The Life And Works Of Ovid And Virgil's Life

Ovid and Virgil are both talented writers from the First Century B.C. They are both known for creating amazing pieces of literature that are still enjoyed today. Since two talented Roman writers both lived in the same time period and the same area, is it possible that they have encountered each other at some point? Are their lives any similar or different? What about their writing styles? Understanding how Ovid lived, how Virgil lived, and their writing styles will answer these questions.

Publius Ovidius Naso was simple man from Sulmo, a little town about 90 miles east of Rome. Later, his father sent him and his older brother to Rome for better education. In Rome, Ovid studied rhetoric from some of the best teachers he had access too. Ovid was thought among his teachers of a remarkable speaker, but his father’s neglected his natural talent for verse-writing, so he had to pursue a more public lifestyle. First, he spent some time in Athens and then went to Asia and Sicily. “Afterward he held some minor judicial posts, the first steps on the official ladder, but he soon decided that public life did not suit him. From then on he abandoned his official career to cultivate poetry and the society of poets.”(Edward Kenney, 6-16-2013,”Ovid” pg.1) Ovid’s first work called the Amores had an instantaneous success, along with his other works: Epistolae Heroidum, or the Medicamina faciei, the Ars amatoria, and the Remedia amoris. All of these works reflected a brilliant, classy, pleasure-seeking culture in which he moved. The common theme of his early poems are love and amorous deception, but it is unlikely that they reflect Ovid’s own life. Of his three marriages, the first two were brief. But his third wife remained constant to him until h...

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...ansformation plays some part. The stories are told in order from creation of the universe to the death and deification of Julius Caesar. In many of the stories, mythological characters are used to demonstrate obedience or disobedience toward the gods, and for their actions they are either rewarded or punished by a transforming into an animal, vegetable, object, etc. The essential theme of the poem is passion, gives it more unity than other framing devices the poet uses. Ovid arrived in Tomis, his place of exile, in 9 A.D. In Tomis, books and civilized people were deficient, little Latin was spoken, and the atmosphere was harsh. In his loneliness and misery, Ovid turned back to poetry. The Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto were composed and sent to Rome a year from 9 A.D. They consist of messages to the emperor, Ovid’s wife, and his friends describing his miseries.