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

OVIDIUS. OVIDIUS. 73
traduced him, and who some take to have been frequently in the Italian poets; and in this respect
Hyginus, the mythologist. Caelius Rhodiginus he must be regarded as unantique. Dryden's in(Antiq. Lect. xiii. 1) says, on the authority of dignation at these misplaced witticisms led him to
Caecilius Minutianus Apuleius, that it was Cor- rank Ovid amomg the second-rate poets (see his
vinus. Though the variety of Ovid's imprecations Life of Virgil, and Dedication of the Aeneis). But
displays learning and fancy, the piece leaves the though a just criticism cannot allow these faults to
impression of an impotent explosion of rage. The pass without severe reprehension, there are nutitle and plan were borrowed from Callimachus. merous passages which show that Ovid was capable
11. Consolatio ad LiviamAugustanm. The authen- of better things.
ticity of this elegiac poem has been the subject of The Amnores, his earliest work, is less infected
much dispute among critics, the majority of whom with concetti than some of his later ones; and is
are against it. The principal names on the other marked by grossness and indecency, rather than
side are Barth, Passerat, and Amar, the recent by false wit or overwrought refinement. His
French editor. However, it is allowed on all fictitious love epistles, or lIeroides, as, indeed,
hands to be not unworthy of Ovid's genius. Sea- might be naturally expected, partake more of the
liger and others have attributed it to P. Albino- latter qualities; but they are remarkable for terse
vanus. and polished versifications, and the turns of ex12. The 1ledicamnina Facici and flclienticon are pression are often highly effective. The ArsAmamere fragments, and their genuineness not alto- toris may be said to contain appropriate precepts,
gether certain. Yet Ovid in the Ars Am. (iii. 205) if that be any recommendation, or if love, in the
alludes to a poem which he had written in one proper sense of the term, requires them; the little
book on the art of heightening female charms, and god himself being the best instructor, as Boccaccio
which must, therefore, have been prior to the Ars; has so well shown in the tale of Cvmon and Iphiaind Pliny (II. N. xxxii. 54) mentions a work of genia. In a certain sense it may be styled a
his on fishing, written towards the close of his didactic poem, and, like most works of that nature,
life. Of his tragedy, Mledea, only two lines re- contains but little poetry, though the subject seems
rmain. Of this work Quintilian says,'"Ovidii more than usually favourable to it. The first two
i\Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum ille vir or three books of the Alletalmorpkloses, in spite of
praestare potuerit si ingenio suo temperarte quam in- their farults, abound with poetical beauties; nor are
dulgere maluisset," x. 98. He seems to have they wanting, though scattered with a more sparing
written other works now lost: as, Metaplirasis hand, in the remaining ones; as, among other in]'/aenosnenon Asrati, Epicroammata, Liber- in malos stances, in the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe; the.Poetas, or sort of Dunciad (Quintil. vi. 3), T7ium- charming rustic picture of the household of Baucis
pl:us Tilserii de Illygriis, De Bello Aetiaco ad and Philemon; and the description of the Cave of
Tiberiuss, &c. Several spurious pieces have been Sleep, in the eleventh book, which for vigour of
attributed to him; as the Elegia ad Philonmelan, fancy is not perhaps surpassed by any thing in
e Pu!lice, Pri(peia, &c. That his poems in the Spencer. In the Fasti Ovid found a favourable
Getic language have not been preserved is, per- subject from the poetical nature of the mythology
haps, chiefly to be regretted on the score of their and early legends of Rome, which he has treated
philological value. with great power and effect. His prolixity was
That Ovid possessed a great poetical genius is here more restricted than in the l:etanrospTloses,
unquestionable; which makes it the more to be re- partly by the nature of his plan, and partly, perhaps,
gretted that it was not always under the control of a by the metre; and he has treated his subject in a
sound judgment. Niebuhr, in his Lectures, edited severer taste. Schiller (Ueber naive und sentinsenby Dr. Schmitz (vol. ii. p. 166), calls him, next to talische DicLtuzng) will not allow the Tristia and El
Catullus, the most poetical amongst the Roman Ponto to be called poetry, from their being the
poets; in allusion, perhaps, to the vigour of'fancy offsprilg, not of inspiration but of necessity; and
and warmth of colouring displayed in some parts of it must be confessed that there is little except the
his works. The same eminent scholar ranks him, versification to entitle them to the name. As,
in respect of his facility, among the very greatest however, Gibbon has remarked (Decline and Fall,
poets. Of the truth of this remark no doubt can c. 18, note), they are valuable as presenting a
be entertained. Ovid has himself described how picture of the human mind under very singular
spontaneously his verses flowed; and the fact is circumstances; and it may be added, as affording
further attested by the bulk of his productions. many particulars of the poet's life. But in forming
But this was a dangerous gift. The facility of an estimate of Ovid's poetical character, we must
composition possessed more charms for him than never forget that his great poem had not the benefit
the irksome, but indispensable labour of correction of his last corrections; and that bS the loss of his
and retrenchment.,Hence those prolix and puerile tragedy, the llIedea, we are deprived, according to
descriptions which led Quintilian (x. 88) to charac- the testimony of antiquity, of his most perfect
terise him as nimiunt amator ingenii sui, lautldandus work; and that, too, in a species of composition
ltmzen in partibus; and of which a notable instance which demands the highest powers of human genius.
has been pointed out by Seneca (N. Q. iii. 27) in The loss which we have thus sustained may be in
the description of the flood (Metam. i. 262, &c.); some measure inferred from the intimate knowledge
which, though it commences with sublimity, is which Ovid'displays of the female heart; as in the
spoilt by the repetition of too many, and some of story of Byblis in the Meteamorphoses, and in the
them trite and vulgar, images of the same thing. soliloquy of Medea in the same work, in which
Nor was this his only fault. He was the first to the alternations of hope and fear, reason and
depart from that pure and correct taste which passion, are depicted with the greatest force.
characterises the Greek poets, and their earlier The editions of Ovid's works are very numeLatin imnitrators. His writings abound with those rous, and the following list contains only the more
fitcle thoughts and frigid conceits which we find so remarkable: -