The Re-Imagination of a Letter-Writer and the De-Construction of an Ovidian Rape Narrative at Ars Amatoria 1.527-64


 
 
 
Ovid’s writing is infused with the retelling of known myths and the portrayal of heroes and heroines, whose figurae held a central role in Greek and Roman literature. This article argues in favour of reading Ariadne’s story at Ars am. 1.527-64 as a rape narrative. The exploration of the passage in question and its comparative reading with other poems (such as Prop. 1.3 and the Ovidian version of the rape of the Sabine women), illustrates and explains why Ovid reimagines Ariadne as a victim of erotic violence. 
 
 
  
 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
It is generally acknowledged that Ovid's work is characterised by different types of repetition, especially in his earlier works such as the Heroides and the Ars Amatoria. 1 Nevertheless, this re-introduction of heroines and mythological narratives is not limited to mere repetition. On the contrary, it often takes the form of re-interpretation and re-imagination of wellknown stories. One of the most well-known examples of Ovidian repetition and -as this article suggests -of re-imagination is that of Ariadne, whose story appears three times in the poet's corpus, 2 with the first extant account appearing at Heroides 10, continuing in the Ars Amatoria (1.527-64) and concluding in the Fasti (3.459-516). The scholarly approach to the Ovidian accounts of this mythological story displays a certain tendency to discuss the three passages either in relation to each other or in comparison to the Catullan ecphrasis that presents the first extensive version of Ariadne's myth, focusing on matters of allusion. 3 This article diverges from other scholarly readings by discussing and focusing primarily on the second Ovidian version of Ariadne -as it is narrated in the Ars Amatoria -aiming to illustrate its major narrative variation. Of the three Ovidian passages, the Ars Amatoria version appears to have drawn little scholarly interest (in comparison to the other two passages), mainly because of its length and its function as a digression. The general consensus concerning this particular version is that it establishes allusion to both the Catullan Ariadne and the Ovidian Ariadne of Heroides 10. However, as this article suggests, Ovid shatters the intrinsic web connecting the two pre-existing versions of Ariadne's story, de-constructs her imago and transforms her from a lamenting deserted heroine with a vox, who expresses her complaints verbally and is heard (at least by the external readers), to a deserted heroine who loses her voice and is portrayed as the victim within a rape narrative.
The de-construction of the figura of a lamenting and abandoned Ariadne within an epistolary framework and its re-imagination and subsequent re-labelling as the figura of a rape victim at Ars am. 1.527-64 is crucial because it demonstrates the major change that Ovid brings to the treatment of the specific heroine, creating an interesting variation from pre-2 I do not consider the account in the Metamorphoses (8.171-82) as one of the main accounts for two reasons; firstly it is very brief and secondly it does not include a monologue or a speech of the heroine. However, when necessary the passage will be included in the discussion. 3 Selected studies on allusion in Latin literature in general include Conte 1986;Hinds 1998: 99-122. On Ovidian allusion see Barchiesi 2001: 79-103, 141-54. On Ovidian allusion in the Heroides in particular see Barchiesi 2001;Jolivet 2001: 193- vious representations of Ariadne (including his own portrayal of the heroine as a letter-writer). In support of this argument, not only previous treatments of the story will be taken into consideration, but also two rape narratives involving other elegiac heroines, namely the Propertian Cynthia (1.3) and the Ovidian Sabine women (Ars am. 1.89-134), 4 as well as scholarly approaches of Ovidian rape narratives, addressing how and why Ovid introduces this novelty to his second treatment of Ariadne.

THE RE -IMAGINATION AND THE DE -CONSTRUCTION OF ARIADNE AS A RAPE VICTIM
Ovid's portrayal of Ariadne as a letter-writer within the boundaries of his epistolary collection involves a de-construction in his second version of the heroine. In Heroides 10, his first extant version of the story, Ariadne as the supposed letter-writer and narrator delivers a monologue that aims to convince both the internal reader (Theseus) and the external readers of her dire situation and the need for her rescue. 5 The monologue, as a technique, enables the poet to focus on the heroine and her feelings in a specific temporal moment (enriched with the inclusion of past memories and worries for the future). However, the Ars offers a better treatment of the particular story as a whole than the letter, despite the substantial reduction in length (the digression covers merely thirty-seven lines): 4 I follow the Oxford edition for Ovid (Kenney 1994) and Propertius (Heyworth 2007a); the Teubner edition for Catullus (Eisenhut 1983) and Vergil (Conte 2009   ('The Cretan maid wandered distractedly on the unknown sand, where little Dia is lashed by the sea waves. Just as she came from sleep, clad in an ungirt tunic, barefoot, with yellow hair unbound, she cried upon Theseus over the deaf waters, while an innocent shower bedewed her tender cheeks. She clamoured and wept together, but both became her; nor was she made less comely by her tears. Again she beats her soft bosom with her hands, and cries, 'He is gone, the faithless one; what will become of me?' 'What will become of me?' she cries: then o'er all the shore cymbals resounded and drums beaten by frenzied hands. She fainted for fear, and broke off her latest words; no blood was there in her lifeless frame. Lo! Bacchanals with tresses streaming behind them, lo! wanton Satyrs, the god's forerunning band; lo! drunken old Silenus scarce sits his crookbacked ass, and leaning clings to the mane before him. While he pursues the Bacchanals, and the Bacchanals flee and again attack, and while the unskilful horseman urges his beast with a rod, he falls off the long-eared ass and topples head-foremost and the Satyrs cry, 'Come, get up, father, get up!' And now on his car, that he had covered with grape-clusters, the god was giving the golden reins to his yoked tigers: voice, colour-and Theseus, all were gone from the girl; thrice she tried flight, thrice fear stayed her. She shuddered, as slender stalks are shaken by the wind, or as the light rush that trembles in the watery marsh. 'Lo, here am I', said the god to her 'a more faithful lover; have no fear, Cretan maid, thou shalt be the spouse of Bacchus. For thy gift take the sky; as a star in the sky thou shalt be gazed at; the Cretan Crown shall often guide the doubtful bark.' He spoke, and lest she should fear the tigers leapt down from the chariot; the sand gave place to his alighting foot; and clasping her to his bosom (for she had no strength to fight) he bore her away; easy is it for a god to be all-powerful. Some chant 'Hail Hymenaeus!' some shout 'Euhoe, Euhian!' So do the bride and the god meet on the sacred couch.') The story in the Ars is divided into three parts and, unlike the letter, it covers Ariadne's present and future situation in a clear chronological or-der, with the first two parts creating explicit allusions to both the Catullan ecphrasis and the Ovidian letter. 6 The episode begins with the introduction of Ariadne and the description of her desertion on the shores of Dia by Theseus (Ars am. 1.527-36), which reflects the first section of the letter where the heroine describes her own actions on the island after she has realised her situation (Her. 10.7-58). Despite the differences in length, structure and perspective, a verbal and thematic sequence occurs from one account to another. Most importantly, the Ars story continues from where it stops in the Heroides. Ariadne's last words in the letter summarise and highlight the three features that reflect her lamentation, i.e. her hands (Her. 10.145-46), hair (Her. 10.147) and tears . The new account re-introduces all three features (Ars am. 1.530,534,535). The end of the first account then is alluded to thematically and verbally by the beginning of the second. Ovid leaves Ariadne weeping at Her. 10.148 (per lacrimas oro) and that is the motif he stresses at Ars am. 1.533 (clamabat flebatque simul, sed utrumque decebat 'she clamoured and wept together, but both became her'), creating a thematic and visual bridge between the two texts. The imago of a lamenting heroine on the shore becomes the connecting thread between the two Ovidian passages.
The second part is devoted to the arrival of the Maenads that interrupts Ariadne's brief speech. In this part, a description of the Maenads and of Silenus is incorporated which functions as an introduction to the god Bacchus (Ars am. 1.537-48). In the third part Bacchus himself finally appears, addresses Ariadne and offers marriage to her, thus supplying her with specific means of rescue and a clear solution to the problem faced by the abandoned heroine (Her. 1.549-64). Interestingly, her meeting with Bacchus replaces in the new account her encounter with Theseus, which is presented in the letter in the form of a digression to the past and a mnemonic recalling of the fateful meeting that leads the heroine to her static position as a deserted heroine within an epistolary setting . What is more, the heroine's epistolary monologue ends with her terror that she will die on the island without the proper funerary rituals, as well as with her final address to Theseus, hoping to convince him to return for her . The new account provides an answer to her cries for help with the arrival of the god and cleverly stages a wedding ceremony, which replaces the funerary ritual described in the letter .
It is evident that the story in the Ars has a beginning, middle and an end (or at least that is the illusion created) as it manifests a linear structure and story-line, something that does not occur in the letter. Unlike the letter, Ariadne's story in the Ars is presented as a digression narrated by the male praeceptor amoris, 7 supplementing and explaining an argument in the main text, and following thus Catullus' incorporation of the heroine's story within another story in the epyllion. 8 In contrast to the epistolary version of Ariadne, the narrator's perspective dominates this new account and most importantly the male character's perspective (i.e. Bacchus) is introduced for the first time in a Roman treatment of the story. 9 On a first reading, this variation does not seem out of place since the god of wine and tragedy appears within the Ars Amatoria as part of the praeceptor amoris' amatory advice to his male readers. On a second reading, however, the god's appearance is attributed an importance, not  2006: 190;Warden 1998: 398-413;Deroux 1986;Duban 1980: 777-78;Putnam 1972;Kinsey 1965: 911-12. For a compelling cultural reading of Catullus 64 see Dufallo 2013: 39-73, who concludes (at p. 73): 'Poem 64, in short, does not emerge from or produce a stable impression of image or text, past or present, Greekness or Romanness, but offers its audience an ironic and yet sympathetic perspective on a kind of cultivated play blurring these categories as they intersect with others: objecthood and subjecthood, love and heroism, the personal and political.' 9 Cf. Catull. 64.249-64. The Neoteric poet offers a description of the arrival of the god and of his entourage, that does not include a speech of the god. This omission offers a narrative opportunity that Ovid exploits successfully. The second Ovidian version re-introduces Bacchus clearly, echoing Catullus to a degree, but it develops the god's role in a more explicit manner than his model by including a brief speech by the god (Ars am. 1.555-58). evident in previous versions of the story or scholarly readings. As the discussion will demonstrate, the god's arrival and his very presence are crucial pieces in the construction of the rape narrative, as is the confinement of the heroine's speech to two verses (Ars am. 1.534-35), that limits significantly the importance of the female perspective in this new narrative. Rape stories are common in Ovid's poetic corpus, especially in his later works, such as the Metamorphoses and the Fasti, and thus have attracted the attention of many scholars. Paradoxically, the Ariadne passage in the Ars is generally not considered an Ovidian rape narrative. 10 In fact, previous treatments of the heroine's myth do not include the rape theme explicitly. This re-interpretation of the digression as a rape narrative was initially triggered by an argument made by Wiseman who, in his discussion of the Catullan ecphrasis, suggests that the Neoteric poet is alluding to a version of the story that indicated Bacchus' intention as being not marriage but rape at Catullus 64.253: te quaerens, Ariadna, tuoque incensus amore ('looking for you, Ariadne, and on fire with passion for you'). 11 To strengthen his argument, the scholar offers as proof a comment on a painting of the god in Pausanias 1.20.3 (Ἀριάδνη δὲ καθεύδουσα καὶ Θησεὺς ἀναγόμενος καὶ Διόνυσος ἥκων ἐς τῆς Ἀριάδνης τὴν ἁρπαγήν 'Ariadne asleep, Theseus putting out to sea, and Dionysus on his arrival to carry off Ariadne'), 12 where the Greek word ἁρπαγή indicates rape. 13 Despite the scholar's intriguing reading of the Catullan version, there are 10 Both Murgatroyd 2000: 75 n. 2 and Richlin 1992: 166 suggest that there are only two rape stories in the Ars Amatoria: the rape of the Sabines and the tale of Achilles and Deidamia. Richlin has detected specific features that appear repeatedly in rape stories throughout the Ovidian poetic corpus. The application of her approach (although it is not as detailed as Murgatroyd's) also strengthens the argument in favour of the construction of a rape setting at Ars am.  Godwin 1995. 12 Wiseman 1977 two main issues with this approach. On the one hand, Wiseman's approach is based on the use of a later author. None of the previous Greek accounts of the myth use the particular word when referring to Bacchus' attitude towards Ariadne. On the other hand, the Catullan text itself does not appear to create explicitly a rape setting, but rather a wedding ceremony. 14 However, the same cannot be said for the Ovidian text, where the lines between salvation and victimisation are blurred.
It becomes obvious that Ovid implicitly de-constructs his previous version of Ariadne as a static figura of an abandoned heroine depicted in a letter and attributes to her new traits that are in keeping with a rape victim within the boundaries of his new poetic work. As mentioned earlier in the discussion, the god's arrival is central to this re-interpretation of the text, as it enables the male reader to envision a new storyline for Ariadne as a rape victim and it triggers what Murgatroyd considers one of the functions of a stereotypical Ovidian rape narrative. Murgatroyd has suggested a very detailed narratological approach to rape stories in the Fasti in particular, which applies as well to earlier works such as the Ars Amatoria. The scholar argues that there are twenty-six functions in the Fasti rape stories and that these functions appear in three different stages, 15 although these stories do not have all the functions or stages. 16 The first stage includes the events before the rape, the second stage refers to the act of rape itself, whereas the third stage includes the subsequent events related to the rape. With a simple reading it becomes evident that all three stages appear during the narration of Ariadne's story in the Ars. To be more precise, out of the four functions of the first stage the one that appears is the 'arrival' of the rapist (Bacchus) at verse 549. 17 However, before this divine appearance, the readers are provided with an imago of the soon to be victim at the beginning of the passage. Ariadne 14 Regarding the Catullan wedding ceremony see Forsyth 1980, who suggests that Catull. 64 constructs a marriage between Ariadne and Bacchus rather than a rape and bases his argument on verbal evidence from the poem itself. 15 Murgatroyd 2005: 67. For reasons of brevity I will mention only the functions directly applied to the specific passage. 16 Murgatroyd 2005: 67. 17 On this function see Murgatroyd 2005: 67. has just been awakened from sleep (utque erat e somno, 1.529), 18 with her loose dress (tunica velata recincta, 1.529), bare feet (nuda pedem, 1.530) and her dishevelled blond hair (croceas irreligata comas, 1.530) creating the impression of her sexual availability and a possible consensual encounter with the god. 19 What is noteworthy regarding this description of Ariadne is that it echoes the description of Corinna at Am. 1.5.9 with the repetition of the phrase tunica velata recincta. This is intriguing for the re-interpretation of the Ovidian Ariadne; Amores 1.5 is one of two examples of elegies -along with Prop. 2.15 -describing a successful sexual encounter between the amator and his puella. 20 By connecting the two passages with 18 On the importance of somnus (combined, however, with wine) in Ovidian rape narratives see Hejduk 2011: 21, whose discussion focuses on rape narratives in Fasti book 2. 19 The reference to blond hair seems to foreshadow Ariadne's marital status since it is often used within the context of marriage. Cf. In particular, the naked Arethusa flees from her rapist and, thus, is portrayed as 'a rare heroine, defeater of a rape attempt', as characterised by Anderson 1996: 557. Contrary to Ariadne, the heroine herself, Arethusa, is the one offering the visual and emotional portrait. What is even more intriguing is that she explicitly connects her nudity with male desire and in fact uses the former as an explanation for the latter. It becomes the imagery of a loose tunic and dishevelled hair, 21 Ovid attributes a distinctive sexual availability to Ariadne, suitable for a puella within an amatory work. This display of the woman's body preceding the rape appears often in these narratives. 22 In the Ars passage, the description of the heroine's figura justifies her victimisation under the male gaze of the god and of the reader(s), a gaze that dominates the text. Ariadne's perspective is nonexistent at this point of the narrative and the readers are to assume that her gaze is distorted, hence the inclusion of somnus. The lamenting heroine has just woken up; she is still under the influence of sleep and her mind is in a state of haze, meaning that what she sees and what she perceives as real could simply be a figment of her post-sleep confusion and imagination -or at least that is the illusion created by the praeceptor amoris.
Because of the sleep-induced haziness, Ariadne's reaction to the god's arrival echoes another main feature of an Ovidian rape scene -the combination of fear and flight: 23 Ariadne's fear upon seeing the god is comevident that nudity, within the context of these passages, indicates the objectification and victimisation of these heroines. 21 On the erotic connotations of the loose tunic at Ov. Am. bined with an unsuccessful attempt to flee (terque fugam petit, terque retenta metu est 'thrice did she essay flight, thrice did fear restrain her', Ars am. 1.552). The concept of fear triggering an endeavour to escape vividly recalls rape stories narrated by Ovid at a later stage of his career. 24 What is more, the use of similes constitutes another feature of Ovidian rape narratives. 25 In the passage in question, the simile creates the imago of Ariadne shaking, a reaction triggered by her fearful state (Ars am. 1.553-54). The choice of verbs (horruit and tremit) illuminates the heroine's new fear of a possible rape. 26 From the second stage, then, of a stereotypical Ovidian rape narrative three out of ten functions are evident in the episode: the 'flight' of the victim (in this case unsuccessful) at verse 552 that is followed by the rapist's attempt to reassure and 'calm' the victim at verse 556 (pone metum suffers the ardent wooing of the god.') Europa's fear is the cause of new beauty at Ov. says Bacchus to Ariadne) 27 as well as the implied rape at verse 561 with the use of pugnare. 28 The implication and the creation of subtle rape imagery are common in Ovid, as his rape narratives are not explicit. 29 The victimisation of the heroine is highlighted further with the explicit 'recompense' offered to her. In general in later Ovidian rape narratives (especially in the Metamorphoses) the act of rape is often followed by a transformation of the rape victim, which is usually presented as punishment. 30 However, in this passage 'recompense' and not 'punishment' is offered to the heroine, which again is not unusual; 'recompense' in the form of both marriage and a gift at verses 556-58 is one function (out of the 11 mentioned by Murgatroyd) that appears in the third stage of a typical Ovidian rape narrative. 31 The god promises that the heroine will 27 The exact phrase pone metum is repeated in the narration of Lucretia's rape at Ov.
Fast Once we acknowledge the re-interpretation of this passage as an Ovidian rape story, then it is possible to detect another parallel with the subsequent rape stories, that of the connection with aetiology. The rape stories in the Fasti function as means to offer aetia, a role that the Ariadne story has as well. 35 The aetiological aspect of Ovidian rape narrative is also evident in the Ars version of Ariadne, which presents an aetion associated with a dual transformation, creating a prelude of the transformation stories of the . The reference to the marital union between the god and the heroine on a first reading seems to contradict this opinion. The marriage imagery initially appears to break the illusion of the rape setting, as it creates an inconsistency within the narrative. However, marriage often functions as recompense for rape, as it is indicated by Murgatroyd 2005: 68. 35 Murgatroyd 2000: 84-86 explains that these rape narratives sometimes begin with a concern for origins, thus they are connected with aetiology. What is more, their endings usually involve aetiology, reversal of fortune, a new status (amongst others). In the Ariadne episode, these elements appear clearly. 36 As Richlin 1992: 162 highlights the rape narratives of the Metamorphoses are often associated with twisted versions of love, death, divine punishment, nature, wars and transformation itself, whereas in the Fasti they are interwoven with the aetiology of the Roman religious calendar.
The re-imagination and transformation of the heroine's status is further highlighted with the explicit incorporation of the theme of catasterism, which is attested already in the Greek literary tradition. It appears in four Greek accounts, prior to Ovid; Pherecydes' account in the scholia on the Odyssey 11.322, in Eratosthenes' Catasterismi 5, in Aratus' Phaenomena 71-73 and in Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica 3.997-1004. A brief overview of the sources on the catasterism reveals one variant element of Ovid's account: the image of Ariadne being transformed into a star and not her crown. All the surviving sources (three of which are Hellenistic) name the crown as the transformed star, none names Ariadne. 37 Only in Ovid is the heroine herself said to be transformed into the star (caelo spectabere sidus, Ars am. 1.557). This differentiation by no means implies that Ovid is not aware of the well-known story of the crown's transformation. On the contrary, the poet's awareness of the catasterism of the crown is suggested by its inclusion in his later re-writings of the Ariadne mythos at Met. 8.  The name given to the star (Cressa Corona, Ars am. 1.558) is proof of his familiarity with this detail regarding the catasterism already in the Ars, whereas Ovid's use of the noun corona at Met. 8.178 and Fast. 3.513 suggests that he perceives the crown's catasterism as an established feature of the tale. Thus, the poet includes two types of transformation in his treatment: both the heroine and the crown are transformed. The former, which is mentioned first, is Ovid's variation of the story, whereas the latter provides the opportunity to establish allusion to the preceding Greek treatment of Ariadne. It is interesting that Ovid offers a narrative that leads not only to the transformation of the crown to a star, but also to the transformation of the heroine. One plausible and reasonable interpretation is the one given by Hollis,39 who argues that Ovid is including in the Ars episode a rare account attested in Propertius which presents Ariadne elevated and transformed into a star at 3.17.7-8: te quoque enim non esse rudem testatur in astris / lyncibus ad caelum vecta Ariadna tuis ('for you are not without experience: to that, carried by your lynx-drawn chariot to heaven, Ariadne bears witness among the stars'). 40 But, it is not simply a matter of alluding to another source that presents another kind of catasterism and transformation. Ovid clearly favours an obscure account of the catasterism, instead of the popular version. He has already succeeded in differentiating his version from the Catullan ecphrasis, as the latter does not mention the catasterism at all. So, the question still remains as such: why incorporate the heroine's catasterism?
The answer can be found in the re-imagination of the letter-writer and her portrayal as a rape victim. This new Ovidian version of Ariadne differs both from his own previous version of Ariadne as a letter-writer and from the Catullan Ariadne as the speaking figura of an ecphrasis by embedding one element of the story that does not exist and is not even implied in either of them. The transformation of the heroine functions as a recompense for the rape, just like the offer of marriage. The heroine's transformation (by being an obscure feature of the myth) would immediately draw the readers' attention, offering a new perspective on Ariadne.
Transformation is the feature of the myth highlighted at the end of this passage. The act of metamorphosis itself is triggered by a deity, and it focuses on the external appearance of a hero or a heroine; his or her imago. As indicated by Ariadne the letter-writer, the emotion of fear, present in her first Ovidian portrayal, is interlinked with the appearance of 39  gods; Ariadne establishes this fear at verse 95 of her letter (caelum restabat: timeo simulacra deorum 'the sky remains -yet there I fear visions of the gods'). 41 The word simulacrum is the Latin equivalent for the Greek word εἴδωλον, 42 which indicates that its use alludes possibly to the concept of catasterism, already from the Ovidian epistle, where there is no other function other than allusion to previous versions of the story. However, the new version establishes another function: Ariadne has been fearful of the simulacra deorum for a valid reason; the god's appearance will trigger a new narrative. As the victim of a rape narrative she will be forced to undergo a transformation of her own imago. Out of the other features that function as signs of an Ovidian rape narrative, one deserves further discussion: the loss of voice creates the impression that it functions simply as a means of allusion to previous portrayals of Ariadne, but in fact establishes a common characteristic of an Ovidian heroine within a rape narrative. Fear is connected with loss of voice, especially while the woman in danger is wandering on shore, which is considered a common rape setting. 43 Of course the most famous wandering heroine, Ariadne, is more than suitable to acquire and adapt to this new role. Ovid constructs the rape setting clearly: Ariadne is depicted wandering on shore (Ars am. 1.527), whereas the sight of Bacchus causes the heroine's loss of voice (vox abiere puellae, Ars am. 1.551).
According to the narrator, the heroine's fear leads her to faint, thus ending her speech (Ars am. 1.539). This sudden interruption of her speech deprives the heroine of control over the story. Ovid plays with the idea that without Ariadne's voice manipulating the readers to see the story from her perspective the heroine has no narrative control over the text, which creates a playful, yet antithetical allusion to the Ovidian letter. The juxtaposition with Ariadne's previous speech in the Heroides is established with the phrase novissima verba that is inserted by Ovid as a remark concerning the epistolary monologue. The monologue creates the impression that the end of Ariadne's letter signifies an end to her status as a speaking heroine. The phrase novissima verba indicates not simply the 'final' words, but it could also mean 'the last [words] before one's death '. 44 This association of the phrase with death is already evident in Vergil, who employs a similar phrase for Dido's final words: incubuitque toro dixitque novissima verba ('she threw herself on the couch and spoke her last words ',Verg. Aen. 4.650 The poet implies a connection between his version of Ariadne and Vergil's Dido to create certain expectations; as the praeceptor amoris he guides his readers and moulds their interpretation of Ariadne. Any educated reader would immediately recognise the dialogue with the Vergilian epic and would naturally assume that the heroine is about to face an ending, echoing Dido's fate. Initially, the Ovidian illusion established through this explicit verbal recalling of Dido is that a tragic deadly end awaits Ariadne as well. But, the readers are aware that the Roman version of the myth, established by the Catullan ecphrasis, has a happy ending. Intriguingly, in the Ovidian version not only are the lines between happy and un-happy ending blurred, but they do not put forth a definitive answer: Ariadne, as the readers are told at the end of the digression, escapes death in the literal sense and is gifted with marriage and catasterism (Ars am. 1.557-58; 1.563-64). Under the gaze of the male readers, the picture created is a happy one: the divine epiphany brings salvation to Ariadne. Unfortunately for her, salvation comes with a price that rape victims within an Ovidian text seem to share: the deprivation of voice that is illuminated with the heroine's transformation into a star. The end to Ariadne's story, as readers know from previous versions, is highlighted even further with the Ovidian selection of vocabulary. Before the god's appearance, the use of specific verbs creates the appropriate foreshadowing of an imminent rape, although the chosen language does not appear on first reading to have erotic connotations. The combination of the verb surge at 548 with pugnare at 561 (with the former having clear sexual connotations as the male Satyrs urge Bacchus to 'get up') 47 constructs an intense erotic setting that creates expectations losing, the losing of words is a matter slight indeed.') Also cf. the association between death and the ending of her letter at Her. 7.111-12: Durat in extremum vitaeque novissima nostrae / prosequitur fati, qui fuit ante, tenor ('The lot that was mine in days past still follows me in these last moments of life and will pursue to the end'). Interestingly, the Ovidian Dido establishes her status as Aeneas' wife (coniunx at 7.113). On Ovid's re-interpretation of Dido and allusion to the Vergilian model see Miller 2004: 57-62 . 1.562). The antithesis between the two attempts is another feature of Ovidian rape narrative: 50 the successful, yet implicit, rape of the heroine is juxtaposed to the unsuccessful attempt against the Bacchants. The power-play dynamics are clearly in favour of the omnipotent god. Yet, the abrupt ending to the heroine's speech is indicated not only by the phrase rupitque novissima verba (Ars am. 1.539), but also in the actual interruption of Ariadne's speech by the noise created from the cymbals announcing the god's imminent arrival: 'quid mihi fiet' ait; sonuerunt cymbala toto / litore […] ('What will become of me?' she cries: then o'er all the shore cymbals resounded', Ars am. 1.537-38). Finally, the heroine's fear is stated explicitly with excidit illa metu (Ars am. 1.539), which echoes rise at sight of your fairness, and I, though naught but that ring, would play the human part'). This specific elegy focuses significantly on the erotic aspect of the amator's relationship with his puella. Ovid offers Corinna a gift and specifically a ring that is considered a common amatory gift by the Romans. In the Amores passage it is attributed phallic connotations. Regarding the erotic connotations of membra, libido, surgo see Adams 1982: 46 and 57. 48 The verb rumpo, in addition to its earlier interpretation, has the meaning of 'penetrate', which could be used within erotic connotations. See OLD s.v. a similar phrase in the letter excussere metus somnum (Her. 10.13). However, a variation occurs. In the Ars fear paralyses Ariadne and deprives her of the ability to speak, whereas in the Heroides fear awakens her and makes her active. The difference lies in the source of her fear in each text. In the former, the heroine's fear derives from the presence of new characters. In the latter, Ariadne's fear emerges due to the absence of her lover. What is more, by echoing the same phrase, Ovid underlines that the change in perspective -from the female perspective of a letterwriter to the male perspective of the praeceptor amoris -has affected the narrative as well.
Additionally, this absence of the female vox -originating in fear -echoes the portrayal of the Ovidian puella. Once again, Ariadne's depiction reflects Corinna's reaction to Ovid's violent behaviour towards her at Am. 1.7, 51 a similarity which stresses the former's depiction as an elegiac puella in danger. The parallels between the puella of the Amores and one of the puellae of the Ars are drawn already from Am. 1.7.15-16, where the elegiac poet compares Corinna to Ariadne, focusing on the dishevelled imago of the mythological heroine. 52 A few lines later, Corinna is left speechless from fear: ipsa nihil: pavido est lingua retenta metu ('Herself said 51 Armstrong 2006: 243 also stresses the element of violence which connects the Ars episode with Ov. Am. 1.7. However, she focuses mainly on the attribution of amens to both Ariadne (Ov. Ars am. 1.527) and Corinna (Ov. Am. 1.7.51). For an analysis of the function of violence in the portrayal of the elegiac puella in general see Fredrick 1998. On women and violence in the Amores see Greene 1998: 67-92 and in particular pp. 84-91 for Ov. Am. 1.7. In fact, the scholar comments (in p. 87) that these women of myth, despite their sufferings, are 'seen as beautiful objects of desire, and on top of that, they receive fama as a result of their liaisons with men who abuse and/or degrade them', thus justifying the violence inflicted upon them. On violence in Ovidian rape narratives see Johnson 1996, who suggests that Callisto's story in the Metamorphoses and the Fasti is in fact another rape narrative. Also see Richlin 1992: 168, who suggests that 'a poet who sees love as comparable to battle might well see violence as part of love.' 52 Cf. Ov. Am. naught; her tongue was kept from it by trembling fear', Am. 1.7.20). Thus, a pattern emerges: an Ovidian puella in danger has no voice and is dominated by fear. It has become evident that, within the context of the Ars, both the loss of voice and the display of fear are signs of a rape setting because they are combined with features of such a setting. Ovid demonstrates how the re-introduction of the same language and imagery can be attributed a completely different function in order to fit the generic requirements of the Ars. Although, the poet is employing the same vocabulary and constructing the same visual imago, the identity of the heroine has been transformed; the elegiac lamenting puella within an epistolary collection has become the elegiac lamenting puella within a rape narrative.

ORIGINS AND PARALLELS OF OVIDIAN RAPE NARRA-TIVES: ARIADNE, CYNTHIA AND THE S ABINE WOMEN
As the discussion has demonstrated, Ovid creates at Ars am. 1.527-64 an early form of the scene of the rape of a heroine by a god and the subsequent transformation, which is perfected later in the Metamorphoses. What remains to be addressed is the function of such a narrative within the boundaries of a didactic-amatory work that breaks away from the simple elegiac representation of love and teaches how the male (in the first two books) can remain in control of the situation or at least appear to be in control. 53 Despite the differentiation from his fellow elegists, Ovid's work is obviously informed by the elegies of his predecessors, especially by the Propertian elegies. 54 For the purposes of this discussion, Propertius' elegy 1.3 is attributed a significant role since it is acknowledged that the pattern of the comic unsuccessful rape appears in the Propertian passage in the same way it is presented by Ovid in the Fasti rapes. 55 In a manner, Propertius is Ovid's model for rape narratives within the boundaries of works such as the Ars and the Fasti, works that have clear generic affinities. As mentioned earlier in the discussion, the Fasti rape stories can provide insight into how Ovid treated the theme, both in his earlier and in his later works. The main trait of such scenes is their consistency, despite their incorporation into different works. Once we take into consideration that Ovid uses the aforementioned Propertian elegy as a model for later rape narratives, then it is more than plausible that he uses it as a model for at least some of his earlier rape narratives.
In this Propertian elegy, the poet admits that he has been drinking and that he is seized by both Amor and Liber. 56 The connection of Liber and Amor is echoed by Ovid at the beginning of the Ariadne passage (Liber ... amantes, Ars am. 1.525); Bacchus himself has fallen in love (thus the link with Amor) and for that reason he assists lovers in symposiums (hence the connection with drunkenness). Lyne offers a very intriguing interpretation of the Propertian verse, as he suggests that the verse hac Amor hac Liber, durus uterque deus (Prop. 1.3.14) underlines the poet's temptation to rape, which is overwhelmed by his fear of Cynthia's reaction and is replaced by his decision to offer her munera (Prop. 1.3.26), 57 just like 54 On the immense impact and influence of Propertian poetics in Ovid's Amores in particular see Morgan 1977;Weiden Boyd 1997: 19-48 Since rape is not a theme that appears in Ariadne's myth explicitly before Ovid, it is evident that the poet has been influenced by Prop. 1.3: a poem that offers the imago of another heroine, the sleeping Cynthia as vulnerable to rape. Ovid, of course, is influenced primarily by Prop. 1.3 in the representation of Ariadne as an elegiac sleeping puella (already in Heroides 10), 58 which should be considered as additional evidence that the same poem functions as his inspiration for introducing a new narrative element into the story, which clearly did not exist explicitly in any previous treatments. All the evidence leads to the Propertian elegy (1.3) influencing the rape setting in the Ariadne episode, which justifies this innovative re-telling of the story. The rape, on the one hand, enhances the elegiac tone because it reminds the readers of other elegiac passages with similar content, namely Prop. 1.3, that begins with a juxtaposition of the elegiac puella to the sleeping Ariadne. On the other hand, it lends a playful (comic) tone to the episode, as it recalls similar scenes from Propertius with Bacchus and hence both are linked with rape. Booth 1995: 24 discusses the erotic connotations of the vocabulary used at Prop. 1.3.15-16 and highlights the concept of rape. The scholar indicates that at verses 27-30 the poet imagines that the sleeping Cynthia's timores derive from fear of rape from an unwanted lover. comedy and establishes a connection to theatre and dramatic performances. Of course, this playful tone is strengthened with the description of the god's entourage. 59 However, Ariadne is not the only Ovidian heroine that is portrayed as a rape victim within the first book of the Ars Amatoria. The rape of the Sabine women is narrated at lines 89-134, which precede the Ariadne story; hence, Ovid has already composed one rape narrative within the context of this book, which suggests that the outcome of the comparison will be valid. The first major similarity between the two passages is found in their introduction as aetiological stories. 60 Both episodes offer aetia, explaining simultaneously the incorporation of these female characters within the work. On the one hand, Ovid uses the Sabine women episode to justify the advice aimed at his male readers: the best meeting place is the theatre (Ars am. 1.89) and it has been since the time of Romulus, as it becomes evident by the abduction of the Sabine women and their characterisation as rapta (Ars am. 1.102). Additionally, the theatre is a suitable meeting place for both his male readers and women. The praeceptor amoris begins the narration of the story with the explicit reference to theatre in order to offer an aetion for women's presence there: they come to the theatre 'to see' and 'to be seen' (spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae, Ars am. 1.99). Thus, according to male perspective, theatre is also beneficial to women, who within the amatory world of the Ars Amatoria, are both spectators and spectacle. The imago of female heroines within the work is constructed carefully, as the poet plays with the boundaries of female portrayal. On the other hand, the praeceptor amoris' reference to Liber, prior to the Ariadne episode, offers an amatory explanation for the incorporation of the heroine's story; the god assists lovers, because 59 Cf. Ov. Ars am. 1.543-44: ebrius, ecce, senex pando Silenus asello / vix sedet, et pressas continent ante iubas ('Io! Drunken old Silenus scarce sits his crookbacked ass, and leaning clings to the mane before him'); 1.546-47: quadrupedem ferula dum malus urget eques, / in caput aurito cecidit delapsus asello ('and while the unskilful horseman urges his beast with a rod, he falls off the long-eared ass and topples head-foremost and the Satyrs cry'). 60 On the aetiological and humorous tone of the Sabine women episode see Hollis 1973: 105;Watson 2002: 152. On the 'erotic aetiology' of this episode and its cultural connotations see Labate 2006. For a comparative reading of the rape of the Sabine women in Livy (1.9-13) and Ovid's Ars Amatoria see Beard 1999. he is also consumed by the flammae of amor (Ars am. 1.525-26). The passages are subtly interlinked: Liber is associated with dramatic performances and music, as highlighted by the text itself, 61 creating a visual and acoustic nod to the image of spectators and spectacles at the theatre. Not only is the god associated with these images, but by the end of the episode Ariadne herself becomes the epitome of a spectacle, as both her figura and her crown are transformed into a star, thus providing an aetion for the Cressa Corona (Ars am. 1.558). 62 In addition to the aetiological aspect, which is considered a main function of later Ovidian rape narratives, both stories portray their heroines as rape victims. To begin with, the association of paleness and fear, foreshadowing the rape, appears in both episodes. The image of a puella losing her color because of fear becomes a connecting thread between the Sabine women and Ariadne (constitit in nulla qui fuit ante color 'in none remained her former colour', Ars am. 1.120; et color et Theseus et vox abiere puellae 'voice, colour and Theseus all were gone from the girl', Ars am. 1.551). Additionally, fear is connected not only with absence of colour, but also with the heroines' attempt to flee; with the imagery of flight, triggered by fear, indicated with the verbs fugit/timuere in the case of the Sabines at verses 118-19 and the nouns fugam/metu in the case of Ariadne at verse 552 respectively. What seems to be the common factor in both episodes is that the portrayal of a frightened woman or women seems to enhance their attractiveness in the eyes of the husband(s) to be, 63 which is used to 'justify' their construction or, in Ariadne's case, de-construction as rape victims. Moreover, the victimisation of both the Sabine women and Ariadne is made explicit with the use of specific language in relation to these female characters. The attribution of the adjective raptae at verse 125 to the Sabine women underlines their image as 'abducted' heroines, taken by force (hence their characterisation as praeda in the same verse). This imago of 'abducted' heroines continues with the use of the verb repugnarat at verse 127 to establish the ever-changing status of the heroines, who 'transform' from spectators, to the object of male gaze, 64  Therefore, even though the situation is not identical, both episodes indicate explicitly the forthcoming marital status of the women in question, associating it with a 'romanticisation' of amatory violence. 66 In the Sabine women episode, the praeceptor amoris comments on the fact that if any of the women attempted to fight back, then the husband-to-be would carry her off and offer marriage to her (quod matri pater est, hoc tibi' dixit 'ero.', 'saying: what your father was to your mother that will I be to you', Ars am. 1.130). 67 In the Ariadne episode, the heroine (unlike some of the Sabine women) does not have the strength to fight and surrenders (neque enim pugnare valebat, Ars am. 1.561), though she attempts to escape (Ars am. 1.552). The use of the verb pugno in association with the negative neque creates an interesting parallel with the Sabines' attempt to fight back. Whereas at least some of the Sabines choose fight and not flight, Ariadne chooses flight because her battle is un-even (Ars am. 1.562). However, exactly like the Sabine women, she is offered a new marital status (uxor eris, Ars am. 1.556), which is fulfilled by the end of the episode as indicated by the use of nupta at verse 564. As demonstrated by the text itself, male gaze and male speech are the dominant features of these passages. Women within the boundaries of these two passages have no voice (in the Sabine women digression) or lose their voice (in the Ariadne digression), which is contrasted with the dominance of the male voice of the praeceptor amoris and his male exempla. Bacchus' speech echoes that of the un-named man in the Sabine episode as they are both characterised by an amatory and paternalistic tone: 68 the women in question are told their fate without any possibility of challenging it, as it is indicated with the repetition of the future tense of the verb sum (ero and eris). Their resistance and attempt to fight is a necessary inconvenience for the male suitors and a central component of their amatory struggle within the Ars, that will be overcome with the instructions of the praeceptor amoris. 69 66 The term 'romanticisation of force' and its function as a motif for the first book of the Ars Amatoria in particular is suggested by Sharrock 2006. 67 Hollis 1977 suggests that this line indicates that Ovid alludes to traditional justifications of rape. 68 For this element in the Sabine rape narrative see Richlin 1992: 167. 69 On the notion of 'feminine resistance that is portrayed as a necessary part of the game' in the Sabine women episode see Labate 2006: 214. The striking similarities between the rape of the Sabine women and the Ariadne episode suggest that the poet is creating the setting of another rape in the latter. The main difference, however, between the two episodes is that in the former the rape is mentioned clearly, while in the latter it is simply hinted at. What is more, the abduction of the Sabine women, similarly to the desertion of Ariadne, is a story that finds its place more than once within the Ovidian corpus. The story is re-introduced in the Fasti (3.187-234), where the rape narrative once again leads to marriage. 70 But as Richlin rightly points outs, 'a text about rape may also be about something else, but it is still a text of rape.' 71 Echoing the episode of the Sabine women in the Ars, the Ariadne digression is narrated and perceived as a light-hearted rape. 72 Ovid re-imagines the figura of Ariadne: she is no longer the lamenting letter-writer, whose misfortune creates emotions of empathy in her readers; she is a voiceless figura whose new misfortune is given a light-hearted tone, under the dominant male gaze. This tone is suitable for the amatory-didactic purposes of the Ars Amatoria: the male readers of the first two books are to be educated and entertained by the exempla offered by the praeceptor amoris. 73 By re-interpreting such a famous tale and de-constructing such a notable woman of myth, Ovid affirms his role as the teacher of love and illustrates his ability to re-imagine a heroine, whoalbeit her Greek literary origins -was a literary model for the portrayal of women in Latin literature. 70 Hejduk 2011: 21 argues that the story of the Sabine women, as the abduction of Persephone, 'which culminate in stable marriages, are in a different category from the one-night lust-driven attacks that usually merit the name of 'rape'.' 71 Richlin 1992: 159. 72 Cf. Murgatroyd 2000, who argues that both the Sabine women episode and the Achilles-Deidamia episode are 'light-hearted rapes which poke fun at the Rapists'. 73 Hollis 1977: 125 on Ov. Ars am. 1.562 underlines the amusing tone of the Ovidian comment in the parenthesis: the praeceptor amoris' male reader will probably face difficulties in his amatory adventures, compared to the omnipotent god.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
As the discussion has illustrated, at Ars am. 1.527-64 Ovid presents a deconstruction of Ariadne's imago as the deserted lamenting heroine whose status as one of the letter-writers of the Epistulae Heroidum seems forgotten and is purposefully transformed into the voice-less and helpless victim of a rape narrative. This metamorphosis has its origins in the poet's playful dialogue with his fellow-elegist Propertius (1.3). Ovid alludes explicitly to both Catullus' original speaking heroine (64) and to his own representation of Ariadne not simply as a speaking heroine but as a letter-writer (Her. 10), establishing thus a connecting thread between these mirror imagines of Ariadne. However, the poet also alludes implicitly to Propertius' description of the ideal elegiac puella in 1.3, who -not coincidentally -is connected with the imago of Ariadne. Until this point, Ariadne is synonymous with amatory abandonment and lamentation. Ovid breaks the mould and adds a new characteristic: Ariadne is not simply a deserted heroine lamenting the loss of amor; she is a deserted heroine facing the consequences of what is labelled amor from a male perspective. Thus, the Ovidian reader embarks on a journey of re-interpretation and re-imagination, discovering along the way the origins and the transformation of one of the most famous Ovidian heroines. 74 BIBLIOGRAPHY