The Metamorphoses of Ovid

by Ovid

• ISBN13: 9780253200013
• ISBN10: 0253200016
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1955-06-01
• Publisher: INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS

Summary

"The Metamorphoses of Ovid offers to the modern world such a key to the literary and religious culture of the ancients that it becomes an important event when at last a good poet comes up with a translation into English verse." -- John Crowe Ransom"... a charming and expert English version, which is right in tone for the Metamorphoses."  -- Francis Fergusson"This new Ovid, fresh and faithful, is right for our time and should help to restore a great reputation." -- Mark Van DorenThe first and still the best modern verse translation of the Metamorphoses, Humphries' version of Ovid's masterpiece captures its wit, merriment, and sophistication.Everyone will enjoy this first modern translation by an American poet of Ovid's great work, the major treasury of classical mythology, which has perennially stimulated the minds of men. In this lively rendering there are no stock props of the pastoral and no literary landscaping, but real food on the table and sometimes real blood on the ground.Not only is Ovid's Metamorphoses a collection of all the myths of the time of the Roman poet as he knew them, but the book presents at the same time a series of love poems -- about the loves of men, women, and the gods. There are also poems of hate, to give the proper shading to the narrative. And pervading all is the writer's love for this earth, its people, its phenomena.Using ten-beat, unrhymed lines in his translation, Rolfe Humphries shows a definite kinship for Ovid's swift and colloquial language and Humphries' whole poetic manner is in tune with the wit and sophistication of the Roman poet.

Table of Contents

BOOK ONE	3	(25)
The Creation	3	(2)
The Four Ages	5	(3)
Jove's Intervention	8	(1)
The Story of Lycaon	9	(2)
The Flood	11	(1)
Deucalion and Pyrrha	12	(4)
Apollo and Daphne	16	(5)
Jove and Io	21	(7)
BOOK TWO	28	(29)
The Story of Phaethon	28	(12)
Jove in Arcady	40	(5)
The Story of the Raven	45	(3)
The Story of Ocyrhoe	48	(2)
Mercury and Battus	50	(1)
Mercury, Herse, and Aglauros	51	(1)
The House of the Goddess Envy	52	(2)
Europa	54	(3)
BOOK THREE	57	(24)
The Story of Cadmus	57	(4)
The Story of Actaeon	61	(3)
The Story of Semele	64	(3)
The Story of Tiresias	67	(1)
The Story of Echo and Narcissus	67	(6)
The Story of Pentheus and Bacchus	73	(8)
BOOK FOUR	81	(26)
The Story of Pyramus and Thisbe	83	(3)
The Story of Mars and Venus	86	(1)
The Sun-god and Leucothoe	87	(3)
The Story of Salmacis	90	(3)
The End of the Daughters of Minyas	93	(1)
The Story of Athamas and Ino	94	(5)
The End of Cadmus	99	(1)
The Story of Perseus	100	(7)
BOOK FIVE	107	(22)
The Fighting of Perseus	107	(8)
Minerva Visits the Muses	115	(14)
BOOK SIX	129	(24)
The Story of Niobe	133	(10)
The Story of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela	143	(10)
BOOK SEVEN	153	(28)
The Story of Jason and Medea	153	(14)
War Between Crete and Athens	167	(7)
The Story of Cephalus and Procris	174	(7)
BOOK EIGHT	181	(28)
The Story of Nisus and Scylla	181	(6)
The Story of Daedalus and Icarus	187	(3)
The Calydonian Boar	190	(5)
The Brand of Meleager	195	(3)
The Return of Theseus	198	(2)
The Story of Baucis and Philemon	200	(4)
The Story of Erysichthon	204	(5)
BOOK NINE	209	(25)
The Story of Achelous' Duel for Deianira	209	(3)
The Story of Hercules, Nessus, and Deianira	212	(5)
The Story of Hercules' Birth	217	(2)
The Story of Dryope	219	(4)
The Story of Caunus and Byblis	223	(6)
The Story of Iphis and Ianthe	229	(5)
BOOK TEN	234	(25)
The Story of Orpheus and Eurydice	234	(3)
The Story of Cyparissus	237	(2)
The Story of Ganymede	239	(1)
The Story of Apollo and Hyacinthus	239	(2)
Two Incidents of Venus' Anger	241	(1)
The Story of Pygmalion	241	(2)
The Story of Cinyras and Myrrha	243	(8)
The Story of Adonis	251	(1)
Venus Tells Adonis the Story of Atalanta	252	(5)
The Fate of Adonis	257	(2)
BOOK ELEVEN	259	(26)
The Death of Orpheus	259	(2)
The Story of Midas	261	(2)
Midas Never Learns	263	(2)
The Building of the Walls of Troy	265	(1)
The Story of Thetis	266	(2)
Ceyx Tells the Story of Daedalion	268	(2)
The Story of Peleus' Cattle	270	(2)
The Quest of Ceyx	272	(10)
The Story of Aesacus and Hesperia	282	(3)
BOOK TWELVE	285	(20)
The Invasion of Troy	285	(6)
Nestor Tells the Story of Caeneus	291	(1)
Story of the Battle with the Centaurs	291	(10)
Nestor Is Asked Why He Omitted Hercules	301	(4)
BOOK THIRTEEN	305	(33)
The Argument between Ajax and Ulysses	305	(14)
After the Fall	319	(1)
The Sacrifice of Polyxena	320	(3)
The Discovery of Polydorus	323	(2)
The Story of Memnon	325	(1)
The Pilgrimage of Aeneas	326	(1)
The Story of Anius' Daughters	327	(1)
The Pilgrimage Resumed	328	(2)
The Story of Galatea	330	(1)
The Song of Polyphemus	331	(3)
The Transformation of Acis	334	(1)
The Story of Glaucus	335	(3)
BOOK FOURTEEN	338	(27)
The Story of Glaucus Continued	338	(2)
The Pilgrimage of Aeneas Resumed	340	(4)
Achaemenides Tells His Story	344	(4)
The Story of Picus	348	(4)
The Pilgrimage of Aeneas Resumed	352	(1)
The Narrative of Diomedes	352	(2)
The Return of Venulus	354	(2)
The Deification of Aeneas	356	(1)
Legendary History of Rome	357	(1)
Pomona and Vertumnus	357	(3)
The Story of Iphis and Anaxarete	360	(2)
More Early Roman History	362	(3)
BOOK FIFTEEN	365
The Succession of Numa	365	(2)
The Teachings of Pythagoras	367	(12)
The Return of Numa	379	(1)
The Story of Hippolytus	380	(2)
The Story of Cipus	382	(2)
The Story of Aesculapius	384	(4)
The Deification of Caesar	388	(4)
The Epilogue	392