Ovid: Metamorphoses Book XIV Metamorphoses Book XIV

In Book XIV of the Metamorphoses Ovid takes his epic for the first time into Italy and continues from book XIII his close intertextual engagement with Virgil's Aeneid. His tendentious treatment of his model subordinates Virgil's epic plot to fantastic tales of metamorphosis, including the erotic Italian tales of Circe Glaucus, and Scylla, and Picus, and Canens. Other Roman myths include Pomona and Vertumnus, as well as events from Romulus' reign. The deifications of Aeneas and Romulus anticipate the poem's closing episodes of imperial apotheosis. This commentary provides guidance to advanced undergraduate and graduate students for understanding Ovid's language, style, artistry, and allusive techniques. The introduction discusses the major structures, themes, and stylistic features of book XIV, its place within the poem as a whole, and Ovid's interpretive imitation of Virgil's Aeneid.

Introduction; P. Ovidi Nasonis Metamorphoseon liber qvartvs decimvs; Commentary; Abbreviations; Editions, translations, and commentaries.

In the penultimate book of his epic Metamorphoses, Ovid continues his literary challenge to Virgil's Aeneid, narrating erotic adventures from early Italian myth and scenes from early Roman history through Romulus' reign. This commentary is designed for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, but will also interest scholars of Latin literature.

K. Sara Myers is Associate Professor of Classics, University of Virginia. Her previous books are Ovid's Causes: Cosmogony and Aetiology in the Metamorphoses (1994) and Vertis in usum: Studies in honor of E. Courtney (co-edited with J. Miller and C. Damon, 2002).