Chapter 52

'Et multae per me nomen habere volunt. Novi aliquam, quae se circumferat esse Corinnam';

and twenty years afterwards Ovid could write (_A.A._ iii. 538),

'Et multi, quae sit nostra Corinna, rogant.'

The _Amores_, in their original form, constituted Ovid's earliest work, written in his youth. The extant poems are not all that he wrote on Corinna; _Tr._ iv. 10, 57,

'Carmina cum primum populo iuvenilia legi, barba resecta mihi bisve semelve fuit. Moverat ingenium totam cantata per urbem nomine non vero dicta Corinna mihi. Multa quidem scripsi; sed quae vitiosa putavi, emendaturis ignibus ipse dedi.'

The lament for Tibullus (iii. 9) must have been written in Ovid's twenty-fourth year.

2. _Heroides_.--Some of these at least were written before the second edition of the _Amores_, for in _Am._ ii. 18, 21-6 nine of them are mentioned by name. The title _Heroides_ is due to the grammarian Priscian; in the MSS. they are called _Epistulae_, and so Ovid himself refers to them, _A.A._ iii. 345,

'Vel tibi composita cantetur epistula voce: ignotum hoc aliis ille novavit opus.'

Of the twenty letters in our collection 1-14 are letters from heroines to their lovers; 15-20 are in pairs, _e.g._ Paris to Helen and Helen to Paris. The authenticity of these last six is doubted, partly because the title _Heroides_ cannot apply to half of them, and also because of their inferiority in style. In the use of the epistolary form in love poetry Ovid had no predecessor, and he himself calls attention to the novelty (_A.A._ above). The style shows the influence of Ovid's rhetorical training: the Epistles are _suasoriae_ in verse, and of _suasoriae_ we know that he was particularly fond (Sen. _Contr._ ii. 10, 12, 'Declamabat Naso raro controversias et non nisi ethicas: libentius dicebat suasorias. Molesta illi erat omnis argumentatio.'). His matter he would naturally draw from Homer, the _Cypria_, Apollonius Rhodius, and the Greek tragedians.

3. Between the two editions of the _Amores_ he wrote the lost tragedy _Medea_. It was later than _Am._ iii. 1, where he pictures the Muses of Elegy and Tragedy as contending for his homage, and he finally decides (ll. 67-8),

'Exiguum vati concede, Tragoedia, tempus: tu labor aeternus; quod petit illa breve est.'

On the other hand, it was earlier than _Am._ ii. 18, 13,

'Sceptra tamen sumpsi, curaque tragoedia nostra crevit, et huic operi quamlibet aptus eram.'

The drama enjoyed a high reputation in antiquity. Cf. Quint. x. 1, 98, 'Ovidii Medea videtur mihi ostendere, quantum ille vir praestare potuerit, si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset.'

4. _Medicamina Faciei Femineae_, an incomplete poem of 100 lines, giving directions for the toilet. Cf. _A.A._ iii. 205,

'Est mihi, quo dixi vestrae medicamina formae, parvus, sed cura grande, libellus, opus.'

5. _Ars Amatoria_, a didactic poem in three Books, on the art of love-intrigue. The title given by the MSS. is doubtless correct: Ovid himself speaks of 'ars amandi,' or simply 'ars' or 'artes.' It was written about B.C. 2, from the allusion, i. 171, to the 'naumachia' in that year,

'Quid, modo cum belli navalis imagine Caesar Persidas induxit Cecropiasque rates?'

The _Ars_ must have been in view when he wrote _Am._ ii. 18, 19,

'Quod licet, aut artes teneri profitemur amoris-- ei mihi, praeceptis urgeor ipse meis!'

6. _Remedia Amoris_, written next, while professing to be a recantation of the last-named work, exhibits, if possible, a more immoral tone. Cf. l. 487,

'Quaeris, ubi invenias? artes, i, perlege nostras.'

7. Ovid now produced a work of greater compass, the _Metamorphoses_, in fifteen Books of heroic verse. When it was composed is not known, but he had the idea of it in his mind when he wrote _Am._ iii. 12, 21-40. At the time of his banishment the poem had been written, but not revised. He committed his MS. to the flames, but copies were in the hands of friends; _Tr._ i. 7, 13-16,

'Carmina mutatas hominum dicentia formas, infelix domini quod fuga rupit opus. Haec ego discedens, sicut bene multa meorum, ipse mea posui maestus in igne manu.

Quae quoniam non sunt penitus sublata, sed extant, (l. 23) pluribus exemplis scripta fuisse reor.

Ablatum mediis opus est incudibus illud, (l. 29) defuit et scriptis ultima lima meis.'

The poem consists of a collection of stories of the transformation of human beings into animals. Cf. i. 1,

'In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas corpora.'

The idea, title, and much of the subject-matter was borrowed from the Alexandrians, _e.g._ the +Metamorphôseis+ of Parthenius, the +Heteroioumena+ of Nicander.

8. In the _Fasti_, in six Books, Ovid furnishes a poetical calendar of the Roman year. Each month has a Book allotted to it, and he speaks of having written twelve Books; _Tr._ ii. 549,

'Sex ego Fastorum scripsi totidemque libellos, cumque suo finem mense volumen habet. Idque tuo nuper scriptum sub nomine, Caesar, et tibi sacratum sors mea rupit opus.'

Probably the second six Books were never completed; but there are references to portions of them, _e.g._ iii. 57,

'Vester honos veniet, cum Larentalia dicam; acceptus Geniis illa December habet.'

The _Fasti_ had been written side by side with the _Metam._ and interrupted at the sixth Book by Ovid's banishment. During his exile he added some passages, but found that his Muse was fit only for melancholy themes; iv. 81,

'Sulmonis gelidi--patriae, Germanice, nostrae-- me miserum, Scythico quam procul illa solo est!'