Tag Archives: Ovid

Amores II:20

Amores II:20 You don’t need to watch your wife, fool. That just plays into my hands and makes me want her the more. Whatever is permitted becomes unattractive. What isn’t permitted burns even hotter. Love becomes cold if another permits … Continue reading

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Amores II:18

Amores II:18 If any of you think it’s disgraceful that a man be the slave of a woman, then you can just call me a disgrace. I’m willing to be dishonored so long as Venus, who holds Paphos and wave-washed … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses

The Metamorphoses form an epic poem out of scores of mythological stories. These are welded into a savage attack on unbridled power like that which the Emperor Augustus was accumulating at the time Ovid wrote. The individual stories are the … Continue reading

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Amores

The Amores are three volumes of lyric poems, focused primarily on the poet’s relationship with his mistress Corinna.

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Amores II:17

Sulmo, a third portion of the Paelignian countryside, holds a piece of my heart. It’s a small region but fed by sweet waters. Even when the sun draws near in summer and cracks the Earth, and fierce Sirius, Icarus’ dog, … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses III: 138-252 – Actaeon

Your grandson, Cadmus, was the first cause of grief for your household, though many others followed. The antlers of another species grew from his forehead and they, his own hunting dogs, were glutted with the blood of their master. But … Continue reading

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Amores II:16

Little ring, cincture of the finger of a pretty girl who cares for nothing save for the love of the giver, may you go as a worthy gift. May she receive you with joy and immediately slip you over her … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses VIII:616-724 – Baucis and Philemon

Everyone fell silent in horror to hear Pirithous deny the physical existence of the gods. Lelex, a man of age and maturity, replied before others could, saying, “The power of heaven is immense and boundless: whatever the gods wish, happens. … Continue reading

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Amores II:15

What use is it that girls are deaf to the call of Mars and that they don’t wish to pick up shields and follow the brutal columns, if without war they choose weapons to wound themselves and throw their fate … Continue reading

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Newsletter #70

NEWSLETTER 70: September 18, 2012 Dear People, I finished the novel! The title is now MONSTERS OF THE EARTH. I changed the title at the last moment from Demons from the Earth because I realized that though there were demons, … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses XII:210-535 – The Battle of Centaurs and Lapiths

Pirithous, the son of reckless Ixion, wed Hippodamia. He placed the wild cloud-born Centaurs at dining tables lined up in a bower of trees. The chief men of Thessaly were present and I, Nestor, was there with my folk also. … Continue reading

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Newsletter #65

NEWSLETTER 65: November 7, 2011 Dear People, I’ve finished the plot for Into the Maelstrom, which will be the sequel to Into the Hinterlands when John Lambshead writes it next year. (Next year isn’t nearly as far away as I … Continue reading

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Newsletter #60

Dear People, I have a rough plot outline for the next RCN space opera, The Road of Danger. (The title is from a poem by A E Housman.) Whee! A rough plot may not seem very exciting to other people, … Continue reading

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Amores II:14

My rash Corinna lies exhausted between life and death, trying to force the burden from her distended belly. I am rightly angry at her for secretly deciding to try the risk of pregnancy, but my anger gives way before my … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses IX:1-272 – Hercules

Neptune-sired Theseus asked the groaning river-god Achelous how he had been mutilated by the loss of a horn. The Calydonian river, his hair bound by a reed with no adornment, said, “You ask me to revisit a sad occasion, for … Continue reading

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Amores II:13

Wind yourselves about my temples, shoots of triumphal laurel: we have conquered! Behold, Corinna nestles into my bosom. Corinna, whom a husband, a doorman, and sturdy gates–so many enemies!–guarded against being taken by any artifice. This is a victory worthy … Continue reading

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Amores II:12

The pine cut for the Argonauts from the steep slope of Mount Pelion first taught the evil paths through the glittering waves of the sea. By rashly slipping between the sliding rocks, it was able to carry the Golden Fleece. 

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Metamorphoses IV:55-166 – Pyramus and Thisbe

Pyramus and Thisbe–he the handsomest youth, she the most beautiful of the women whom the Orient holds–lived in adjacent houses in the great city which Semiramis is said to have circled with walls faced in tile. Because they lived so … Continue reading

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Amores II:11

You swore to me, Graecinus, that no man could love two women at the same time. Because I believed you, I was unprepared and now (poor thing!) find myself in love with two women at the same time. Either is … Continue reading

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Amores II:10

You swore to me, Graecinus, that no man could love two women at the same time. Because I believed you, I was unprepared and now (poor thing!) find myself in love with two women at the same time. Either is … Continue reading

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The Gods Return

The religion of the Isles is based on the Sumerian triad of Inanna, Dumuzi, and Ereshkigal.  The fact is of more significance here than it has been in the previous books of the series. The magic (which in the Isles … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses VIII:260-444 – The Caledonian Boar

Finally Sicily, the land of Mount Etna, received the exhausted Daedalus. There King Cocalus gained a reputation for mercy by taking up arms on behalf of the suppliant. 

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Newsletter #43

Dear People, For a moment I thought was going to start somewhere else, but no: the big news this time is still that I’ve finished the plot for the next RCN (Leary/Mundy) space opera and expect to begin writing very … Continue reading

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Newsletter #42

Dear People, I’ve turned in THE GODS RETURN, the final book of the Crown of the Isles trilogy and of the whole Isles series. I hadn’t fully appreciated that till a friend congratulated me on completing my largest project thus … Continue reading

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Newsletter #41

Dear People, First, a note on the format. Thirteen of the thousand-plus subscribers couldn’t read #40. They tended to be computer professionals who had, I suspect, very advanced electronic security. (Nothing had changed at our end.) People who have similar … Continue reading

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Amores II:9

Amores II:9A Alas, Cupid, whom I never could abandon! Ah, boy who fills all my leisure thoughts–why do you punish me, a soldier who never left your standards? You wound me in my own camp! Why does your torch burn … Continue reading

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Amores II:8

Cypassis, only goddesses could be worthy of your perfected skill at arranging hair in a thousand styles, and the skill which I know you possess for stolen pleasures is not at all that of a farm girl. You’re a treasure … Continue reading

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Amores II:7

Do you think it’s my whole purpose in life to defend myself against your new accusations? Even though I succeed, it’s wearing to have to fight all the time. If I happened to look up at the crowd filling the … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses I:76-150 – The Four Ages of Man

To this point the lower forms of animals had lacked the capacity for higher thought. Now appeared man, a more blessed creature, to rule them. 

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Amores II:6

My girlfriend’s parrot, her winged mimic from the Dawn-lighted Indies, has died. Flock to its funeral rites, birds. Come, dutiful winged ones: beat your breasts with your pinions and tear your delicate cheeks with your unbending claws. Pluck out your … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses III:339-510 – Echo and Narcissus

Tiresias became famous throughout the cities of Aonia for giving unfailingly accurate predictions to those who asked him about fate. The first of those to demonstrate with certain confidence the truth of his words was the sea nymph Liriope whom … Continue reading

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Amores II:5

No love is so important (get away from me, Cupid with your quiver of arrows!) that I ought to wish so often that I were dead. Woe is me! I wish I were dead when I think of how many … Continue reading

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Amores II:4

I don’t dare try to defend my unfortunate practices or to engage in battle falsely on behalf of my flaws. I’ll confess them if it does any good to admit mistakes: I have no control over my actions in this … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses I:748-II:366 – Phaethon

Because Epaphus was believed to be the son of great Jove, he was worshipped throughout the land in the temples of his mother Isis. Phaethon, offspring of Phoebus the Sun God, was a similarly spirited youth. One day when Phaethon … Continue reading

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Amores II:3

Woe is me, for you who guard my mistress are neither male nor female; you can never know the mutual joys of Venus. The fellow who first gelded a boy should suffer the same injury himself! If you’d felt the … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses I:244-312 – Deucalion’s Flood

Jupiter thought of raining thunderbolts onto all the continents but he was afraid lest so many fires ignite the sacred aether itself and the world burn from pole to pole. He remembered also the prophecy that some day the sea, … Continue reading

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Amores II:2

Bagoas, the duty of guarding your mistress is in your hands, so listen well while I go over a few necessary matters with you. Yesterday I saw my girlfriend taking the air in the Portico of the Palatine Apollo, decorated … Continue reading

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Amores II:1

I, Naso, born in the stream-cut Paelignian hills, composed this book also. I am the poet of my own dalliances. And again Love has called me to write. Get away from here, get away, you moralists! You aren’t the right … Continue reading

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Amores I:15

Why do you complain, carping Envy, that I’m wasting my life? Do you call poetry a lazy man’s work? Do you say that I should be like the ancient Romans who so long as health permitted pursued the rewards of … Continue reading

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Amores I:14

I said, “Stop dyeing your hair,” but now you no longer have hair to dye. Whoever had thicker hair than you when you let it fall free? And it touched the backs of your knees! What have you done to … Continue reading

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Amores I:13

Already the blond dawn-maiden rises above the ocean from the side of her elderly husband and sets the day to turning on its frozen axis. Why do you hasten, Aurora? Hold for a time:the flock of birds that every year … Continue reading

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Amores I:12

Weep with me for my hard luck: my girlfriend’s answer came back, “No.” Her wretched message denies she can see me today. I should’ve known from the omens. When Nape turned to leave the house with my request, she stubbed … Continue reading

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Amores I:11

Nape, you’re skilled at arranging your mistress’ scattered hair, but you’re not merely a handmaid. You’ve shown your talent for the duties of the furtive night, and you’ve proved your cleverness at passing me notes. Often you’ve encouraged a hesitant … Continue reading

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Amores I:10

As lovely as Helen who had two husbands, while she was being borne by Phrygian ships from the Eurotas Strait to be the cause of war; as lovely as Leda, to whom cleverly adulterous Zeus made love clad as a … Continue reading

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Amores I:9

Every lover is a soldier and guards the camp of Cupid; believe me, Atticus, every lover is a soldier. The age that’s suitable for war is equally fitted for Venus. An aged soldier is a sad thing, just as an … Continue reading

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Ovid Translations

Because Ovid’s verse is relatively easy to translate (compared to Horace, say, let alone Catullus), there’s a tendency to undervalue his ability as a poet. (This isn’t a situation limited to Roman literature, of course; some critics seem to equate … Continue reading

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Amores I:8

There’s a certain old woman–if you want to know how a procurer works, listen to me–there’s a certain old woman named Dipsas. She got her nickname from her habits: She’s never been sober to watch Dawn, the mother of Memnon, … Continue reading

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Amores I:7

If I have any friends present, clamp manacles on my hands (for they deserve to be chained) before the madness returns: for madness moved my arms to strike my mistress. My injured darling weeps from my woeful hand! 

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Goddess of the Ice Realm

As is the case with most of my books, a good deal of the background to Goddess of the Ice Realm is real. The general religion of the Isles is Sumerian, though in some cases I’ve interpolated cult practice from … Continue reading

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Metamorphoses III: 577-691 – Bacchus

Pentheus’ eyes glinted with rage when he saw the captured follower of Bacchus. Though talking would delay the man’s punishment, Pentheus said, ‘You who are going to die and by your death give a lesson to others, tell me your … Continue reading

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