Between Two Lives: Tiresias and the Law in Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Abstract

This paper places the legal terminology used in Ovid’s narration of the Tiresias myth (Metamorphoses 3.316-88) in its appropriate lexical and historical contexts, arguing that the story of Tiresias depicts significant changes to the legal system under Augustus, specifically the professionalization of law under the jurists and the regulation of private affairs by Augustus’ moral legislation. Ovid’s use of legal language must be interpreted as something more than ‘atmospheric effects’, and I show that the story, as the centerpiece of the third book, directly connects the intrusion of the public realm into the private realm to legal precepts and concepts of authority.

Keywords

• Ovid
• Metamorphoses
• Roman law
• Tiresias
• Augustus
• moral legislation