No More Learning

C. 43. He was descended from an boy. The choice, however, was a bad one. She
ancient equestrian family (Trist. iv. 10. 7), but was quite unsuitable to him, and apparently not
possessing only moderate wealth. He, as well unimpeachable in character ; so that the union was
as his brother Lucius, who was exactly a year but of short duration. The facility of divorce
older than himself, was destined to be a pleader, which then prerailed at Rome rendered the nature
and received a careful education to qualify him for of such engagements very different from the 80-
that calling. After acquiring the usual rudiments lemn one which they possess in modern days. A
of knowledge, he studied rhetoric under Arellius second wife was soon wedded, and as speedily dis-
Fuscus and Porcius Latro, and attained to consi- missed, though Orid himself bears witness to her
derable proficiency in the art of declamation. But purity. The secret of this matrimonial fickleness
the bent of his genius showed itself very early. The is explained by the fact that Ovid had a mistress.
hours which should have been spent in the study Filial duty dictated his marriages ; inclination
of jurisprudence were employed in cultivating his threw him into the arms of Corinna. This cause
poetical talent ; and when he sat down to write a may even have been divided with another. Ovid
speech he produced a poem instead. (Trist. iv. was a poet, and to a poet in those days a mistress
10. 24. ) The elder Seneca, too, who had heard was indispensable. Vi hat Roman of the Augustan
him declaim, and who has preserved a portion of age would have ventured to inscribe an elegy
one of his rhetorical compositions, tells us that his to his wife! The thing was utterly impossible.
oratory resembled a solutum carmen, and that any But elegiac poetry was then all the vogue ai Rome,
thing in the way of argument was irksome to him. from its comparative novelty. Catullus, who intro-
(Controv. ii. 10. ) His father, an econonical, pains- duced it from the Greek, had left a few rude speci-
laking man, denounced his favourite pursuit as mens ; but Gallus and Tibullus were the first who
leading to inevitable poverty ; but, though Ovid brought it to any perfection, and appropriated it
listened to this advice, all his attempts to master more exclusively to the theme of licentious love.
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OVIDIUS.
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OVIDIUS.
Gallus was followed by Tibullus, and he by Pro- | the amatory passion, which appears in so many
pertius ; 80 that Ovid claimed to be the fourth parts of his writings, and which he afterwards
who succeeded to the elegiac lyre. In this enu-embodied in his Art of Lore, for the benefit of his
meration Catullus is entirely oniitted. In Pro- contemporaries and of posterity. His first attempts
pertius, who was some years older than himself, in verse seem to have been in the heroic metre, and
Ovid not only found a povoayéthis, but also a hiero- on the subject of the Gigantomachia, but from this
phant very capable of initiating him in all the he was soon diverted by his passion for Corinna,
mysteries of Roman dissipation. (Saepe suos so to which we owe the greater part of the elegies in
litus recitare Propertius ignes, Trist. iv. 10. ) Ovid his Amores. How much of these is to be set down
was an apt scholar ; but his views were more am- to poetic invention? How much is to be taken
bitious than his master's, whom he was destined to literally ? These are questions which cannot be
surpass in the quality, not only of the Muse, but of accurately answered. In his later poems he would
the mistress, that he courted. The Cynthia of have us believe that his life is not to be judged by
Propertius seems to have been merely one of that his writings, and that he did not practise the pre-
higher class of accomplished courtezans with which cepts which he inculcated. (Trist. i. 8. 59, ii.
Rome then abounded. If we may believe the 354, &c. ) But some of his effusions are ad-
testimony of Sidonius Apollinaris, in the following dressed to other mistresses besides Corinna ; and
lines, Corinna was no less a personage than Julia, the warmth, nay the grossness of mere aırmal pas-
the clever and accomplished, but abandoned daugh- sion, which breathes in several of them, prevents
ter of Augustus :-
us from believing that his life was 80 pure as it
Et te carmina per libidinosa
answered his purpose to affirm in his exile ; though
Notum, Naso tener, Tomosque missum :
we may readily concede that he conducted his
Quondam Caesareae nimis puellae
amours with sufficient discretion to avoid any open
Ficto nomine subditum Corinrae.
and flagrant scandal (Nomine sub nostro fabula
(Carm, xxiii. 18. )
nulla fuit, Trist. iv. 10. 68). On the other hand,
something may doubtless be ascribed to youthful
This authority has been rejected on the ground ranity, to the fashion of the age, and above all to
that it ascribes Ovid's banishment to this intrigue, his determination to become a poet. His love for
which, for chronological and other reasons, could his art was boundless. He sought the acquaintance
not have been the case. But, strictly taken, the of the most eminent poets of the day, and when
verses assert no such thing. They merely tell us they were assembled together he regarded them as
that he was sent to Tomi“ carmina per libidi- 80 many divinities. Among his more intimate
Dosa," which was, indeed, the cause set forth in poetical friends, besides Macer and Propertius,
the edict of Augustus ; and the connection with were Ponticus and Bassus. Horace was consider-
Julia is mentioned incidentally as an old affair, but ably his senior, yet he hnd frequently heard him
not by any means as having occasioned his banish- recite his lyric compositions. Virgil, who died
ment. Such hints of antiquity are not to be lightly when Ovid was twenty-four, he had only once seen;
disregarded ; and there are several passages in nor was the life of Tibullus sufficiently prolonged
Ovid's Amores wbich render the testimony of Si- to allow him to cultivate his friendship. It is re-
donius highly probable. Thus it appears that his markable that he does not once mention the name
mistress was a married woman, of high rank, but of Maecenas. It is possible, however, that that
profligate morals; all which particulars will suit minister, whose literary patronage was in some
Julia. There are, besides, two or three passages degree political, and with a view to the interests
which seem more especially to point her out as of his master, had retired from public affairs before
belonging to the family of the Caesars ; and it is Ovid had acquired any considerable reputation
remarkable that in the fourteenth elegy of the first How long Ovid's connection with Corinna lasted
book Ovid alludes to the baldness of his mistress, there are no means of deciding. Some of the elegies
which agrees with an anecdote of Julia preserved in the Amores are doubtless his earliest remaining
by Macrobius. (Saturn. ii. 5. ) Nor can the prac- compositions ; and he tells us that he began to
tice of the Roman poets of making the metrical write when the razor had passed but once or
quantity of their mistress's feigned name answer twice over his chin (Trist. iv. 10. 58). That work,
precisely to that of the real one be alleged as an however, as we now possess it, is a second edition,
insuperable objection. We have already seen that and evidently extends over a considerable number
Sidonius Apollinaris did not so consider it. In of years. But some of the elegies may have been
Ovid's case the great disparity of rank would have mere reminiscences, for we can hardly think that
made it dangerous to adopt too close an imitation ; Ovid continued the intrigues after he had married
not to mention that the title of Corinna would his third wife. His former marriages were matters
convey a compliment to Julia, as comparing her for of duty ; this seems to have been one of choice.
wit and beauty to the Theban poetess.
The lady was one of the Fabian family, and appearr
Be this as it may, it cannot be doubted that to have been every way worthy of the sincere
Ovid's mistress was a woman of high rank ; and affection which Ovid entertained for her to the day
as this circumstance dispensed with those vulgar of his death. She had a daughter by a former
means of seduction which may be supplied by union, who married Suillius. At what time the
money, and which the poet's moderate fortune poet entered on this third marriage cannot be as-
would have prevented him from adopting, even certained ; but we can hardly place it later than
had he been so inclined (Ars Am. ii. 165), so it his thirtieth year, since a daughter, Perilla, was the
compelled him to study those arts of insinuation fruit of it (Trist. iii. 7. 3), who was grown up and
which are most agreeable to the fair sex, and to married ai the time of his banishment. Perilla
put in practice his own maxim, ut ameris amabilis was twice married, and had a child by each hus-
esto. It was thus he acquired that intimate know-band ; one of whom seems to have been Cornelius
ledge of the female heari, and of all the shades of | Fidus. Ovid was a grandfather before he lost his
f
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70
OVIDIUS.
OVIDIUS.
father at the age of ninety ; soon after whose that Ovid bad accidentally discovered an incestunus
decease his mother also died.
commerce between Augustus and his daughter. To
This is all the account that can be given of obviate these objections on the score of chronology,
Ovid's life, from his birth to the age of fifty ; and other authors have transferred both these surmises
it has been for the most part drawn from his own to the younger Julia, the daughter of the elder one.
writings. It is chiefly misfortune that swells the But with respect to any intrigue with her having
page of human history. The very dearth of events been the cause of Ovid's banishment, the expres-
justifies the inference that his days glided away sions alluded to in the former case, and which show
smoothly and happily, with just enough of em- that his fault was an involuntary one, are here
ployment to give a zest to the pursuits his equally conclusive, and are, too, strengthened by the
leisure, and in sufficient affluence to secure to him great disparity of years between the parties, the
all the pleasures of life, without exposing him to poet being old enough to be the father of the
its storms and dangers. His residence at Rome, younger Julia. As regards the other point - the
where he had a house near the Capitol, was diver- imputed incest of the emperor with his grand-
sified by an occasional trip to his Pelignan farm, daughter - arguments in refutation can be drawn
and by the recreation which he derived from his only from probability, for there is nothing in Ovid's
garden, situated between the Flaminian and Clodian poems that can be said directly to contradict it.
ways. His devotion to love and to Corinna had But in the first place, it is totally unsupported by
not so wholly engrossed him as to prevent his any historical authority, though the same impu-
achieving great reputation in the higher walks of tation on Augustus with regard to his daughter
poetry. Besides his love Elegies, bis Heroical might derive some slight colouring from a passage
Epistles, which breathe purer sentiments in lan- in Suetonius's life of Caligula (c. 23). Again, it
guage and versification still more refined, and his is the height of improbability that Ovid, when
Art of Love, in which he had embodied the expe- suing for pardon, would have alluded so frequently
rience of twenty years, he had written bis Medea, to the cause of his offence had it been of a kind so
the finest tragedy that had appeared in the Latin disgracefully to compromise the emperor's cha-
tongue. The Metamorphoses were finished, with racter. Nay, Bayle (art. Ovide) has pushed this
the exception of the last corrections ; on which argument so far as to think that the poet's life
account they had been seen only by his private would not have been safe had he been in pos-
friends. But they were in the state in which we session of so dangerous a secret, and that silence
now possess them, and were sufficient of them would have been secured by his assassination.
selves to establish a great poetic fame. He not The conjecture that Ovid's offence was his having
only enjoyed the friendship of a large circle of accidentally seen Livia in the bath is hardly
distinguished men, but the regard and favour of worthy of serious notice. On the common prin-
Augustus and the imperial family. Nothing, inciples of human action we cannot reconcile so
short, seemed wanting, either to his domestic hap- severe a punishment with so trivial a fault ; and
piness or to his public reputation. But a cloud the supposition is, besides, refuted by Ovid's
now rose upon the horizon which was destined to telling us that what he had seen was some crime.
throw a gloom over the evening of his days. One of the most elaborate theories on the subject
Towards the close of the year of Rome, 761 (A. D. is that of M. Villenave, in a life of Ovid published
8), Ovid was suddenly commanded by an imperial in 1809, and subsequently in the Biographie Uni-
edict to transport himself to Tomi, or, as he him- verselle. He is of opinion that the poet was the
self calls it, Tomis (sing. fem. ), a town on the victim of a coup d'état, and that his offence was
Euxine, near the mouths of the Danube, on the his having been the political partizan of Posthumus
very border of the empire, and where the Roman Agrippa ; which prompted Livia and Tiberius,
dominion was but imperfectly assured. Ovid whose influence over the senile Augustus was
underwent no trial, and the sole reason for his then complete, to procure his banishment. This
banishment stated in the edict was his having solution is founded on the assumed coincidence of
published his poem on the Art of Love. It was time in the exiles of Agrippa and Ovid. But the
not, however, an exsilium, but a relegatio ; that is, fact is that the former was banished, at least a
he was not utterly cut off from all hope of return, year before the latter, namely some time in A. D. 7
nor did he lose his citizenship.
(Dion Cass. lv, 32; Vell. Pat ii. 112), whereas
What was the real cause of his banishment ? | Ovid did not leave Rome till December a. D. 8. Nor
This is a question that has long exercised the in- can Ovid's expressions concerning the cause of his
genuity of scholars, and various are the solutions disgrace be at all reconciled with Villenave's sup
that have been proposed. The publication of the position. The coincidence of his banishment,
Ars Amatoria was certainly a mere pretext ; and however, with that of the younger Julia, who, as
for Augustus, the author of one of the filthiest, but we learn from Tacitus (Ann. iv. 71) died in a. D.
funniest, epigrams in the language, and a systematic 28, after twenty years' exile, is a remarkable fact,
adulterer, for reasons of state policy (Suet. Aug. and leads very strongly to the inference that his
69), not a very becoming one. The Ars had been fate was in some way connected with bers This
published nearly ten years previously ; and more opinion has been adopted by Tiraboschi in his
over, whenever Ovid alludes to that, the ostensible Storia della Letteratura Italiana, and after him by
cause, he invariably couples with it another which Rosmini, in his Vita d'Ovidio, who, however,
he mysteriously conceals. According to some has not improved upon Tiraboschi, by making
writers, the latter was his intrigue with Julia. Ovid deliberately seduce Julia for one of his
But this, besides that it does not agree with the exalted friends. There is no evidence to fix on
poet's expressions, is sufficiently refuted by the fact the poet the detestable character of a procurer.
that Julia had been an exile since B. c. 2. (Dion He may more probably have become acquainted
Cass. Iv. 10 ; Vell. Pat. ii. 100. ) The same chronolo- with Julia's profligacy by accident, and by his
gical objection may be urged against those who think / subsequent conduct, perhaps, for instance, by con-
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OVIDIUS.
71
OVIDIUS.
a
.
cealing it, have given offence to Livia, or Augustus, I in the impotence of the imperial tyrant to hurt
or both. But we have not space here to pursue a them :-
subject which at best can only end in a plausible
En ego, cum patria caream, vobisque, domoque,
conjecture ; and therefore the reader who is de-
sirous of seeing it discussed at greater length,
Raptaque sint, adimi quæ potuere niihi ;
is referred to the Classical Museum, vol. iv.
Ingenio tamen ipse meo comitorque fruorque :
No. 13.
Caesar in hoc potuit juris habere nihil.
Ovid has described in one of his most pathetic
Trist. iii. 7. 45.
elegies (Trist. i. 3), the last night spent in Rome, and Nor were his mind and spirit so utterly prostrated
the overwhelming sorrow with which he tore himself as to prevent him from seeking some relief to his
from his home and family. To add to his afflic-misfortunes by the exercise of his poetical talents.
tion, his daughter was absent with her husband in Not only did he finish his Fasti, in his exile,
Africa, and he was thus unable to bid her a last besides writing the Ilis, the Tristia, Ex Pon! o,
farewell. Accompanied by Maximus, whom he &c. , but he likewise acquired the language of the
had known from a child, and who was almost the Getae, in which he composed some poeins in honour
only friend who remained faithful to him in his of Augustus. These he publicly fecited, and they
adversity, he departed for the shores of the Adri- were received with tumultuous applause by the
atic, which he crossed in the month of December. Tomitae. With his new fellow-citizens, indeed,
After experiencing some of the storms common at he had succeeded in rendering himself highly
that season, and which had well nigh shipwrecked popular, insomuch that they honoured him with a
him, he at length landed safely on the Corinthian decree, declaring him exempt from all public bur-
isthmus, and having crossed it, embarked in ano- thens. (Ex Ponto, iv. 9, 101. ) From the same
ther vessel at Cenchreae, on the Saronic gulf. Hence passage (v. 39, &c. ) we learn that the secret of his
his navigation through the Hellespont, and north- popularity lay in his unaltered bearing ; that he
wards up the Euxine to his destined port, seems to maintained the same tranquillity of mind, the same
have been tedious, but safe. The greater part of modesty of demeanour, for which he had been
a year was consumed in the voyage ; but Ovid known and esteemed by his friends at Rome.
beguiled the time by the exercise of his poetical Yet, under all this apparent fortitude, he was a
talent, several of his pieces having been written on prey to anxiety, which, combined with the effects
shipboard. To one like Ovid, accustomed from of a rigorous climate, produced in a few years a
his youth to all the luxury of Rome, and so ardent declining state of health. He was not afflicted
a lover of politeness and refinement (Ars Am.
with any acute disorder ; but indigestion, loss of
iii. 121), painful indeed must have been the con- appetite, and want of sleep, slowly, but surely,
trast presented by his new abode, which offered undermined a constitution originally not the most
him an inhospitable soil, a climate so severe as to robust. (Ex Ponto, i. 10, &c. ) He died in the
freeze even the wine, and the society of a horde sixtieth year of his age and tenth of his exile,
of semi-barbarians, to whose language he was a A. D. 18, a year also memorable by the death of
stranger. Life itself was hardly safe. When the historian, Livy. Two or three pretended
winter had covered the Danube with ice, the bar- discoveries of his tomb have been made in modern
barous tribes that dwelt beyond, crossed it on their times, but they are wholly undeserving of attention.
horses, plundering all around, and insulting the 1. Among the earliest of Ovid's works must be
very walls of Tomi. Add to all this the want of placed the Amorum Libri III. , which however
convenient lodging, of the decent luxuries of the extends over a considerable number of years.
table, and of good medical advice, and we shall According to the epigram prefixed, the work,
scarcely be surprised at the urgency with which as we now possess it
, is a second edition, revised
the poet solicits, not so much for his recal as for a and abridged, the former one having consisted
change in his place of banishment. He has often of five books. The authenticity of this epigram
been reproached with the abjectness of his suppli- has been questioned by Jahn, but Ovid himself
cations, and the fulsome flattery towards Augustus tells us in another place that he had destroyed
by which he sought to render them successful : nor many of the elegies dedicated Corinna.
can these charges be denied, or altogether de- | (Multa quidem scripsi, sed quæ vitiosa putavi,
fended. But it seems very unreasonable to require Emendaturis ignibus ipse dedi, Trist. iv. 10. 61. )
the bearing of a Cato from the tender poet of love Nor can we very well account for the allusion
under such truly distressing circumstances. To a made to the Ars Amutoria in the A mores (ii. 18,
Roman, who looked upon the metropolis as the 19), except on the assumption of a second and
Beat of all that was worth living for, banishment, late edition of the latter, in which the piece con-
even to an agreeable spot, was an evil of great taining the allusion was inserted. This second
magnitude. In Ovid's case it was aggravated ten- edition must, however, have been published before
fold by the remoteness and natural wretchedness the third book of the Ars, since the Amores are
of the place. If he deified Augustus it was no there mentioned (v. 343) as consisting of three
niore than was done by Virgil, Horace, and the books. The elegies of the Amores seem thrown
other poets of the age, without a tithe of his in- together without any regard to chronological order.
ducements to offer in excuse. But in truth this Thus from the first elegy of the third book it would
was nothing more than a part of the manners of seem that Ovid had not yet written tragedy ;
the age, for which neither Ovid nor any other whilst in the eighteenth elegy of the preceding
writer is to be held individually responsible. Such book he not only alludes to his Medea (r. 13), but,
deifications were public and national acts, for- as we have seen, to his Ars Amatoria. This want
mally recognised by the senate. But in the midst of sequence is another proof of a later edition.
of his misfortunes, Ovid felt a noble confidence Though the Amores is principally addressed to
in his genius and fame ; and it is refreshing to Corinna, it contains elegies to other mistresses
read a passage like the following, where he exults For instance, the ninth and tenth of the first book
a
to
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72
OVIDIUS.
OVIDIUS.
point evidently to one of a much inferior station to 5. Nur. The elegiac complaint of a nut-trea
Corinna ; and the seventh and eighth of the second respecting the ill-treatment ii receives from war.
Look are addressed to Cypassis, Corinna's maid. farers, and even from its own master. This little
2. Epistolae Heroïdum, twenty-one in number, pieco was probably suggested by the fate of a nut-
were an early work of Ovid. By some critics the tree in Orid's own garden.
authenticity of the last six has been doubted, as 6. Metamorphoscon Libri XV. This, the greatest
also that of the fifteenth (Sappho to Phaon), be of Ovid's poems in bulk and pretensions, appears
cause it is found only in the most recent MSS. to have ben written between the age of forty and
But Ovid mentions having written such an epistle fifty. He tells us in his Tristia (i. 6) that be bad
(Amor. ii. 18. 26), and the internal evidence is not put the last polishing hand to it when he was
sufficient to vindicate it. From a passage in the driven into banishment; and that in the hurry and
Ars Amatoria (iii. 346 — Ignotum hoc aliis ille vexation of his flighi, he burnt it, together with
novavit opus) Ovid appears to claim the merit other pieces. Copies had, however, got abroad,
of originating this species of composition ; in which and it was thus preserved, by no means to the
case we must consider the epistle of Arethusa to regret of the author (Trist. i. 6. 25). It consists of
Lycotas, in the fourth book of Propertius, as an such legends or fables as involved a transformation,
imitation. P. Burmann, however, in a note on from the Creation to the time of Julius Caesar, the
Propertius, disallows this claim, and thinks that last being that emperor's change into a star. It is
Ovid was the imitator. lle explains noravit in thus a sort of cyclic poem made up of distinct
the preceding passage of the Ars as follows:- episodes, but connected into one narrative thread,
“ Ab aliis neglectum et omissum rursus in usum with much skill. Ovid's principal model was, per-
indurit. ” But this seems very harsh, and is not haps, the 'Et Epoloúueva of Nicander. It has been
consistent with Ovid's expression “ignotum aliis. " translated into elegant Greek prose by Maximus
We do not know the date of Propertius's death ; Planudes, whose version was published by Bois-
but even placing it in B. c. 15, still Ovid was then sonade (Paris, 1822), and forms the 46th rol. of
eight and twenty, and might have composed several, Lemaire's Bibliotheca Latina.
if not all, of his heroical epistles. Answers to 7. Fustoruin Libri X71. , of which only the first six
several of the Heroïdes were written by Aulus are extant. This work was incoinplete at the time
Sabinus, a contemporary poet and friend of Ovid's, of Ovid's banishment. Indeed he had perhaps
viz. Ulysses to Penelope, Hippolytus to Phaedra, done little more than collect the materials for ii;
Aeneas to Dido, Demophoon to Phillis, Jason to for that the fourth book was written in Pontus
Hypsipyle, and Phaon to Sappho (see Amores, ii. appears from ver. 88. Yet he must have finished
18, 29). Three of these are usually printed with it before he wrote the second book of Tristia, as
Ovid's' works; but their authenticity has been he there alludes to it as consisting of twelve books
doubted, both on account of their style, and because (Sex ego Fastorum scripsi totidemque libellos, v.
there are no MSS. of them extant, though they 549). Masson, indeed, iakes this passage to mean
appear in the Editio princeps. From the passage that he had only written six, viz. “I have written
in the Ars Am. before referred to (iii. 345) it six of the Fusti, and as many books " ; and holds
would seem as if the Heroïdes were intended for that Ovid never did any more. But this interpre-
musical recitative. (Vel tibi composita cantetur tation seems contrary to the natural sense of the
epistola voce. Comp. Alex, ab Alex. Gen. Dier. ii. 1. ) words, and indeed to the genius of the language.
Å translation of these epistles into Greek by The Fasti is a sort of poetical Roman calendar.
Maximus Planudes exists in MS. , but has never with its appropriate festivals and mythology, and
been published.
the substance was probably taken in a great
3. Ars Amatoria, or De Arte Amandi. This measure from the old Roman annalists. The study
work was written about B. c. 2, as appears from the of antiquity was then fashionable at Rome, and
sham naval combat exhibited by Augustus being Propertius had preceded Ovid in this style of
alluded to as recent, as well as the expedition of writing in his Origines, in the fourth book. The
Caius Caesar to the East. (Lib. i. v. 171, &c. ) model of both seems to have been the Altia of Cal-
Ovid was now more than forty, and his earlier limachus. The Fasti shows a good deal of learning,
years having been spent in intrigue, he was fully but it has been observed that Ovid makes frequent
qualified by experience to give instruction in the mistakes in his astronomy, from not understanding
art and mystery of the tender passion. The first the books from which he took it.
two books are devoted to the male sex ; the third 8. Tristium Libri l'. The five books of elegies
professes to instruct the ladies. This last book was under the title of Tristia were written during the first
probably published some time after the two pre- four years of Ovid's banishment. They are chiefly
ceding ones. Not only does this seem to be borne made up of descriptions of his afflicted conditioni,
out by vv. 45, &c. , but we may thus account for and petitions for mercy. The tenth elegy of the
the års (then in two books) being mentioned fourth book is valuable, as containing many par-
in the Amores, and also the Amores, in its second ticulars of Ovid's life.
edition of three books, in the third book of the 9. Epistolarum er Ponto Libri IV. These epistles
Ars. At the time of Ovid's banishment this are also in the elegiac metre, and much the same
poem was ejected from the public libraries by in substance as the Tristia, to which they were sub-
command of Augustus.
sequent (see lib i. ep. 1, v. 15, &c). It must be
4. Remedia Amoris, in one book. That this confessed that age and misfortune seem to have
piece was subsequent to the Ars Am. appears from damped Ovid's genius both in this and the preceding
v. 9. Its subject, as the title implies, is to suggest work. Even the versification is more slovenly,
remedies for the violence of the amatory passion. and some of the lines very prosaic.
llence Orid (v. 47) compares himself to the spear 10. Ibis. This satire of between six and seren
of Telephus, which was able both to wound and hundred elegiac verses was also written in exile.
heal.
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OVIDIUS.
73
OVIDIUS.
vanus.
traduced him, and who some take to have been | frequently in the Italian poets ; and in this respect
Hyginus, the mythologist. Caelius Rhodiginus he must be regarded as unantique. Dryden's in-
(Åntiq. Lect. xiii
. 1) says, on the authority of dignation at these misplaced witticisms led him to
Caecilius Minutianus Apuleius, that it was Cor- rank Ovid amomg the second-rate poets (see his
vinus. Though the variety of Ovid's imprecations Life of Virgil, and Dedication of the Aeneis). But
displays learning and fancy, the piece leaves the though a just criticism cannot allow these faults to
impression of an impotent explosion of rage. The pass without severe reprehension, there are nu-
title and plan were borrowed from Callimachus. merous passages which show that Ovid was capable
11. Consolatio ad Liviam Augustam. The authen- of better things.
ticity of this elegiac poem has been the subject of The Amores, his earliest work, is less infected
much dispute among critics, the majority of whom with concetti than some of his later ones ; and is
are against i. The principal names on the other marked by grossness and indecency, rather than
side are Barth, Passerat, and Amar, the recent by false wit or overwrought refinement. His
French editor. However, it is allowed on all fictitious love epistles, or Heroiles, as, indeed,
hands to be not unworthy of Ovid's genius. Sca- might be naturally expected, partake more of the
Tiger and others have attributed it to P. Albino- latter qualities ; but they are remarkable for terse
and polished versifications, and the turns of ex-
12. The Medicamina Faciei and Halieulicon are pression are often highly effective. The Ars Ama.
mere fragments, and their genuineness not allo- toria may be said to contain appropriate precepts,
gether certain. Yet Ovid in the Ars Am. (iii. 205) if that be any recommendation, or if love, in the
alludes to a poem which he had written in one proper sense of the term, requires them ; the little
book on the art of heightening female charms, and god himself being the best instructor, as Boccaccio
which must, therefore, have been prior to the Ars ; has so well shown in the tale of Cymon and Iphi-
and Pliny (H. N. xxxii. 54) mentions a work of genia. In a certain sense it may be styled a
his on fishing, written towards the close of his didactic poem, and, like most works of that nature,
life. Of his tragedy, Medea, only two lines re- contains but little poetry, though the subject seems
main. Of this work Quintilian says, “ Ovidii more than usually favourable to it. The first two
Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum ille vir or three books of the Metamorphoses, in spite of
praestare potuerit si ingenio suo temperare quam in their faults, abound with poetical beauties ; nor are
dulgere maluisset," ». 98. He seems to have they wanting, though scattered with a more sparing
written other works now lost: as, Metuphrasis hand, in the remaining ones ; as, among other in-
Phaenomenon Arati, Epigrammata, Liber in malos stances, in the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe ; the
Poctas, or sort of Dunciad (Quintil. vi. 3), Trium- charming rustic picture of the household of Baucis
phus Tilerii de Illyriis, De Bello Aetiaco ad and Philemon ; and the description of the Cave of
Tiberium, &c. Several spurious pieces have been Sleep, in the eleventh book, which for vigour of
attributed to him ; as the Elegia ad Philomelam, fancy is not perhaps surpassed by any thing in
De Pulice, Priapeia, &c. That his poems in the Spencer. In the Fasti Ovid found a favourable
Getic language have not been preserved is, per- subject from the poetical nature of the mythology
haps, chiefly to be regretted on the score of their and early legends of Rome, which he has treated
philological value.
with great power and effect. His prolixity was
That Ovid possessed a great poetical genius is here more restricted than in the Metumorphoses,
unquestionable ; which makes it the more to be re partly by the nature of his plan, and partly, perhaps,
gretted that it was not always under the control of a by the metre ; and he has treated his subject in a
sound judgment. Niebuhr, in his Lectures, edited severer taste. Schiller (Ueber naive und sentimer-
by Dr. Schmitz (vol. ii. p. 166), calls him, next to talische Dichtung) will not allow the Tristia and Er
Catullus, the most poetical amongst the Roman Ponto to be called poetry, from their being the
poets; in allusion, perhaps, to the rigour of fancy offspring, not of inspiration but of necessity; and
and warmth of colouring displayed in some parts of it must be confessed that there is little except the
his works. The same eminent scholar ranks him, versification to entitle them to the name. As,
in respect of his facility, among the very greatest however, Gibbon has remarked (Decline and Fall,
poets. Of the truth of this remark no doubt can c.