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The Reflection Of Ovid And The Expression Of Julius Caesar

Decent Essays

From the exile of the poet Ovid arose the epic poem Metamorphoses, a story that follows the creation of the Roman Empire from the beginning of time. Leading up to book XV Ovid continues to paint the gods in an unfavorable manner for their outrageous behaviors. Ovid exhibits a greater respect for those who exert intelligence than those who exceed in battle. Augustus Caesar, the adoptive son of Julius Caesar, was responsible for the exile of Ovid, in an attempt to implement censorship. For these reasons, Ovid disapproves of the deification of Julius Caesar, and, in fact
Firstly, the gods are distinguished from the humans strictly by their immortality, which is made clear throughout the epic. The gods often punish the humans when they do not act in the way that the gods wish, though the gods act in the same way (and sometimes even worse still.) It is apparent that Ovid his little respect for the gods because of this, which is why he does not agree with the deification of Julius Caesar. When Jupiter brings together a council of the gods to discuss the removal of the human race, he speaks of Lycaon, a man who was meant to kill Jove, but instead murdered another and ate his flesh (I.216-251). Lycaon was turned into a wolf, though Jupiter describes the man as maintaining the same beast-like spirit and tendencies, of which Jupiter states, ‘“Let them all/ Pay quickly the price they deserve- this is my edict”’ (I.250-251). This description compares to Jove’s own beast-like nature when he chased down Io who refuted his advances. When Io refused to lay with him, Jove took advantage of her and then transformed her into a cow to avoid ridicule from his wife Juno. This sort of hypocrisy makes it understandable why Ovid had little respect for the gods, and why he disapproved of Julius Caesar’s deification. There is no purpose for another god if the gods themselves contain the same human-like traits that they so very often condemn.
Another example of this inconsistency with the god's behaviors and their words is when immortal Minerva held a weaving contest with Arachne which ended with her transformation into a spider. The gods originally erased the human race because of the human’s savage doings such as vicious battles and

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