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Ovid, Met. 1.4

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

C. D. Gilbert
C. D. Gilbert
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Extract

There has been much discussion of the phrase ‘perpetuum… carmen’ and of its relation to Callimachus' rejection of the (Aetia fr. 1. 3 Pfeiffer). Much less has been written about deducite in line 4. However it is, I believe, equally important for the ‘programme’ of Ovid's poem.

Deducere is a metaphor frequently applied to poetry in general with the sense of ‘to write, compose something.’ In certain contexts the reference is much more specific and indicates subtle and polished writing of the kind associated with Callimachus.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , May 1976 , pp. 111 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1976

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References

1 See TLL. v. 1, col. 282. 55 f. The metaphor is derived from spinning by ancient commentators and is often specifically employed in this way by Roman writers (e.g. Hor. hp. 2. 1. 225, quoted below). However Eisenhut, W. (in Gedenkschrift für Rohde, G., 1961, 91 f.) argues that in origin it stems from the use of ‘deducere’ illustrated by TLL v. 1, col. 280. 60 f. (= ‘contrahere, attenuare’, etc.), especially as applied to the human voice. This fits Cornificius fr. 1 (discussed below) admirably, since here at least the spinning metaphor seems completely absent.Google Scholar

2 Barrier, F. in his edition of Met. 1–3, p. 15, translates ‘weiterspinnen and geleiten’. As he points out, deducere is here applied to the gods and not, as normal, to the poet. Contra, W. Eisenhut, art. cit., 91, who only admits the meaning ‘fortflihren’ here.Google Scholar

3 Unlike Callimachus' Ovid's ‘perpetuum… carmen’ refers to temporal rather than thematic continuity. See A.S. Hollis's edition of Bk. 8, p. xii.

4 Coleman, R. in CQ 65 (1971)Google Scholar, 471, says, ‘Ovid has developed his collection of fables into a full-scale herivelat that is the antithesis of the and is sure that Call. would have approved. For the general problem of Ovid's intentions and of how far the poem is an epic, see Coleman, art. cit., 461 f., Hollis, A.S., op. cit., pp. xiii f., Brooks Otis, ‘Ovid as an Epic Poet’, ch. 3.Google Scholar