by Peter Jones
Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which a third person narrative reverts to the second person (‘A did this, and B did this, and C did this, and you, B, said’, cf. [Mercury killed Argus] ‘and you, Argus, lie there’, Arge, iacēs, 1.720).
Asyndeton: a figure of speech in which conjunctions (especially ‘and’) are omitted (e.g. ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’, cf. ō soror, ō coniunx, ō fēmina sōla superstes, ‘O sister, O wife, O sole remaining female’ 1.351).
Chiasmus: two corresponding pairs of words or phrases placed ‘criss-cross’, i.e. in the order ABBA (‘You (A) I love (B), I hate (B) him (A)’, cf. nōs (A) turba (B) sumus (C), possēdit (C) cētera (B) pontus (A), 1.355).
Clause: a speech unit with a subject and finite verb (a main clause or subordinate clause, e.g. ‘Charlotte said this’, ‘When Charlotte said this’).
Golden line: a line of poetry in which two nouns, each with an adjective in agreement, and a verb are placed in the order A B (verb) A B or A B (verb) B A (‘The winds in her face ruffled her clothes against her’, obuiaque (A) aduersās (B) uibrābant (V) flāmina (A) uestēs (B), 1.528).
Hyperbaton: the upsetting of the natural word-order (e.g. ‘Pleasures the sex as children birds pursue’ [Pope], i.e. ‘The sex [=women] pursue pleasures as children [pursue] birds’, cf. ‘the naked nymphs, the man seen, beat their breasts’, nūdae uīsō sua pectora nymphae / percussēre uirō, 3.178).
Oxymoron: an apparently contradictory use of words, producing a paradoxical fusion (e.g. ‘Wisest fool in Christendom’; ‘save me from this seductive curse’, speciōsōque ēripe damnō, 11.133).
Phrase: a speech unit without a main verb (e.g. ‘Saying this, Charlotte . . .’, ‘In Charlotte’s house’).
Polyptoton: a sequence in which the same word is used in different forms (‘torus iūnxit, nunc ipsa perīcula iungunt, ‘the marriage-bed linked, now dangers themselves link’, 1.353).
Syllepsis: a figure of speech in which a word is used correctly both in syntax and meaning in relation to two other words, but in such a way as to produce an amusing effect (e.g. ‘he took tea and a taxi’; ‘he ejected him from his life and chariot’, animāque rotīsque / expulit, 2.312–13).
Tetracolon: a four-fold repetition of the sort described under ‘Tricolon’ (quam commūne mihī genus et patruēlis orīgō, / dnde torus iūnxit, nunc ipsa perīcula iungunt, ‘whom shared race (1) and brotherhood of fathers (2), then the marriage-bed (3) linked, now dangers themselves (4) link’, 1.353).
Tricolon: a unit of words, phrases or clauses repeated three times; often ‘rising’ (each element getting longer), sometimes ‘decreasing’, and regularly used with asyndeton (e.g.‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’) and anaphora (‘O sister, O wife, O sole remaining female’, ō soror, ō coniunx, ō fēmina sōla superstes, 1.351).
Notes for the reader
Text-markings
1. In general, the text has been over-punctuated in an attempt to clarify word-groups.
2. Macra (s. macron; i.e. syllables pronounced long) are marked throughout, e.g. ā, ē, etc. hc and c are taken as one syllable, hus and cus as two syllables.
3. (a) Words to be taken together for translation purposes (almost always because they agree) are linked A^ . . . ^B. Thus:
redditus orbis erat; quem^ postquam uīdit ^inānem
et dēsōlātās^ agere alta silentia ^terrās
i.e. quem agrees with inānem, dēsōlātās agrees with terrās.
(b) When more than two words are so linked, the sequence continues A^ . . . ^B . . . ^C . . . ^D, etc. Thus:
haec^ quoque adhūc uītae nōn est ^fīdūcia nostrae
^certa satis
i.e. haec agrees with fīdūcia and certa.
The sequence A^ . . . ^B . . . C^ . . . ^D would mean that A agrees with B, and C agrees with D.
(c) When other words agree inside the ^ . . . ^ pattern, A* . . . *B is used. Thus:
haec^ quoque adhūc uītae* nōn est ^fīdūcia *nostrae
^certa satis
i.e. uītae agrees with nostrae.
Note that these linking-marks are gradually phased out.
4. An underlined vowel is to be disregarded for the purpose of scansion (see below on ‘Metre’). Thus:
haec^ quoque adhūc uītae* nōn est ^fīdūcia *nostrae
The e of quoque is to be disregarded. This convention is discontinued after passage 3.
Vocabulary, Grammar and Notes (VGN)
A running VGN accompanies each passage. It cross-refers users to the Grammars of two commonly used beginners’ Latin courses:
RL = Peter Jones and Keith Sidwell, Reading Latin: Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986). A plain number, e.g. RL88, refers to sections of the Running Grammar; letter + number, e.g. RLA4, refers to the Reference Grammar at the back.
W = F.M.Wheelock, Wheelock’s Latin (sixth edn., rev. R. A. LaFleur, New York: HarperCollins, 2000). The number, e.g. W38, refers to the grammatical chapters; Suppl.Syntax = Supplementary syntax.
It is assumed that students will know the meaning of those words which RL and W between them share as set to be learned (so if any word appears for learning in RL but not in W, and vice-versa, it will not be assumed that it has been learned). All those shared words are in the Total Learning Vocabulary at the back of this book (pp. 255–69), and are not glossed in the running VGN that accompanies each passage. All other words are glossed in the running VGN.
In passages 1–8, words marked with an * in the running VGN must be learned because they will not appear in the VGN again. These words are listed from time to time in alphabetical order within the VGN, under the heading Learning Vocabulary (e.g. p. 34). At the end of each passage’s VGN, all the words listed under Learning Vocabulary are repeated as Learning Vocabulary for Passage X (e.g. p. 42). All these words have also been added to the Total Learning Vocabulary, in case you forget them.
From passage 9 onwards, there will still be words marked * in the VGN. These will be gathered in the Learning Vocabulary for Passage X at the end of the passage’s VGN. These will be words which, while (obviously) not appearing in the Total Learning Vocabulary, appear more than once in that passage. However, we assume no learning carry-over of these words into any other passage in passages 9–16. As a result, if they appear again in any other passage, they will be glossed. The consequence of this decision is: read passages 1–8 first. From then on, all words not in the Total Learning Vocabulary will be glossed.
In passages 12–19, there is a modest further refinement. Words whose meaning is guessable because they are compounds of words you (should) already know, or because they are very close to English, appear in their dictionary form in the VGN but are not glossed. Instead, they are marked with an *. For example, you should by then be thoroughly familiar with amplector ‘I embrace’. When therefore you meet amplexū, it appears as amplex-us ūs 4m.*, and you will have to work out what it means.
Since Ovid is dealing with Greek myths, he frequently uses Greek names for people and places. But Greek nouns do not decline like Latin. Therefore the Greek form and its case will be glossed in full.
For information, many Greek nouns take a nom. s. in -ōn or -ēs, acc. s. in -ēn or -a, nom. pl. in -es and acc. pl. in -as (note the short vowels). Also common are forms ending in -adēs and -idēs meaning ‘son/descendant of’ (patronymic, ‘father-name’, is the technical term).
Translating Ovid
Latin generally subordinates phrases and clauses (‘Prayers having been said, they went home’), while English tends to pile them up (‘They said prayers and went home’).
Ovid often uses ‘poetic’ plurals where we would use the singular, e.g. Thisbe embraces the dead Pyramus, gelidīs in uultibus ōscula fīgēns ‘planting kisses on his cold face(s)’ (4.141).
Ovid favours syncopated perfect forms, e.g. agitāsse for agitāvisse, tetigēre for tetigērunt.
The relative often precedes the word to which it is referring. Consider (2.309
–10):
sed neque quās^ posset terrīs indūcere ^nūbēs
tunc habuit, nec quos^ caelō dēmitteret ^imbrēs
‘But [Jupiter] neither what^ he was able to draw over the lands ^clouds / then he had, nor what^ from the sky he might let fall ^showers’, i.e. Jupiter then had neither clouds which he was able to draw over the lands, nor showers which he might let fall from the sky.
Metre
Heavy and light syllables
1. In Latin verse, every syllable counts for the sake of the metre as either heavy or light.
2. Heavy syllables consist of:
(a) vowels that are pronounced long, e.g. dēsōlātās – four vowels pronounced long and therefore four heavy syllables.
(b) vowels that are followed by two consonants or a double consonant (x, z) e.g. ingentēs – the first two syllables are heavy as the vowel of each is followed by two consonants, the last vowel is pronounced long and the syllable is therefore heavy. Observe that the rule holds even if words are divided. For example, et is light, but would become heavy in et fugit, because e is then followed by two consonants, t and f.
NB Observe the rule for the formation of syllables: a syllable starts with a consonant if it can. So the three syllables of ingentes are in-gen-tēs (not e.g. ing-ent-ēs). This means that, technically speaking, a syllable ending in a consonant is heavy, because (by the rule) if a syllable ends in a consonant, the next syllable must begin with a consonant.
(c) a short vowel followed by a mute consonant (p, b, ph, f; t, d, th; k, c, g, ch) + l or r may remain light or become heavy. See e.g. lacrimīs, patruēlis (350 and 352 below), where the initial a in both cases is short and the syllable is light.
(d) diphthongs, e.g. Dcaliōn – first syllable heavy as it is a diphthong, last syllable heavy by pronunciation.
3. All other syllables are light, e.g. nūbila mentem – nū heavy by pronunciation, bi light, la light, men heavy as e is followed by two consonants, tem light. Cf. Dcaliōn, where ca and li are light.
4. h does not count as a consonant for metrical purposes. So et in et habuit scans light.
5. i and u sometimes count as vowels, sometimes as consonants like the English j and v. Thus for metrical purposes coniunx = conjunx, uideō = videō, Iuppiter = Juppiter, Iūnō = Jūnō, etc. x (ks) and z (ds) count as two consonants.
6. Some vowels admit of alternative lengths. For example, both vowels in mihi, tibi and sibi are usually pronounced short, but can be pronounced short-long, where they will be so marked (mihī, tibī and sibī).
Elision
7. If a word ends in a vowel or -m, and is followed by a word beginning with a vowel or h, the final vowel is elided (lit. ‘crushed’) and does not count for the purpose of the metre. Observe:
ego et tū for metrical purposes = eg et tū
quam et for metrical purposes = qu et
cum habēs for metrical purposes = c abēs
8. ‘Hiatus’ (‘yawning gap’) is the term applied when elision is not observed. An example is passage 1, l.363 ō utinam, where ō is not elided, and is thus ‘in hiatus’.
Pronunciation
9. The pronunciation of a syllable is affected only by whether the vowel is long or short, not by whether it is heavy or light. Thus et is short. It is therefore pronounced short. If it becomes heavy because it is followed by a consonant, e.g. et fugit, it is still pronounced short. There are no circumstances in which you would ever pronounce it long, ēt. Thus, in this text of Ovid’s, all single vowels pronounced long are marked long (and automatically count heavy for scansion purposes). All other vowels are pronounced short, though (like et in et fugit) they may be heavy for the purposes of scansion.
Exercise
Read the first twenty lines of passage 1, pronouncing all syllables short except where they are marked as long.
The hexameter
10. Ovid’s Metamorphōsēs is composed in hexameters (‘six metra/feet’). This consists of a metron/foot called a ‘dactyl’ (heavy-light-light, – ˘ ˘, tum-ti-ti) and a metron/foot called a ‘spondee’ (heavy-heavy, – –, tum-tum), on the following pattern:
In other words, the first four ‘feet’ can be a dactyl or a spondee. Foot 5 is virtually always a dactyl, and foot 6 a spondee, though the last syllable is allowed to be short.
Caesura
11. There is nearly always a division between words in the third or fourth foot of the hexameter. This is called ‘caesura’ (from caedō, ‘I cut’), e.g.
Exercises
A. Examine carefully the opening lines of passage 1 (‘long’ pronunciation marks removed), here scanned for you. Underlined vowels are elided and do not count for the purpose of scansion; caesuras are marked //
rēddĭtŭs ōrbĭs ĕrāt;// quēm pōstquām uīdĭt ĭnānĕm
ēt dēsōlātās // ăgĕre āltă sĭlēntĭā tērrās,
Dcălĭōn lăcrĭmĭs // ĭtă Prrham ādfātŭr ŏobōrtīs:
350
‘ō sŏrŏr, ō cōniunx, // ō fēmĭnă sōlă sŭpērstĕs,
quām cōmmūnĕ mĭhī // gĕnŭs ĕt pătrŭēlĭs ŏrĭgō,
deīndĕ tŏrūs iūnxīt, // nūnc īpsă pĕrīcŭlă iūngūnt.
tērrārūm, quāscūmquĕ // uĭdēnt ōccāsŭs ĕt ōrtŭs,
nōs dŭŏ tūrbă sŭmūs; // pōssēdīt cētĕră pōntŭs.
355
B. Now scan the following lines. Hints:
(i) Every new foot must begin -.
(ii) If a foot begins – ˘, the next syllable must be ˘ and the next -.
(iii) The last five syllables of a line will virtually always scan – ˘ ˘ – – or – ˘ ˘ – ˘.
(iv) Check for elisions.
(v) Mark caesuras in the third or fourth foot.
haec quoque adhuc uitae non est fiducia nostrae
certa satis; terrent etiam nunc nubila mentem.
quis tibi, si sine me fatis erepta fuisses,
nunc animus, miseranda, foret? quo sola timorem
ferre modo posses? quo consolante doleres?
Effect of the metre
12. Galinsky (1975, 21) neatly summarises the effect of Ovid’s use of metre. See also Anderson (1972, 24–30) for more detail:
Ovid’s favourite arrangement of dactyls and spondees in the first four feet of the hexameter is exactly the reverse of Virgil’s. The eight most frequent patterns in the Metamorphōsēs exhibit an average ratio of twenty dactyls to twelve spondees; in the Aeneid, it is exactly the other way around. These eight patterns account for 81.62 per cent of Ovid’s verses. All eight have an initial dactyl. Only one of the eight uses more than two spondees, as compared to three of eight in the Aeneid. Ovid makes far less use of elision, again quite in contrast to Virgil, who ‘made elision one of the important features of his hexameter, using it frequently and with great art to interlock phrases and reinforce the complexity of his design’. (1972, 26)
Furthermore, Ovid is intent on combining sense-units with metrical units. Phrases or clauses that form a meaningful unit do not overrun the major caesuras of the hexameter nearly as often as they do in Virgil. The result is that the narrative is perspicuous and flows along smoothly and quickly. It is worth quoting Brooks Otis’ succinct, if slightly exaggerated, summary:
In a word, Ovid puts in everything (dactyls, regular pauses, coincidence of ictus and accent, rhyme, alliteration, grammatical simplicity and concision) that will speed up and lighten; leaves out everything (elision, spondees, grammatical complexity, clash of accent and ictus, overrunning of metrical by sense unit) that will slow down and encumber his verse.
Suggestions for further reading
The Main text section contains almost nothing written after 1990 because I consider much modern literary scholarship on Metamorphōsēs to be rather too advanced for the intended readers of this book, although I have included examples of what it has to offer. The Study sections, however, refer to modern works from time to time and the books quoted there appear in the Study section below.
Main text
/>
Anderson, W. S. 1972. Ovid’s Metamorphoses Books 6–10 (Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press)
1997. Ovid’s Metamorphoses Books 1–5 (Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press)
Anderson, W. S. and Frederick, M. P. 1998. Selections from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (White Plains, N.Y.: Prentice Hall)
Barkan, L. 1986. The Gods Made Flesh (New Haven and London: Yale University Press)
Binns, J.W. (ed.) 1973. Ovid (London: Routledge)
Brown, S. A. 1999. The Metamorphosis of Ovid: From Chaucer to Ted Hughes (London: Duckworth)
Due, O. S. 1974. Changing Forms: Studies in the Metamorphoses of Ovid (Copenhagen: Gyldendal)
Galinsky, G. K. 1975. Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Oxford: Blackwell)
Henderson, A. A. R. 1979. Ovid Metamorphoses III (Bristol: Bristol Classical Press)
Hill, D. E. 1985. Ovid: Metamorphoses I–IV (Warminster: Aris and Phillips)
1992. Ovid: Metamorphoses V–VIII (Warminster: Aris and Phillips)
1999. Ovid: Metamorphoses IX–XII (Warminster: Aris and Phillips)
Hollis, A. S. 1970. Ovid: Metamorphoses Book VIII (Oxford: Clarendon Press)
Jestin, C. A. and Katz, P. B. 2000. Ovid: Amores, Metamorphoses: Selections (2nd edn., Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci)
Kenney, E. J., in Kenney, E. J. and Clausen, W. V. (eds.) 1982. The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, II.420–57 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Lee, A. G. 1953, 1984. Ovid: Metamorphoses I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953; repr. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press, 1984)
Mack, S. 1988. Ovid (New Haven and London: Yale University Press)
Martindale, C. (ed.) 1988. Ovid Renewed (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
