Customer Reviews (1)

Latin
This book has a bunch of latin written in it. Hope you loquoris latin dude. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Ovid was NOT a Christian
Just because someone lived in at the same time as Jesus does not make him a Christian--far from it, in fact.Ovid, as you might have noticed if you have read his works, is a poet who write about life, love, power, society, loss, loneliness, and the pain of exile.

Superb commentary, idiotic previous review.
The previous reviewer should note that Ovid died in 17 B.C., which would not only make him an early Christian, it would make him the FIRST Christian (Jesus was still a boy).And Ovid was even less of a philosopher.But he was Rome's #1 (or no lower than #1a) poet.

Everthing that Ovid does in the poem serves his wit: from expressive metrical effects to rhetorical flourishes; from the structure of individual episodes to the arrangement of story groups; from the hilariously inventive transitions to narrative innovations.

W.S. Anderson's commentaries show an unmatched sensitivity to Ovid's style.

One of the liveliest of the greek sagas.
As a philosopher, he wedded classical methods of inquiry to a Chrisitan faith. The Metamorphoses captures the scope and the fire of Ovid's genius as thoroughly as asny single volume can. It contains complete verse translation of Ovid's 15 books.

The purpose of the Metamorphoses was to edit in a poetic way a few stories from the greek mytholegy from the begionning of the world and until the times of Aogustus.

In all the stories the people and the gods change themselves into animals, beasts, birds, plants and rocks. Here took Oviduis the greatest task by selecting only the most interesting stories from the mytholegy and twist them together in a chronicle line. ... Read more

Product Description
Oxford Approaches to Classical Literature (Series Editors: Kathleen Coleman and Richard Rutherford) introduces individual works of Greek and Latin literature to readers who are approaching them for the first time. Each volume sets the work in its literary and historical context, and aims to offer a balanced and engaging assessment of its content, artistry, and purpose. A brief survey of the influence of the work upon subsequent generations is included to demonstrate its enduring relevance and power. All quotations from the original are translated into English.

Ovid's Metamorphoses have been seen as both the culmination of and a revolution in the classical epic tradition, transferring narrative interest from war to love and fantasy. This introduction considers how Ovid found and shaped his narrative from the creation of the world to his own sophisticated times, illustrating the cruelty of jealous gods, the pathos of human love, and the imaginative fantasy of flight, monsters, magic, and illusion. Elaine Fantham introduces the reader not only to this marvelous and complex narrative poem, but to the Greek and Roman traditions behind Ovid's tales of transformation and a selection of the images and texts that it inspired. ... Read more

Product Description
Perhaps the greatest ancient compilation of Western myths, Ovid's Metamorphoses includes the stories of Jove, Apollo, Mercury, and Venus. This first English translation, originally published in 1567, introduced Ovid's work to Shakespeare and inspired many of his plays. Golding's version brings to English Ovid's history of the Trojan War and the rise of Rome, and ends with the story of Julius Caesar. Also included are the famous myths of Pyramus and Thisbe, Jason and Medea, Orpheus, Hercules, and Pygmalion. A glossary of names and places and footnote definitions of archaic words make the text accessible to all readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

If you're interested in early modern literature, this is the edition for you.
David Llewelyn is correct that people who are interested in the early modern period,and Shakespeare, will want to snap up this edition while it's available.I'm glad to be able to have this in my library, so that I can read the translation that was most popular during Shakespeare's career.

Thirty-five Years
Buy this book before it goes out of print for another thirty-five years!

If Golding's Ovid is not, "the most beautiful book in the language," it's among the top two-dozen "most beautiful books" you can find in English. I've searched for a second-hand copy of the 1965 Simon and Schuster edition since the late sixties, ever since I read Pound's ABC of Reading. I never had any luck finding it, though I did come across a non-circulating copy in a university library once. Its title page explained that only 2500 copies had been printed and that the previous edition -- the one Pound must have used -- was a small, deluxe Victorian production, itself unattainable by 1965.

After all my years lurking in second-hand bookshops, Paul Dry Books has finally done the decent and brought Golding's Ovid out again, this time as a beautifully printed, well-bound, but inexpensive paperback. I grabbed up my copy at first sight.

Is this an "accurate" translation of Ovid? As a previous reviewer has said, if you really want accuracy, you should read Ovid in Latin and leave the wild Elizabethan translators alone. Unlike that reviewer though, I'd say that, if you want Ovid in perfectly accurate modern English, with his poetry and voice included, you should read him in Mandelbaum's beautifully rendered version; but if you want an accurate modern English translation -- the type of thing your Latin prof would give you excellent marks for -- then read him in Melville's able, though sometimes sightly flat translation.

But if you love Elizabethan literature, then you should read Golding. You read his Ovid for the ripe, quirky, full-on Elizabethan English, deployed in his long, rambling fourteeners. Golding's metre was becoming antiquated in his own day but, as with a good deal of his rustic vocabulary, he didn't seem to care much about literary fashion. Reading him now, I find it's his joy with his original that matters. Open the volume anywhere -- at the Cyclops Polyphemus singing to the Nymph Galatea for example -- and there is Golding rolling magnificently on:

"More whyght thou art then Primrose leaf, my Lady Galatee.
More fresh than meade, more tall and streyght than lofyAldertree.
More bright than glasse, more wanton than the tender kid forsooth.
Than Cockeshelles continually with water worne, more smoothe."

Where "forsooth" is outrageous metrical padding, and "forsoothe/smoothe" was probably a forced rhyme even in 1567. But who cares? Golding's music carries the reader past any such concerns, and the beauty and energy of the thing are undeniable.

So buy the book! Make sure it sells tens-of-thousands of copies! Give the publisher a reason to keep reprinting, so it never disappears again.

Stop the Madness!
I'd like my review to correct what seems to be an over-hasty, unreflective lionization of Golding's translation by the other reviewers. Yes, it is a "great translation," in the sense that Marlowe's translations from Latin are, or Motteaux' Don Quixote is, or Pope's Iliad, or Robert Lowell's Imitations, or Pound's Chinese "translations," or even Ted Hughes' Tales From Ovid: that is, it is an powerful, compelling, wholly literary work in its own right, but it is nowhere near the original in terms of accuracy. The Latinless reader would do much better to buy Melville's excellent Oxford translation (which lacks nothing in poetic splendor) or perhaps Allen Mandelbaum's. As for the poetic "quality" of Golding's verse, that's of course subjective, but I could easily think of at least ten Elizabethan poets who are more satisfying to my taste. Golding's chief literary interest, as Nims points out, is his absolutely odd-ball English; attentive readers will find him a veritable storehouse of strange, funny, quaint Elizabethanisms that didn't quite make it into Shakespeare or the other mainstream writers of the period. (Much of the same joy can be found in Chapman's marvelous translations of Homer, reprinted by Princeton.) And the much-quoted Pound maxim comes from his wonderfully cantankerous ABC of Reading, certainly a fascinating book, but one in which Pound indulges in various critical pronouncements that seem, at times, merely whimsical or rhetorical. Much of Golding is rough, much dull, much of its interest is linguistic rather than poetic. He also adds a lot to round off his fourteeners (which I can't imagine are palatable to most readers for long stretches): his additions are fun, but they're not Ovid. Golding "Englished" Ovid to a great degree: his imagery often comes from English culture, not Mediterranean. Of course, any translation is fallible, and Golding's faults as a translator are, in my view, his greatest strengths as a poet, but he's definitely not a good place to start reading what is certainly one of the world's greatest books. This is a fine book, well worth the five stars, but emphatically NOT for the reasons cited by my colleagues. If you want Ovid, go for the original; failing that, Melville's your man.

grand
A wonderful work of the imagination disassembles to a pit off cess when mundanely told. If one is seeking word- for- word accuracy in a translation, pass on, but if you seek the bowels of OVID but lack skill inLatin, as I do, tarry.If Pound's translation of CAVALCANTI and DANIEL`tickle your gizzard' this edition is sure to do so also. This translationis to others what a live performance of a Bach Concerto is to the drone ina bus depot. And who cares the translator. They are safely dead, anyway,and "One graveyard is as good as another if your dead." [Hemingway]

Ignore the De Vere Nonsense
For an account of Golding's Ovid, see Ezra Pound's essay on Elizabethan translators.Uncle Ez was excessive to call it "the most beautiful book in the English language," but not by as much as you'dthink.

The De Vere comment by the previous reviewer is a reference to afringe element that ascribes Shakespeare's writings to De Vere.Considerit to have the scholarly value of ascribing authorship to the Men in Black(see Schoenbaum's *Shakespeare's Lives* for an account of this movement). ... Read more

Product Description
A companion to one of the greatest writers of classical antiquity, and arguably the single most influential ancient poet for post-classical literature and culture, is long overdue. Chapters by leading authorities discuss the backgrounds and contexts for Ovid, the individual works, and his influence on later literature and art. Coverage of essential information is combined with exciting new critical approaches. ... Read more

Product Description
Alan Melville's accomplished translations match the sophisticated elegance of Ovid's Latin.Their witty modern idiom is highly entertaining. In this volume he has included the brilliant version of the Art of Love by Moore, published more than fifty years ago and still unequalled; the small revisions he has made will enhance the reader's admiration for Moore's achievement. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Look elsewhere
Melville's translation fails for one specific reason: the Latin text is not translated faithfully, and he sacrifices an accurate representation for producing rhyming English verse. I should remind potential readers that Latin poets did not produce rhyming poetry, and the tendency for English-speaking scholars to do this is a rather out-dated, 19th century (and earlier) practice. Look to Peter Green's Penguin translation, which is a much better translation of these excellent poems.

Ovid everyday
I see it as this: everyone should have some writers or books to constantly go back to, andre-read as time goes on, this Dryden translation of Ovid is such a masterpiece that I go back to it as much as I can.

Beautiful Poetry, Prudish Editor
The poetry here is racy, beautiful, funny, and provocative.The translations are well done (who am I to judge?), preserving the original intent and meaning, but the notes tend a little on the prudish side.While the notes are invaluable for a serious student (me), and especially since some translations of Ovid's Amores have no notes, this editor leaves out some pertinent information about Caesar Augustus, and family, who ruled at the time of publication, and whom Ovid addresses occasionally in his works.Also, the translator admittedly prefers the Metamorphoses, seemingly becauseit is gentler and more mature, so I am left wondering whether this colored his translation of the Amores--it's racy, but is it as racy as the original? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Gently used "Love & Transformation: An Ovid Reader"
Gently used book was in very good condition, reasonably priced, and received in a timely manner.

Loved it!
I used this text in high school, and taking Ovid now in college, I wish I had LaFleur's humorous comments keeping me interested!I actually wrote him fanmail for this reader because I found it so helpful and enjoyable.I'm using the more scholarly Anderson, and his notes are horrible and I would take the high school edition any day.

The Way Latin Texts Ought To Be Taught
This is truly a fantastic book, and one which is a joy to read no matter what your level of proficiency with Latin is (though you should have the basics down first, i.e., first-year college Latin or the equivalent).Dr. Lafleur gives you the ultimate in easy-to-use formats: it has running vocabulary and notes on the opposite page from the Latin as well as underneath it.It also has a Latin glossary in the back, thus making it very, very easy to use.The notes include great comments on grammar, stylistic points, and rhetorical figures as well as on the sound of the Latin poetry itself (Dr. Lafleur really wants you to pay attention to the auricular beauty of the poetry).This is truly the way Latin texts ought to be taught to students.Too often teachers give students editions of Latin texts with very little grammar and vocabulary help and then wonder why kids lose interest and/or cannot get very far.A possible--and sad--outgrowth of this seems to be that some teachers include a lot of Latin in translation in their classes, perhaps out of frustration with students not being able to read enough during the semester.Well, whatever the reason, that wouldn't be necessary if we had more editions like this one. ... Read more

Product Description
A masterpiece of Western culture, this is the first attempt to link all the Greek myths in a cohesive whole to the Roman myths of Ovid's day. Horace Gregory, in this modern translation, turns his own poetic gifts toward a deft reconstruction of Ovid's ancient themes.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"Now I shall tell you of things that change..."
While there are several excellent translations of Ovid's masterpiece, this one by Horace Gregory stands out for its vivid & vigorous power. Far more than a mere retelling of the classic myths, it brings them to full-blooded life, brilliant & sharp as a bronze sword brandished in the blazing sun. From the emergence of Creation from Chaos, to the apotheosis of his patron Augustus Caesar, Ovid spins an enthralling tapestry of intertwining tales, rich with color & detail.

But let the poet & his translator speak for themselves:

She turned her gaze across a stone-ribbed waste,
And there was Famine squatted to the ground,
Her claws and teeth tearing stray shreds of grass,
Hair lank, eyes fallen in, and face the colour
Of dead moonlight, lips grey, and her arched neck
Was raw with open sores; skin stretched so thin
One saw her vitals through it, and thighbones
Came curving outward over empty loins,
And where her belly should have been was nothing.
Her breasts (perhaps her ribs) clung to her spine;
Her wasted body made joints monstrous --
Her knees and ankles big as cancerous tumours.

Or, in a completely different tone:

And it is where dream-haunted poppies grow,
Hanging their heads above wet ferns and grasses,
Where mossy herbs distill sleep-gathering wines,
Breathing their fragrance to the night-filled land,
And weighted eyelids close each day to darkness.
Those chambers have no doors, no hinges turning;
No watchman calls the hour to waken Sleep.
There in the innermost chamber of dark halls,
Draped in black velvet, stands the Sleeper's bed.
The god of Sleep, stretched on the coverlet,
Lies there, his figure languourous and long.
Around him drift the shapes of empty dreams,
As many images as ears of grain in autumn,
As leaves on trees, as sands along the beach.

Well, either this makes you want to read more, or it doesn't. My own words certainly can't improve on Ovid's! But for anyone who wants more than just a Cliff Notes version of classic myth, this is a true work of art -- most highly recommended! ... Read more

Product Description
The classic Elizabethan translation of the Roman masterpiece, now in a new edition.

This landmark translation of Ovid was acclaimed by Ezra Pound as "the most beautiful book in the language (my opinion and I suspect it was Shakespeare's)".Ovid's deliciously witty and poignant epic starts with the creation of the world and brings together a series of ingeniously linked myths and legends in which men and women are transformed—often by love—into flowers, trees, stones, and stars. Golding's robustly vernacular version was the first major English translation and decisively influenced Shakespeare, Spenser, and the character of English Renaissance writing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

MISSING PAGES!!
THIS REVIEW APPLIES TO THE EDITION EDITED BY MADELEINE FOREY (Hopkins, 2002)

I own two copies of this book and in both it is missing pages!Specifically, it is missing pages 251-98, or parts of book 8 and 10 and all of book 9. I don't know if other people are also missing pages, but as I say I own two and they're identical.I like this edition in every other way and so to have discovered this is a major disappointment. The book appears only to have been printed once and so it's conceivable that all existing copies are missing these pages. If so, it is impossible for me to recommend.

Here are the stories my copies are missing in whole or part:

THE EIGHTH BOOK
Althaea's revenge -- Achelous and the nymphs -- Baucis and Philemon -- The sacrilege of Erysicthon -- Etysicthon's daughter
THE NINTH BOOK
Achelous and Hercules -- The shirt of Nessus -- The death of Hercules -- The transformation of Galantis -- The transformation of Dryope -- Iolaus recovers his youth -- Caun and Byblis --The transformation of Iphis
THE TENTH BOOK
Orpheus and Eurydice

Charles Boer's translation of The Metamorphoses: Ovid Gone Psychedelic
"I've never seen anything like it in my life," writes William Kotzwinkle in his back-cover blurb for Charles Boer's translation of The Metamorphoses, and I can only agree with him.This is a remarkable translation, one that has nothing in common with the more refined publications which bear Ovid's name.Boer's work is more comparable to Christopher Logue's "War Music" or Ted Hughes' "Tales from Ovid," in that it does not strive to mimic Ovid's words in their closest (andsafest) English approximations.Instead this translation comes off like it's spouted from the lips of some prehistoric shaman, barking out a tale to his animal skin-garbed flock.

From Book III's "Semele and Jove:"

god wants to stop her mouth but she gets it
all out; he groans; no unwishing;
no unswearing; extremely sad, he climbs
sky, drags out obedient clouds, joining
storms & thunderclaps & can't-miss lightning;
tries, best he can, to control these powers:
does not put on firebolt used on
the polybrach giant Typhoeus - too cruel, that! -
instead: a lighter lightning, Cyclopean-made,
its fire not so bad, not so nasty
(the gods' `second force')

he takes this & enters Semele's house: her body,
mortal, can't stand meteorological banging
& burns in his sexual gifts

The entire book is this sort of primitive chant.Solomon Grundy gone poet.In his blurb Kotzwinkle calls Ovid "rock and roll," meaning the rhythm of the epic, and Boer for sure agrees.But this is what's lovingly known as dumb-dumb rock, like the Troggs or the "Funhouse"-era Stooges: repetitive and feral and dangerous.In what other Metamorphoses translation could you read the phrase "can't stand meteorological banging?"

Boer explains the reasoning for such an unusual approach in his introduction.Basically, he feels that the 1950s English translations undercut Ovid's vivid narrative and removed the epic's psychological ramifications.He also stipulates that his intention is not to produce a wholly faithful rendering, but to impart a side of The Metamorphoses which is usually neglected in English translations.Whether you appreciate the results or not, you must admit that he succeeds in his intention.

This book is unjustly forgotten and long out of print.Even the Ovid freaks are unaware; Benjamin Knox, in his introduction to Charles Martin's 2004 translation, doesn't even mention Boer's work in his rundown of the many recent Metamorphoses translations.But for me, this is the only Metamorphoses I've been able to read without losing interest.

I'll admit it: though I love ancient epics and poetry, the Metamorphoses has never done much for me.I always thought it was due to the ADD nature in which Ovid relates the stories, bouncing from one to another with little time for reflection or consideration.And that's partly still the case, but now I realize the fuller reason: no previous English translator ever made Ovid sound like THIS.Before discovering Boer's work the only Metamorphoses I enjoyed was Hughes', but his translation just covers 24 of the 200+ tales in Ovid's original.Even Martin's version - complete with the rapping P-Arides!! - did little for me.Boer however gives you the whole thing, and in a style that accelerates your pulse.

And finally - as others have mentioned, a few of the reviews here deal with the audio recording of this book.If it's as bad as claimed, I HAVE to hear it!

Amazing
It's a tragedy that as of this writing the other reviews for this work refer only to the audio edition, which is evidently crap.I assure you that the book itself is far from crap--that if you're looking for a different take on the classical world, a different voice that does not sound erudite and refined and prissy, Boer's translation is definitely worth a gander.I think of the narrator as an especially poetic caveman--alternately shouting and whispering language in its raw form, telling us many stories from classical mythology before a bonfire, omitting none of antiquity's horror or violence. This is not a dry encyclopedia of mythology ("Phaethon did this, and Phaethon did that after"), this is visceral beauty.Since the book is out of print and there's no preview availible, let me shut up and show you:

(Jove is tricking yet another beautiful maiden: he's turned himself into a bull)

Royal Girl Dares Climb Bull's Back!
(not knowing whom she rides); god dips
foot in water & drifts slowly from land & shore,
ambles further: then rushes his prey mid-sea:
scared seeing shoreline go, she clings
one hand to horns, one to his back; her dress
trembles & blows in the breeze

Many of the stories of the Metamorphoses are well-known and easily located online in duller formats, but this fiery translation has been utterly forgotten.Rare, unique, fun, and worthwhile.

Glorious English!
Of course it is for Golding's translation ITSELF that this book is valuable.You might ask yourself, who is the author of this Metamorphosis, Ovid or Golding?Is the book less artistically important because it is Golding's vision of Ovid rather than an unprocessed Ovid?Just feel how nice and chewy Golding's language is.Resentful academic purists should read Ovid in the original Latin.

How bad could a reading of Metamorphoses be?
I've read two translations of Ovid's Metamorphoses and enjoyed them so much I wanted to hear them read out loud.The first shock was just how abridged this reading was, it fits on only one cassette.But the second shock is how beyond painful it was to listen to the narration which was less about Ovid's (or Boer's) words, and more about the overacting of the reader.It's the worst thing I've ever listened to, and if this stops even one person from buying the tape, I'll rest easier.Waste of money.Waste of beautiful poetry. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an edition with commentary of six poems by the Roman poet Ovid. These are the letters, as Ovid imagined them, exchanged between three famous pairs of lovers, Paris and Helen of Troy, Hero and Leander, and Acontius and Cydippe. Interest in Ovid has never been more lively than it is today, and this book will have much to offer students at all levels.This is the first commentary in any language since 1898 on these "double" letters. It complements Peter E. Knox's selection of the single epistles in the same series. ... Read more

Product Description
For this edition of the Metamorphoses R. J. Tarrant has freshly collated the oldest fragments and manuscripts and has drawn more fully than previous editors on the twelfth-century manuscripts, the earliest extant witnesses to many potentially original readings. He has also given more scope to conjecture than other recent editors, and has been readier than his predecessors to identify certain verses as interpolated. This edition will be indispensable for future study of Ovid's greatest work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Invincible!
Formidabilis! It's always the adjective which pops out in my mind every time I'm so lucky to read Ovidius in Latin. Here have I finally bought the ultimate and best critical edition of this masterpiece and now my life has changed forever! I'll never miss one single day of my life without reading a passage a day from this best book of the last two millennia. ... Read more

Product Description
For over two thousand years, readers have delighted in Ovid's playful eloquence; his influence on other writers has ranged from Dante and Chaucer to Shakespeare and Milton. This selection of 30 stories from the verse translation by F. A. Wright of Ovid's famous work, The Metamorphoses, does full justice to the poet's elegance and wit. All of the tales involve a form of metamorphosis, or transformation, and are peopled by the gods, demigods, and mortals of classical mythology: Venus and Adonis, Pygmalion, Apollo and Daphne, Narcissus, Perseus and Andromeda, Orpheus and Eurydice, the Cyclops, and Circe, among others.
... Read more

Product Description
Ovid's Metamorphoses is one of the great works in classical literature, and a primary source for our knowledge of much of classic mythology, in which the relentless theme of transformation stands as a primary metaphor for the often cataclysmic dynamics of life itself. For this book, British poets Michael Hofmann and James Lasdun have invited more than forty leading English-language poets to create their own idiomatic contemporary versions of some of the most famous and notorious myths from the Metamorphoses.

Apollo and Daphne, Pyramus and Thisbe, Proserpina, Marsyas, Medea, Baucis and Philemon, Orpheus and Eurydice--these and many other immortal tales are given fresh and startling life in exciting new versions. The contributors--among them Fleur Adcock, Amy Clampitt, Jorie Graham, Thom Gunn, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Lawrence Joseph, Kenneth Koch, Michael Longley, Paul Muldoon, Les Murray, Robert Pinsky, Frederick Seidel, Charles Simic, and C. K. Williams--constitute an impressive roster of today's major poets. After Ovid is a powerful re-envisioning of a fundamental work of literature as well as a remarkable affirmation of the current state of poetry in English.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

These stories never age.They metamorphosize.
A collection of stories that we grew up hearing, but with all new skin.These re-tellings give new blood to Ovid and infuse his timeless book with modern spirit.Give: Apollo and Daphne packs a punch with its Elivs-likegod and neo-feminist victim.A bevy of talented writers prove thatfamiliar plots do not have to retain their old luster but can be polishedanew.After Ovid is a wonderful way to loose yourself in imagination asyou see the familiar become at once perverse and natal and finally familiaragain. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Irony in exile?
Exiled to the Black Sea for a "carmen et error" Ovid produced these poems, addressed to his friends, his wife, his enemies, and Augustus.The general consensus has been that while Ovid's style and technical prowess are as brilliant as ever in these late works, they suffer from monotonous and depressing subject matter.Ovid complains about the cold and the barbarity of his surroundings, bemoans his fate, and makes abject and fulsome pleas for leniency to the princeps.

Such a view, in my opinion, disserves Ovid, particularly in light of his demonstrated talent and wit in the rest of his work.In the midst of a truly touching description of his last night in Rome, when describing the farewells of his household, he exclaims that he has (or wishes he had -- the Latin is ambiguous) "hearts joined with the faith of Theseus." (I.iii.66).While the reference is most obviously to the friendship of Theseus and Pirithous, it is not possible that the author of the Heroides would be unaware of the other loyalty associated with Theseus: his faithlessness to Ariadne.Thus the moving scene of Ovid's parting with his devoted wife takes on a darker irony in addition to its apparent emotional quality.

Similarly, Ovid's often embarrassingly overdone protestations of Augustus' greatness and mercy cannot be read completely unironically.Even the arguments ostensibly addressed directly to Caesar should not be seen as entirely earnest personal pleas.These are not private letters, or legal arguments, and there is no reason to think that they were even sent directly to be read by Augustus.Ovid was writing for a wider audience of intellectuals in Rome, among whom figured speech was expected and valued much more than direct statement.Just because Ovid claims to have lost his inspiriation and wit in his despondancy does not mean that we are supposed to read him at his word in this or in anything else.With this understanding, Ovid's poems from the edge of civilization are revealed to be clever, even humorous, and diverting in spite of their monothematic and tragic cast.

Ovid--A Master of Latin Exile Literature
In antique Latin literature, writings composed by great men in exile evolved, over time, into the consolation genre. In utilizing this method, the author usually addressed his far away loved ones with soft elegaic poems or epistles intended to be therapeutic to both the sender and recipient. At times, this genre could even take on a sarcastic and vituperative tone. Enemies, rivals, and unfaithful friends or lovers, were commonly exposed to the exiled author's wrath. Some major figures in this tradition were illustrious men like Cicero, Seneca and Boethius.Within the scope of this epoch, Ovid plays no minor role. For the Tristia and the Pontic Epistles influenced many subsequent Latin authors, while continuing to be widely read and highly regarded throughout the Middle Ages. For certain, in the most unanimously favoured book of the Middle Ages, the Consolation of Philosophy, significant traces of Ovidian influence are quite apparent in the prose and poetry portions of Boethius' work. So the overall value of this collection of letters should not be taken lightly. But the high-standing of the Tristia and Ex Ponto within the tradition of Latin literature is not the works only claim to merit. From this volume, we learn much about Ovid's character, while we are left with a sufficient impression about his place of exile. Also, his short autobiography is invaluable: it furnishes much material about his life and family history that otherwise would have been lost. Other historical content will be of use to the historian. For the poet, there are some pointers on how poetry should be written, and there are some helpful first-hand allusions about great poets like Ennius Statius, Virgil, Tibullus and Propertius. The poems themselves are very good and enjoyable to read; the only draw-back to them is the subject-matter, which becomes redundant and almost pathetic if read in large doses. However, this was not a fault, but rather a matter of Ovid's condition. He adjusts his Muse to fit his situation. In exile, he writes consolatory poems. Ovid himself points this out many times in these epistles. This volume is highly recommended. The Tristia and the Pontic Epistles will help students of the liberal studies cultivate many virtues of character, taste, and literary style, which will later prove to be beneficial to all facets of society.

Forgotten Poetry
The top writer in one of the most powerful empires the world has ever known was mysteriously banished from the capital city by the mighty emperor Augustus himself for scandalous reasons ordered to be kept secret by Augustus and still secret to this day. This wonderful book contains the voice of this great exiled poet as he laments and expresses his personal feelings on his fate, never revealing the "secret", but offering us tantalizing clues as if he longs for someone someday to discover the forbidden truth of the Emperor's wrath. These two works, "Tristia," and "Letters from the Black Sea," have been largely ignored through the ages, left standing in the shadows of the famous "Metamorphoses" and Ovid's love poems. For those who wish to read the personal poetry, the "diary," of an exiled poet, this book is an absolute treasure. After reading this book, the reader can not help but feel as if he or she has now come to know Ovid on a friendly, intimate level. This book is a must for the serious lover of great literature. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Very well done!
This Penguin edition is very well done and preserves the meaning of the Latin without distorting or mangling it.The book also contains copious and well-researched notes to explain the numerous festivals, minor dieties, and individuals that Ovid mentions.The Fasti is invaluable as a glimpse of Roman culture, not only as a product of the Etruscan influences, but those of the other Italic peoples and the Greeks as well.Ovid skillfully adapts a plethora of "sacred rites unearthed from ancient annals" (1.7-8). What those "sacred annals" contained, we don't know for sure, but many of Ovid's stories included in the poem allude to and are corroborated by the works of Hesiod, Livy, Catullus, Lucretius, Vergil, and others.Ovid however puts his "slant" on things and makes associations that some argue are erroneous.Perhaps.But, taken as a whole, the Fasti is a great poem to also put Roman history into perspective.Ovid again and again stresses Rome's humble beginnings and it's current (for him) preeminence in the world -- "imperium sine fine."

A very well done translation of an amazing work that is not widely read in schools.

Non-updated edition of the Loeb
Although this book does provide both the Latin and an English translation, the English itself must be translated to a more modern form of English.To anyone looking for dual language buy something other than the Loeb edition.

wrong book
The review posted above is for the Loeb edition of Ovid, which is very different from Fantham's edition.

Counting the days, at "the end of the world"...
This one volume work in the Loeb Classical Series (# 253) is
Ovid's remarkable combining of poetry, myth, astrology,
astronomy, and commentary on Rome.
Apparently the work was written, or completed, while
Ovid was in exile in what is today Romania (in the
ancient city of Tomis), having been sent there by the
Emperor Augustus.
Ovid's life there must have been misery, anguish, and
hardship (how different from the famous poet all
Rome had talked about before his fall!).The poems

about that exile, along with letters which he sent back
to Rome, can be found in Loeb Classical volume, # 151,
-Tristia, Ex Ponto- (ISBN: 0674991672).
This present volume "is a poetical treatise on the
Roman calendar, which it discusses in chronological
order, beginning with the first day of January and
ending with the last day of June, where it stops
abruptly." (Introduction.) Ovid had intended to
write 12 parts to the work, but we only have the
first six.The author of the Introduction makes
some scholarly speculations about what happened to
the other six parts, which are very interesting.
This Loeb version is translated by James G. Frazer,
who himself had orginally published a 5-volume edition
of the -Fasti-, but trimmed a bit of his scholarly
commentary in order to produce this one-volume edition
for the Loeb series.Frazer (1854 - 1941) was a
British anthropologist, folklorist, and classical
scholar; his 12 volume opus, -The Golden Bough-,
is a world-famous work on comparative ancient religions,
myth, and cultural rites.
Ovid, himself, was exremely interested not only
in poetry, but in myth and cultural rites as well.That
is clearly evidenced in the -Fasti-. Here is an example
of the combining of poetry, with myth, and astrology/
astronomy from March 5: "When from her saffron cheeks
Tithonous' spouse shall have begun to shed the dew /
at the time of the fifth morn, the constellation,
whether it be the Bear-ward or the sluggard Bootes,
will have sunk and will escape thy sight. But not
so will the Grape-gatherer escape thee." There is
more to the quote which expands on the myth of the
origin of the constellation. There are excellent
notes to explain allusions, as well as a scholarly
Introduction to the volume.
Though Ovid was trying to find some way to gain
either commutation or release from his exile, he was
not successful (either under Augustus or his successor,
the Emperor Tiberius).Still, though seeking clemency,
Ovid nonetheless takes satiric swipes at Rome's
losing of ancient values. Ovid died in exile and
was buried in Tomis."Sic transit gloria mundi."
-- Robert Kilgore.

"A Rich Storehouse for Roman Religion and Ritual"
Publius Ovidius Naso's "Fasti" (calendar) is undoubtedly his most neglected piece of literature.It is justifiably belittled by his timeless epic the "Metamorphoses," it stands out as dull and lifeless when compared with the bawdy and lusty "Amores" and "Ars Amortoria," and it never reaches the emotional appeal of his famed "Heroides."Although the "Fasti" is a rich storehouse for Roman astronomy, religion, and ritual.And at times--mostly in the prologues to each of the calendars' months--Ovid takes his poetry to a level of creativity and depth that rivals his other poems; but unfortunately these are only short-lived.Another setback to the "Fasti" is the fact only six months out of the calendar year remain (January to June).It is up to question whether or not they were ever finished or simply didn't survive through the centuries; but nonetheless this misfortune is yet another hard knock for the "Fasti."It is certainly difficult to give Rome's most profound poet such a low rating, but when this is sized up with his other works, it doesn't stand a chance. ... Read more

Product Description
In the year A.D. 8, Emperor Augustus sentenced the elegant, brilliant, and sophisticated Roman poet Ovid to exile--permanently, as it turned out--at Tomis, modern Constantza, on the Romanian coast of the Black Sea. The real reason for the emperor's action has never come to light, and all of Ovid's subsequent efforts to secure either a reprieve or, at the very least, a transfer to a less dangerous place of exile failed. Two millennia later, the agonized, witty, vivid, nostalgic, and often slyly malicious poems he wrote at Tomis remain as fresh as the day they were written, a testament for exiles everywhere, in all ages.
The two books of the Poems of Exile, the Lamentations (Tristia) and the Black Sea Letters (Epistulae ex Ponto), chronicle Ovid's impressions of Tomis--its appalling winters, bleak terrain, and sporadic raids by barbarous nomads--as well as his aching memories and ongoing appeals to his friends and his patient wife to intercede on his behalf. While pretending to have lost his old literary skills and even to be forgetting his Latin, in the Poems of Exile Ovid in fact displays all his virtuoso poetic talent, now concentrated on one objective: ending the exile. But his rhetorical message falls on obdurately deaf ears, and his appeals slowly lose hope. A superb literary artist to the end, Ovid offers an authentic, unforgettable panorama of the death-in-life he endured at Tomis. ... Read more

Product Description
This intermediate Latin reader offers text, vocabulary, and notes. The notes focus on fine points of grammar and rhetoric, shades of meaning, and allusions to both classical and modern literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Director
Untold numbers of words have been written about Hoover, but the public record is so replete with distortions, embellishments, alf-truths and outright lies that it will be many years before anyone can produce a definitive biography.Ovid demaris has taken an important step toward defining Hoover and the role he played in the life of the nation.Using the interviewing technique which Merle Miller used to such great advantage in "Plain Speakaing". his best selling study of Harry Truman, Demaris receives startlingly candid views of the Director from practically everyone who knew him.Demaris fears to ask no question.

What emerges in The Director is not only the picture of a man capable of heroism and petty hatreds but a cameo history of Washington politics during the long years of Hoover's reign. ... Read more

Product Description
In Book XIV of the Metamorphoses Ovid takes his epic for the first time into Italy and continues from book XIII his close intertextual engagement with Virgil's Aeneid. His tendentious treatment of his model subordinates Virgil's epic plot to fantastic tales of metamorphosis, including the erotic Italian tales of Circe Glaucus, and Scylla, and Picus, and Canens. Other Roman myths include Pomona and Vertumnus, as well as events from Romulus' reign. The deifications of Aeneas and Romulus anticipate the poem's closing episodes of imperial apotheosis. This new commentary provides guidance to advanced undergraduate and graduate students for understanding Ovid's language, style, artistry, and allusive techniques. The introduction discusses the major structures, themes, and stylistic features of book XIV, its place within the poem as a whole, and Ovid's interpretive imitation of Virgil's Aeneid. ... Read more