Aganippe ( / æ ɡ ə ˈ n ɪ p iː / ; Ancient Greek : Ἀγανίππη means 'mare who kills mercifully') was a name or epithet of several figures in Greek mythology :
117-498: Aganippis, a name used by Ovid as an epithet of Hippocrene ; its meaning however is not quite clear. It is derived from Aganippe, the well or nymph, and as "Aganippides" is used to designate the Muses, Aganippis Hippocrene may mean nothing more than "Hippocrene, sacred to the Muses ". Aganippe , a genus of trapdoor spiders [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from
234-500: A Tuticanus, whose name, Ovid complains, does not fit into meter. The final poem is addressed to an enemy whom Ovid implores to leave him alone. The last elegiac couplet is translated: "Where's the joy in stabbing your steel into my dead flesh?/ There's no place left where I can be dealt fresh wounds." One loss, which Ovid himself described, is the first five-book edition of the Amores , from which nothing has come down to us. The greatest loss
351-466: A body composed by both patricians and plebeians (the majority of the members of the second decemvirate being plebeians)? In 2005, historian Gary Forsythe dismissed the second decemvirate as unhistorical. He presents a number of arguments for his view. First, it is an invention modeled on the story of the Thirty Tyrants . Athens was forced to abolish her democracy following her defeat by Sparta and it
468-524: A civil court of ancient origin (traditionally attributed to King Servius Tullius ) mainly concerned with questions bearing on the status of individuals. It originally served as a jury rendering verdicts under the presidency of the praetor , but these decemviri subsequently became annual minor magistrates ( magistratus minores ) of the Republic, elected by the Comitia Populi Tributa and forming part of
585-421: A collection of twenty-one poems in elegiac couplets. The Heroides take the form of letters addressed by famous mythological characters to their partners expressing their emotions at being separated from them, pleas for their return, and allusions to their future actions within their own mythology. The authenticity of the collection, partially or as a whole, has been questioned, although most scholars would consider
702-494: A decision of which his father apparently disapproved. Ovid's first recitation has been dated to around 25 BC, when he was eighteen. He was part of the circle centered on the esteemed patron Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus , and likewise seems to have been a friend of poets in the circle of Maecenas . In Tristia 4.10.41–54, Ovid mentions friendships with Macer, Propertius , Ponticus and Bassus, and claims to have heard Horace recite. He only barely met Virgil and Tibullus ,
819-468: A doctor and utilizes medical imagery. Some have interpreted this poem as the close of Ovid's didactic cycle of love poetry and the end of his erotic elegiac project. The Metamorphoses , Ovid's most ambitious and well-known work, consists of a 15-book catalogue written in dactylic hexameter about transformations in Greek and Roman mythology set within a loose mytho-historical framework. The word "metamorphoses"
936-600: A fellow member of Messalla's circle, whose elegies he admired greatly. He married three times and had divorced twice by the time he was thirty. He had one daughter and grandchildren through her. His last wife was connected in some way to the influential gens Fabia and helped him during his exile in Tomis (now Constanța in Romania). Ovid spent the first 25 years of his literary career primarily writing poetry in elegiac meter with erotic themes. The chronology of these early works
1053-466: A guardian to let the poet see Corinna, poem 6 is a lament for Corinna's dead parrot; poems 7 and 8 deal with Ovid's affair with Corinna's servant and her discovery of it, and 11 and 12 try to prevent Corinna from going on vacation. Poem 13 is a prayer to Isis for Corinna's illness, 14 a poem against abortion, and 19 a warning to unwary husbands. Book 3 has 15 poems. The opening piece depicts personified Tragedy and Elegy fighting over Ovid. Poem 2 describes
1170-503: A homicide should not be held a capital crime". They also reinstated the principle of the sacrosanctity of the plebeian tribunes "by restoring certain long-neglected ceremonies" and by putting what had been just a religious sanction into the statutes with a law which extended it to all plebeian magistrates, including the aediles and the decemviral judges. Additionally, they specified that the heads of those who violated these ceremonies were to be forfeited to Jupiter and their property sold at
1287-464: A later addition to the corpus because they are never mentioned by Ovid and may or may not be spurious. The Heroides markedly reveal the influence of rhetorical declamation and may derive from Ovid's interest in rhetorical suasoriae , persuasive speeches, and ethopoeia , the practice of speaking in another character. They also play with generic conventions; most of the letters seem to refer to works in which these characters were significant, such as
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#17328558507021404-507: A lover; Ovid then digresses on the story of Vulcan's trap for Venus and Mars . The book ends with Ovid asking his "students" to spread his fame. Book 3 opens with a vindication of women's abilities and Ovid's resolution to arm women against his teaching in the first two books. Ovid gives women detailed instructions on appearance telling them to avoid too many adornments. He advises women to read elegiac poetry, learn to play games, sleep with people of different ages, flirt, and dissemble. Throughout
1521-450: A noon tryst, introduces Corinna by name. Poems 8 and 9 deal with Corinna selling her love for gifts, while 11 and 12 describe the poet's failed attempt to arrange a meeting. Poem 14 discusses Corinna's disastrous experiment in dyeing her hair and 15 stresses the immortality of Ovid and love poets. The second book has 19 pieces; the opening poem tells of Ovid's abandonment of a Gigantomachy in favor of elegy . Poems 2 and 3 are entreaties to
1638-503: A piece on the Rape of the Sabine women , Pasiphaë , and Ariadne . Book 2 invokes Apollo and begins with a telling of the story of Icarus . Ovid advises men to avoid giving too many gifts, keep up their appearance, hide affairs, compliment their lovers, and ingratiate themselves with slaves to stay on their lover's good side. The care of Venus for procreation is described as is Apollo's aid in keeping
1755-405: A poem against criticism (9), and a dream of Cupid (3). Book 4, the final work of Ovid, in 16 poems talks to friends and describes his life as an exile further. Poems 10 and 13 describe Winter and Spring at Tomis, poem 14 is halfhearted praise for Tomis, 7 describes its geography and climate, and 4 and 9 are congratulations on friends for their consulships and requests for help. Poem 12 is addressed to
1872-418: A political institution with the power to compile laws. After a debate about whether plebeians should sit on the decemvirate, the plebeian tribunes agreed to a patrician-only panel in exchange for a law they had passed not being repealed. The decemviri took office in 451 BC. Both consuls, Appius Claudius Crassus Inregillensis Sabinus and Titus Genucius Augurinus , resigned as well as the other magistrates and
1989-462: A publication now in the public domain : Smith, William , ed. (1870). "Aganippe". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso ( Latin: [ˈpuːbliʊs ɔˈwɪdiʊs ˈnaːso(ː)] ; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( / ˈ ɒ v ɪ d / OV -id ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus . He
2106-461: A reason for rejecting the story); the character of Verginia bears similarities with that of Lucretia, whose rape led to the overthrow of the monarchy (Ogilvie notes that in the original story might not have provided names and that she may have been referred to as 'a maiden' and the name Verginia was ascribed to her later, but she did exist); the story was the subject of a traditional ballade. Cornell argues that such objections do not prove that "the story
2223-468: A series of supports and refutations in the short space of five years. Among the supporting reasons Brown presents are: Ovid's exile is only mentioned by his own work, except in "dubious" passages by Pliny the Elder and Statius , but no other author until the 4th century; that the author of Heroides was able to separate the poetic "I" of his own and real life; and that information on the geography of Tomis
2340-405: A teacher of love. Ovid describes the places one can go to find a lover, like the theater, a triumph, which he thoroughly describes, or arena – and ways to get the girl to take notice, including seducing her covertly at a banquet. Choosing the right time is significant, as is getting into her associates' confidence. Ovid emphasizes care of the body for the lover. Mythological digressions include
2457-406: A theory that is little considered among scholars of Latin civilization today: that Ovid was never exiled from Rome and that all of his exile works are the result of his fertile imagination. This theory was supported and rejected in the 1930s, especially by Dutch authors. In 1985, a research paper by Fitton Brown advanced new arguments in support of Hartman's theory. Brown's article was followed by
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#17328558507022574-464: A visit to the races, 3 and 8 focus on Corinna's interest in other men, 10 is a complaint to Ceres because of her festival that requires abstinence, 13 is a poem on a festival of Juno , and 9 a lament for Tibullus . In poem 11 Ovid decides not to love Corinna any longer and regrets the poems he has written about her. The final poem is Ovid's farewell to the erotic muse. Critics have seen the poems as highly self-conscious and extremely playful specimens of
2691-450: Is Ovid's only tragedy, Medea , from which only a few lines are preserved. Quintilian admired the work a great deal and considered it a prime example of Ovid's poetic talent. Lactantius quotes from a lost translation by Ovid of Aratus ' Phaenomena , although the poem's ascription to Ovid is insecure because it is never mentioned in Ovid's other works. A line from a work entitled Epigrammata
2808-400: Is a didactic elegiac poem in three books that sets out to teach the arts of seduction and love. The first book addresses men and teaches them how to seduce women, the second, also to men, teaches how to keep a lover. The third addresses women and teaches seduction techniques. The first book opens with an invocation to Venus, in which Ovid establishes himself as a praeceptor amoris (1.17) –
2925-509: Is a later invention". The story of the embassy to Athens to study the Law of Solon is unlikely. If it had gone to Athens, by that time the Law of Solon would have been replaced by the radical reforms of Pericles in the first half of the 5th century BC. Cornell notes that the fragments of the Law of the Twelve Tables show many signs of Greek influence and even some Greek loan-words. He thinks that
3042-613: Is cited by Priscian . Even though it is unlikely, if the last six books of the Fasti ever existed, they constitute a great loss. Ovid also mentions some occasional poetry ( Epithalamium , dirge, even a rendering in Getic ) which does not survive. Also lost is the final portion of the Medicamina . Decemviri#Decemviri Litibus Iudicandis The decemviri or decemvirs ( Latin for "ten men") refer to official ten-man commissions established by
3159-549: Is going to use his abilities to hurt his enemy. He cites Callimachus' Ibis as his inspiration and calls all the gods to make his curse effective. Ovid uses mythical exempla to condemn his enemy in the afterlife, cites evil prodigies that attended his birth, and then in the next 300 lines wishes that the torments of mythological characters befall his enemy. The poem ends with a prayer that the gods make his curse effective. The Tristia consist of five books of elegiac poetry composed by Ovid in exile in Tomis. Book 1 contains 11 poems;
3276-559: Is not secure, but scholars have established tentative dates. His earliest extant work is thought to be the Heroides , letters of mythological heroines to their absent lovers, which may have been published in 19 BC, although the date is uncertain as it depends on a notice in Am. 2.18.19–26 that seems to describe the collection as an early published work. The authenticity of some of these poems has been challenged, but this first edition probably contained
3393-545: Is of Greek origin and means "transformations". Appropriately, the characters in this work undergo many different transformations. Within an extent of nearly 12,000 verses, almost 250 different myths are mentioned. Each myth is set outdoors where the mortals are often vulnerable to external influences. The poem stands in the tradition of mythological and etiological catalogue poetry such as Hesiod 's Catalogue of Women , Callimachus ' Aetia , Nicander 's Heteroeumena , and Parthenius ' Metamorphoses . The first book describes
3510-585: The Aeneid in the case of Dido and Catullus 64 for Ariadne, and transfer characters from the genres of epic and tragedy to the elegiac genre of the Heroides . The letters have been admired for their deep psychological portrayals of mythical characters, their rhetoric, and their unique attitude to the classical tradition of mythology. They also contribute significantly to conversations on how gender and identity were constructed in Augustan Rome. A popular quote from
3627-560: The Vigintisexviri ("Twenty-Six Men"). Suetonius and Dio Cassius record that during the Principate , Caesar Augustus transferred to the decemviri the presidency in the courts of the Centumviri ("Hundred Men"). Under imperial law, the decemvirate had jurisdiction in capital cases. The decemviri sacris faciundis (also called the decemviri sacrorum ) had religious functions and
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3744-494: The Ars Amatoria , and is primarily addressed to men. The poem criticizes suicide as a means for escaping love and, invoking Apollo, goes on to tell lovers not to procrastinate and be lazy in dealing with love. Lovers are taught to avoid their partners, not perform magic, see their lover unprepared, take other lovers, and never be jealous. Old letters should be burned and the lover's family avoided. The poem throughout presents Ovid as
3861-598: The Black Sea , where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a "poem and a mistake", but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars. Ovid is most famous for the Metamorphoses , a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in dactylic hexameters . He is also known for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti . His poetry
3978-445: The Law of Solon and question more about the laws of Greek city-states. In 452 BCE the envoys "returned with the laws of Athens". The plebeian tribunes pressed to begin the compilation of the laws. It was agreed to appoint decemviri with consular powers which would not be subject to appeal and to suspend both the consulship and the plebeian tribunate. Thus establishing the decemvirate as
4095-543: The Metamorphoses , scholars have focused on Ovid's organization of his vast body of material. The ways that stories are linked by geography, themes, or contrasts creates interesting effects and constantly forces the reader to evaluate the connections. Ovid also varies his tone and material from different literary genres; G. B. Conte has called the poem "a sort of gallery of these various literary genres". In this spirit, Ovid engages creatively with his predecessors, alluding to
4212-506: The Metamorphoses , the Fasti was to be a long poem and emulated etiological poetry by writers like Callimachus and, more recently, Propertius and his fourth book. The poem goes through the Roman calendar, explaining the origins and customs of important Roman festivals, digressing on mythical stories, and giving astronomical and agricultural information appropriate to the season. The poem was probably dedicated to Augustus initially, but perhaps
4329-614: The Roman Republic . The most important were those of the two Decemvirates , formally the decemvirate with consular power for writing laws ( Latin : decemviri consulari imperio legibus scribundis ) who reformed and codified Roman law during the Conflict of the Orders between ancient Rome 's patrician aristocracy and plebeian commoners . Other decemviri include the decemviri for adjudging litigation ( decemviri stlitibus judicandis ),
4446-476: The battle of the centaurs , and Iphigeneia . The thirteenth book discusses the contest over Achilles' arms , and Polyphemus . The fourteenth moves to Italy, describing the journey of Aeneas , Pomona and Vertumnus , and Romulus and Hersilia . The final book opens with a philosophical lecture by Pythagoras and the deification of Caesar . The end of the poem praises Augustus and expresses Ovid's belief that his poem has earned him immortality. In analyzing
4563-480: The carmen , or song, which was one cause of his banishment. The Ars Amatoria was followed by the Remedia Amoris in the same year. This corpus of elegiac, erotic poetry earned Ovid a place among the chief Roman elegists Gallus, Tibullus, and Propertius, of whom he saw himself as the fourth member. By AD 8, Ovid had completed Metamorphoses , a hexameter epic poem in 15 books, which comprehensively catalogs
4680-642: The Elder and Quintilian . Ovid was born in the Paelignian town of Sulmo (modern-day Sulmona , in the province of L'Aquila , Abruzzo), in an Apennine valley east of Rome , to an important equestrian family, the gens Ovidia , on 20 March 43 BC – a significant year in Roman politics. Along with his brother, who excelled at oratory, Ovid was educated in rhetoric in Rome under the teachers Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro . His father wanted him to study rhetoric so that he might practice law. According to Seneca
4797-479: The Elder, Ovid tended to the emotional, not the argumentative pole of rhetoric. Following the death of his brother at 20 years of age, Ovid renounced law and travelled to Athens , Asia Minor , and Sicily . He held minor public posts, as one of the tresviri capitales , as a member of the Centumviral court and as one of the decemviri litibus iudicandis , but resigned to pursue poetry probably around 29–25 BC,
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4914-459: The Heroides anticipates Machiavelli's "the end justifies the means". Ovid had written "Exitus acta probat" – the result justifies the means. The Amores is a collection in three books of love poetry in elegiac meter, following the conventions of the elegiac genre developed by Tibullus and Propertius . Elegy originates with Propertius and Tibullus, but Ovid is an innovator in the genre. Ovid changes
5031-514: The abdication of the decemviri, the election of the plebeian tribunes and the mentioned immunity. The plebeians returned to Rome and elected their tribunes. The plebeian council carried a motion of immunity and passed a bill for the election of consuls subject to appeal. Lucius Valerius Potitius and Marcus Horatius Barbatus were elected as consuls. They passed the Valerio-Horatian Laws ( Leges Valeriae Horatiae ). The first law provided that
5148-428: The arrest of Icilius, but the crowd prevented this. Two patricians, Lucius Valerius Potitus and Marcus Horatius Barbatus pushed the lictors back, announcing that "if Appius proceeded legally, they would protect Icilius from the prosecution of a mere citizen; if he sought to make use of violence, there too they would be a match for him". Appius Claudius, Lucius Valerius, and Marcus Horatius made speeches. The crowd booed
5265-419: The book, Ovid playfully interjects, criticizing himself for undoing all his didactic work to men and mythologically digresses on the story of Procris and Cephalus . The book ends with his wish that women will follow his advice and spread his fame saying Naso magister erat, "Ovid was our teacher". (Ovid was known as "Naso" to his contemporaries. ) This elegiac poem proposes a cure for the love Ovid teaches in
5382-464: The city and to the Aventine. When they joined the other army, the twenty "military tribunes" appointed two men, Marcus Oppius and Sextus Manilius, to take command. According to Livy, the senators, who were convening daily, spent most of the time squabbling. They decided to send Valerius and Horatius to the Aventine on the condition that the decemviri resign. The latter said that they would do so only after
5499-485: The city, they were joined by civilian plebeians. The senate hesitated because of the enmity between senators and plebeian tribunes. Some senators, including Valerius and Horatius, argued that their restoration was needed in order to both get rid of the decemviri and restore patrician magistrates. The decemviri agreed to step down on the condition that they would get personal protection against any reprisals. Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius were sent to negotiate terms with
5616-428: The commanders to keep the troops from mutiny. Verginius, who had been followed by nearly four hundred men, caused an even bigger stir with the soldiers than in the city. He told his fellow soldiers to "look out for themselves and for their own children" and they replied that they "would not forget his sufferings nor fail to vindicate their liberty". The civilians who had come with Verginius to the military camp claimed that
5733-470: The corrupt oligarchy of the second one whose misrule leads to rebellion and further political change". Third, one year and one decemvirate should have been enough to draw up a legislation which was not overly complicated. Forsythe also says that the idea of the decemviri being overthrown "might have been suggested to later Roman historians by the names of the consuls for 449 BC, Lucius Valerius Potitus and Marcus Horatius Barbatus ". They were similar to
5850-484: The custody of the defendants. Appius Claudius agreed to summon Verginius but put Verginia in the custody of the claimant. Verginia's lover, Icilius, arrived at the forum, but was stopped by a lictor. He pleaded his case loudly and attracted the attention of the crowd. Verginia's supporters sent a relative and Icilius' brother to quickly go to Verginius' military camp. The claimant pressed Icilius to pay surety to be Verginia's guarantor. Many people offered money and Verginia
5967-562: The death of the emperor prompted Ovid to change the dedication to honor Germanicus . Ovid uses direct inquiry of gods and scholarly research to talk about the calendar and regularly calls himself a vates , a seer. He also seems to emphasize unsavory, popular traditions of the festivals, imbuing the poem with a popular, plebeian flavor, which some have interpreted as subversive to the Augustan moral legislation. While this poem has always been invaluable to students of Roman religion and culture for
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#17328558507026084-580: The debate on this law for eight years. In 454 BC the plebeian tribunes dropped their pursuit of this law. They asked the senate to "consent to the appointment of a body of legislators, chosen in equal numbers from plebeians and patricians to enact what would be useful to both orders and secure equal liberty for each". The patricians replied that this was worthy of consideration, but said that only patricians could legislate. Although disputed by historians such as Niebuhr, Cornell and Grant, according to Livy and Dionysius, three envoys were sent to Athens to study
6201-549: The decemviri for making sacrifices ( decemviri sacris faciundis ), and the decemviri for the assignment and giving of arable lands ( decemviri agris dandis adsignandis ). Gaius Terentilius Harsa , a plebeian tribune , wished to protect the plebeian population by curtailing the power of the Roman consuls . To do this, he proposed a law in 462 BC which provided for a five-man commission to define their power. The patricians were opposed to this curtailment and managed to postpone
6318-522: The decemviri had been overthrown and that Appius Claudius had gone into exile and incited the soldiers to rise up. These soldiers, who were from the army which had been sent against the Aequi, marched to Rome and took possession of the Aventine Hill . They urged the plebeians to regain their freedom and elect the plebeian tribunes. The senate decided to take no harsh action as it had been partly responsible for
6435-538: The decemviri, where the republican offices are suspended and replaced by the decemviri who were also tasked with drafting new laws, who then refused to leave office when their term was up, became tyrannical, were forced to resign by a secession and the republican offices were restored. Second, the story fits with the Greek theory that a good form of government gives way to its corrupt counterpart, which, in turn, leads back to another good one. The first decemvirate represents "ideal aristocratic rule in its ideal form, followed by
6552-553: The distribution of public lands ( ager publicus ). Members of such boards had three-fold powers: to determine which lands were public and private, to assign to a person a secure right to use that land , and to give that land outright to a person. A number of such commissions were created or have been suggested by scholars: one ten-man board was possibly created in 201 BC to distribute lands to Scipio Africanus' veterans, one in 173 for lands in Liguria and Gaul, most famously one created by
6669-463: The election and announced the election of himself and nine men who were his supporters. Livy writes that these officials became tyrannical, each man had twelve lictors and each fasces had axes. He describes this decemvirate conducting trials behind closed doors and issuing arbitrary judgements. Due to these possible actions, they may have become a source of fear in ancient Rome, striking terror into those who saw them. Livy states that there were rumors that
6786-473: The elegiac Tristia , a series of poems expressing the poet's despair in exile and advocating his return to Rome, are dated to AD 9–12. The Ibis , an elegiac curse poem attacking an unnamed adversary, may also be dated to this period. The Epistulae ex Ponto , a series of letters to friends in Rome asking them to effect his return, are thought to be his last compositions, with the first three books published in AD 13 and
6903-618: The elegiac genre. About a hundred elegiac lines survive from this poem on beauty treatments for women's faces, which seems to parody serious didactic poetry. The poem says that women should concern themselves first with manners and then prescribes several compounds for facial treatments before breaking off. The style is not unlike the shorter Hellenistic didactic works of Nicander and Aratus . Si quis in hoc artem populo non novit amandi, hoc legat et lecto carmine doctus amet. The Ars Amatoria
7020-466: The emperor for forgiveness. Book 3 in 14 poems focuses on Ovid's life in Tomis. The opening poem describes his book's arrival in Rome to find Ovid's works banned. Poems 10, 12, and 13 focus on the seasons spent in Tomis, 9 on the origins of the place, and 2, 3, and 11 his emotional distress and longing for home. The final poem is again an apology for his work. The fourth book has ten poems addressed mostly to friends. Poem 1 expresses his love of poetry and
7137-411: The enactment of the two tables of laws for which they were elected. Given that the senate kept bickering, the soldiers decided to secede to Mons Sacer as they had done in 494 BC to increase pressure on the senators and the decemviri. They now demanded the restoration of tribunician power (i.e. the reinstatement of the plebeian tribunes ) and they would stand firm to obtain this. On their way through
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#17328558507027254-467: The first 14 poems of the collection. The first five-book collection of the Amores , a series of erotic poems addressed to a lover, Corinna, is thought to have been published in 16–15 BC; the surviving version, redacted to three books according to an epigram prefixed to the first book, is thought to have been published c. 8 –3 BC. Between the publications of the two editions of the Amores can be dated
7371-400: The first decemvirate differed from the second one by being a commission to compile laws, while the latter was a permanent governing body. Theodor Mommsen criticized this for not having any support from the sources. Cornell notes that if this was the case the consuls and the plebeian tribunes would have been suspended at the start of the second decemvirate instead of the first. Moreover, that
7488-501: The first piece is an address by Ovid to his book about how it should act when it arrives in Rome. Poem 3 describes his final night in Rome, poems 2 and 10 Ovid's voyage to Tomis, 8 the betrayal of a friend, and 5 and 6 the loyalty of his friends and wife. In the final poem Ovid apologizes for the quality and tone of his book, a sentiment echoed throughout the collection. Book 2 consists of one long poem in which Ovid defends himself and his poetry, uses precedents to justify his work, and begs
7605-413: The first semester of the year, with each book dedicated to a different month of the Roman calendar (January to June). The project seems unprecedented in Roman literature. It seems that Ovid planned to cover the whole year, but was unable to finish because of his exile, although he did revise sections of the work at Tomis, and he claims at Trist. 2.549–52 that his work was interrupted after six books. Like
7722-507: The formation of the world, the ages of man , the flood , the story of Daphne 's rape by Apollo and Io 's by Jupiter. The second book opens with Phaethon and continues describing the love of Jupiter with Callisto and Europa . The third book focuses on the mythology of Thebes with the stories of Cadmus , Actaeon , and Pentheus . The fourth book focuses on three pairs of lovers: Pyramus and Thisbe , Salmacis and Hermaphroditus , and Perseus and Andromeda . The fifth book focuses on
7839-409: The former and listened only to the latter two, who ordered the lictors to back off. Appius Claudius fled. Another decemvir, not knowing what to do, ended up summoning the senate. The senators were hostile to the decemviri and there was hope that they would bring them down. However, the senators were concerned that the arrival of Verginius at the military camp would cause unrest and sent messengers to tell
7956-622: The fourth book between AD 14 and 16. The exile poetry is particularly emotive and personal. In the Epistulae he claims friendship with the natives of Tomis (in the Tristia they are frightening barbarians) and to have written a poem in their language ( Ex Ponto , 4.13.19–20). Yet he pined for Rome – and for his third wife, addressing many poems to her. Some are also to the Emperor Augustus, yet others are to himself, to friends in Rome, and sometimes to
8073-468: The full spectrum of classical poetry. Ovid's use of Alexandrian epic, or elegiac couplets, shows his fusion of erotic and psychological style with traditional forms of epic. A concept drawn from the Metamorphoses is the idea of the white lie or pious fraud : "pia mendacia fraude". Six books in elegiacs survive of this second ambitious poem that Ovid was working on when he was exiled. The six books cover
8190-432: The historical Sappho to Phaon , seems spurious (although referred to in Am. 2.18) because of its length, its lack of integration in the mythological theme, and its absence from Medieval manuscripts. The final letters (16–21) are paired compositions comprising a letter to a lover and a reply. Paris and Helen , Hero and Leander , and Acontius and Cydippe are the addressees of the paired letters. These are considered
8307-404: The instigation of Icilius, the soldiers of the Roman armies located in Sabine territories also rebelled. On hearing of the election of military tribunes at the Aventine, Icilius, thinking that these men would then be elected as plebeian tribunes and wanting to become one himself, arranged the election of the same number of "military tribunes" among these soldiers, who headed for Rome, marched through
8424-412: The leader of his elegies from the poet, to Amor (Love or Cupid). This switch in focus from the triumphs of the poet, to the triumphs of love over people is the first of its kind for this genre of poetry. This Ovidian innovation can be summarized as the use of love as a metaphor for poetry. The books describe the many aspects of love and focus on the poet's relationship with a mistress called Corinna. Within
8541-535: The letters mentioned specifically in Ovid's description of the work at Am. 2.18.19–26 as safe from objection. The collection comprises a new type of generic composition without parallel in earlier literature. The first fourteen letters are thought to comprise the first published collection and are written by the heroines Penelope , Phyllis , Briseis , Phaedra , Oenone , Hypsipyle , Dido , Hermione , Deianeira , Ariadne , Canace , Medea , Laodamia , and Hypermnestra to their absent male lovers. Letter 15, from
8658-463: The lictors to seize the slave (Verginia). The crowd did not react. According to Livy, Verginius stabbed his daughter to death saying that was the only way he could assert her freedom. Appius Claudius ordered his arrest, but the crowd protected him as he made his way to the city gate. As a result, the crowd talked about restoring the plebeian tribunes and the right to appeal. The second decemvirate consisted of: According to Livy, Appius Claudius ordered
8775-530: The measures were passed against the will of the patricians, but they did not actively oppose them. The two consuls marched with their armies to confront the Sabines and the Aequi who had not withdrawn. "Before they left the city, the consuls had the decemviral laws, which are known as the Twelve Tables , engraved on bronze, and set them up in a public area. Some authors say that the aediles, acting under orders from
8892-483: The metamorphoses in Greek and Roman mythology, from the emergence of the cosmos to the apotheosis of Julius Caesar . The stories follow each other in the telling of human beings transformed to new bodies: trees, rocks, animals, flowers, constellations , etc. Simultaneously, he worked on the Fasti , a six-book poem in elegiac couplets on the theme of the calendar of Roman festivals and astronomy. The composition of this poem
9009-489: The mid-second century BC. Therefore, although the later historians who have given us the accounts of the decemvirate might have added additional elaborations, there is no evidence that they made up the core story. Doubts have been cast about the story of Appius Claudius and Verginia. Appius Claudius was the victim of a later tradition of hostility towards the Claudii, his family (Mommsen showed traces of this, but did not see it as
9126-505: The military draft. Again, the senate was summoned, and this time some senators attended. The plebeians saw this as a betrayal of liberty. However, the senators denounced the decemviri and tried to oppose them, called them private citizens and refused to call a levy. In the end they allowed its proclamation of the levy in silence because they feared a popular uprising would bolster the plebeian tribunes, their political adversaries. The plebeians enlisted because they feared violent reprisal as there
9243-413: The mutiny. It sent three envoys to inquire who had seized the Aventine, who their leaders were and what they wanted. The mutineers did not have a leader, and no one dared to express enmity. The civilian crowd shouted that they wanted Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius to be the envoys. Verginius proposed the election of ten leaders to be given the military title, military tribune. Verginius was elected. At
9360-481: The names of the consuls for 509 BC, the year of the establishment of the Roman republic ( Publius Valerius Publicola and Marcus Horatius Pulvillus ). The republic was instituted with the overthrow of the last king of Rome, who was a tyrant, in a rebellion and the decision to do away with the monarchy. Cornell thinks that the story of the second decemvirate attracted much secondary elaboration (later additions), that some of this at times romanticized it and that parts of
9477-516: The officials in the second decemvirate wished to rule perpetually. When time for the elections came, they were not held, and the decimviri became violent. A Sabine and an Aequi army attacked Roman territory and an ally of Rome. According to Livy, the decemviri summoned the senate, but the senators did not show up due to their disgust. To the plebeians this signaled the illegitimacy of the decemviri as their term had expired and were now meant to be just private citizens. They were considering boycotting
9594-442: The plebeian tribunes has been interpreted as being intended to reintegrate the plebeians into the Roman state by doing away with the plebeian tribunes. If this was the case, the fact that Livy seemed to suggest that only patricians sat on the first decemvirate would be a contradiction. This and the fact that one of the decemviri was Titus Genucius Augurinus , who had a plebeian name, have led some historians to reject both that this man
9711-399: The plebeian tribunes. In compensation for their loss of office, Appius Claudius and Titus Genucius were appointed to the decemviri. Publius Sestius Capitolinus Vaticanus , one of the consuls of the previous year, was also appointed because he had put the proposal to the senate despite the opposition of his colleague. The three envoys were also part of the decemviri. The most influential member
9828-474: The plebeians at their discretion. The plebeians welcomed and thanked them because of their previous stand at the forum. They demanded the recovery of the protections the plebeians enjoyed through the plebeian tribunes and the right to appeal, immunity for those who incited the rebellion and harsh punishment for the decemviri. The envoys agreed on the first three demands and asked that the issue of punishment be postponed. The plebeians accepted this. The senate decreed
9945-457: The poem as a mere justification for something more personal. In exile, Ovid wrote two poetry collections, Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto , which illustrated his sadness and desolation. Being far from Rome, he had no access to libraries, and thus might have been forced to abandon his Fasti , a poem about the Roman calendar, of which only the first six books exist – January through June. He learned Sarmatian and Getic . The five books of
10062-461: The poems themselves, expressing loneliness and hope of recall from banishment or exile. The obscure causes of Ovid's exile have given rise to much speculation by scholars. The medieval texts that mention the exile offer no credible explanations: their statements seem incorrect interpretations drawn from the works of Ovid. Ovid himself wrote many references to his offense, giving obscure or contradictory clues. In 1923, scholar J. J. Hartman proposed
10179-497: The populace towards Icillus' side. Appius Claudius upheld the fabricated case of the claimant and adjudged Verginia to him without even listening to Verginius. Livy wrote that the crowd was stunned by this. When the claimant made his way to take her, Verginius shouted that he had betrothed Verginia to Icilius, not to Appius Claudius, and that he did not bring her up for dishonor. Appius Claudius claimed that he knew that there had been seditious meetings and told Verginius to be quiet and
10296-453: The population's birth rate, were fresh in the Roman mind. Ovid's writing in the Ars Amatoria concerned the serious crime of adultery . He may have been banished for these works, which appeared subversive to the emperor's moral legislation. However, in view of the long time that elapsed between the publication of this work (1 BC) and the exile (AD 8), some authors suggest that Augustus used
10413-596: The premiere of his tragedy Medea , which was admired in antiquity but is no longer extant. Ovid's next poem, the Medicamina Faciei (a fragmentary work on women's beauty treatments), preceded the Ars Amatoria (the Art of Love ), a parody of didactic poetry and a three-book manual about seduction and intrigue, which has been dated to AD 2 (Books 1–2 would go back to 1 BC ). Ovid may identify this work in his exile poetry as
10530-483: The quality of his poetry. The Epistulae ex Ponto is a collection in four books of further poetry from exile. The Epistulae are each addressed to a different friend and focus more desperately than the Tristia on securing his recall from exile. The poems mainly deal with requests for friends to speak on his behalf to members of the imperial family, discussions of writing with friends, and descriptions of life in exile. The first book has ten pieces in which Ovid describes
10647-576: The reason for his exile was carmen et error – "a poem and a mistake", claiming that his crime was worse than murder, more harmful than poetry. The Emperor's grandchildren, Julia the Younger and Agrippa Postumus (the latter adopted by him), were also banished around the same time. Julia's husband, Lucius Aemilius Paullus , was put to death for a conspiracy against Augustus , a conspiracy of which Ovid potentially knew. The Julian marriage laws of 18 BC , which promoted monogamous marriage to increase
10764-403: The resolutions of the plebeian council were binding on the people. Then "they not only restored a consular law about the appeal, but they also safeguarded it for the future by the solemn enactment of a new law, that no one should declare the election of any magistrate without appeal, and that he who should so declare might be put to death [by anyone] without offence to law or religion, and that such
10881-404: The second decemvirate was elected because it was felt that two new tables were needed implies that the decemvirate was meant to be a temporary body for the duration of the drawing up of the laws. So does the second decemvirate's attempt to prolong its office by pretending that they were still working on the final two tables. The decemvirate's role as a new magistracy which replaced the consuls and
10998-438: The solace it brings; while 2 describes a triumph of Tiberius. Poems 3–5 are to friends, 7 a request for correspondence, and 10 an autobiography. The final book of the Tristia with 14 poems focuses on his wife and friends. Poems 4, 5, 11, and 14 are addressed to his wife, 2 and 3 are prayers to Augustus and Bacchus , 4 and 6 are to friends, 8 to an enemy. Poem 13 asks for letters, while 1 and 12 are apologies to his readers for
11115-464: The song of the Muses , which describes the rape of Proserpina . The sixth book is a collection of stories about the rivalry between gods and mortals, beginning with Arachne and ending with Philomela . The seventh book focuses on Medea , as well as Cephalus and Procris . The eighth book focuses on Daedalus ' flight, the Calydonian boar hunt, and the contrast between pious Baucis and Philemon and
11232-399: The source was likely to have been the Greek cities of southern Italy and that it is there that efforts to familiarize with Greek written laws would have been directed. He also points out that according to an alternative tradition the decemviri were advised by Hermodorus of Ephesus , a Greek philosopher in exile. The decemviri stlitibus judicandis ("the ten men who judge lawsuits") was
11349-467: The state of his health (10), his hopes, memories, and yearning for Rome (3, 6, 8), and his needs in exile (3). Book 2 contains impassioned requests to Germanicus (1 and 5) and various friends to speak on his behalf at Rome while he describes his despair and life in exile. Book 3 has nine poems in which Ovid addresses his wife (1) and various friends. It includes a telling of the story of Iphigenia in Tauris (2),
11466-399: The story are fictitious, but that it cannot be proved the whole story was fictive and more convincing cases have to be made to support this view. He adds that "identifying the fictitious parts is no easier than deciding which parts might be based on genuine fact". He also notes that the tradition of two decemvirates and the division of the tables into groups of ten and two were already around in
11583-452: The temple of Ceres , Liber , and Libera . They also introduced the practice of delivering the decrees of the senate to the aediles at the temple of Ceres , "[u]p to that time they were wont to be suppressed or falsified, at the pleasure of the consuls". In addition, the plebeian council passed a law whereby those who left the plebeians without tribunes or elected a magistrate without appeal were to be scourged and beheaded. Livy noted that all
11700-405: The tribunes, performed this service". The reason the first decemvirate had a dual role, as a new magistracy which replaced the consuls and took on governance with extraordinary powers, and as a commission for compiling law, is not explained by the sources. Some modern historians have grappled with this as an apparent contradiction. A theory has tried to explain this contradiction by positing that
11817-441: The various poems, several describe events in the relationship, thus presenting the reader with some vignettes and a loose narrative. Book 1 contains 15 poems. The first tells of Ovid's intention to write epic poetry, which is thwarted when Cupid steals a metrical foot from him, changing his work into love elegy. Poem 4 is didactic and describes principles that Ovid would develop in the Ars Amatoria . The fifth poem, describing
11934-427: The wealth of antiquarian material it preserves, it recently has been seen as one of Ovid's finest literary works and a unique contribution to Roman elegiac poetry. The Ibis is an elegiac poem in 644 lines, in which Ovid uses a dazzling array of mythic stories to curse and attack an enemy who is harming him in exile. At the beginning of the poem, Ovid claims that his poetry up to that point had been harmless, but now he
12051-425: The wicked Erysichthon . The ninth book focuses on Heracles and the incestuous Byblis . The tenth book focuses on stories of doomed love, such as Orpheus , who sings about Hyacinthus , as well as Pygmalion , Myrrha , and Adonis . The eleventh book compares the marriage of Peleus and Thetis with the love of Ceyx and Alcyone . The twelfth book moves from myth to history describing the exploits of Achilles ,
12168-463: Was Appius Claudius who, according to Livy, "was the guiding hand in the whole magistracy ... thanks to the favour of the plebs". Each day a different decemvir presided over the magistracy and this man had the twelve lictors (the bodyguards of the consuls) with fasces (bound bundles of rods, sometimes with axes, which were the symbol of supreme authority). The decemvirate was not subject to appeal, despite this, they yielded to one another when an appeal
12285-409: Was a decemvir and the existence of a second decemvirate, which they see as fiction. Mommsen argued that the decemvirate must have been open to plebeians from the beginning. Some historians see the sharp contrast between the first, good decemvirate and the second, bad one as a legend to explain the Twelve Tables in general being good while the prohibition of marriage between patricians and plebeians
12402-450: Was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace , with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature . The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists . Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis , the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia , on
12519-505: Was already known by Virgil , by Herodotus and by Ovid himself in his Metamorphoses . Most scholars, however, oppose these hypotheses. One of the main arguments of these scholars is that Ovid would not let his Fasti remain unfinished, mainly because this poem meant his consecration as an imperial poet. Ovid died at Tomis in AD 17 or 18. It is thought that the Fasti , which he spent time revising, were published posthumously. The Heroides ("Heroines") or Epistulae Heroidum are
12636-424: Was bad. This bad law was fictively ascribed to a second body of bad decemvirs. However, Cornell argues that this view is problematic. He asks two questions. If this was a fiction to explain this law, why were the last two tables (one of which contained this law) published by the consuls in 449 BC after the deposition of the bad decemvirate? Why was a law banning marriage between patricians and plebeians drawn up by
12753-459: Was bailed to her family. Appius Claudius wrote to his colleagues at the camp not to grant Verginius leave and to arrest him. However, the messengers had already arrived and Verginius had already been given leave. At dawn a crowd was waiting to see what would happen. Verginius arrived, leading his daughter and a large mass of supporters. He motivated people for help to claim his due. The matrons accompanying Verginia began to cry, this display moved
12870-490: Was dragged off her feet in the forum and the shouts of her nurses attracted a crowd. The claimant said that he was acting lawfully and had summoned her to court. Verginia went to court followed by her friends and acquaintances. The judge was Appius Claudius. The claimant said that the girl was born at his house and then he persuaded Verginius to take her, but that she still was his slave. Verginia's friends asked for an adjournment until Verginius could attend and to leave Verginia in
12987-437: Was for life, and the college was increased to a quindecimvirate—that is, a college of fifteen members—and renamed accordingly (see quindecimviri sacris faciundis ) in the last century of the Republic, possibly by the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla ; the dictator Gaius Julius Caesar added a sixteenth member, but this precedent was not followed. The decemviri agris dandis adsignandis was appointed from time to time to control
13104-603: Was interrupted by Ovid's exile, and it is thought that Ovid abandoned work on the piece in Tomis. It is probably in this period that the double letters (16–21) in the Heroides were composed, although there is some contention over their authorship. In AD 8, Ovid was banished to Tomis , on the Black Sea , by the exclusive intervention of the Emperor Augustus without any participation of the Senate or of any Roman judge . This event shaped all his following poetry. Ovid wrote that
13221-519: Was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages , and greatly influenced Western art and literature . The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology today. Ovid wrote more about his own life than most other Roman poets. Information about his biography is drawn primarily from his poetry, especially Tristia 4.10, which gives a lengthy autobiographical account of his life. Other sources include Seneca
13338-500: Was no right to appeal. Some of the decemviri led two armies against the two enemies. However, both armies were routed. Livy alleged that Appius Claudius was sexually interested in Verginia , the daughter of a plebeian, Lucius Verginius, who was a centurion absent from Rome with the army. Having failed to woo her with money and promises, Appius Claudius decided to seize this opportunity to get one of his men to claim her as his slave. She
13455-463: Was replaced by a commission tasked with drafting the laws of a new constitution. They arrested and executed political opponents and seized power. Many Athenians fled or were exiled. They formed a militia and reached Peiraeus (Piraeus, the port of Athens), defeated the forces sent by the Thirty Tyrants, and then forced them to abdicate and restored democracy. Forsythe sees similarities with the story of
13572-543: Was taken. They drafted their laws on ten bronze tables and presented them to the people, asked for feedback and amended them accordingly. They were approved by the higher popular assembly, the Assembly of the Soldiers. There was a general feeling that two more tables were needed to have a corpus of all Roman law. It was decided to elect a new decemvirate. The first decemvirate consisted of: According to Livy, Appius Claudius rigged
13689-477: Was the outcome of the claim of the plebs to equal share in the administration of the state religion (five decemviri were plebeians, five were patricians). They were first appointed in 367 BC in lieu of the patrician duumviri ("Two Men") who had had responsibility for the care and consultation of the Sibylline books and the celebration of the games of Apollo . Membership in this ecclesiastical college ( collegium )
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