Metamorphoses: Books IX-XV

by Ovid, G.P. Goold (Primary Contributor), Frank Justus Miller (Translator)

Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BCE17 CE), born at Sulmo, studied rhetoric and law at Rome. Later he did considerable public service there, and otherwise devoted himself to poetry and to society. Famous at first, he offended the emperor Augustus by his "Ars Amatoria, " and was banished because of this work and some other reason unknown to us, and dwelt in the cold and primitive town of Tomis on the Black Sea. He continued writing poetry, a kindly man, leading a temperate life. He died in exile.

Ovid's main surviving works are the "Metamorphoses, " a source of inspiration to artists and poets including Chaucer and Shakespeare; the "Fasti, " a poetic treatment of the Roman year of which Ovid finished only half; the "Amores, " love poems; the "Ars Amatoria, " not moral but clever and in parts beautiful; "Heroides, " fictitious love letters by legendary women to absent husbands; and the dismal works written in exile: the "Tristia, " appeals to persons including his wife and also the emperor; and similar "Epistulae ex Ponto." Poetry came naturally to Ovid, who at his best is lively, graphic and lucid.

This volume:
Book IX – Achelous and Hercules; Hercules, Nessus, and Deianira; the death and apotheosis of Hercules; the birth of Hercules; Dryope; Iolaus and the sons of Callirhoe; Byblis; Iphis and Ianthe.
Book X – Orpheus and Eurydice, Cyparissus, Ganymede, Hyacinth, Pygmalion, Myrrha, Venus and Adonis, Atalanta.
Book XI – The death of Orpheus, Midas, the foundation and destruction of Troy, Peleus and Thetis, Daedalion, the cattle of Peleus, Ceyx and Alcyone, Aesacus.
Book XII – The expedition against Troy, Achilles and Cycnus, Caenis, the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs, Nestor and Hercules, the death of Achilles.
Book XIII – Ajax, Ulysses, and the arms of Achilles; the Fall of Troy; Hecuba, Polyxena, and Polydorus; Memnon; the pilgrimage of Aeneas; Acis and Galatea; Scylla and Glaucus.
Book XIV – Scylla and Glaucus (cont.), the pilgrimage of Aeneas (cont.), the island of Circe, Picus and Canens, the triumph and apotheosis of Aeneas, Pomona and Vertumnus, legends of early Rome, the apotheosis of Romulus.
Book XV – Numa and the foundation of Crotone, the doctrines of Pythagoras, the death of Numa, Hippolytus, Cipus, Asclepius, the apotheosis of Julius Caesar, epilogue.
(source: wiki)

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Mythology, Philosophy, Fiction

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 8

About the author

Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horatius, 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 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 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.

Reviews

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great web.

[Abby]

This is a long work, but it gives things time to sink in. Like how each nook and cranny of this Mediterranean territory is storied, each spring and grove, each cliff and cave. It also took me well into the book to fully grasp how these stories have traveled, how Ovid is writing about places and birds he may never have seen, but still carry religious significance in the Roman iterations of the old stories. I’m still not very clear about how folk religion becomes state-sponsored poetry, which is absorbed once more into popular retellings. It’s a process that could stand a lot of study, I’m sure. I almost described it as a metamorphosis.

And it took me a while to really get a bead on the writer, Ovid, who is obscenely talented and at least partly showing off. He is unexpectedly gifted at action scenes--battles, shipwrecks--as much as at intimate exchanges between lovers or the distraught soliloquies of people making hard decisions. It’s interesting to see where he lingers and where he flows ahead. He takes a little too much grisly delight in details of gore, so that I got the feeling he’s grossing us out on purpose. At some point I recognized that where the old tragedians play this stuff straight, Ovid frequently has his tongue in his cheek. Dramatic, oh yes, but tends to jerk you back out of awe or sentimentality.

My opinion as it stands: Martin’s is the best translation, Raeburn has the best notes, and I didn’t mind having Miller’s literalism and Latin text around when I was curious where the discrepancies in translation were coming from.

[Bohdan Pechenyak · Rating 5 out of 5]

The concluding 7 books of the timeless classic by Ovid. Covering the stories of such major mythological figures as Hercules, Orpheus, Midas, Achilles, Ulysses, Aeneus, and the events preceding and following the Trojan War, which are also treated by other Greek tragedies, lyrics, and epics, the founding of Rome and related events, this unrivaled work of the Augustan poet ends with the celebration of Caesar and Augustus, and the very accurate prediction that Ovid's name will be known everywhere the Roman influence extends - and beyond. This fundamental source of many common myths permeating the Western civilization is a treasure chest of imagination and philosophical insight, which need only be unearthed with sufficient effort from within the text.

[rottenrosette]

I obviously can't speak to the accuracy of this translation, but seeing as much of it lines up fairly closely with the other translation I read in tandem, I have to assume that it's relatively faithful. The English flows well and is rendered in such a way that retains the lyricism I imagine is present (probably moreso) in its original Latin, and that's good enough for me.

[Akhilesh Rawat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a long read, but if you love Greek mythology go for it. Well it's the Roman retelling of Greek myths involving some sort of transformation to be precise but it's every fun to read. Book X may surprise you with Julius Caesar the God.

[Zepp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still not a justicia translation out there, which speaks to the genius of this book.
Homer, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Ovid. In no particular order.
Worth getting all Latinate up just for the experience of reading it.
Never mind, put Ovid first.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review from the first part-

"All I can say is go out and find the loeb "Metamorphoses" and have fun. Easily the greatest epic I've read so far, and I've read a lot."

The second part is just as good.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ovid's History of Mythology in Verse continues with the Age of Heroes, including his rendition of the Trojan War.

*SPOILER ALERT* The Trojans lose.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun fun fun