Elegy, Tragedy, and the Choice of Ovid (Amores 3.1)

The first poem of Ovid’s third book of Amores is usually thought to be a simple parody of Prodicus’ choice of Heracles, but it is in fact a much more sophisticated meditation on the possibility of a philosophical life choice. This chapter first offers brief discussion of other elegiac divine and quasi-divine epiphanies, of the similarities between this scene and the Judgment of Paris, and of the quintessentially elegiac problem of having two mistresses. It then treats other poetic and prosaic moments of choice, particularly those reminiscent of the choice of Heracles, which this poem clearly invokes. It focuses on the fact that epic is a far more likely alternative to elegy than tragedy, and speculates why Ovid might have chosen tragedy. Finally, the chapter suggests that Ovid’s disruption of the binary alternatives makes the genuinely philosophical point that living a virtuous life is not as simple as making a single choice.