Transformations of Ovid in Late Antiquity

269 Pages·2017·1.23 MB·English

by  Fielding

TRANSFORMATIONS OF
OVID IN LATE ANTIQUITY
Ovid could be considered the original poet of late antiquity. In his
exilepoetry,hedepictsaworldinwhichRomehasbecomeadistant
memory,acommunityaccessibleonlythroughhisimagination.This,
Ovid claimed, was a transformation as remarkable as any he had
recounted in his Metamorphoses. Ian Fielding’s book shows how late
antique Latin poets referred to Ovid’s experiences of isolation and
estrangement as they reflected on the profound social and cultural
transformations taking place in the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries
.Therearedetailednewreadingsoftextsbymajor figuressuchas
Ausonius,PaulinusofNola,BoethiusandVenantiusFortunatus.For
these authors, Fielding emphasizes, Ovid was not simply a stylistic
model,butanimportantintellectualpresence.Ovid’sfortunesinlate
antiquity reveal that poetry, far from declining into irrelevance,
remained apowerful mode of expression inthis fascinating period.
  is Assistant Professor of Classical Studies at the
University of Michigan. He has published a number of articles on
Latin poetry in late antiquity and on classical receptions in Naples
and Campania.

TRANSFORMATIONS OF
OVID IN LATE ANTIQUITY
IAN FIELDING
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Contents
Acknowledgements page viii
Abbreviations x
Introduction: A Poet Between Two Worlds 
 Ovid Recalled in the Poetic Correspondence of Ausonius
and Paulinus of Nola 
 Ovid and the Transformation of the Late Roman World of
Rutilius Namatianus 
 The Poet and the Vandal Prince: Ovidian Rhetoric in
Dracontius’ Satisfactio 
 The Remedies of Elegy in Ovid, Boethius and Maximianus 
 The Ovidian Heroine of Venantius Fortunatus, Appendix  
Conclusion: Ovid’s Late Antiquity 
Bibliography 
Index Locorum 
General Index 
vii
Acknowledgements
Thisprojecthasbeenthroughseveraltransformationsofitsown.Itbegan
with a doctorate funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council at
theUniversityofWarwick.Yearslater, Iamstillcomingtoappreciate the
value of the advice I received from my supervisor, Andrew Laird; if I had
beenasgoodastudentashewasateacher,Iamsurethisbookwouldnot
have taken me so long to finish. I am grateful too to Simon Swain, who
was generous with his assistance whenever I asked for it. As a Graduate
Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I had the opportunity to
spend a year working with Carole Newlands, whose mentorship has been
enormously beneficialever since. Otherswere alsokind enoughto lookat
my work at that time: in Madison, Mike Clover, Jim McKeown and
Patricia Rosenmeyer; elsewhere, Michael Reeve and Michael Roberts.
They may not recognize much of what they read in this book, but
Ihopeitisclearthatourexchangeshadalastinginfluenceonmyresearch.
My thesis examiners helped me to form a clearer picture of the shape
this study should take. The chapter on Ausonius and Paulinus was added
at the prompting of Roger Green, and improved thanks to his perceptive
comments on a first draft. Philip Hardie has made many useful sugges-
tions,buthisideaofrevisitingHermannFränkel’sviewofOvidas‘apoet
between two worlds’ opened up a whole new perspective on the topic.
MichaelSharp atCambridge UniversityPress respondedencouraginglyto
an initial proposal, and has continued to guide the project towards com-
pletion. The criticisms of the anonymous readers for the Press have been
salutary for clarifying both the overall purpose of the book and specific
points of argument.
TheawardofaBritishAcademyPostdoctoralFellowshipallowedmeto
takethesenewideastotheUniversityofOxford,theidealenvironmentin
which to develop them. Neil McLynn was instrumental in helping me to
secure the grant, while Gregory Hutchinson recommended me to the
Rector and Fellows of Exeter College, where he often listened patiently
viii
Acknowledgements ix
to my unformed thoughts over lunch in the Old Bursary. A. M. Juster,
Joseph Pucci and Robin Whelan all gave notes on individual chapters;
James Uden took the time to read the entire manuscript. The final stages
of writing and revision have been made easier and happier by the warm
welcomeIenjoyedfrommynewcolleaguesattheUniversityofMichigan.
Sara Forsdyke deserves special thanks for being so accommodating when
I first came to Ann Arbor.
Myparentsandtheothermembersofmyfamilyhaveshownasupport
for and interest in this research that has been even more significant than
I think they realize. The most important things I know, I learned from
them.ThelastpersonIhavetothankismywifeandcolleagueAileen–for
her encouragement, her input and for setting the best possible example
with her own work. In truth, her contribution to what follows is much
greater than this or any other acknowledgement can convey.
Abbreviations
Abbreviations of ancient authors and texts follow S. Hornblower and
A. Spawforth (eds.), The Oxford Classical Dictionary, th edn (Oxford
UniversityPress, ).Journal abbreviationsfollowtheusageof L’Année
philologique. The following abbreviations are used for standard reference
works and text series and collections:
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Berlin: De
Gruyter, –
CCL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina. Turnhout:
Brepols, –
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Berlin: Reimer, –
CLE F. Buecheler and E. Lommatzsch (eds.), Carmina Latina
Epigraphica. Leipzig: Teubner, –.
Courtney E.Courtney(ed.),Musalapidaria:aselectionofLatinverse
inscriptions. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, .
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vienna:
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, –
ILS H. Dessau (ed.), Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae,  vols. th
Dessau edn. Berlin: Weimann, .
LSJ H. G. Liddell, R. Scott and H. S. Jones (eds.), A Greek–
English lexicon, th edn. Oxford: Clarendon Press, .
MGH: AA Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores Auctores
Antiquissimi. Berlin: Weimann, –.
OLD P. G. W. Glare (ed.), Oxford Latin Dictionary. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, .
PG Patrologia Graeca. Paris: J. P. Migne, –.
PL Patrologia Latina. Paris: J. P. Migne, –.
x