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Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BCE-17 CE), born at Sulmo, studied
rhetoric and law at Rome. Later he did considerable public service
there, and otherwise devoted himself to poetry and to society.
Famous at first, he offended the emperor Augustus by his "Ars
Amatoria, and was banished because of this work and some other
reason unknown to us, and dwelt in the cold and primitive town of
Tomis on the Black Sea. He continued writing poetry, a kindly man,
leading a temperate life. He died in exile.
Ovid's main surviving works are the "Metamorphoses," a source of
inspiration to artists and poets including Chaucer and Shakespeare;
the "Fasti," a poetic treatment of the Roman year of which Ovid
finished only half; the "Amores," love poems; the "Ars Amatoria,"
not moral but clever and in parts beautiful; "Heroides," fictitious
love letters by legendary women to absent husbands; and the dismal
works written in exile: the "Tristia," appeals to persons including
his wife and also the emperor; and similar "Epistulae ex Ponto."
Poetry came naturally to Ovid, who at his best is lively, graphic
and lucid.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Ovid is in six
volumes.
Valerius Flaccus, Gaius, Latin poet who flourished in the period
ca. 70-90 CE, composed in smooth and sometimes obscure style an
incomplete epic "Argonautica" in eight books, on the Quest for the
Golden Fleece. The poem is typical of his age, being a free
re-handling of the story already told by Apollonius Rhodius, to
whom he is superior in arrangement, vividness, and description of
character. Valerius's poem shows much imitation of the language and
thought of Virgil, and much learning. The chief interest of the
epic lies in the relationship between Medea and Jason, especially
the growth of Medea's love, where Valerius is at his best. The long
series of adventures and various Roman allusions suggest that the
poet meant to do honour to Vespasian (to whom the epic is
dedicated) with special reference to that emperor's ships in waters
around Britain.
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