F. Ghisalberti, Mediaeval Biographies of Ovid

Mediaeval Biographies of Ovid
Author(s): Fausto Ghisalberti

Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 9 (1946), pp. 10-59
Published by: The Warburg Institute
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MEDIAEVAL BIOGRAPHIES OF OVID
BY FAUSTO GHISALBERTI
Since
in thea case
"Life" ofpoets
of other Ovidandhas notit been
authors, transmitted
is interesting to us from antiquity, as
to enquire how
mediaeval students made up for this lack. The need of a comprehensive
synthesis of the poet's own revelations or reservations, concerning himself, and
of traditional accretions to his biography, was felt with particular intensity
from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, at the height of the vogue for
Ovid. The mediaeval biography of Ovid aims at serving as a useful intro-
duction to the reading of the poems, for the idea of a literary biography, as
an end in itself, was unknown to those times. When the mediaeval commen-
tator undertook the explanation of a work, his aims were to elucidate the
causes determining its origin, the matter of which it was composed, its inten-
tion, the useful lessons to be learned from it, its title, and, finally, to what part
of philosophy it should be ascribed.
The life of the poet was, therefore, divided under these various headings
and reduced to conformity with them, and this, usually, only in reference to
the particular poem chosen. For instance, when speaking of the matter of
the poem, its contents and characteristics would be described in such a way
as to lead on to its efficient cause, namely the poet himself, and thence to the
poet's life, in the search for the reasons which induced him to write it, reasons
which varied from one epoch to another according to the conditions of the
author's existence. In speaking of the Metamorphoses, the biographical circum-
stances adduced as causes would be different from those chosen when treating
of the Ars Amatoria or the Tristia. The usefulness of the work chosen by the
commentator would also lead up to biographical points concerning the
advantages which the author himself gained, or hoped to gain, from it. The
enunciation of the title brought him naturally to the author's name, and
thence to the drawing up of the principal biographical data, sometimes more
or less exact, sometimes purely fantastic; this might be followed by the com-
plete list of his works. Finally, the assignation of the work to a branch of
philosophy provided opportunity for bringing out its importance from a
higher point of view, and became, as it were, the moral sanction for the
author, particularly in the case of a pagan writer.
THE MINOR WORKS OF OVID: MEDIAEVAL INTRODUCTIONS AND COMMENTARIES
Some specimens of mediaeval introductions and commentaries h

published and studied, for example by Sedlmayer1 in his not
Laurenziana codices of the Heroides. Only in one of these do we find a
life of the poet; in the others the biography is restricted to points wh
upon the work concerned. During the thirteenth and fourteenth
the exordium on Ovid as poet which introduced the text of the He
almost always drawn up in terms such as are to be found, for exa
1 H. S. Sedlmayer, "Beitrage zur Ge-Studien, VI, 1884, pp. I42 f.

Wiener
schichte der Ovidstudien im Mittelalter,"
O10
MEDIAEVAL BIOGRAPHIES OF OVID 11
two codices in Berne and Paris respectively,1

manuscript in the Vatican.2 The latter recount
of Paelignum and went to Rome hoping to acq
observed the lives of the young people in the c
imitation of Hesiod of Ascra,3 in order to give
There are also special prefaces to each indivi
as can be studied in an important fourteenth c
is rich in glosses and ample expositions of the
various letters; in a fourteenth century manusc
gives expository summaries; and, above all, in
cussed by Sedlmayer. The latter is a beautiful t
a rich commentary, in which each letter is pr
contents and a statement of its general and specia
of the lady who is supposed to have written i
the whole moral sustenance of the poem is su
form to be learned by heart.7
1 Bern. 41I, and Paris.recommending
15136. For chaste the
love and blaming un-
Berne codex, I2th-13th centuries, chaste love; this issee
the "utility"
E. H.which is
Alton, "The mediaeval commentators on generally expected of the poem. "Intentio
Ovid's Fasti," Hermathena, XLIV, 1926, eius est de triplici genere amoris, stulti,
pp. 119-15I. On Paris. 15136, which con-incesti, furiosi scribere . . . Aliter intentio
huius libri est commendare castum amorem
tains an important commentary, see below,
p. I3, note 4. S. . vel vituperare incestum amorem . . .
2Vat. lat. 2792. Several of the longer Aliter . . . Aliter: Intentio sua est cum in
quotations used as sources in this article are preceptis de arte amatoria non ostendit quo
given in the Appendices. For this one, see modo aliquis per epistolas sollicitaretur, illud
below, p. 44, Appendix A. hic exequitur. Aliter: Intentio sua est in hoc
3 See below, p. 44, note 2. libro hortari ad virtutes et redarguere vitia.
SParis. 7995- Ipse accusatus fuit apud Cesarem quia
5 Laur. 36, 28. scriptis suis romanas matronas illicitos amores
6 Laur. 36, 27. docuisset. Unde librum scripsit eis istud
SMany examples are given by H. S. exemplum proponens, ut sciant, amando,
Sedlmayer, Prolegomena critica ad Heroidesquas debeant imitari, quas non. Sciendum
ovidianas, Vienna, 1878, p. 96-98. The quoque est quod cum in toto libro hanc et
commentators insist on the moral character supradictas habet intentiones, preterea duas
of the work. See, for example, Laur. 36, habet
27: in hoc libro, unam generalem et aliam
"Intentio est castum amorem commendare, specialem. Generalem delectari et com-
illicitum refrenare et incestum condemnare. muniter prodesse Specialem habet intenti-
Utilitas est magna, nam per hoc scimus onem sicut in singulis epistulis, aut laudando
castum amorem eligere, illicitum refutarecastum
et amorem ... aut vituperando incestum
incestum penitus extirpare"; and Vindob.
amorem . . . Utilitas vel finalis causa se-
cundum intentiones deversificatur, vel illici-
13685: ". .. . intentio eius duo amoris genera
notare castum s. et incestum, ut Phedre et torum, vel stultorum amorum cognitio, vel
aliarum. Finalis causa sive utilitas est ut, quo modo alique per epistolas sollicitentur,
dum castum amorem Penelopis intuemur, vel quo modo per effectum ipsius castitatis
proderit instruendis moribus, ethice sup- commodum consequamur. Vel finalis causa
positio, que in duas dividitur partes: inest ut per commendationem caste amantium
repulsionem s. et admissionem, repellimusad castos amores nos invitet, vel ut visa
enim turpia, admittimus honesta que utraque utilitate que ex legitimo amore procedit,
inveniuntur in hoc opere . . ." (Sedlmayer,visisque infortuniis vel incommoditatibus que
"Beitrige," p. 145 ; Prolegg. pp. II and ex illicito et stulto amore proveniunt, et
Ioi); the commentator of Clm. 19475 adds stultum et illicitum repellamus et fugiamus,
to the general intention of giving pleasure
et legitimo adhereamus." Cf. G. Przychocki,
and providing model love letters that of "Accessus ovidiani," Rozprawi Akademii
12 FAUSTO GHISALBERTI
The moral character of the Heroides becomes so much accentuated as time

goes on that the commentator of a fifteenth century manuscript would have
us believe that the epistles were written as a reparation for the immorality of
the Ars Amatoria, and in the hope of obtaining the emperor's permission to
return from exile. As he substitutes the Heroides for the Ex Ponto, so he substi-
tutes Nero for Augustus in his imaginary biographical notice. He is convinced
of the good faith of Ovid, whose triple name is proof of morality, and believes
him to have been the victim of cruel machinations.-
The short notice which accompanies the text of the Amores in an
eleventh century codex is limited to justifying the anomaly of a poem "with-
out a title." The book is called Sine Titulo, says the writer, either because
Ovid was not seeking fame for himself through it, but desired only to please
his beloved; or because Augustus had been so angered by his Ars Amatoria
that he did not dare to give a title to the present work.2
This explanation is given in almost the same words by all later commen-
tators. The grammarian writer of a twelfth-thirteenth century manuscript
(Clm 19475 and 19474) may seem to know more when he hints as a "third
cause," that Augustus had ordered Ovid to describe his war with Anthony
and Cleopatra, but the poet, being drawn away by Cupid, wrote the books
on love instead. But all this is his own invention, based on a misunderstanding
of the epigram at the head of the three books, which he attempted to explain
by relating it to the first elegy in the first book.3 This hint seems, as we shall
see later, to have encouraged the grammarians, even if they did not accept
the tale of Augustus' command to the poet, in the belief that Ovid intended
to give his work another title.
Equally sparse and ill-authenticated are the biographical notices which

are to be found in some of the commentaries to the Ars Amatoria. According
to the unprejudiced glossator of a manuscript dated in the year 1305, Ovid
wrote the work in his youth and described in it his own love experiences.
There are six main questions to be examined concerning the book, as con-
cerning all other books: namely, its author, its subject, the intention of the
author, the usefulness of the work, its title and to what part of philosophy it
belongs. The subject of this work is love; and its usefulness is to give an accom-
plished knowledge of love. The book is an ethical one because the author
discusses the characters of the young men and women whom he describes.4
Cf. F. Lenz, "De Ovidii Amorum codice
Umiejetnosci; Wydzial Filologiczny, Ser. III,
Vol. IV, Cracow, 1911, pp. 84 ff. sangallensi denuo collato," Rendiconti delli'
1 Laur. 91 sup. 23. See below, p. 44, Istituto Lombardo, LXIX, 1936, pp. 633-57-
Appendix B. There are but few notices on the Amores in
2 Sangall. 864: "Iste liber intitulatur the codices. Another example is Barb. 26
Ovidius sine titulo i. sine laude, et hoc (I 3th- I4th centuries) published by B. Nogara,
duabus de causis, vel quia nullam laudem "Di alcune vite e commentari medioevali di
querat sibi in hoc libro nisi placere amice
Ovidio," in Miscellanea Ceriani, Milan, 1910,
p. 417. Arnulf of Orleans must have used
sue .. . , vel quia accusatus erga Augustum
de Amatoria Arte, unde omnes romane the St. Gall codex, as Lenz points out.
mulieres erant contaminate, tam matrone 3 Cf. Lenz, op. cit., p. 637; Przychocki, op.
quam solute, non ausus hic apponere titulum.cit., p. 93, note 32.
Si quis tamen opponat quis huic sine titulo 4 Paris. 7998. See below, p. 45, Appen-
apposuerit, ab aliquo dicatur esse appositus." dix C.
The commentaries on the Remedia Amoris are in genera
judging the moral responsibility of Ovid for the Ars, but
bring out the force of the antidote. A typical thirteenth
speaks of the corrupting and softening influence of the Ar
people astray. But as the creator of all things did not make
a remedy, so Ovid provided a remedy for the Ars, and wrote
in order to cure those whom he had formerly corrupted.'
The industrious author of the gloss to a manuscript dat
similar line, though he tempers the supposed antithesis bet
and the Ars.3
The commentators on the love poems do not usually pay much attention
to their biographical aspect: they are chiefly interested in placing them in
the context of Roman social behaviour and in justifying Ovid's purpose.
Interesting from this point of view is the series of notes on the carmina amatoria
in general to be found in a thirteenth century manuscript.4 The commentator
is aware that the poet's real aim was to give delight by singing of love, and
that he is recounting his own amorous experiences under fictitious names:
but since it was an unquestioned rule that poetry must be the vehicle for
good moral teaching, he labours to bring out the hidden moral scope of these
erotic poems. He explains that in the Heroides, with its praise of conjugal love
and its descriptions of the results of passionate aberrations, Ovid's aim is to
recommend legitimate love; whilst in the Amores, although it is true that
"ludicra tractat et iocosa," his intention is to stigmatize the corruption of
dissolute women. Those who take the Ars Amandi as merely a frivolous tale
of amorous intrigue are very dull-witted. No, this is a tractate "de amore
ad artis compositionem," a book of precepts, an ars in the serious sense of the
word, its object being to establish the foundations of a full and perfect art of
love. He sees no real opposition between the Ars and the Remedia; the material
of the poems relates to "amor," whilst the latter is "remediosus" in the sense
that the poet seeks to extinguish the flames of harmful passion. And although
he realizes the strictly personal character of the Ibis, he seeks to establish
here also a theme of general utility, namely the execration of the vice of envy,
through a number of instructive fables. Whilst in the De Nuce he finds the
moral that no one ought to be unjustly punished, he cannot deny that the
Medicaminafaciei treats of an effeminate practice, but in compensation he finds,
under the fictitious veil of the De Somno, the moral purpose of putting the
reader on his guard against the intrigues of women.5
Though the Fasti belong to an altogether higher and graver type of poetry,
derives
1 Paris. I 1318. See below, p. 45, Appen- from Orleans. The Berne codex con-
dix D. tains a series of introductions to the Ars am.,
2 Paris. 8246. Remedia, Fasti, Ex Ponto, Metam., Heroid. They
3 With the remark: "Tamen non est repre- all conclude with a few remarks on the first
hendendum hoc opus premisso operi fuisse lines of each text. Cf. Alton, op. cit., p. 21.
contrarium. Quod ipse actor ostendit dicens: Another collection which evidently belongs
'Nec te blande puer,' etc... " (Rem., I I). to the same class is Paris. 15136, 13th century
4 Paris. 7994. A similar collection is Bern. (see above, p. I I, note I).
411 (I2th-I3th century), which, perhaps, 5 See below, pp. 45-48, Appendix E.
2
the chief preoccupation of the grammar
century manuscript, as he introduces the
title, the occasion for which it was compose
unfinished. He tells the story that Ovid
Rome to go into exile, and that later, at t
to reconstruct it from memory, but was
was only half done.'
Some additions can be made to the exam

mediaeval introductions to the Ex Ponto and the Tristia which refer to the
three causes of the exile: "quod ipse concubuit cum Livia, quod vid
Augustum condormientem puero, quod ipse composuit librum de art
amatoria"2 and to the explanation of Ovid's name: "Publius a Publia
familia, Naso a quantitate nasi, Ovidius quod ovum dividens." For example
the commentator of a thirteenth century manuscript defines the utility of th
ex Ponto as twofold. It was useful for Ovid in helping him to forget his mi
fortunes and his weariness. And it is useful for the readers for it warns them
to avoid the mistake which Ovid made.3
A more realistic version is given by a fourteenth century writer wh
believes that Ovid hoped by this work to induce the emperor either to can
his exile altogether or to alleviate it by sending him to a pleasanter plac
The same writer, speaking of the Tristia, takes care to relate it to the spe
circumstances of the exile. He states that the work was composed durin
Ovid's journey to Pontus with the object of exciting the pity of his frien
and of the emperor, and in the hope of being pardoned and recalled.5
A similar account is to be found in another fourteenth century manuscrip
which, however, includes quite a new story concerning the relations betw
Ovid and Virgil. In discussing Ovid's supposed intrigue with the empress
the commentator says that the poet climbed to her window on a bronze ladde
Virgil took some of the rungs out of this ladder whilst Ovid was with t
empress, so that when the latter descended, he fell and broke his leg. For thi
among other reasons, Ovid hated Virgil.6
CHARACTER OF THE MEDIAEVAL INTRODUCTION,
OR "ACCESSUS" TO THE WORKS OF OVID
It would obviously be inexact to speak of these compilatio

the classical sense of the word, and it is better to adopt the m
"accessus," as Przychocki does when speaking of them. The l
1Vat. Reg. I548. See below, p. 48, errore consimili precavere."
Appendix F. 4 Paris. 8207. See below, p. 49, Appen-
2 R. Ehwald, Ad historiam carminum ovidi- dix G. Paris. 8207 includes a variety of
anorum recensionemque symbolae, Gothae, I, 1889, contents. Amongst them are some 'glosulae'
II, 1892. to the Ex Ponto, Remedia, Ars, Amores, Tristia,
3 Paris. 8197: "Utilitas huius libri in hoc which derive in part from those of Arnulf of
opere duplex est scilicet quo ad Ovidium et Orl6ans. The introduction to the Ex Ponto
ad auditores: quo ad ipsum Ovidium talis proves this.
est utilitas s. habere oblivionem de suis malis
5 Ibid. See below, p. 49, Appendix G.
et tedium removere. Utilitas legentium est 6 Paris. 8255. See below, p. 50, Appen-
quod per errorem Ovidii sibi possint ab dix H.
scholar has quoted examples of such "accessus" from the
codices, illustrating them with much learning.' He e
are really introductions to the works, and this is confir
examples which we have examined in the Ovidian c
product of the monastic schools of the Middle Ages, th
ancient 'ludi' and of the curriculum of the liberal arts.
all sciences, reigned at the apex of the system and its base
the function of which was to interpret the auctores and th
use of the Latin tongue. Hence the assumption, which i
'accessus,' that all the works have a moral aim. This
Ovidian poetry, whilst preserving it from ecclesiastical
it to the theological and didactic ends of Christian
method was, of course, used in the moralizing florileg
Hirschau it seemed the chief satisfaction which a learned teacher should
derive from the reading of the classics.
It is to Przychocki that we owe the establishment of a point of depar
for the history of the mediaeval "accessus." He observed that, since the w
of Ovid are without classical commentaries such as those of Servius and
Donatus on Virgil, the Middle Ages applied to their interpretation the m
of commentary ultimately derived from the Greek schools which was
diffused in the West. As for the later development of genre, it remains
seen how far Przychocki's statement that Servius and Donatus were abs
into mediaeval methods of interpretation can be accepted. The teachin
Conrad of Hirschau, which he cites, has in fact, a theoretical value. Bu
practice it can be proved, and Przychocki himself admits this, tha
1 Przychocki, op. cit., pp. 65-126.Latin
The poets (on which see F. Vollmer, in
word 'accessus' does not appear in Palat. Sitzungsber. d. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Miinchen, I908,
Vat. 242, examined and transcribed by Abh. ii, p. I7.) *was studied for Ovid's
Przychocki. He found it in two Munich carmina amatoria by Sedlmayer in Wiener
codices, Clm. 19475 (12th century), and Studien, XXII, 1900, pp. 229 ff. Following him
19474 (I2th-I3th centuries), where it occursSchr6tter noted (Ovid und die Troubadours,
fairly frequently and is written on the frontHalle, 19o8, pp. 35 ff.) how the lascivious
spirit of Ovid was altered by giving a moral
pages (op. cit., p. 77). He points out that the
first mention of the "accessus" was made by aim to his amorous works. This was a fiction
S. Giinther, Gesch. der litterarischen Anstalten into avoid the strictures of the Church, and one
which forced Ovid into the service of Chris-
Bayern, Munich, I8Io, I, p. 271.
L. Traube (Vorlesungen and Abhandlungen, tian didactics and theology. A characteristic
Munich, 1911, II, p. 165), and after him example of such a use of Latin authors in the
M. Manitius (Gesch. d. lat. Lit. d. M.A., I, p.Middle Ages is the florilegium contained in a
505) thought that the introduction which I2th century manuscript (codex 227 of the
Remigius of Auxerre prefixed to his com- monastery of Heiligenkreuz) studied by
mentaries served as models for the vast Himer in Zeitschriftf. isterr. Gymn., XXXII,
numbers of 'accessus' which swarmed in the
1881, p. 415-
Middle Ages. But Strecker (reviewing In the codex (Paris. N.A. 1. I544, 15th
Przychocki's work in Neues Archiv, XXXVII, century) described by B. Haur6au (Notices
1911, p. 382) affirms that these derive from et Extraits, XXXII, I, pp. 253-314), which
Greek doctrines transmitted through the contains moral and religious material, Ovid
Latins. "It is always the same schemes that is much used. From the amorous works, the
we find, in Conrad of Hirschau, Hugo Ex of Ponto, the Tristia, and the 'Ovidius
Trimberg, the Anonymus Mellicensis and magnus' is drawn a varied and nourishing
even in the earliest printed texts." supply of sentences; the missing folios of the
volume must have contained more of these.
2 An important florilegium of I2th century
"questions" were much reduced.

the details of traditional pedant
"questions"; others limit themselve
with four only-namely, materia, in
terminology of these four is somet
OVID'S MAJOR WORK: MEDIAEVAL "ACCESSUS" TO THE METAMORPHOSES
If it is true that for the minor works of Ovid, and of other authors, we find
the canon of seven, or four, questions fixed by Przychocki, for the Metamor
phoses (and perhaps for other poems of equal importance) the situation seems
different. Naturally, the grammarian who was preparing to read the
Metamorphoses would feel the need of giving his hearers a wider and deeper
knowledge of the author than was called for in introducing the minor works
such as the Ars Amatoria or the Tristia. The Metamorphoses belonged to the
period both of the author's greatest fame and of his greatest disgrace; it had
been with difficulty saved from destruction and had never been emendated.
So that the grammarian, in this case, whilst maintaining the scheme of the
'accessus,' felt obliged to modify its substance by making it an introduction
to the life and work of the poet as a whole. The researches of Przychocki thus
require to be supplemented by the study of the 'accessus' to the Ovidius maior,
which throw further light on these hitherto neglected problems and offer
new elements for the reconstruction of the mediaeval biography of Ovid.
Although one does not expect to find classical doctrines in these introduc-
tions, I believe that traces of these may be gleaned from the abundant glosses
with which the later codices are enriched. There must certainly have been
scholia in the works of Ovid in the classical era. In spite of the ban in force
in the libraries, his works were sought after by the contemporaries. The letters
from Pontus were read and appreciated; the Heroides were recited; and many
scholars are convinced that certain passages, which, even at that time, could
hardly have been understood without erudite explanation, were accompanied
by commentaries. Thus, Wilamowitz believes that Ovid himself provided
glosses for his edition of the Ibis,' and Ellis has reconstructed a corpus of
antique scholia on that poem. We cannot make such affirmations in the case
of the Metamorphoses. Slater's theory that this work was already accompanied
by a critical apparatus in ancient times is entirely conjectural. Knaack and
Castiglioni hoped that traces of an antique commentary might eventually be
found amongst the mass of mediaeval scholia,2 but so far the investigations
1 U. v. Wilamowitz, Hellenistische Dichtung Laurenziana mythographer and the so-called
in der Zeit des Kallimachos, Berlin, 1924,Lactantius,
II, one might obtain results suggest-
PP. 97 ff. ing the existence of a relatively ancient com-
2 D. A. Slater, Towards a Text of the Meta- mentary from which Servius and the others
morphoses of Ovid, Oxford, 1927; L. Casti- drew those slight variations of the fables from
glioni (reviewing Przychocki in Atene e Roma, the pure Ovidian version. The hypothesis
XV, 1912, pp. 250 ff.), discusses the point as that such a commentary existed has been
follows: "I have given examples of the maintained by Knaack and myself; but is
earliest scholia in my Analectaplanudea (pp. 193, denied by an authoritative scholar like
275) ... Possibly from a careful examination Magnus."
of such remains, and of the variants in the
MEDIAEVAL BIOGRAPHIES OF OVID I7
in this field have not yielded any such result. It is true, however,
study of mediaeval prefaces to the Metamorphoses tends to strengthen
advanced by E. K. Rand who gained from the texts of this type, w
had come across, the impression that mediaeval readers-particularl
of the thirteenth century-were not so much bound by mystical, all
or strictly moral presuppositions in their understanding of Ovidian
has usually been maintained.' In fact, these prefaces, and the comm
which follow them, sometimes contain surprises; we have already no
in connection with the carmina amatoria. We shall see how these lite
biographical notices develop from the rudimentary mediaeval "a
through a series of experiments and accretions, into the more comp
of the humanistic "life."
An eleventh century preface quoted by Meiser,2 would seem to show th
the habit of amplifying the poet's life was still in force at that date. The writ
says that he wishes to treat his subject under these heads only: materia, intent
cui parti philosophie supponatur.3 In practice, however, he does not speak at all
of materia, but begins with philosophy, the last question, discoursing on t
parts of philosophy and poetry, which he divides into three kinds: pragmaticon
exegeticon, cinomicticon.4 After an exposition of the opinion of the ancien
philosophers on the origin of the world, follows the intentio. Ovid's intenti
was both to please by relating the fables, and also to instruct through th
moral meaning in the stories, "for all authors tend to ethics."'5 Finally, i
place of materia, there appears the theme so dear to mediaeval scholiasts
utilitas. The utility of Ovid is that the full knowledge of mythology which he
provides helps to explain allusions in other books, and also that he teache
a beautiful literary style.6
Of the life there is hardly a word, if one excepts the allusion in the fir
verses to his supposed Christianity; this is perhaps the result of a confusio
of Ovid with Statius.7 It may be questioned, however, whether this extra
1 E. K. Rand, "The Classics in the Thir- 6 "Utilitatem nobis confert Ovidius quia
teenth Century," Speculum, IV, 1929, pp. cum fabule in aliis libris tangebantur,
252 ff. ignorabantur, donec iste Ovidius enodavit
2 Clm. 46 Io, a codex from the monastery et enucleavit. Prodest nobis et ad osten-
of Benedictbeuren. See Meiser, "Ueber dendam pulchram dictionum compositio-
einen Commentar zu den Metamorphosen nem."'
7 The scholiast dates the poet's life in the
des Ovid," Sitzungsber. der Akad. der Wissensch.
zu Miinchen, 1885, pp. 47-49. time of Domitian and Augustus; because, for
3 "Cum multa possint inquiri in capite him, Domitian is the persecutor of the
uniuscuiusque libri, moderni quadam Christians, and he supposes that Ovid must
gaudentes brevitate tria principaliter in- have been a Christian, and that it was only
quirenda statuere id est materiam, inten- through fear of the emperor that he recog-
tionem et cui parti philosophie supponatur."nized the pagan gods. It is, therefore, not
4 "Tercium genus poematis est Cinominti- surprising that in commenting I, 21, "Hanc
deus et melior natura diremit," he refers the
con (i.e., "common") ut Ovidius iste scribit."
(Read "cinomicticon," from the Greek expression "melior natura" to Christ:
"Melior natura id est voluntas dei, filius dei
KoLvotxx6v; see Meiser, op. cit., pp. 49-50.)
Cf. Przychocki, op. cit., p. 85, note 15. diremit, et sic quantum ad effectum id est
5 "Intentio Ovidii est omniumque fabulas secundum qui videbatur, non quod deo
scribentium utpote Terentii maxime delectarealiquid accidat, ut sit melior, dictum est de
et delectando tamen mores instruere, quia Jesu: Puer Jesus proficiebat etate et sapientia
omnes auctores fere ad ethicam tendunt." apud deum et homines."
from the Benedictbeuren codex

word; the absence of any treatm
its procedure makes one doubt i
contain this commentary do not in
of glosses on about 450 passages
Possibly, therefore, what we hav
fully glossated text.
The first true "life" is that wh
Orleans, prefixes to his glosulae on
the most complete commentat
devoted a special study to him;I he
notices transmitted to us by Arnu
based on the poet's own words. T
one. Without much preamble or
of the poet's life, introducing a
logical order of their appearan
treatise in which he expounds titu
utilitas, modus tractandi. Arnulf
classical grammarians, particular
commentary on the Aeneid, obser
vita, titulus operis, qualitas carmin
librorum, explanatio. Arnulf respec
school, but modifies some of t
mediaeval mentality. In this intr
treating of the whole life of the p
in the Aeneid; such a full treatm
minor works until considerably la
The qualitas carminis is here re
which he expounds a classificati
"natural, magical, spiritual," w
altered, in later "accessus." For
moral; by showing, through the
which are inseparable from the
follow reason and to maintain the
of vice. It follows that the poem
its usefulness is, not only that it
above all, that it leads to the unde
can be known through the transfo
formulates one of the salient characteristics of mediaeval Ovidian commen-
tary, to which he himself was one of the first to give an enormous impulse
namely that of the allegorical or hermeneutic interpretation of myths, and
consequently of their inclusion, when thus understood, within the sphere o
the ecclesiastical culture of his time. The example set by Arnulf, both her
and in his other prefaces and commentaries to Ovidian works, formed
school. The scheme of his "life," with its method of introducing a review o
all the works in correct sequence, was to be repeated up to the time of lat
1 F. Ghisalberti, "Arnolfo d'Orlans, undell'Istituto Lombardo, XXIV, 1932, pp. 157-
cultore di Ovidio nel sec. XII," Memorie 234.
humanism. And the highly significant analytical side of
was also heavily drawn upon by successive compiler
renewed confidence in the system excogitated by him.
for example, in the first of the two "lives" to be found in
codex of which Nogara speaks.' Here we find the seven
ated in the same terms, and preceded by the "life"; and
and proved from examples, that it was the intention o
through the metamorphoses of matter, to the transforma
Przychocki gives as examples of introductions to the Me
he had not found represented in the Munich codex
fifteenth century manuscript2 which contains a widely
date, and those in the twelfth century codex just mention
had drawn attention. Such introductions become much more numerous and
wide-spread from the time of Arnulf onwards. On account of its length,
Ovidius maior always enjoyed the privilege of a separate edition, and th
provided opportunity for a comprehensive treatment of the author. Arn
himself declared: "When we have in hand Ovid's greatest work, then we w
trace his life." These lives were too bulky to be included in the collection
"accessus" to the minor works, though this was occasionally done; fo
example, Alton found in the Berne sillogus studied by him, a proem to
Metamorphoses included amongst those to minor works. Nevertheless, the int
duction to the larger poem usually constituted an entity in itself and had
character of a genuine literary notice of the poet. The arid scheme of exeg
laid down by Arnulfwas progressively amplified by his successors. Someti
a grammarian would further elaborate the second part of the treatise, add
subtle distinctions on the various kinds of metamorphosis; others would pref
to expand the biographical part, with fresh colour and new details from
works of Ovid, particularly from the confessions in the Tristia, and more of
still from his own imagination. And so, as time went on, the life of the p
grew longer and longer in the constantly renewed copies of the Metamorphos
In one of these, a fourteenth century manuscript mentioned by Nog
and which forms part of an "accessus" to the De Vetula, the influence of Arn
of Orleans' "life" is very strong.4 In fact, it is merely an amplification
Arnulf's work, to which it corresponds literally at many points, though
writer prefixes to it a declaration on the general structure of the compositio
which is not given by Arnulf. It is printed in full in one of the append
to this article, with the words, which correspond to Arnulf's text, italiciz
(14th century), and Ambros. G. 130 inf.

1 Vat. 1593. Cf. Nogara, op. cit., p. 417.
2 Vat. 2781. Nogara also alludes to this.
(I 4th century).
3 Vat. 1593- See Przychocki, op. cit., p. Vat.
96; Reg. I559 was written between 1389
and 1407 by Riccardus de Basochiis, a cleric
Nogara, op. cit., pp. 416-I8. Vat. 1593 con-
tains a life which alludes to the supposedof the diocese of S6ez and rector of the school
of Conches.
destruction of the Metamorphoses by order of It contains the De Vetula with
the poet: "ac ibidem mortuus est: hunc marginal notes and an introduction. Nogara
autem librum dum filie sue comburere prints only that part of the introduction
iussisset non combussit, sed ad placitum which concerns the exile and the composition
correxit." of De Vetula.
5 See below, p. 50, Appendix I, for the
4 Vat. Reg. 1559. This "life" also appears
in two other codices: Ven. Marc. lat. XII. 57 "life" together with the introductory
whole
The grammarian author of a four

usual restrictions which limit an "
the work which it introduces. He
governing the composition of a w
more particularly under six asp
completes the Arnulfian scheme o
subdividing mutatio magica into a f
body into another body. Passing to
derivation of the name of Ovid fr
others had adopted without givin
four elements, with the division of
work.3 The addition of a list of t
writer felt the need for as comple
The proem to an Ambrosiana ma
grammarian has attempted to lighte
with quotations. He declares that h
and passes at once to the section titu
paraphrasing "Naso a quantitate n
the figurative sense, namely that
signifies for him also 'ovum divid
the preceding writer. He explains
adding the epitaph which appear
(Paris. 8253), and which here is
then passes to the examination of
transformations, 'naturalis,' 'mora
of the above-mentioned Paris man
this grammarian, the intentio of th
tions from the beginning of the
thus bring out the importance of
author hoped for from the work,
which the reader may draw from
transform us into beasts. Philosop
be ascribed both to ethics and to
general statement, poetaomitting, however,
praesumpserit" (see Przychocki, op. cit.,
remainder of the introduction which refersp. 109).
3 See below, p. 27.
exclusively to the little pseudo-Ovidian poem
De Vetula. 4 Ambros. N. 254 sup. (14th century). See
1 Paris. 8253. See below, p. 51, Appen-below, p. 53, Appendix K.
dix J for the text. On this and other com- 5 The "accessus" to Vat. 2781 (I5th cen-
mented Ovidian codices see the notes intury),
my ff. 185-9, closely resembles Ambros. N.
edition of John of Garlandia, Integumenta 254 sup. though it treats the same material
Ovidii, Milan, 1933, and the above-mentioned
at greater length. It gives the same examples
work on Arnulf. Consult the indices under for the various kinds of mutation, but adds
the name of the codex. to them; for example, as well as Orestes, it
gives Agave and Pentheus. There is also a
2 The "four causes" discussed by Vat. Reg.
1559 and Paris. 8253, which are typical long digression on philosophical opinions as
examples of this kind of treatise, derive from
to the origin of the world (cf. Nogara, op. cit.,
Donatus' commentary on Virgil's Bucolics,
p. 417, and Przychocki, op. cit., p. 96). The
introduction in Ambros. B. 18. inf. is also re-
where he says "causa unde ortum sit opus
lated to this, as well as to Paris. 8253-
et quare hoc potissimum sibi ad scribendum
MEDIAEVAL BIOGRAPHIES OF OVID 2I
THE EVOLUTION FROM THE "ACCESSUS" TO THE HUMANISTIC LIFE
With the proem which in the fourteenth century Guillelmus deThi

fixes to his commentary' we arrive at a genuinely literary type of
The author is particularly eager to inform us concerning Ovid's yo
he reconstructs by quotations from the poet. Such autobiographica
are not infrequent in earlier lives; 2 the novelty here is that they are
to form an organic whole. In Arnulf's life the biographical detai
distinct and arid, and the author soon passes to the usual class
Guillelmus does not omit these; under materia, he distinguishes th
of mutation, 'moralis,' 'magica,' 'theorica'; the utilitas of the work
remembering what is here recounted; the intentio of the author was
fication of Augustus and the discussion of the properties of the
This part of the treatise is very thin, but when he comes to spe
titulus he seems to be drawing on a richer source-perhaps similar
used by the Ambrosiana manuscript which this text closely resem
now onwards. Forgetting what he has just said, Guillelmus bring
the topic of the various kinds of mutation, of which he now distingu
'naturalis,' 'moralis,' 'spiritualis,' and 'magica,' with the same subd
in the Ambrosiana manuscript, though with different examples. A
speaks again of intentio which here, as in the Ambrosiana, means
tion of all change from the beginning of the world up to the de
Caesar; and of utilitas, which is the reconciliation with Augustus.
elmus, too, Ovid is both ethical and physical. This mechanical and
juxtaposition of passages taken from different sources leads him in
contradictory statements, and this spoils the good impression m
first part. There is also a serious lacuna, namely, the absence of th
of the works; even Arnulf, poor in materials though he was, had n
this.
These examples will suffice without further mention of th
"accessus" to be found in some Vatican manuscripts, for example
fourteenth century codex3 in which is still to be found the arra
henceforward dropped, of discussing life and works at the same time,
for the major poem the longest exposition of hidden intentions
various species and sub-species of mutation.
The fullest and best arranged introduction to the Metamorphos
dictated by the famous orator, Giovanni del Virgilio, as part of t
exposition of the whole poem which he gave at the university of Bolo
1 Paris. 8oio (14th century). Seeably comes from Orleans. Alton (op. cit.
below,
p. 54, Appendix L. On this Guillelmus
p. 121)de
has reprinted parts of this, and som
Thiegiis and his commentary (assigned by correspond closely with the text
of them
B. Haureau to the I3th century, but published
which below. For example: "Ovidius i
appears to me to belong to the 14th) pelignoseeopido natus erat unde ait in ovidio
Histoire litte'raire de la France, XXIX,
sineI885,
titulo. Hic ego composui pelinis natus
p. 582, and my Arnolfo, pp. 191 ff. aquosis tempore illo in quo fuit bellum inte
2Guillelmus may have known the bio- et cillam . . ." with which compar
marium
graphical 'accessus' to the Metamorphoses
Appendix in L, p. 54-
Bern. 4I1 (I2th-I3th century), which3 prob-
Vat. 7627.
the two years 1332-3. I have alre

mentary,1 and here it will suffice
for the study of the evolution
Giovanni del Virgilio, following
such as Paris. 8253, does justic
contest the field with the quad
greater part of Del Virgilio's "
and following in the footsteps of
that the end of all science is the
ing a book, one should know the c
out these is the principal task o
First, the causa eficiens; this for
any movement external to him.
attempt at a general biography, n
to the particular work to be e
curriculum of the poet. Giovann
going to Rome with his brother
which he seems to regard as not
which was only a pretext, as of
sees a transparent allusion in the
sine veste Dianam." As to Ovid's
vouching for the truth of any o
believe with Arrighetto da Sett
accept the tradition that he was th
ated by the crowds who welcom
section, that devoted to causa mat
kinds of transformation which
Giovanni simplifies here also, con
the "spiritualis" (in which he pe
the others mention) and the "m
the sub-divisions. The treatment o
ing, for in this he introduces a
rhetorical point of view. For G
the forma tractatus, which includ
and the subdivisions of these, and
parts; and the forma tractandi, w
have a dominant characteristic (
style corresponding to the natur
details the properties of various st
on (modus agendi specialis).3 Thi
1 F. Ghisalberti,3"Giovanni
G. Vandelli, del inVirSt
I934, pp. I63 ff.,
espositore delle Metamorfosi," Giornal dre
tesco, XXXIV, N.S.,affinity Annuario between DantescDant
Florence, Olschki, and 1933, parts PP- of this "ac
1-110.
2 G. Rotondi has It is trueout
pointed that we f
("Ovidi
epistle the
Medio Evo," Convivium, 1934, same p. 266,disti n
that the erroneous duplex:
reading forma "Arigecus" tracta
Forma tractatus . .. secundum
I printed is an allusion to the . .. divisionem
well-kn
. . Forma sive
elegy by Arrighetto damodus tractandi est poeticus,
Settimello.
the necessity of overriding the old scholastic barriers

between the various strands from which the unity of
wider view appears also in the simplified and defini
characterizes the fourth and last cause, the causafin
of intentio and utilitas. He does not seek, like Arn
meanings, nor dwell on conjectures as to the utilit
procure for himself and others from the poem. T
general history of all change and the desire for
breviter est finis cuiuslibet poete") were the final
having thus distributed the parts of his treatise,
scruple. It may seem to some that he has omitted t
poem and the section of philosophy to which it sho
is not the case. "Hiis visis veniamus ad alia duo que
librorum s. quis sit titulus et cui parti philosop
videntur michi necessario inquirenda eo quod, visi
unoquoque libro apparet quis sit libri titulus et c
ponatur. Nam libri titulus habetur ex causa efficie
ex causa materiali." But one would say that it cost
ergo") to repeat the well-worn similitude of Ovid a
the etymology of metamorphoseos. For the rest he
which he seems to identify himself with the affirma
quod supponitur ethice i. morali philosophie, nam
mores."
These are new and as yet still hesitant ways of considering Ovid's majo
work. Mediaeval scholasticism is beginning to be shaken. New schemes are
replacing the old patterns. True, it is but a new kind of formalism which i
being substituted for the old, but the need for a fresh critical spirit is clearly
revealed.
This tendency is also noticeable in the brief proem prefixed to a fourteenth
century Laurenziana manuscript.' The biographical notices treat the usual
points; the enumeration of the works is close to that in Paris. 8253. The
author feels considerable sympathy with Ovid; his life is rehabilitated, the
exile itself being viewed as the consequence of the poet's having been suspected
of faults of which he was innocent. And the poem is judged from an inde-
pendent, almost humanist, point of view, for Ovid means to teach through
delight, and to educate his readers in eloquence.
On the last folio of a manuscript in the Ambrosiana is an "accessus"
which appears to have been written and compiled by a grammarian of the
end of the fourteenth century.2 This is at last a true biography, freed from
the hesitations which still held back Giovanni del Virgilio. The old schematism
has almost disappeared. The author, indeed, proposes to himself four points
for elucidation which he arranges in the following order of importance: vita,
titulus, intentio, utilitas. In practice, however, the last three are but brief notes,
fictivus, descriptivus, digressivus, transump- 1 Laur. 36, I8. See below, p. 56, Appen-
dix M.
tivus, et cum hoc diffinitivus, divisivus, pro-
bativus, improbativus, et exemplorum posi-2 Ambros. H 64 sup. See below, p. 56,
tivus." Dante, Opere, ed. Soc. Dant. Ital., Appendix N.
Florence, 1921.
in part related to customary mediaeval w
the explanation of the name Ovid. But in
establishing a moral and didactic aim for
in the Ars Amatoria, appears the concept
in poetry if it is an aim in itself, become
uses it, to teach by pleasing. By far the m
however, both in length and in novelty, i
clears it almost entirely of mediaeval inv
details, drawing for the most part on citatio
He disdains to repeat the conjectures of h
exile, which he regards as unjustly inflic
Ars Amatoria, the honest intention of w
and it is with many doubts that he mention
tion of the bones of the poet to the Rom
Immediately following this life in the sa
to transcribe a second life, which can be
cannot be entirely a coincidence. The a
Arnulf's outmoded rules in mind, and
Metamorphoses, limited to such biograph
the understanding of how and when the
whole life and work of the poet, discussing
was normally matter for the introduction t
An example of the new style of complet
tion to a minor work, is to be found in t
fifteenth century codex,1 which passed th
both of them students of Ovid.2 Althou
formed are entirely mediaeval, as can easi
of a true biography, in that the writer n
causes, but tries to establish the facts conce
studies, life and work.
After this, one is not surprised to find
codex, illustrated with miniatures,4 a life
one who understood Latin, and by a cr
tradition. This can be seen from his man
question of the causes of the exile. The p
author are also apparent in the soberly co
he draws up. It begins with the Heroides
opus puerile censendum est, eruditum, arg
cui opera annectenda epistola illa aur
1 Napol. V. D. 52. See below, p. 58, lives which were still appearing in post
Appendix O. humanist editions of the poet's works. See
2 The superscription says: "Antonii Seri- the edition of the Heroides, Venice, 1512,
pandi ex Jani Parrhasii testamento." published by Giovanni Tacuino, with a com-
3 Przychocki pointed out (op. cit., p. Io8) mentary by Antonio Volsco and Ubertino
that although the facts given in this biography Crescentinate; and the Ars Amatoria, also pub-
are incomplete and vague, and mingled lished by Tacuino, Venice, 1494, edited by
with fantasy even to the point of including Bartolomeo Merula.
the dispute 'de habitu nasi ovidiani,' this 4 Laur. 36, 2. See below, p. 59, Appen-
type of "accessus" furnished material for dix P.
Phaonem scribit."' On the Amores he notes: "hos neoterici de Sine titulo
vocant"; he continues with the Ars Amatoria, the Remedia, the Metamorpho
"opus divinum et propter fabularum cognitionem necessarium, cuius o
inter cetera mira continuationis est virtus." For the Medea he quotes Q
tilian's judgment. He lists the Tristia, the Fasti, the Ibis, the Ex Ponto
composition in the Pontic dialect on the triumph of Augustus Caesar.
in conclusion he remarks, "Attribuunt ei et alia opuscula, sed meo iudi
numquam Ovidii fuere, videlicet de Nuce, de Pulice, de Philomena: insa
vero qui eum dicunt scripsisse de Vetula, de Lumaca, nam ea oportuit f
cuiusdam infantis et ignorantissimi."
It may be said that it forms the last link in the chain of manuscripts w
constitute the history of lives of Ovid in the mediaeval tradition. The
esteem in which this poet was held, particularly in the fourteenth and fift
centuries, caused his works to be much sought after and transcribed,
mented in the schools, and paraphrased in the vulgar tongues of Europe
love poetry stimulated the songs of wandering scholars and suggested th
to the troubadours and the minnesingers. The rich wealth of mytholo
lore presented by him in such vividly pagan colouring, was copiously d
upon by allegorists and moralizers in the service of a vision of the wo
dominated by the Christian faith. This fame stimulated the desire to
more about his personality in relation to his various works, an interest
may be defined as an embryo form of history of literature. Traube was
to maintain that these mediaeval compositions, which were written abo
the classical authors and sometimes collected together, constitute a kin
scholastic history of literature. In the vast complex of the later Ov
codices, the "accessus" abound; and they differ little from one another
the previous researches of Sedlmayer, Nogara, Przychocki and Alton, li
to certain groups, have shown. In the present enquiry, which includes v
groups and collections of manuscripts, I have tried to co-ordinate cert
aspects of those codices in such a way as both to bring out a line of dev
ment, and to bring together a collection of dates which enables us to re
struct a fairly accurate picture of what the mediaeval students knew of
life of Ovid. Mediaeval commentators had little historical sense; they
gossip and would enlarge a hint in the author's works into some ent
imaginary episode. They realized that the sole source of informati
Ovid's life is Ovid himself, but, being innocent of modern critical meth
they were unable to sift the evidence which the poems provide. They
use of his words, often not properly understood, as a basis for their biogra
but on points where he himself is silent on the mystery of his life they
rein to their imaginations; nor have moderns always resisted the tempt
to fill in the gaps with conjectures. Elements from this uncertain tra
survived even in minds which had begun to develop a critical sense; the
be found, for example, in the life of Ovid which Boccaccio inserts into his
of Dante. In the mid-fifteenth century, Sicco Polenton wrote a notice of
1 This letter was discovered in the It
early
was almost unknown to the Middle Ages;
a Parisian
years of the I5th century. Panormita cites it codex which mentions it is dated
as early as 1426. Bono d'Accorso quotesNov.
it in20oth, 1423. Cf. R. Sabbadini, Le
scoperte
the edition of the Metamorphoses, Milan, I475. dei codici latini e greci, I, Florence, p. 99.
which is still entirely dependent

inventions and superstitions which
which Manuzio prefixed to the fi
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF OVID AVAILABLE TO THE MIDDLE AGES
We are now in possession of sufficient data to draw up a conspec

knowledge of Ovid available to the Middle Ages.
The name of Ovid's father was reconstructed by the mediae
marians from the poet's first name; it appears in various mutilated
the twelfth century lives, and is stabilized in the most probable form
in the Clm. 19475,2 and similarly in the best fourteenth cent
The mother was also given a name, but it appears in only one ma
hitherto discovered, the same Clm., 19475, where she is d
as Pelagia. It cannot have been an isolated example, for this name
Polenton who regards it as quite authentic.4
As for the poet's own name, Arnulf and the other twelfth century
state it without adding all those allusive etymologies which are s
teristic of almost all the thirteenth and fourteenth century lives.
codex Gothanus onwards, the name gives rise to various interpreta
first name 'Publius' is in general derived from the 'gens' of the p
thence from the "Publius family" ;5 but for many this derivatio
suffice, and they add, with the usual 'vel . . vel' other possib
ings: such as the public favour which he enjoyed," or the na
1 P. Ovidii Nasonis uita per Aldum
XVIII,ex
ed. B. L. Ullman, American Academy
ipsius libris excerpta, Venetiis ininaedibus
Rome, 1928, p. 65, line 16).
Aldi et Andeae soceri mense maio MDXV. 4 "Mater Pelagia" (Polenton, ed. Ullman).
2 Cf. Przychocki, p. 80; Paris. 8253 (see
M. Lenchantin de Gubernatis ("La biografia
below, p. 52, Appendix J). Vat. 1593ovidiana
(first di Sicco Polenton," Athenaeum, I,
life) has "Puplius." Arnulf gives the1913)
form did not use Przychocki's work, where
"Plimius," also the second life in Vat. 1593,have found the mediaeval precedent
he would
which, as I have elsewhere demonstrated which he believed lacking.
(Arnolfo, p. 178, note 2), follows Arnulf 5 Thus, the Gothanus and Paris. 8253-
exactly. Arnulf ignores the first name, which is given
3 "Publius" in Paris. 8253; in Ambr. N 254 by the codices, but there is no confirmation
sup.; and in Guillelmus de Thiegiis. Some of it in classical sources.
14th century codices, such as Reg. 1559 and 6 Ambr. N 254 sup.: "vel quia primus pub-
its two allies Ambros. G 130 inf. and Marc. licum favorem habuit"; Napol. V.D. 52: "a
XII, 57; Vat. 2781; Laur. 36, 18 and the publico favore romanorum quem emeru-
versified preface to Vat. 5222, 15th century erat"; Guillelmus de Thiegiis: "vel quia pub-
give the form "Pilius." Others give an licum omnium obtinuit assensum." For
entirely new name; "Botius" (cf. Sedlmayer, Ambr. H. 64 sup. also this is the only possib
p. 142); Ambr. H 64 sup. is uncertain: explanation: "dictus est Publius ab honorib
"Botius vel Pilius"; Vat. 1479 does not et dignitatibus quas erat solitus habere an
hesitate to make the Trojan Solemus, com- quam deveniret in exilium." Laur. 36,
panion of Aeneas and founder of Sulmo, the says that Ovid took this name because he
came from the "gens Publiorum"; or becau
father of Ovid, and indeed insists upon this
(see pp. 29, 30). Giovanni del Virgilio he was a notable member of that "gens"; o
and Boccaccio do not give the father a name.finally, "quia poete scientia nobilitabantu
Sicco Polenton maintains that the father also in signum huius nobilitatis Publii vocabantur
was called P. Ovidius Naso (Sicconis Polen-quod patet in Virgilio qui Publius appella
fuit in titulo versuum compositorum a
toni, Scriptorum illustrium latinae linguae libri
6
Of~~~~~~~~ f ::t:if i f:ii ttietn
Ixs -:* k(6tfits 0 (bt -:et a
The Four Elements symbolized by an E
father,1 or even the public school of morality which h

elaborate meanings were drawn from the name Ovidius, w
an allusion to the cosmology of the poem, designating
guished the parts of the egg, symbol of the world, compo
disposed concentrically like those of the egg: the shel
heaven, seat of fire; the subtle and transparent air is l
water is like the white of the egg; and the central earth i
middle of the egg.3 Another etymology, which found litt
the name from the verb 'ovare,' alluding to the note
sometimes found in Ovid's language.4 As to the cogno
Ovidio et ab Augusto super vita ipsius returns to the comparison with the egg (see
below, p. 59, Appendix O). Even the diffi-
Virgilii," (Sedlmayer, p. 142). This alludes
dent Giovanni del Virgilio also adopts this,
to a composition by Ovid about Virgil which
and it seems indeed to have been almost
is not mentioned by the others. Or possibly
obligatory in commentaries and teaching
it is an allusion to some epitaph attributed to
courses on the 'Ovidius maior' as may be
him, such as I have seen in Vat. 5222, fol.
25; "Ovidius ad Atticum, Ovidius ad deduced from the Ovide moralise. A miniature
Cottam, Ovidius ad incertum." Or to those (Paris, Bibl. nat., MS. fr. 137, fol. I verso, see
"argumenta librorum virgilianorum" which P1. 6) shows a teacher sitting in his chair
were attributed to him. Finally, amongstwith Ovid's book open before him on the
those who thought that the name alluded desk. to He is explaining to the scholars the
his public fame were the author of the verse division of the elements of the universe by
prefaces published by Hagen (Carmina med. means of an egg which he holds in his hand.
aevi, Berne, 1877) from the Berne cod. 512, (On this see my "Ovidius moralizatus,"
12th century, and also reproduced by Przy- Studi Romanzi, XXIII, 1933, P- 75, note I, and
chocki, p. 116. He expresses himself thus: further comparisons in J. Engels, Etudes sur
"Publius de publica fama nuncupatur." I'Ovide Moralisd, Groningen, 1943, p. 90.)
1 Ambr. H 64 sup.: "vel a Publio patre"; Some departures from the regular interpreta-
Paris. 7998: "Publius a patre suo qui Publius tion are made by Vat. 1479 and Laur. 36, 27
fuit dictus"; Vat. I479 has a variant which for whom the shell represents earth and the
is characteristic of the volubility of thisyolk-fire: "sicut enim in ovo quatuor sunt,
scholiast: "Publius dicitur a Publio pre- s. vitellus sive rubigo qui respondet igni,
nomine vel a Publia matre Nasonis." Gio- albumen sive claretum quod respondet aeri,
vanni del Virgilio has "Publius dictus a cartillago que respondet aque, et testa que
parentela sua." respondet terre, et sic Ovidius quatuor
2 Laur. 91 sup. 23: "Publius enim dictus a elementa distinxit, ut ostendit in Ovidio
publico-cas quia publice reprehendebat ea maiori in principio" (Sedl., p. 143). To some
que reprehendenda et laudabat laudanda." the etymology 'ovum dividens' seemed far-
3 Gothanus simply explains: "Ovidius fetched, and they seemed to modify it into
quod ovum dividens." Paris. 7998 adds: 'ovum videns.' To this the author of the
"quia mundus quasi ovo comparatur." verse preface to Berne MS. 512 seems to
Paris. 8253 goes more fully into the strangeallude when he says "Ovidius satis declaratur
derivation of the comparison of the egg si . . . visere nomen agatur,' (Hagen, Carm.
with the four elements, which Ovid explainsmed. aev., p. 207). Giovanni del Virgilio is
as divided from the materia prima (see below, also alluding to this second interpretation
p. 52, Appendix J). Ambr. N 254 sup. when he says: "Secundum aliquos dicitur
expounds the same idea in other words (see Ovidius ovum dividens i. totum mundum
below, p. 53, Appendix K); and Guillel- videns per sui sapientiam."
mus clarifies and completes it (see below, 4 Laur. 91 sup. 23: "Ovidius dictus est a
p. 55, Appendix L). Ambr. H 64 sup. is ovo ovas quia ovanter i. gaudenter hoc facie-
shorter: "quia tamquam bonus philosophus bat," that is to say his office of moralist (see
divisit celum elementa," meaning that the below, p. 45, Appendix B); Laur. 36, 27:
elements of the universe were included by "quia rem suam ovanter dicit," Sedlmayer,
him in the general term of heavens (see below, p. 142.
p. 58, Appendix N). But Napol. V.D. 52
one agreed in believing it to be an

one particularly suited to the poe
enabled him to smell out the differe
The earliest biographers, such as
posed "oppidum Pelignum," not en
confusion of the region with the pla
rather confused statement in Suet
poet's own testimony became bette
indicated as Sulmo in the Pelignum d
Ovid himself had alluded in the
1 Clm. 19475: "Naso (see below, dictus
p. 58, Appendix est Ovidiu
N). The writer
et est agnomen quod of Marc.ab eventu
XII, 49, I5th century, impositu
also dis-
sit ei eo quod magnum nasum habuit," courses on the nose as a sign of wisdom. In
(Przychocki, p. 89); Paris. 7998: "Naso athe humanistic period, the commentator of
quantitate nasi"; Gothanus: "Naso dicitur Ambr. a B. 18., inf., dated 1420, is still adduc-
quantitate nasi"; Regin. 1559, Ambr. G, 130 ing Guillelmus's explanation: "Publius pro-
inf., and Marc. XII, 57: "Naso cognomine prium nomen est actoris, vel dicitur
a magnitudine nasi dictus"; see also the life Publius a Publia familia, vel quia publicum
in verse cited by Sedlmayer: "Ovidium novi obtinuit favorem. Naso secundum quosdam
dicit quia dividit ovi Partes, a naso fit deriva-proprium est nomen actoris, vel dicitur Naso
mine Naso, Publius instat ei cognomine a quantitate nasi, vel quadam similitudine
progeniei"; Laur. 91 sup. 23, on the other que se habet ad canem venaticum: sicut enim
hand, gives only the moral reason: "Naso canis . . . adinvenit sententias . . . ovum
vero dicitur per similitudinem, quia sicut dividens appellatur."
aliquis odorifera secernit a putridis eodem 2 Suetonius states in a brief sentence:
modo sua solercia sciebat secernere castas et "Ovidius nascitur in Paelignis" (De vir.
pudicas ab incestis"; Paris. 8253 explicitly
inlustr., De poetis, XXX, ed. Reifferscheid,
warns against equivocating: "Naso dicitur a
Leipzig, 186o, p. 49). Cf. Arnulf, Reg. 1559,
quantitate nasi, non quia haberet maiorem
Ambr. G., 130 inf. and Marc. XII, 57, also
nasum quam alii, sed quia discretio animi per 411: "in Peligno opido natus" (Alton,
Bern.
eum denotatur"; Ambr. N 254 sup. admitsp. 121); Vat. 1593: "de Peligno oppido quod
both meanings and introduces the simile of
est tertia pars Sulmonis"; Barb. 26: "fuit
sulmonensis poeta de Peligno opido, quod
the 'canis venaticus' who smells out the prey,
just as Ovid with his nose 'bonas percipiebat opidum distat ab urbe romana nonaginta
sententias'; Guillelmus expresses himself in
miliariis, tertia pars cuius est Sulmo"; Paris.
almost the same words (see below, p. 55,"a Peligno opido oriundus extitit."
8207:
Appendix L); Napol. V.D. 52, too, speaks 3of Though Paris. 8253 and Ambr. N 254
the 'magnitudo nasi' as an allusion to the sup. do not mention the place of birth,
'communis discretio' and thinks that the idea Guillelmus names it exactly, combining his
statement with that of his predecessors
is derived by analogy with the sense of smell
of a dog; Laur. 36, 27 also admits this, through
but the remark "Pelignum opidum
emphasizes not so much the sagacity of find-
divisum fuit in tres partes sive in tres villas,
ing something out, as the wisdom of distin- una quarum Sulmo vocabatur" (see below,
guishing between vice and virtue: "Naso p. 54, Appendix L). Vat. 1479 and
agnomen est. Et dictus est Naso ab habitu Vat. 2781 give only the name Sulmo.
nasi, eo quod habuit magnum nasum, vel Giovanni del Virgilio specifies "de Sulmone
quia, sicut cum naso bonum odorem a malo civitate"; Napol. V.D. 52: "de Sulmone
discernimus, sic et ipse distinxit eligenda a civitate Apulie duxit originem"; Laur. 36,
non eligendis. Vel quia sicut per nasum 18: "sulmontinus natione"; Ambr. H 64
fetida ab odoriferis discernimus, ita vitia asup. is more precise: "Patet ergo quod fuit
virtutibus disgregavit." (Sedlmayer, p. 143). oriundus illius regionis que dicitur Pelignum
Ambr. H 64 sup. is positive that Ovid really in qua fuit constructus Sulmo (see below,
had a large nose, and produces Aristotelian p. 57, Appendix N). One scholiast calls
sanction for the statement that men with largeOvid a Roman (Sedlmayer, p. 413), but this
noses are wiser and more prudent than othersseems to have been an isolated error.
legendary soldier from Troy, and the commentators f
particular, with varying degrees of digression on the th
tioning the source, sometimes not. The name of this c
appears as Solemus.' It would be an arduous task to a
agreement amongst the commentators as to the date of
number avoid committing themselves to any date; othe
of the anniversary of the battle of Cannae which coinc
of Pallas;2 one puts it at the time of the war betwe
another at the time when the two Decii fell ;3 some w
others in May.4
A name was given not only to Ovid's father and mot
brother, who is called Lucilius or Lucius; all the comme
as to the year's distance between the birth of the brot
Rome together, the difference in their dispositions, t
advice, the premature death of the brother, because al
be found in the autobiographical elegy.5 However, the
1 "Huius erat Solymus Phrygia comes
inter unus
Marium et Scillam" (see below, p. 54,
ab Ida A quo Sulmonis moenia nomen Appendix L); Bern. 4I I: "natus erat . . .
habent." (Fasti, IV, 791); Ambr. H 64 sup.tempore illo quo fuit bellum inter Marium et
quotes this exactly and then derives the name Cillam" (Alton, p. 121). But Ambr. H 64
Pelignum "a nomine Peligni ducis" (for this
sup. has, basing himself on the same passage:
tendency to attribute Trojan origins to a"natus est tempore quo duo Decii ceciderunt
town through pride in Roman blood see A.. . pater enim et filius fuerunt simul consules,
Graf, Roma nella memoria . . . del Medio Evo, quorum unus in bello samnitico ut pater,
Turin, 1882, I, p. 19); Arnulf, Regin. 1559,alter in gallico ut filius cecidit."
Ambr. G., 130 inf., Marc. XII, 57, and Vat. 4 Guillelmus deduces from the Tristia:
2781, all mention Solemus. In Vat. 1479, the"Haec est armigerae de festis quinta Miner-
scholiast inserts at this point a prolix exposi-
vae," etc. (IV, Io, 133), that the date of birth
tion of the events leading up to the Judgmentcorresponds to "tricesimo kalendas martii,"
of Paris, going on to the burning of Troy andwhilst for the humanist author of Laur. 36, 2,
the departure of Aeneas. With his usualthe date is "XIIII kalendas aprilis." The
stupidity, this scribe muddles up everything: more cautious confine themselves to remark-
"Solemus unus de militibus romanis noluit ing vaguely, like Laur. 36, 18: "temporibus
repatriare, sed mansit cum uxore sua, et
Octaviani Augusti claruit." Amongst all the
remansit iuxta civitatem romanam, et ibi puzzlement of the scholiasts, who did not
fundavit opidum, et vocavit illum Sulmo: a know of the death of Hirtius and Pansa at the
nomine suo Solemone dictum est Sulmo battle of Modena, 48 B.C., the only exact date
opidum et ibi genuit duos filios et is
vocavit
given by Laur. 36, 2, namely March I9th,
primum nomine Lucillum . . ." The long
the date of the beginning of the Quinquatria.
5 Tristia,
versified biography in Bern. 512 discusses the IV, Io. In Regin. 1559, Ambr. G.,
130est
point as follows: "De Troia progressus inf.,
utMarc. XII, 57, and Arnulf the name
quod Solemus In troiano nomine non of laude
the brother is Lucilius; in Vat. 1593 (first
life), Clm. 19475, it is Lucius; Vat. 2781,
supremus. Hic Sulmonem fecerat propriam
notemus. De cuius castro te natum Naso has Luceus, for Lucius; Vat. 1479, has
docemus" (Alton, p. 122). Lucillus; in Giovanni del Virgilio it is
2 Vat. 1593 (first life): "die qua Annibal
Lucidius, with the age incorrectly given,
cum romanis de festo Palladis circa Cannas "Lucidius vocabatur qui maior erat duobus
annis"; Sicco Polenton takes the name from
prelium fecit"; Barb. 26: "ea die qua Paulus
et Terentius comiserunt bellum cum Anibale the mediaeval commentators in the form
apud Canas, et similiter qua die festum "Lucillius";
Pal- Arnulf, Regin. 1559, Ambr. G.,
ladis celebrabatur." 13o inf. and Marc. XII, 57 say that he was
3 Guillelmus thinks (basing himself on the older than Ovid: "senior spacio unius
a year
Tristia, "cum cecidit fato," etc.), thatanni.
OvidNam in eius nataliciis sive anniver-
was born "in illo tempore quando pugna sario die natus fuit Ovidius"; Guillelmus
fuit
3
much space to the brother. The earlier
or of his death. Interest in the episode aw
the preliminary to that accent on the con
the pure, though not unlucrative pursuit of
of the brother which the father encourag
by Boccaccio, may be said to be the chie
written by Polenton.1 The visit to Rome
few; two only know of the visit to Athe
imaginary travels, although Ovid himself
from Ovid himself what offices he held,
of decemvir, an important post in the c
preferred to turn what were really judic
military ones; some ascribe to him an im
military tribuneship.4 Few mediaeval bio
refers to the quotationN 254 sup., Ambr.
from the H 64 sup., Paris. 8253,
Tristia.-
are silent.and
There are the same dates Some connect the visit to Rome
quotations in
Vat. I479: "natus fuit with
anno revoluto
the first eodem
poetic experiments, for example,
die quo frater suus....Vat. 2792: "Romameruditus
Lucillus venit et ibi animum
fuit
in iuribus et decretis . . . Ovidius . . in suum ad iuvenalia applicavit" (see below,
grammaticalibus." p. 44). Without giving precise references
1 Arnulf: "Hos dispariter natos pariter ad II, Io, 21 and Trist., I, 2, 77, Barb.
to Pont.,
litteras apposuit pater eorum. Cumque
26 says:in
"Iste Ovidius cum esset bone indolis
diversis in locis studuit. Studuit enim Con-
minoribus essent eruditi, dedit eis magistrum
in arte rethorica." But Guillelmus makes stantinopoli, Alexandrie, atque Rome, de-
the more precise statement that they mum were Athenas ivit, ubi invenit quendam
sent by the father to Rome where "Luciusfratrem suum iam existentem patronum
legisque doctorem" (Nogara, p. 422). The
studens circa secularem disciplinam longo
mention of Alexandria may derive from a
tempore causidicus effectus est" (see below,
p. 54, Appendix L); all this was based oninterpretation of verse 79 of the above-
false
quotations from the Tristia. This contrast mentioned
is elegy in the Tristia; the other
brought out still more strongly by Vat. 1479, place names perhaps come from the allusion
with the aid of other quotations fromto thetravel in Asia and the Troad in the epistle
poet: "Cum autem videret Solemus from quod Pontus, and in Fast. VI, 417-24. Napol.
Lucillus multa lucraretur in scientia sua, V.D. 52, remarks briefly: "dicendum est
Ovidius vero nichil dixit Ovidio quod quod Athenis studuit et Rome."
scientiam suam desineret et in decretis curios- 3 Cf. Trist., IV, 1o, 34; Fast., IV, 384-
issime perstuderet . . . Hoc audiens Ovidius 4An early mediaeval commentator on
voluit gramaticalia et versificaturam deserere. Horace (formerly rather doubtfully identi-
Sed tamen non potuit . . . immo quicquid fied with Alcuin) notes concerning verse 268
dicebat versificatum erat . . . Cum autem of the Ars poetica: "Quinque iudices erant,
Lucillus vixisset spacio XX annorum quorum unus Ovidius erat suo tempore, ante
decessit. Unde Ovidius ita tristis fuit quos referebantur scripta poemata priusquam
ac si perdidisset dimidiam partem sui"
ad populum recitarentur." This is evidently
(Nogara, p. 425); Boccaccio takes(as thePio same
Rajna points out in "Le denomi-
line and with the same quotations;nazioni Polenton di Trivium e di Quadrivium," Studi
believes that Ovid studied civil law in Medievali, N.S., I, 1928, p. 22) a transforma-
obedience to his father's wishes, and tion began
into a literary office of Ovid's position
his career in that profession, showing amongst the decemvirs, "slitibus iudicandis,"
such
sagacity that he won the approval withof Oc- interpretation of the number
a wrong
tavius (ed. Ullman, p. 65, note 24).given in Fast., IV, 384 ("inter bis quinos usus
2 Guillelmus: "pater transmisit eos Romam
honore viros"). Vat. 1593 (first life) has "can-
et literis eos deputavit"; Giovanni del cellarius et unum de centum censoribus . ..
Virgilio: "Cum missus fuisset Romam cui ad intererat carmina omnium poetarum cor-
rigere"; probably he is relying on Tristia, II,
studendum." But on this point Arnulf, Ambr.
and daughter. The earliest one, perhaps of the t

daughter whom Ovid was supposed to have charged
the Metamorphoses.l On the authority of the autob
two wives are assigned to him, and perhaps a slave
are aware of his connection with the Fabii,3 to which
her name was Palles, and that of Ovid's son-in-law
one alludes to the two divorces. Some lives speak of
City as his place of residence in order to make his way
also of his introduction to Augustus.5 One only m
such as a sumptuous villa on the Campidoglio and f
him by the emperor." These elegant particulars mu
the analogy of lives of other Augustan poets.
93 ("commissa est nobis fortuna mortua, habuit aliam, unde multum laudat
reorum
Usque decem decies inspicienda illam, sed dicit quodper-
viris"), si diu vixisset, non diu
haps in a corrupt form which durasset in he did not
probitate sua; unde in Tristibus:
understand; or more probably 'Illi successit
still, on ... thoro.'
Pont., Quidam dicunt quod
III, 5, 21 ("At nisi pecassem, habuitnisi
terciam, me mea probare per hos
et volunt
Musa fugasset, Quod legi tua versus voxin Tristibus:
exibuisset 'Ultima que mecum
seros permansit
opus, Utque fui solitus, sedissem forsitan in unus
annos Sustinuit iuste
De centum judex in tua verba tempora seva mee.'
viris"), Tum alii dicunt quod
forget-
ting that this is an orationhicby loquitur
the de serva" (Nogara, p. 426).
advocate
Cotta and is addressed to a legal 3 Ambr.audience.
H 64 sup.: "vendicavit sibi famili-
Barb. 26, in its turn, tells us aritatem Fabiorum"; Laur. 36, 2 speaks in
that; "Octavianus
. . insuper eum unum de centum the notes ofiudicibus
three wives and a daughter.
fecit poetarum quibus poemata 4 We havediscerne-
already seen how the humanist
bantur, de quibus centumSicco erantadopted names alii
electi invented by the
decem"; Laur. 36, 2, maintains mediaevals.thatTherefore,
thewhen he writes:
"Uxor eiusAugusto
poet's office was judicial: "Cesari nomine Palles etdicta est, Fabiorum
vita et carmine placuit, et cum iudicia
e famiglia, ad (Ullman, p. 69,
nobilis femina"
centum equites referret, line in 30)eoone may assume that he probably
numero
Ovidius esse voluit." Those who make a found this name in some life which is un-
known
military tribune of him are relying on to us, or in some gloss to Tristia, V,
Arnulf
2, I, where
who says that Ovid: "facundia et virtute sua (as C. Landi acutely observed in
meruit fieri tribunus militum." To these the Athenaeum, N.S., VII, 1929, P- 558), palles
codices Laur. 36, 27 should be added:
was it
exchanged for a vocative, the pentameter
repeats Arnulf of Orleans word for presenting
word a treacherous variant in some
(Sedlmayer, p. 143). codices: "haec tibi . . . ipsa manu"; Sicco
1 Vat. I593 (first life), speaking of gives
Ovid'sthe name of the son-in-law correctly;
death in exile, says: "ac ibidem mortuuswe know
est: from Seneca, dial. 2, 17, I, that it
hunc autem librum dum filie sue comburere was Fidus Cornelius.
iussisset non combussit sed ad placitum cor- 5 Vat. 2792, Bern. 411. Paris. 1536 have:
rexit" (Nogara, p. 416). "videns alios poetas per scripta ad honorem
provehi Romam venit et ibi animum suum
2 Vat. 2781 records only two wives and one
daughter evidently because he thought thatad iuvenalia applicavit"; Ambr. H 64 sup.:
"Post paucum tempus, audiens quod poete
the remark in the last of the Tristia (IV, I0o,
73) referred to the woman given as a second multum honorabantur, precipue a romanis,
wife, "non firma futura toro" because quid fecit? recessit a Sulmone inveniens
elegantiorem urbem. Sic profectus est in
"coniux exulis viri." Vat. 1479, on the other
hand, well understood the passage about the urbem romanam et illic vendicavit sibi
familiaritatem Fabiorum; Fabii enim tunc
second wife, but hesitated as to the existence
inter romanos clarebant; isti Fabii pre-
of a third and did not know that she belonged
to a good family: "Ovidius autem in iuven-fecerunt eum ad familiaritatem Augusti
tute sua accepit uxorem et multum crimi- Cesaris."
natur illam, unde in Tristibus: 'pene michi 6 Barb. 26: "Ovidius vero provectus etate
puero . . . nupta fuit.' Illa autem uxoreet sapientia, Romam rediens factus est
When they come to the most serious m
the exile, the mediaeval commentators giv
cause. And here the figure of Corinna ent
antiquity, in the fifth century, Sidonius
'caesarea puella'; the mediaeval biograph
Augustus,1 though occasionally, even in t
reader will see in her a pure abstraction
usually put forward as the leading cause
condemned for three reasons. The first a
with the empress; the second was that
Augustus in an act which ought to have
profession of a corrupting poet.4 These m
amicus summus Octaviani imperatoris,
buit cum Livia qui
uxore Augusti quam sub falso
concessit ei mirabilem domum
nomine iuxta
vocabat Corinnam"; Vat.Capi-
2781, and
tolium, quatuor quoque Vat. equos albos Liviam
I479, say: "adamavit semper uxorem
alios in cursu vincere solitos ei donavit." imperatoris quam falso nomine appellavit
Traces of this invention survive even in the Corinam quasi cor urens." We have noted
humanistic period, as appears from the life
the gallant episode invented by the glossator
in an incunable of the end of the I5th
of Paris. 8255 (see below, p. 50, Appendix
century in the State Library of HamburgH). An epigram on the affair is given by
(cf.
both Napol. V.D. 52, and Vat. 1479: "Ad
R. Jahnke, "Eine neue Ovidvita," Rheinisches
Museum, XLVII, I892, p. 46), in which occurs
vada pontina te duxit, Naso, ruina Triplex
doctrina, visusque, tuaque Corina." The
the remark "Hortos habuit in collo Quiri-
nali." identification with Livia was adopted by
1 "Et te carmina per libidinosa Notum, Boccaccio: "Alcuni aggiungono una terza
Naso tener, Tomosque missus, Quondam cagione e vogliono lui essersi inteso in Livia
Caesareae nimis puellae Ficto nomine sub- moglie di Ottaviano, e lei essere quella la
ditum Corinnae," Sid. Apoll., Carm., 23, 158. quale esso sovente nomina Corinna" (Comm.
Polenton accepts the tradition from Sidonius, dant., ed. Guerri, II, 32).
whom he gives as his authority; like Sidonius, 2 For example, the author of the second
he hints that Corinna not only inspired "accessus" in the Munich codex makes the
Ovid's verses, but corrected them: "adeoque following observation on Sine titulo: "Materia
perita etiam in faciendo metro quod versum,huius est amica eius Corinna, quia quamque
ut refert Sidonius, ipso cum Nasone et ali- amicam vocat Corinnam" (see Przychocki,
quando compleret." The author of the p. 92). For Barb. 26 Corinna was no more
Antiovidianus is curtly contradicting the than one of Ovid's many loves: "habuit iste
Sidonius tradition when he says, speaking ofOvidius multas amicas inter quas precipue
the Sine Titulo: "Illic plena dolis depingiturdilexit Corinnam."
per te Corinna . . . Nec regina fuit veluti 3 An exception to this is Laur. 91 sup. 23,
persuadere volebas, sed meretrix turpis, testis who makes the calumny of the Roman
es ipse michi" (ed. Kienast, in Burdach, Vommatrons the cause (see p. 44).
Mittelalter zur Reformation, IV, 1929, p. 90; 4 Clm. 19475 expounds the causes thus:
cf. my note in Giorn. Stor. d. Lett. Ital., CI, "Queritur autem cur missus sit in exilium,
1933, p. 8I). That Corinna was Julia, unde tres dicuntur sententie: prima quod
daughter of Augustus, has long ago been concubuit cum uxore Cesaris Livia nomine,
refuted, for example in the life by J. Masson; secunda quod sicut familiaris transiens eius
more recently G. Przychocki ("De Ovidii porticum, viderit eum cum amasio suo
caesarea puella," Wiener Studien, XXXVI, coeuntem, unde timens Cesar ne ab-eo pro-
1914, P. 340) has shown that Sidonius' evi- deretur misit eum in exilium. Tertia quod
dence does not rest on a very firm basis. The librum fecerat De Amatoria Arte in quo
author of Paris. 7994 contents himself with iuvenes docuerat matronas decipiendo sibi
remarking that Ovid "ad uxorem Cesaris allicere, et ideo offensis Romanis dicitur
anelavit quam falso nomine Corinnam appel- missus esse in exilium" (Przychocki, p. 91);
lavit"; but most writers actually name Livia. Gothanus puts the causes in this order: "..
The Gotha codex, for instance, says: "concu- quod ipse concubuit cum Livia . . . quod
than one would have thought possible; they survive in t
and traces of them are still to be found even in the ag
The three famous causes are still valid for Boccaccio. Po
ipse vidit Augustum condormientem tata per orbem pueroNomine non vero dicta
S. . quod ipse composuit librum Corinna de mihi; tertia causa fuit quod vidit
arte
amatoria." The scholiasts regarded Cesarem thepueroIbis
abutentem, unde illud: 'heu
as a reply to an envious person mihi curWho vidi, cur
had noxia lumina feci' ";
accused the poet; some of them, Paris.remember-
8207 admits the three causes, but gives
ing the case of Phaedra, affirmed preferencethat the
to the third: "vel quia cum uxore
accusation came from the empress imperatorisherself,
concubuit, vel quia opus ama-
because Ovid had refused her advances: torium composuit, vel, quod melius est, quia
"quod noluit imperatricem stuprare vidit
abCesarem
illa cum amasio suo ludere"; Vat.
rogatus; que dolens de repulsa accusabat 1479 makes
eum the personal scandal the chief
apud dominum suum" (A. Rostagni, Ibis, cause: ". .. quadam die pergens per palacium
Florence, 1920, p. 75). That this tradition regis solus vidit imperatorem Cesarem abu-
was widely disseminated is suggested by thetentem puero. Cesar autem videns quod
traces of it to be found in popular poetry, par- Ovidius cognoverat, timuit ne ipsum revelaret
ticularly in certain German rhymed chronicleset jamque propter uxorem suam habebat
where we read that Ovid, who was chancelloripsum suspectum et ipsum habebat in odio
to Augustus, having been discovered in adul-propter librum de arte ..."; Vat. 278I takes
tery with the queen, was put on a ship anda similar line. Ovid's own statement that his
abandoned to the waves (cf. Keiserchronik, ed. fault consisted in having seen something
Massmann, p. 437). Arnulf: "Sunt etenim which he ought not to have seen suggested
tres cause quare in exilio sit positus: vel pro the case of Acteon, and in some codices, for
libro de arte amandi, vel quia Cesarem suo example, Vat. 2877, 14th century, we read:
amasio vidit abutentem forte." Regin. 1559, "Aliqui aliter sentiunt. Per Atheonem
Ambr. G, 130 inf., and Marc. XII, 57 make Ovidium se ipsum intellexisse qui cum
the amorous works the chief cause of the vidisset imperatricem nudam, religatus est,
exile: "quod si cause familiares alie fuerint, et sic conversus in cervum et a canibus i.
ista tamen principaliter videbatur pretendi"; ab infamatoribus est consumptus." The
cf. also Laur. 36, 18: "occasione libriparallel de artehad in fact been indicated by Ovid
predicti et quia imperator illum de uxore"inscius Acteon .. ." (Trist., II, I,
himself:
suspectum habuit"; and Ambr. H 64 103). sup.:Hence some lives, for example Laur.
"librum de arte amandi propter quem 36, 24 (I3th century), give the three causes of
devenit in exilium"; Barb. 26 puts the causesexile thus: "scilicet liber de arte, Diana in
in this order: "Quodam enim tempore balneo, Augustus cum puero"; for Giovanni
romanorum iuvenum rogatu compulsus, com- del Virgilio the causes are the Ars, and that
posuit librum artis amatorie, in quo docuit the poet had seen Augustus "incestuose
iuvenes solum licitas amare puellas. Illi vero agentem" and the empress "nudam in
mox trasgredientes non solum licitis verum balneo"; cf. also Laur. 36, 2 (see below, p.
etiam illicitis abutebantur puellis. Hoc 59, Appendix P); L. Hermann has inter-
autem videntes nobilissime romane matrone, preted the allusion to Actaeon to mean that
indignatione commote, eum apud impera- Ovid was impelled by a purely scientific
torem accusaverunt. Imperator vero habens curiosity to penetrate the religious rites of
eum exosum tum hac de causa tum aliis which he speaks in the Fasti, and that he
pluribus causis, quod concubuisse cum made uxore
a furtive attempt to see with his own
sua dicebatur, et insuper eum facientem eyes the annual celebration on the night of
quoddam secretum vidit. Unde timens ne ab the Bona Dea at which no one of the masculine
ipso propalaretur, eum in Ponto insula . . . sex was allowed to be present. In the year 8
relegavit"; Laur. 36, 18 and Laur. 36, 27 the empress Livia herself led this celebration
give a similar account; Paris. 8197, c. 89, ex-which took place in her house on the Palatine,
presses it thus: "quarum prima liber est artiswhere she officiated naked in the midst of the
amatorie unde in hoc libro: 'neve leges other women taking part in the ceremony
stultam quam scripsimus artem'; secunda est (L. Hermann, "La faute secrete d'Ovide,"
quia cum uxore imperatoris dicebat concu- Revue Belge de philol. et d'histoire, XVII, 1938,
bare, unde: 'moverat ingenium totum can- p. 714)-
his account is based on Aurelius Victor
really hold the field; for he believes t
the pretext for his banishment, the t
witnessed some lascivious act of the em
in which Augustus liked to appear as a
incestuous act to which Giovanni del
Coelius Rhodiginus, who is followed
amongst modern philologists some a
carmina amatoria as the cause of the exil
search for supposed intimate causes, o
state.3 The scholiasts are not much int
1 Aurelius Victor, Epist. I, 24: "Nam Minutianus Apuleius, which may have been
poetam Ovidium, qui et Naso, pro eo quoda collection of scholia on Ovid of earlier date
tres libros artis amatoriae conscripsit, exiliothan those on the Ibis. For the notice in
damnavit." He does not report the scandal Bayle, see Dictionnaire historique, Paris, 1820
in Suetonius concerning the vices of which XI, p. 286.
Augustus was accused, but he takes from him 3 Levy, Carcopino and others think that
the account of the supper "in qua deorum the Ars Amatoria, published nine years earlie
dearumque habitu discubuisse convivas et cannot have been the sole cause of the exile.
illum pro Apolline ornatum" (Suetonius, The younger Julia was exiled at the same
Augustus, ed. Rolfe, 68 and 70o) and writes: time as the poet and many think that he was
"Hanc quidem exilii causam esse, ut affirma-perhaps associated with the excesses which
bat princeps, et qui audivit tunc quisque led to her disgrace; cf. Boissier, L'Opposition
credidit facile et, qui postea res Caesareas sous les Cisars, p. 144; Ehwald, Ad historiam
scripsit, Sextus Aurelius memoravit" (Sicco carm. ovid., II, 1892, p. 20o; Cartault, "Encore
Polenton, ed. Ullman, 68, line 24). But les causes de la rle6gation d'Ovide," Milanges
though contemporaries may have accepted Chatelain, Paris, 1910, p. 42 (based on a
this explanation, Polenton does not, for he highly conjectural romance). F. Levy thinks
knew that the condemned poems had been it possible that Ovid, although not really
published several years earlier, and also that interested in politics, may have been com-
other amorous poets were not punished, but promised in some state intrigue (cf. Bericht,
rewarded. Bearing in mind Ovid's "Actaeon" 1930, p. 136). The mysterious 'quoddam
allusion, Polenton therefore decides thus secretum'
on of the mediaevals, which Sicco
the question of the causes of the exile: "Quid Polenton, following Suetonius, had inter-
autem tunc ageret princeps inveni nusquam; preted as the intrusion by Ovid into some
sed facile mihi animus persuadet tunc a semi-religious convivial rite, seems to be
Nasone offensum Augustum cum aut venereis revived in the conjectures of Ellis (in his
lascivius uteretur aut super humanum fasti-edition of Ibis, Oxford, i88I, p. xxviii),
gium inter amicos deorum dearumque habitu who imagines that Ovid might have violated
caenitaret; delectatum Augustum re utraquethe temple of Isis to satisfy Julia's libertinism.
scribit Tranquillus" (ed. cit., 67, line 26). He attaches great importance to Ovid's
Sicco adds that the poet was condemned byparticipation in certain experiments in divi-
an imperial edict, the contents of which henation which the emperor had forbidden.
reconstructs from his own imagination. S. Reinach also drew attention to these
2 Cf. Caelius Rhodiginus, Antiquarum lecti- (Mythes, Cultes et Religions, IV, pp. 69-7
onum commentarii, Venice, 1516, XIII, I:and more recently, J. Carcopino, in a learne
"Auctor idem Minutianus est . . . pulsumstudy, attempted to draw from them the co
quoque in exilium, quod Augusti incestum clusion that the poet was a member of one o
vidisset"; S. Reinach, commenting on this those Neo-Pythagorean sects which practi
("Le Tombeau d'Ovide," Revue de philologie, hydromancy ("De la Porta Maggiore a
XX, 1906, p. 278), was of the opinion that Tomi," Orpheus, Bucharest, I, 1925, pp. 289-
Rhodiginus may have drawn this from the313; and Revue des itudes latines, V, 1927,
Caligula of Suetonius, or, more probably,pp. 146-9).
from the grammarian whom he calls Caecilius
of them speak only of Pontus, which they think is

Scythia as the first stage of the exile, whence the
few give Tomi as the exact spot.' Some think that
exile, was the poet's fate.2 He is believed to have w
Metamorphoses, and the Fasti, as acts of reparation
Fasti being composed at the direct solicitation of G
lost all hope, he dictated the Tristia, and finally th
is not much about his supposed return to Italy in
the question in the negative sense, and another doubts
could have been secretly brought back to Rome in
will. On the other hand, two fourteenth centur
Virgilio and Boccaccio accept the story of Ovid's
death through suffocation by the crowds who cam
the poet's disappearance into a far country there g
he was honoured by a tomb and an inscription. Th
one life which is to be found in several codices; and
tion was accepted by some humanists and lived on
1 Gothanus: "Et notandum exilio

quod
sive redierit
libernescio";
iste Vat. 1479: "et
intitulatur de Tristibus de Ponto a loco ubidicunt quidam quod ad ultimum, suspenso
compositus fuit, quoniam in Ponto est studio suo, repatriavit: alii dicunt quod
insula"; Clm. I9475: "in Ponto insula Cesar mortuus fuit et sic repatriavit: quidam
Scytie"; Barb. 26: "eum in Ponto insula tamen dicunt quod nunquam repatriavit, et
omnibus malis circumdata relegavit"; Paris. ita in dubio remanserunt lectores"; Ambr.
8207: "dum ad locum suo exilio destinatum H 64 sup.: "et tunc occupatus est a morte
ad Pontum scilicet insulam tenderet, hunc illic et scripsit tunc unam epistolam uxori
tractatum composuit"; Laur. 36, 18: "in ut saltem ossa sua faceret transferri Romam.
Pontum relegatus est"; Laur. 36, 2: "in Tamen non potuit. Quidam dicunt quod
Pontum Euxinum relegatus est"; in Vat. occulte ipsa et amici eius ferri fecere ossa
1479 the epigram "Ad loca pontina" is cited,invito Augusto." Giovanni del Virgilio and
but otherwise the name of the place of exileBoccaccio both repeat the legend that Ovid
is not given; nor does Giovanni del Virgiliowas suffocated by the crowds on his return
mention it; Laur. 53, 15 gives the place of to Rome.
exile as Miletus, presumably through a wrong 5 Cf. the life prefixed to De Vetula in Regin.
interpretation of Trist., I, 10, 41. The other1559; Ambr. G. 130 inf.; Marc. XII, 57;
Laurenziana codices give the place as Tomi according to this the tomb was found in a
(cf. Sedlmayer, p. 144). Remembering the suburb of the town of Diostori, capital of
well-known verse "Naso Thomitanae" . .. Colchis, in a public cemetery, "iuxta opidum
Boccaccio places the exile "in an island called and on it was the inscription "Hic
Thomus,"
Tomitania, in the great ocean"; Ambr. iacetHOvidius
64 ingeniosissimus poetarum."
sup. has "proficiscens versus Scithiam per to a clever conjecture by S.
According
viam scripsit Ovidium de tristibus . Reinach .. venit("Le tombeau d'Ovide," pp. 275-
in Traciam ubi scripsit Ovidium de Ponto." 285), the story which Pontano tells in De
2 Arnulf: "Dampnatus est sub rele- magnificentia of a tomb raised to Ovid by the
gatione"; Paris. 8207: "Ovidius relegationiGeti "ante oppidi portam" and which he
subiacuit; Paris. 8255: "Ovidius vero erat says that he learned from Georgius Trape-
relegatus unde dicit 'quippe relegatus nonzuntius, may have been diffused in Italy to-
exul dicor ab illo' " (cf. Trist., II, I37, etc.; wards the end of the I3th century by the
Pont., I, 7, 42). Bizantine Planudes, who translated Ovid.
3 Giovanni del Virgilio: "Quapropter Przychocki proved (in a lecture translated in
Ovidius quinto composuit Ovidium de 1920) that the story of the existence of a tomb
remedio amoris ut ipse causam amoveret of Ovid in North-West Hungary was fairly
propter quam in exilium positus erat." widely diffused in the 15th century, particu-
4 Laur. 36, 27: "An non fuerit mortuus in larly in German sources. It was inscribed:
In those prefaces which have the cha
indispensable catalogue of the works. Arn
and other scholiasts prudently limit them
the fourteenth century, the pseudo-Ovidian
with some reservations. The canon consi
order: Heroides, Sine titulo, Ars Amatoria, Rem
Ibis.1 A thirteenth century commentato
ments, the authenticity of the Medicaminaf
36, 2 ignores this, but argues for the aut
the Getic tongue, and the Consolatio ad Li
mention. There is one allusion, in the twe
which Ovid intended to write, and this w
is interesting to note the cautious trea
writings which had such a vogue in the
one of the most popular of these, the
authenticity by arguments which seem to h
a list of other minor poems which he think
"Hic situs est vates, quem

Ambr. H 64divi
sup. this Caesaris
work and the Nuxira
come
into thecedere
Augusti Latio (or 'patrio') catalogue ofiussit
Ovidian works in the
humo.
third place,
Saepe miser voluit patriis after Sine Titulo (see
occumbere below,
terris
Sed frustra: hunc illi fata dedere locum." p. 57, Appendix N). Polenton places it
beside the De medicamine aurium amongst the
This inscription did not come from Hungary,
but from Poland; it was probably thejuvenilia.
work Regin. 1559, Ambr. G. 130 inf.,
of a Polish humanist Wojonowski, who com-
Marc. XII, 57 put it with the spurious works.
posed it in 1581 and it became associated
3 On the much discussed authorship of the
with the tradition of Ovid's tomb (cf. Levy see E. Martini, Einleitung zu Ovid,Pra-
Consolatio
in Bursians Jahresber., I930, p. 140). Ingue,
one1933,
of p. 65. Polenton notes, in addition to
the small villages near the modern the town poem of in the Getic tongue another poem
Kostangi6 (the ancient Tomi) there still in Latin
sur- on the triumph of Augustus; "Edidit
vives a tradition that in the "black garden", quoque librum de triumpho Cesaris Augusti
that is in the small island of Sutghiol, quem a greatvictis de Germanis Drusi auspiciis ac
man was buried who died, persecuted virtute
and in gessit. Haec metro et Latine apud
disgrace, far from his home (cf. M. Mandalari, Gethas scripta. Gethica item lingua, quam
"Una tradizione ovidiana in Romania," in longa mora et necessitas docuisset, composuit
Anecdoti, Catania, 1895). librum de laudibus Julii" (ed. Uhlman, 70,
1 This "order of the books" was handed on
line 35).
from Arnulf's life to Paris. 8253, Laur. 36, 18,4 Clm. 19475: "Dicitur autem rogatu Oc-
Ambr. H 64 sup. with only very slight varia- taviani Giganteum bellum incepisse, sed
tions. It remained substantially unaltered, Cupido retraxit eum"; in the second
even by those commentators who added the 'accessus' in the same manuscript we read:
pseudo-Ovidiana. Though we need not be "Proposuerat describere bellum quod fuit
surprised to find that the author of the non- inter deos et Gigantes in Phlegrea valle V
sensical life in Vat. 1479 confused the order,libris, sed ne maius facerent tedium duos
placing Ibis second, followed by De Pulice, ademit." Polenton also believes that the
and the Sine Titulo sixth, after the Tristia. But poem was begun and left half finished (
it is curious to find Giovanni del Virgilio Uhlman, p. 67, line 21).
putting the Fasti fourth, after the Ars Amatoria, 5 The authenticity of the De Vetula, affirm
and the Metamorphoses as the ninth and the even by Roger Bacon, was contested in v
last work. Boccaccio puts the Fasti third, by Petrarch. In the "accessus" to that w
after the Amores, but places the Metamorphoses in Regin. 1559, Ambr. G. 130 inf., and Ma
sixth, before the Tristia. XII, 57 we read: "Libellos illos fecisse con
2 Paris. 7994 relies on Ovid's own state- nicitur qui non cadunt in numero libroru
ment (see below, p. 48, Appendix E.) For suorum s. de cuclo, de philomena, de pu
four of these as authentic, together with the Medicamin
thinks that one of them is genuine. The other two li
mentioned distinguish carefully between attributions
authenticity. Polenton is reluctant to abandon them
his time they were known to be spurious; he speaks of th
ments.' Of the works which passed under Ovid's nam
some are noted in our lives more often than others: the De Nuce and De
Pulice are noted six times; the De Cuculo, De Medicamine aurium, De Philom
De Vetula, three times; De Puellis and De Somno twice; and once on
De Mirabilibus mundi, De Lumaca, De Schachis and De Vino.2
Having collected these general notions, a task which did not re
excessive labour or scrupulousness, the compilers of the "accessus" tur
the particular work with which they were concerned, and sought to e
it. This was their principal preoccupation. But it is clear that the rea
a series of Ovidian texts thus commented would, in passing from
another, acquire a fairly complex amount of literary and biogra
material on Ovid; in one preface, usually that to the Ovidius major, he
find the biography, and in the others he would find the individual w
separately treated. The various collections (sillogi) of Ovidian "accessu
which we have already spoken, show that the need was felt of bringin
together in a convenient form, independent of the texts. Such a syn
provides, as has been said, a rudimentary attempt by mediaeval schola
at the history of literature.3
de somno, de nuce, de medicamine surdi et
Pseudo-Antike Literatur des Mittelalters, Leipzig,
de medicamine faciei, de mirabilibus mundi," 1927, p. 89; Nux, ed. F. Lenz, Turin, I939,
cf. below, p. 51, Appendix I). p. 47) and holds a prominent place in
1 Ambr. H 64 sup.: "Composuit librum the mediaeval
de lives. As for the Cuculus, it is
Sine Titulo, postea librum de Medicamine twice mentioned together with Philomena, and
Faciei, de Nuce, de Cuculo, et de Pulice, et is almost certainly not a duplication of the
de Puellis." Giovanni del Virgilio accepts the latter work. Under the title De Puellis, the
works, but speaks of them as of secondary little poem De nuntio sagaci or De tribus puellis
importance: "Sed adhuc alios composuit is indicated. As for the song De Vino it is
sicut Ovidium de nuce de pulice, de medica- listed in the catalogue of MS. Escurial, V,
mine aurium cum suis similibus de quibus III, Io (I5th century) and according to
mentionem non facio quia parva opera Lehmann (op. cit., pp. 6 and 91, note 8) it
fuerunt"; Laur. 36, 2, phrases it thus: "Attri-would seem to have consisted of the verses
buunt ei et alia opuscula, sed meo iudicio on Bacchus drawn from Eugenius of Toledo
numquam Ovidii fuere: insaniunt vero qui (7th century) which in some manuscripts are
eum dicunt scripsisse de Vetula, de Lumaca, entitled "Ovidius de Baccho." There is no
nam ea oportuit fuisse cuiusdam infantis et doubt that the De Somno mentioned by Regin
ignoratissimi"; not so Polenton, who puts 1559, Ambr. G, I30 inf. and Marc. XII, 57
them among the juvenile works (ed. Uhlman, is the elegy Amor, III, 5. The De Somno cite
66, line 34). by these manuscripts may perhaps refer t
2 The authenticity of the Nux was disputed, the pseudo-Ovidian composition "Nox erat
even in the Middle Ages. Paris. 7994 believes et placido capiebam pectore somnum." O
it to be by Ovid and places it in a true light: the following we have found no mention: D
"Intentio sua est sub persona nucis sine causa Luco, De Pediculo, De Lupo, Altercatio ventris e
pericula sustinere" (see below, p. 48, Ap- artuum, De facetia mense, De quatuor humoribu
pendix E). On the problem of the authen-and De distributione mulierum.
ticity of the Nux see E. Martini, op. cit., p. 59;3 These are the Dialogus super auctores of
Ambr. H 64 sup. and also Polenton place it Conrad of Hirschau, which is a compilation
amongst the juvenilia, after the Medicamina. It arranged in dialogue form; the Register
was a very popular work (cf. P. Lehmann, multorum auctorum of Hugo of Trimberg who
What kind of notion of Ovid's writin
formed from these judgments by their g
Heroides the poet had transferred into R
noble and elegant love letters, wherein c
exalting pure love, and showing the evil c
sexual intercourse.' Although the catalog
the first place,2 it occasionally comes after
Remedia, with which it becomes associate
dangers of the Ars.3 In the second place
which, owing to the accident of having
codex without a title, were baptized a
rise to some of the more improbable fan
imagined that "without a title" might
and that the poems were composed onl
or that the author had wished to concea
he feared the scorn of his rivals; or, fin
whether to sing of love or of arms, he
states that he has made 2 Cf.athe two catalogues

digest of published
titles, by
material and 'ordo librorum'; and the De Lehmann (op. cit., p. 89). In support of this
chronological order, Giovanni del Virgilio
scriptoribus ecclesiasticis by Anonymous Melli-
censis. Cf. Przychocki, p. 117. affirms: "quamvis aliqui velint dicere quod
1 Some commentators insist exclusively on prius composuerit librum de Sine Titulo. Sed
the moral aim of the Heroides, for examplehoc non est verum, quia in libro de Sine
the copious Paris. 7995. This attitude also Titulo mentionem facit de Ovidio episto-
appears in Laur. 36, 28 and dominates in larum."
Laur. 36, 27. The metrical summaries which 3 In the 12th century it had already oc-
Sedlmayer has drawn from this and other curred to the author of Clm. 19475 that
codices contrast the amorous motives of the Ovid wrote the Heroides after the accusations
heroines who write the letters with the of the Roman matrons: "unde librum scripsit
entirely moral aim of the poet: "Penelope
eis istud exemplum proponens, ut sciant
veniat citius deposcit Ulixem Qam Naso
amando quas debeant imitari, quas non."
Later, however, it was suggested that he
laudat castum quia duxit amorem.-Demo-
phoonta rogat veniat queritur quoque dictated it in exile. Barb. 26 affirms this, and
we read in Laur. 36, 27: "Qui positus in
Phyllis Quam quia stulte amat [ut dixit]
vult carpere Naso.-Hyppolitum Phaedra exilio vitam in longo tempore ducens,
rogat ut potiatur amante: Damnat Naso per Romanarum mulierum benivolentiam sibi
hanc incestas ille puellas," etc. (cf. Prolego-recuperare cupiens, epistolarum librum com-
mena, pp. 96-8). In this way the Heroides are posuit, in quo castas extollendo et incestas
turned into a moral lesson. For the poet's real deprimendo ponit, ut earum benivolentia
intention of indulging the passions of his recepta, ad statum pristinum reducatur";
heroines, the mediaeval commentator sub- Laur. 91, sup. 23 makes the same statement,
stitutes a rigid judgment of human errorsin other words (see below, p. 44, Appen-
from a superior standpoint. The Munich dix B).
"accessus," however, which accumulates so 4 Drawing on the St. Gall codex (on which
many different points of view from different see p. 12), Arnulf explains it thus: "Sine
commentators, puts forward the notion that titulo i. sine laude quia nullam laudem
the Heroides may be related to the Ars because querit sibi . . . vel quia accusatus apud
it teaches how to make love by letters (see Augustum de Amatoria Arte non ausus est
p. 11, note 7). Hence would arise a purely huic apponere titulum" (op. cit., p. 166); on
artistic aim of 'delectatio,' which is echoed in the other hand Clm. 19475 expresses it thus:
the sillogus, Paris. 7994 (see below, p. 46, "quod metuebat emulos qui solebant repre-
Appendix E). hendere opera eius, ne titulo lecto detraherent
ei. Altera causa est quia metuebat Augustum
These strange suppositions, which so many writer

ward, are put to shame by those who give the true tit
and who point out that these elegies satisfy by
love which are universally valid and at the same tim
Whence some draw yet another conjecture to the
was cancelled by Ovid's admirers in order to try to pr
the ban which the libraries had placed on the Ars A
according to some, was the outcome of Ovid's pop
Rome; 2 but all admitted that it brought upon
matrons and 'honesti viri.'3 Many were the discussi
of the work: some maintained that it reflected th
youth; others claimed for it the artistic intention of
refined love, and so attempted to make an apology
Cesarem quem offensum sciebat de Amatoria
hic autem 'De amore' in semet ipso comple
Arte, quia ibi matronas quasi in (cf.
percepta" postibula
Przychocki, p. 92). Paris. 7994
posuit, sciebat autem quod very
magiswelloffende-
understands the character of th
Amores:
retur lecto hoc titulo, inscripta sunt"Auctoris
enim materia
hicest de amore suo.
quedam de amore. Tertia causa est quod Distat autem hoc opus ab opere artis Ama-
Augustus perceperat ut describeretur bellum torie quia in Arte Amatoria dat precepta de
suum contra Antonium et Cleopatram, unde amore, in hoc opere ludicra tractat et iocosa
proposuit V libros facere, sed abstractus est... a Contigit autem longo post Artem Ama-
Cupidine et ideo istos tres libros fecit in toriam compositam, Artis Amatorie causa
quibus est sua materia amica eius vel amor" Ovidius ab Augusto dampnari et Artem
(cf. Przychocki, p. 92). The second "accessus" Amatoriam a publico eici armario. Poete
in the same codex puts it after the Ars, as vero timentes ne similiter liber Amorum
follows: "Nam antequam componeret istum amitterent, titulum deleverunt, et ita caruit
composuerat 'Ovidium de amatoria arte' et titulo." (Cf. below, p. 46 Appendix E.)
cunctas fere matronas et puellas fecerat 2 Vat. 1593: "videntes ergo romani iuvenes
adulteras et hinc romanos sibi reddiderat in cunctis fore peritum Ovidium impetra-
inimicos, et ideo ne adhuc maius incideret verunt ab eo Artis Amatorie librum"; Barb.
odium huic non apposuit titulum"; the 26: "iuvenum rogatu impulsus composuit
sillogus Paris. 7994 assembles all these variouslibrum Artis Amatorie in quo docuit iuvenes
inconsistent explanations (see the text pub- solum licitas amare puellas." Cf. also
lished below, p. 46, Appendix E). Sedlmayer, op. cit., p. I45-
1 Cf. the second "accessus" in Clm. 19475: 3 Arnulf: ". .. ibique romanos iuvenes
"Iste Ovidius dicitur de amore"; Arnulf and adulteros esse docuit, matronasque impu-
Regin. 1559, Ambr. G, 130 inf., Marc. XII, dicas, unde in inimiciciam Augusti incurrit,
57: "Ovidius amorum sive sine titulo"; Paris. docendo adulterium." Cf. also the discussions
7994 knows the true title "Hunc enim titulum on the causes of the exile (above p. 32).
prescripsit actor: incipit liber amorum"; 4 Clm. 19474: "Materia sua est ipsi
Napol. IV. F. 12: "Secundum opus fuit iuvenes et puelle et ipsa precepta amoris que
'Ovidius sine titulo' quod intitulavit 'Ovidiusipse iuvenibus intendit dare" (Przychocki,
amorum' " (cf. Przychocki, p. 92, note 31). p. 87). Others disagreed with this, maintain-
They all more or less agree that 'delectatio'ing that a master who teaches an art does not
seems to have been the principal aim of thehave the scholars as his 'material,' but the
work. Clm. 19475: "Intentio eius est delec- art itself; and that in this case the art is
tare"; Paris. 7994: "Utilitas est delectatio"; love, understood as a science (cf. Paris. 7998,
Clm. 19474 endeavours to explain in what
quoted below, p. 45, Appendix C), as the
this delectatio consists: "Finalis causa scilicet prudent art of "amare sapienter" and avoid-
utilitas est ornatus verborum et pulchras
ing tragic excesses (cf. Napol. V, D, 52,
cognoscere positiones. Quid autem differat
quoted below, p. 58, Appendix O); Paris.
inter 'Ovidium de amore' et 'De amatoria 7994 discusses the title at length, and seems
arte' sciendum est: 'Ovidius de amatoria
to hesitate between taking 'ars' in the
arte' dat precepta amatoribus ut sint cauti, sense "brevis et aperta precep-
scholastic
agreed that when Ovid realized how m
understood, he felt the need of brid
dictated the Remedia Amoris, the read
victory over those illicit passions to w
that he wished, as some pointed out, t
forms of love, but only against those
train.2 The meaning of the Remedia,
but more in the nature of integration
escape the mediaeval grammarians, alt
stand it.
We have already seen that some regarded not only the Remedia, but also
the Heroides as having been composed in exile in order to regain the lost favour
of Augustus. Now it is the turn of the Fasti. More than one writer believed
that this work was written in the hope of obtaining repatriation; for in it
Ovid showed himself anxious to restore the religious cult, by reminding
Germanicus, the Pontifex designate, of the sacred festivals of the Roman
calendar which had fallen into oblivion.3 Some remembered that, according
torum collectio ad aliquid artificiose agen- amoris. Intentio auctoris est bene amantes
dum," or as really meaning ways of making in suo proposito confirmare, stulte et illicite
love (see below, p. 47, Appendix E). Manyamantes sanatos suis preceptis ab amore
abstain from criticizing the work, for example, revocare . . ." (Przychocki, p. ioi).
Ambr. H 64 sup., who protests with evident 2 The ruinous consequences of a wrong ap-
exaggeration: "Videbatur enim in illo libro,plication of the teaching of the Ars is empha-
ab illis qui non intellexere eum, fecisse iuvenes sized by the commentators of Paris. I11318
adulteros et matronas impudicas, cuius con- (see below, p. 45) and of Paris. 8246 (13th
trarium apparet: detestatur luxuriam et century); "Quoniam actor iste multos per
amorem, et describit qualiter honeste artem amatoriam traxerat in errorem. Popu-
lata
amemus" (see below, p. 57, Appendix N). autem arte amatoria omnes amori vacare
1 Clm. 19475 treats very clearly of Ovid's studuerunt, sed, relicto recto limine, quidam
situation and his repentance: ". . . Quidam ad suspendium, quidam ad incendium,
autem iuvenes, voluptati nimium obedientes, ceteri ad diversa genera tormentorum co-
non solum virgines, verum etiam matronas gebantur. Idcirco actor iste Ovidius cogi-
et consanguineas minime vitabant. Virgines tavit ut quoddam opus componeret quo
coniugatis, sicut non uxoratis se pariter amantes ab errore valeret revocare et non a
subiungebant. Unde Ovidius ab amicis et quolibet amore sed tantum ab amore illicito.
ab aliis in maximo odio habebatur, postea Et propter hoc presens opus incepit compilare
penitens, quos offenderat sibi reconciliari et perfecit, in quo iuvenes in amore deviantes
desiderans, vidensque hoc non melius posse revocavit ad rectum limitem. Tamen non
fieri quam si dato amori medicinam adin- est reprehendendum hoc opus premisso
veniret, hunc librum scribere aggressus est,operi fuisse contrarium. Quod ipse actor
in quo pariter iuvenibus et puellis irretitis ostendit dicens: 'Nec te blande puer,' etc."
[consulit], qualiter erga illicitum amorem seThe same ideas are emphasized by Paris.
armare debeant .. ." (Przychocki, p. 87); 7994, with other quotations (see below,
there is a similar discussion in Nap. IV. F. p. 47, Appendix E).
12: ". . . cum docuisset tam iuvenes quam 3 According to Cod. Hafn. G.K.S. 2oio
puellas amare, tam viri quam mulieres pre- (I3th century): "Intencio duplex est, com-
ceptis amoris imprudenter et illicite [utentes] munis et privata. Communis est assignacio
suo preceptori gravissimam invidiam con- fastorum in Kal.; privata est duplex: est
flaverunt et sibi precipitium paraverunt, unde enim erudire Germanicum festivitates que in
cupiens Ovidius tam suam lenire invidiam, libro annalium confuse dicebantur, qui
quam illorum errori consulere, hunc librumfuturus erat episcopus illo anno: vel quod
De remedio amoris composuit, quare potest illo mediante posset Ovidius Augusti Cesaris
dici quod ipsius libri materies est moderamenquem offenderat propter compositionem libri
to Ovid himself, the Fasti would have been compos
tried to explain this by the conjecture that the first v
in Rome and destroyed; and that the poet made a second
when in exile which survived in an incomplete form
gave rise to the view, which gained credit in the thirt
missing last six books were suppressed by the Church
trous and anti-Christian subject matter.2 The greater num
believe that the disgraced poet tried to rehabilitate him
before the exile ;3 and they exercise themselves chief
the various meanings given to the terms "fastus" and
Artis Amatorie favorem et gratiam benevolum, adipisci.
in exilium profectus . . ." (ibid.,
Utilitas huius libri nulla legitur p. I80);fuisse,
Clm. 19475 tells the story thus,
quia
ab exilio numquam legitur rediisse without alluding
. . ." to Germanicus: "Ovidius
(see
Alton, op. cit., p. I22); Clm. autem 19475 has: Romanos sibi esse
sciens eo tempore
"Dubitatur ubi composuit hunc librum.
odiosos propter opus quod fecerat de Arte
Dicunt quidam quod in exilioAmatoria-multi composuit, enim per illud preceptum
alii
vero dicunt antequam mitteretur, amandi decipiebantur-istud
ut sic sibi opus duabus de
placaret Cesarem . ." (see Przychocki, causis explicandum suscepit et spatiosa volu-
p. 95). mina in compendiosiorem tractatum redegit,
1 For the hypothesis of the two versions,quo morem sacrificii explicaret et Romanos
see the Codex Reginensis, quoted below, sibi offensos mitigaret" (Przychocki, p. 93).
See also Richard de Fournival: ". . . liber
p. 49-
2 Cf. Cod. Hafn. G.K.S. 2010o: "...fuerunt Fastorum ... composuit in honore Germanici
etenim XII sed beatus Geronimus con- . . . ut scilicet interventu ipsius Augusto sibi
siderans ydolatriam i. cultus idolorum irato reconciliari"
de (Biblion., X, p. 118).
quibus tractabatur in VI ultimis libris, Giovanni del Virgilio says that when he saw
illos
delevit .. ."; Giovanni del Virgiliothe says: "in
hostility of the emperor, "Ovidius voluit
benevolentiam
quo sunt 12 Libri sicut duodecim menses Germanici Cesaris nepotis
Octaviani
sunt anni, eo quod de quolibet mense fecitcaptari, ut ipsum defenderet ab
suum librum. Sed non inveniuntur nisi sex. Octaviano, et ideo quarto composuit Ovi-
Et dicitur quod Ecclesia alios sex abstulit, eo de fastis. ... Sed tamen parum profuit,
dium
quod cum determinarent de mense Julii quia
etOctavianus Cesar nullis precibus omisit
Augusti, qui tunc nominabantur a Cesare quin ipsum in exilium revocaret . . ."; Laur.
Julio et Augusto, ipse posuit multa signa de 36, 18: Ambr. H 64 sup.; Napol. V, D, 52,
Christo applicando ipsa Cesari Julio et all date the work before the exile.
Augusto." 4 Arnulf: ". . . de fastis et nefastis agit
3 Gf. Arnulf in his special "accessus"; diebus. Nefastus enim dicitur a nefas qui
"Causa suscepti operis duplex, communis et illicitus, eo quod et quasi nefas erat in illa die
privata. Communis ut omnes romanos quos negotia agere, causas exercere vel aliud tale,
sibi iratos fecerat per librum de Arte Amandi eo quod in illa die male contigerat romanis ...
per istum gratiosos redderet, et hoc opus sus- Videmus autem quod in quorundam scriptis
cepit, annales siquidem libros qui per veteratim qui fastos dies appellant non festivos, nefastos
iam adeo erant aboliti quod omnem morem vero festivos. Sed inveniuntur quidam de
sacrificii ita transferrent ut in fastis nulla
fastis festivos, et de nefastis quidam non
festivi.
sacrificia facerent, in nefastis vero quod erat Prava est eorum sententia qui hoc
fastorum facerent. Ovidius vero que in libris Mirum enim esset si dies in quo male
tenent.
contigerat pro sollempnibus haberent .. ."
Annalibus erant deposita in hoc libro breviter
(op. cit., pp. 162-3); Clm. 19475: "Videnda
collegit. Causa privata fuit ut Germanicum
est quorundam versutia de fastis et de nefastis
sacrificiis instrueret qui futurus erat Pontifex
anni illius in quo Ovidius hoc opus incepit"
diebus, perverso enim modo accipiunt: cum
enim
(op. cit., p. 162); and in his 'life': "Sexto locosuperius diceremus fastos dies com-
Ovidium fastorum in honore Germanici qui
moditates, in quibus iura exercere, sacrificia
futurus erat pontifex anni illius, fecit, utliceret, nefastos vero in quibus horum
fieri
nihil romana curia fieri censeret, quidam
eius interventu gratiam Augusti recuperaret.
Sed cum nequaquam posset eum reddere opinantur dies fastos vocari ab urbanis
The major poem, the Metamorphoses,
vogue in the Middle Ages and was made u
treated in the "accessus" primarily from
need was felt of grouping the divers var
gories.' At the same time the usefulne
mythological knowledge was kept in v
urged to seek the moral meaning hidden
texts studied and observations made in t
it unnecessary to insist further on these
how from these strictly scholastic modes o
kind of aesthetic judgment; and how thr
secret of poetry by defining its external f
substantial and unbreakable alliance between
cept of 'delectatio' as the principal result of
caon), magica
negotiis in quibus deberent (Pygmalion,
vacare. necCirce), also
liceret
Romana iura exerceri nec ullas diis hostias
Actaeon, Baucis, Tage. Giovanni del Virgilio
immolare. Nefastos vero vocant in quibusreturns to the triple division: 'naturalis' (by
supradictis decretum erat non abstinere.generation and corruption) ; 'spiritualis'
Horum et similium errores cognoscuntur (from sane to mad and vice versa); and
Ovidio testante qui ait: "Ille nefastus'magica'
erit (by the arts of sorcery).
per quem tria verba silentur. Fastus erit 2 Inper
his allegorical summary, Arnulf brings
quem lege licebit agi" (Trist., I, 47). out the ethical utility of the poem: "Ethice
supponitur quia docet nos ista temporalia
1 Arnulf gives three categories of mutation:
"Naturalis que fit per contexionem vel
que transitoria et mutabilia, contempnere
retexionem elementorum ... Magica quando . .. utilitas est erudicio divinorum habita ex
fit per prestigia magicorum (Lycaon,mutacione Io) ... temporalium" (op. cit., p. I81);
Spiritualis que fit circa spiritum ut Paris. de in-8253 echoes this: "Utilitas . . . ut,
sano fit sanus vel e contrario (Agave, viso quomodo res mundane transmutantur,
Autonoe) . . ." These three kinds of muta- quisquis erigat mentem suam ad creatorem
tion can be achieved in three ways: "de re suum sive ad creatoris sui cognitionem";
animata ad rem animatam (Lycaon) . . . de Ambr. N. 254 sup.: "Utilitas legentium
inanimatam in inanimatam (the house of cognitio fabularum et ut, viso quid de pravis
Baucis into a temple) . . . de inanimata ad moribus acciderit, quia quibusdam in beluas
animatam (Pygmalion's statue) . . . de ani-variari, a viciis et a beluina turpitudine
mata ad inanimatam (Orpheus's serpent into abstineamus."
a rock) ... ." Paris. 8253 (see below, p. 52, 3 For some commentators, the Metamor-
Appendix J) expands the classification by the phoses served to mitigate the wrath of Augus-
addition of 'mutatio moralis,' as follows: tus. See, for example, Paris. 8253: "Actor
naturalis (the elements), spiritualis (Agave),iste qui per edificium Artis Amatorie mali-
moralis (Io), magica (Pygmalion): his volentiam romanorum maxime Augusti
other examples (Actaeon, Baucis, Deuca- adeptus erat, volebat ostendere Julium posse
lion, Orpheus's serpent) are almost the deificari per mutationes diversas ..."; Ambr.
same. This classification is clarified with N. 254 sup.: "Est autem auctoris utilitas ut
further examples, by Ambr. N 254 ostensa apotesi i. deificacione Julii, favorem
sup. (see
below, p. 53, Appendix K): naturalis (theet gratiam recuperet . . ."; Gugliel-
Augusti
elements), spiritualis (Orestes), moralis mus de Thiegiis: "Intentio ad quid agat ut
(Lycaon), magica (Circe), also Actaeon, apud Augustum . . .reconsiliationem
Baucis, Deucalion, and the serpent. Guillel- mereatur." But many do not confirm this.
mus de Thiegiis (see below, p. 55, Appen- Some note that the poem was never emended,
dix L) at first seems to withdraw 'naturalis,' for example, Laur. 36, i8: ". .. in Ponto
but ends by admitting it. He also gives the relegatus est, libro Methamorphoseos non
examples as follows: naturalis (the elements), pleno correcto"; Ambr. H. 64 sup.: ". . . et
spiritualis (Hercules, Agave), moralis (Ly-postea scripsit itsum et non emendavit . . ."
ing and weaving the dispersed variety of myths in
rative. 1
The Middle Ages made of the Tristia and the Ex
almost a unity in itself. The commentaries and the "a
consecrated to these two works in Germany, France an
sympathy felt for the Ovidian muse, even in her sad mom
appears particularly in the commentaries, more than
tions. In treating the much discussed questions of th
and the four different kinds of exile,3 the commentat
of sadness and suffering.4 Nor do they forget the m
which the spectacle of Ovid's misfortunes should give
which inspired so many mediaeval poets to sing of the m
1 For Giovanni del Virgilio the ethical

redeundi in exilium missus. Exul, cuius bona
supposition, "nam omnes poete tendunt
publicabantur in sub aliqua spe redeundi
et ipse
mores," counts for little, and amongst
missus" the p. 91); Paris. 8207 gives
(Przychocki,
final aims he puts "causa finalis remota
hope of return both ut to the proscript and to
ipse famam perpetuam acquireret . .."Ille
the exile: et enim
istedicebatur relegatus qui
breviter finis est cuiuslibet poete."
privatim From
discedere del
iussus spem revertendi
Virgilio's subtle disquisitions on nec
habebat style (see
sua amittebat. proscriptus vero
above, p. 22) we come to the simple
dicebatur qui and
extra patriam missus spem
true declaration of Ambr. H. 64, sup.: revertendi habebat sed bona sua ad publicum
"Intentio sua est describere fabulas ut per ferebantur, inscriptus qui sua amittens et in
harum descriptionem delectet et prosit . ." patria remanens ab amicis sustentabatur,
And to the clearly formulated aesthetic judg- exul qui publice dampnatus bonisque suis
ment of Laur. 36, 2 on the "mira virtus con-privatus extra patriam cum spe revertendi
tinuationis"; or Polenton's observation, whomittebatur."
says of the fables invented by Ovid or drawn 4 Arnulf: "Ovidius in exilio positus hunc
from other poets: "Illas enim artificio tantolibrum composuit in quo se ipsum et miseriam
disposuit, enarravit, contexuit ut profectaesuam et amicos materiam habuit" (op. cit.,
uno ab auctore, non a pluribus, videantur" p. 173); Gothanus: "Et notandum quod
(op. cit., p. 67). materia huius libri est calamitas et miseria
2 On this see above, p. 32, note 4. quod de calamitate et miseria sua loquitur
3 Arnulf thus defines the various kinds of in hoc opere . . . dicitur de Tristibus quod
exile: "Inscriptio est quando quis sua librum in tristicia sua composuit"; Clm.
amittens et in patria remanens ab amicis19475: "Huic operi titulus a causa imponitur,
sustentatus est. Relegatio quando quis eo quod eius auctor in tristicia versabatur";
privatim iussus est discedere, spem revertendi Paris. 8207: "Materia sua est ipse miserus
habens ut Ovidius. Proscriptus cuius bona Ovidius, uxor et amici sui. .. Modus exora-
in publicum erarium referuntur, et missustionis amicorum talis: ostendit enim eos dum
est in exilium et statuti sunt dies ei quandopresens fuerit multum dilexisse et in eis
redire debeat. Exul est qui numquam redibitfiduciam habuisse, sue pondus miserie multis
extra solum patrie positus" (op. cit., p. 173);exaggerat ..."; Paris. 8255: "nimie iocundi-
in the other 'accessus' to the Tristia which is tatis auctorem ad erumpnas sue calamitatis
attributed to him, he repeats the same dis- declarandas procubuisse subito . ."
tinctions and adds four verses (ibid., p. 176, 5 Clm. 19475: "Intentio sua est unum-
note 4); Clm. 19475 differs from Arnulf quemque by persuadere, ut vero suo amico in
maintaining that the proscript can never necessitate subveniat .. ."; Paris. 8197: "Uti-
return to his native land, but the exile may litas legentium est quod per errorem Ovidii
have some hope of doing so: "Proscriptus sibi possint ab errore consimili precavere"
dicebatur cuius bona publicabantur et ipse (see p. 14, note 3); Paris. 8207: ". . . vel
intendit persuadere poetis ne aliquid in-
sine aliqua spe redeundi missus est in exilium.
Inscriptus, cuius bona etiam publicabantur
dignum scribant propter quem penam sui
similem incurrant."
et ipse domi inter amicos retentus; Relegatus,
cuius bona publicabantur et ipse sub spe
This contrast between the time of happi

sized in the "accessus" to the Ibis as th
pointed out that the poet's rage seems
accumulating the wildest invectives aga
draw a useful lesson.1
We have tried to establish the genera

work of Ovid which was current in schools and cultivated circles in the later
Middle Ages, and which probably did not extend beyond the limits here laid
down.
1 See above, p. 13 and Appendix E, p. 48.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A. Cod. Vat. lat. 2792 (I4th century). Heroides.

Ovidius in Peligno opido existens, videns alios poetas per scripta
provehi, Romam venit et ibi animum suum ad iuvenalia applicavit
libro de Ponto: 'leta cano letus, tecum quoque tristia tristis.'1 Ad ut
iuvenum composuit istum librum in quo imitatus est Esiodum asc
reducendo epistulas ad memoriam que iam date erant fere oblivioni;
in Ovidio de arte amatoria: 'ignotum aliis hoc ille novavit opus.' 2 M
est amor illicitus et stultus. Intentio sua est quasdam puellas commen
amore sicut Penelopem, alias reprehendere ab illicito sicut Phedram
Yppolitum privignum suum, alias reprehendere a stulto amore sic
Oenonem. Stultitia enim est pueros diligere sicut Oenone quia solen
stantes secundum etatis sue variacionem. Hec est principalis intentio, al
distinctiones speciales exponuntur.
APPENDIX B. Cod. Laur. 91 sup. 23 (I5th century). Heroides.

Auctor iste Ovidius rogatu quorundam iuvenum romanorum impu
librum artis amatorie in quo largitus est illis periciam decipiendi; q
se licitis, verum etiam ab illicitis non abstinebant, utpote sanctis m
viduis et coniugatis. Unde romane mulieres et religiosissime plurim
bant quod non poterant resistere illis, et inceperant cogitare quom
ipsum Ovidium opprimere, et finxerunt quod ipse concuberet cum u
Quod pervenit ad iniquissimas aures Neronis, qui vero iniquissimus
solum sontes damnabatur verum etiam insontes, et hunc Ovidium po
insula. Qui Ovidius, morans ibi, sustinebat multa incommoda scilic
sitim et nuditatem; et incepit inde cogitare qualiter posset exire, et qua
amicitiam recuperare posset, qui sicut incusacione earum venerat, ita
eriperetur. Et tunc composuit hunc librum in quo multum commen
castas et pudicas, et reprehendit incestas et impudicas. Utilitas per
quoniam perlecto hoc libro, et pudice castitatem observare studeant,
1 Pont., III, 9, 35. librum Heroidum epistolarum, quas ab Esiodo, greco
2 Ars. Amat., III, 346. The citation of Hesiod
poeta, as a
conscriptas ipse in latinum reducens, amplius
source is transmitted in almost the same words from
expolivit" (see Sedlmayer, op. cit., p. 146; Przychocki,
one commentator to another. Cf. Laur. 36, 18: op. cit., p. 81, note 5).
"Composuit novem magna volumina et primo quidem
et inceste castitati adhereant.1 Et sciendum est quod iste auto
habuisse, videlicet Publius Ovidius et Naso, sed non sine causa: Publius enim
dictus est a publico -cas, quia publice reprehendebat ea que reprehendenda et
laudabat laudanda. Ovidius dictus est a ovo ovas quia ovanter, gaudenter hoc
faciebat. Naso vero dicitur per similitudinem, quia sicut aliquis odorifera secernit
a putridis, eodem modo sua solercia sciebat secernere castas et pudicas ab incestis.
Ethice supponitur quia tractat de moribus in docendo bonos mores et reprehen-
dendo malos.
APPENDIX C. Cod. Paris. 7998 (dated 1305). Ars Amatoria.

Flore iuventutis vernans Ovidius telisque Cupidinis lacessitus ideo univers
amoris fallacias doctus et expertus, hoc opus incepit et perfecit. In hoc autem oper
sicut in aliis sex sunt principaliter inquirenda s. quis actor, que materia actor
que intentio, que utilitas, quis titulus, cui parti philosophie supponatur. Actor
Ovidius, amorem habet pro materia. Obmutescant ergo illi qui asserunt auctor
habere iuvenes pro materia. Non enim qui docet rectoricam habet discipulos p
materia, immo ipsam artem. Intentio sua est dare iuvenibus et puellis plenari
amoris tractationem. Utilitas est artificiosa amoris peritia, ut patet in prim
duobus versis: 'Si quis in hoc artem populo'2 etc. Ethice supponitur liber iste q
loquitur de moribus iuvenum et puellarum, quos introducit in hac arte. Titulu
talis est: Publii Nasonis Ovidii de arte amatoria primus liber incipit. Bene dicit
primus quia sequitur secundus. Sunt enim tres. Ovidius est proprium nomen
eius, et dicitur Ovidius quia ovum dividens i. quia mundus quasi ovo comparat
Naso a quantitate nasi. Publius a patre suo qui Publius fuit dictus.
APPENDIX D. Cod. Paris. I 1318 (13th century). Remedia Amoris.

Quante iocunditatis actor iste extiterit librorum suorum manifestat serie
universa. Ovidius autem quadam mollicie depravatus et nimia prosperitat
gavisus, vite sue iocose iocosum prebuit argumentum. Ipse vero in iuvenili eta
constitutus, telumque Cupidinis sepissime lacessitus, effeminate lascivie sue relaxen
librum de Arte Amatoria composuit in quo quam plurimos contraxit in error
per amoris varia documenta. Sed cum sine remedio nichil constituit omnium
rerum creator altissimus, videns Ovidius quod liber Artis Amatorie quam plurimos
traxerat in errorem, Arte sua vix prolata, omnes amori vacare studuerunt na
recto tramite derelicto, quidam ad suspendium, quidam ad incendium, ceteriq
ad ceterorum genera mortis presonpcione amoris intollerancia cogebantur. Hac
causa compulsus, Ovidius ad eorum remedia hoc opus suscipere destinavit. In
cuis principio breviter inquiramus illa que principaliter solent queri s. que s
causa materialis, que formalis, que efficiens, que finalis. Causa materialis hu
operis est amor temperatus et remediosus contra quem utitur acris intencio q
est suadere nos amorem perniciosum deponere, amori remedioso adherendo.
APPENDIX E. Cod. Paris. 7994 (I3th century). Carmina Amatoria.

Explicit Ovidius Epistularum, incipit materia eiusdem. In hoc primo suorum
operum Ovidius iocose vite sue iocosum prebuit argumentum. Secutus est en
sententiam Mimnermi qui sine amore nichil esse iocosum asserebat. Unde: 'S
Mimnermus uti censet sine amore iocisque nichil esse iocundum vivas in am
1 The passage was printed up to this point by D. Florence, 1896, p. 45, note I.
Faone,
Comparetti, Sull'autenticita dell'epistola ovidiana di Saffo2Ars.,
a I, I.
4
iocisque.' In hoc ergo opere agit Ovidius
species, que sunt legitimus amor s. coniug
incestus. Legitimum commendat in Penelope
dampnat in Phedra et in Canace. Intentio su
specie ostendere. Utilitas est delectatio. Ve
nos a puellis nostris destitui hoc opus exemp
nostrum revocemus vel e contrario. Sed ut
adherere qui ceteris videtur preiudicare. Etice
Titulus talis est: Ovidii Nasonis Epistularum
quia non sequitur secundus. Non est enim n
et numerus. Vel verius assignatur titulus
maiori parte intitulatur opus; plures enim
quam heroes heroidibus....
Explicit Ovidius sine titulo, incipit mat
extiterit actor iste non solum huius executio v
bat universa. Ovidius etenim naturali quadam
nimiaque Cupidinis prosperitate gavisus ad
nomine in hoc opere Corinnam appellavit. U
ingenium totam cantata per urbem Nomine
igitur occasione compulsus hoc opus incepit
quedam iocosa de veris amoribus suis enarr
iocose videmus que sit materia, que intentio
cui parti philosophie supponatur, et quare
Actoris siquidem materia est de amore s
Artis Amatorie, quia in Arte Amatoria dat pr
tractat et iocosa. Intentio sua est quedam de
intentionis duplex: vel ut ille delectet quia
aut delectare poete' etc., vel amice sue quam
commendet. Utilitas est delectatio, vel apu
eticam spectat quia de suis moribus loquen
rivalium et lenarum mores insinuat. Quare a
diversis assignantur cause. Dicunt quidam
tractaturum et ita secundum propositum et
liber armorum. Sed retractus est ab armis per
suis. Quod nichil aliud fuit nisi quod cum ipse
in scribendo de amore quam de armis, ideo
materie executionem debuit intitulari libe
deberet dici liber armorum secundum proposi
secundum materie executionem, ideo reman
iam utrum melius dicatur usque in hodiern
iudice lis est. Alii dicunt quod metu emulor
eius licet bona vituperarent si titulum sui
cause frivole sunt et nulle, veram huis rei
longo post Artem Amatoriam compositam
Augusto dampnari et Artem Amatoriam a pub
ne similiter liber Amorum amitterent, titulu
Hunc enim titulum prescripsit actor: Incip
Explicit Ovidius de Arte Amandi, incipit
vernans Ovidius, telisque Cupidinis sepissim
fallacias doctus et expertus, hoc opus incepit e
1 Trist., IV, Io, 59 if. the St. Gall codex, see Lenz, o
above, p.
2 For the origin of this conjecture, 12 and
which 38.
dates from
amore quod ipsemet in libro Tristium profitetur dicens : 'T

parte videbis. hic quoque quod nemo nescit amare docen
amor est eorum doctrina, non de arte amandi vel iuven
apocrifi cornicantur. Obmutescant igitur qui sompnia
materiam auctoris in hoc opere, quemadmodum si qui
instruat, ipsi non sunt materia eiusdem artis, sic iuven
instructi non sunt materia auctoris. Obmutescant etia
artem esse materiam. Nunc enim de arte agit ut illud
arte amandi i. de amore ad artem i. ad artis compos
finalem causam, ut s. tractando de tali materia i. de am
opus nomine artis meruit censeri, quia totum consistit
differentio vocabuli. Ars est brevis et aperta precept
artificiose agendum. Vel melius dicatur quod cum d
Arte, illud notat materiam, ut ubi: incipit Ovidius de R
notatur per hanc propositionem "de", quod remedi
Similiter et hic cum dicitur: Incipit Ovidius de Arte, "d
quod scilicet ars amoris sit materia scribentis. Sic ergo
Ovidii est in hoc opere docendo iuvenes et puellas plen
amore facere traditionem. Utilitas est artificiosa amo
collectione comparata. Titulus talis est: Ovidii de Arte
dicitur primus quia sequitur secundus. Sunt enim tres d
ad artem, sicut expositum est. ....
Explicit Ovidius de Remedio Amoris, incipit mate
Artis Amatorie multos traxerat in errorem prolata re
amori vacare studuerunt, sed sollempni preceptorum l
laqueum, quidam ad incendium, ceteri ad cetera mort
de causa Ovidius ad eorum remedium hoc opus adhi
amore levi et remedioso. Nec enim credendum est ho
premisso operi Artis Amatorie quod ipse testatur in h
blande puer nec nostras prodimus artes.'2 Amor ergo
actoris in hoc opere. Intentio sua perniciosum amorem
in hoc opere nos invitat dicens: 'Me duce dampnosa
Utilitas est pernitiosi amoris depositio. Unde hic ait: 'U
extinguere flammas. Nec servum vitiis pectus suum.'
Nasonis Ovidii de Remedio Amoris liber primus incipit
sequitur secundus, sunt enim duo. Titulus autem sum
Explicit Ovidius de in Ibin incipit materia eiusde
Tristium: 'Dum iuvat et vultu ridet fortuna secundo. In
opes. At simul intonuit nec noscitur ulli Agminibus c
erat.'5 Sic igitur dum Ovidius prosperitate floreret d
frequentabatur. Postquam vero in exilium relegatus est
metuentes propter familiaritatem eius iram imperator
de eo malos rumores serebat in curia metuens ne de ex
possessiones sitiens et uxorem. Hac igitur de causa co
facit invectiones huiusmodi vel odio suo quod erga in
cupiens satisfacere, vel per invectiones istas illum a det
Materia igitur huius actoris in hoc opere est execrati
invidum faciendo invectiones in ipsum. Causa intention
odio in invidum satisfaciat, vel ut eum execrando a det
: Trist., I, I, III. 4 Rem., 53 if.

2 Rem., II. 5 Trist., I, 5, 27 f.
3 Rem., 69.
est tota actoris scilicet delectatio quam habe
lectoris s. cognitio fabularum in hoc opere c
Nasonis Ovidii liber invectionum in Ibin in
sequitur secundus non est enim nisi unus.1
nomen invidi sui reticet ut in Ovidio de pon
dere querela,'2 etc. Per similitudinem tame
enim est avis rostro rubeo, cauda nigra, cetero
designatur flamma invidie qua inflammatus in
candorem corporis simulatus amor notatur, cu
aperitur. Item ciconia rostro suo purgare inter
sordidior invenitur. Unde per simile potest
sordidius habeat de quo detractiones prodeu
quod dicitur de ciconia recte videtur invido c
designatur. ....
Explicit Ovidius de Nuce, incipit materia eiusdem. Exiguum generat doctrina
superflua fructum. Ideoque secundum opusculi huius brevitatem comprehendamus
materie quantitatem. Huius igitur actoris materia in hoc opere conquestio nucis
que conqueritur quod sine merito cum fructum proferat puniatur. Intentio sua
est sub persona nucis sine causa pericula sustinere. Utilitas est delectatio. Vel
utilitas est per hoc opus precognoscere neminem sine merito puniendum esse.3. . .
Explicit Ovidius de Medicamine Faciei, incipit materia eiusdem. Ovidius hoc
opus composuisse dicitur sicut ipsemet loquens ad puellas in libro de Arte Amatoria
protestatur dicens: 'Est michi quod dixi nostre medicamina forme sed cura grande
libellus opus.'4 Quia vero omne quod est nimium vertitur in vitium, idcirco
sub breviloquio materiam huius opusculi comprehendo. Ovidius etenim naturali
quadam mollitie semper in amorem femineus, puellarumque gratiam summis viribus
adipisci desiderans, ad opus earum hoc opusculum describit in quo quomodo
facies suas colere debeant ostendit. Materia igitur sua est muliebris facies adornatio.
Intentio qualiter formas suas debeant colere. Utilitas delectatio. Vel utilitas
puellarum est s. forme politio. Vel utilitas Ovidii est, in docendo quomodo
se colant, puellaris gratie adquisitio. ....
Explicit Ovidius de Sompno, incipit materia eiusdem. Quidquid huius opusculi
materia implicat verborum compendiosa brevitas comprehendat. Materia igitur
huius actoris in hoc opere est sompnum quod vidit et eiusdem sompnii interpretatio.
Intentio sua est illud iocose narrare et exponere. Vel intentio sua est sub iocosa
sompnii expositione reprehendere viciosos mores lenarum que per fallacias suas
castissimarum etiam incestant animos feminarum. Utilitas est delectatio, vel
operis lenarum et morum cognitio. ....
APPENDIX F. Cod. Vat. Reg. 1548 (I3th century). Fasti.

. . . Requiritur etiam cuius rogatu hoc opus conscripserit, cum constet Ovidius
multorum operum nullo supplicante sed pro sola Augusti vel civium romanorum
gratia promerenda laborem plurimum suscepisse. Dicitur a rogatu Gei'mani-
ci Cesaris hunc librum scripsisse. Quod etiam evidens est ratio, nam in
prima pagina et sic deinceps per totum librum illi assurgat. Dubitatur vero
a multis quando conscriptus sit hic liber, cum de ceteris operibus eiusdem
1 This proem was printed in Ellis's edition of Ibis, codex is a sillogus, as are those of Munich and Berne.
Oxford, i881, p. 44. Przychocki reproduces it up to 2 Pont., IV, 3, 3-
this point (op. cit., p. 33). But his text is inexact and 3 That the "Pseudo-Ovidiana" were read and com-
he makes the wrong statement (ibid., p. 98), due to mented in the schools as genuine is attested by many
his not having seen the original, that this proem is of the prefaces to them (cf. Przychocki, op. cit., p. 98).
isolated and does not form part of a sillogus. This 4Ars, III, 205.
veram ex ipsius testimonio habeamus certitudinem. D

conscriptus sit. Et hii volunt probare per quemdam v
quem in ipso itinere exilii conscripserat dicentis: 'Sex
demque libellos.'1 Sed huic sententie videtur repug
Fastorum dicitur: 'Sulmonis gelide patrie Germanice n
quam procul ille solo est.'2 Verumtamen nobis ut in om
faciamus dicamus quod ipsi precipue magistri dicunt.
honorem Augusti Rome XIII libros de fastis conscripserit
qui iam deliberavit Ovidium dampnare exilio. Vid
labore profecisse, dampnavit et opus et laborem ince
manici Cesaris rarissimi erant scriptores Rome. Virgilius
qui tempore Augusti viguerant, ex hac vita emigrave
dampnatus est. Videns igitur Germanicus egregia sua
raritate scriptorum, doluit, et Ovidius in gratiam August
nichil profecit. Tandem legacione facta ad Ovidium q
scilicet quod ab exilio quandoque eum absolveret pollic
gubernacula regni contigerent. Demandavitque ei ut
liber Fastorum repararet, et quanto Ovidius hunc pro
utique adductus spe Ovidius incepit quidem reparare
ad memoriam revocare valuit pristina laboris, nec co
preventus est. Hec est quippe causa quare tam pauca i
honorem Germanici, quia in suo tempore paucissimi in
APPENDIX G. Cod. Paris. 8207 (I4th century). Ex Ponto

Actor iste non longe a Roma, a Peligno opido oriund
ego composui Pelignis natus aquosis.'3 Qui, siquidem e
arte retorica floruit et precipue in versibus compenendis
quid conabar dicere versus erat.'4 . . His habitis, ad
Intendit Ovidius in hoc opere amicos suos exorare ut li
Cesaris sopire laborent et ita delectionam exilii vel sal
consentiatur, ut de tam maligno loco in minus asperum
exorationis amicorum talis est: ostendit se eos dum esset
et in eis fiduciam habuisse et pondus sue miserie multi
. . Cum in exilio mitteretur Ovidius, videns ab amic
neque auxilium impendendi neque consilii ne iram Ces
dum ad locum suo exilio destinatum ad Pontum s. insu
tum composuit. Quem suis remittens amicis, rerum
proverbiis pretendens, eos exorare cepit. Intendit ut
exilio ad terram sue nativitatis revocare laborent. .... M
Ovidius, uxor et amici sui s. Maximus et alii. Finis est len
patrie et ad locum minus asperum posse reverti quam
ponitur quia loquitur de moribus Messalini non nom
amicorum talis: ostendit enim se dum presens fuerit
fiduciam habuisse, sue pondus miserie multis exagge
opere Ovidius ostendit exilium et incommoditates ex
supplicare ut Cesarem precibus suis sibi conciliare laboren
poetis ne aliquid indignum scribant propter quod pena
Notandum est quod singule distinctiones proprie care
principali adherent. Facit etiam duo in hoc libello:
1 Trist., II, 529. 3 Amor., II, I, I.
2 Fast., IV, 8 . 4 Trist., IV, 10, 26.
scelus, per hoc quoquomodo volens miseri
ibi est venial status. Totus autem liber t
querendo diversis maneriebus se esse . . .
cause quare in exilio fuerit positus: vel qu
quia opus amatorium composuit, vel, qu
amasio suo ludere. Hanc autem causam es
suo dicens: 'Sunt michi cred.' etc. Sciendu
sint: proscriptio, inscriptio, exilium, rel
enim dicebatur relegatus qui privatim di
nec sua amittebat, proscriptus vero dice
revertendi habebat sed bona sua ad pu
amittens et in patria remanens ab amicis su
bonisque suis privatus extra patriam cum
APPENDIX H. Cod. Paris. 8255 (I4th centu

. . . Ovidius igitur de ingenuis parentibus
uxorem anhelavit quam in libro sine titu
unde illud: 'Moverat ingenium'1 etc., et
timidusque vocari, hec duo sunt nomina ver
ad territos imperatricis talamos per sca
necessario, pre nimio timore, per sua ve
Virgilius abstulerat fraudolenter. Ovidius e
fractione demonstravit. Unde Ovidius
igitur in hoc contemporaneos suos comm
'Virgilium tantum vidi.'3...
APPENDIX I. Cod. Vat. Reg. 1559 (I4th

century); Cod. Ambros. G. 130 inf. (14th c
The words in italics correspond to the text o
the rest is interpolation.
In librorum initiis septem solent inqu
Quarum intrinsece sunt materialis et for
intentione finalis prior est, efficiens in op
solita sunt hoc modo: que materia, que in
quis auctor, quis titulus, cui ex philosop
auctoris vita precognita, multa circa mat
bunt, ab ipsius vita incipiamus auctoris.-
Enea venit de Phrigia quidam Solemus qui Su
de cuius regionis opido Peligno natusfuit O
dictus. Fuit autem ex patre Pilio, fratrem h
quod in eius nataliciis videlicet anniversario
Hos dispariter natos pater eorum ad literas par
eruditi fuissent, dedit eis pater magistrum in a
adeptus est quodfacundia et virtute sua meruit f
et mortuo fratre suo, rogatu Maximiani pri
ut famam suam in scribendo maximam
tractandum iuvenilia. Et primofecit librum
ascreum qui oblivioni datas fabulas et ep
1 Trist., IV, 10, 59. Trist., IV, rI, 51.
2 Pont., II, 2, 17.
fecit librum amorum qui dicitur sine titulo, post quem libell
qui non cadunt in numero librorum suorum s. de cuculo,
de somno, de. nuce, de medicamine surdi et de medicamin
mundi. Tercio loco fecit librum de Arte Amandi et quia docuit
matronas impudicas Augusti Cesaris indignationi incurrit. Quo
fuerint, ista tamen principaliter videbatur pretendi. Ad m
Augusti quarto fecit librum de Remedio Amoris, subiunxit etiam qu
sive licitorum in honorem Germanici Cesaris qui erat futurus pont
saltem interventu Augusti gratie reddi posset. Sexto loco fecit libru
laudavit Augustum ab antecessoribus per Eneam. Sed cum
Germanicus Augustum flexibilem invenisset, comperiens
qualiter Ovidium morti traderet, vix tandem impetravit
relegandus. In exilii cuius itinere fecit septimo librum Tr
phoseos incorrecto relicto. Cum autem in exilium pervenis
de Ponto, et nono librum in Ibin, in invidum suum quem sim
per litteras amicorum suorum didicisset ad plenum quod v
non posset, decimo et ultimo composuit librum istum in
unumcumque solacia sibi querens reducit ad memoriam m
quem habuerat dum vacaret amori, et quare mutavit eum
mutavit ad illum s. quem habuit postquam iam vacave
autem in ultimo vite sue librum istum poni secum in sep
sua saltem post mortem Augusti, qui fuit annus decimu
Domini.1 Sed nescitur si pervenit ad eum de morte Augu
suburbio civitatis Diostori que regni Colcorum caput est, c
dam gentilium antiquorum sepulcra de cimiterio publ
Thomos est, inter cetera unum inventum est cuius epigram
sculptum in eo, eiusque interpretacio sic sonabat: Hic iac
simus poetarum. In capite vero sepulcri capsella eburnea
liber iste nulla vestustate consumptus cuius litteras non
miserunt eum Costantinopolim Vathasii principis2 tempo
sacri palacii prothonotario traditus est et ipse eum perle
multa climata derivavit. ....
APPENDIX J. Cod. Paris. 8253 (I4th century). Metamorphoses.

Quatuor sunt cause principales in cuiuslibet operis compositione s. causa e
ciens, causa materialis, causa formalis, causa finalis. Causa efficiens est illu
quo res agitur sicut est ipse deus, quia est causa efficiens cuiuslibet rerum. C
materialis est illud de quo res agitur sicut sunt ligna et, lapides que sunt c
materialis domus.3 Causa formalis est illud quod in esse rei, sicuti divinitas in de
humanitas in homine. Causa finalis est illud propter quod res agitur sicuti bo
quia propter bonitatem et, ut ad bonum finem deveniant, omnia procrean
Unde patet in versibus: 'Efficiens causa deus est, formalis ydea, finalis boni
9 The Marciana codex is incomplete here. Augusti,
After qui fuit annus octavus decimus a nativitate
"sepulchro," Vat. Reg. has: "vel quod sibi ceteris
Domini, sed nescitur si pervenit ad ipsum de morte
cultior apparebat, vel quia in eius fine commendet se
Augusti."
prime cause post mortem. Sed demum quod, sperans 2 This emperor Vathasius perhaps corresponds to
ossa sua saltem post mortem Augusti Cesaris adJohn solum
III, the so-called Duke Vatatze, who reigned in
patrium referenda, volebat eciam cum eis librum Nicea from 1222 to 1254.
istum referri, ut eorum relatio non careret honore. Et 3 Cf. Conrad of Hirschau: "Materia est unde
quia non fuit qui post mortem eiusdem suis ossibus constat quodlibet . . . duobus autem dicitur modis
referendis curaret, liber ideo nec Romam missus est materia, ut, sicut in edificio sunt ligna et lapides, sicut
nec auctentim lectus est, nec habetur in usu. Vixit in vocibus genus et species et cetera, quibus opus
autem sicut in annalibus invenitur usque ad secundum perficitur, quod auctor agendum aggreditur." Dialogus
annum Tiberii, sive per duos annos post mortem super auctores, ed. Schepps, 1889, p. 28.
materialis yle.'-In opere cuiuslibet actoris se
que intentio, que utilitas que causa suscepti o
sophie supponatur liber iste. Et sciendum es
figuris mutabilium sunt materia huius actoris.
tur. Est autem mutatio naturalis sicut illa d
transit in reliqum. Terra enim transit in aq
est mutatio spiritualis sicuti fuit de Agave
moralis et magica mutatio sicuti de Pimalione
artem magicam mutavit eam in virginem. E
Alia sub eodem genere. Ut Io que mutata fuit
inanimata in rem animatam, sicuti de lapid
bantur in homines. Alia enim mutatio de re animata in animatam sicuti de Acteo
qui mutatus fuit in cervum. Et est mutatio de re animata in inanimatam sicut
fuit de serpente qui voluit devorare caput Orphei, qui mutatus fuit in lapidem
Et est mutatio de re inanimata in rem inanimatam sicut de Philemone cuius domus
mutata fuit in templum. Intentio autem versatur circa materiam. Causa suscepti
operis duplex s. communis et privata. Privata quia actor iste [qui] per edificium
Artis Amatorie malivolentiam romanorum maxime Augusti adeptus erat, volebat
ostendere Julium posse deificari per mutationes diversas. Et ut begnivolentiam
aliorum recuperaret. Communis causa est ad auditores. Utilitas in illa minima
est quantum ad auctorem, sed magna est quantum ad auditores. Ut, viso quomodo
res mundane transmutantur, quisquis erigat mentem suam ad creatorem suum sive
ad creatoris sui cognitionem. Titulus talis est: Publii Nasonis Ovidii liber primus
Methamorphoseos incipit; et bene dicitur primus quia sequitur secundus: sunt
enim quindecim. Antiquitus mos erat quod quanto nobiliores tanto pluribus
nominibus appropriabantur. Publius dicitur a Publia familia de qua fuit natus
actor ille. Ovidius oportet esse proprium nomen sive impositum. Ovidius dicitur
quasi ovum dividens, quia actor ille ostendit quatuor elementa tracta esse a prima
materia. Dicitur ovum dindule:1 per quatuor enim partes ovi dividit quatuor
elementa. Per testa, que est prima pars et rotunda, signat firmamentum. Per
pelliculam, que est tenuis et lucida, figuratur aer qui est tenuis et lucidus. Per
albumen quod est album et frigidum figuratur aqua que est alba et frigida et
lucida. Per meditullium quod est aliis partibus circumclusum figuratur terra que
ab aliis elementis circumdatur. Naso dicitur a quantitate nasi, non quia haberet
maiorem nasum quam alii, sed quia discretio animi per eum denotatur. Sed
Methamorphosis huius -sis, vel -eos, dicitur a metha quod est trans, et morphos
mutatio, quasi transmutatio. Et quod ita declinatur habemus in versibus: 'Sum
quod eris, fueramque quod es. Vel quod es ante fui. Methamorphosis ita humanis
rebus subdere colla vetat.' Sunt enim quindecim ut ipse testatur in libro Tristium
dicens: Sunt quoque mutate ter quinque etc. Phisice supponitur quia de naturali-
bus loquitur s. quomodo elementa nature principalis separata fuerunt a prima
materia s. yle. Omne illud est yle quod est quid et de quo est quid. Unde diffinitio:
'Yle est vultus nature antiquissimus. Generator uterus indefessus, formarum
propria susceptio, materia corporum, substantie fundamentum.' Ethice supponitur
quia tractat de moribus, sicuti de Lichaone. Actor iste plures libros composuit,
maxime IX. Primo loco composuit librum Heroydum, sive epistularum. Secundo
Ovidium sine titulo. Tercio Ovidium de arte amatoria. Quarto Ovidium de
remedio amoris. Quinto Ovidium fastorum. Sexto presens opus composuit.
Septimo librum de tristibus. Octavo Ovidium de ponto. Nono Ovidium in ybin,
quod scripsit contra invidum. More aliorum poetarum etc ...
1 The Earth as divinity was called Dindime.The epithet of the goddess Cybele was, in fact, Dindymene.
APPENDIX K. Cod. Ambros. N. 254 sup. (I4th century). Met
Quoniam audientibus novercatur et generatur fastidium
pendium, sub verborum compendio per ipsius inscripti
materia huius libri, et merito quia titulus a titan, quod es
originem congruentem.1 Est autem titulus talis: Publii N
phoseos, vel Methamorphoseon liber primus incipit. Ben
sequitur secundus, ipso Ovidio attestante qui ait in libro
que mutate ter quinque volumina forme nuper ab exequi
Publius dictus est vel quia primus publicum favorem hab
vel a Publia familia de qua extitit oriundus. Naso dictus
corporei quantitate, vel dictus est Naso per similitudinem, q
odore nasi feras percipit et sequitur, sic Ovidius odore
bonas percipiebat sententias. Ovidius proprium nomen
sicut dicunt quidam, dicitur quasi ovum dividens. Sicut
que sunt intus abscondita manifestat, sic eciam in suo car
torum que clausa iacebant in primordiali materia nobis O
Methamorphoseos est genitivus casus grecus et componitur
et morphos quod est mutans et usia quod est substancia
phoseos quasi liber transmutationis substancie. Et de
decapoleos, genesis geneseos, thetis thetios, methamorph
dativo methamorphosi, accusativo methamorphosin, vel met
methamorphosis, ablativo methamorphosi, et pluraliter
phoses, genitivo methamorphoseon. Cuius ablativum sing
loquens de supracelestibus et dicens sic: Supera methamor
summa transmutacione. Nominativum singularem posui
Vindocino, in quodam epitaphio in quo mortum loque
prosopopeiam introducit in hunc modum: 'Sum ens quod
humanis rebus subdere colla vetat.' Methamorphoseon es
methamorphoseoi. Due sunt diciones s. metha prepositio
quod de, et morphoseos unde methamorphoseos, quasi d
tancie. Et bene dico mutacionis et non mutacione, quoniam g
loco ablativi genitivum improprium ponebant. Ut ibi: 'c
learia pendent.' Actor iste a digniori parte intitulavit s.
Quadruplex est enim mutacio, naturalis, moralis, magica
mutatio est quando quatuor elementa conveniunt ad
corporis, vel ad ipsius destructionem dissolvuntur et de h
actor in principio sui libri. Moralis mutatio est quando m
sicut habemus de Licaone qui de homine mutatus est in lupu
et de mansueto. . . . Magica mutatio est quando magi pe
aliquam sub alia forma quam sit faciunt apparere. Et hoc
sociis Ulixis, que per potiones suas istos socios quantum
Spiritualis mutacio est quando spiritus alicuius mutatur, s
qui post interfectionem matris a furiis vexatus de sano f
istas quatuor mutaciones sunt alie quatuor s. mutatio de
animatam, de re animata ad rem animatam et de re anim
de re inanimata ad rem inanimatam. Mutatio de inanimata ad rem animatam
fuit quando ex lapidibus proiectis a Deucalione fuerunt homines procreati. Mu
de re animata in rem animatam fuit quando Acteon de homine factus cerv
Mutatio de re animata in rem inanimatam fuit quando serpens ille qui voluit cap
1 Compare the commentary on the Ars of Phocas,quentia . . ." cf. M. Manitius, "Zur karolingischen
which appears to be the work of Remigius of Auxerre,
Literatur," Neues Archiv, XXXVI, I9I0-I I, p. 48.
where we read: "Titulus dicitur a Titane, id est 2Trist.,
sole, I, I, 117f.
quia sicut sol declarat tenebrosa, ita titulus se-
Orphei corrodere a Phebo in saxum conver
inanimatam fuit quando casa Philemonis e
in templum aureum fuit conversa. Intencio
prehendere omnes mutaciones que a mundi
tigerant ut sic in fine sui operis deificacio
extitisse. Duplex est utilitas: legentium et
ostensa apotesi i. deificacione Julii, favorem
in arte amatoria scriptis suis restantibus di
cognitio fabularum et ut, viso quid de prav
in beluas variari, a viciis et a beluina turpitud
est actor iste: phisicus quia loquitur de confus
et de elementorum divisione, eticus quia l
latine: inde ethica i. moralis sentencia ....
APPENDIX L. Cod. Paris. 8oio (14th century). Metamorphoses cum Guillelmi de Thiegii
commentario.
Ad maiorem operis evidenciam in maiori opere suo de vita Ovidii prim
tractandum est. Primo videam ubi natus fuit, quos mores habuit et quid composuit
Ad hoc dicendum est quod ipse natus fuit in Peligno opido. Et hoc testatur i
libro sine titulo dicens: 'Hec que composui Pelignis natus aquosis.'l Consequent
sciendum est quod Pelignum opidum divisum fuit in tres partes sive in tres villas,
una quarum Sulmo vocabatur. Et hoc testatur in libro sine titulo dicens: 'Me
pars Sulmo tenet Peligni tertia ruris parva sed irriguis ora salubris aquis
Postea sciendum est quod nonaginta miliaribus distabat Sulmo ab urbe roma
Hoc testatur in libro de Tristibus: 'Sulmo michi patria est gelidis uberrimus undis,
Milia que novies distat ab urbe decem.'3 Sciendum est quod Ovidius natus fu
in illo tempore quando pugna fuit inter Marium et Scillam. Unde in Tristibu
'Editus hinc ego sum nec non et tempora vatis cum cecidit fato consuluitque pari.'4
Postea sciendum est quod Ovidius natus fuit tricesimo kalendas Martii, unde i
Tristibus: 'Hec est armigere de festis quinta Minerve, qua fieri pugna prima
cruenta solet.'5 Sciendum est quod Ovidius habuit fratrem maiorem natu un
anno, unde in Tristibus: 'Nec stirps prima fui, nec sum sine fratre creatus
quater atque tribus mensibus ortus eram.'6 Postea sciendum est quod Ovidius
frater suus qui nomine vocabatur Lucius unum diem natu suo occupaverunt s
anno revoluto, unde in Tristibus: 'Lucifer ambobus natalibus affuit idem un
celebrata est pro duo liba dies.' 7 Sciendum autem est quod cum Ovidius et fra
suus adhuc in tenera etate essent, Puplius pater eorum transmisit eos Romam
literis deputavit, unde in Tristibus: 'Protinus excolimur's etc. Sciendum est qu
Lucius studens circa secularem9 disciplinam longo tempore causidicus effectus est,
unde in Tristibus: 'Frater ad eloquium mundi tendebat ab evo, fortia verbosi natus
ad arma fori.'10 Ovidius autem studens circa artem poeticam poeta preoptim
effectus est, unde in Tristibus: 'At michi iam puero celestia sacra placebant, inque
suum furtim musa trahebat opus,'11 et alibi: 'Quidquid conabar dicere versu
erat.'12 Cum Lucius Ovidii frater viginti annos occupasset mortuus est, unde
Tristibus: 'Cum frater decem vite summaverat ambos Tunc primum cepi pa
1 Amor., II, I, I. 7 Ibid., II f.

2 Amor., II, i6, I. 8 Ibid., 15.
3 Trist., IV, Io, 2. 9 The MS. has solarem.
4 Trist., IV, 10, 5 f. 10 Ibid., 13 f.
5 Ibid., 13 f. 11 Ibid., 15 f.
6 Ibid., 9 f. 12 Ibid., 26.
carere sui.'1 Hiis habitis videamus que sunt inquirenda in p
quemadmodum cuiuslibet actoris, quid materia, quid utilitas,
cui parti philosophie supponatur, quid titulus. Materia hui
mutatione rerum quemadmodum Lycaon mutatus fuit in lu
Sed priusquam plura dicamus debemus considerare triplice
enim mutatio moralis, et hoc attenditur in Lycaone qui mut
fabulose dicitur quod mutatus fuit in lupum, sed secundum
aliud est quod ipse mutatus fuit in reprobum sensum. Et h
mentis dicens: 'Si lupus est archas lupus est feritate lupina,
proprietate lupi.' Et est enim alia mutatio magica, et ista p
aliquid alternatum est per magicam artem. Et alia mutatio theo
et hoc potest attendi quando aliquis de pravo effectus est
Hercules fuit qui virtuosus corpore fuit et postea deificat
dicitur mutatio, et non pluribus. Utilitas autem istius libr
dicuntur in opere presenti. Intentio actoris est Augustum C
sui commendare, vel enarrare quomodo quatuor elementa di
s. terra, aqua, aer, ignis. Postea debemus scire quod unumq
habet sua elementa et continet diversas proprietates, una que
accidens. Terra est frigida et humida, aer est humidus et ca
et calidus. Postea videamus cui parti philosophie supponatu
circa predicta. Postea videamus quid sit titulus et unde dic
talis est: Publii Nasonis Ovidii Methamorphoseos primu
dicitur primus quia sequitur secundus: sunt XV, ipso at
michi mutate ter quinque volumina forme, sed quasi de domini
Publius proprium nomen est actoris, et dicitur Publius a P
publicum omnium obtinuit assensum. Naso secundum qu
nomen actoris, et dicitur Naso a nasi quantitate. Vel dic
quamdam similitudinem que se habet ad canem venaticu
venaticus odore suarum narium feram insequitur, ita actor
bonas sententias adinvenit. Ovidius secundum quosdam p
actoris, vel dicitur Ovidius quasi ovum dividens. Ovum en
mundi gerens: testa enim exterior et rotunda extremum et cir
mentum, pellicula autem media que est inter testam et albumen
luciditatem et claritatem aeris representat, albumen vero re
meditullium vero quod est infimum et viis omnibus circumclu
Et quia dicente Ovidio divisionem elementorum novimus, iu
dividens appellatur. Titulus dicitur a Tytan quod est sol, qu
totum mundum et ita titulus totum librum. Methamorpho
singularis et declinatur, quod apparet per hos versus: 'Sum q
fui, methamorphosis ista mundanis rebus subdere colla voc
morphosis a metha quod est de et morphos quod est muta
substantia, unde liber methamorphoseos i. liber de mutati
Sciendum est quod quadruplex assignatur mutatio s. natural
et magica Naturalis quam actor innuit in divisione elemen
atenditur in Lycaone mutato in lupum, et ideo dicitur quia
factus predo et improbus. Spiritualis sicut de Agave que p
fuit in insanam. Magica est de ymagine Pymalionis in virginem
sicut apparet in Circe que per incantacionem mutabat homi
mutatio animati ad animatum ut Acteonis in cervum. Et est m
inanimatum sicut domus Baucidis et Pallemonis in templum.
1 Ibid., 31 f. STrist., I, 1, II7 f.
2 The MS. has scripturalis.
mati ad animatum, ut glebe in Tagem: Tag
Sic habito de his mutationibus, habetur mat
rerum mutationem ab inicio mundi usque a
mutaciones verisimile videatur Julium Cesa
agit habetur. Intentio ad quid agat ut apud
causas que alibi demonstrentur reconsiliati
agat habetur utilitas. Actor iste ethicus es
moribus, phisicus de superlectilibus tangen
invocat et narrat etc. ...
APPENDIX M. Cod. Laur. 36, 18 (14th century

Ovidius natione sulmontinus, ex patre Pili
Octaviani Augusti claruit. Cuius vita non l
fuit. Unde in libro de Tristibus sic ait: 'Mores distant a carmine nostri. Vita
verecunda Musa iocosa mea est.'l Item: 'Scis artibus illis autoris mores absti
sui.'2 Composuit novem magna volumina. Et primo quidem librum Heroi
epistularum, quas ab Esiodo poeta greco conscriptas, ipse in latinum redu
amplius expolivit. Secundo librum qui Sine titulo dicitur. Tertio de Arte Am
propter quem cum juvenes et puelle se lascivie darent, Ovidius odium Au
incurrit. Ideo et quarto conscripsit librum de Remedio. quinto librum Meth
phoseos ad captandam benivolentiam Augusti. Sexto librum Fastorum in ho
Germanici, qui fuit Augusti privignus et adoptivus filius. Post hec Ovidius occ
libri de Arte predicti, et quia imperator illum de uxore suspectum habuit, in Po
relegatus est, libro Methamorphoseos non pleno correcto. Et in itinere conscri
librum de Tristibus, septimum opus. Octavo in Ponto scripsit librum de
et librum in Ybin. Et ibi temporibus Tiberii decessit. In hoc igitur libro
Methamorphoseos dicitur, intendit Ovidius sub quibusdam fabulis homines
tare, instruere, et eloquentes reddere. Cuius libri titulus talis est: incipit liber p
Ovidii Nasonis Methamorphoseos, et dicitur methamorphoseos i. de transf
tione, de qua precipue agitur in hoc libro. In quo quedam que ponuntur fu
hystorie vere adiuncto tamen aliquo fabuloso, ut de Pyramo et Tysbe, C
sepulta, de Medea etc. Quedam vero sunt pure fabulosa sed per methapho
dicta, sive alia significatione, ut de Atheone verso in cervum, et de auro M
et huiusmodi. Quedam sunt fabulosa sed per methaphoram dicta, ut de d
solis, de Orpheo trahente ligna et saxa i. homines silvestres suis sermonib
Horatius dicit, et aliis huiusmodi.
APPENDIX N. Cod. Ambros. H. 64 sup. (14th century). Metamorphoses.

Previo rore ducis superni serenissimique numinis implorato subsidio. In exp
tione huius libri quemadmodum et ceterorum ista sunt indaganda: primo v
est vita poete, deinde videndus est titulus libri, tertio videnda est intentio
quarto causa intentionis, et per consequens utilitas Quantum ad primum, scien
quod vita poete est talis: Quidam enim venit in Ausoniam ex Frigia una cum
nomine Solemus et iste occupavit quandam regionem Italie in qua con
civitatem quam appellavit Sulmonem de suo nomine. Istud patet in libro Fastor
ibi sic infit: 'Huius erat Frigia Solemus unus comes ab Ida a quo Sulmonis
1 Trist., II, 353. 2 Trist., I, 10, 59 f.
nomen habent.'1 Ista civitas que dicitur Sulmo constru
quadam regione italica que dicebatur Pelignum a no
patet in libro de sine titulo ubi dicit: 'Sic hoc ego mitto ti
etiam patet in libro de Tristibus s. quod illa civitas voc
patria est gelidis uberrimus undis Milia qui novies distat a
"Pars me Sulmo tenet peligni tertia ruris."4 Rursus p
num ut ibi: 'Ovidius Naso peligni ruris alumpnus ce
posse reverti.' 5 Patet ergo quod fuit oriundus illius region
in qua fuit constructus Sulmo. Demum sciendum quod Ovi
et nobili patre; antecessores sui fuere de ordine eques
Pater est denominatus Botius vel Pilius, et iste genuit
Ovidium, et istos duos misit ad studium literarum. C
primitivis, elegit eis magistrum artis rhetorice. Cum aute
Lucius obtinebat palmam tractandi causas inter rhetores; Ovidius autem se
flectebat ad studium poeticum et carmina edenda, ut ibi: 'Quidquid temptabam
dicere carmen erat.' Istud patet in libro de Tristibus ubi dicit: 'Frater ad eloquium
primo tendebat ab evo fortia verbosi natus ad arma fori, at michi tunc puero
celestia sacra placebant.'6 Per hec celestia sacra nichil aliud intellexit nisi poesim.
Nam sic dicit Tullius de questionibus Tusculanis et in libro de Oratore: 'poete
vocabantur sacri cum ipsi deflectant homines a vitiis et impellant ad cultum
virtutis.' Cum autem uterque profecisset, Ovidius in poesi, Lucius in rhetorica,
mortuus est Lucius; non enim venit ad etatem senilem. Ovidius est contristatus
valde de morte fraterna. Post paucum tempus, audiens quod poete multum
honorabantur, precipue a romanis, quid fecit? recessit a Sulmone inveniens elegan-
tiorem urbem. Sic profectus est in urbem romanam, et illic vendicavit sibi familiari-
tatem Fabiorum; Fabii enim tunc inter romanos clarebant; isti Fabii prefecerunt
eum ad familiaritatem Augusti Cesaris; regnavit enim Ovidius illo tempore quo
Augustus imperavit. Natus est tempore quo duo Decij ceciderunt, ut patet in illis
carminibus ubi sic: 'Editus hinc ego sum nec non ut tempora noris cum cecidit
fato consul uterque pari.' Pater enim et filius fuere simul consules, quorum unus
in bello samnitico ut pater, alter in gallico ut filius cecidit. Cum autem staret in
urbe et haberet familiaritatem Augusti et familiaritatem Fabiorum et aliorum,
proposuit aliqua scribere propter que vendicaret sibi famam, honorem seu amicitias
romanorum. Hoc proposito, primo scripsit Ovidium Heroydum sive epistolarum,
postea composuit librum de Sine titulo, postea librum de Medicamine faciei, de
Nuce, de Cuculo, et de Pulice, et de Puellis, quartum librum de Arte Amandi
propter quem devenit in exilium et in indignationem Augusti incurrit. Videbatur
enim in illo libro, ab illis qui non intellexere eum, fecisse iuvenes adulteros et
matronas impudicas, cuius contrarium apparet: detestatur luxuriam et amorem,
et describit qualiter honeste amemus. Cum scripsisset istumin de Arte, scripsit librum
de Remedio amoris ut emendaret se, et non profuit sibi, et postea scripsit istum
et non emendavit, et nichil etiam profuit sibi. Postea composuit librum Fastorum
ubi continentur multa mirabilia et precipue in astrologia. Tandem ivit in exilium,
et proficiscens versus Scitiam, per viam scripsit Ovidium de Tristibus ubi narrat
infelicia tam sua quam aliorum ut homines sciant pati adversa leniter. Cum
autem scripsisset hunc venit in Traciam ubi scripsit Ovidium de Ponto cuius
epistolas singulatim misit in urbem ad amicos perfidos ut intercederent pro ipso
ad Augustum. Qui cum iuvare non potuerunt, finaliter scripsit Ovidium de Ibide
i. de invido qui volebat uxorem eius stuprare de quo sic: . . . et tunc occupatus
1 Fast., IV, 79. 5 De Vetula.
2 Amor., II, I, I. 6 Trist., IV, Io, 13.
3 Trist., IV, 10, 2. STrist., IV, 10, 5.
4 Amor., II, 16, .
est a morte illic, et scripsit tunc unam episto
transferri Romam. Tamen non potuit. Quida
eius ferri fecere ossa invito Augusto. Hec est
Nasonis Methamorphoseos liber primus inci
et dignitatibus quas erat solitus habere anteq
Ovidius quasi ovum dividens, quia tamquam
elementa. Naso vocatus est a magnitudine n
hoc notatur ipsum fuisse sapientem, nam philo
magnas nares ut plurimum sunt prudentes, et d
tangit materiam libri et dicit sic ad differe
mutatione substantie tractat qualiter una in
merito quia bene in quindecim volumina div
intentionem Ovidii. Intentio sua est describere
delectet et prosit, ut ait Flaccus: 'aut prodess
prosunt et non delectant cum habeant sermone
que delectant et non prosunt; quidam faciunt
his est Ovidius.-Causa intentionis, per quam
munis et propria: propria ut revertatur in
hinc patet utilitas etiam aliorum poetarum,
homines a vitiis et impellant ad cultum virtuti
istius libri non est parva.-His visis descendam
APPENDIX O. Cod. Napol. V. D. 52 (I5th centu

In principio huius auctoris cuius famam propt
vulgata est, quatuor inquirenda sunt s. unde
ortum habuerit, ubi et quando studuit, et q
posuerit. Iste cuius opus habemus pre manib
originem, unde in libro de Sine titulo: 'Sulmo m
est de parentela eius qui a nobilibus traxit or
unde in libro de Ponto ait: 'Equites ab origin
veniemur avos.'2 Tertio dicendum est quod
Augusti Cesaris. Quarto sciendum est quod f
postea condemnavit eum, ut quidam volunt
quem composuerat, vel quod concubuit cu
quadam die vidit ipsum Augustum quodam
exilio redierit nec ne certitudinem non habem
composuit. Unde dicunt quidam quod prim
secundo librum de Arte, tertio librum de Sine
et conveniunt in materia, quinto librum Fastor
et de ortu et occasu signorum, sexto librum Me
et dicitur a meta quod est trans, et morphos
exilio composuit illum de Tristibus, et ultim
exilio et de eius miseria. His visis ad materi
flore iuventutis vernans Ovidius telisque Cup
sasque amoris expertus fallacias, hoc opus incep
pro materia. Tamen quidam. dicunt quod iu
quod falsum est. Nam ille qui docet gramm
discipulos pro materia sed ipsam artem. I
1 Trist., IV, 10, 2. "flore iuventutis sepissime . . .
2 Pont., IV, 3, 3. cupidinis."
3 I have thus emended the manuscript, which reads:
iuvenibus et puellis de amore, utilitas est amare sapienter,
carmine doctus amet. Causa suscepti operis est quod vide
puellas in amore errare, unde quandoque propter amoris
interficiebant. Modum agendi est metrum elegiacum qui
exametris et pentametris. Titulus talis est: P. Ovidii Nas
clarissimi de Arte Amandi liber primus incipit. Publius dic
vel a publico favore romanorum quem emeruerat. Naso di
nasi i. discretionis communis que per nasum intelligitur; q
qui per odorem nasi sequitur predam. Ovidius fuit propr
mologice: Ovidius quasi ovum dividens, tractat enim de di
torum que per ovum possunt designari: testa enim ovi exteri
tum quod omnia continet, pellicula tenuis designat aerem
que est liquida designat aquam, vitelus qui est in medio d
obtusa et rotunda. Unde dicitur primus quia sequitur sec
libri in hoc, volumine etc. ....
APPENDIX P. Cod. Laur. 36, 2 (I5th century). Ovidii Opera.

Cesari Augusto tunc rebus imperanti ab initio et vita
cum iudicia ad centum equites referret, in eo numero O
demum urgentem fati necessitatem vitare haud valuit. N
relegatus est exacto iam quinquagesimo anno. Quo autem
satis constat. Ipse in operibus suis nunc tribus libris quo
posuit hoc imputat, nunc se vidisse aliquid, errore ductus
multi interpretentur aut Liviam Drusillam nudam vidisse
cum aliquo exoletorum se immiscentem. Nam illud valde
eam causam expulsum quod cum Livia Augusta concubue
fuisset divortisset a Livia Cesar, et mors non relegatio pe
rursus ob Artem amoris exulasse verisimile est, precipu
amatoria carmina et lasciviora composuerint, nec exilium
reportaverint. Ipse culpam vel errorem potius suum lev
primit.

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Mediaeval Biographies of Ovid

Author(s): Fausto Ghisalberti

THE MINOR WORKS OF OVID: MEDIAEVAL INTRODUCTIONS AND COMMENTARIES

Some specimens of mediaeval introductions and commentaries h

1 H. S. Sedlmayer, "Beitrage zur Ge-Studien, VI, 1884, pp. I42 f.

two codices in Berne and Paris respectively,1

The moral character of the Heroides becomes so much accentuated as time

Equally sparse and ill-authenticated are the biographical notices which

Some additions can be made to the exam

It would obviously be inexact to speak of these compilatio

"questions" were much reduced.

OVID'S MAJOR WORK: MEDIAEVAL "ACCESSUS" TO THE METAMORPHOSES

from the Benedictbeuren codex

(14th century), and Ambros. G. 130 inf.

The grammarian author of a four

With the proem which in the fourteenth century Guillelmus deThi

the two years 1332-3. I have alre

the necessity of overriding the old scholastic barriers

which is still entirely dependent

We are now in possession of sufficient data to draw up a conspec

Of~~~~~~~~ f ::t:if i f:ii ttietn

Ixs -:* k(6tfits 0 (bt -:et a

The Four Elements symbolized by an E

father,1 or even the public school of morality which h

one agreed in believing it to be an

and daughter. The earliest one, perhaps of the t

of them speak only of Pontus, which they think is

1 Gothanus: "Et notandum exilio

"Hic situs est vates, quem

states that he has made 2 Cf.athe two catalogues

These strange suppositions, which so many writer

1 For Giovanni del Virgilio the ethical

This contrast between the time of happi

We have tried to establish the genera

1 See above, p. 13 and Appendix E, p. 48.

APPENDIX A. Cod. Vat. lat. 2792 (I4th century). Heroides.

APPENDIX B. Cod. Laur. 91 sup. 23 (I5th century). Heroides.

APPENDIX C. Cod. Paris. 7998 (dated 1305). Ars Amatoria.

APPENDIX D. Cod. Paris. I 1318 (13th century). Remedia Amoris.

APPENDIX E. Cod. Paris. 7994 (I3th century). Carmina Amatoria.

amore quod ipsemet in libro Tristium profitetur dicens : 'T

: Trist., I, I, III. 4 Rem., 53 if.

APPENDIX F. Cod. Vat. Reg. 1548 (I3th century). Fasti.

veram ex ipsius testimonio habeamus certitudinem. D

APPENDIX G. Cod. Paris. 8207 (I4th century). Ex Ponto

APPENDIX H. Cod. Paris. 8255 (I4th centu

APPENDIX I. Cod. Vat. Reg. 1559 (I4th

APPENDIX J. Cod. Paris. 8253 (I4th century). Metamorphoses.

1 Amor., II, I, I. 7 Ibid., II f.

APPENDIX M. Cod. Laur. 36, 18 (14th century

APPENDIX N. Cod. Ambros. H. 64 sup. (14th century). Metamorphoses.

1 Trist., II, 353. 2 Trist., I, 10, 59 f.

APPENDIX O. Cod. Napol. V. D. 52 (I5th centu

APPENDIX P. Cod. Laur. 36, 2 (I5th century). Ovidii Opera.

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