Jilliyn Iannace (’26) shows how Ovid’s poem about the ring he has given to his beloved (Amores 2.15, Latin text at PHI; English translations by H.T. Riley 1885, and A.S. Kline 2001) begins by drawing on the ring a symbol of loyalty, but quicky veers off into a playful and risqué fantasy.
When you see a ring, what do you think of? The first thing that comes to many people’s minds is engagement. Rings have been a symbol of loyalty between two people for thousands of years, yet engagement rings did not become the symbol that we consider them until the rise of Christianity. Roman poets of the early first century discuss their love and desire for their girlfriends, but hesitate to give them gifts. Only Ovid dares to write a poem giving a ring to his girlfriend to show his loyalty to her. This is a part of his collection of love poetry called the Amores. The Amores are part of a larger genre called elegiac poetry which is defined by the distinctive elegiac meter of the poem and the content; typically discussing personal topics like love (Hinds & Kenney, 2015). While Ovid expresses all good intentions, his (and his girlfriend’s) infidelity undermines the meaning of loyalty of the poetic persona and leads the audience to question the devotion of other elegiac poets. The use of loyalty is ironic in the context of elegiac poetry.
Ovid claims that the ring is made from materials “in which nothing ought to be assessed except the love of the giver” (censendum nil nisi dantis amor, 2.15.2) to assert that the worth of the gift is dependent on the giver. Ovid intends the real gift to be the poem (James, 226) and his loyalty. The poem goes with the ring to outline the reasons that Ovid has sent it. In addition to this, he stresses the connection between his girlfriend and the ring, calling it “lucky” (felix, 2.15.7) because it will touch her. The ring’s function is to win over the beloved with flatteries and convince Ovid’s girlfriend to accept his loyalty. On the surface, Ovid does not appreciate the distance between him and his girlfriend, but it really allows him to express his desire and loyalty for her through the poem and fantasy. Ovid will undergo a metamorphosis, becoming the ring, which allows him to express his loyalty and the physical relationship that will come after her promise.
The first thing that Ovid does when he turns into a ring is come and fall into her breast (inque sinum mira laxus ab arte cadam, 2.15.14). Now Ovid is able to use the ring as more than a symbol of his loyalty. He can exert his agency and touch the beloved for his pleasure. With the metamorphosis, Ovid shows his true estimation of his loyalty. A poem previously serious becomes playful through the ring metamorphosis fantasy, and erotic through Ovid’s physical connection with his girlfriend as a ring. These ideas change the mood of the poem to one that is intended to thrill the audience.
Next, Ovid switches back into his promises of loyalty, revealing that the ring is a signet ring. Signet rings were used to seal documents and identify individuals with different engravings (Weingarten, 2021). Ovid, as the ring claims, that he will seal “secret tablets” (arcanas tabellas 2.15.15), meaning love letters sent by his girlfriend (McKeown, 323). However, Ovid makes it clear that he will “not sign a message painful to [him]” (ne signem scripta dolenda mihi, 2.15.18), meaning love letters sent to other men. At this point in the poem, Ovid has shown that he wants to be loyal to his girlfriend, although he has not explicitly stated that this is the purpose of the gift. Now he begins to ask loyalty from her in return. Ovid’s refusal to seal a message would require his girlfriend to be faithful by not allowing her correspondence with other men. Ovid also claims that, “if [he] will be given to put in the box, [he] will refuse to go” (si dabor ut condar loculis, exire negabo, 2.15.19). If Ovid is put in a jewelry box, he cannot see what the beloved is up to. Ovid wants to be with his lover always because he is loyal. But furthermore, he also wants to test his lover’s loyalty by seeing her interactions with other men when he is worn throughout the day. If she keeps and wears the ring, she will be faithful to him, but if she puts him in her jewelry box, she is seeing other men.
Martial, a poet who writes short poems used as gift tags, writes from the perspective of a jewelry box, , “often a heavy ring slips from greasy fingers, but your ring will find safety in my trust” (saepe gravis digitis elabitur anulus unctis / tuta mea fiet sed tua gemma fide, Epigrammata 14.123). The giver wishes that the recipient will use their gift and that the bond between the two individuals will benefit from the gift. This is the role of any gift: to express appreciation for a relationship between two individuals, whether platonic or romantic. Ovid uses the modest cost of the ring to argue for its continuous presence on the beloved’s finger (McKeown, 325). He claims that “[his girlfriend’s] tender finger would not refuse to bear [his] weight” (tener digitus ferre recuset onus, 2.15.22). Ovid says this mainly to keep himself out of the jewelry box, but also to claim that his love will not be oppressive. He also claims that “[he] would not be repulsive to you, [his] life” (non ego dedecori tibi sum, mea vita, futurus, 2.15.21). The ring, although as discussed above, did not cost much, would have been well-made and beautiful for the beloved to wear. In Rome, a guild of craftsmen created different rings for jewelers to sell (Kiernan & Henz, 998), but throughout the empire, even local ring makers selling cheaper jewelry made from copper alloys created fashionable rings. Ovid transitions back into a sexual content, suggesting that his girlfriend wear him as the ring “when [she] bathe[s] [her] body in warm showers” (cum calidis perfundes imbribus artus, 2.15.23). With the removal of her clothes, the sexual fantasy takes over the poem. Next, Ovid states that “[he] think[s], [his] limbs would rise with lust at [her] nakedness/ and [he], as that ring, will fulfill the man’s role” (puto, te nuda mea membra libidine surgent/ et peragam partes anulus ille viri, 2.15.25). This is a very vivid image, even for the Amores. This description is the climax of the poem and stresses Ovid’s wish for this poem to be received lightly before he changes back into a man and returns to the address of the ring.
After returning to his human form, Ovid tells the ring to “go, small gift” (parvum proficiscere munus, 2.15.27). He has one last request for the ring, which is to make sure his girlfriend knows the meaning of the poem and gift. In the last line, he summarizes the purpose: “let her feel that my loyalty is given with you” (illa datam tecum sentiat esse fidem 2.15.28). Ovid’s loyalty to his girlfriend is the reason for the gift.
While Ovid makes a claim for loyalty in this poem, he is certainly not throughout the corpus of the Amores. Two of his poems are dedicated to Cypassis, a maid of Ovid’s girlfriend. When she discovers their secret, Ovid asks “Yet surely I did not blush? Surely, I did not slip in any word to surrender a guilty mark of our secret sex?” (num tamen erubui? num, verbo lapsus in ullo/furtivae Veneris conscia signa dedi? 2.8.7). While Ovid asks his beloved for loyalty and promises his own in this poem, his loyalty might be circumstantial. Ovid’s girlfriend is also found to be unfaithful when Ovid tells her “I do not object, that you do not transgress, since you are beautiful/ but that it should not be necessary for miserable me to know it/ I am not a censor who orders you to become chaste/ but nevertheless I ask, that you try to conceal it” (non ego, ne pecces, cum sis formosa, recuso/ sed ne sit misero scire necesse mihi/ nec te nostra iubet fieri censura pudicam/ sed tamen, ut temptes dissimulare, rogat, 3.14.1). While Ovid asks for his girlfriend’s loyalty, he is aware that she cannot fully give it. In the same way, his loyalty cannot be fully given because he himself is unfaithful. Even so, he tells his beloved that the ring is a symbol of his love, and by promising loyalty, even conditionally, he demonstrates his playful take on elegiac poetry.
Ovid takes loyalty the most trivially out of all the elegiac poets. Propertius, an elegiac poet and predecessor of Ovid, rebukes a woman who tries to flirt with him, telling her that she cannot break the loyalty he has for his girlfriend, “and the more by which you fight to weaken our love/ the more it fails with this loyalty having been undertaken by both of us” (quo magis et nostros contendis solvere amores/ hoc magis accepta fallit uterque fide, Propertius 1.4.15). Propertius makes the same claim as Ovid, that both he and his girlfriend are loyal to each other. However, when presented with the opportunity to have sex with another woman, Propertius turns it down. In contrast, and as discussed before, Ovid is willing to sleep around, even with his girlfriend’s maid. Instead of focusing the whole poem on loyalty, Ovid focuses on a sexual fantasy in order to thrill his girlfriend as well as readers of the poem.
This poem was written to incite readers with its erotic content. Ovid stakes his claim on literary criticism and allows himself to trivialize the ring and the loyalty that goes with it. Catullus, a predecessor and model for Ovid and Propertius’ poetry, states that well-written “[poems] are able to incite longing” (et quod pruriat incitare possunt, Catullus, Carmina, 16.9). The distance between Ovid and his girlfriend creates a desire that is explored through Ovid’s fantasy as a ring. The sexual aspects of the poem are surely meant to incite desire and intrigue the audience. The ring is a symbol of loyalty, but one that is not taken too seriously through the sexual scenes in the poem. Ovid, as a lover and a poet, understands the nuances of his relationship with his girlfriend. Playfulness allows Ovid to come and go to the beloved as he pleases, and the ring will always be a reminder of loyalty but never a burdensome one.
Bibliography
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Kiernan, Philip, and Klaus-Peter Henz. “Rings from the Forbidden Forest: The Function and Meaning of Roman Trinket Rings.” Journal of Roman Archaeology 36, no. 1 (2023): 73–95. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1047759423000211.
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