Everyman’s Poetry

Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide

Ovid

Edited with an introduction by DAVID HOPKINS

University of Bristol

Note on the Author and Editor

OVID (Publius Ovidius Naso) was born at Sulmo in central Italy in 43 BC. As the son of an old equestrian (aristocratic) family, he was sent to study rhetoric in Rome, completing his education with a grand tour of Greece. After holding some minor judicial positions, he abandoned a career in public service for writing, and was soon acknowledged as the leading Roman poet of his generation. But in AD 8 he was suddenly banished by the Emperor Augustus – for reasons which remain the subject of much (inconclusive) speculation – to Tomis, an inclement and culturally isolated outpost of the Roman Empire on the Black Sea. Despite complaints and pleas to Augustus, and later to his successor, Tiberius, Ovid remained in exile until his death in AD 17. His extant work comprises three books of witty and sometimes risque´ love-elegies (Amores), a collection of the fictional correspondence of mythological heroines (Heroides), two quasi-didactic poems addressed to lovers (Ars amatoria and Remedia amoris), a poem on the Roman calendar (Fasti), two collections of personal poems written from exile (Tristia and Ex Ponto), a short invective (Ibis) and, most famously, a mythological poem in fifteen books on transformation and change (Metamorphoses). Ovid has been one of the most most influential of all European writers: his work (particularly Metamorphoses) has been translated, adapted, echoed, and alluded to by poets in all the major vernaculars, as well as being copiously drawn upon by dramatists, musicians and visual artists.

DAVID HOPKINS read Classics and English at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, and is currently Reader in English Poetry at the University of Bristol. Among his publications on classical/English literary relations are contributions to Ovid Renewed, ed. Charles Martindale (Cambridge, 1988) and Horace Made New, ed. Charles Martindale and David Hopkins (Cambridge, 1993).

Chronology of Ovid’s Life

Year

Life

44 BC

43 BC

20 Mar. Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) born at Sulmo on the Abruzzi, the son of an old equestrian family.

42 BC

40 BC

39 BC

?37 BC

36 BC

31 BC

30 BC

29 BC

29–19 BC

28 BC

27 BC

c. 27 BC

Ovid assumes the toga with the ‘broad purple stripe’, a sign that he was a candidate for the cursus honorum, the sequence of magistracies leading to admission to the Senate.

?c. 25 BC

Ovid begins work on Amores (‘Loves’).

after 24 BC

Ovid embarks on a career in public service.

23 BC

20 BC

19 BC

18–17 BC

not before

16 BC

The revised Amores, in three books, published.

13 BC

12 BC

8 BC

by 2 BC

?before

2 BC

Composition of Heroides (‘Letters of the Heroines’) 1–14.

2 BC

?2 BC–AD1

Publication of Ars amatoria (‘The Art of Love’).

2 BC–AD2

Publication of Remedia amoris (‘Remedies for Love’).

?AD 1–8

Composition of Heroides 16–21.

AD 4

before AD 8

Composition of Metamorphoses (‘Transformations’), Ovid’s most famous work.

From the same period comes Fasti (‘The Calendar’).

AD 8

Ovid exiled to Tomis.

AD 9

AD 9–12

Tristia (‘Sorrows’) sent from Ovid in exile to his wife and to (unnamed) Roman friends.

c. AD 10

Composition of Ibis, an abstruse curse-poem, directed against an unnamed enemy.

AD 13

Publication of Epistulae ex Ponto (‘Letters from Pontus’) 1–3, poems addressed to Ovid’s (named) friends and acquaintances from exile (Book 4 probably appeared posthumously).

AD 14

AD 17

Death of Ovid at Tomis.

Chronology of his Times

Year

Cultural Context

Historical Context

44 BC

13 Mar. Assassination of Julius Caesar. The publication of Caesar’s will (dated 13 Sept. 45) reveals that Octavian has been adopted as his heir.

43 BC

c. 27 Apr. Octavian defeats Mark Antony at the battle of Mutina. Octavian and Antony subsequently reconciled.

27 Nov. Establishment of triumvirate (Octavian, Mark Antony, Lepidus) to rule Rome and the Empire.

42 BC

Octavian and Mark Antony defeat the army of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi.

40 BC

Mark Antony marries Octavia (Octavian’s sister).

39 BC

Pact of Misenum, between Sextus Pompeius (son of Pompey the Great) and the triumvirs.

?37 BC

Publication of Virgil’s Eclogues. Around this date, Virgil joins the circle of Maecenas and Octavian.

36 BC

Defeat of Sextus Pompeius, who had broken the Pact of Misenum. Lepidus forced to leave the triumvirate, and to retire into private life.

31 BC

Octavian assumes the consulship and defeats Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium (13 Sept.).

30 BC

Publication of Horace, Satires, 1.

29 BC

Publication of Virgil’s Georgics. ?Publication of Book 1 of Propertius’ Elegies.

29–19 BC

Composition of Virgil’s Aeneid.

28 BC

Octavian’s Mausoleum, gardens and crematorium built on the Campus Martius.

Octavian enrols himself as Princeps Senatus, revives ancient religious ceremonies and dedicates a temple of Apollo on the Palatine.

27 BC

?Publication of Tibullus, Elegies 1. Building work starts on the Pantheon in the Campus Martius.

16 Jan. Octavian receives the title Augustus, thus affirming his superior position in the Senate.

c. 27 BC

?c.25 BC

after 24 BC

23 BC

Publication of Horace, Odes 1–3. Virgil reads Books 2, 4 and 6 of the Aeneid to Augustus’ family. ? Publication of Propertius, Elegies 3.

Death of Marcellus (Augustus’ son-in-law and heir-apparent).

23 July. Augustus resigns the consulship but is granted powers involving complete control of the Senate, a move which marks the absolute end of the Roman Republic.

20 BC

Publication of Horace, Epistles 1.

19 BC

Deaths of Virgil and Tibullus (the latter lamented by Ovid in Amores, 3.9).

18–17 BC

Augustus introduces a programme of moral and religious reform, including the Lex Julia de adulteriis (making adultery a public crime), and laws privileging marriage and condemning luxury.

not before 16 BC

Publication of Propertius, Elegies 4.

13 BC

?Publication of Horace, Odes, 4. Building of the Theatre of Marcellus.

12 BC

Augustus becomes Pontifex Maximus (the official head of Roman religion).

8 BC

27 Nov. Death of Horace (Horace known personally by Ovid: see Tristia 4.10). Death of Maecenas.

by 2 BC

Propertius dead (Ovid’s friend: see Tristia 4.10).

?before 2 BC

2 BC

Dedication of the Forum of Augustus, containing the temple of Mars Ultor (‘Mars the Avenger’).

Augustus saluted as Pater Patriae. His daughter Julia banished for adultery.

?2 BC–AD1

2 BC–AD 2

?AD 1–8

AD 4

Tiberius adopted by Augustus as his likely successor.

before

AD 8

AD 8

Augustus’ granddaughter Julia banished for adultery.

AD 9

Augustus’ last social law, the Lex Papia Poppaea,, offering further inducements to have children.

AD 9–12

c. AD 10

AD 13

AD 14

9 Aug. Death of Augustus. 17 Sept. Tiberius proclaimed Emperor. The Senate decrees that Augustus should be accepted among the gods of the state.

AD 17

Death of Livy.