THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

6 PREFACE.
given of the text, will be found necessary to the young student. It
is tolerably full in the First Book, and is gradually shortened there
after. The Scanning Table will aid him in his first efforts to obtain
a knowledge of Latin metre.
The pictorial embellishments of the work contribute to the illus
tration of the fables, and impress them more fully upon the memory
of the student, while they tend to excite a taste for drawing. They
reflect much credit upon the artists who executed them. They
were designed by J. H. Manning, of New York, and engraved by
Neville Johnson, of Baltimore, and Lossing and Barrett, of New
York.
BALTIMORE HIGH SCHOOL,
May Sth, 1848
N. C. BROOKS.
I
LIFE AND WRITINGS OF OVID.
PUBLIUS Ovimus NASO, one of the most celebrated poets of the Augustan era,
was horn at Sulmo, a town on the river Pescara, in thp territory of the Peligni,
about 90 miles east from Rome, and 32 miles from the Gulf of Venice. His
birth occurred during the celebration of the Qninquatria, games in honor of
Minerva, A. U. C. 711, and B. C. 42, the memorable year in which Cicero was
murdered, and the very day that the two consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, were slain
in the battle of Mutina, against Antony:
*
Hose est nrmiferee de fesiis quinque Minervae,
Quee fieri pugna prima cruento sclent.
Ediins hinc ego sum, nee non, in tempora noris,
Cum cecidit faio consul uicrque pori. TEIST. Lib. iv.
Ovid was descended from an ancient and distinguished family of the eques
trian order, and enjoyed all the advantages of mental cultivation which rank and
wealth could afford. At an early age, he was brought to Rome with an elder
brother, for the purpose of being instructed in the arts, learning, and accomplish
ments of the capital, and was for some time under the care of Plotius Grippus.
HP soon discovered a fondness for poetry, and through love of the Muses, often
relaxed his application to other literary studies in which he was engaged. But
his father, who appears to have had but little relish for belles-lettres, and was
anxious that his son should become an accomplished orator and patron, and by
eminence in judicial affairs, arrive at civic distinction, induced him to devote
himself for a time to the study of eloquence and Roman law.
The masters of Ovid in oratory were Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro, who
were the most eminent teachers of their time; and under their instructions, vrith
the readiness of conception which was natural to him, and his felicity and fluency
of expression, he was fitted for distinction as an accomplished advocate. His
declamations were distinguished for their ingenuity and enthusiasm, tlieir exube
rance of f.mcy, and richness of language, but were somewhat deficient in solidity
and method, and abounded in digressions, which, however beautiful in them
selves, were but little in accordance with the si:iiple and severe laws of unity.
In his rhetoric:il exercises he generally chose etliical subjects, and preferred
those persuasive hanngues which are called Suasoriaz, as they were particularly
suited to his ardent and enthusiastic temperament.
At seventeen ye.irs of age, Ovid put on the tu^a virilis, and shortly after was
honored by Augustus with the lalus clavus, an ornament worn only by persons
of quality. On the occasion of reviewing as censor the whole body of Roman
knights, the emperor further distinguished the young poet by the present of a
magnificent steed. When he had completed his rhetorical studies at Rome, he
accompanied Varro in his military expedition to Asia; but without remaining
with him long enough to see any service, ho dejnrtcd for Athens, with the view
of completing his studies. Here he devoted himself for some time to the study
of philosophy, especially physics and ethics, and in the latter, adopted the tenets
of Epicurus. Leaving Athens in company with the poet jSmilius Macer, he