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Elegy II
This is one of Ovid\'s cynical celebrations of adultery as a harmless game. Inthe Middle Ages adultery was to become transformed into a quasi-religious ritual,very different from this, but often involving the same complications.
Bagoasis the slave employed by Ovid\'s mistress\' husband to guard over her. Ovidthreatens and cajoles him in an attempt to have some \"harmless\" funwith the wife. This list of instructions may be compared with those to the wifein Book I, Elegy 4. The Palatine Hill overlooking the Forumwas the site of the homes of rulers of Rome.
The rites of Isis were supposedto be attended only by women, so the guard would have to stay outside.
\"Gaol\" is the English spelling for \"jail.\"
Tantalus was punished in Hades by being confined in a poolwith a fruit tree bending over it. When he stooped to drink the water, it flowedaway; when he reached for the fruit, it sprang out of his reach,tantalizing him.
\"Argo\" seems here to be simply asynonym for Argus , the hundred-eyed guard set to guard Io.
Flagrantedilecto is a legal term meaning \"in the act\" (literally\"flagrantly committing the crime\").
Elegy VI
Ovid\'s elegy to a pet bird is much longer and more complex than Catullus\', a fact which does not necessarily makeit better. The main difference is that Ovid plunges into the realm of myth, as heso often does, to develop his thought. One can see why this poet went on to writethe Metamorphoses.
Note that Corinna\'s parrot came from India,a distant land on the borders of the empire which was reputed to harbor allmanner of wonders.
All birds are summoned to perform the funeral rites:scratching one\'s cheeks and breast was a standard form of ritual grieving.
Philomela is the nightingale. Itys was killed, cutup, and cooked by his mother Procne and fed to her husband Tereus in vengeancefor his rape of her sister Philomela.
Damon and Pythias were friends inSyracuse whose loyalty to each other became legendary.
It seems odd thatquails were reputed to be especially long-lived, since it is in fact parrots whichhave been known to live quite long lives.
\"Water, perfectly pure\" implies that no wine was mixed with it: pure water was the preferred drink of advocates of the simple life as a means to health.
Pursued by Triton, a Phocian princess prayed to Minerva to be rescued, and was turned into a raven which became the goddess\' companion. However, later Minerva rejected the bird for tale-telling in favor of the owl.
Protesilaus was aneager hero, the first to land (and die) at the Trojan War whereas Thersites wasan ugly, deformed coward who jeered at his own leaders. Similarly, Homer depictsHector (who killed Protesilaus) as the courageous leader of the Trojan forces,disdainful of his younger brother Paris, who had caused the war by carrying offAgamemnon\'s wife Helen.
Hector\'s father Priam opposed the war from thebeginning, had to plead with the Greeks for his son\'s body, and was ignominiouslyslain at the end of the war.
The thread of life was spun out, measured, andcut by the three women known as Fates.
Elysium (or \"the ElysianFields\") was a paradise mortals who had been made immortal lived. Somewriters like Ovid portray it as a reward for virtue: in others it is simply theabode of those who have pleased the gods, not always by good behavior.
Therewas only one phoenix which periodically set itself on fire and was reborn. It isnot usually associated with Elysium, but Ovid is reaching for relevantmythological birds.
Juno, the wife of Jupiter, had as her companion apeacock.
Which of the parrot\'s qualities attracts most of Ovid\'s attention(unsurprisingly, given his vocation as a writer)?
Elegies VII & VIII
This pair of elegies inspires indignation in some readers: What an outrageousliar and cheat! The mean-spirited attempt at blackmail at the conclusion of ElegyVIII is especially revolting. Other readers find the poet\'s impish antics highlyamusing. But it is important to remember that it is Ovid the poet who has createdthese two works and set them side by side to create the portrait of anunscrupulous philanderer that results. This is no pair of private letters, but asatirical set piece, carefully conceived to portray a probably fictional loverwho thinks he can get away with anything, but who is in fact in deeptrouble--rejected both by Corinna and Cypassis. The narrator in these, as in allthe poems, is a persona created by the author but not necessarily to beidentified with him on every point.
Both Agamemnonand Achilles were great warriors infatuated byslaves.
Elegy XIII
Abortion, though disapproved of in Rome, was notuncommon; but the means used were highly dangerous to the woman. On what groundsdoes the poet object to Corinna\'s abortion attempt?
Posse=\"could be;\" esse= \"is.\" The poet prays to theEgyptian goddess Isis, the special guardian of women. Osiris is herbrother/husband.
The passage about the Gallic horsemen evidently refers tosculptures near the temple of Isis. Note how Ovid observes his own tactlessnessin the final lines.
Elegy IX
Corinna\'s husband (unmentioned previously) seems to be making her affair with thepoet insufficiently difficult. The poet argues that obstacles created by hisrival stimulate his passion. This sort of sophisticated perversity is far removedfrom the direct passion of a Sappho. Clearly the poem is not to be readliterally. He would not have sent this poem to the betrayed husband; he is merelysatirizing what he sees as his foolish tolerance. Cuckolds (men whose wivescommit adultery) are the object of much satirical humor from ancient timesthrough the 18th century. He also tries to arouse jealous fears in the husband,taunting him.
Danae\'s father Acrisius, learning from anoracle that his grandson would kill him, imprisoned her in a bronze cell butJupiter (Jove) impregnated her in the form of a shower of gold. Juno\'s jealousattempt to prevent Jove from making love with Io by turning her into a cow failedwhen he continued to pursue her.
The tablets brought by the maid would havebeen letters which were inscribed on wax-covered tablets.
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