Ovid 10

Question 1

quid mihi, Livor edax ignavos obicis annos ingeniique vocas carmen inertis opus non me more patrum dum stenua aetas praemia militiae pulverulenta sequi nec me verbosa leges ediscere nec me ingrato vocem prostituisse foro?

Answer 1

Why, gnawing Envy, do you reproach me with years of laziness and call my poetry the work of an idle talent complaining that I do not pursue the dusty rewards of military service in the manner of our forefathers while vigorous youth sustains me, or learn by heart wordy laws or prostitute my voice in the ungrateful Forum

The poem begins with a series of questions aimed at the personification of envy

Question 2

Livor edax

Answer 2

Gnawing envy

The personification of envy- this shows the negative nature of envy as it is emphasised by the description of gnawing

Question 3

ignavos annos

Answer 3

years of laziness

supposed critisisims of his work

Question 4

ingenii intertis opus

Answer 4

the work of ideal talent

supposed criticisms of his work

Question 5

praemia militiae pulverulenta

Answer 5

the dusty rewards of military service

Ovid underminds the military by saying their rewards are dirty

Question 6

dum strenua sustinet aetas

Answer 6

while vigorous youth stains me

Question 7

verbosa leges

Answer 7

wordy laws

Here ovid is dissproving of lawyers

Question 8

vocem prostituisse

Answer 8

prosicute my voice

Here ovid is making fun and disproving of politicans

Question 9

mihi fama perennis quaeritur, in toto semper ut orbe canar

Answer 9

but I seek everlasting fame, that I may be extolled forever in the whole world

Just as a hero in epic poetry wants to be sung about or remembered for his deeds this is ovid’s way of being remembered by his poetry

Question 10

vivet Maeonides, Tenedos dum satbit et Ide, dum repidas Simois in mare aquas

Answer 10

Maeonia’s sone will live, while Tenedos and Ida stand and Simois rolls its swift waters to the sea

This is a refference to Homer

Question 11

vivet et Ascraeus, dum mustis uva tumebit dum cadet incurva falce resecta Ceres

Answer 11

The poet of Ascra too will live while the grape swells with juice and the corn cut by the curved sickle falls

this is a refferece to Hesiod

Question 12

Battiades semper toto cantabitur orbe: quamvis ingenio non valet, arte valet

Answer 12

The son of Battus will be extolled forever in the whole world though he is not mighty in tallent he is mighty in art

This is a reffence to callimachus

Question 13

nulla Sophocleo venit iacttura conthurno

Answer 13

No harm will come to the buskin of Sophocles

This is a refference to Sophocles who was an Athenian tragic play write

Question 14

cum sole et luna Aratus erit

Answer 14

Aratus will live forever together with the sun and moon

Refference to Aratus who was a poet who wrote about astronomy

Question 15

dum fallax servus, durus pater, improbla lena vivent et meretrix blanda, Menandros erit

Answer 15

Menamder will live while the tricky slave lives and the stern father, the shameless bawd and the alluring prostitute

Refference to Menander who was a famous greek writer of comedies

Question 16

Ennius arte carens

Answer 16

Ennius lacking in art

Ennius was a latin writer of epic

Question 17

animosique Accius oris casurum nullo tempore nomen habent

Answer 17

and Accius of the spirited tounge have a fame that will never fall

Accius was a roman writer of tragedy

Question 18

Varronem piramque ratem quae nesciet aetas aureaque Aesonio terga petita duci

Answer 18

What age will not know of Varro and the first ship and the golden fleece sought by the Aesonian chief

Varro was a roman poet who composed an Argonautica

Question 19

carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti exito terras cum dabit una dies

Answer 19

The poems of lofty Lucretius are destined to perish only when one day commits the world to ruin

Aesonius was the sone of Aeson i.e. Jason

Question 20

Tityrus et fruges Aeneiaque arma legentur

Answer 20

Tityrus and the crops and the arms of Aeneas will find their reader

Lucretius was the writer of De Rerum Natura, and explained Epicurean philosophy. The Epicureans believed that this is just one of many universes. After one is destroyed another one may be created out of the same matter

Question 21

Roma triumphati dum caput orbis erit

Answer 21

While Rome is capital of the conquered earth

Propaganda

Question 21

Why does Ovid make reference to different poets?

Answer 21

He is making the point that writers live on through their poems and writings and remain famous so he lists some examples and hopes for this to be him.

This is a reference to Aeneas which is the work of Virgil which is so famous that the poet does not need to be named, thereby proving Ovid’s point

Question 22

ingens… arcus… arma… triumphati

Answer 22

torch… bow… weapons…conquered

Military language ingnes= fire of love as well as war/battle

Question 23

Gallus et Hesperiis et Gallus notus Eois et sua cum Gallo nota Lycoris erit

Answer 23

Gallus will be famed both in the west and in the east and with Gallus will his Lycoris be famed

Gallus was a Roman love poet- the ‘missing link’- greatly influential writer whose works do not survive except for a few lines. He gave his girl the name Lycoris

Question 24

ergo cum silices dens patientis aratri depereant aevo carmina morte carent

Answer 24

So through rocks and the share of the long lasting plough perish with time poetry is free from death

Reference to life on the land, that of a farmer; imagery suggests long lasting material, the metal plough, but even these do not last/ are destroyed by time

Question 25

mihi flavus Apollo pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua

Answer 25

but to me may golden- haired Apollo serve cups filled from the Castilian spring

Ovid is returning to life as a poet. The epithet of Apollo has already been met in poem one. The spring of Castilian on mount Parnassus was where Delphi was situated and is famous and sacred to Apollo

Question 26

sustineamque coma metuentem frigora myrtum

Answer 26

and may I wear on my hair the myrtle that fears the frost

Again the plant of myrtle which is sacred to venus has been mentioned before

Question 27

metuentem frigora

Answer 27

fearing frost

appropriate attribute for a plant connected with the heat of passion

Question 28

atque a sollicito multus amante legar

Answer 28

and be much read by anxious lovers

He is saying that once he is gone people will turn to his work for help

Question 29

pascitur in vivis Livor; post fata quiescit

Answer 29

Envy feeds on the living; after death it is silent

These lines echo the last lines in poem 1 creating a ring composition. The personification of Envy reappears at the end of the poem And the imegery of ‘pascitur’ feeds pickes up on the adjective ‘edax’ gnawing in line 1 of this poem

Question 30

ergo etiam cum me supremus adederit ingis

Answer 30

So, even when the final flame has consumed me

This is a pun on fire- fire of his cremation has consumed him but also fire of love/ passion. ‘adederit’ meaning consume is an echo of ‘edax’ gnawing on line one of the poem

Question 31

vivam, parsque mei multa superstes erit

Answer 31

I shall live and a considerable part of me will survive

The message Ovid wants to complete his first book with is everything passes or dies but poets will always be remembered

Question 32

supremis ignis

Answer 32

final flame

Question 33

vivam

Answer 33

I will live

Question 34

legar

Answer 34

I will be read