Ovid's Metamorphoses

A Reader for Students in Elementary College Latin

Christine L. Albright

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351967662
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Ancient Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Ovid's Metamorphoses is a Latin reader designed to partner existing elementary Latin textbooks.

The book features thirty compelling stories, graduated in difficulty and adapted from Ovid's epic Metamorphoses into prose. The original poem contains many different stories united thematically by the transformation which occurs in all of them; the epic features romance, seduction, humour, violence, monsters, and misbehaving gods.

Each chapter contains:

• 
  
  

• a Latin passage adapted from the epic

• 
  
  

• an accompanying vocabulary list

• 
  
  

• a short commentary to help with translation

• 
  
  

• a concise review of the specific grammar covered

• 
  
  

• a brief comment on a literary aspect of the poem, or featured myth.

Suitable for college students studying Latin at the elementary level, Ovid's Metamorphoses is designed to be used alongside elementary Latin textbooks. Preserving Ovid's language and highly vivid descriptions, this reader introduces students to the epic masterpiece, allows them to consolidate their understanding of Latin prose, and offers opportunities for literary discussion.

Christine Albright is the 2020 recipient of the CAMWS Bolchazy Pedagogy Book Award.

1 Creation begins

(Met. 1.5–150)

At the beginning of Book 1, Ovid offers an account of creation. He calls this primordial state “Chaos,” borrowing the term from the Greek poet Hesiod.

Ante terrās et aquās, nātūra est ūna sphaera. Sphaera nōn ordināta est. Massa indīgesta est. Nōn sunt stellae. Nōn est lūna. Terra, aqua, et aura sunt, sed terrae, aquae, et aurae sine formā sunt. Nōn sunt silvae. Nōn sunt āreae. Nōn sunt bestiae. Nōn sunt casae. Nōn sunt undae. Nōn rīpae sunt. Nōn piscīnae sunt. Nōn nāviculae sunt. Nōn Eurus, Zephyrus, Boreās vel Auster. Nōn sunt muscae. Chaos est. Nihil suam formam servat. Aliud aliīs obstat. Tum aliquis inordinātam māteriam ordinat.

Commentary

4 Nōn sunt undae. Nōn rīpae sunt: Notice that the subject of the sentence can appear in various positions with respect to the verb. That they are in the nominative case indicates that undae and ripae are the subjects of these sentences.

5 Nōn Eurus, Zephyrus, Boreās vel Auster: The names of the winds are all in the nominative case.

5–6 Nihil suam formam servat: The Latin word suus, a, um is a reflexive adjective, which means that it reflects back to the subject of the sentence and takes its meaning from that. Thus, it can mean his own, her own, its own, or their own. Like any adjective, it agrees with the noun it modifies in case, number, and gender, but you must determine what the subject is to translate it correctly. Here, the subject is nihil, so it should be translated its own.

aliquis, aliquid: someone, something

aliud … aliīs: one thing (nom.) … the others (dat.)

ante: (adv. and prep. + acc.) before

aqua, ae f.: water

ārea, ae f.: open space, plain, threshing floor

aura, ae f.: air, breeze, wind

Auster, Austrī m.: Auster, the south wind

bestia, ae f.: beast, animal

Boreās, ae m.: Boreas, the north wind

casa, ae f.: cottage, cabin, house

Chaos n.: Chaos, boundless empty space

Eurus, ī m.: Eurus, the east wind

forma, ae f.: form, shape

indīgestus, a, um: confused, unarranged

inordinātus, a, um: disordered, confused

lūna, ae f.: the moon

massa, ae f.: a mass, lump

māteria, ae f.: matter, material

musca, ae f.: a fly

nātūra, ae f.: nature

nāvicula, ae f.: little ship, boat

nihil n.: (indecl.) nothing

obstō, obstāre, obstitī, obstātum: to stand against, oppose (+ dat.)

ordinātus, a, um: ordered, organized

ordinō, ordināre, ordināvī, ordinātum: to put in order, arrange

piscīna, ae f.: a fishpond, reservoir

rīpa, ae f.: river bank, shore

servō, servāre, servāvī, servātum: to keep, save, preserve

silva, ae f.: wood, forest

sine: (prep. + abl.) without

sphaera, ae f.: globe, sphere

stella, ae f.: star

sum, esse, fuī, futūrum: to be

suus, a, um: (reflex. poss. adj.) his, her, its own

terra, ae f.: land

tum: (adv.) then, at that time

unda, ae f.: water, wave

ūnus, a, um: one, si...