The Metamorphoses - Softcover

Ovid

4.09

71,187 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451622170 ISBN 13: 9780451622174

Publisher: Signet, 1960

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. 1880 edition. : ...tecta palustri, 630 sed pia Baucis anus parilique aetate Philemon illa sunt annis iuncti iuvenalibus, illa consenuere casa paupertatemque fatendo effecere levem nec iniqua mente ferendo. nec refert, dominos illic famulosve requiras: 635 tota domus duo sunt, idem parentque iubentque. Ergo ubi caelicolae parvos tetigere penates afler opem mersaeque precor feritate paterna da neptune locum, vel sit locus ipsa ipse h1 ipsa h'J licebit. hunc hanc quoque conplectar. mouit caput aequoreus rex concussitque suis omnes assensibus undas. extimuit nymphe, nabat tamen; ipse ipsa natantis tenebam pectora tegebam tangebam tepido salientia motu. dumque ea contraecto, totum durescere sensi corpus et inductis condi praecordia terris. dum loquor e. q. s. quae spuria ette, divertit temporibui a divertit haud ita bene conpotita, cognovit Merkel 620 tiliae (tili i. r.) С 621 medio С i modico � Heim. 624 haud ex aut M 632 ill M iuven.tlibus M am (fuit iuuenalibus) iuuenilibus � 633 lerendo л 634 ferendo, in marg. u ferendo M ferendam X 635 famulosne M famulosne Я 637 paucos M summissoque humiles intraruut vertice postes, membra senex posito iussit relevare sedili, quo superiniecit textum rude sedula Baucis. 640 inde foco tepidum cinerem dimovit et ignes suscitat hesternos foliisque et cortice sicco nutrit et ad flammas anima producit anili. multifidasque faces ramaliaque arida tecto detulit et minuit parvoque admovit a�no. 645 quodque suus coniunx riguo conlegerat horto, truncat holus foliis. furca levat ille bicorni sordida terga suis nigro pendentia tigno servatoque diu resecat de tergore partem exiguam sectamque domat ferventibus undis. 650 Interea medias fallunt sermonibus horas concutiuntque torum de molli fluminis ulva 655 inpositum lecto, sponda pedibusque salignis. vestibus hunc velant, quas non nisi tempore festo sternere consuerant: sed et haec vilisque vetusque vestis erat, lecto non indignanda saligno....

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About the Author:

Ovid (43 BCE–18 CE) was born at Sulmo (modern Sulmona) in central Italy. Coming from a wealthy Roman family and seemingly destined for a career in politics, he held minor official posts before leaving public service to write, becoming the most distinguished poet of his time. His works, all published by Penguin Classics, include Amores, a collection of short love poems; Heroides, verse-letters written by mythological heroines to their lovers; Ars Amatoria, a satirical handbook on love; and Metamorphoses, his epic work that has inspired countless writers and artists through the ages.

David Raeburn (translator) is a lecturer in Classics at Oxford, and has also translated Sophocles’ Electra and Other Plays for Penguin Classics.

Denis Feeney (introducer) is a professor of Classics at Princeton.

Coralie Bickford-Smith (cover illustrator) is an award-winning designer at Penguin Books (U.K.), where she has created several highly acclaimed series designs. She studied typography at Reading University and lives in London.

Review:

Metamorphoses -- The title of Ovid's most famous work, Metamorphoses, means "changes of shapes." He tells the reader at the very beginning, "My purpose is to tell of bodies which have been transformed into shapes of different kinds." Using a new translation of the work by Ian Johnston, Naxos AudioBooks has issued a 14-CD complete reading that is quite frankly stunning. The reader is British actor David Horovitch, who is best known as the sour Inspector Slack in the older Miss Marple series with Joan Hickson. It must be pointed out that Ovid was in deep trouble with Augustus, because many of Ovid's books displeased his Emperor who declared a family values campaign in Rome. So Ovid, knowing that Roman emperors believed they would be turned into stars (Julius Caesar) or gods (Caligula declared himself divine while still alive), patterned his newest book in such a way that man-into-god transformations seemed perfectly natural. To avoid monotony, Ovid is careful to vary the tone and length of one story after another. Characters in one story actually tell the story of another metamorphosis just before experiencing their own. He also treats his tales very dramatically, inventing dialogue so the myth reads like a drama. I was particularly impressed with the speech the God of the Sun, Phoebus, gives to his son Phaethon. Having promised him anything he wanted, Phoebus immediately regretted his unbreakable promise when Phaethon wanted to drive the Golden Chariot for a day. Ovid tells one rattling good yarn after another. While following without a written text, the listener might lose his way as to what character is now playing the lead, so to speak; but Horovitch's acting skills keep in synch with Ovid's moods and pacing, and hearing this Naxos set is quite a riveting experience. The total playing time is 17:32 hours. The tracking list must be downloaded from a website given on the back of the jewel case. Mine came to 11 pages. --Frank Behrens - BRATTLEBORO REFORMER

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