the outset, i. 1-8,
‘Tempora cum causis Latium digesta per annum
lapsaque sub terras ortaque signa canam ...
Sacra recognosces annalibus eruta priscis,
et quo sit merito quaeque notata dies.’
The work is thus a medley of religion, history, and astrology, and in its explanations of customs may be compared to the Αἴτια of Callimachus. For information about religious rites, and for derivations of names (e.g. Agnalia, i. 317-332), he would have recourse to Varro; for history, to Livy (cf. ii. 193-242, the story of the Fabii, from Livy, ii. 49, and vi. 587, etc., the story of Tullia, from Livy, i. 48); for astronomy, to Clodius Tuscus.
It was begun some time after Augustus regulated the Julian calendar in B.C. 8, and was originally addressed to Augustus, as Ovid himself says (Tr. ii. 552 above); ‘Caesar’ is addressed ii. 15, vi. 763, and elsewhere. After the death of Augustus, Ovid began to remodel it and dedicate it to Germanicus. Cf. i. 3,
‘Excipe pacato, Caesar Germanice, voltu
hoc opus et timidae dirige navis iter.’
But the task was stopped by his death; and while Book i. has the remodelled form, Books ii.-vi. remain as first written.
Poems written in exile.—9. Tristia, five Books of letters to Augustus, to Ovid’s wife and friends (who, however, are not named), praying for pardon or for a place of exile nearer Rome. Book i. was written on the journey to Tomi, the other books not after A.D. 11 or 12, Cf. v. 10, 1,
‘Ut sumus in Ponto, ter frigore constitit Hister.’
10. The Ibis was written at the beginning of his exile. Cf. l. 1,
‘Tempus ad hoc, lustris bis iam mihi quinque peractis.’
The title was taken from the poem in which Callimachus attacked Apollonius Rhodius under the name of Ibis. Cf. l. 55,
‘Nunc, quo Battiades inimicum devovet Ibin,
hoc ego devoveo teque tuosque modo.’
Ovid studiously conceals the identity of the enemy whom he attacks; l. 61,
‘Et quoniam, qui sis, nondum quaerentibus edo,
Ibidis interea tu quoque nomen habe.’
He had once been a friend of the poet, but had proved false to him, doubtless in connexion with the circumstances which caused his banishment; cf. l. 85, ‘capiti male fido,’ l. 130, ‘perfide.’ He persecuted Ovid’s wife, and tried to get possession of his property.
The conjectures that the unknown was Messalla Corvinus or the poet Manilius may be dismissed at once. Many hold that Hyginus is meant; Prof. Ellis suggests the delator Cassius Severus (Tac. Ann. iv. 21), or T. Labienus (Sen. Contr. x. praef. 4), or the astrologer Thrasyllus (Tac. Ann. vi. 20). To the same person probably are addressed Tr. iii. 11, iv. 9, v. 8; Pont. iv. 3.
11. The Epistulae ex Ponto, in four Books, were written A.D. 12-16. In tone they resemble the Tristia, but the composition is more careless, and the friends to whom he writes are mentioned by name.
12. Halieuticon, a poem on fish, in hexameters, in a fragmentary condition. Ovid wrote this towards the end of his life.
Pliny, N.H. xxxii. 152, ‘His adiciemus ab Ovidio posita nomina quae apud neminem alium reperiuntur, sed fortassis in Ponto nascentium, ubi id volumen supremis suis temporibus incohavit.’