Abstract
The essay sketches some conspicuous aspects of Ovid's usage of color-terms (voc. suggestive of colors, incl. n., adj. and verbal forms) in his epic narratives, in an attempt to restate the lines of demarcation between the poetic colors and those of (in his case)often-compared visual arts. Materials of the discussion are mainly drawn from the Metamorphoses, and treated in the following order, I. Epitheton ornans and its various modifications : i)suggestive of concrete texture of color-bodies(e.g. I 332-3, II 852-3) ; ii)merging of color-similes in actions (e.g. IV 354-5, X 594-5) ; iii)metrical device to enhance coloration(e.g. VIII 354-5, X 90-105). II. Symbolic uses(or suppression)of color-terms: Aurora in III 145-252; colorless effect of quod rogis superest in IV 164-6. III. Significant color-contrasts in Ovidian narrative: i) green and earth-colors (e.g. I 112, 632-41, II 864-5, limum infronde relictum I 347) ; ii)blood on green grass(e.g. Ill 86-7, IV 504-5, X 210), murder of Orpheus(XI 18-9, 27-8) and death of Ajax(XIII 394-5), guilty civilization(XV 96-8) ; iii)red and white: cliche split into multiplicity of meaning(e.g. Ill 418-24, 481-4, 491, 509-10), beauty-spot turned into the utmost misery(e.g. XIII 492) ; pristine freshness of Dawn, distilled from cliche by magic art, X 291-4.
