Selections from Propertius, Tibullus and Ovid: An Edition for Intermediate Students (Bloomsbury Classical Languages)

185 Pages·2019·1.228 MB·

by  Anita Nikkanen (editor)

Selections from Propertius,
Tibullus and Ovid
i
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ii
Selections from Propertius,
Tibullus and Ovid:
An Edition for
Intermediate Students
Propertius E legies 1.1, 1.3 and 2.14
Tibullus Elegies 1.1 and 1.3
Ovid Amores 1.1, 2.5, 2.7 and 2.8
With introduction, commentary notes and
vocabulary by Anita Nikkanen
iii
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First published in Great Britain 2016 as Propertius, Tibullus and Ovid:
A Selection of Love Poetry
This edition fi rst published in the United States of America 2019
Copyright © Anita Nikkanen, 2016, 2019
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iv
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
Text 35
Commentary Notes 51
Vocabulary 125
v
vi
Preface
Th e text and notes found in this volume are designed to guide any
student who has mastered Latin at beginner’s level and wishes to read
a selection of Propertius’s, Tibullus’s and Ovid’s love elegies in the
original. Th e selections provide a representative introduction to the
genre of Latin love elegy and its conventions, as well as the diff erent
styles of the three authors. While they share the themes of love elegy –
most importantly, the celebration of their beloved in poetry – they
each bring their own take to it.
Th is edition contains a detailed introduction to the context of the
selected Latin love elegies and the genre and style of the elegists,
supported by summaries of the poems, a glossary of rhetorical devices
used in this volume and a note on metre. Th e text of the elegies printed
here is that of Robert Maltby, L atin Love Elegy: Selected and Edited
with Introduction and Notes (Bristol: Bristol Classical Press, 1980),
with a handful of changes, which are noted in the commentary. Th e
poems are presented here in chronological order by author, starting
with Propertius and ending with Ovid, who frequently responds and
alludes to his predecessors; you are, of course, free to study them
in any order. Th e notes to the elegies themselves focus on the harder
points of grammar and word order, background information
necessary for understanding the text, such as mythology or religious
practices, and points of style impacting on meaning. At the end of the
book is a full vocabulary list for all the words contained in the selected
elegies.
In the notes on the text, I off er alternative interpretations of (and
so, ways of translating) phrases and words. Th is is in order to illustrate
the multivalent meanings of the text and the poetic beauty thereby
aff orded, as well as the ongoing scholarly debate about the particular
vii
viii Preface
meaning of a detail in the text. I therefore encourage students to enjoy
this beauty and, for the purposes of fi nding their own translation, to
consider the poem for themselves and choose the translation that best
matches the way they interpret the poem. Even among specialists who
have spent years studying these texts, there is not always consensus,
but the best argued case is the most persuasive.
I am very grateful to Alice Wright and her team at Bloomsbury,
and especially to the anonymous reviewers for the many helpful
suggestions and improvements.
Anita Nikkanen
October 2015
Introduction
What is Latin love elegy?
Latin love elegy is a genre of poetry that emerged in the fi rst century
bc in Rome, amidst signifi cant political and cultural changes as the
Roman Republic gave way to imperial rule under Augustus (see
further on the political context below). Th e genre itself was short-
lived: the time period from the earliest elegies by Gallus to those of
the last elegist, Ovid, spans only about forty years. Th e main Roman
elegists are the ones focused on in this book; Propertius, Tibullus and
Ovid (only very small fragments of Gallus’s elegies survive, and other
elegiac poems are included in what is called the Tibullan body of
poetry, although not all of the poems are by him). Despite the short
time period during which Latin love elegy was composed, it has its
own distinguishing characteristics and conventions. Although other
topics are included, a prominent feature of Latin love elegy is the
relationship of the poet with his beloved mistress: as the name
suggests, they are love poems, depicting the ups and downs of the
relationship. Oft en the poems directly address the beloved: indeed,
they are spoken from the subjective, fi rst- person stance of the poet.
While some express the poet’s devotion to his mistress, others convey
the heartbreak and jealousy when the love is not reciprocated.
In fact, it is this distinctive character of Latin love elegy that opens
up the Roman world to a modern audience in a particularly accessible
and, in some ways, familiar manner. Th rough the more subjective,
fi rst- person narrative of elegy we can really feel like we are getting to
know the Romans – well, some of them – more personally. Instead of
the cold, white marble statues and heroes excelling in battle or in the
law courts, in elegy we meet everyday individuals with distinguishing
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