A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

OVIDIUS. OVIDIUS. 69
Gallus was followed by Tibullus, and he by Pro- the amatory passion, which appears in so many
pertius; so that Ovid claimed to be the fourth parts of his writings, and which he afterwards
who succeeded to the elegiac lyre. In this enu- embodied in his Art of Love, for the benefit of his
rmeration Catullus is entirely omnitted. In Pro- contemporaries and of posterity. His first attempts
pertius, who was some years older than himself, in verse seem to have been in the heroic metre, and
Ovid not only found a /ovaayE7rs,but also a hiero- on the subject of the Gigantornachia, but from this
phant very capable of initiating him in all the he was soon diverted by his passion for Corinna,
mysteries of Roman dissipation. (Saepe sues so- to which we owe the greater part of the elegies in
litus recitare Propertius ignes, Trist. iv. 10.) Ovid his Amores. How much of these is to be set down
was an apt scholar; but his views were more am- to poetic invention? How much is to be taken
bitious than his master's, whom he was destined to literally? These are questions which cannot be
surpass in the quality, not only of the Muse, but of accurately answered. In his later poems he would
the mistress, that he courted. The Cynthia of have us believe that his life is not to be judged by
Propertius seems to have been merely one of that his writings, and that he did not practise the prehigher class of accomplished coirtezans with which cepts which he inculcated. (Trist. i. 8. 59, ii.
Rome then abounded. If we may believe the 354, &c.) But some of his effusions are adtestimony of Sidonius Apollinaris, in the following dressed to other mistresses besides Corinna; and
lines, Corinna was no less a personage than Julia, the warmth, nay the grossness of mere ailmal pastile clever and accomplished, but abandoned daugh- sion, which breathes in several of them, prevents
ter of Augustus: — us from believing that_ his life was so pure as it
Et te carmina per libidinosa answered his purpose to affirm in his exile; though
Notunm, PNaso teller, Tomosque missnm: we may readily concede that he conducted his
Quondam Caesareae ninsis puellae amours with sufficient discretion to avoid any open
Ficto nIomine stubditulns Corinnae. and flagrant scandal (Nomine sub nostro fabula
(CGaem. xxiii. 18.) nulla fuit, Trist. iv. 10. 68). On the other hand,
something may doubtless be ascribed to youthful
This authority has been rejected on the ground vanity, to the fashion of the age, and above all to
that it ascribes Ovid's banishment to this intrigue, his determination to become a poet. His love for
which, for chronological and other reasons, could hisartwasboundless. He sought the acquaintance
not have been the case. But, strictly taken, the of the most eminent poets of the day, and when
verses assert no such thing. They merely tell us they were assembled together he regarded them as
that he was sent to Tomi carmina per libidi- so many divinities. Among his more intimate
nosa," which was, indeed, the cause set forth in poetical friends, besides Macer and Propertius,
the edict of Augustus; and the connection with were Ponticus and Bassus. Horace was considerJulia is mentioned incidentally as an old affair, but ably his senior, yet he had frequently heard him
not by any means as having occasioned his banish- recite his lyric compositions. Virgil, who died
ment. Such hints of antiquity are not to be lightly when Ovid was twenty-four, he had only once seen;
disregarded; and there are several passages in nor was the life of Tibullus sufficiently prolonged
Ovid's Amores which render the testimony of Si- to allow him to cultivate his friendship. It is redonius highly probable. Thus it appears that his markable that he does not once mention the name
mistress was a married woman, of high rank, but of Maecenas. It is possible, however, that that
profligate morals; all which particulars will suit minister, whose literary patronage was in some
Julia. There are, besides, two or three passages degree political, and with a view to the interests
which seem more especially to point her out as of his master, had retired from public affairs before
belonging to the family of the Caesars; and it is Ovid had acquired any considerable reputation.
remarkable that in the fourteenth elegy of the first How long Ovid's connection with Corinna lasted
book Ovid alludes to the baldness of his mistress, there are no means of deciding. Some of the elegies
which agrees with an anecdote of Julia preserved in the Amores are doubtless his earliest remaining
by Macrobius. (Saturn. ii. 5.) Nor can the prac- compositions; and he tells us that he began to
tice of the Roman poets of making the metrical write when the razor had passed but once or
quantity of their mistress's feigned name answer twice over his chin (Trist. iv. 10. 58). That work,
precisely to that of the real one be alleged as an however, as we now possess it, is a second edition,
insuperable objection. We have already seen that and evidently extends over a considerable number
Sidonius Apollinaris did not so consider it. In of years. But some of the elegies may have been
Ovid's case the great disparity of rank would have mere reminiscences, for we can hardly think that
made it dangerous to adopt too close an imitation; Ovid continued the intrigues after he had married
not to mention that the title of Corinna would his third wife. His former marriages were matters
convey a compliment to Julia, as comparing her for of duty; this seems to have been one of choice.
wit and beauty to the Theban poetess. The lady was one of the Fabian family, and appears
Be this as it may, it cannot be doubted that to have been every way worthy of the sincere
Ovid's mistress was a woman of high rank; and affection which Ovid entertained for her to the day
as this circumstance dispensed with those vulgar of his death. She had a daughter by a former
means of seduction which may be supplied by union, who married Suillius. At what time the
money, and which the poet's moderate fortune poet entered on this third marriage cannot be aswould have prevented him from adopting, even certained; but we can hardly place it later than
bad he been so inclined (Ars Am. ii. 165), so it his thirtieth year, since a daughter, Perilla, was the
compelled him to study those arts of insinuation fruit of it (Trist. iii. 7. 3), who was grown up and
which are most agreeable to the fair sex, and to married at the time of his banishment. Perilla
put in practice his own maxim, ut amseris asmabilis was twice married, and had a child by each husesto. It was thus he acquired that intimate know- band; one of whom seems to have been Cornelius
ledge of the female heart, and of all the shades of Fidus. Ovid was a grandfather before he lost his
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