Ovid

I

Introduction

Ovid (43 bc-ad 17?), Roman poet, whose narrative skill and unmatched linguistic and metrical virtuosity have made him the most popular of the Roman poets. Ovid's frivolous and often licentious verse ran counter to the program of social and moral renewal promoted by Emperor Augustus in the wake of Rome's disastrous civil wars (49-31 bc).

II

Life

Ovid was born Publius Ovidius Naso into a family of the equestrian, or middle, class in Sulmo (now Sulmona), near Rome. Educated to practice law, he became highly proficient in the art of rhetoric, but his genius was essentially poetical, and he devoted most of his time and energy to writing verse. After inheriting his father's property, Ovid went to Athens to complete his education. He later traveled in Asia and Sicily with his friend Aemilius Macer, a Roman poet. By the age of 30, Ovid had been married three times and divorced twice, and he may have carried on an intimate relationship with the woman whom he celebrated in his poetry as Corinna. His private life was that of an exuberant, wealthy, and somewhat licentious man of letters. At Rome, where he lived until he was 50 years of age, he was often courted by the distinguished, and fashionable society of the city, including Emperor Augustus. In ad 8, Ovid was banished to Tomi, in the Roman province of Dacia (now Constanţa, Romania). According to Ovid, one reason for his banishment was the publication of Ars Amatoria, a poem on the art of love. More probably the poem, which had been in circulation for almost ten years, served merely as an excuse to expel him. A second reason, alluded to but never disclosed by Ovid, may have been his knowledge of a scandal involving the emperor's daughter, Julia. Ovid did not lose his citizenship and never gave up hope of returning to Rome, as revealed in the many poems written to his friends during his exile at Tomi, but his requests and those of his friends were unsuccessful. Ovid died at Tomi, an honored citizen of the town.

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Early Works

The poetry of Ovid falls into three divisions: the works of his youth, of his middle age, and of his years in exile at Tomi. In the first period, Ovid continued the elegiac tradition (see Elegy) of Roman poets Sextus Propertius and Albius Tibullus, both of whom he knew and admired. Ovid's Amores are erotic poems centered on Corinna, but they display little real feeling and are characterized by artificiality and cleverness. Other works of his are didactic poems, including Medicamina Faciei Femineae, a fragment of writing on cosmetics; and Remedia Amoris., a kind of recantation of the Ars Amatoria,. Ovid's Medea, a tragedy highly praised by ancient critics, has not been preserved. His interest in mythology is reflected in his Heroides, or Epistulae Heroidum, 21 fictional love letters, mostly from mythological heroines to their lovers.

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Middle Period Works

In his middle period Ovid wrote the Metamorphoses, in 15 books. The work takes as its unifying theme the transformations recorded in mythology and legend from the creation of the world to the time of Roman emperor Julius Caesar, whose change into a celestial star marks the last of the series. Deservedly famous as a handbook of Greek mythology, it is composed in a witty and, at times, almost burlesque, or exaggerated spirit. The other work of the middle period is the Fasti, a poetic calendar describing the various Roman festivals and the legends connected with each. Of the projected 12 books, 1 for each month of the year, only the first 6 are extant.

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