Scribere Iussit Amor: Phaedra, Love, and (Roman) Law in Ovid’s Heroides 4

Abstract: This article examines the interplay between legal language and poetic discourse within Ovid’s Heroides 4. As a knowledgeable reader of previous authors, as well as an expert in love poetry and Roman and divine law, the Ovidian Phaedra combines literary tradition, elegiac patterns, and legal discourse to portray her adulterous and incestuous relationship with Hippolytus as legitimate. Phaedra’s ironical reinterpretation and manipulation of Roman legal concepts, along with her skillful use of sources and elegiac motifs, articulates Ovid’s attempt to uncover the intrinsic arbitrariness and unreliability of contemporary (Augustan) juridical constructs.