Ovid's Metamorphoses

ADDIDIT ET FONTES ET STAGNA IMMENSA LACUSQUE,
FLUMINAQUE OBLIQUIS CINXIT DECLIVIA RIPIS;
QUAE DIVERSA LOCIS PARTIM SORBENTUR AB IPSA,
IN MARE PERVENIUNT PARTIM CAMPOQUE RECEPTA
LIBERIORIS AQUAE PRO RIPIS LITORA PULSANT.
IUSSIT ET EXTENDERE CAMPOS, SUBSIDERE VALLES,
FRONDE TEGI SILVAS, LAPIDOSOS SURGERE MONTES.

AND HE ADDED SPRINGS AND HUGE SWAMPS AND LAKES,
AND HE SURROUNDED THE DOWNWARD RUSHING RIVERS WITH STEEP BANKS;
OF THE [RIVERS], IN DIFFERENT PLACES, SOME ARE ABSORBED,
AND SOME COME INTO THE SEA, RECEIVED BY THAT FIELD
OF FREER WATER, AND BEAT AGAINST THE SHORES INSTEAD OF THEIR BANKS.
AND HE ORDERED FIELDS TO EXTEND AND VALLEYS TO SINK,
AND THE FORESTS TO BE COVERED IN LEAVES, AND ROCKY MOUNTAINS TO RISE.

Here, the creator invents landscaping.  I just went hiking in a mountainous forest, and I have to hand it to him: he did alright.  He even installed springs for drinking fountains, which worked okay until people came along and ruined them (Ovid’ll get that problem in the next episode…)  In all seriousness, this is an important moment for the Metamorphoses.  The poem is mainly set in wild, natural scenery; Ovid has the distinct advantage over other country poets (poetry about the countryside is generally called “bucolic”) in that he gets to give the landscape’s origin story.  I mean, this is a poem all about origin stories, so giving the origin of the set dressing is basically taking aetiology to its logical conclusion.

The Metamorphoses is indeed fond of landscapes.  As Hugh Parry writes, “Ovid seems to betray a fondness for scenes which depict a secluded grove set in a shady wood, where cool spring offers relaxation from the heat of high-noon” (268).  It’s very peaceful picture.  However, the title of his article, “Violence in a Pastoral Landscape”, should suggest that all is not well in shady grove-land.  Indeed, the scenery of the Metamorphoses belies the violence of many of its stories.  It shakes the foundations of the Roman concept of otium, or peacefulness – this peacefulness is to be found in the countryside, and is a pursuit of philosophers and the Roman elite who could afford to buy villas outside the hustle-and-bustle of the city.  Those that did live in the city painted country scenes on the walls of their houses, to simulate the outside.  The countryside is the ultimate idea of escape for Romans, and perhaps even a “Roman Dream” to rival anything America can cook up.  Ovid then goes ahead and populates his countryside with violence and tragedy.  This is why we like to call Ovid an ironic poet.  The funny thing is that he doesn’t make up this violence on his own.  Bucolic poetry is full of rape and even fighting; what Ovid does is twist the poetry against itself to make it more emotionally charged, creating a painful sympathy for the victims that is unfamiliar to the genre.  But that is a story for later in the poem.  For now, let us indulge our fondness for pretty landscapes.

Luckily, I too have a fondness for landscapes, or at least so I thought… I got to drawing this page and realised to my horror that I can’t draw them to save my life.  After several abysmal attempts, I finally managed to produce the page you see before you (I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide if it is a success or failure).  Fortunately, this struggle made me keenly aware of my inadequacies, and not wanting to dissappoint Ovidians who are expecting great landscapes, I am working to improve myself.  I live next to a path that leads through some lovely hills in the English countryside, and so I have been venturing out there to sketch and patch over my fatal flaw as an artist (so, if the scenery looks a bit like the hills outside Cambridge, you now know why…)  The landscapes on the next few pages came a lot easier.

You may be saying to yourself, “what do you mean by ‘next pages’?”  Well, I don’t exaclty post these comics as I finish them.  I try to get through a comic a week, but I felt I needed a buffer zone; so, I actually draw well ahead to keep from missing updates.  So far, I’m actually a little behind, but the buffer is still there, and I have time to get my speed up.  It is a definite necessity in my mind to keep the momentum going, and not miss updates if I can help it; aside from technical difficulties, I will do my best to be on time!