Ovid Amores 3.4
1. Lines 1-4. Summarise the point that Ovid is making in this poem.
[2]
A girl who is guarded strictly by her husband is more likely to stray than one who is not.
2. Translate lines 5-10.
[15]
3. Lines 11-18. What point is Ovid making in these lines, and how does he make the point forcefully?
You should refer to both the content and the style of the Latin and support your answer with three
examples from the Latin text.
[6]
A girl who is allowed to run free is more likely to be chaste than one who is not. Address to husband,
contrast vetando, obsequio. Use of image of horse which is obedient only when not forced. Image of
thirsty man to illustrate point that we desire what we cannot reach; vetitum, negate, interdictis.
Negative vocabulary.
4. Lines 19-24. Explain the three references to mythological stories here, and show their relevance to
Ovid's argument.
[6]
Argus, Juno's watchman with 100 eyes, was outwitted by Jupiter in the story of Io; Jupiter got into
Danae's room though she had been shut away; Penelope however remained faithful to Odysseus in
the face of 108 suitors though she had been left without a guard.
5. Lines 25-32. What is it about a girl, according to Ovid, that really makes her desirable? You should
refer to both the content and the style of the Latin and support your answer with four examples from
the Latin text.
[8]
-we want what we cannot have and do not love with the permission of another; cupimus magis, furem
-it is not her face which pleases but the fact that her husband loves her so she must be worth
something facie, amore; nescioquid understatement
- a girl guarded by her husband in not chaste but an adulteress and the fear of being caught puts a
greater price on her; proba adultera cara; timor, timeo; vir adultera
- forbidden pleasure pleases, and the girl pleases if she can say that she is afraid; i alliteration, sola
first word, direct speech
6. Lines 43-48. What is the tone of Ovid's final advice to the husband and how is it conveyed?
[3]
with humour; not serious; stop being a stuffy old man; let the girl have her own way; cultivate her
friends and accept the presents they bring. This contradicts the rest of the poem – the implication
here is that the girl will misbehave anyway. multos dabit, aside; multa presents; minimo magna.
7. How seriously are you meant to take Ovid's advice in this poem? Support your argument by
looking closely at Ovid's use of comparisons and contrasts.
[10]
not seriously; continuous undermining of his argument especially at the end; lofty tone of mythological
similes; only foreigners are guarded; only country bumpkins guard their wives; contrast between
beauty and chastity, casta, formosam, facie; the contradictoriness of human nature, we want what we
cannot have; vir, coniunx, adultera all hint at a serious undertone; would Augustus have liked this
poem?