Routledge Revivals Ovid Ovid, Rome’s most cynical and worldly love poet, has not until recently been highly regarded among Latin poets. Now, however, his reputation is growing, and this volume is an important contribution to the re-establishment of Ovid’s claims to critical attention. This collection of essays ranges over a wide variety of themes and works: Ovid’s development of the Elegiac tradition handed down to him from Propertius, Catullus and Tibullus; the often disparaged and neglected Heroides; the poetry of Ovid’s miserable exile by the Black Sea; the poetic diction of the Metamorphoses, Ovid’s lengthy mytho- logical epic which codified classical myth and legend, and has strong claims to be considered, with the exception of Virgil’s Aeneid, Rome’s greatest epic poem; humour and the blending of the didactic and ele- giac traditions in the Ars Amatoria and Remedia Amoris. Finally, Ovid’s incomparable influence in the Middle Ages and sixteenth cen- tury is examined. This pageintentionally left blank Ovid Edited by J.W. Binns ROUILEDGE Routledge Taylor & Francis Group REVIVALS First published in 1973 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd This edition first published in 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1973 J.W. Binns The right of J.W. Binns to be identified as editor of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact. A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number 73083118 ISBN 13: 978-0-415-74017-3 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-1-315-81575-6 (ebk) Additional materials are available on the companion website at [http://www.routledge.com/books/series/Routledge_Revivals] Greek and Latin Studies ClassicalLiterature and its Influence Ovid Edited by J. W. BINNS Routledge& Kegan Paul: LONDON AND BOSTON First publishedin I97J by Routledge& Kegan Paul Ltd Broadwtry House, 68-74 Carter Lane, London EC4VJEL and 9 Park Street, Boston, Mass. 02I08, U.s.A. Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd, Frome and London © Routledge& Kegan Paul Ltd I97J No part of this book mtry be reproducedin atry form without permissionfrom the publisher, exceptfor the quotation of brief passagesin criticism ISBN 0 poo 76J9 8 Library of CongressCatalog Card No. 7J/8JII8 Contents Introduction vii J. W. BINNS, University of Birminghanl I. The Amores 1 I. M. LE M. Du QUESNAY, University of Birmingham II. The Heroides 49 W. S. ANDERSON, University of California, Berkeley III. The Ars Amatoria and RemediaAmoris 84 A. S. HOLLIS, Keble College, Oxford IV. The Style of the Metamorphoses II6 E. J. KENNEY, Peterhouse,Cambridge V. The Tristia: Poetryin Exile 154 R. J. DICKINSON, University of Durham VI. Ovid in the Middle Ages 191 DOROTHYM.ROBATHAN VII. Ovid in the SixteenthCentury 210 CAROLINE JAMESON, University of Birmingham SubjectIndex 243 Name Index 247 v This pageintentionally left blank Introduction Thelast twenty yearshave seen important changes in the attitudes to Romanpoetry of scholarsand students,who are now, on the whole, more aware of techniquesof literary criticism forged in other disciplines, particularly in the study of English literature. These techniques,although they cannot usefully be brought to bear upon the study of Roman poetry in a merely mechanical way have, none theless, had their influence upon the mannerin which Romanpoetry is now approached,so that studiesof, say, its imagery, formal structure,ambiguity, subtlety, careful use of words, and poetic diction have done much in recent years to enhance a reader'sawareness of the range and complexity of many Romanpoets. The old Romanticattitude to Romanpoetry, which valued the poem chiefly as a documentillustrative of the author'slife, which placeda high premiumupon poetry which it was easy to regardas 'sincere',which was interestedin the per- sonality of the poetrather than in the poem,lavished the greatest praiseupon Catullus and Propertius,whom it was easyto regard as poetsof spontaneousemotion, whilst Ovid was discountedas shallow and insincere- heartlessalbeit artful. Conversely,Ovid is more likely to appeal to us today, as a poetfor the study of whom the biographicalapproach is so obvi- ously unfruitful, yet whose mocking wit and verbal dexterity fit in with a conceptionof a poet as a brilliant and imaginative user of words. Perhapstoo, readers of the 1970s, which some would say are more coldly sensual,more 'unromantic'in affairs of the heart than any decadefor the last 200 years, are ideally suited to see in Ovid a kindred spirit. Ovid is, at any rate, a poet whosereputation has only recently vii INTRODUCTION begunto recoverfrom the disesteemof over a centuryand a half. The essaysin this volume will, I hope, contributestill further to the re-establishmentof Ovid's claims to our attention. The five discussionsof Ovid's original writings presented herereflect the changingapproaches to Romanpoetry of the last few years.Thus Mr 1. M. Le M. Du Quesnayin his essayon the Amores shows how Ovid developedthe elegiac tradition handeddown to him by Propertius,Tibullus andCatullus, and demonstrates the impor- tanceof the arrangementof individual poems.Mr R. J. Dickinson is also concernedto show the importanceof the structuralprin- cipleswhich underliethe much-neglectedTristia; Mr E. J. Kenney investigatesOvid's poetic diction in the Metamorphoses;Professor w. S. Anderson demonstratesthe essential individuality of Ovid's treatmentof his heroinesand Mr A. S. Hollis writes on the humourand the blendingof the didactic andelegiac traditions in the Ars Amatoria and RemediaAmoris. Ovid was one of the Roman poets who enjoyed the greatest popularity and influencein the centuriesfollowing the fall of the RomanEmpire. The essaysby ProfessorDorothy Robathanand Caroline Jamesonexplain and discuss the effects of this in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. vili I The Amores I. M. Le M. Du Quesnay In the Amores! Ovid takes over and developsthe genre of per- sonalloveelegy which had alreadyreceived its essentialcharacter from his predecessors,Cornelius Gallus, Tibullus andPropertius, 2 and his originality lies in the new twist that he gave to this well- defined tradition. Like the poemsof his predecessors,his elegies are written in the first personand purport to tell of his amorous escapadesas a young man about town and especiallyof his ad- ventureswith the lady whom he calls Corinna. Moreoverhe puts himself into similar situations,expresses the samerange of emo- tions, borrowstheir imagery,and imitates and echoestheir work throughouthis poems.But he is not concernedsimply with re- peatingtheir achievement:one of the great pleasuresof reading the Amoresis to seehow Ovid turns the deeplyemotional, almost tragic persona of the elegiac lover into the robust and amusing characterthat is the hero of his poems.Before turning to a more detailed examination of the poems there are two preliminary mattersto be mentioned:the questionsraised by Ovid's heroine, Corinna, and the problem of the relationship of the second, extant, edition of the poemsto the first. Ovid's Corinna posesthe readerwith two quite distinct, if re- lated,problems. First, in the Amores,the main actionis centredon the poet'svarious successesand disappointmentsin his relation- ship with Corinna, and so she occupiesa similar position in his poems to that of Cynthia in the poems of Propertiusor Delia and Nemesisin Tibullus. However, becauseOvid is relying on the analogywith his predecessorsand on the fact that his poems are to be read togetheras a collection, he names hisheroine only in a handful of poems.3 This is what causesthe problem. In some poemsit is quite obviousthat the lady is not Corinna,even though I I. M. LE M. DU QUESNAY she remains unidentified: this is clearly the case, for example, with the adulterouswife of II. 19, for sheis comparedunfavourably with Corinna.4 At other times such certainty is not possible.In 1. 4 Ovid instructs the unnamedlady how to flirt with him in the presenceof her husband:in 1. 8 Ovid overhearsa lena trying to corrupt his mistress(again unnamed)and yet in the courseof her lengthy advice she never suggeststhat the girl is married. But the difficulty is not insuperableif we acceptthat this would have been the last thing the lena would wish to remind her of while attemptingto persuadeher to be free with her favours and so to make herselfrich. In short,as long as we do not pressthese 'inconsistencies'too closely there seems no objection against allowing the lady in any poemto be identified as Corinna,except in those instanceswhere Ovid makes it quite clear that this is not the case.S Closely connectedwith this problemis the question of Corinna's social status. If, as suggested,we do identify the unnamedlady in 1. 4 as Corinna, then she is obviously married and Ovid's affair is an adulterousone. He is blatantly flouting bothtraditional Roman morality andthe clear desiresof Augustus himself. But since he never suggeststhat Corinna belongs to a noble family6 the effect of this is somewhatdiminished: adultery was less exceptionableif committed with one of the demi-mon- daines of Roman society. In view of Augustus'attempts to curb adultery by legislation this vaguenessmay even be deliberate: he would be able to shock (and so amuse) his readerswith his nequitia but no specific chargecould be levelled at him.