{"id":11276,"date":"2020-05-23T14:15:12","date_gmt":"2020-05-23T18:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/?p=11276"},"modified":"2020-05-26T10:49:43","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T14:49:43","slug":"penelope-to-odysseus-ovid-heroides-1-1-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/2020\/05\/23\/penelope-to-odysseus-ovid-heroides-1-1-36\/","title":{"rendered":"Penelope to Odysseus part 1 (Ovid, Heroides 1.1-36)"},"content":{"rendered":"<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-11276-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Ovid-Heroides-1-podcast-1.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Ovid-Heroides-1-podcast-1.mp3\">http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Ovid-Heroides-1-podcast-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<div id=\"attachment_11278\" style=\"width: 471px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.metmuseum.org\/art\/collection\/search\/436970\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11278\" class=\"size-large wp-image-11278\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Penelope-Met-461x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Penelope is not represented as the legendary wife of Odysseus but as a contemporary woman, dutifully engaged in needlework as she dreams about her husband, portrayed in the miniature before her.\" width=\"461\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Penelope-Met-461x1024.jpg 461w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Penelope-Met-135x300.jpg 135w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Penelope-Met-768x1706.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Penelope-Met-692x1536.jpg 692w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Penelope-Met.jpg 838w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11278\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Penelope (ca. 1868) by Charles-Fran\u00e7ois Marchal. Penelope is not represented as the legendary wife of Odysseus but as a contemporary woman, dutifully engaged in needlework as she dreams about her husband, portrayed in the miniature before her. Metropolitan Museum, New York.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Here begins what I plan to be a series on Ovid&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heroides\"><em>Heroides<\/em><\/a>, in preparation for an <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/2020\/05\/03\/2020-ovid-heroides-online-workshop-announcement\/\">open online seminar<\/a> on the <em>Heroides<\/em> with Chun Liu of Peking University, July 16-20, 2020. We will read and discuss several of the <em>Heroides<\/em> together. Please sign up and join us!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Penelope starts by letting Odysseus know she feels abandoned, and criticizes the Trojan war as not worth the pain it has caused to the women back home in Greece. Ovid makes it clear immediately that she knows the war is over (<strong>Troia iacet certe<\/strong>, Troy undoubtedly lies in ruins). <strong>Certe<\/strong> means that something is certain in the mind of the speaker, and is often used in protests: the unspoken protest here being \u201cyou should be back by now!\u201d <strong>Lento<\/strong> \u201cslow\u201d in the first line also makes this complaint. Other key words express her lonliness: <strong>deserto<\/strong> (empty), <strong>frigida<\/strong> (cold), <strong>relicta<\/strong> (left behind), <strong>viduas<\/strong> (alone)\u2014some of these adjectives apply to things (her bed, her hands) but they all emphasize her psychological state. Throughout the poem Ovid tests your knowledge of the Odyssey, and the first is an easy one, the reference to Penelope weaving (<strong>pendula tela<\/strong>). If you have read the Odyssey you know Penelope spends a good amount of time weaving, most famously the shroud of Laertes. The tela is the \u201cwarp,\u201d the upright threads into which the \u201cweft\u201d is woven. It is said to be <strong>pendula<\/strong> (\u201changning, suspended\u201d) which just means that it is upright, not that it is swinging from the rafters.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Haec tua P\u0113nelop\u0113 lent\u014d tibi mittit, Ulixe;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">n\u012bl mihi rescr\u012bb\u0101s attinet: ipse ven\u012b!<\/p>\n<p>Troia iacet <u>cert\u0113<\/u>, Dana\u012bs inv\u012bsa puell\u012bs;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">vix Priamus tant\u012b t\u014dtaque Troia fuit.<\/p>\n<p>\u014d utinam tum, cum Lacedaemona classe pet\u0113bat,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">obrutus \u012bns\u0101n\u012bs esset adulter aqu\u012bs!<\/p>\n<p>n\u014dn ego <u>d\u0113sert\u014d<\/u> iacuissem <u>fr\u012bgida<\/u> lect\u014d,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">nec quererer tard\u014ds \u012bre <u>relicta<\/u> di\u0113s;<\/p>\n<p>nec mihi quaerent\u012b spati\u014dsam fallere noctem<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">lass\u0101ret <u>vidu\u0101s<\/u> pendula t\u0113la man\u016bs.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 10<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Penelope refers to herself as <strong>puella<\/strong> in line 3, which seems not right, since she is a mature married woman, but I think Ovid is trying to say that she is still in love, that she is in the class of lovers (<strong>puella<\/strong> is the standard term for \u201cbeloved\u201d in Roman love poetry). He emphasizes this in the next section where Penelope talks about how afraid she is that Odysseus will get hurt, and that this is how lovers are, nervous and worried (<strong>solliciti<\/strong>). \u00a0She grows pale at the mention of Hector\u2019s name, or at the mention of the victory of one of Troy\u2019s other great champions, Memnon or Sarpedon. Here the testing of your mythological knowledge gets more intense. Hector: no problem there if you know the Iliad; the mention of the death of Antilochus is much trickier. Antilochus was a son of Nestor, mentioned in the Odyssey 4.187 as having been killed by the Ethiopian champion Memnon, son of the Dawn and a late arrival to Troy, after the Iliad ends. \u00a0Tlepolemus, according to Iliad 5.628\u2013665, was killed by Sarpedon, another great Trojan ally, from Lycia. She identifies these heroes by their victims because she says she gets nervous any time he gets news that any Greek has been killed, \u201cthe heart of the lover grows colder than ice.\u201d Again this emotion portrays her as a lover, not so much a wife, though of course a wife would be nervous, too.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Quand\u014d ego n\u014dn timu\u012b gravi\u014dra per\u012bcula v\u0113ris?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">r\u0113s est sollicit\u012b pl\u0113na tim\u014dris amor.<\/p>\n<p>in t\u0113 fing\u0113bam violent\u014ds Tr\u014das it\u016br\u014ds;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">n\u014dmine in Hectore\u014d pallida semper eram.<\/p>\n<p>s\u012bve quis Antilochum n\u0101rr\u0101bat ab hoste revictum,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 15<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Antilochus nostr\u012b causa tim\u014dris erat;<\/p>\n<p>s\u012bve Menoetiad\u0113n fals\u012bs cecidisse sub arm\u012bs,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">fl\u0113bam success\u016b posse car\u0113re dol\u014ds.<\/p>\n<p>sanguine Tl\u0113polemus Lyciam tepef\u0113cerat hastam;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Tl\u0113polem\u012b l\u0113t\u014d c\u016bra nov\u0101ta mea est.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20<\/p>\n<p>d\u0113nique, quisquis erat castr\u012bs iugul\u0101tus Ach\u012bv\u012bs,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">fr\u012bgidius glaci\u0113 pectus amantis erat.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Now Penelope makes it clear how she knows that the war is over and that Odysseus survived it: the other Greek leaders have all returned. <strong>Casto<\/strong> (23) makes it clear she has remained faithful, which she famously did, though pressed by numerous suitors. The altars are smoking (<strong>altaria fumant<\/strong>) with thank offerings, and loot from the war is being hung up as dedications (<strong>ponitur<\/strong>) in temples\u2014not a Homeric detail but one taken from later times. The returning warriors are describing their exploits to their parents and wives, who are giving thank offerings to the gods for their safe return. Penelope\u2019s exclusion from these celebrations is hinted at, a source of bewildered frustration for her and pathos for us. Ovid expands on the storytelling element of intimacy between husbands and wives, as Penelope dwells wretchedly on the happiness of others. In the process Ovid mentions some further mythological details for us to recognize and savor: the geography of Troy (<strong>Pergama<\/strong>), the Simois river, the promontory of Sigeum, the palace of Priam. The fact that the geography is drawn in wine on a table makes it clear this is happening at a welcome-home celebration of which she has been deprived. Ovid also now has a chance to mention the greatest of the Greek heroes, Achilles (<strong>Aeacides<\/strong>), and the famous episode toward the end of the Iliad where Achilles drags Hector\u2019s corpse around the walls. Ovid is the master of compressed, allusive narrative: all he says is that \u201chere (pointing to a spot on the diagram), mangled Hector terrified the galloping horses\u201d<\/em> <strong><em>h\u012bc lacer admiss\u014ds terruit Hector equ\u014ds<\/em><\/strong><em>). In a single line with one verb, one subject, two nouns and two adjectives, we get the key event (insulting of the corpse) and the key emotion (terror), without any mention of dragging. Focalizing it through the eyes of the horses, who stand in for us as viewers of the grisly spectacle, is a beautiful touch.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sed bene c\u014dnsuluit cast\u014d deus aequus am\u014dr\u012b.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">versa est in cinerem<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> sospite Tr\u014dia vir\u014d.<\/p>\n<p>Argolic\u012b redi\u0113re duc\u0113s, alt\u0101ria f\u016bmant;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 25<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">p\u014dnitur ad patri\u014ds barbara praeda de\u014ds.<\/p>\n<p>gr\u0101ta ferunt nuptae<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> pr\u014d salv\u012bs d\u014dna mar\u012bt\u012bs;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">ill\u012b victa su\u012bs Tr\u014dica f\u0101ta canunt.<\/p>\n<p>m\u012brantur i\u016bst\u012bque sen\u0113s trepidaeque puellae;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">n\u0101rrantis coni\u016bnx pendet ab \u014dre vir\u012b.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 30<\/p>\n<p>iamque<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a> aliquis posit\u0101 m\u014dnstrat fera proelia m\u0113ns\u0101,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">pingit et exigu\u014d Pergama t\u014dta mer\u014d:<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;h\u0101c \u012bbat Simois; haec est Sig\u0113ia tell\u016bs;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">h\u012bc steterat Priam\u012b r\u0113gia celsa senis.<\/p>\n<p>ill\u012bc Aeacid\u0113s, ill\u012bc tend\u0113bat Ulix\u0113s;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 35<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">h\u012bc lacer admiss\u014ds terruit Hector equ\u014ds.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> cinerem E\u03c2 <em>Knox<\/em>: cineres G\u03c9, <em>Loeb<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> nuptae <em>Heinsius<\/em> <em>Knox<\/em>: nymphae codd. <em>Loeb<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> iamque <em>G<\/em><em>\u03c2<\/em> <em>Knox<\/em>: atque <em>E<\/em><em>\u03c2 Loeb<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7701\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Ovid-Heroides-1-podcast-1.mp3\" title=\"Play\" onclick=\"return powerpress_embed_html5a('7701','http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Ovid-Heroides-1-podcast-1.mp3');\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-content\/plugins\/powerpress\/play_audio.png\" title=\"Play\" alt=\"Play\" style=\"border:0;\" width=\"23px\" height=\"24px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Ovid-Heroides-1-podcast-1.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/?powerpress_pinw=11276-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/files\/2020\/05\/Ovid-Heroides-1-podcast-1.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"Ovid-Heroides-1-podcast-1.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/icon.dickinson.edu\/podcast\/latinpoetry.rss?mt=2&amp;ls=1\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_itunes\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe on Apple Podcasts\" rel=\"nofollow\">Apple Podcasts<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here begins what I plan to be a series on Ovid&#8217;s Heroides, in preparation for an open online seminar on the Heroides with Chun Liu of Peking University, July 16-20, 2020. We will read and discuss several of the Heroides together. Please sign up and join us! Penelope starts by letting Odysseus know she feels [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[725,234848],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latin-poetry-podcast","category-ovid-heroides"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/latin-poetry-podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}