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Amores, Medicamina Faciei Femineae, Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris (Oxford Classical Texts)
Since it first appeared in 1961 this has been the standard critical edition of Ovid's love poems. For this new edition the text has been thoroughly revised to take account of published scholarship and the further thoughts of the editor. Conjectures have been admitted to both text and apparatus
criticus more freely than in the first edition. Punctuation has been improved, spelling has been normalized, and the long poems have been paragraphed. The apparatus criticus now incorporates the reading of the important Berlin manuscript Hamilton 471; it has also been streamlined by the omission of
explanatory material more conveniently accessible in commentaries.
criticus more freely than in the first edition. Punctuation has been improved, spelling has been normalized, and the long poems have been paragraphed. The apparatus criticus now incorporates the reading of the important Berlin manuscript Hamilton 471; it has also been streamlined by the omission of
explanatory material more conveniently accessible in commentaries.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published September 15, 1994
8 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Ovid
2,905 books2,003 followersPublius 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 26, 2013
I was about seventeen, and I was sitting on my own in this movie theater watching Sommaren med Monika, and this guy sat down next to me. He leaned over and started whispering one of the dirtier bits from Amores in my ear. I slapped his face on reflex (I wasn't thinking straight, and it was so weird to switch from Swedish to Latin), and a second later I realized it was my Classics teacher, who I had a major crush on.
We both looked at each other, and then we started giggling helplessly. The other three people in the theater stared at us. We ended up back at his place and I didn't see the end of the movie until I was 32. That's another story.
Anyway, just to say that I love Ovid.
We both looked at each other, and then we started giggling helplessly. The other three people in the theater stared at us. We ended up back at his place and I didn't see the end of the movie until I was 32. That's another story.
Anyway, just to say that I love Ovid.
October 26, 2017
Since I began these in my graduate school Ovid course, they have been my standard for poetry (along with 17C English poets), witty and urbane--mostly in "elegiac" verse form, though far from the requiems previously in that verse form. Donne learned so much from Ovid his famous "The Indifferent" mostly translates, in his first stanza almost literally, Ovid's Amores II.iv. Both tell how they can love the tall women, the short, the smart etc, concluding: "I can love her and her, and you and you,/ I can love any, so she be not true." Ovid has "sive aliqua est," then moves to YOU, "sive es docta." So Donne has "borrowed" his shocking and dramatic shift of pronouns, 3rd to 2nd familiar, one of his noted achievements--from Ovid. ( Although Shakespeare also learned much from Plautus, and Publilius Syrus, his favorite Latin was Ovid, whom Dryden points out writes as in "drama,"with emotions "discomposed.") True, Ovid was banished to the outskirts of the empire partly because of the poems here that compare lovers and soldiers: they both stand outside all night under windows, they both are dedicated, they both...you get the picture.*
Then Ovid adds: So, You go off to war, I'll soldier along at home with the girls. I read this during wartime, and it seemed like a good plan for me,
two millennia later. But Ovid's plan completely undermined the hypocritical Augustus's military policies. (Gibbon says Augustus was so hypocritical that "Even his vices were pretended." Ovid also had something to do with Augustus's alienation from a young female relative.)
It's a sad result of great poetry; Ovid spent his last years amongst barbarians--literally, bearded peoples who did not know Latin,
rather like my generation of grad school Americans. He wrote plaintive verse requests to return to Rome from what's now Constanta, Romania.
Perhaps I should revise my own saying on my Google author page, "Good teachers are fired, great teachers are killed: Socrates, Christ, and Giordano Bruno. Good poets are censored, great poets are banished, unpublished, or shot: Dickinson, Ovid and Pushkin."
*Amores I.IX, shows how risky and wonderful Ovid's poems are. The equivalent today would be:
You guys are great, go to Afghanistan, fight;
I'll stay home with the girls you left behind.
For we lovers are just like you soldiers,
We stand out in the cold all night on watch,
And it's a long hard road to victory
For us both; we both play the lowly part
To come out on top. War is doubtful,
But believe me, Love's no sure thing.
It goes on with great imagination, and leaves you thinking,
You know, he's right. Soldiers and lovers both suffer, but
which has the better reason? You can see why Augustus was pissed, though it's more likely something personal, his daughter's rebellion, he blamed on Ovid. Out at Tomi on the Black Sea, where nobody even spoke Latin, Ovid wrote a whole book of laments trying to get back in Augustus's good graces, Tristia, and then his letters, Epistulae ex Ponto.
PS See my translation of Ars Amatoria 1.149ff (slight adapatation, referring to American football) on Goodreads, my writings.
Then Ovid adds: So, You go off to war, I'll soldier along at home with the girls. I read this during wartime, and it seemed like a good plan for me,
two millennia later. But Ovid's plan completely undermined the hypocritical Augustus's military policies. (Gibbon says Augustus was so hypocritical that "Even his vices were pretended." Ovid also had something to do with Augustus's alienation from a young female relative.)
It's a sad result of great poetry; Ovid spent his last years amongst barbarians--literally, bearded peoples who did not know Latin,
rather like my generation of grad school Americans. He wrote plaintive verse requests to return to Rome from what's now Constanta, Romania.
Perhaps I should revise my own saying on my Google author page, "Good teachers are fired, great teachers are killed: Socrates, Christ, and Giordano Bruno. Good poets are censored, great poets are banished, unpublished, or shot: Dickinson, Ovid and Pushkin."
*Amores I.IX, shows how risky and wonderful Ovid's poems are. The equivalent today would be:
You guys are great, go to Afghanistan, fight;
I'll stay home with the girls you left behind.
For we lovers are just like you soldiers,
We stand out in the cold all night on watch,
And it's a long hard road to victory
For us both; we both play the lowly part
To come out on top. War is doubtful,
But believe me, Love's no sure thing.
It goes on with great imagination, and leaves you thinking,
You know, he's right. Soldiers and lovers both suffer, but
which has the better reason? You can see why Augustus was pissed, though it's more likely something personal, his daughter's rebellion, he blamed on Ovid. Out at Tomi on the Black Sea, where nobody even spoke Latin, Ovid wrote a whole book of laments trying to get back in Augustus's good graces, Tristia, and then his letters, Epistulae ex Ponto.
PS See my translation of Ars Amatoria 1.149ff (slight adapatation, referring to American football) on Goodreads, my writings.
Read
February 10, 2013I had always wanted to read at least one of Ovid's erotic elegies and didactic poems on the art of seduction. This February, in honour of Saint Valentine's Day, I finally had the time and opportunity to obtain this charming anthology with all the LOVE-ly works of his. I opened it up and started the anthology by reading Ars Amatoria even though it was second in the sequence (preceded only by Amores) because Ars Amatoria has been on my "Books To Read Before I Die" list for quite some time.
I must say, I was rather surprised and slightly disappointed by how short it is-- much shorter than what I expected a work of such fame to be. I finished the whole thing in one day, and in episodes-- between errands, meals, and conversations. I could've probably finished it in less than an hour had I devoted a full block of time and attention solely to the book. The unexpected brevity of the work wasn't too distressing, I must say, as it gave me time to go back through underlines and notes, as well as look up names of gods and legends to which the author alludes, that I don't immediately recognize. I was reminded of old heroes I once loved in the Greek classics, as well as introduced to old customs I had not yet ventured in my readings.
Ars Amatoria is followed by Remedia Amores in the anthology, but I jumped to Medicamina Faciei Femineae because it seemed like a more natural trajectory to go from the Art of Love to the Art of Beauty before immediately exploring the cure. I must admit it was the least favorite of mine, perhaps because it did not satisfy my expectations. The title itself-- Art of Beauty -- led me to anticipate a profound analysis on the philosophical branch of aesthetics. Instead, what we get are prescriptions for beauty treatments, common to what you can get in every issue of the tawdriest woman's magazines in the world-- or the beauty boards on Pinterest. It made me wonder-- even worry-- that a man should fancy himself to know more about women's beauty than women themselves. We have plenty of such men in today's fashion world, but they seduce only amongst their own sex. Ovid claims to know not only how to seduce women, but also about women's fashions, beauty, and how they can best seduce and retain men. Quite a prodigy indeed. No wonder he calls himself Apollo's priest and faithful follower of Venus.
He's a bit conceited and somewhat delusional by modern standards, but that's what makes Ovid so much fun to read. He is a relic from that golden past, impossible to replicate today. His poetry is wordy, exaggerated, pompous and false-- as false as his feigned belief in all the gods and goddesses he worships. Yet, he is the first to admit his follies and never makes claim to any virtue. This transparency is what makes his works such a marvel to read. I also love how his writing changes with his mood-- it goes from casual to extremely solemn and poetic. I simply love the elevated language, the mock solemnity, the frequent allusions to Greek classics, and the gems of literary wisdom derived therein.
Remedia Amoris was not disappointing, it remains true to its title and uses medical imagery throughout. A good read for the broken-hearted and blissfully happy alike, for it serves not only as a remedy, but very well as a preventive antidote. Like a vaccine protects the body before disease, so the seeds found therein can someday serve to desensitize a future pain-- for such things do come to pass under the sun, as they have been forever.
Amores was the longest work, and I would say the most pleasant. This work is composed of three books which focus on the poet's relationship with his mistress Corinna. The books are composed of fifteen elegies each, all which describe the various aspects of love, with all its highs and lows, the trysts, tactics, lies, dramas, bliss, the self-imposed sufferings, the indecision, and all the little things that make youth bittersweet and memorable.
Despite the moralistic critiques that the book received in Ovid's time and ever since, the work remains a classic because whether prudes admit it or not, love and sex are universal themes.
"Avaunt! ye prim and prudish ones. No fitting audience, ye, to strains that sing of tender love....Farewell, ye heroes with illustrious names; not yours to bestow, the favours that I crave. But as for you, my charmers, look sweetly on the songs which rosy Cupid singeth in mine ear."
Amores 2.1
I must say, I was rather surprised and slightly disappointed by how short it is-- much shorter than what I expected a work of such fame to be. I finished the whole thing in one day, and in episodes-- between errands, meals, and conversations. I could've probably finished it in less than an hour had I devoted a full block of time and attention solely to the book. The unexpected brevity of the work wasn't too distressing, I must say, as it gave me time to go back through underlines and notes, as well as look up names of gods and legends to which the author alludes, that I don't immediately recognize. I was reminded of old heroes I once loved in the Greek classics, as well as introduced to old customs I had not yet ventured in my readings.
Ars Amatoria is followed by Remedia Amores in the anthology, but I jumped to Medicamina Faciei Femineae because it seemed like a more natural trajectory to go from the Art of Love to the Art of Beauty before immediately exploring the cure. I must admit it was the least favorite of mine, perhaps because it did not satisfy my expectations. The title itself-- Art of Beauty -- led me to anticipate a profound analysis on the philosophical branch of aesthetics. Instead, what we get are prescriptions for beauty treatments, common to what you can get in every issue of the tawdriest woman's magazines in the world-- or the beauty boards on Pinterest. It made me wonder-- even worry-- that a man should fancy himself to know more about women's beauty than women themselves. We have plenty of such men in today's fashion world, but they seduce only amongst their own sex. Ovid claims to know not only how to seduce women, but also about women's fashions, beauty, and how they can best seduce and retain men. Quite a prodigy indeed. No wonder he calls himself Apollo's priest and faithful follower of Venus.
He's a bit conceited and somewhat delusional by modern standards, but that's what makes Ovid so much fun to read. He is a relic from that golden past, impossible to replicate today. His poetry is wordy, exaggerated, pompous and false-- as false as his feigned belief in all the gods and goddesses he worships. Yet, he is the first to admit his follies and never makes claim to any virtue. This transparency is what makes his works such a marvel to read. I also love how his writing changes with his mood-- it goes from casual to extremely solemn and poetic. I simply love the elevated language, the mock solemnity, the frequent allusions to Greek classics, and the gems of literary wisdom derived therein.
Remedia Amoris was not disappointing, it remains true to its title and uses medical imagery throughout. A good read for the broken-hearted and blissfully happy alike, for it serves not only as a remedy, but very well as a preventive antidote. Like a vaccine protects the body before disease, so the seeds found therein can someday serve to desensitize a future pain-- for such things do come to pass under the sun, as they have been forever.
Amores was the longest work, and I would say the most pleasant. This work is composed of three books which focus on the poet's relationship with his mistress Corinna. The books are composed of fifteen elegies each, all which describe the various aspects of love, with all its highs and lows, the trysts, tactics, lies, dramas, bliss, the self-imposed sufferings, the indecision, and all the little things that make youth bittersweet and memorable.
Despite the moralistic critiques that the book received in Ovid's time and ever since, the work remains a classic because whether prudes admit it or not, love and sex are universal themes.
"Avaunt! ye prim and prudish ones. No fitting audience, ye, to strains that sing of tender love....Farewell, ye heroes with illustrious names; not yours to bestow, the favours that I crave. But as for you, my charmers, look sweetly on the songs which rosy Cupid singeth in mine ear."
Amores 2.1
Read
April 29, 2023ovid was craaaaazy for the end of ars 3...
January 26, 2015
What a brilliant author - he completely mocks and brilliantly derides the elegiac genre with his elegies. He uses the tropes of the elegists before him to great effect, but still manages to subvert the genre by making the trials and tribulations of the lover ridiculous. Both the Ars Amatoria and the Amores of Ovid are brilliant - especially the fascinating elegiac/didactic mix one gets in the Ars Amatoria.
September 26, 2008
I have such a love-hate relationship with Ovid going on; I love his writing but the persona (in the Amores and the Ars especially) is completely revolting. I.4 is one of the worst offenders.
Oddly enought I have this image of Ovid-the-person as someone I would really like.
Oddly enought I have this image of Ovid-the-person as someone I would really like.
October 28, 2012
Read this with Brian. I think he picked this book expecting it to be romantic and racy. Instead, we both spent a lot of time giggling at things that likely weren't meant to be funny and railing (not too seriously) against the ever-present misogyny and hypocrisy.
Still, it was an entertaining read.
Still, it was an entertaining read.
October 13, 2011
I'll have you know I only read "Remedia Amoris" and in Danish.
March 13, 2022
"Aestus erat, mediamque dies exegerat horam;
adposui medio membra levanda toro.
pars adaperta fuit, pars altera clausa fenestrae;
quale fere silvae lumen habere solent,
qualia sublucent fugiente crepuscula Phoebo,
aut ubi nox abiit, nec tamen orta dies.
illa verecundis lux est praebenda puellis,
qua timidus latebras speret habere pudor.
ecce, Corinna venit, tunica velata recincta,
candida dividua colla tegente coma—
qualiter in thalamos famosa Semiramis isse
dicitur, et multis Lais amata viris.
Deripui tunicam—nec multum rara nocebat;
pugnabat tunica sed tamen illa tegi.
quae cum ita pugnaret, tamquam quae vincere nollet,
victa est non aegre proditione sua.
ut stetit ante oculos posito velamine nostros,
in toto nusquam corpore menda fuit.
quos umeros, quales vidi tetigique lacertos!
forma papillarum quam fuit apta premi!
quam castigato planus sub pectore venter!
quantum et quale latus! quam iuvenale femur!
Singula quid referam? nil non laudabile vidi
et nudam pressi corpus ad usque meum.
Cetera quis nescit? lassi requievimus ambo.
proveniant medii sic mihi saepe dies!"
adposui medio membra levanda toro.
pars adaperta fuit, pars altera clausa fenestrae;
quale fere silvae lumen habere solent,
qualia sublucent fugiente crepuscula Phoebo,
aut ubi nox abiit, nec tamen orta dies.
illa verecundis lux est praebenda puellis,
qua timidus latebras speret habere pudor.
ecce, Corinna venit, tunica velata recincta,
candida dividua colla tegente coma—
qualiter in thalamos famosa Semiramis isse
dicitur, et multis Lais amata viris.
Deripui tunicam—nec multum rara nocebat;
pugnabat tunica sed tamen illa tegi.
quae cum ita pugnaret, tamquam quae vincere nollet,
victa est non aegre proditione sua.
ut stetit ante oculos posito velamine nostros,
in toto nusquam corpore menda fuit.
quos umeros, quales vidi tetigique lacertos!
forma papillarum quam fuit apta premi!
quam castigato planus sub pectore venter!
quantum et quale latus! quam iuvenale femur!
Singula quid referam? nil non laudabile vidi
et nudam pressi corpus ad usque meum.
Cetera quis nescit? lassi requievimus ambo.
proveniant medii sic mihi saepe dies!"
Read
February 23, 200920 March 43 BCE – 17/8 (CE)
16 BCE – 1 BCE/CE
Rolfe Humphries, trans
Romantic to the core, he lacked one quality we are inclined to impute to romantics, the sense of loneliness and frustration, the spirit of protest against the time. Ovid dearly loved his time, …
16 BCE – 1 BCE/CE
Rolfe Humphries, trans
Romantic to the core, he lacked one quality we are inclined to impute to romantics, the sense of loneliness and frustration, the spirit of protest against the time. Ovid dearly loved his time, …
April 19, 2011
For all your troubles having to do with love - still applicable today, to some extent! Very funny.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews