Thread by @DocCrom

#LatinForTheDay – 27 March #Ovid

“est quaedam—quicumque volet cognoscere lenam,
audiat!—est quaedam nomine Dipsas anus.
ex re nomen habet—nigri non illa parentem
Memnonis in roseis sobria vidit equis.
illa magas artes Aeaeaque carmina novit...

"...inque caput liquidas arte recurvat aquas;
scit bene, quid gramen, quid torto concita rhombo
licia, quid valeat virus amantis equae.
cum voluit, toto glomerantur nubila caelo;
cum voluit, puro fulget in orbe dies.
sanguine, siqua fides, stillantia sidera vidi;...

"...purpureus Lunae sanguine vultus erat.
hanc ego nocturnas versam volitare per umbras
suspicor et pluma corpus anile tegi.”

Ovid, Amores 1.8.1-14

'Right – well, if anyone out there needs to know a Madam,
Listen up – there’s this old biddy, Dipsas by name. Actually,
Dipsas by name, ‘Dipso’ by nature: she’s more likely to see
Pink elephants than Memnon’s mother’s pink horses!...

'But still she knows the occult arts, chunters out Circe’s cantrips,
Can make the rivers themselves run back towards their head.
She’s a dab hand with every herb, can set the thread awhirl
With her arcane wheel, can even milk magic from a mare in heat!...

'Whenever she wills it, the sky fills with scudding clouds;
Daylight shines bright in the high heavens at her command.
Trust me, I have seen with my own eyes the stars dripping blood,
The Moon herself sported a face flushed with crimson ichor....

'I fancy she even flits through the shadows of the night, in some
New shape, her wrinkly body bristling with flight-feathers.’

In this poem Ovid is describing Dipsas, the 'lena' whom he feels is ruining his relationship with Corinna by dripping poison in her ear, encouraging her to take up with a rich beau instead of a poet who may proffer merely 'fresh verses' (nova carmina) as gifts.

The Image at the head of this thread is 'Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus' by John William Waterhouse, 1891 (Gallery Oldham: 3.55/9).

Link - artuk.org/discover/artwo…

#LatinForTheDay #Ovid 🧵