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FORGETTING THE ARS MEMORIAE : OVID, REMEDIA AMORIS 579–84

2013; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 63; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0009838813000414

1471-6844

Patrick Timothy Beasom,

Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

During his encounter with Lethaeus Amor in the Remedia amoris , in which he discusses techniques to forget a former lover, Ovid writes the following: quisquis amas, loca sola nocent: loca sola caveto; quo fugis? in populo tutior esse potes. non tibi secretis (augent secreta furores) est opus; auxilio turba futura tibi est. tristis eris, si solus eris, dominaeque relictae ante oculos facies stabit, ut ipsa, tuos. This passage has been discussed in Hardie's treatment of Lethaeus Amor, and, while he directly addresses Ovid's use of loci in this passage as I shall below, his focus is on the rich intertextuality – textual remembrances – within the Remedia rather than the use of loci in the ars memoriae proper. Hardie points out numerous intertexts in the Remedia , using the character of Lethaeus Amor to highlight the paradox of a learned reader of love poetry being unable to forget the poetry he has read, despite this specific oblivion being a precondition for curing oneself of love (as clearly directed at Rem. am . 755–66). In this case, the loca sola Ovid warns against are ‘topics of solitude’ which ‘conjure up for the experienced reader scenes of erotic despair’, thus calling to mind the lover's own lovelorn state.