Ovid Quotes

Question 1

Ars Amatoria 3, part 1 quote (Betray the sheepfold)

Answer 1

“Someone will say: ‘Why add venom to the snake, and betray the sheepfold to the rabid she-wolf?’”
(Anxiety around women having sexual autonomy)

Question 2

Ars Amatoria 3, part 4 quote (How near I was)

Answer 2

“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)

Question 3

Ars Amatoria 3, part 4 quote (Its hidden face)

Answer 3

”.. 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)

Question 4

Ars Amatoria 3, part 4 quote (The crowd’s not allowed to approach)

Answer 4

”..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)

Question 5

Ars Amatoria 3, part 5 quote (They have their dowry)

Answer 5

“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?)

Question 6

Ars Amatoria 3, part 5 quote (If you’re short)

Answer 6

“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?)

Question 7

Ars Amatoria 3, part 6 quote (A fatal error)

Answer 7

“If your teeth are blackened, large, or not in line from birth, laughing would be a fatal error.”
(Hyperbolic, tricolon)

Question 8

Ars Amatoria 3, part 6 quote (They’re taught to cry)

Answer 8

“Where does art not penetrate? They’re taught to cry … they weep when and how they wish.”

Question 9

Ars Amatoria 3, part 6 quote (Your lower shoulder)

Answer 9

”..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)

Question 10

Ars Amatoria 3, part 7 quote (Ulysses)

Answer 10

“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)

Question 11

Ars Amatoria 3, part 7 quote (Our master’s song)

Answer 11

”..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)

Question 12

Ars Amatoria 3, part 8 quote (You rolled dice)

Answer 12

”..you rolled dice … sometimes thinking, closely, how to advance craftily, how to challenge.”
(Love/seduction as a tactical game)

Question 13

Ars Amatoria 3, part 9 quote (The arcades)

Answer 13

“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)

Question 14

Ars Amatoria 3, part 9 quote (A husband’s funeral)

Answer 14

“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?)

Question 15

Ars Amatoria 3, part 10 quote (A man more delicate)

Answer 15

“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)

Question 16

Ars Amatoria 3, part 11 quote (Deceive your lovers)

Answer 16

”..though you lack the marriage ribbons, it’s your concern to deceive your lovers, write the tablets in your maid’s or boy’s hand..”
(Teaching how to secretly send letters to a lover. Stated that it is for unmarried women but implication that it could also be used to deceive a husband)

Question 17

Ars Amatoria 3, part 13 quote (Older warrior)

Answer 17

“Your older warrior loves sensibly and wisely, suffers much that the beginner won’t endure..”
(Warrior represents love as a battle, also self-serving in recommending older men as lovers)

Question 18

Ars Amatoria 3, part 14 quote (Unbarred the gates)

Answer 18

“Let all be betrayed: I’ve unbarred the gates to the enemy..”
(Military/battle metaphor again)

Question 19

Ars Amatoria 3, part 15 quote (To guard a wife)

Answer 19

”..to guard a wife is right: it’s fitting, it’s decreed by law … But for you to be too guarded … who could bear it? Adhere to my religion, and deceive!”
(Now open breaking/dismissal of the Leges Iuliae and encouragement of adultery)

Question 20

Ars Amatoria 3, part 16 quote (Don’t believe too quickly)

Answer 20

”..if you hear of a rival … Don’t believe too quickly: how quick belief can wound, Procris should be an example to you.”
(Mythological reference. Procris believes her lover Cephalus is with another woman when he goes hunting, as she hears his calls to Aura. She spies on him to see who appears when be calls the name, but realises he meant Aura as in the breeze. When she leaps out of the bushes to reconcile with him, he mistakes her for a game animal and kills her with his spear.)

Question 21

Ars Amatoria 3, part 17 quote (Even if you’re plain)

Answer 21

“Even if you’re plain, with a drink you’ll seem beautiful … Take the food daintily: how you eat does matter..”

Question 22

Ars Amatoria 3, part 17 quote (Drenched with too much wine)

Answer 22

“Shameful a woman lying there, drenched with too much wine … And it’s not safe to fall asleep at table: many shameful things usually happen in sleep.”
(The onus is on women not to get so drunk that they will be assaulted, and/or be seen as someone shameful to be with by men)

Question 23

Ars Amatoria 3, part 18 (Phoebus’ tripods)

Answer 23

”..neither Phoebus’ tripods nor Ammon’s horn shall sing greater truths to you than my Muse..”
(Ovid positioning himself as better than Apollo and Ammon for advice on sex and seduction)

Question 24

Ars Amatoria 3, part 18 quote (Let both delight)

Answer 24

”..let both [women and men] delight equally in the thing … You too whom nature denies sexual feeling, pretend to sweet delight with artful sounds.”
(Ideally both sexual partners should enjoy it, but if someone—assumed to be the woman—does not, she must pretend to anyway for the man’s sake)