something else i'm obsessed with: how incredibly sympathetic ovid can be towards victims of sexual assault. he gets a ton of undue slander online from people i suspect have not read any of his work, certainly not meaningfully, and within that he gets accused of misogyny n awful lot. both "misogyny" and "feminism" are modern concepts that rely on an understanding of gender quite different to that of imperial rome, but i'll entertain it nonetheless because the hate does irk me a lot.
a great example of this is the sabine women. it's a part of roman foundational legend, in which after the city is founded, they need women to continue the line, and basically steal them from a neighbouring settlement. it is not a positive tradition at all, and i think a lot of roman writers were very aware of that. in his ab urbe condita, livy presents it (ickkkk) as a necessary evil:
and now the roman state was become so powerful, that it was a match for any of the neighbouring nations in war, but, from the paucity of women, its greatness could only last for one age of man; for they had no hope of issue at home, nor had they any intermarriages with their neighbours. therefore, by the advice of the fathers, romulus sent ambassadors to the neighbouring states to solicit an alliance and the privilege of intermarriage for his new subjects. "that cities, like every thing else, rose from very humble beginnings. that those which the gods and their own merit aided, gained great power and high renown." (ab urbe condita 9)
it gets presented as something that is normal and necessary for the foundation of rome. romulus is presented as the righteous and pious one, while those who reject the notion are a rabble of youths who don't know better yet. the women are barely present and are presented even as willing because of the renown of the romans.
ovid, on the other hand, is far more concerned with the suffering of the women. the way that marriage and relationships are treated by the state is the very crux of his gripes with augustus, and that is most clearly represented in the wonderfully colourful ars amatoria. here's what he says in there about the sabine women:
amongst the applause (applause that was never artful then)
the king gave the watched-for signal for the rape.
they sprang up straightaway, showing their intent by shouting,
and eagerly took possession of the women.
as doves flee the eagle, in a frightened crowd,
as the new-born lamb runs from the hostile wolf:
so they fled in panic from the lawless men,
and not one showed the colour she had before. (ars amatoria 1)
it goes on way past this with more of the same, but you get the gist. ovid is focused entirely on the suffering and unwillingness of the women, giving them agency and not allowing patriotism to cloud his judgement. most interestingly, he refers to his own countrymen as "sine more", translated by kline here as "lawless" but literally "without restraint". it's worlds away from livy's and it's quite unique in that way.
this is your timely reminder to take ovid more seriously, he's amazing. top 10 poets of all time anywhere and i will not allow you all to deny yourself such an incredible catalogue over a misguided tumblr post you read.
