Selections from the Metamorphoses and Heroides of Ovid

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851,

By CROCKER AND BREWSTER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts

STEREOTYPED AT THE
BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

PREFACE.

In the series of elementary works published by the editor of the present volume, on the basis of Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar, the following Selections from the poems of Ovid are intended as an Introduction to Latin Poetry.

Experienced teachers have often regretted the custom, so prevalent in the schools of this country, of passing abruptly from the easier prose writers to a work so difficult, in many respects, as the Æneid of Virgil — a work requiring, for its profitable perusal, so intimate a knowledge of the mythology and fabulous history of the Greeks, and of the peculiarities of poetic diction. In preparing this volume, the editor has endeavored to remedy, so far as was in his power, the evils arising from this custom, by furnishing a First Book in Latin Poetry more simple in its style, and accompanied with such helps as might serve to render the transition from prose to poetry more easy, and consequently more agreeable. For such a purpose, the better portions of the writings of Ovid are peculiarly well adapted, and to this use they have long been applied in the classical schools of Europe. While the versification of this author is in no ordinary degree harmonious, his language is simple, and his arrangement easy and natural. His subject, also, in the works from which the following extracts are taken, is well fitted for an introduction to the study of Latin poetry, inasmuch as the mythological fables of the Greeks are as inseparably interwoven with the Latin, as with the Grecian poetry.

The following selections from the Metamorphoses are, with some few exceptions, the same which were published in England, some years since, by the Rev. C. Bradley, and which have been heretofore republished in this country. The text is that of Burman, with occasional modifications derived principally from the Bipont edition and from that of Lemaire.

The Epistles of Dejanira and Medea were selected from the Heroides on account of their intimate connection with passages previously extracted from the Metamorphoses. They are designed as an introduction to elegiac verse, while the more copious selections from the Metamorphoses will serve the same purpose in regard to hexameter or heroic verse.

The brief Notes of this edition are intended to meet the wants of the student at that part of his Latin course, at which he may be supposed to enter with advantage upon the study of such an author.

To the Notes, Exercises in Scanning have been added, for tne purpose of aiding the student at the commencement of his studies in prosody.

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The text of this edition is in general that of Dr. Loers, except where the contrary is stated in the Notes, and except also occasional slight deviations in orthography and punctuation. The Notes have been revised and considerably enlarged, and for this purpose a free use has been made of the materials found in the learned and judicious notes of Dr. Loers.

Books