Thursday, January 30, 2020
Pound Misquotes Ovid
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), The Spirit of Romance, rev. ed. (1952; rpt. New York: New Directions, 1968), p. 15:
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Ovid—urbane, sceptical, a Roman of the city—writes, not in a florid prose, but in a verse which has the clarity of French scientific prose.Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1.637:
"Convenit esse deos et ergo esse credemus."
"It is convenient to have Gods, and therefore we believe they exist"; and with all pretence of scientific accuracy he ushers in his gods, demigods, monsters and transformations.
expedit esse deos, et, ut expedit, esse putemus.Related post: Poundian Latinity.
Labels: typographical and other errors
