Ovid Daily
Evenings with Ovid
Tristia 1.7
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Tristia 1.7

Liber I, Carmina Septima: Ovid writes a letter to his friends about his magnum opus, the Metamorphoses, and begs for understanding about the poem's unfinished state.
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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).

Foley sounds for soundscape provided by zapsplat.com.

Hosting, English sections, and editing provided by Margrethe.


Transcript:

Mar: Salve aveque. This is Margrethe from Ovid Daily, for our podcast special: “Evenings with Ovid”. Joining me today from the far-off shores of the Black Sea is the eminent Latin poet Publius Ovidius Naso, (given voice by the excellent Lu), here to read one of his most moving works: Tristia. Last week, we heard Carmina Sexta, in which you thanked your wife for protecting your embattled assets, and claimed that she would be more famous than Penelope had you been Homer. Are you ready to share the next installment?

L/O: Ita. Aures praebete, quaeso. Vobiscum cupio quolibet esse modo.

L/O:

“Siquis habes nostris similes in imagine vultus,

deme meis hederas, Bacchica serta, comis.

Ista decent laetos felicia signa poëtas:

temporibus non est apta corona meis.”

Hoc tibi dissimula, senti tamen, optime, dici,

in digito qui me fersque refersque tuo,

effigiemque meam fulvo complexus in auro

cara relegati, quae potes, ora vides.

Quae quotiens spectas, subeat tibi dicere forsan

“quam procul a nobis Naso sodalis abest!”

Grata tua est pietas: sed carmina maior imago

sunt mea, quae mando qualiacumque legas,

carmina mutatas hominum dicentia formas,

infelix domini quod fuga rupit opus.

Haec ego discedens, sicut bene multa meorum,

ipse mea posui maestus in igne manu.

utque cremasse suum fertur sub stipite natum

Thestias et melior matre fuisse soror,

sic ego non meritos mecum peritura libellos

imposui rapidis viscera nostra rogis:

vel quod eram Musas, ut crimina nostra, perosus,

vel quod adhuc crescens et rude carmen erat.

Quae quoniam non sunt penitus sublata, sed exstant

(pluribus exemplis scripta fuisse reor),

nunc precor ut vivant et non ignava legentem

otia delectent admoneantque mei.

Nec tamen illa legi poterunt patienter ab ullo,

nesciet his summam siquis abesse manum.

Ablatum mediis opus est incudibus illud,

defuit et scriptis ultima lima meis.

Et veniam pro laude peto, laudatus abunde,

non fastiditus si tibi, lector, ero

hos quoque sex versus, in prima fronte libelli

si praeponendos esse putabis, habe:

“orba parente suo quicumque volumina tangis,

his saltem vestra detur in urbe locus.

Quoque magis faveas, haec non sunt edita ab ipso,

sed quasi de domini funere rapta sui.

Quicquid in his igitur vitii rude carmen habebit,

emendaturus, si licuisset, eram.”

Mar: Gratias tibi ago, Ovidi. I have here the English translation of our guest’s poem, originally translated by A.L. Wheeler in 1924.

“Whoever you may be who possess a portrait of my features, remove from my locks the ivy, the chaplet of Bacchus. Such fortunate symbols are suited to happy poets; a wreath becomes not my temples. Hide the fact—yet feel it, too,—that yet this is said to you, my best of friends, who carry me about on your finger, and, clasping my image on the tawny gold, see the dear face—all that you can see—of an exile. Whenever you gaze upon it, you may perchance feel prompted to say, "How far away is our comrade Naso!" There is comfort in your love. But my verses are a more striking portrait, and these I bid you read however poor they are—the verses that tell of the changed forms of men, the work broken off by the unfortunate exile of their master.

“These verses upon my departure, like so much that was mine, in sorrow I placed with my own hand in the fire. Just as Thestius’ daughter burned her own son, they say, in burning the branch, and proved a better sister than mother, so I placed the innocent books consigned with me to death, my very vitals, upon the devouring pyre, because I had come to hate the Muses as my accusers or because the poem itself was as yet half grown and rough. These verses were not utterly destroyed; they still exist—several copies were made, I think—and now I pray that they may live, that thus my industrious leisure may bring pleasure to the reader and remind him of me. And yet they cannot be read in patience by anybody who does not know that they lack the final hand. That work was taken from me while it was on the anvil and my writing lacked the last touch of the file. Indulgence, then, instead of praise I ask; I shall have abundance of praise if you do not disdain me, reader. Receive these six lines also, if you think them worthy to be placed at the very head of the book: "All you who touch these rolls bereft of their father, to them at least let a place be granted in your city! And your indulgence will be all the greater because these were not published by their master, but were rescued from what might be called his funeral. And so whatever defect this rough poem may have I would have corrected, had it been permitted me.”

Mar: Thank you so much for listening, and be sure to tune into Ovid Daily’s “Evenings with Ovid” next week for the next installment of Ovid’s Tristia. Vale beneque placideque quiescas!

Mar: A transcript for this podcast is available at oviddaily.substack.com. 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 in the description, and on our website on our “Resources” page. Foley sounds for our soundscape are provided by zapsplat.com. Our lovely cover art was illustrated by Lu, and you can see more of Lu’s art on Twitter @DRScomic, or on Tumblr @ovidiana. If you wish to contact Ovid Daily, you may email me at oviddaily@substack.com.


Editor’s Note: My apologies for the delay today!

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Ovid Daily
Evenings with Ovid
"Evenings with Ovid" is an 11-part podcast spanning the first book of Ovid's "Tristia". It will air every Friday at 12 PM EST, from September 2 to November 11. Ovid Daily editor Margrethe and special guest Ovid, brought to life by Lu, host each episode. Each installment contains the original Latin text read in poetic meter, followed by A.L. Wheeler's 1924 English translation. "Tristia" recounts Ovid's exile from Rome in 8 CE, and his winter-time journey to the Black Sea. It is somber, heartbreaking, and at times, rather irreverent, but always beautifully composed. "Tristia" is everything you love about Ovid, but with an autobiographical slant, and a reluctantly adventurous spirit.
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