Ubi suadebit placidos nox umida somnos (Ov. Fast. 2.635)

Abstract

A study of a previously uncommented upon window reference of Vergil, Eclogues 1.55 through Aeneid 2.8-9 in Ovid, Fasti 2.635. The paper argues that the allusion to Ecl. 1.55 enriches our understanding of these lines on several levels. First, Ovid demonstrates his own appreciation of Vergilian intratextuality. Second, the allusion suggests a continuity between Tityrus’ pastoral locus amoenus, which Octavian was purported to have renewed, and the family cena that closes with a toast to Augustus as the pater of the Roman state. Lastly, the double reference to A. 2 and Ecl. 1 intertextually reinforces the calendrical turning away from the past and its dead to the living present initiated by the Caristia. A study of a previously uncommented upon window reference of Vergil, Eclogues 1.55 through Aeneid 2.8-9 in Ovid, Fasti 2.635. The paper argues that the allusion to Ecl. 1.55 enriches our understanding of these lines on several levels. First, Ovid demonstrates his own appreciation of Vergilian intratextuality. Second, the allusion suggests a continuity between Tityrus’ pastoral locus amoenus, which Octavian was purported to have renewed, and the family cena that closes with a toast to Augustus as the pater of the Roman state. Lastly, the double reference to A. 2 and Ecl. 1 intertextually reinforces the calendrical turning away from the past and its dead to the living present initiated by the Caristia.