Ovid\'s \"The Art of Love

Ovid's "The Art of Love -- the Art of subtly critiquing an empire?

The Art of Love" may sound like the title of an American self-help book that topped the bestseller charts during the 1970's, rather than one of the great works of Roman satiric poetry. But is Ovid merely a raunchier, Classical Roman version of Dr. Ruth -- or does he offer more profound insights about the nature of men and women, sexuality, and the Roman Empire? Despite the spoofing tone of the text, ultimately Ovid's work emerges as a valorization of the ethics of the personal, and of feelings, in contrast to Caesar's stress upon public spiritedness and the austerity of emerging Roman Empirical values.

The epic scope of Ovid's philosophy is evident in his frequent use of mythical and historical allusions. "You too, who search for the essence of lasting love, / must be taught the places that the girls frequent. / I don't demand you set your sails, and search, / or wear out some long road to discover them. / Perseus brought Andromeda from darkest India, / and Trojan Paris snatched his girl from Greece, / Rome will grant you lots of such lovely girls, / you'll say: 'Here's everything the world has had.'" (I.2) His meaning is clear -- one not need search far and wide for personal pleasure, everything is right in Rome, within the personal sphere of sexuality and the self, rather than far and wide, and gleaned as a result of military glory and exploration.

The poetic structure of "The Art of Love" takes the form of a kind of guidebook or travelogue, as it instructs the reader step-by-step in the form of a rulebook and map of the city. As the reader's guide, Ovid begins his satire with a self-depreciating tone. This makes the reader less apt to bridle at some of his digs at Rome and its leaders, as well as human follies. Humbly, he states "I am Love's teacher as Chiron was Achilles's, / both wild boys, both children of a goddess. / let the bullock's neck is bowed beneath the yoke, / and the spirited horse's teeth worn by the bit. / and Love will yield to me, though with his bow / he wounds my heart, shakes at me his burning torch. (I.1)

Ovid instructs the reader in the best ways to find love, beginning in the promenade, but then moving to the theatre. By basing his instruction in the physical, geographic structure of Rome he is able to satirize the city as well as the hungry eye of a man looking for love in all the right Roman places. By basing his observations in Rome, rather than in a generalized city, he is able to widen the scope of his satire beyond mere love, noting, in his instructions about picking up women in the theatre that "these shows were first made troublesome by Romulus, / when the raped Sabines delighted unmarried men." (1.3) Thus, Roman history is sent up as mere sexual longing and "rape" and by sending up Rome, he deflates the political rhetoric that stressed that Rome was the moral and political capital of the emerging ancient world.

If one doubts this, consider Ovid's most overly scathing prose is served for Caesar and contemporary politics. Even better than at plays, one can pick up women witnessing spectacles and triumphs: "When, lately, Caesar, in mock naval battle, / exhibited the Greek and Persian fleets, / surely young men and girls came from either coast, / and all the peoples of the world were in the City? / Who did not find one he might love in that crowd?

Ah, how many were tortured by an alien love! (I.4)

The implication is that while Caesar believes people flock to triumphs to see him, really the average man or woman is seeking to press his leg close to an attractive girl, using the press of the crowd as an excuse for his friendliness. Although this may not sound very scandalous, Ovid's implication is that while Caesar may believe people flock into public spaces to celebrate Roman glory, history, and the leadership of Caesar himself, really people are looking for the same thing -- personal affection rather than public spirited displays of affection for the Empire.

Thus it has always been so, Ovid suggests -- even in Homeric myth, Achilles sought instruction in love, not just military valour, and Roman empirical control, as generated by Romulus, resulted in rape as well as more territory in a glorious fashion for the nation. The attempt at the young Caesar to emulate the supposedly chaste and divine Gods in his moral standing and in his quest for military glory is sent up as Ovid states, "Caesar's courage flowers before its time. / Divine genius grows faster than its years, / and suffers as harmful evils the cowardly delays.../How old were you, Bacchus, who are still a boy, / when conquered India trembled to your rod?" Of course, Bacchus was the god of revelry and wine and misrule, not the image Caesar was attempting to cultivate for the empire, and in his public relations displays of triumphs. (I.4)