The music for this podcast was generously provided by Dr. Stefan Hagel.
Cover illustration and voice of Ovid provided by Lu (twitter: @DRScomics, instagram: @dead_romans_society, tumblr: @ovidiana).
Hosting, English sections, and editing provided by Margrethe.
Transcript:
Mar: Salve! I’m Margrethe, the editor of Ovid Daily. Welcome to “Evenings with Ovid,” a podcast centering on book one of Ovid’s Tristia. Our first episode premiers on Friday, September 2nd, and is the first of 11 installments to be released every Friday until November 11.
Mar: Join us for elegant elegiacs as Ovid, given voice by the excellent Lu, narrates his exile from Rome and his harrowing winter-time voyage to the Black Sea.
Mar: Please enjoy this short excerpt from episode one, and thank you for listening.
Ovid:
quaeque uolet, rata sint, ablataque principis ira
sedibus in patriis det mihi posse mori.
ut peragas mandata, liber, culpabere forsan
ingeniique minor laude ferere mei.
iudicis officium est ut res, ita tempora rerum
quaerere; quaesito tempore tutus eris.
carmina proueniunt animo deducta sereno:
nubila sunt subitis pectora nostra malis.
carmina secessum scribentis et otia quaerunt:
me mare, me uenti, me fera iactat hiems.
carminibus metus omnis obest: ego perditus ensem
haesurum iugulo iam puto iamque meo.
haec quoque quod facio, iudex mirabitur aequus,
scriptaque cum uenia qualiacumque leget.
Mar: May the removal of the Prince's wrath grant me the power to die at home in my country! Though you should carry out my directions you will be criticized perchance, my book, and regarded as beneath the glory of my genius. Tis a judge's duty to investigate both the circumstances and the time of an act. If they ask the time you will be secure. Poetry comes fine spun from a mind at peace; my days are clouded with unexpected woes. Poetry requires the writer to be in privacy and ease; I am harassed by the sea, by gales, by wintry storms. Poetry is injured by any fear; I in my ruin am ever and ever expecting a sword to pierce my throat. Even the making of such verse as this will surprise a fair-minded critic and he will read these verses with indulgence, however poor they are.
Mar: Our text comes from the 1924 Loeb Classical Library edition of the Tristia, edited and translated by A.L. Wheeler. Our music is performed by Dr. Stefan Hagel on the Hellenistic Aulos, a link to which is available on Ovid Daily’s “Resources” page.
Evenings with Ovid: Announcement & Trailer