Tunc quoque, cum fugerem, quaedam placitura cremavi, Iratus studio carminibusque meis. [Though extremely susceptible to the influences of love, he could proudly boast that his name was above reproach. He contracted two unhappy marriages in his youth, but his third marriage was a lasting joy to him.] 65 Molle Cupidineis nec inexpugnabile telis 70 Cor mihi, quodque levis causa moveret, erat. Cum tamen hic essem, minimoque accenderer igni, Paene mihi puero nec digna nec utilis uxor Non tamen in nostro firma futura toro. 75 Filia me mea bis prima fecunda iuventa, [And now his father and his mother died. The poet, while deeply mourning their loss with true filial devotion, still cannot but rejoice that they died before that disgrace came upon him which was to darken his own life and the lives of all whom he loved.] Et iam complerat genitor sua fata, novemque Ante diem poenae quod periere meae! 90 Fama, parentales, si vos mea contigit, umbrae, Scite, precor, causam nec vos mihi fallere fas est Errorem iussae, non scelus, esse fugae. [For now, as the frosts of age were beginning to whiten his locks, a sudden calamity fell upon him, no less than an imperial decree against him of perpetual banishment to the far off shores of the Euxine sea. The cause of this decree he only hints at, as being already well known to his friends; but he gives us to understand (1. 90) that it is an error of judgment and not of the heart.] Manibus hoc satis est. Ad vos, studiosa, revertor, Iam mihi canities pulsis melioribus annis Venerat, antiquas miscueratque comas, 95 Postque meos ortus Pisaea vinctus oliva 100 Abstulerat decies praemia victor equus, Causa meae cunctis nimium quoque nota ruinae Indicio non est testificanda meo. Quid referam comitumque nefas famulosque nocentes? [And now, far from home and friends and the delights of his beloved Rome, he was forced to live in a rigorous climate, an unlovely land, and amidst a society of uncultured semi-savages.] Ipsa multa tuli non leviora fuga. 105 Oblitusque mei ductaeque per otia vitae [His chief solace was the cultivation of his art; and in this he spent the tiresome days. He ends his account with a strain of thanksgiving to the Muse, and a prophecy of his world-wide fame and literary immortality.] Hic ego finitimis quamvis circumsoner armis, Tristia, quo possum, carmine fata levo. Quod quamvis nemo est, cuius referatur ad aures, 115 Ergo quod vivo, durisque laboribus obsto, 120 Tu dux et comes es; tu nos abducis ab Histro, 125 Nam tulerint magnos cum saecula nostra poëtas, 130 Si quid habent igitur vatum praesagia veri, Sive favore tuli, sive hanc ego carmine famam, Iure tibi grates, candide lector, ago. [Though Ovid says (11. 103 seq.) that he strove to bear his misfortunes with a manly fortitude, the poems of his exile, the Tristia and Epistles from Pontus, abound in plaintive lamentations at his hard lot, petitions to his friends in Rome, and unmanly subserviency to Augustus, and later to Tiberius, in the hope of gaining his recall. These, however, were all in vain, and he died at Tomi, his place of exile, in A.D. 18, after a banishment of nine years.] HEROIDES [The works of Ovid may be broadly divided into three classes, corresponding to three periods in his life: the works of his youth, of the prime of his life prior to his banishment, and of his last years spent in exile. His earlier works are all in the elegiac measure and amatory in character. The order of these cannot be determined with exactness. It is possible that he may have been working upon them all at intervals during this period. However this may be, it has been thought that the Heroides, or 'Epistles of Heroines,' are his earliest work. They are a series of fictitious letters, purporting to be written by certain love-lorn princesses of the mythical age to the estranged objects of their affections. They are pervaded with a spirit of ideality, and are full of the fresh vigor of youth. While the general situation in all is the same. still the details are as varied as the characters. It is as if the poet would present ideal pictures of all possible phases of a "great love despised.” These letters are highly polished in style; and, although the somewhat unnatural prolongation of the woes of the heroines detracts from their interest, still these letters have always been the most popular of Ovid's works. This is without doubt owing to their highly dramatic character, and to the romantic nature of their subject, a theme which has never failed to claim the sympathetic interest of the reader. The epistles are twenty-one in number, six of which are of doubtful authenticity. Those which are considered as undoubtedly from Ovid's hand are as follows: Penelope to Ulysses, Phillis to Demophoön, Briseis to Achilles, Phaedra to Hippolytus, Oenone to Paris, Hypsipyle to Jason, Dido to Aeneas, Hermione to Orestes, Deianira to Hercules, Ariadne to Theseus, Canace to Macareus, Medea to Jason, Laodamia to Protesilaus, Hypermnestra to Lynceus, and Sappho to Phaon. The tenth letter, purporting to be sent from Ariadne to Theseus, is sufficiently representative of the whole series. Ariadne was the daughter of Minos, king of Crete. This monarch, in vengeance for the death of his son Androgeos, had exacted from the Athenians a tribute of seven youths and seven maidens who were to be sent every nine years to Crete, to be devoured by the monster Minotaur. Theseus, son of Aegeus, king of Athens, offered himself to be of this number of youths, and went to Crete with the purpose of slaying the Minotaur. This object he accomplished, and made his way in safety out of the mazy labyrinth in which the monster was confined, by the aid of a clew which Ariadne had given him. For she had seen and loved the Athenian hero when he was presented among the others at her father's court. Theseus, promising marriage to the princess, fled with her from Crete. But landing at Naxos or Dia, he deserted her in the night and sailed away to Athens. In the gray dawn she discovers that she is alone, and descries his sail just vanishing on the distant horizon. This crisis is the setting of the letter which follows.] 5 ΙΟ Mitius inveni quam te genus omne ferarum : Quae legis, ex illo, Theseu, tibi litore mitto, In quo me somnusque meus male prodidit et tu, Tempus erat, vitrea quo primum terra pruina Thesea prensuras semisupina manus: Nullus erat! referoque manus iterumque retempto 20 Nunc huc, nunc illuc, et utroque sine ordine curro; |