Ovid Quotes Flashcards
Ars Amatoria 3, part 1 quote (Betray the sheepfold)
“Someone will say: ‘Why add venom to the snake, and betray the sheepfold to the rabid she-wolf?’”
(Anxiety around women having sexual autonomy)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 4 quote (How near I was)
“How near I was to warning you, no rankness of the wild goat under your armpits … But I’m not teaching girls from the Caucasian hills … So why remind you not to let your teeth get blackened..”
(Beauty standards for women given through paralipsis, aka emphasising something by claiming you don’t need to/aren’t speaking about it)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 4 quote (Its hidden face)
”.. don’t let your lover find cosmetic bottles on your dressing table: art delights in its hidden face.”
(Imperative, common in this text as it is (maybe satirically) didactic)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 4 quote (The crowd’s not allowed to approach)
”..the crowd’s not allowed to approach them till they’re done, and till your beauty’s ready, banish men.”
(Female beauty as a performance)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 5 quote (They have their dowry)
“The beautiful ones don’t seek art and instruction, they have their dowry..”
(Implies this text is not for naturally beautiful women. Insulting its audience?)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 5 quote (If you’re short)
“If you’re short, sit down … if you’re very slender, wear a full dress … those with strong breath don’t talk when you’re fasting..”
(Listing of physical defects and how to ‘fix’ them. To the point of satire, or a legitimate attempt at advice?)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 6 quote (A fatal error)
“If your teeth are blackened, large, or not in line from birth, laughing would be a fatal error.”
(Hyperbolic, tricolon)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 6 quote (They’re taught to cry)
“Where does art not penetrate? They’re taught to cry … they weep when and how they wish.”
Ars Amatoria 3, part 6 quote (Your lower shoulder)
”..let the parts of your lower shoulder and upper arm … be naked … I want to kiss your shoulder, as far as it is shown.”
(Ovid brings in personal voice/preference and first person pronouns. Acting as spokesperson for all men.)
(creepy. put him in the bottomless pit)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 7 quote (Ulysses)
“The Sirens were sea-monsters, who, with singing voice, could restrain a ship … Ulysses, your body nearly melted hearing them..”
(Use of myth to emphasise his point, that being, learn to sing)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 7 quote (Our master’s song)
”..someone will say: ‘Read our master’s cultured song, in which he teaches both the sexes..’”
(Possible deliberate subversion of the didactic genre as Ovid is being very personal and frivolous, referring to himself as a master)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 8 quote (You rolled dice)
”..you rolled dice … sometimes thinking, closely, how to advance craftily, how to challenge.”
(Love/seduction as a tactical game)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 9 quote (The arcades)
“Visit … the arcades Livia, Caesar’s wife, and his sister Octavia, started, and his son-in-law Agrippa’s, crowned with naval honours..”
(Catalogue. Places for women to be seen and seduce men, scandalous to refer to the imperial family/areas related to them for this practice)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 9 quote (A husband’s funeral)
“Often a lover’s found at a husband’s funeral: walking with loosened hair and unchecked weeping suits you.”
(Completely undermining institution of marriage, more evidence for satire due to its shocking nature?)
Ars Amatoria 3, part 10 quote (A man more delicate)
“Woman, what can you do with a man more delicate than you, and one perhaps who has more lovers too?”
(Beware more effeminate or vapid men, manipulation was seen as a female trait and they would likely embody that too)