Viewing Transvestites in Propertius and Ovid dixit et ignotas animum dimittit in artes naturamque nouat. nam ponit in ordine pennas, … atque ita compositas paruo curuamine flectit ut ueras imitetur aues … Met 8.189-95 “He spoke and set his mind to unknown arts, and changed his nature. For he placed feathers in order … and arranged thus, he bent them into a small curve, in order to imitate real birds.” nec species sua cuique manet, rerumque nouatrix ex aliis alias reparat natura figuras; nec perit in toto quidquam, mihi credite, mundo, sed uariat faciemque nouat ... Met 15.252-5 “For no one’s appearance remains, and nature, the renovator of things, remakes some shapes from others, nor does anything in the whole world perish - believe me - but nature changes it and alters its shape…” sic modo quae fuerat rudis et sine imagine tellus induit ignotas hominum conuersa figuras. Met 1.87-8 “Thus the earth, which had been unwrought and without appearance, having been transformed, assumes the unknown shapes of humans.” … nomenque simul faciemque nouauit Leucothoeque deum cum matre Palaemona dixit. Met 4.541-2 And he [Neptune] simultaneously changed their names and shape, and called Palaemon a god with his mother Leucothoe.” [Neptune transforming Ino and Melicerta] mira Periclymeni mors est, cui posse figuras sumere quas uellet rursusque reponere sumptas Neptunus dederat, Nelei sanguinis auctor. hic ubi nequiquam est formas uariatus in omnes, uertitur in faciem uolucris, quae fulmina 560 curuis ferre solet pedibus, diuum gratissima regi; Met 12.556-61 “The death of Periclymenus was amazing, to whom Neptune, the founder of Neleus’ line, had given the ability to take up whatever shape he wanted and to put them away once taken up. When he had transformed himself into every shape in vain, he turned into the shape of a bird, who alone carried the thunderbolts in its curved talons, the favourite bird of the king of the gods.” … Priameia coniunx perdidit infelix hominis post omnia formam Met 13.404-5 “The unlucky wife of Priam, after everything, lost her human form.” [Hecuba becoming a dog] … nulli sua mansit imago. Met 14.415 “No one’s image remained”. [Circe transforming Odysseus’ men] hos aliquis tremula dum captat harudine pisces aut pastor baculo stiuaue innixus arator uidit et obstipuit, quique aethera carpere possent credidit esse deos … Met 8.217-20 “Someone, while he was catching fish with a quivering reed, or a shepherd leaning on his staff or a farmer leaning on his plough-handle, saw them and was amazed, and believed that those who can take to the sky are gods.” … comitique timet, uelut ales ab alto quae teneram prolem produxit in aera nido, hortaturque sequi damnosasque erudit artes. Met 8.213-5 “ … and he feared for his companions, like a bird who has brought her tender young from their high nest into the air, and encourages it to follow and teaches it pernicious arts.” …quamuis modo uisa sequenti esset ero, formamque nouat uultumque uirilem induit et cultus piscem capientibus aptos. hanc dominus spectans … Met 8.852-4 “Although she had just been seen to her master pursuing her, Neptune changed her shape, and clothed her in a manly face and attire fit for fishermen. Her master, looking at her …” protinus induitur faciem cultumque Dianae Met 2.425 “Straightaway he [Jupiter] clothes himself in the appearance and attire of Diana.” induitur faciem tauri mixtusque iuuencis Met 2.850 “He [Jupiter] puts on the shape of a bull and mingles with the bullocks.” sin aliquem uultusque meus saetaeque leonis    terrent et Libyco sole perusta coma Propertius 4.9.45-6 “But if my face and shaggy lion-skin and hair burnt by the Libyan sun terrifies anyone” … et acrior ipse est uultus… Met 9.788-9 “And [his/her] very facial features were sharper” cultus erat pueri; facies, quam siue puellae siue dares puero, fieret formosus uterque. Met 9.712-3 “Her clothes were that of a boy; but her face, whether you gave it to a girl or a boy, both would be beautiful”. et manibus duris apta puella fui. Propertius 4.9.50 “And though my hands were hard I was an apt girl”. [Hercules to the Bona Dea priestess] ausus es hirsutos mitra redimire capillos! aptior Herculeae populus alba comae. Heroides 9.63-4 “You dared to tie up your bristling hair in a bonnet! The white poplar tree is more fitting for the hair of Hercules”. [Deinara to Hercules] femina tela tulit Lernaeis atra venenis,      ferre gravem lana vix satis apta colum Heroides 9.115-6 “A woman has borne the darts black with the poison of Lerna, a woman scarce apt enough to bear the spindle heavy with wool”. …tamen illa secuta est spem Veneris, tamen illa dolis et imagine uaccae passa bouem est, et erat qui deciperetur adulter. 740 huc licet e toto sollertia confluat orbe, ipse licet reuolet ceratis Daedalus alis, quid faciet? num me puerum de uirgine doctis artibus efficiet? num te mutabit, Ianthe? Met 9.738-43 “But she pursued her hope of love, but she suffered the bull with tricks and the disguise of a cow, and he who was deceived was an adulterer. All the world’s cleverness may gather in this place, and Daedalus himself can fly back on waxen wings. What will he do for me? Surely he won’t make me a boy from a girl, with his learned arts? Surely he won’t change you, Ianthe?” Inachis ante torum pompa comitata sacrorum aut stetit aut uisa est… Met 9.687-8 “The daughter of Inachus, accompanied by a retinue of divinities, stood or appeared to stand before her bed.” tum uelut excussam somno et manifesta uidentem sic adfata dea est … Met 9.695-6 “The goddess addressed her thus, appearing manifestly to Telethusa, as though struck from sleep, looking at her.” uisa dea est mouisse suas (et mouerat) aras Met 9.782 “The goddess seems to move (and did move) her altars.” quotiens habitu duri messoris aristas corbe tulit uerique fuit messoris imago! tempora saepe gerens faeno religata recenti 645 desectum poterat gramen uerasse uideri; saepe mani stimulus rigida portabat, ut illum iurares fessos modo disiunxisse iuuencos; falce data frondator erat uitisque putator; induerat scalas, lecturum poma putares. 650 [miles erat gladio, piscator harudine sumpta.] denique per multas aditum sibi saepe figuras repperit, ut caperet spectatae gaudia formae. Met 14.643-53 “How often, in the clothes of a rough harvester, he carried ears of corn in his basket, and was the image of a true harvester! Often, bearing a brow bound by fresh hay, he could seem to have tossed the mown grass; often he carried ox-goads in his hand, so that you would swear he had just unyoked weary bullocks; give him a scythe and he was a pruner and trimmer of the vine; if he put on a ladder, you would think he was a fruit picker. [With a sword he was a soldier, taking up a reed he was a fisherman.] In short, through many forms he often found himself a way, to enjoy the beauty he admired.” opportuna mea est cunctis natura figuris: 
    in quamcumque uoles, uerte, decorus ero.
 indue me Cois, fiam non dura puella: 
    meque uirum sumpta quis neget esse toga? 
da falcem et torto frontem mihi comprime faeno: 25 
    iurabis nostra gramina secta manu. 
arma tuli quondam et, memini, laudabar in illis: 
    corbis et imposito pondere messor eram. sobrius ad lites: at cum est imposta corona, 
    clamabis capiti uina subisse meo. 30 cinge caput mitra, speciem furabor Iacchi; 
    furabor Phoebi, si modo plectra dabis.
 cassibus impositis uenor: sed harundine sumpta 
   fauor plumoso sum deus aucupio. [est etiam aurigae species Vertumnus et eius 35 
    traicit alterno qui leue pondus equo.]
 sub petaso pisces calamo praedabor, et ibo 
    mundus demissis institor in tunicis. pastor me ad baculum possum curuare uel idem 
    sirpiculis medio puluere ferre rosam.
 40 nam quid ego adiciam, de quo mihi maxima fama est, 
    hortorum in manibus dona probata meis?
 caeruleus cucumis tumidoque cucurbita uentre 
    me notat et iunco brassica uincta leui;
 nec flos ullus hiat pratis, quin ille decenter 45 
    impositus fronti langueat ante meae. Propertius 4.2.21-46 “My nature suits any role: turn me into whatever you want, and I shall fit it well. Clothe me in Coan silks, and I will become a not harsh girl: and wearing the toga, who would deny that I am a man? Give me a scythe and bind my forehead with a wisp of hay: you will swear that my hand has cut grass. I once bore arms and, as I recall, was praised in them: with a heavy basket on my back I was a reaper. Sober am I when dressed for court; but with a garland on my brows you will declare the wine has gone to my head. Bind my head with a turban, I will steal the semblance of Bacchus; and, given only his lyre, I will steal that of Phoebus. With nets on my shoulder I hunt: but carrying a fowler’s reed I am the patron god of the hunt for feathered prey. Vertumnus is even the image of a charioteer, and of him who switches his light weight from horse to horse. Wearing a felt-hat I shall catch fish with a rod, and in trailing garb I will go as an elegant peddler. I can bend myself to the crook as a shepherd, and can as well carry roses in baskets amid the dust. Need I add, wherein lies my chief renown, that my hands are filled with the garden’s choicest fruit? The dark-green cucumber, the pot-bellied gourd, and the cabbage tied up with a frail rush mark me out; and not a flower opens in the meadows but will droop before my face in comely fashion when placed upon my brow.” Translation G. P. Goold (adapted) iure uir illa fuit … Heroides 9.106 “She was rightly a man …” [Deinara on Iole] ille etiam picta redimitus tempora mitra, innitens baculo, positis per tempora canis, adsimulauit anum… Met 14.654-6 “He, binding his brow with a decorated bonnet, leaning on a staff, with white hair placed on his head, imitated an old woman.” haec ubi nequiquam formae deus apta senili 765 edidit, in iuuenem rediit et anilia demit instrumenta sibi talisque apparuit illi, qualis ubi oppositas nitidissima solis imago euicit nubes nullaque obstante reluxit; uimque parat, sed ui non est opus, inque figura 770 capta dei nymphe est et mutua uulnera sensit. Met 14.765-71 “When the god gave these words, fit for his old person’s form, returned to being a young man, and put down his old woman’s accoutrement, and appeared to her such as he is, as when the shining reflection of the sun overwhelms the clouds and shines again with no cloud obstructing him; Vertumnus was ready to use force, but there was no need for force; the nymph was captivated by the beauty of a the god and felt mutual love-wounds.” Works cited Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York; London: Routledge. Corbeill, Anthony. 2004. Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome. Princeton, N.J.; Oxford: Princeton University Press. Fantham, Elaine. 1993. ‘Sunt Quibus in Pluris Ius Est Transire Figuras: Ovid’s Self-Transformers in the Metamorphoses’. Classical World 87 (2): 21–36. Garber, Marjorie B. 1992. Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing & Cultural Anxiety. New York; London: Routledge. Gleason, Maud. 1995. Making Men: Sophists and Self-Presentation in Ancient Rome. Princeton, N.J.; Chichester: Princeton University Press. Hutchinson, Gregory. 2006. Elegies. Book IV. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lindheim, Sara. H. 1998a. ‘Hercules Cross-Dressed, Hercules Undressed: Unmasking the Construction of the Propertian Amator in Elegy 4.9’. American Journal of Philology 119 (1): 43–66. ———. 1998b. ‘I Am Dressed, Therefore I Am?: Vertumnus in Propertius 4.2 and in “Metamorphoses” 14.622-771 (Ovid)’. Ramus 27 (1): 27–38. Lovatt, Helen. 2013. The Epic Gaze: Vision, Gender and Narrative in Ancient Epic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mulvey, Laura. 1975. ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. Screen 16 (3): 6–18. Myers, K. Sara. 2009. Metamorphoses. Book XIV. Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Raval, Shilpa. 2002. ‘Cross-Dressing and “Gender Trouble” in the Ovidian Corpus’. Helios 29 (2): 149–72. Salzman-Mitchell, Patricia B. 2005. A Web of Fantasies: Gaze, Image, and Gender in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. von Glinski, Marie Louise. 2012. Simile and Identity in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rebecca Lees FemCon VII: Visions Friday 20th May 2016 1