Ovid love elegy. The creative path of Ovid

Having completed his education in Rome, Ovid, as was then customary, went to Athens with his friend Pompey Macro, a Greek, the grandson of the famous historian Theophanes of Mitylene. Macr was a poet and composed a poem about the prehistory of the Trojan War, sung by Homer. The roads at that time were already quite well-maintained, ships from the ports of Italy went to the most remote countries, and friends, heading to the port of Brundisium, probably rode in a large “mail” carriage, and then they also used a light essay (Celtic word), t .e. "two-wheeled". The rich Romans at that time had luxurious large carriages where one could sleep and even read, although the shaking was excruciating due to the lack of springs at that time, but the ancient Via Appia (Appian Way) was paved with powerful stone slabs. Boarding the ship, they, on their way to Athens, undoubtedly visited Olympia - rich in wonderful monuments of art and the famous temple of Zeus, where there was a statue of the deity made by Phidias himself, sailed past the island of Delos, where, according to legend, Apollo and Diana were born and where the ancient The oracle of Apollo, perhaps, was in Rhodes and saw its mighty walls and towers, visited Corinth, where later, on the way to exile, the poet spent several winter months, and then, in his youth, he admired, presumably, this most famous of cities of Greece, with its gardens, marble porticos, a theater, a magnificent grotto dedicated to Aphrodite, from which a view of the whole picturesque bay opens up, as well as the fortress of Acrocorinth, from where the famous peaks of Helikon and Parnassus were visible and one could even notice the outlines of the Athenian Acropolis . A wide front street led here to the port of Lykeon. From here, friends sailed to the Athenian port of Piraeus. Augustus and Agrippa sought to decorate Greece with Roman temples, to restore the theater of Dionysus, even the Agrippeon was built here - a kind of chamber "philharmonic hall", where rhetoricians performed in competitions. And although Greece had already become a Roman province, ancient tragedies and "newfangled" comedies by the famous Menander, with which Ovid was so familiar, continued to be staged in Athens. Great memories lived here, the acropolis towered, on it the temple of Athena the Virgin (Parthenon) still shone in full splendor, which was then perfectly studied by the future author of Metamorphoses. We will see further how the young poet carefully peered into the statues of ivory and gold, into the pediments depicting gods and mythological heroes, deeply comprehending the features of classical Greek art.

The Romans, who traced their origins to the Trojans (from the legendary Aeneas), also sought to see the place where Homeric Troy once stood. Ovid and Macr saw the Troad and the Scamander River, known to them from Homer from childhood, Mount Ida, where Prince Paris once pastured his herds, they paid attention, of course, to the mound of Achilles and to the tomb of Protesilaus, the first Greek who stepped from the ship to the Trojan land and died there. Ovid mentions him in his Epistles of the Heroines. They could not help but visit the brilliant cities of Asia Minor: Colophon, Miletus, Smyrna, and a year later, returning to Rome, they lingered for a long time in Sicily - an island with three braids - Trinacria. Telling the legends of Ceres and Proserpine in the Metamorphoses, the poet recalls everything he saw in Sicily, where these goddesses were especially revered; spring with a lush carpet of flowers. All this was captured by him later in his poems. He later recalled this wonderful time with sadness, being in exile, addressing a message to a friend of his youth Makru:

However, we, the poets, have our own shrines.

Although sometimes our paths in creativity are different;

You have not forgotten about them, I believe, although I am far away,

And my exile, I know, is ready to ease.

Lush Asian cities with you, enlightened, I saw

We were in Trinacria, where you explained everything to me,

The sky above Etna, sparkling with lights, was seen together.

Giant spews them, lying under the weight of rocks,

Ennu, her lakes and foul-smelling Peliki swamps,

Dol, where the Kian jets flow into the waters of Anapa,

Nearby and the nymph, who fled quickly from the passion of Alpheus.

But, having turned into a stream, it now flows underground.

Here I lived most of the fleeting year.

How dissimilar this region is to the gloomy land of the Gets!

It's not enough, we've seen more with you illuminating

With their bright friendship, these long paths,

Did our colorful ship cut through the azure waters,

Or the wheels carried our essay forward.

Often a day was not enough for our heartfelt conversation.

We had more words than hurried steps.

The day was shorter than the conversation, and often there were not enough hours

A sultry summer day to pour out completely.

Oh, how important it is together to be afraid of the whims of the sea,

Together, prayers are offered to the formidable lords of the seas.

At the same time, devote yourself to the cause, then, having finished, freely.

In jokes, remember him and not be ashamed, laughing.

Resurrecting everything in my memory, even though I'm far away now,

Again you will see me as if I am in front of you.

(Tristii. II, 10, 13-44)

Under the rocks of Etna, according to legend, the formidable titan Typheus was buried, trying to escape from captivity, shaking the earth and spewing flames. The nymph Kiana became a stream when the king of the underworld offended her, not heeding her plea not to kidnap Proserpine, and Arethusa, fleeing the passion of the god of the river Alpheus, also became a stream, flowing now under the water of the god of the river, who accepted her into her bosom. All of them became the heroes of the Metamorphoses (V, 377-641).

But to be a "free artist" and to devote himself entirely to art, it took effort. The father insisted on a state career, and the son was forced to climb the ladder of positions, but after two lower steps he categorically refused to go higher:

The way opened to the senate, but I replaced the toga with a border.

No, I could not afford the hard senatorial work.

I was weak in body. My mind shied away from hard work.

I did not cherish ambitious hopes in my soul.

The Aonian sisters 3 beckoned me to peaceful leisure.

Since childhood, I have striven with my soul to be their pet.

(Tristia. IV, 10)

To a certain extent, it was a symptom of the times. Under Augustus, indifference to a state career and political activity catastrophically increased, senators neglected their duties, and it was difficult to find candidates to replace the magistracies. Private life flourished, enlightened leisure (otium), pastime in exquisite villas, in their libraries and in luxurious gardens. Independent intellectual activity exalted, attached to the gods, gave life significance and high content. Horace glorified in his odes the selfless service to the Muses, and Ovid followed in his footsteps. He acquired a villa, a library, a picturesque garden, where he himself looked after fruit trees, like the god Vertumn, beloved of the goddess of fruits Pomona, sung by him in Metamorphoses.

In Rome, there was still a “collegium of poets” that united them, which arose as early as the 2nd century. BC. Minerva and Dionysus were venerated here; the exiled Ovid addresses the latter with touching prayers as the protector of poets. He was, apparently, one of the most prominent members of this college and more than once spoke at meetings with recitations (reading aloud) of his new poems. He was also close to the circle of M. Valerius Messala Corvinus, a republican who fought at Philippi on the side of Brutus and Cassius, who later joined Antony, and in the end - to Octavian. But this aristocrat was cautious and, moving away from politics, took up bucolic (shepherd's) poetry in Greek. He was surrounded by opposing youth, to which the young Nazon also belonged. Ovid became a devoted friend of the family and, until the end of his life, maintained warm relations with the sons of Messala, especially with the youngest, M. Aurelius Cotta Maxim, to whom he wrote tender messages from exile.

When the poet first spoke with his poems, he was about 18 years old (“I had just begun to shave my beard”), and love elegies immediately glorified him. He was married three times: the first time, by the will of his parents, to a woman who did not suit him; the second - on an impeccable, as he writes, but also alien, and the third - on a noble matron, a relative of Augustus's aunt Marcia, who came from the famous Fabius family. He had high hopes for her in exile, believed that she could help him return to Rome, but his hopes were not justified. Divorces were "fashionable" at that time, and Augustus spoke out against them with his "marriage laws", but Ovid was a supporter of the freedom of morals and constantly laughed at the officially recognized virtues, as evidenced by his love elegies. The genre of elegy is one of the oldest in ancient lyrics; in Rome it was represented by the poems of Cornelius Gallus, which have not come down to us, and the well-known works of A. Tibullus and S. Propertius.

Elegies were composed in a special metric size, the so-called elegiac distich (two-line), consisting of a hexameter and its variety pentameter (doubling the first half of the hexameter). Spondees "-" can be replaced by dactyls "UU".

UU|-UU|-UU|-UU|-U (hexameter)

UU|-UU-|-UU|-UU|- (pentameter)

In the middle of the second line, a small pause is obligatory - dieresa. This measure is exquisitely musical, and F. Schiller compared it with the surf, as if crashing against the rocks. The distich has been widely used in European lyrics since the end of the 18th century; Pushkin and his entourage willingly used it.

I hear the divine sound of silent Hellenic speech.

The great old man's shadow || I smell with a confused soul.

Ovid was a remarkable master of elegiac distich and preferred it to pure hexameter, which he used only once in the Metamorphoses.

He met Albius Tibull (50-19 BC) and Sextus Propertius (50-15 BC) and knew their poetry perfectly. Both poets closed themselves in the narrow framework of a love elegy, creating their own philosophy of life and choosing love as the main goal of existence, far from everyday life and state activity. They dedicated their books to the mistresses of their hearts, bred under poetic pseudonyms. Tibullus had Delia (an epithet for Artemis) and Nemesis (the goddess of vengeance); Propertius has Kynthia (also an epithet of Artemis). Their love, love without reciprocity, they portray as a hard service to the "mistress", a kind of slavery. Tibull strives in vain to accustom the obstinate Delia to his own ideal of life, dreaming of a serene existence in the bosom of nature, working in the old grandfather's fields with sacrifices to Lares and Penates.

Let another one collect the yellow gold of the mountain,

Yuger after yuger, let the arable hoard land.

Let him tremble in unceasing labor at the approach of enemies,

Let the sound of the war trumpet disperse his sleep.

Well, let my poverty accompany me in a calm life,

If only a modest fire glimmered in my hearth.

Resident of the village, in the spring I will plant tender vines,

I will lush fruits with an affectionate grooming hand.

(I, 1-7, translated by M.E. Grabar-Passek)

The Romans - the people of farmers - for a long time preserve in poetry, however, already refined, but deep love for the natural world. Italian landscapes were in reality decorated with temples, statues, ancient altars, as if inhabited by invisible deities - and such nature was constantly depicted in Italian-Roman wall painting; Tibull draws her.

The refined and subtle poet carefully processes his elegies, creating an elegant and pure language in harmony with their high order; like many Romans who survived the horrors of civil wars, he seeks to escape from reality into the world of poetic fiction from city life - into a pure rural, caressing the heart, while, unlike Ovid, he avoids living concretization, creating ideal pictures, as if colored by a dream. Telling in the third elegy about how he fell ill during a military campaign on the island of Kerkyra, he does not draw either the situation or his condition, as Ovid will do in his elegies of exile, but, as it were, immerses the reader in the world of fiction and visions. The memory of the abandoned Delia entails a dream of the blissful kingdom of Saturn, when the earth was not yet crossed by roads that separated people, the proximity of death gives rise to the hope that he will fall into the radiant Champs Elysees, where the souls of wise men and chaste poets live. The elegy ends with a picture of Tibullus' unexpected return to Rome.

That's when I'll suddenly appear, no one will notice,

To seem to you sent straight from heaven.

Then you run barefoot towards hastily,

Not having time to comb, Delia, her braids.

Oh, I ask that this joyful day be in the splendor of Aurora

She brought us, hurrying on pink horses in the sky!

He dreams about how his beloved will manage his household, but her work in the elegy is depicted as full of peculiar romance, imbued with piety, rude realities are avoided everywhere, a kind of sliding poetic style is created, as if wrapping in a veil of diverse, always chosen, in their own way high paintings.

I'll work in the fields, let Delia look after the collection,

At the hour when the work will boil on a hot current,

May he keep for me vessels full of grapes,

Foamed must protects, squeezed out with a quick foot.

The son of a chatty slave, to the games on her chest.

The god of the fields will be able to bring grapes.

Ear - a reward for bread, modest dishes - for cattle.

Let her manage everything, take care of everything.

It will be nice for me to become a nobody in my own house.

My Messala will come, and Delia fragrant apples

He will quickly pluck for him from the selected apple trees in the garden.

This idyllic picture is only a dream of the poet, and his beloved joins the rural labor only in dreams, but we note that the author has no interest in either describing the bunches of grapes or in the specific details of the work, and even “selected” apples are not included in the artistic still life, so beloved by the "poet of the eye" as Ovid was. And it is difficult to imagine that this dreamer actually led an active life, participated in the military campaigns of Messala, was handsome and rich, according to Horace.

My maiden is guarded by a severely formidable guard,

The heavy door is locked tightly with a deaf lock.

Oh, stubborn door, letting the downpour cut you.

Let Jupiter throw terrible fires at you!

Door open please...

Mutual love is unattainable not only because of external obstacles, but also because of the most severe disposition of the beloved. It is in the Roman elegy that the foundations of the future medieval lyrics with its cult of a stern mistress, requiring "service" are laid.

Tragic notes are especially acute in the second collection, dedicated to the greedy and cruel Nemesis. It turns out that modern life sharply contradicts elegiac ideals, that young women prefer rich admirers to disinterested and poor poets.

Woe! I see that the maidens are captivated by a rich admirer.

I will also become greedy, Venus is looking for wealth!

Let my Nemesis walk in rich attire.

Let everyone see on her the luxury of my gifts.

She has thin clothes, they were woven by the women of Kos,

Weaved and brought gold of bright stripes,

Black satellites with her let them go from burning India,

The sun is close to the earth there, the inhabitants of those countries are swarthy.

This description of a wealthy Roman woman includes real details of the attire of fashionable beauties dressed in transparent fabrics and guarded by exotic Indians, who were so fond of seeing among their servants the Roman rich. But this world is hostile and alien to a disinterested dreamer who longs to spend his life in his grandfather's possessions, guarded by ingenuous rural deities. In his poetry, he creates, for the most part, a fictitious, fictional world, and some researchers directly call him a "romantic". But on this "romanticism" lie reflections of the suffering experienced during the bloody events of the end of the Republic and a conscious desire to forget about them and plunge into that world of "enlightened leisure" that was encouraged by Augustus, the patron of the private life of the Romans.

This attitude to life sharply diverges from the worldview of Ovid - young, born already in peacetime, enjoying the real reality surrounding him and striving to capture it in concrete detail on his picturesque poetic canvases. But the “romantic” Tibull is dear to him, he deeply feels the chaste charm of his muse and often uses quotes from his elegies in his poems.

The love of the temperamental Propertius is also difficult and full of suffering, although his artistic world is much richer than Tibull's. His elegy introduces pictures of modern Rome, but selected, top ones: the famous temple of the Palatine Apollo, erected by Augustus, the luxurious portico of Pompey, the gardens of the Maecenas, sparkling fountains, in a word, that exquisite world of art with which the emperor surrounded the Romans. And the very style of classicism, which reached high perfection in the work of Virgil and Horace, determined the whole poetics of Propertius. The variegation and diversity of life, striking in the elegies of Ovid, are here ordered and brought into harmony. The image of Kinfiya herself is also classic and stylized in her own way. She is beautiful as a goddess, she can be called the second Helen, because of which a new Trojan war is about to break out. When she descends after death to the underworld, she will surpass with her beauty all the famous Homeric heroines. It is difficult to win the love of such a beauty, but the lover must, under all conditions, observe his duties, have his own “code of honor” - to remain faithful (fides) and almost religious devotion (pietas) to the end, strictly follow the sacred agreement (foedus) concluded between partners.

At the same time, he shows great interest in mythology, so sparingly used by Tibull, and even plans to subsequently create a cycle of narrative elegies on mythological themes, and, as we have seen, he constantly compares his beloved Kynthia with the heroines of the distant past, elevating and poeticizing her. Ovid is also fond of mythology. He fills her, unlike Propertius, with a burning reality. Propertius, on the contrary, seeks not to ground her, but to “heroize” his beloved with her help.

So on the desert sand in oblivion Minoid 4 lay.

Before the sail of the Athenian boat disappeared into the sea,

So the dream of Kefeev's daughter Andromeda sank, 5

Freed from the fetters, on a lonely rock,

So Edonida, exhausted by the 6 night vigils, drooped

Into the soft growth of grass by the waters of Epidanus.

I caught them like that, breathing peaceful peace

Kinfiyu - her head was slightly covered by a hand.

(I, 3, 1-8, translated by Ya.M. Borovsky)

This wonderful poet is a connoisseur of ancient art, the poses and gestures of his characters are often plastic and expressive, and, of course, his poetry is designed for an enlightened, refined reader educated by the August culture. The author of the elegies seeks to create a peculiar literary theory of elegy, different from the epic, it was important for him to include various shades of love in it, to develop special love plots, to show the transience of life and the capricious variability of passions.

Like leaves that have fallen from wreaths of withered, faded

In bowls, and slowly they float separately, look.

So it is with us, maybe, though, loving, we dream of great things,

Tomorrow can end a short life.

A skillful, sophisticated poet, he often uses a pointed, epigrammatic form:

The means tested are all to overcome the cruel god:

Everything is useless - he oppresses me, as before.

I see only one salvation: to go to overseas lands,

(III, 21, 5-9, translated by Ya.M. Sarovsky)

His transitions from one topic to another are not smooth, like those of Ovid, but are complex and require tension from the reader. This is not an artist, like the author of "Love Elegies", where everything is easy and accessible and focused on a wide readership.

The second book of elegies was written when Propertius had already become a member of the circle of Maecenas, close to Augustus, who inspired poets on topics that were kind to the princeps, who was critical of "frivolous" love topics. The members of the circle were such recognized, deeply serious poets - the glory of Roman poetry of that time - as Virgil and Horace. The third book already includes elegies-reasonings. The poet writes in them about attempts to get rid of his passion, talks about selfish love. He clearly wants to break out of the narrow fetters of purely love themes, he is ready to write "learned" elegies on mythological subjects, turn to Roman legends, and glorify the victories of Augustus. He often mentions the name of his patron Patron and even sympathizes with the strict marriage laws of the princeps, glorifying the ancient virtuous matron Cornelia. He is attracted by the great enlightened Athens, wise philosophy, deep poetry.

The shores of the port of Piraeus will finally receive me.

The city of Theseus will stretch out its hands to me.

There I will raise up my spirit by the lofty teaching of Plato.

Or the flowers of your quiet gardens, Epicurus,

Or I will sharpen my tongue with Demosthenes' formidable weapon.

Or I will partake of the salt of your scrolls, Menander,

Or the creations of skillful hands will captivate my eyes,

Paints and live marble, copper and ivory.

(III, 21, 24-30, translated by Ya.M. Borovsky)

But his final exit beyond the love lyrics did not take place.

The creative fate of Ovid developed differently. For him, the love elegy was only the beginning of the path that led to the extensive epic poem Metamorphoses and to the captivating poems of exile, the famous Tristias.

Yes, and in his early elegies, with all the closeness of individual motifs to Tibullus and Propertius, a completely different world opens up before the reader: a motley, diverse, full of movement, and although the poet formally serves as the only beloved Corinna (the name of the Greek poetess), he strives to cover the entire sphere of love with many characters and achieve a reciprocity that seems to him real and quite feasible, unlike his predecessors.

The name of the collection "Amores" means - different cases of love, its various types and varieties, because in Rome there are countless attractive women, no less than the stars in the sky, and each one needs to find its own special approach. Based on the centuries-old traditions of ancient lyrics, epigrams, comedy, the poet draws various scenes, displays many characters, puts on various author's masks, conveying the atmosphere of a restless, vibrant and often scorching modern life. Pimps and getters, maids and their mistresses, rivals of the lover and eunuch guards - all these traditional figures of comedy and elegy interest him as certain psychological types. He is convinced that the path to success lies in the ability to influence the psychology of the beloved and her environment. After all, it was precisely the psychological approach that the declamatory school taught him in his youth.

The collection "Amores" (second, revised) is composed deliberately and unusually. Three books - 49 elegies, in the first and third 15 poems each, in the middle - 19. The unusual composition is that it is based not on symmetry and harmony, but, on the contrary, on their violation. Baroque variegation prevails. The same theme is interpreted diametrically opposite in the adjacent poems: the young man has just justified himself to his beloved, denying his connection with the maid, and immediately appoints this maid a new date, curses Cupid, even expels him, and begs him to return again, forbids her husband to be vigilant to protect his wife and immediately changes the requirement: no, you need to protect her as strictly as possible, otherwise love will lose its sharpness!

The reader is constantly stunned by surprises, kept in suspense, involved in a kind of game. And this "playing style" is introduced already from the very first, and therefore very important for the whole direction of the collection of elegies. It begins almost with a quote from Virgil's epic poem "Aeneid": "I wanted to glorify feats with an important size and battles ...", that is, I wanted to solemnly begin the epic poem, but then the prankster Cupid suddenly intervened. He secretly pulled out one foot from the second line, turning the hexameter into an elegiac distich, unacceptable for the epic. But Ovid has nothing to write an elegy about: he is not in love, he has neither Delia nor Kynthia. "They will be found!" - Cupid laughs and sends an arrow straight into the heart of the poet. Love flared up, now it's up to the subject of passion. This means that Ovid is compelled to compose elegies not by high love for his only beloved, but only by the jokes of the windy Cupid. But Cupid is a dangerous and formidable joker, despite his deceptive childishness. And the second elegy is dedicated to his triumph. Like a real Roman general-triumphant, he moves around Rome in his chariot drawn by pigeons. The vanquished are dragging behind him, but these are not captive barbarians, but young men and women struck by the god, chained Justice and Modesty wander along, violence and freedom of morals triumph in victory - all that the omnipotent Augustus tried to curb with his laws. But Cupid is not going to obey him. He is as powerful as the great Dionysus, the fearless conqueror of exotic India, and around him, like around Bacchus, an atmosphere of ecstasy and love longing reigns.

Dressed in gold, shining with jewels, he delights his mother - the regal Venus, showering him with fragrant roses from Olympus. The triumph of Cupid is depicted not without humor and is jokingly compared with the front, time-honored state ceremony, which is given theatricality of pantomime (ballet) spectacles. Further, the first two elegies are followed by a scattering of poems on various topics. Ovid is usually compared with Proteus, the famous werewolf god of the sea, constantly changing his appearance. This "turning" is also characteristic of love elegies. Here everything changes, from themes to concepts, the only constant is the desire for diversity, admiration for the fluid charm of life, that baroque style, at the origins of which stood the Roman-Italic wall painting of the Augustan era.

Here the poet swears eternal fidelity to his Corinna, for many years he is ready to serve her and is not going to change his hobbies:

I am indifferent to thousands of beauties, always constant,

You will be my eternal passion, believe me!

We will be glorified throughout the world for this,

Your name will be repeated next to mine.

But suddenly, those thousands of women whose love he had just rejected, lure him into their magic circle, and vows of eternal love turn out to be lies.

I no longer have the strength, I have no will to fight with myself,

I see thousands of reasons to always fall in love.

In a word, to each of the women living in the great Rome,

I am immediately ready to approach with a declaration of love.

Each of these thousands has its own charm, irresistible for the poet. One modestly lowered her eyes, the other is bold and cheeky, and when approached, she will be cheerful and playful, even among the Sabine peasant woman, this “village”, under a rough guise, hides her own special temperament. Well educated, playing the lyre, graceful in dancing, but even in the ignorant one can arouse the desire for perfection. You can elegantly dress a slovenly one, call a tongue-tied one to a conversation, in a word, apply to each one, like Pygmalion, the hand of an artist. Both tall and short are beautiful, golden and blue-black hair; one resembles Aurora, the other Ledoux. The myth allows you to ennoble any image, to poeticize any type.

The attitude of the poet towards women is poetically enthusiastic, but for them he always remains an enlightened maestro, called to improve their appearance and their spiritual world in accordance with their ideals and tastes. The poet prefers a calm feeling of love-passion, love-struggle, eternal quarrels and reconciliations, in a word, love is capricious and changeable. What brought suffering to Tibullus and Propertius is an ideal for him. At the same time, he rejects the classicist harmony that Propertius strove for, opening up a whole world of bizarre, anti-classical baroque beauty.

Tibull, in one of his elegies, is touched by the playful fights of lovers in the golden kingdom of Saturn. Having received a bruise from her lover, the girl cries bitterly, and the young man is ready to curse his outburst of anger. A brawler who dared to hit his beloved, the poet calls "iron" and "stone". But Ovid boldly acts as such an insulter; quarreling, he hit his beloved:

Put my hands in chains, they deserve chains,

Shake my hands until my rage subsides.

Fury to strike my mistress moved me,

I insulted the girl, she cries in offense.

He compares his misconduct with the crime of Ajax, with the impious murder of his mother by Orestes, because love requires courtesy, gentleness, readiness to forgive.

But it is during this explosion that the poet suddenly discovers the extraordinary beauty of the offended. She reminds of Atalanta chasing animals, Ariadne weeping on a deserted island, Cassandra falling in a frenzy in front of the temple of Minerva. Her pallor is reminiscent of the noble whiteness of Parian marble, she trembles like a poplar branch under gusts of wind, like a reed swayed by marshmallows, or rippled water.

The poet weaves a whole garland of comparisons, creating the impression of baroque abundance and painful searches for the only suitable word. Atalanta looks like she was offended only by her disheveledness, Cassandra - by a deep shock, but the subtleties of facial expressions and movements cannot be found in mythological legends, and Ovid turns to the natural world, making a kind of discovery, introducing poplar, reed, water ripples to the world of human emotions.

So, during the feast, a jealous young man showers his girlfriend with reproaches, but her beauty only blossoms from insults:

So the sky is ablaze with the blush of the wife of Typhon,

Or the bride's face before the young groom.

Purple roses bloom among the lilies, or at night

The face of the moon turns red from conspiracy prayers.

Or ivory, painted by a woman's hand,

So that from time to time its color does not change.

Was like all this blush her, but did not see

I never want a girl to be so good.

She looked at the ground, she was beautiful at that time,

I saw sadness on her face, her face was sad,

The prose of life, the banal quarrel at the feast, is poeticized, and the blush of shame is exalted by lofty Homeric similes. Movement, a surge of emotions, a play of colors, and not classical harmony - that's what the poet admires. It is this mobile charm (munditiae - grace) that can protect a woman from the rudeness and barbarism of her partners. This is what Ovid seeks to educate in his readers. He invariably attacks everything in their appearance and behavior that does not correspond to his aesthetic ideals. He is ridiculed by a fashionista who dyed her hair with ink German paint. The case, it would seem, is more suitable for a hairdressing advertisement than for an exquisite elegy! But Ovid created from this a whole hymn to the natural beauty of women's hair. They resemble Chinese silk and the finest cobwebs, and their color - an amazing combination of black with matte gold - is similar to the color of a cedar trunk growing on Ida, from which the bark is torn off.

The beauty loved to lie down, covered with waves of hair, like a veil, on a purple bed, resembling a Bacchante lying on the grass of a green meadow. Now there is no trace of this exquisite beauty. But, having brought his heroine to tears, the poet hurries to reassure her: time will pass, the hair will grow back, and the former charm will return. (I, 14).

The soft indulgence, the friendly smile with which the author instructs his young listeners, give his elegies a bewitching charm, which contemporaries testify to. (More on this in the analysis of Tristia.) Surprising in this respect is the small protrepticon facing Corinna (II, 11). Protrepticon is a parting poem, a genre that has developed in ancient poetry for a long time, having a certain scheme and constant motives.

The wish for a safe journey is usually accompanied by a censure of the inventor of the ship, through whose fault friends are threatened with separation. The sailor is warned of dangers, called for courage and caution. Ovid observes the tonic of the genre, but, trying to dissuade Corinne from swimming, he uses subtly considered arguments that are surprisingly suitable for the spiritual world of a young, naive, inexperienced being. He jokingly frightens her with the formidable cliffs of Ceravnia, Homeric Scylla and Charybdis, the legendary Triton. The sea itself, he says, is deserted and inhospitable, there are neither forests nor picturesque cities, but on the shore you can collect shells and colorful pebbles, being in complete safety on a sandy beach. So wouldn't it be better to stay at home, reclining on your usual bed, enjoying yourself playing the lyre and listening to the fascinating stories of experienced sailors! Well, if she had already firmly decided to leave, then how joyful the return would be, and how pleasant it would be to remember the maritime dangers fantastically exaggerated by the heroine! With good-natured playfulness and mild humor, a typical, so to speak, ordinary young Roman woman is depicted here, and not the sublime and impregnable “lady” Tibulla and Propertia, but this girl is poetized here and is not inferior in her charm to the sublime heroines of the myth, and the mythological characters themselves are completely and next to Ovid brought down from their high pedestals, as is done, for example, with the goddess of the morning dawn, Aurora, in the famous address to her in the thirteenth elegy of the first book. This poem was widely known in the Middle Ages. It gave rise to a whole genre of gallant songs, with which it was customary to wake up a beloved in the morning (aulade, tageliet).

But the poet does not glorify the goddess at all, but, on the contrary, resents her for waking up lovers too early, returning them to boring everyday work. She, as Ovid ironically, is hated by everyone on earth, as she makes plowmen, maids, and schoolchildren who have not rested during the night get up:

The first one you always see is how the farmer walks with a hoe,

How he leads the weary oxen under the yoke again.

You awaken the boys from sleep and drive them to school,

Where their mentors beat roughly on gentle hands.

You bring the weary traveler back to work.

The warrior, waking up, again takes his cruel sword.

Women, exhausted during the day, you plant again by the yarn,

You make them spin again, you give them no rest.

How many times have I wished the wind would break the chariot

Or so that your horse falls, led astray by a cloud!

The goddess of the dawn is likened here to an ordinary woman, with a completely ordinary psychology. She married Typhon, who asked the gods for immortality, but forgot to ask for eternal youth and withered for a long old age to the size of a mosquito. So what is surprising in the fact that his eternally young wife is in a hurry to run away from the bedroom at dawn! But why, the poet asks with joking indignation, should all people suffer from her unsuccessful marriage, should he also endure trouble, although he did not give her advice to marry Typhon.

Finished the reproaches, and it seemed to me - she blushed.

But in its usual hour the day rose above the earth.

Debunking the goddess, Ovid at the same time poeticizes the prose of life, as do the creators of wall paintings, depicting Mercury running with a purse in the shops, or cupids selling wreaths and garlands.

It was not customary to laugh at Aurora, and Propertius portrayed her as an exemplary wife, tenderly devoted to her elderly husband. Ovid, on the other hand, boldly challenges the traditional, ordinary, often laughing at the same time at the official ideology implanted by Augustus. He does not spare even the ancient religion encouraged by the princeps, declaring that there is nothing wrong in the betrayal of his beloved, because her beauty does not dim from this. And this means that the Olympic gods also spare women, punishing only men for treason. Jupiter himself sets an example of gallantry, because he also has eyes and a sensitive heart: “If I myself were a god, I would give women complete freedom and begin to support their false oaths of allegiance so that no one could consider me a gloomy and unfriendly god” (III, 3). The poet even doubts the virtues of Romulus and Remus, arguing that they were born in a suspicious way from the illegal connection of the priestess Elijah with the god Mars. He turns to the guards who vigilantly protect their wives, promises them honors and riches if they are more indulgent towards their admirers, and, on the contrary, requires more strictness from husbands, since overcoming obstacles is the most important incentive for inciting passion.

Every lover is a soldier, and Cupid has his own camp,

Attic believe me and know: every lover is a soldier.

To achieve reciprocity, one needs active energy, the ability to overcome obstacles; the lover is a warrior on the battlefield, he stays awake at night, besieges the gates, goes after his beloved on long trips:

I myself was lazy, accustomed to the peace of leisure.

The bed in the cool shade pampered my soul.

A tender passion for a girl awakened me from laziness

And she ordered me to serve in a military camp.

Since then I have become vigorous, and I wage wars at night,

Anyone who does not want to pass for a sluggish sloth - love!

How far all this is from the contemplation and passive reverie of Tibullus! Reciprocity can be achieved only by inexhaustible energy, constant onslaught.

It is surprising that all this is written precisely at a time when Augustus, by his laws, seeks to strengthen family life, to inspire respect for marriage ties. In Ovid, the goddess Elegia herself encourages free morals and helps those who love. She is graceful and playful, and her lameness (diaresa in the second line) does not spoil, but decorates this goddess invented by the poet. In the form of a written tablet, it (the goddess and poems) can be handed over to a girl, hung on the door, even thrown out onto the road, where they will pick it up and read it. And the very camp of love, where she reigns, spread throughout Rome. Everywhere you can make the necessary acquaintance, find a suitable partner for yourself, the triumph of the commander is especially good in this respect, during which it is allowed, while standing in the crowd, to start a conversation; it can be started in the temple, not to mention the crowded squares. The circus is especially suitable for starting a romance - this, by the way, is the only place where a man can sit next to a woman. The poet is also looking for an attractive neighbor (III, 2). At first she tries to move away from him, but then favorably responds to his courtship, and, waving a circus program like a fan, the author reasoned with the viewer sitting above, resting her knee on the back of the neighbor patronized by the poet. There is no question of any sublime love here, we have before us a funny mimic scene, illustrating in practice the importance of energy and onslaught. Ovid is also carried away by the festivity of Roman life, its variegation and diversity, spectacles, freedom of morals, freedom, which is brought up by private life among intellectuals far from state activity.

However, this freedom, as the fate of the poet himself proved, was temporary and ephemeral, although it was she who inspired the wonderful poem "Metamorphoses", the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich matured gradually; including in love elegies, far from always playful and frivolous. After all, among the elegies there are already those where love is surrounded by a halo of high, chosen feelings, attaching the lover to the gods, as in the Metamorphoses. First of all, of course, the famous Sulmon elegy (II, 16). It begins with a description of the picturesque nature of his native land, where the poet could have become happy if not for separation from Corinna.

Without it, even the homeland seems to be a desert, Scythian land, rocks on which Prometheus was crucified:

It seems to me that there are no healing valleys around.

No! Not native land surrounds me here:

Scythia, land of the Cilicians and Northern Pale Britons.

The rocks are cruel, where Prometheus shed blood.

Even if they promised to lift me up to heaven,

I wouldn't be able to share a place with Pollux without you.

Above the love-friendship of Castor and Pollux, according to ancient ideas, there was nothing. Castor was the son of a mortal, and Pollux was the son of Jupiter. When Castor died, Jupiter allowed Pollux to spend one day in heaven, the other in the underworld, while Ovid is ready to sacrifice even Pollux's bliss for love.

It would seem to me in the Alps, where severe winds blow,

If only I could be with you, an easy, painful path.

Together with you, I would break through the Libyan Sirtes, together

We would not be afraid to entrust the ship to Notu.

I would not be afraid of your barking dogs, Scylla.

The formidable Malea Bay would not frighten me.

But even if the ship is broken, the lovers will be saved from death:

Just hug me with your snow-white hand, and immediately

It will be easy for us to sail in the stormy abyss of the seas.

Mutual love elevates and ennobles, and in the Metamorphoses it even grants immortality. The Sulmon elegy anticipates the enchanting letter of Leander Gero in the collection of epistles of heroines, Leander, this brave man who risked his life every night for love. Thus, Ovid makes great discoveries in the field of human feelings already in love elegies, proving the significance of the theme itself, which he chose in his youth.

No less profound is the elegy on the death of Tibullus, a poet who died in 19 BC. at the age of thirty-five. Based on the traditions of ancient epitaphs, Ovid draws a dynamic scene of mourning for Tibullus by the goddess Elegia, Cupid and Venus. From among ordinary mortals, Tibulla singles out his high talent, raising him to the world of the gods. But the tragedy is that the great, like everything else in the world, cannot escape destruction.

We are called, favorites of the gods, holy poets.

They believe that a sacred flame burns in our chest.

They believe, but death lays its black hands on all.

There are no shrines for her. She defiles everything.

Orpheus died, although he was the son of Apollo and could tame even lions and tigers with his song, the greatest of the poets Homer also died. Only the creations of geniuses are immortal, the images fashioned by them:

You are alive in songs, Trojan glory and the work of Penelope.

During the day she weaves, at night she unraveles her own.

Delia and Nemesis, sung by Tibull, will survive the ages. He himself had no doubt that he would end up in places of the blessed - in the Champs Elysees (Tibull, I, 3), but Ovid no longer believes in the Homeric idea of ​​the shadows of the dead; it may very well be that he was already thinking at that time about the Pythagorean theory of the transmigration of souls, which is so important for the Metamorphoses. According to Pythagoras, the deceased loses his external appearance, but his immortal soul, his inner essence reincarnates into other beings. This means that during the creation of love elegies and the great questions of being, the problems of life and death, the search for immortality already deeply worried the poet.

If not only one name and not a shadow remains from us,

Then Tibull will dwell in the Champs Elysees.

You meet him, surrounding whiskey with ivy,

Come out with your Kalv, scholar Catullus. 7

Your shadow will be among them, if only you will be a shadow.

You will increase the number of pure and righteous souls.

May your ashes rest peacefully in this little urn

And may the earth be light, Tibull, for you!

Ovid himself was sure that his love elegies would survive the centuries and convey to the descendants the living soul of their creator, his essence, his “individuality”: after all, both humor and a joke are also facets of an immortal being, manifestations of his genius.

The road he chose was dangerous, and the circle of Messala Corvinus was not kind to the powers that be. However, many people were interested in poetry then. Horace testifies to the many amateurs at that time, everyone was ready to consider himself a poet, Messala himself (Valery Messala Corvinus), a former commander who commanded the cavalry of Brutus (Caesar's killer), who later became, however, the prefect of Rome and became famous for oratory, wrote bucolic poetry far from politics. Sometimes Virgil, beloved by August, appeared in his circle, shy, who did not like crowds and fame, Horace himself attended recitations, his portrait was preserved on one of the goblets of the Augustan era. Short, round-faced, truly educated, he impressed his listeners with his skillful odes, written in various metric sizes. But it was in this circle that young people were fond of love poetry and admired, above all, Ovid. However, the closest to Augustus and his official ideology was the circle of Gaius Cylnius Maecenas - a noble and rich man who was not involved in political activities, but sometimes performed responsible diplomatic missions of the emperor. He sought to direct the poetic activity of the poets who had united around him in a direction pleasing to Augustus, with his enthusiasm for the style of classicism and the cult of antiquity. Maecenas himself wrote tasteless, pretentious poems that aroused ridicule even of the emperor himself. Luxuriously dressed, fond of jewelry, living in a grandiose palace on the Esquiline, he built a special "auditorium" for poetic recitations, its ruins have survived to this day. There were comfortable chairs for guests and benches for more modest listeners. The walls were decorated with exquisite paintings. In this "audience" Ovid never spoke. His elegies were not intended for lovers of classicism and not for adherents of the official ideology.

At the time of the creation of his love elegies, especially while working on their first edition, he still lived very modestly, got up at dawn, the lamps gave little light, and it was difficult to write in the evening. It is impossible to imagine that he had many slaves, and his clothes were typically Roman, by no means in the style of the rich Maecenas. He wore a tunic - a shirt with short sleeves, tied with a belt and decorated only with stripes of purple - the insignia of horsemen. His shoulders were covered with a white woolen toga, the obligatory wearing of which was then insisted by the emperor ("national clothes"). To put it on, great skill was required, since it was just a large piece of fabric cut in a peculiar way, the resulting floors could be closed from the rain (the Romans did not wear hats). From the advice given by Ovid in love poems, it is clear that he despised flirtatious men, demanded simplicity in clothes and hair, considering the ability to keep himself and charm as the main condition for winning love from Roman beauties.

Description

Ovidius, Publius Ovidius Nason (Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BC - 17 AD), - Roman poet. At the end of A.D. 8 e. exiled by Augustus to the city of Toma (port of Constanta in Romania), where he died. Not being in opposition to the political regime of Augustus, Ovid rejected some forms of his ideological policy (rep. phraseology, idealization of the past) and, cultivating individualistic, mainly erotic poetry, did not meet the requirements of official propaganda. The first period of Ovid's work (before 1-2 AD) is characterized by love themes. In "Love Elegies" ("Amores") he develops the tradition of Tibullus and Propertius; the masks of the poet and his beloved are biographically unreliable, and the motifs of the erotic elegy provide material for an exquisite rhetorical development of the love theme. The composition "Heroides" contains messages that mythological heroines write to their lovers or husbands; the passion, anguish, jealousy and despair of abandoned women are psychologically subtly depicted. Having established the pattern of behavior of lovers, Ovid in the well-known poems “The Science of Love” (“Ars amatoria”) and “Remedies for Love” (“Remedia amoris”) gives instructions in the field of love relationships, introduces scenes from Roman life, depicts the mores of the “golden youth” . In the second period (2-8 AD) of his work, Ovid moves on to large works in the spirit of Hellenistic "learned" poetry. The poem "Metamorphoses" ("Metamorphoses", Russian translation 1874-76, 1887) was conceived as an epic and contains about 250 mythological and folklore tales about the transformations of people into animals, plants, constellations and even into stones. Having already lost their religious content, myths become for Ovid a mirror of human life, and love and love suffering become one of its most important engines. On this basis, he tries to create a "continuous song" - a story about the fate of people, their delusions, misfortunes, death, sometimes leading to a merger with nature. Thus, through the transformation of some forms of the existence of matter into others, the balance disturbed in the world is restored. The unfinished poem "Fasti" ("Fasti"; monthly calendar) in chronological order (by months and days) tells about the origin of holidays, historical events, the origin of cults and rituals. The story is based on ancient Roman traditions. In the third period (8-17 AD), Ovid wrote elegies and epistles related to the exile: "Sorrowful elegies" ("Tristia") and "Pontic messages" ("Epistulae ex Ponto"); their content is complaints and memories of the past, descriptions of the harsh nature, longing for Rome, requests for mercy. Thus, in exile, Ovid creates a new genre of Roman poetry - a subjective elegy, not related to a love theme.

Beck's work was distinguished by confident academic drawing, accuracy in the transfer of details and some "salon". In the years 1920-1930, he created a number of portraits of famous French writers, publishers and bibliophiles - Leon-Paul Fargue, Pierre Louis, Luc Durten, Jules Romain, Sylvia Beach and others.
The first experiments in book graphics, which Beka turned to in the early 1920s - Georges Duhamel by Luc Durten (Monnier, 1920) and Solitude by Edouard Estanier (Georges Cres, 1922) - attracted the attention of Parisian publishers, and Beka began to receive commissions for illustrations from time to time. Nevertheless, during these years the artist was mainly engaged in painting, and the artist's canvases received very flattering reviews. So, in May 1924, in a report on the Salon, the magazine of the Hashette publishing house, Reading for All (Lectures pour tous), presented one of Beck's paintings: “This is a spiritual and very rich canvas. We see a young woman sitting comfortably on cushions near a small table laden with cups and goodies - breakfast has just ended, and this fashionable doll in puffs of cigarette smoke looks at the remnants of sweets with obvious disappointment, which betrays her darkened and clouded with sad dreaminess. . But the book also remained in the sphere of the artist's interests. In 1928, Beka first turned to the work of Jean de La Fontaine - he illustrated the Novels for the Briffaut publishing house.
By the early 1930s, the artist became a recognized master of painting and drawing. Of particular interest were his engravings, made in the technique of "dry needle". In 1932, Beka traveled through Africa - visited the Congo, Gabon and Sudan. From the trip, he brought a lot of drawings, which reflected his impressions of the life of exotic countries. Politics and public life did not attract the artist, as well as the artistic searches of his avant-garde contemporaries: the search for joy and harmony, admiring the beauty of the naked human body became the main thing in Beck's work. His nudes, as a rule, are carefully executed, but dry academicism is always softened by the light irony of the author.
Since 1933, Beck's career as a specialist in gallant texts begins. In the pre-war decade, public interest in small-circulation collector's editions increased. The work on illustrations for such books brought Beck European fame. The artist turned mainly to the works of classical literature, but in the drawings he interpreted the texts in his own way, selecting the most frivolous moments for illustration. One after another, the publishing houses "Briffaut", "Piazza", "La Tradition", "Libineau", "Le Vasseur" began to publish books with Beck's engravings: the novel by Theophile Gautier "Fortunio" (1934), "The History of King Goncalve" by Pierre Louis and "The Lady of the Camellias" by Alexandre Dumas son (1935), "Adolf" by Benjamin Constant (1936) and "The Devil in Love" by Jacques Casot (1936), "Aphrodite" by Pierre Louis and "Education of the Senses" by Gustave Flaubert (1937), " Songs of Bilitis" by Pierre Louis (1938), "Daphnis and Chloe" by Long (1939)...
During the Second World War, Beka continued to work on illustrations for collector's editions. At this time, many famous cycles of his drawings were created, such as 24 color illustrations for "Manon Lescaut" by Abbé Prevost ("Le Vasseur", 1941) and 23 color illustrations for a new edition of "Songs of Bilitis" by Pierre Louis ("Piazza", 1943) . In 1942-1943, commissioned by the publishing house La Tradition, Beka illustrated two books by Ovid: the poem "The Science of Love" and "Love Elegies". Each volume contains 24 color illustrations. In 1944, a two-volume edition of Pietro Aretino's Discourses by Pietro Aretino (La Nef d'Argent, 1944) was published in Brussels, illustrated with 20 black-and-white woodcuts and 32 color lithographs, each lithograph in the entire edition being hand-tinted. Several painters were brought in to help Beck complete the job. The series of illustrations for The Discourses is one of the pinnacles of Beck's work.
In 1945, Beka published his drawings for Pierre Louis' story "The Woman and the Clown", in 1947 he illustrated his "The Adventures of King Posolius", and in 1948 more than frank illustrations were published for the poems of Paul Verlaine and "Gallant Ladies" by Pierre de Brantome . Color lithographs for the novels “Fanny Hill. The Memoirs of a Comfort Woman by John Cleland (1948), Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and The Parma House by Stendhal (1949) were recognized as classics of erotic illustration immediately after their publication. Meanwhile, the artist continued to work actively in the 1950s. He illustrated the works of Pierre Ronsard (1950), Voltaire (1950-1951), Pierre de Marivaux (1952), Sappho (1952). In 1954, the artist returned to the poetry of Ovid, creating a new cycle of 13 monochrome engravings for the Love Elegies for the Athkna publishing house. In 1955, the Philibert publishing house released the famous "Florentine" deck of cards, on which Beka, in particular, depicted King Francis I, Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli, Lucrezia Borgia and other historical characters.
In the same 1955, the Heures Claires publishing house in Paris published Jean de La Fontaine's book The Love of Psyche and Cupid with 16 illustrations by the master in a circulation of 500 copies. In this late work, all the characteristic features of the artist's creative manner were embodied. Monochrome engravings made in the technique of "dry needle" show the characters in moments of entertainment, bliss, love games, and create an atmosphere of endless celebration and admiration for the beauty of the naked bodies of divine heroes.
For a long creative life, Beka created graphic series for more than 100 books, including dozens of works of frivolous literature. He did not leave work until the last days. The artist died on January 1, 1960 in Paris, one month before his 75th birthday. However, Beck's gallant and erotic illustrations, executed with virtuoso skill, ensured his lifetime and posthumous fame.

V. G. Zartaisky

In Iv. BC e. in Rome, like a short-lived flower, the elegy genre blossomed and quickly withered. The Roman elegy did not take over from the ancient Greek elegy of the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. patriotic, political, philosophical motives. She borrowed only a love theme and a meter - an elegiac distich. What else she relied on, what she imitated, is not clear. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was argued that it goes back to a comedy depicting young lovers, or to a Hellenistic epigram. And then there was an opinion, and at present it is believed that the elegy of the Hellenistic time could only have an indirect influence, because it was "objective", that is, the poets depicted the passions of mythological characters, and not their own. Unfortunately, the Alexandrian elegies have not survived, and one can only guess about their relationship to the Romans. As was wittily noted, someday archaeologists in the sands of Africa, perhaps, will find an amphora with papyrus fragments covered with very “subjective” lines. Then it turns out that the Roman elegiacs did not in vain consider themselves followers of Hellenistic poetry (Prop. III 3, 47-50; III 9, 43-46; Ovid. Ars am. III 329; Trist. I 6, 1-4; Ex Ponto III 1, 57-58, etc.).

The elegiac distich appeared in Rome in the 2nd century. BC e. It was applied to the Latin language by Ennius, who wrote not on love topics. Lucilius wrote books of satyrs with this meter. It was also used by neoteriks. The last part of the Catullus collection is written in elegiac distich. In addition to short poems, we find in it also longer ones (65, 66, 67, 68), which we can consider elegies or their predecessors. Poem 68 is especially elegiac.

Apparently, the birth of this genre was neither a sudden nor a mechanical process. The Roman elegy arose on the basis of the experience of poetry of various genres and various eras. Since its main theme is love, it is commonly referred to as a Roman love elegy. Like all works of antiquity, the elegy had clear and definite signs of a genre: its authors did not express their feelings and experiences directly, but using the same images wandering from elegy to elegy and traditional typological "common places", which in Greek are called , and in Latin - locicommunes. In the work of all the elegiacs, we find motifs of an unfortunate poor poet, a rich rival, travel, greed and dominance of a beloved, separation, illness, letters, dates, locked doors. However, despite the strict boundaries of the genre, each elegiac managed to create his own poetic world. Mark Fabius Quintilian wrote: “In the genre of elegy, we are also not inferior to the Greeks. Its most perfect and best creator, in my opinion, is Tibull. There are people who appreciate Propertius more. Ovid is more promiscuous than both of them, Gallus is ruder” (X1, 93) 1 .

As you can see, Quintilian characterizes all four elegiacs. From the work of the first of them, the founder of the Roman love elegy Cornelia Galla(69-26 BC) only small fragments remain.

Albius Tibull (54-19 BC) was the second. His elegies in manuscripts of the 14th and 15th centuries. preserved along with poems by other unknown authors. Usually all the elegies found there are published together and are called the "Tibullus collection". The collection is divided into 4 books. The first two were written by Tibull. One is dedicated to a beloved named Delia. This is a fictitious name, an epithet of the goddess Diana. Whether the book has any plan, or whether it is compiled according to the principle of diversity, favored in antiquity, 2 scholars argue. Beloved from Book II is named after the goddess of retribution Nemesis. Both Delia and Nemesis, and the lovers of other elegiacs, are considered to be women from the low strata of society, getters or half-heters. The rival, called the husband (coniunx) by the poets, seems most often to have been the wealthy patron of these women.

The list of sources of Tibullus, like other Roman poets, is considerable. Some claim that he was influenced by Hellenistic poetry, others hold the opposite opinion. They argue whether Propertius had an influence on Tibull, or Tibull on Propertius, etc. The influence of bucolic poetry is also seen, because bucolic motifs are found in Tibull's elegies. These disputes and remarks are valuable and interesting, but it is more important to emphasize the original features of Tibull's poetry. His work differs from the work of Propertius and Ovid primarily in that Tibull's contemporaries usually fix the primary image and constantly return to it, but Tibull does not. This feature of his style was called "sliding thoughts" (Ideenfluchtung, slenderstyle) 3 . 19th century researchers and the beginning of the XX century. they suggested either removing illogical, unnecessary, in their opinion, lines, claiming that they were added by someone later, or rearranging the couplets, trying to find their “real” place. However, such efforts came to nothing, because, despite the best intentions, it was not possible to find a method that would help to distinguish the lines written by Tibull from "fake".

Other scholars have tried to prove that elegies based on associative thinking still have a deliberate and precise composition based on the principle of symmetry. These provisions did not convince everyone, and the theory of "leading motive" (führendeMotiv) appeared. It was argued that the structure of Tibull's elegy is based on the leading motive, which, being divided into leitmotifs or adding auxiliary motives, still remains the main one. Both of these theories continue to exist to this day, and each of them has supporters.

Pictures of the past, present and future, which the constant “sliding of thoughts” brings and takes away again, never stop, are not fixed in Tibull’s elegies, they are forever moving, intertwining, changing. The past is always shrouded in a cozy light. The poet not only praises the wine prepared by his grandfathers (II1, 26), but also diligently tries to preserve peasant traditions, rituals, and customs. His utensils are the same as those of his ancestors (I1, 39), and in the house there are figurines of domestic gods of Lares, passed down from generation to generation (I3, 34; I10, 15-18). He prefers the humble lifestyle of his ancestors. “Yellow gold let another collect and save,” he declares, starting the book of elegies (I1, 1) 4 . This is the same principle of life that Virgil put into the mouth of King Evander: “My guest, make up your mind, and do not be afraid of wealth” (Aen.VIII364) 5 . Tibull wants to live in peace in the countryside, being content with little and not participating in military campaigns (I1, 25-26), he condemns the war as the result of greed and a source of profit:

Gold is a temptation and guilt: they did not know battles

In the days when I ran at your feet like a tender chick.

A peasant who has raised children and calmly expects old age is dearer to a poet than a warrior (I10, 39-42). Tibull sings a hymn to the goddess of the World, calling her the nurse -alma. The world, like Mother Earth, bears fruit and bread, fills the grapes with juice, cultivates the fields, leads the bulls to arable land (I10, 45-68). Thus, in the poetry of Tibullus, we see the hopes of the Romans for peace and the joy that the swords rust, and the hoe and plow shine.

On the other hand, Tibull's elegies also have militaristic overtones. Military campaigns and hundreds of times cursed booty in the house of his friend Messala is not such a bad thing:

You, O Messala, were born to fight on the seas and on land,

So that the armor of your enemy decorates the house.

Tibull does not want to go on campaigns, but will listen with pleasure to stories about the war (I10, 31-32). He is sure that military victories bring glory to the warrior and his relatives (II1, 33-34). In elegy 7 of the book, which celebrates the triumph of Messala after the conquest of Aquitaine, the conquest of not only Aquitaine, but also many countries from the Atlantic Ocean to Syria is supported. Thus, in the poetry of Tibullus there is some contradiction, which, by the way, is also characteristic of Propertius. However, it apparently does not mean the inconsistency of the authors, since reality itself was contradictory.

The Romans joyfully greeted the peace that reigned after the Battle of Actium. The main thing, of course, was inner peace, peace among citizens. However, as we have already mentioned, Augustus took pride when the sanctuary of Janus was closed for the end of any war. On the other hand, the Romans claimed to be the rulers of the world, they were proud of the vastness and power of the empire. We hear an echo of such pride in the poetry of Tibullus:

Rome, for the subject lands, your name will be fatal

Where Ceres looks at her fields from the sky,

Where the day is born, and where the ocean river

The evening wave of the Sun washes tired horses.

(II5, 57-60) 8 .

It is worth noting that these thoughts are similar to the mission of the Romans, stated in the "Aeneid" through the mouth of Anchises:

Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento!

Roman! You learn to rule the peoples sovereignly!

Tibull uses the same word regere (rule, rule):

Roma, tuum nomen terris fatale regendis...

Rome, for the subject lands, your name will be fatal ...

Apparently, this idea was firmly planted in the minds of the Romans, because even Tibull repeats it, whose elegies, due to the specifics of the genre, did not necessarily have to express this general enthusiasm and enthusiasm.

It is sometimes claimed that Tibull was in opposition to Augustus, since he never once mentioned his name. Of course, the elegiac, perhaps, was not delighted with the personality of the princeps, but one cannot help but notice that his work conveys the same moods of Roman society, which he relied on and inspired (both processes most likely took place simultaneously) in his work. politics August. These are the ideas of peace, the greatness of Rome, as well as the revival and preservation of the customs of the ancestors. The past in Tibullus' elegies is not only connected with the present, but actually lives in the present and passes into the future, while time in the poetic world of Tibullus is understood as an endless flow of repeating elements. Ancestors are reborn in descendants. Portraits of father and son, grandfather and grandson appear in his poetry (parens, filius, natus, proles, avus, nepos). The poet says to his friend and patron Messala:

You are the offspring to grow, Messala! It will multiply

The feat of the father, surrounding his old age with honor.

(I7, 55-56) 1 1 .

By placing portraits of a child and an adult (father or grandfather) side by side, Tibull emphasizes the continuity of generations. In the work of Propertius and Ovid, this motif is absent, but to the poetic world of Tibullus it gives the features of patriarchal constancy, strength, eternity and harmony.

The elegies of Tibullus also connect descriptions of holidays, rituals (I1, 35-36; I7; I10, 49-52; II1; II2; II5, 95-99), sacrifices (I1, 11-18; I1, 23-24 ;I10, 27-28). In his elegies we find many words from sacred vocabulary (superi, numen, ara, sacrum, hostia, templum, tura, libum, superi, piusetc.). The semantic features of the sacred sphere extend to other spheres, giving them their own shade. The wool of a snow-white sheep, which is spun by a village girl, a sheep, a lamb are common everyday phenomena, but this sheep glistens (lucidaovis-II1, 62) as the constellations glisten (lucidasigna-I4, 20), white-fleeced lamb (candidusagnus-II5, 38 ) shines with the same divine radiance that surrounds people who make sacrifices (candidaturba-II1, 15), and the gods themselves (candidaAurora-I3, 94; candidaPax-I10, 45). In this context, even freshly pressed wine (candidamusta-I5, 24) not only looks like a grayish foamy liquid, but also acquires the features of a festive, upbeat, radiant world in which peace and tranquility reign.

However, such an idyll of the artistic world of Tibullus is not absolute: disharmony is introduced into it by the motive of love. The lyrical hero Tibulla constantly complains about the cruelty of Cupid, the infidelity and greed of his beloved, cries, begs, laments, groans, having fallen into slavery to her:

My slavery is sad, and the chains depress me;

But Cupid will not weaken the fetters for the unfortunate henceforth.

(II4, 3-4) 1 2 .

It must be emphasized that the lover is not at all interested in the object of love, only his passion, his feelings are important for him: I am so in love that I stick around at her doorstep like a gatekeeper (I1, 55-58); I suffer so much that I find no rest anywhere (I2, 76-80); I cannot leave Rome because I am unable to part with my beloved (I1, 4-56; I3, 21-22); I weep and suffer because of her unfaithfulness (I1, 37-38); I am so in love that I am ready to do the most difficult work for her (I3, 5-10). The young man is offended by the greedy, not paying attention to his poetry hetera, the cunning pimp, dangerous rivals. These typical characters are not only memorable signs of the elegiac genre, they, in our opinion, also have a semantic function: they show how many dangers and obstacles await the unfortunate hero, how strong his suffering must be when faced with such difficulties. The images of chains, rods, slavery, locked doors have the same semantic load. They are needed to give meaning to love.

The poet emphasizes not only the significance of his feeling, but also its exclusivity. Many suffer because of love, but his feelings are special. Cupid hurt many hearts, but “especially me! Wounded, I have been lying for a year already” (II5, 109). The poet shows his love as a special feeling, only peculiar to him. Taking on the role of an amateur, emphasizing the phenomenality and individuality of his feelings, he stands out from the environment and even becomes hostile to him: let the other go on campaigns, and I stay with my beloved (I1, 55; I2, 73-74). He is ready to give up even poetry (II4, 15); opposes itself to nature (II4, 7-10). Raising his love, the lyrical hero breaks the connection with his ancestors. He declares that he is ready to give up the greatest shrine - the father's house:

If she ordered me to sell the nest of ancestors, -

Lara, sorry! Now I'm selling everything from the auction!

(II4, 53-54) 1 3 .

In the 6th elegy of the II book, the death of the harsh little sister of Nemesis, who fell out of the window and crashed, is mentioned (II6, 29-40). Undoubtedly, the beloved is not to blame for the tragic accident, but the story of the girl's death comes after the poet's reproaches and complaints about the cruelty of Nemesis and makes the portrait of her beloved even more gloomy. We have already mentioned that in the elegies of Tibullus the image of a child often appears. Usually he is next to an adult and looks bright, because he is associated with hopes for the future, with the idea of ​​​​the continuity of generations. Here, too, the image of a dead child covered in blood seems to once again confirm the denial of tradition and the future.

Breaking these ties, the lyrical hero loses his moral attitudes. He says about himself that he is ready to commit crimes (II4, 21-24). Separating from his environment, the lyrical hero, as it were, falls out of the eternal circle along which the traditional patriarchal being moves. He begins to look at life not as an endless series of repeating elements, but as a certain period of time that has a beginning and an end. Images of the temporality and fragility of existence appear, a person begins to rush to take advantage of the gifts of life (I1, 69-70; I4, 27-28; I8, 47-48). He forgets about the eternity of life, about the continuous change of generations.

However, this contradiction in Tibull's work is neither sharp nor distinct. The main mitigating agent here, perhaps, is the attitude not to give specific signs to the situations in which the lyrical hero acts, to equalize all the elements of the artistic world. In the elegies of Tibullus there is no plot time, no indication of the place of action, no description of the depicted objects, landscapes. In the work of this elegiac there are many everyday things and phenomena, but two things destroy their concreteness.

Firstly, the festive mood of rituals and sacrifices deprives things of the features of everyday life. Secondly, since the artistic world of elegies exists in an eternal, timeless space, its lexical level loses its reality and materiality. Spinning with a torch, a spinning wheel, skeins of thread, a tow, a girl dozing off at work and other specific details (I3, 83-90) do not exist here independently and really, but are the dream and desire of the lyrical hero. The words lucerna, stamina, colus, pensa etc. do not yet become symbols, but everything everyday, real, everyday is raised here to the heights of a dream. Thus, abstracting all the features of the artistic world of elegies in his own way, Tibull eliminates contradictions, so his poetry breathes with harmony and spiritual comfort, which has been captivating readers for two thousand years.

Sextus Propertius (50-16 BC) was a contemporary and competitor of Tibullus. His biography, like that of Tibullus, is little known. The poet came from the Umbrian town of Assisia, which is now more proud of St. Francis, not a poet of love. Like other writers of that time, Propertius was attracted to Rome. While living there, he published 4 books of elegies.

The texts of Propertius' poems are often complex: they contain many hints that are unclear to readers of our time, the change of topics is incomprehensible, and sometimes word combinations. Perhaps no other Roman writer has been so "perfected" by interpolators as this elegiac. However, Propertius was not subjected to such severe criticism as Tibull, who was even called crazy. Apparently, this happened because of his extraordinary self-confidence, energy and constant efforts to show his superiority.

A young man in love with Propertius is always in a whirlwind of movement and activity. In this he is very different from the melancholic and passive lyrical hero Tibullus. His element is a constant tension of forces (III8, 33-34). He writes letters, rushes to dates, quarrels, always breaks up and reconciles forever, tries to surpass his rivals and win the favor of his beloved. Propertius calls her Kinthia. This is a pseudonym, an epithet of the goddess Diana. However, this is also a very clear allusion to Apollo, since this god often had the epithet "Kynthius" (Call. Hymn. IV 10; Verg. Buc. VI3etc.). Consequently, the name connects Kinthia Propertius with the sphere of poetry, art, which was under the auspices of Apollo.

The deification of the beloved is a common feature of Roman love lyrics. Catullus called Lesbia "my bright goddess" - meacandidadiva (68, 69-70). The elegiacs call their beloved mistress -domina and see her as an ideal. This, apparently, is the same admiration as the expression of gratitude that we have already mentioned, speaking of Virgil. The beloved is the content of their life, she is their muse. Propertius admits: “No, only my dear inspires me” (II1, 4) 1 4 . The poet says that he has no shortage of topics for poetry, because he puts everything into verse: her clothes made of the finest silk, and the curl that falls on her forehead, and how she sleeps, and how she plays the lyre (II1, 5- 12). “I have a long story coming out of a trifle,” he admits (II1, 16) 1 5 . The image of Kynthia in Propertius is more definite and clear than the image of Delia in Tibullus. Looking at her as if from the side, the poet describes her like this:

Become tall, slender, blond, thin fingers,

Walks proudly - to match the Thunderer's sister.

(II2, 5-6) 1 6 .

Speaking of her, Propertius adds the epithet docta(I7, 11). This means that Kinfia is educated, writes poetry, plays beautifully (I2, 27-28), dances (II3, 17-18). This capricious and fickle beauty of the demimonde gives the poet a lot of sadness and suffering. Either she is going to travel around Illyria with her gray-haired master, and the poet has to beg that she stay (I8), then she leaves for a fashionable resort, and there is nothing left but to sigh bitterly (I11). However, the poet's prayers are stubborn, and his sighs are ardent. Passions boil in him. When she falls ill, the lover trembles for her life (II28). The poet feels that he has experienced a lot, experienced (I9), that he can give advice to other lovers. Therefore, didactic notes are sometimes heard in elegies.

The poet enters Roman poetry just as energetically. He speaks disparagingly of the epic. Homer to him, as well as neoteriks, seems outdated. In the genre of poetry he chose, only Mimnerm can be his predecessor: “The songs of Mimnerm in love are more valuable than the lines of Homer” (I9, 11) 1 7 . However, more than Mimnermas, one must appreciate the Alexandrians Philetus and Callimachus (III1, 1-2). Propertius declares that he is the Roman Callimachus (IV1, 64). Such arrogance of Propertius, his ambitions, a certain aggressiveness did not please Horace, who laughed at the pride of the poet, considering it some form of madness (Epist.II2, 91-101).

However, ridicule did not bother Propertius. He felt like a prophet, an inspired singer, a priest of the muses, performing sacred duties (I3, 1-4; IV6, 1). He reflects on the mysterious process of creativity, inspiration and skill, shows from what sources of inspiration he drinks, hopes for eternal glory (II10, 25-26; III1, 35-36; III3, 5-6). The lines of his elegies are written by the Muses (III1, 17-18; III5, 19-20). He tries to be a learned poet and uses many rare elements of myths, their hints and allusions. Scholarship, an abundance of mythology are the characteristic features of his poetry. Some unknown details of the myths, apparently, were not easy to understand and decipher even for many less educated contemporaries of Propertius. However, the poet achieved this: he constantly tries to make riddles, surprise, amaze readers. To do this, he often comes up with neoplasms (suavisonus, altisonus, horrifer, velifer, palmiferetc.), uses archaisms (mage, gnatus, astuetc.) and unusual word combinations that researchers call too bold. This is also a feature of Alexandrian poetry.

Another feature characteristic of Propertius is the attention to the fine arts. In his elegies we find the names of the famous Greek sculptors Praxiteles (III9, 16), Phidias (III9, 15), Lysippos (III9, 9), Myron (II31, 7), the painter Apelles (III9, 11). He admires the portico of the sanctuary of Apollo with statues of the Danaids, the statue of Apollo by Skopas, located inside the temple, the sculptures of bulls by Myron (II31). He describes fountains and their ornaments - sculptures (II32, 12-16). It has been noticed that both real objects and dreams, as well as visions of Propertius, are plastic and visual. It is argued that the poetry of Propertius is inherent in visual perception, a view from the outside.

The book of elegies is dedicated to the love story for Kinfia. She, in all likelihood, was called “Kinfia”. The elegies attracted everyone's attention, including the attention of the Maecenas. He apparently urged Propertius to take on more serious topics. Although in elegy 10 of book II the poet is about to begin serving other muses, the love motive still prevails in it. In the III book there are notes of farewell to the frivolous beauty. Propertius glorifies the battle of Actium (III11), the beauty of Italy, the power of Rome (III22) and conjugal love (III12). Apparently, in the last elegy one can find echoes of the policy of Augustus. In an effort to restore the strict morality of their ancestors, the princeps issued laws against adultery, against a bachelor lifestyle. Having abandoned the traditional motifs of elegies in Book IV, Propertius tries to adapt the etiology of Callimachus to the history of Rome: he explains why a certain area is named that way, recalls history and mythology.

Propertius's poems are varied: some elegies resemble hymns or prayers, others are letters, others are scenes from pantomime, and others are lamentations in memory of the deceased. The poet constantly tries to communicate with someone, turns to his interlocutors. Some of his poems are serious, others are filled with humor. Sometimes in them tones of parody are heard. For example, by saying lausinamoremori(II47), Propertius is said to be parodying dulceetdecorumestpropatriamori(Hor.Carm.III2, 13) .

The elegies are not compiled according to a single model, their structure is very diverse, and it is difficult to detect any system. Two-part poems (of two parts) are interesting.

In the book, even a triple unity is noticeable: interpretations, systems and poetics. It is pointed out that the first elegies constitute the prologue of the book, then there is a change of success and failure, and, like a drama, the collection ends in disaster. This book is not a love story, but a picture of a dramatic struggle for love. The composition of other books is not so clear.

Propertius did not live long. Like a meteor, a poet quickly flew through the skies of Roman literature, called either the leader of the Roman rake - caputnequitiae (II24, 6), or the Roman Callimachus (IV1, 64). In the elegy, he put the cheerful ringing of feasts, the charm of beauties, the beauty of the sculptures in the porticos, the intricate lines of myths, the echoes of Roman antiquity. He spoke passionately about life and death, love and hate, sadness and joy. However, his poetry is not only the sum of these elements. It's something a little more.

In the Middle Ages, Propertius was forgotten, and the Renaissance found him and handed him over to the new time. Inspired by Propertius, J. W. Goethe wrote "Roman Elegies".

Publius Ovid Nason (43 BC - 18 AD) wrote 5 books of elegies. In his mature years, he revised them with all rigor and, having made a strict selection, published only three. They have reached our time. The poems rejected by the poet were gone. Books of Ovid's poems make up, as it were, a triptych: poems describing the beginning of love are collected in book I, love is spoken of in II, its apogee, and poems in book III are written on various topics. In it, as it were, farewell to her beloved sounds.

The heroine of Ovid's elegies is Corinna. There is an opinion that this name was given to the book of elegies, that it was published separately. However, there is no clarity about the name of the entire cycle. The name Amores 1 8 appears to have come from antiquity, but it is not known whether each book was called that, or all the books together. The fact that the author named the heroine of his elegies after a Greek poetess shows that she, like Propertius's Cinthia, apparently understood literature and, perhaps, composed something herself.

The poetry of Ovid is unusually bright and clear. In one elegy, he paints one picture, expresses one thought. For example, the lyrical hero of the 14th elegy of book I in the first couplet reproaches her beloved that, dyeing her hair, she became bald:

How many times have I said: “Stop dyeing your hair!”

So there was no hair, there is nothing to dye now.

(I14, 1-2) 1 9 .

Everything follows from the presented situation. The poet recalls that the hair was long, to the waist, and thin, like Chinese silk. The mention of the Chinese transports us for a moment to a distant land, but the next couplet brings us back to the hair, because now it is compared to the finest threads of a cobweb. In the following lines, their color is recalled, determined by a comparison that also leads to eastern countries, to the valleys of Ida with slender cedars, the color of whose bark is similar to the color of Corinna's hair. However, the next couplet again brings back: we learn that the hair was obedient, easy to comb. Another comparison takes us to Thrace (“How beautiful she was - similar to the Thracian Bacchante” - I14, 21), but we must immediately return to Corinna's boudoir, as the story of styling her hair begins. The mention of the gods of the younger generation of Apollo and Bacchus is an element of the present. In the next couplet, the name of the daughter of the Titans, Dione, recalls past times, but the word pingitur ("that's how everyone draws her" -I14, 34) shows that the ancient goddess is also transferred to the present (now she is drawn with long hair). Further, Thessaly, famous for witches, potions, charms, is mentioned, but this time it has nothing to do with it: it was not witchcraft that killed the hair. At the end of the elegy, the mention of Germany in a few words does not seem very far away, because Corinne will have to wear a wig made of hair cut from a captured German woman. Thus, all the time there is a return to the image of hair given at the beginning of the elegy, which gradually “acquires” new details, becomes bright and holistic.

One poem is devoted to each traditional motif of the elegiac genre. The motif of locked doors, usually called in literature , in the poetry of Tibullus takes 10 lines (I2, 5-14), and Ovid wrote a poem of more than 70 lines ( I6). The comparison of a lover with a warrior by Tibullus fit in two lines (I1, 75-76), and Ovid found words and images for an elegy of 46 lines (I9). Separate elegies are written on the themes of a date (I5), a matchmaker (I8), a letter (I11), separation (I13), a gift (II15) and other common topics. Therefore, Ovid's elegies give the impression of an encyclopedia of love.

Each motive is served inventively, each association is complete. It was not for nothing that Ovid studied rhetoric, which advised him to find what to say about each thing or object. The main advice was this: if you want to be able to talk about any object, you need to decompose it into parts and discuss each part separately. Ovid does just that. For example, the theme of elegy 4 of book II is the statement: all the women of Rome delight me. The poet shares it: they attract me with their character, education, abilities, appearance. Further, the division goes even more fractionally: I am fascinated by modest, impudent, severe (character); capable of appreciating Callimachus and me (education); tall, short, light, swarthy, with golden skin (appearance). All this is ingeniously intertwined, analogies from myths are also involved, and an elegant poem is obtained.

We see the same decomposition of the motif into details and description of each element in the comparison between the lover and the warrior (I9). The poet lists the moments of a warrior's life, arguing that the same situations fall to the lot of a lover: guards, reconnaissance, long tiring roads, constant duty. Both must be young and passionate. Mythological examples are used to prove these provisions.

Unfortunately, the lessons of rhetoric did not bring Ovid much success. In the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, he received many contemptuous reviews from researchers. It has been argued that his elegies do not reflect the true feeling that they are filled with cold rhetoric. It should be noted that scientists generally wrote a lot of ink, arguing where all three elegiacs have true feelings, and where is the pose, locus communis. However, the following must be kept in mind. Firstly, there is no method that helps to see behind the "common place", behind the mask, true or untrue things. Secondly, everything that is in the elegies is artistic truth, looking from the other side, is fiction. In other words, if Tibull and Propertius say that they are not rich, this is the reality of their artistic world, not their biography, and we must believe in it. If Ovid in one elegy swears eternal love for Corinna, in another he fawns over her servant, and in the third he convinces that he can be in love with two beauties at the same time, we must think that he speaks sincerely, because such is the truth of his poetic world.

Now almost no one considers rhetoric Ovid's great sin, but another version of the same point of view has become popular. It is argued that Ovid's speeches should not be taken at face value, that the poet all the time speaks frivolously, with irony, offering a caricature of love, parodying Propertius. We can assume that both points of view did not come out of hatred, but out of love for Ovid, although the authors sometimes seem to be unaware of this themselves. These points of view, apparently, arose from apologetic motives. Earlier it was explained that the poet is serious, only his insensitive verses are dissolute, and now they convince that he is not straightforward, that his elegies should not be understood directly, but considered as a parody. Undoubtedly, one can interpret them in this way, but, in all likelihood, one can think differently.

Firstly, when he was very young, Ovid began with elegies, a fashionable, beloved and tried genre, and, having read them publicly, he immediately became famous (Trist.IV10, 57-60). It is unlikely that a sixteen-year-old youth would have been understood and appreciated by Messala and other older connoisseurs of literature if he had written quite unusual poems. Secondly, the poet seriously looks at his work, in several program poems he considers himself an elegiac poet: he is proud that he is an elegiac singer of love (I1), hopes for great fame and patronage of Apollo (I15), thinks that his work helps lovers endure and rejoice (II1), considers himself a knight of the muse Elegy (III1). Thirdly, at the end of his life in the "Sorrowful Elegies", looking over his work, he would certainly have pointed out the figurative meaning of the elegies of love, if such a thing existed. Fourthly, everyone unanimously asserts that Ovid's poems are very coherent and light. He speaks simply and clearly, not trying to shock either the order of sentences or unusual words or their connections. The poet himself created such an image of himself, saying that he could not speak in prose:

My father often told me: “Leave the useless business!

Even if you take the Meonian, how much wealth did he make?

I was not deaf to my father's words: Leaving Helikon,

Overcoming himself, he tried to write in prose -

By themselves, the words were composed in measured lines,

Whatever I try to say, everything turns out to be a verse.

(Trist.IV10, 21-26) 2 0 .

It is not known whether the poems actually flowed by themselves, or whether Ovid prudently concealed the traces of labor and craft, but the lightness of his poetry is a very important feature that has a huge semantic load: it affirms a reckless frivolity, full of youthful joy of life. Thus, the light form corresponds to the frivolous content of the elegies. It would seem that Ovid had this in mind when he said that he was tenerorumlusoramorum (Trist.III3, 73; IV10, 1). The poet plays with verse, plays with form, plays with love and creates the impression of a world overflowing with viable joy and clarity. Here everything is clear, coherent, easy, and when there are no obstacles, it is simply boring (Am.II19, 25-26).

As we have seen, the Roman love elegy is made up almost exclusively of the necessary genre signs. However, by manipulating them, the elegiacs managed to create poems that were unlike each other. The fragile and gentle Tibull, the temperamental and learned Propertius, the cheerful and carefree, frivolous Ovid gave hundreds of generations of readers many pleasant moments, and the literature of Europe - motives for serving the mistress of the heart and phraseological units: love slavery, love torment, love chains, unfortunate lover, cruel Cupid, love flame, love fetters, etc.

LITERATURE

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Publius Ovid Nason (43 BC - 18 AD) wrote not only elegies. He was the last great Roman poet. When he created his most significant works, Virgil, Propertius, Horace were already dead, and of the many contemporaries and friends who wrote poetry, not one was as generously endowed with talent as he was. No one could compare with him later, although Roman literature flourished for about two hundred years.

Ovid lived in a quiet time. The last civil wars thundered when the poet was a child. During the years of his conscious life, the republican system, wounded in those wars, agonized and eventually died out. However, as we mentioned, some did not notice this, while others, believing that this was not the main thing, put up with it. A new generation of Romans has grown up. According to Tacitus, “Inside the country, everything was calm, the same unchanged names of officials; those who were younger were born after the battle of Actium, even the old ones, and those mostly during the civil wars. How many still remained who saw the republic with their own eyes? (Ann.I3) 1 .

The poet's relationship with the principate of Augustus was complicated. In his youth, he declared that he did not care about politics or the traditional customs of his ancestors, and that he honored only the Muses and Cupid (Am.I15, 3-6). Later, he was apparently impressed by some aspects of the ideology of the principate (in the Metamorphoses and Fasti we find descriptions of Roman customs and pride in the power of Rome), but this did not save Ovid from exile.

The poet was from the center of Italy, the Sulmon region. The father, a wealthy peasant from the equestrian class, took to Rome two sons who had completed elementary school in their homeland, in the hope that, having received an education, they would become politicians and be accepted into the senatorial class. Ovid's brother died young, and the future poet studied well and delighted fellow students and teachers in the rhetorical school with his speeches (Sen.Rhet.II2, 8-12). Then, as was customary, he studied philosophy and rhetoric in Athens and Asia Minor, was interested in Greek art, literature, but his father's dreams were not destined to come true.

True, after returning home, the son, like other Romans, began with modest positions in the court, but neither political nor advocacy attracted him. Although his father was dissatisfied, Ovid left the service and lived all his life as a homoprivatus (private man). We have already mentioned that he was already famous even before the publication of the first book of Love Elegies. What works Ovid wrote after the appearance of the elegies is not clear. In the last elegy there are references to the tragedy. Therefore, it is believed that after the elegies, he created the tragedy "Medea", which was a great success, but has not survived to our time.

There are disputes when the poet wrote the collection "Heroids". These are letters from women - the heroines of myths - to their beloved men. Penelope writes to Ulysses, Helen to Paris, Ariadne to Theseus, Medea to Jason, etc. The messages are written in elegiac distich. Some think that Ovid wrote the Heroides at the same time as love elegies, others argue that he became interested in myths later, after the edition of the converted elegies and was about to write large epic compositions.

The situation of all poems is the same - separation, but the letters are not the same or monotonous. All of them were written at a tense, critical moment, therefore they are emotional, dramatic, even tragic. Sometimes these are monologues or letters to nowhere, because, for example, Penelope does not know where to send a letter to Odysseus, and abandoned, perhaps on a desert island, Ariadne has no one to send this letter through. Despite the commonality of the situation, the letters are not alike, because Ovid perfectly reveals the character and mood of each heroine: the passionate seductress Phaedra writes in her own way, otherwise - the faithful Penelope, the letters of those abandoned and unable to live without their beloved Phyllis, Dido breathe hopelessness , Kanaki . The genre of this work is not entirely clear. Some consider it a continuation of the epistolary genre popular in Hellenistic literature, while others consider it a continuation of the elegy genre.

Tired of the glorification of beauties and feeling enough experience in himself, Ovid took on the role of a mentor in love (Arsam.II161) and published the didactic poem “The Art of Love” written in the same elegiac distich. ). The advice of the first two books of the poem is addressed to men.

In the book, the poet lists the places where you can watch the beauties (porticos, forums, theaters, circuses, Bailly resort, etc.), discusses the role of a maid in a love affair, advises writing love letters, curling and dyeing hair, putting on a clean toga , brush your teeth and nails, rinse your mouth, do not repel the smell of sweat. You can promise a lot, but it is not necessary to fulfill promises, women's hearts bow down with tears, humiliation, a pale face.

Book II gives advice on how to keep the achieved attention and love: the poet thinks that no love drinks and charms will do this, you need to try to be kind, not swear, compliment, be indulgent, fulfill desires and whims, do not be late anywhere, more gifts promise than give. Poems are usually not appreciated by women and Homer would have been driven away, but there are also scientists, and some pretend to be scientists, such poems are suitable. You need to constantly show your attentiveness, especially take care of her when she gets sick, however, do not bother. You can be wrong, but it must be hidden. The opponent should be tolerated calmly, you should not set a trap for him.

Book III is addressed to women. The poet advises how to do hair, mentions makeup, indicates what color clothes are suitable for women of what appearance, encourages to be clean, understand literature, learn to play, dance, sing, teaches how to write letters, how to elude the watchmen, reminds at a feast, excessively eating and drunken women look disgusting.

The Art of Love was apparently not Ovid's first didactic work. Speaking of women's cosmetics, he admits that he wrote a special essay on this subject (Arsam.III205-206). A hundred lines have survived from it: an introduction and advice on skin care. The chosen topic, perhaps, did not surprise anyone: as we have already mentioned, the fashion for various didactic works came from Hellenistic literature. For those who cannot bear the torments of love, the poet dedicated the last didactic poem "Cures for Love", which teaches how to arouse disgust in oneself for a person who has wounded the heart.

After writing these didactic poems and publishing revised youthful elegies, Ovid takes on the serious mythological epic Metamorphoses. He has been working on it for about eight years and at the same time writing the poem "Fasty" ("Calendar of Holidays"). The last one was left unfinished. The poet wrote 6 books, in which he described the holidays of the first six months of the year with an elegiac distich. Ovid, like Propertius, turns from a love theme to Roman rites, customs, and religion. In this poem, he explains the origin of the holidays, describes their rituals. The poem is dedicated to Augustus (Trist. II 549-552; Fast. II 15-16). It also corresponded to the ideology of the principate, because it was relevant during the revival of forgotten cults, the construction and restoration of temples, and the glorification of the customs of ancestors.

In the autumn of 8 A.D. e. completed Metamorphoses. The poet, who recently celebrated his fiftieth birthday, was in no hurry to publish them, but he corrected and improved something. Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, disaster struck. A messenger arrived at Ovid, who was staying at the estate of one of his friends, demanding that he urgently go to Augustus. He angrily attacked the poet and announced a decree on exile. There was no investigation or trial. The first man of the state very rarely exercised the right to issue edicts in his own name. The initiative of Augustus in the exile of Ovid shows two things: firstly, they wanted to deal with the poet urgently, and secondly, they attached great importance to this massacre. The Romans had two forms of exile: exilium, when a person's civil rights are taken away, property is confiscated, but he can live anywhere except Rome and Italy, and relegatio, when property and rights are preserved, but the exact place to live is assigned. The poet got the second form of exile, which was considered easier. He was evicted to the city of Tomy at the mouth of the Danube, modern Constanta. Departure was required immediately.

It is not known why Ovid was suddenly expelled so unexpectedly. The poet himself mentions two reasons: carmen and error (Trist. II 207). Carmen is the poem "The Art of Love", declared the official reason for the expulsion. Error - error, miss, error. What Ovid means is not clear. Previously, researchers wondered: maybe the poet was the lover of the wife or daughter of Augustus, maybe he violated the sanctity of some mysteries. Many opinions have been expressed, 2 but two types of alleged reasons remain the most popular: moral wrongdoing or participation in political intrigue.

A scientist who saw camp times in a totalitarian state suggested that there was no guilt. Since it was, as it were, inconvenient to punish only for a poem published seven years ago (such cases were not yet common at that time), since the poet could sue and defend himself over poems (he defended himself), Ovid was told something like this: You are guilty not only because of the poem, but also because of something else, and go to the north of the empire. The poet speaks so vaguely about his “mistake” because he himself does not know why he was expelled. He guesses just like we do.

The poem "The Art of Love" was withdrawn from public libraries, banned as a work harmful to public morality. However, despite the prohibitions, it did not disappear and has reached our time. After reading it, we see that there are no obscene words or frankly erotic pictures. In a work of 2340 lines, about twenty lines are devoted to the technique of sex, and they are presented with taste, covered with a veil of allusions. However, the poem is, without a doubt, frivolous. Although Ovid remarks that he is not writing for matrons (Ars am. I 31-34), nevertheless the poem is intended for deceived husbands and women seeking amorous adventures. It does not glorify marital fidelity or the love of spouses. Some researchers see in it a controversy with the laws of Augustus, which protect marriage and morality, as well as criticism of the restoration policy of the princeps.

And yet the poem, apparently, was not to blame for much. Everyone understood that Ovid could not spoil people. There was a struggle for power. Augustus had no sons. He had no legal basis to leave his place to the heir, since he was not a monarch, but he could recommend to the Senate and the Roman people any suitable person. This was feared by his wife Livia, who from her first marriage had a son, Tiberius, and who longed for him the name of the first person in the state. Knowing that Augustus was looking at his male relatives in the Julio family, she tried to destroy them with poison and other means. Livia was a very smart and cunning woman. According to Suetonius, Augustus, knowing this, spoke to her only according to a pre-prepared summary (Aug. 84). She may have made an effort to ensure that the two Julias (daughter and granddaughter of Augustus) were expelled for depraved behavior. Julia the younger (granddaughter) went into exile a few months earlier than Ovid. Now it has become calm: there is only one contender for the place of Augustus - Tiberius, but it is unpleasant that the Julius clan became so ugly. Perhaps, wanting to reduce this shame, they found a scapegoat for Ovid, accusing him of writing a poem that spoils morals, which could lead both Julius astray.

It was a terrible blow for the poet, whom Fortune had spoiled until now. Out of grief, he burned the manuscript of the Metamorphoses and tried to commit suicide. Both the poem and the poet were saved by friends. Of the many friends who loved the hospitable house of Ovid, in a difficult hour, only two remained who dared to come to console and see off the poet. They copied the Metamorphoses earlier, and after the departure of Ovid they quickly published them.

The road to Tomy lasted six months. Then the alien was oppressed for a long time by the difficulties of adaptation. Saved poetry: in exile, Ovid wrote "Sorrowful Elegy" and "Letters from Pontus." In addition, he wrote the poem "Ibis" 3 full of curses to an unknown person, an essay on the fish of the Black Sea, from which 134 lines remain, as well as several short works that have not survived. The poet spent ten years in Tomah. Neither the requests of his wife who remained in Rome, nor the requests of friends, nor his own requests for mitigation of punishment were heard. The poet really wanted at least his ashes to return to his native land, but this desire was not destined to be fulfilled either: in 18 AD. e. Ovid was buried in Tomi. In exile, he wrote that his life suffered the same terrible metamorphosis, many of which he sang in his famous epic.

"Metamorphoses" is about 250 myths with an element of metamorphosis, written in hexameter. Greek - re-,- form. Metamorphosis - transition from an existing image, transformation.

Most of all we find cases of the transformation of a person into an animal or a plant: Lycaon becomes a wolf (I); Io - cow (I); Kikn - swan (II); Actaeon - deer (III); daughters of Minyas - bats (IV); Cadmus and Harmony - snakes (IV); Arachne - spider (VI); Daphne (I), Heliades (II), Leucotoia (IV), Philemon and Baucis (VIII), Dryope (IX), Cypress (X), Myrrh (X), Apulus (XIV) become trees; Narcissus (III), Clytia (IV), Hyacinth (X), Adonis (X) turn into flowers; the nymph Syringa (I) - into a reed, etc. We also meet transformations into minerals: Batt becomes flint (II); Aglavra - a statue of black stone (II); tears of Heliad - amber (II); Niobe (VI), Lichas (IX), Olen and Lethea become stones. There are other transformations: Callisto turned into a bear becomes the constellation Ursa Major (II); the nymphs Kiana and Arethusa (V) - by rivers; nymph Echo - echo (III); Aeneas (XIV), Romulus with his wife (XIV), Caesar (XV) - the gods. There are also reverse metamorphoses: a person appears from clay (I), from stones thrown by Deucalion and Pyrrha (I), Kurets are born from rain (IV), Taget (XV) grows from the earth.

The transformations taking place in the poem are not manifestations of some kind of retribution and not acts of the embodiment of justice. It's like an eternal natural process. Sometimes transformed people are victims of the wrath or envy of the gods, sometimes transformation is punishment, and sometimes salvation. People or deities who find themselves in a hopeless situation ask the gods to turn them into something else (most often a plant) in order to escape from the offender or pursuer. Sometimes they lose their appearance due to destructive love. Without emphasizing the logic of metamorphoses, the poet creates a picture of an ever-changing and moving world.

Metamorphosis is a frequent element of a fairy tale. In the tales of all peoples we meet many transformations. However, although metamorphosis is always surprising and an atmosphere of wonder surrounds the poem, Ovid's Metamorphoses is not a folkloric epic. The poem has a philosophical subtext, which is revealed, becomes a text at the beginning and at the end of the poem, creating an important semantic frame.

"Metamorphoses" begin with a picture of chaos: an obscure primary mass is poured everywhere, there is neither the Sun, nor the Moon, nor the Earth. Further, Ovid introduces the image of the demiurge: God gradually creates a world in which each natural body receives a place and begins to function in accordance with the established order. God sets the boundaries of all phenomena, little by little forms the cosmos out of chaos - a harmonious, orderly world. After such an introduction, many different pictures with metamorphoses are replaced. At the end of the poem, the poet through the words of the sage Pythagoras, as it were, explains their meaning and meaning. Pythagoras emphasizes the constant, unceasing movement of matter: "there is no constant in the universe" (XV177) 4 . The sage considers metamorphosis to be a manifestation and method of the perpetual motion of matter:

“[...] Heaven changes and everything below it,

Its form, and the earth, and everything that exists under it.

Pythagoras compares the eternal variability of matter with the eternal immutability of the immortal soul:

“[...] the soul, remaining

The same one, - so I teach, - passes into different flesh.

Pythagoras claims that everything that is alive came from one divine soul, incarnated in many earthly bodies and passing from one body to another: from a wild beast to a man, from a man to a beast, etc. The main thing is that this soul of ideal nature "will not disappear forever and ever" (XV168). The sage assures that because of metempsychosis, a person should love everything that is alive and not eat the meat of animals. Ungrateful and unworthy of bread is the plowman who, having removed the harness from the back of the bull, plunges an ax into it. “What an abomination - she-she! - hide the womb in the womb! / To grow fat with a greedy body, eating the same body ”(XV88-89), - says the philosopher, advising to eat fruits, bread, milk, honey.

As we can see, through the mouth of Pythagoras, Ovid proclaims the idea of ​​cyclicity, popular in ancient times, that the cosmos is eternally born, flourishes, dies, forever moves in a circle. The ideal world constantly emanates into the world of things and again returns to its ideal beginning.

Therefore, metamorphosis means not only transformation. It also expresses the connection and unity of the elements of the world, since all bodies appear from one another, and the soul passes from one body to another without change. Metamorphosis also shows the eternity of the world, because nothing ends in death, but only in transformation. The abundance of metamorphoses is not chaos, but the law of the universe, and Ovid's poem perfectly reflects the undulating picture of the world changing every moment. So the poet conveyed to the people of the era of antiquity the dear idea of ​​​​the unity and harmony of the cosmos.

In addition to philosophical thoughts, there are also political ones in the Metamorphoses. The fact is that Ovid draws a continuous string of transformations on Roman history. Fallen Troy is reborn in Rome, the poet talks about its kings, glorifies Julius Caesar and Augustus, is proud of the power of Rome. Pythagoras says that Rome was the capital of the world - caputurbis(XV435). He quotes Helen's prophecy:

I see the capital already, that the Phrygians have been assigned to their grandchildren.

There is not and will not be such and in the past years there has not been!

Noble years will exalt her, glorify centuries.

But in the mistress of states only from the blood of Iula born

Can raise it.

Some scholars, ignoring the glorifications of Caesar and Augustus, evaluate the Metamorphoses as an oppositional work. They consider the epic to be a mythological narrative with political dimensions and argue that Ovid, in expounding various myths, figuratively speaks of his times. They pick up certain political analogies to the myths of gigantomachy, the battle of Apollo with the python, the flood, Phaeton, Arachne, Niobe, they believe that Ovid identifies Cadmus, Pentheus, Hercules with Augustus. It is claimed that Ovid was opposed to the ideals of Augustus. Some elements of the myths seem to be directed against the puritanism of Augustus, Apollo, who is considered the patron of Augustus, is depicted as hostile to people, the gods are generally frivolous, and the kings are immoral. It is concluded that not only the Art of Love, but also the Metamorphoses were the reason for Ovid's expulsion. It is alleged that by depicting Jupiter negatively, the poet meant Augustus, that he criticizes the Aeneid or argues with it.

When a real life analogue is sought for each myth or its element, the meaning of the poem is greatly narrowed and its significance is diminished. Therefore, it is more pleasant to read authors who say that "Metamorphoses" is neither an interpretation of history, nor a poem depicting the times of Augustus, that it reflects life in general, its comedy, pathos, cruelty, grotesqueness or macabre, that the poem is full of wordplay, images, allusions.

The poet interprets selected myths in an original way, revealing metamorphosis even where the myth does not emphasize it, since it is not the hero of the myth that changes and turns into something, but episodic characters: for example, the tears of Heliad become amber, and they themselves become poplars (II340-366) , the sisters of Meleager become chickens (VIII535-546), etc. .

The main sources of Ovid's poems - catalogs of myths of the Hellenistic time - have not been preserved, and it is difficult to talk about the poet's attitude towards them, however, researchers find the influence of Homer, Hesiod, Greek tragedians, especially Euripides, and also the Alexandrians. It is indicated that the idea of ​​perpetuum carmen (continuous song) is borrowed from Callimachus, but the chronological presentation of myths was invented by Ovid himself; they also find the influence of the Roman tragedian Pacuvius and Virgil.

In order for the collection of metamorphoses not to be a meaningless mixture, Ovid needed to somehow connect the collected myths. The poet realized that the philosophical idea would be a somewhat weak connection, that formal compositional connections were also needed, and he called on the chronological principle to help. In the introduction, he admits that he planned his continuous song (carmenperpetuum) to lead from the beginning of the world (aprimaoriginemundi) to his time (admeatempora) 8. II and II books are devoted to very ancient times: the emergence of the universe, the first people, the flood, etc. III-IV books - mythological Theban period. Myths not from the Theban cycle are also placed here: about Narcissus, Pyramus and Thisbe, the exploits of Perseus. True, they are slightly connected with Thebes, since they mention the East, and the founder of Thebes, Cadmus, came from Asia Minor. Books VII and VII are the times of the Argonauts; Books VIII-XI include myths about Hercules, who lived at the same time as the Argonauts. They are joined by other stories that do not have a strict chronological place. In XII and XIII books the myths of the Trojan cycle are retold, and at the end of the work (XIV-XV) - Roman myths.

The poem is divided in other ways. It is alleged that it consists of the following parts: 1) prologue and cosmogony (I1-451); 2) gods (I452-VI420); 3) heroes and heroines (VI421-XI 193); 4) history (XI194-XV870). The following structure of this epic is also proposed: 1) the comedy of the gods (II and II); 2) the love of the gods (III1-VI400); 3) love passions (VI401-XI793); 4) Troy and Rome (XII-XV). Such parts, seen by researchers, may not be accidental, perhaps the poet accumulated myths of one theme, however, such a composition, apparently, must be considered either unconscious, that is, the result of the activity of the poet's subconscious, or secondary, because Ovid himself divided poem on books and they were published as separate scrolls (Trist.I117). It is hard to believe that the poet in the middle of the book would have finished one part and started another.

To prevent readers from getting bored with the story, Ovid uses the already mentioned principle of diversity, or variegation, common in antiquity: he replaces a longer story with a shorter one, sad - cheerful, sad - scary, solemn - ironic. The composition is also motley in terms of genre: some stories are like an elegy (Cyclops and Galatea - XIII); others to the idyll (Philemon and Baucis -VIII); third to the anthem (glorification of Bacchus -IV); the fourth for tragedy (argument between Ajax and Ulysses because of armor - XIII) or for heroic epos (battle of centaurs and lapiths - XII). The poet's favorite frame composition also helps to avoid monotony: stories about other transformations are put into the mouths of characters who have already turned into something or are still about to turn into something. Sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes even seven episodes are framed like this.

Therefore, metamorphosis is a versatile element of this poem. It is not only the theme of the work, but also a change in the type of narration, the basis of the structure of the poem. Readers are drawn to unexpected twists and turns of thought and form.

The images of the poem are plastic and visible. Ovid likes to accurately determine the movement and pose: entering the low shack of Philemon and Baucis, the gods bend down (VIII638), the shadow of the wounded Eurydice slowly slides (X48), crying herself, Alcmene wipes tears from Iola's cheeks with his finger (IX395). Diana and the nymphs surrounding her look like a sculptural group about to bathe: a squire takes arrows, a bow and a dart of the goddess, clothes fall on the outstretched arms of the other, two take off their sandals, another nymph knots Diana's loose hair (III165-170).

"Sorrowful Elegies" is, as it were, the antipode of "Love Elegies". In a youthful work, the carefree joy of life overflows, and poems created at the end of life are full of pain, despair, groans, groans and heavy breathing of death. They are written in elegiac distich. By burning the Metamorphoses, Ovid, as it were, said goodbye to creativity. Then, on a ship caught in a storm, he suddenly felt that lines were being born in his head. It seemed like a miracle to him. The poet grabbed a writing stick and began to write again. Since the road to Tomy lasted six months, he created the first book of "Sorrowful Elegies" and immediately sent it to Rome. Then every year, with the beginning of the navigation season, a new book of elegies arrived in the Eternal City. The last, fifth, was apparently written in 13 AD. e.

Subsequently, Ovid began to dedicate elegies to various people, and in 14-16 years. n. e. three more books of elegies appeared, called Letters from Pontus. The theme of the elegy-letters is the same as the earlier poems - exile. The principle of their writing remains the same. Ovid took advantage of the experience of writing love elegies: he himself came up with "common places" and consistently adhered to them. In the poetry of exile, all the same images are repeated: the uncomfortable steppe, harsh winters, attacks by enemies, the incomprehensible speech of long-haired natives, the lack of books, etc. Rearranging them in every possible way, the poet conveys the main theme of the poetry of exile - a feeling of loneliness.

The loneliness of Ovid is different than that of the romantics of modern times, who considered themselves the center of the universe. The ancient poet feels cut off from the real world and yearns to return to it again. He lives in a wild land recently conquered by the Romans, where the Greeks who once founded the city have almost disappeared, forgot their language, were uneducated, where there is no one to talk to in Latin, where no one is interested in philosophy, disputes over a new book or other literary events. Therefore, the poet is infinitely lonely. He groans, complains, begs Augustus to moderate his anger and allow him to settle at least in Greece.

Because of these complaints and requests, some modern philologists reproach the poet for the insignificance and weakness of the spirit, they argue that Ovid lost the dignity of a man and a poet in exile. Regarding the fortitude, there is a good answer for them: blaming Ovid has a moral right, unless he himself was expelled and did not break, who did not ask the ruler for anything, did not remain silent, but protested. Accusations about the loss of human dignity, written in the quiet of comfortable offices, do not testify to the generosity of the authors and are almost immoral. Such accusations are completely unfounded. Statements that on the basis of experienced feelings and experiences the poet could create a more impressive work, the desire to see the open wound of the poet's heart reveal a very egocentric position of the author of such criticism. Only modern times require original disclosure from poetry, and in antiquity readers heard the poet's complaints through "common places" that followed one after another. They also heard the poet's restrained but firm protest against the share that fell to him, which some researchers even consider a rebellion, as well as a request for mitigation of fate, expressed in accordance with the customs of that time.

Ovid's work was destroyed "neither sword, nor fire, nor greedy old age" (Met.XV872). The reproaches and accusations mentioned above cannot harm him either. The name of the poet was pronounced with reverence at all times, and his work gave impetus to the artists of the word who lived later. His Philemon and Baucis settled in "Faust" by I.V. Goethe, and Pyramus and Thisbe - in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by W. Shakespeare. In addition, it is believed that these two heroes of Ovid inspired the great playwright to create Romeo and Juliet.

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