Ovid and Augustus: A Political Reading of Ovid's Erotic Poems by P. J. Davis

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS 335 Ovidand Augustus:A PoliticalReadingofOvid's EroticPoems.By P.J. DAVIS. London: DuckworthPublishers,2006. Pp. viii + 183. Cloth, $70.00.ISBN 0-7156-3559-X. Few will take exceptionto Davis' (D.) thesisthatOvid's erotic poetryfloutsmanycomponentsofAugustanideology.Indeed,a significant portionof thisbook is not new, but comprisesrevisedversions ofarticlesthathave appeared elsewhere.It is therefore all the moresignificant thatitmakes an originaland insightful contribution to thecrowded discussion ofOvid's relationshipwiththeAugustan regime. Aftera briefopening chapterthat probes Tristia2 forOvid's defenseofhis literary corpus,D. spends two chaptersinvestigating the nature and manifestations of Augustan ideology. In the first, whichis by farthe mostimportantin thebook, D. seeks to undermine Duncan Kennedy's influentialdeconstructionof the terms "Augustan" and "anti-Augustan."' In particular,he adduces passages fromAugustus' Res Gestaeto challenge Kennedy's assertion that "no statement(not even made by Augustus himself)can be categorically'Augustan' or 'anti-Augustan'." The strengthof the argumentlies in D.'s abilityto confront Kennedyon his own terms, adroitlyhandlingthecomplexissues ofreceptionthatformthebasis ofKennedy's argumentthattheideological allegiancesofindividual readerswill determinetheirinterpretation of a work,whateverthe author'sown loyaltiesmayhave been. Withsimilarskill,D. addresses theproblemsofauthorialintent that necessarily accompany his counter-argument that Augustus wrote the Res Gestaeto trumpethis accomplishments.D. concedes thattheRes Gestaecan be read negatively,remindingus ofTacitus' accountof theinterpretive communitiesthatespoused positiveand negative views of the documentwhen it was firstpublished (Ann. 1.9-10);buthe does notallow thatAugustushimselfconceivedofhis workas anything otherthana positiverecordofhisaccomplishments. D.'s disagreementwithKennedymightseem to stemmerelyfroma difference in criticalapproach,but D. ultimately exposes fatalinconsistenciesin Kennedy's subjectivismand proposes a morebalanced approach thataccounts foran intention-bearing authorand the receptionof his textby readerswho may or may not share his ideologicalloyalties . In thebalance ofhis first chapter,D. tacklestheissue oftheliterarypersona ,again rebutting a view held by Kennedy(and Gale and Cairns). Averringthat"thereis no separationbetween authorand persona" in Roman poetry(p. 20), D. remindsus of Ovid's failed 1"'Augustan' and 'Anti-Augustan':Reflectionson Terms of Reference,"in A. Powell,ed.,RomanPoetry andPropaganda intheAgeofAugustus(London, 1992)26-58. 336 BOOK REVIEWS attemptin Tristia2 to base his defenseon just such a division. He concludes witha call for"a betterway ofestablishingwhethera text ispro-oranti-orun-Augustan,"and suggeststhat"thatway involves consideringthe relationshipbetween the textunder investigation and whatwe call 'Augustan' ideology"(p. 22). Unfortunately, D.'s articulation ofhis proposed methodforconsideringthatrelationship lacksthestrength, clarity and organization of his analysis and refutation of Kennedy. Any single chapterthat seeks to redefinethe scholarlyapproach to Augustan ideology is bound to laborunder such ambition.But D. seeks to limitthescope ofhis discussionto theSecular Festivaland theAugustanForumas thenon-literary representatives ofAugustanideologyagainstwhich he will read Ovid's eroticworksin laterchapters.Because oftheextentand interconnectedness ofAugustus' buildingprogram,thediscussionnecessarilyexpands toencompass muchoftherestofRome. Itis accordinglyeasy tobecome distracted by digressionsand superfluousdetails .Nevertheless, D. ultimately succeeds in showinghow theSecularFestivaland theAugustanForumexude Augustanideology ,butat thecostofstraying from histopicofOvid and Augustus. Ovid may make only a cameo appearance in the chapterson Augustus,but he is prominentin the remainingfive.D. devotes a chaptereach to theHeroides, Amores, ArsAmatoria and Remedia Amoris ,and appends an epilogue in whichhe considerstheeroticworks as theyappear in the exile poetry.Althoughit will be obvious to mostreadersthatOvid's Amores and especiallytheArsAmatoria contravenethe morals espoused by the Augustan regime,D.'s subtle readingofthesepoems contributes much to thediscussion,and his observationswill be ofinterest to specialistsin Ovidian poetryand non-specialistsalike fortheirinsightinto thefinerpointsofOvid's criticism ofAugustus. More innovativeand strikingis the chapteron the Heroides, in which D. argues thatOvid "focusesnot on thegloriesofmasculine achievement,but on its cost" (p. 49). Althoughthe women of the Heroides are "committed toa specifically Augustanideal ofmarriage" (p. 50), theyreceivenothingbut griefas a rewardfortheirfidelity. As examples,D. offers the lettersof Deianira, Laodamia and Dido. Deianira lamentstheinfidelity ofherhusband Hercules witha prisonerofwar ;Laodamia bewails theabsenceofProtesilausand encourages her husband in vain to abandon his desire formilitary glory; Dido decries her abandonmentby her unfaithful husband Aeneas, theancestorofAugustus himself.D. concludes thattheHeroides exposes a flawintheflagshipmorallegislationoftheAugustanregime. Strictly speaking,theJulian LawontheSuppression ofAdultery (18 BCE) concerns only female sexualityand social status; its definitionof adulteryhingeson thestandingofthewoman involved.As D. dem- BOOK REVIEWS 337 onstrates,"the law regulatedmale sexualityonly to the extentthat menwere requiredtorefrain fromextramarital sex with'respectable' women ... [butthey]could have sexwith'unrespectable'womenwith impunity" (p. 70).Forthesereasons, however bitterly thewomenin theHeroides might complain oftheir lovers'infidelity, thelawtacitly permits it. Eachchapter endswitha conclusion, butD. has notgivenus a conclusion tothebookas a whole.Rather, hemovesfrom hischapter ontheRemedia Amoris toanepilogue that discusses howOvidrevisits hiserotic poetry intheworks from exile. Thistactic suggests that work remains before anyconclusions canbe...