Poenae mirande repertor : Recontextualizing the Poet and the Prince in Ovid Tristia 3.11*

summary: Framed as a rejoinder by Ovid to an anonymous detractor, Tristia 3.11 tells as its centerpiece the story of the tyrant Phalaris and his torture device, the bronze bull. In this paper, I argue that the tale is a metaphor by which Ovid reflects upon the morality of both his downfall and poetic philosophy. He accomplishes this through allusion – first by inverting his version of the story from the Ars , then by evoking arguments advanced earlier in his exilic collection. I conclude by demonstrating that the elegy, unified via themes of justice, clemency, and rulership, forms a veiled polemic directed against Augustus.