Ovid 1

Question 1

arma gravi numero violentaque bella perebam

Answer 1

I was preparing to tell in solid rhythm of arms and violent wars

words, sounds, rhythm all combine to remind the reader of the opening of Virgil’s Aeneid: arma virumque cano, Troiae qui pirmus ab orbis . Ovid wittily misdirects the reader about the nature of the poetry which follows

Question 2

bella

Answer 2

war

a word with pun potential as it usually is used for the meaning of beautiful girl but is used here to mean war

Question 3

modis…par erat…suripere

Answer 3

matching…was equal…stolen away

All references to the joke about each line of hexameter being equal, now elegiac couplets are not, Cupid has stolen a foot

Question 4

risisse Cupido dicitur atque unum suripusse pedem

Answer 4

but Cupid is said to have laughed and stolen away one foot

Play on words to give image that Cupid took away a foot so he cant write about epic poetry

Question 5

quis tibi, saeve puer dedit hoc in carmina iuris? Pieridum vates, non tua, turba sumus

Answer 5

who gave you, cruel boy this right over poetry? We bards are the throng of the Muses, not yours

Ovid is questioning cupid. Ovid parodies the typical inspirational encounter between poet and divine being . He is the poet, cupid the god. Notice Ovid’s rude and disrespectful tone to the god. It is a direct message to Cupid making the encounter vivid as if he is actually talking to cupid. A bard is a word with religious overtones of prophet spokesman for the gods

Question 6

quid si paraeripiat flave Venus arma Minerva ventilet accensas flava Minerva faces?

Answer 6

What if Venus seized the weapons of golden haired Minerva and golden haired Minerva fanned the light torches

One of the list of examples of mixing up the epithets of the gods typical of Ovid, here suggesting gods have different roles than for which they are known for. Roman students practiced this in rhetoric class so they could produce examples to back up in an argument and find a variety of ways in which to express them. It is wrong to associate cupid with aspiring poets just as it is wrong to mix up the gods.
Minerva known for her weapons and flowing golden hair is being mixed up with Venus the godess of love and her love torches

Question 7

quis probet in silivis Cererem regnare iugosis lege pharetratae Virginis arva coli

Answer 7

Who would approve of Ceres’ reigning in the mountain forests while the fields were tilled under the rule of the maiden with the quiver

One of the list of examples of mixing up the epithets of the gods typical of Ovid, here suggesting gods have different roles than for which they are known for. Roman students practiced this in rhetoric class so they could produce examples to back up in an argument and find a variety of ways in which to express them. It is wrong to associate cupid with aspiring poets just as it is wrong to mix up the gods.
Ceres goddess of corps and harvest, tilling the land is mixed up with Diana the goddess of hunting known for carrying a quiver

Question 8

crinibus insignem quis acuta cuspide Phoebum instruat, Aniam Marte movente lyram

Answer 8

Who would equip Phoebus of the splendid locks with sharp pointed spear while Mars strummed the Aonian lyre

One of the list of examples of mixing up the epithets of the gods typical of Ovid, here suggesting gods have different roles than for which they are known for. Roman students practiced this in rhetoric class so they could produce examples to back up in an argument and find a variety of ways in which to express them. It is wrong to associate cupid with aspiring poets just as it is wrong to mix up the gods.
Apollo god of poetry and music often depicted playing the lyre is mixed up with Mars the god of war
As well as mixing up the epithets ingenious word play is used to emphasise the swapping of roles

Question 9

vates

Answer 9

throng

Ovid uses this grand rather pretentious word to describe his role as a poet

Question 10

Pieridum

Answer 10

of the Muses

Genitive plural. The title of the Muses means daughter of Pierus

Question 11

Aoniam

Answer 11

Aonian

This shows that the lyre belongs to Aonia which is apollos favourite hunting place

Question 12

Marte movente

Answer 12

Mars strummed

the alliteration of m highlights the twinging of the lyre

Question 13

crinibus insignem

Answer 13

splendid locks

By placing this at the start of the line it delys the mention of Apollo there for giving time for the audience to figure out who he could be talking about

Question 14

sunt tibi magna puer nimique potentia regna

Answer 14

You have a great kingdom my boy and a too powerful one

Epic sounding phrase which contrasts with the disrespectful- but accurate- cupid’s power will be picked up later in the poem and in poem 2 where Ovid highlights the idea of cupid capturing and wounding lovers

Question 15

cur opus adfectas ambitiose novum

Answer 15

why do you aspire to in your own ambition to a further undertaking

Asking cupid to leave him alone because he doesnt want to be inspired be him

Question 16

tuum…tua…tuta

Answer 16

yours…yours…safe

alliteration of t suggests he is spitting out these words showing his irritation

Question 17

Heliconia tempe

Answer 17

glades of Helicon

valley of Helicon. Home of the Muses in Greece

Question 18

tumm…tua sunt Heliconia tempe

Answer 18

your…are the glades of Helicion yours?

Repetition of the word ‘your’ and alliteration along with continued questioning continues to highlight Ovids anger/irritation

Question 19

cum bene surrexit versu nova pagina primo attenuat nervous proximus ille meos

Answer 19

each time that a new page starts well for me with the first line that second line diminishes my power

Again referring to the change in metre, but these lines do have another meaning: nervus can mean strength, muscle, literary vigour but Ovid is also reffering to something else of a man that can rise and fall

Question 20

numeris levioribus

Answer 20

lighter rhythm

levis is often used to refer to love poetry that it is of lower status than the solemn heavy metre of epic poetry which would be described as gravis

Question 21

puer…puella

Answer 21

boy…girl

Ovid complains that he is not in love and so does not have any material for poetry ‘boy meets girl’

Question 22

questus eram pharetra cum protinus ille soluta legit in exitium spicula facta meum lunavitque genu sinuosum fortier arcum “quod” que “canas,vates,accipe” dixit “opus!”

Answer 22

I had uttered this complaint when forthwith he opened his quiver and selected arrows which had been made for my destruction. He strongly bent his curving bow on his knee and said “Take this bard as a subject for your poems”

Ovid stops talking to Cupid and now paints a cartoon-like picture of Cupid kneeling down and taking aim at Ovid to wound him with his bow and arrow to make him fall in love.
Ovid is being melodramatic
Compares the shape of the bow being drawn back to the moon
Ovid describes this to make him not seem weak

Question 23

quod…cansas, vates, accipe…opus

Answer 23

Take this bard as a subject for your poems

Note the short stacatto words spoken by cupid. The rhythm fits the effort of attaching the arrow, bending of the bow and firing. Also Cupid’s sarcastic use of the pretentious word vates -your poems, and the double meaning and position of opus- subject as if he is mocking Ovid’s claim to be writing serious epic

Question 24

me miserum

Answer 24

Alas

Melodramatic tone. Love poets are often said to be always unhappy because of unrequited love or because they endure so much pain from being in love

Question 25

uror

Answer 25

I’m on fire

Fire/burning imagery is often associated with passion, the heat of love and therefore sometimes the pain

Question 26

vacuo

Answer 26

empty

Ovid has an empty heart because he his not in love at the moment

Question 27

regnat Amour

Answer 27

Love reigns

By personifying Love it highlights the dominance of its power

Question 28

sex mihi surgat opus numeris in quinque residat ferrea cum vestris bella valete modis cingere litorea flaventia tempora myrto Musa per undendos emodulanda pedes

Answer 28

Let my work rise in six feet and fall again in five. Iron wars with your metre, farewell. Garland your golden brow, my Muse with myrtle from the sea-shore for you are to be measured off in eleven foot lengths

Ovid tries to return to the idea of the metre again recalling the beginning of the poem. He describes the metrical effect of adding a pentameter to the hexameter which is an anti climax in his view. He bids farewell to epic poetry- valete. He seems preoccupied with matters of poetic techniques. The poem closes as it opened with reference to poetic techniques which is an example of ring composition

Question 29

myrto

Answer 29

myrtle

A tree which grows by the sea and is associated with Venus goddess of Love who was born out of the sea shore in Cyprus. this will recur in subsequent poems

Question 30

Plot explain

Answer 30

-Ovid complains of Cupid stealing a foot so he cant write epic poetry
-Ovid mixes up the epithets of the gods
-Ovid doesn’t have anything to write about
-Imagery of Cupid shooting arrow at him
-Talks about foot again