In Book XIV of the Metamorphoses, Ovid takes his epic for the first time into Italy, and continues from Book XIII his close intertextual engagement with Virgil's Aeneid. His tendentious treatment of his model subordinates Virgil's epic plot to fantastic tales of metamorphosis, including the erotic Italian tales of Circe Glaucus, Scylla, Picts and Canens. Other Roman myths include that of Pomona and Vertumnus, as well as events from Romulus' reign.
The deification of Aeneas and Romulus anticipate the poem's closing episodes of imperial apotheosis. This new commentary provides guidance to advanced undergraduate and graduate students for understanding Ovid's language, style, artistry and allusive techniques. The introduction discusses the major structures, themes and stylistic features of Book XIV, its place within the poem as a whole, and Ovid's interpretive imitation of Virgil's Aeneid.