Ovid is one of the greatest poets in the Classical tradition and Western literature. This book represents the most comprehensive study to date of his early output as a unified literary production. Firstly, the book proposes new ways of organising this part of Ovid's poetic career, the chronology of which is notoriously difficult to establish. Next, by combining textual criticism with issues relating to manuscript transmission, the book decisively counters arguments levelled against the authenticity of Heroides 15, which consequently allows for a revaluation of Ovid's early output. Furthermore, by focusing on the literary device of allusion, the book stresses the importance of Ovid's single Heroides 1-15 in relationship with his Amores I-III, Ars amatoria I-III and Remedia amoris. Finally, the book identifies three kinds of Ovidian poetics that are found in his early poetry and that point towards the works of myth and exile that followed in his later career.

Augustan love elegy represents one of the most important and most distinctive Roman contributions to European and world literature. This volume presents the first detailed commentary in any language on Ovid's Amores Book 3, the last collection of love poems composed in the Augustan age. Aimed at both students and scholars, the commentary has been written to be as accessible to as many readers as possible, with all quotations from ancient Greek and modern languages being translated. It includes an Introduction for the general reader which pays particular attention not only to the book's poetic design and the distinctive features of Ovid's style, but the relationship of the whole three-book collection to earlier love elegy and its handling of political and social questions. It offers an edition of the text of Book 3 based on printed editions together with a translation designed to clarify the surface meaning of the Latin. P. J. Davis's commentary focuses on topics including Ovid's engagement with the works of earlier poets, his use of rhetoric and wit, his employment of verbal and metrical patterns, textual difficulties, and, of course, the elucidation of linguistic problems. Amores Book 3 takes love elegy in new directions giving us, for example, a dream-vision poem, a dutiful husband's account of a religious pilgrimage, and the speech of a pickup artist trying to seduce a girl at the races. Perhaps its most striking feature is its shift away from obsession with a single mistress to reflection on the poet's place in the tradition of Latin love poetry, with poems explicitly devoted to issues raised by Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius.

Latin love elegy is one of the most important poetic genres in the Augustan era, also known as the golden age of Roman literature. This volume brings together leading scholars from Australia, Europe and North America to present and explore the Greek and Roman backdrop for Latin love elegy, the individual Latin love elegists (both the canonical and the non-canonical), their poems and influence on writers in later times. The book is designed as an accessible introduction for the general reader interested in Latin love elegy and the history of love and lament in Western literature, as well as a collection of critically stimulating essays for students and scholars of Latin poetry and of the classical tradition.

Ovid was one of the greatest writers of classical antiquity, and arguably the single most influential ancient poet for post-classical literature and culture. In this Cambridge Companion, chapters by leading authorities from Europe and North America discuss the backgrounds and contexts for Ovid, the individual works, and his influence on later literature and art. Coverage of essential information is combined with exciting critical approaches. This Companion is designed both as an accessible handbook for the general reader who wishes to learn about Ovid, and as a series of stimulating essays for students of Latin poetry and of the classical tradition.

Parallel latin & English texts.