奥维德(前43～西元17年)

Ovid

拉丁语全名Publius Ovidius Naso

罗马诗人。他是罗马骑士阶级的成员，做过小官，但不久即弃职致力於诗歌，早期诗作《恋歌》、《列女志》、《论容饰》、《爱的艺术》和《爱的医疗》的共同主题是情爱和情爱的勾引，反映了当时社会的繁华、机巧和对声色犬马的追逐。奥维德在当时诗人中的地位稳固之後，便着手写作规模更为宏大的《变形记》，它集神话传说之大成，叙述各种变形的故事。《岁时记》记载罗马年历及其宗教节日。其诗作由於对古典神话作了富於想像力的阐释以及作为技巧成就卓绝的范例而产生巨大影响。西元8年，不明原因，遭奥古斯都放逐至黑海之滨，并在流放地死去。自传诗《哀伤》描述了他的生活。到了文艺复兴时期，奥维德的声誉日隆。他的古典诗对莎士比亚的影响很大。

English version：

前43～西元17年

Ovid

Roman poet. A member of Rome's knightly class, Ovid dutifully started an official career but soon abandoned it for poetry. His first work, The Loves, was an immediate success. It was followed by Epistles of the Heroines; The Art of Beauty; The Art of Love, one of his best-known works; and Remedies for Love, all reflecting the sophisticated, pleasure-seeking society in which he lived through themes of love and amorous intrigue. He was a well-established poet when he undertook perhaps his greatest work, Metamorphoses, on legends of transformations of human beings into nonhuman forms by gods; and Fasti (“Calendar”), an account of the Roman year and its religious festivals. His verse had immense influence because of its imaginative interpretations of classical myth and its supreme technical accomplishment. For unclear reasons, in AD 8 Augustus banished him to Tomis on the Black Sea; despite Ovid's many pleas, he was never allowed to return. He described his life in an autobiographical poem in Sorrows. Extensively read and imitated in the Renaissance, he is the classical poet who most influenced William Shakespeare.