Quote:
Originally Posted by John Isbell
A friend of mine argued in his Ph.D. thesis that Ovid may never have left Rome. He may have made the exile up:
Banished Voices: Readings in Ovid's Exile Poetry - Gareth D. Williams ...
https://books.google.com › History › Ancient › General
Cheers,
John |
John, I think that is not quite his entire thought, which is indeed gnarly. On the other hand, the proof of Ovid's absence from Rome is easy. He says so. If you want to believe that Williams believes deep in his witty soul that Ovid was holed up in a gilded cage on the Palatine, I have more to believe:
(a) that the world is flat;
(b) that the value of Pi is
precisely 3.00000000...., and not one drop more;
and (c) that the Piltdown Man's full name was Bob Bob Bob: (Bob -- son of Bob and Babs (daughter of Bess), the son of Bob (son of Bobalulu) and Babe (daughter of Barby, who was born Cecelia but shortened her name).
The argument that Ovid never left Rome is an awesomely cute chimera that rests
entirely on the lack of mention of such an exile by later writers, who, if they had enough smarts, would have said to each other in voiceless rustles: "
whisper, whisper... Mehercule, we don't want to remind the powers that be about Ovid's banishment, because, umm, maybe it could happen to us too if we say something inept, I mean, umm, look who's in power, or might be ...
whisper, whisper."
Alex Pope said "Nothing smarts so little as a fool."
Unfortunately, the copyright page of my copy of Wiliiams' dissertation makes no reference to Alexander Pope.