The four-line proem of the Metamorphoses — 'In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas / corpora' — announces Ovid's theme of transformation. These lines are compact, elegant, and packed with programmatic meaning. Use Philologus to translate, assess your version, and quiz yourself.
In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas corpora; di, coeptis (nam vos mutastis et illas) adspirate meis…
Citation: Ov. Met. 1.1–4.
My mind moves me to tell of forms changed into new bodies; gods, favour my undertaking (for you have changed even those things)…
Key vocabulary: muto (to change, transform); forma (form, shape, beauty); coeptum (undertaking, beginning); adspiro (to breathe upon, favour).
Grammar focus for this passage: Enjambment and hyperbaton in Ovidian hexameter; Programmatic language and literary self-reference; The invocation structure (animus, di, coeptis); Key vocabulary: mutatus, forma, corpus, perpetuum, deducere; Accusative + infinitive construction.
Why is 'corpora' on the next line? — Ovid uses enjambment — splitting 'formas / corpora' across lines — to enact the very transformation he describes: forms flowing into new bodies.
What does 'perpetuum … carmen' mean? — A 'continuous song' — Ovid signals that his poem will flow unbroken from creation to his own time.
How does this differ from Vergil's proem? — Vergil invokes the Muse; Ovid invokes the gods themselves. Vergil focuses on a single hero; Ovid announces a universal theme.