Sæpe pater dixit, Studium quid inutile tentas? Motus eram dictis: totoque Helicone relicto, Scribere conabar verba soluta modis. Sponte suâ numeros carmen veniebat ad aptos : Liberior fratri sumpta, mihique, toga est: Eque viris quondam pars tribus una fui. Curia restabat: clavi mensura coacta est: Majus erat nostris viribus illud onus. Nec patiens corpus, nec mens fuit apta labori, Et petere Aöniæ suadebant tuta sorores Otia, judicio semper amata meo. 25 30 35 40 Temporis illius colui fovique poëtas ; Quotque aderant vates, rebar adesse deos. Sæpe suas volucres legit mihi grandior ævo, Quæque necet serpens, quæ juvet herba, Macer. Sæpe suos solitus recitare Propertius ignes; 45 Jure sodalitio qui mihi junctus erat. Ponticus Heroo, Bassus quoque clarus Iämbo, Dulcia convictûs membra fuêre mei. 50 Successor fuit hic tibi, Galle; Propertius illi. Barba resecta mihi bisve semelve fuit. Tum quoque, cùm fugerem, quædam placitura cremavi, Iratus studio carminibusque meis. Molle, Cupidineis nec inexpugnabile telis Cor mihi, quodque levis causa moveret, erat. Cùm tamen hoc essem, minimoque accenderer igni ; 55 60 65 Penè mihi puero nec digna, nec utilis, uxor 70 Illi successit, quamvis sine crimine, conjux ; Non tamen in nostro firma futura toro. Filia me mea bis primâ fœcunda juventâ, Et jam complêrat genitor sua fata; novemque Non aliter flevi, quàm me fleturus ademptum 75 80 Si tamen exstinctis aliquid, nisi nomina, restat, Scite, precor, causam (nec vos mihi fallere fas est) Pectora, qui vitæ quæritis acta meæ. Abstulerat decies præmia victor equus; Cùm maris Euxini positos ad læva Tomitas Quærere me læsi Principis ira jubet. Causa meæ cunctis nimiùm quoque nota ruinæ Indicio non est testificanda meo. 85 90 95 100 Insolitâ cepi temporis arma manu. Totque tuli terrâ casus pelagoque; quot inter Quod, quamvis nemo est, cujus referatur ad aures; Sic tamen absumo decipioque diem. Ergo, quòd vivo, durisque laboribus obsto, 115 Nec me sollicitæ tædia lucis habent, 184 TRISTIA. LIB. IV. ELEGIA X. Gratia, Musa, tibi. Nam tu solatia præbes; Nam, tulerint magnos cùm sæcula nostra poëtas, Si quid habent igitur vatum præsagia veri; 120 125 130 NOTES ΤΟ THE METAMORPHOSES. BOOK I. PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO, a celebrated Roman poet, was born at Sulmo, a town of the Peligni, about forty years before the Christian era. His parents were of equestrian rank, and educated their son for the bar; but he soon forsook this and every other pursuit for the cultivation of poetry, and at length became one of the most admired and eminent poets in the court of Augustus. His prosperity was, however, of short continuance. Having incurred, by some unknown offence, the displeasure of the emperor, he was banished to Tomos, a town near the Euxine sea; where, after many ineffectual attempts to obtain the pardon of Augustus, he ended his days, in the eighth year of his banishment, and the fifty-ninth year of his age. The poetry of Ovid has long been celebrated for its variety, sweetness, and elegance. But the frequent violations of modesty, which disgrace some parts of his writings, detract much from the merit of this gifted poet. His Metamorphoses, though not the most finished of his poems, may perhaps be considered the most curious and valuable. He has there preserved the various mythological traditions, which existed among the ancients, and happily connected them with each other. Many of these traditions appear to have been originally founded on historical facts; but it is, in most instances, impossible to trace the truths of history through the tales of superstition and the fictions of poetry. |