In 18 BC. punishable by death or exile. This was the Rome of Ovid's time, but more importantly, this was the audience for whom The Art of Loving was written. When we think about the decadent advice Ovid offers to this morally declining Roman population, we must think about the tools Ovid uses to persuade his audience to follow his teachings. Ovid seeks to direct his audience by providing a myriad of examples from the most respected, but also the most immoral, entity of antiquity: the Roman gods. To decipher the way in which Ovid accomplished his feat, we must consider not only his exploitation of religion as a mode of persuasion, but also these ancient beings themselves, whose scandalous lives and loves are deeply rooted in this same decadence and who 'Ovide tries to decipher. promote in book I of his Ars Amatoria: rape. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayReligion was the muse of Ovid's controversial The Art of Love. The first book is mainly made up of references to ancient Roman myths and heroes; however, there are a few key allusions that not only justify, but actually encourage, an immoral pursuit of women. In the first pages, Ovid states that his “art comes from Apollo”. Although Apollo may be the god of many virtues such as music, poetry, and prophecy, his talent for attaining the love of women proves to be far from virtuous. Ovid himself describes an example in his Metamorphoses in which Apollo's amorous conquest ends in death. Once Apollo forced Leucothoe to succumb to his lustful love, Leucothoe was punished by her father for the immorality of this act by being buried alive. It is the fate of a young girl whose conquest was successful. Consequently, the women that Apollo unsuccessfully pursues, like Cassandra and Daphne, also meet a terrible end. Apollo's art in pursuing women not only leads to the ruin of respectable women, but also reveals Apollo as a wicked and malicious lover. The glorification of Apollo is dangerous in the context of Ovid's play because of Apollo's need to cruelly and vengefully punish women who refuse his sexual advances. Ovid's claim that his art came from Apollo is the first instance in which Ovid supports the mistreatment of women, particularly those who reject his love. The mistreatment of women is an underlying theme of Ovid's Book I of The Art of Loving, a theme that has been greatly romanticized by the myths and legends embedded in the text. One of the best examples that fully illustrates Ovid's acceptance of the objectification of women is the story of Romulus and the Sabine women. In alluding to this story, Ovid focuses on the terror of young virgin girls who flee "the lust of a hand." The linguistic implication behind the kidnapping of these women suggests that if they refuse to sanctify their marriage, they will be raped. The story takes a comic turn through dialogue when Ovid draws a comparison between daughters and mothers, insinuating that cooperating with these soldiers will allow the daughters to become like their mothers. By introducing comedy into this play, Ovid not only diminishes the seriousness of the situation, but also devictimizes the girls by insinuating that they are stupid for not accepting Romulus's men. By not allowing rape victims to be victims, Ovid insinuates that rape is not a crime, but simply another approach to finding a suitable wife. Sabine women are even more objectifiedthrough the depiction of Ovid as the “spoils” and “rewards” for which he would willingly enlist in the army. By making these women the legitimate prize of these soldiers, Ovid insinuates that every soldier is entitled to a wife such as a Sabine Woman, and should therefore kidnap an eye-catching young girl. Ovid states that a woman who “is taken by force, welcomes gratuitous aggression” because it flatters her vanity. This is not meant to justify rape, but rather to participate in it. Furthermore, the mythical examples that Ovid uses to strengthen his argument predate both himself and his argument, suggesting that these myths are not simply the examples of his argument, but the central inspiration that triggered his ideology. The first two women mentioned by Ovid are Phoebe and Hilaria, who were kidnapped and "raptured" by Pollux and Castor who in turn massacred their lovers; Idas and Lynceus. Although Ovid emphasizes the rape of these women as the central point of the myth, this event is only a subplot. Ovid manipulates the audience into "looking at the myths from a new perspective...by emphasizing a generally insignificant aspect of the story." The story of Pollux and Castor is the heartwarming story of two brothers who loved each other so much that when one died, the other shared his immortality with him. Through the invocation of this popular myth of Gemini, Ovid evokes a subliminal feeling of emotion and admiration for Pollux and Castor. The message behind their mention is not that women enjoyed being raped, but rather that raping a woman does not make a man less honorable or less loved by the gods. Although it is also included to illustrate women's desire to be raped, the story of Achilles and Deidamia delivers a dangerous message and provides male audiences with yet another reason to rape women. The story goes that Achilles is dressed as a woman by his mother in order to protect him from certain death. Her true identity is only discovered when her roommate, Deidamia, is raped. Achilles' masculinity is regained thanks to the rape of Deidamia. By integrating the story of Achilles, where rape is an expression of power and masculinity, Ovid no longer advocates rape for the pleasure of women, but also for men seeking to prove their virility. The myths that Ovid uses to fortify his The Romanticism of Rape share many vital similarities. The first is the greatness of the men who commit these rapes: Romulus is the founder of Rome, Pollux and Castor are a constellation, and Achilles is a hero of the Trojan War. Ovid could have cited criminals or Greeks, but instead chose these complex figures from Roman religion because of their status and marketability as his models. As Watson describes in Mythological Exempla in Ovid's Ars Amatoria, Ovid uses his "mythological figures as [] models to imitate." One of the many reasons that allows Ovid to convince his audience to follow the example of these entities. , it is the belief that they are divine and above the law – but more importantly, above the notions of good and evil. If Ovid had cited the rape of Roman virgins by a gang of thieves or even slaves, his effect on the public would have been much less convincing and more open to criticism. Similarly, if Ovid had referred to Castor's death and acknowledged that it was the result of rape, his argument would have suffered a serious blow and perhaps frightened lovers who considered rape to be wise behavior for make love. Another interesting characteristic shared by these rape myths is the relative humility of these men's status at the time of the rape and the necessity of the rape to fulfill their destiny. By the time Romulus., 1983): 117-126.