Two papers explore understudied aspects of the Metamorphoses' Marsyas narrative. The first links the passage's interest in imitation to the play between generic codes and ultimately to the position of its author as an Augustan poet, who, like the satyr, always risked appearing as the mere borrower of the language and images of his superiors. The second analyzes intratextual connections with other passages in the poem, where Ovid could create his own poetic space; the paper then offers new frameworks for interpreting the satyr's fate.
The aim of this article is to draw attention to certain interconnecting motifs within Ovid's Mefamorphoscs which have not, to my knowledge, been given emphasis before. However, the episodes that I intend to cover have inspired a great deal of scholarly interpretation, and I shall attempt to avoid repetition of familiar and well-worked ideas in this discussion.'Narcissus is the logical starting point for any examination of the identity crisis theme; the progress to self awareness, tortuously entwined with self-delusion, is narrated by Ovid as a tragi-comic predicament. Narcissus is doomed to 'know himself' in a new and disastrous fashion (Mer. 3.346-8):. . . de quo consultus, an esset tempora maturae visurus longa senectae, fatidicus vates 'si se non noverit' inquit.According to Ovid, this prophecy of Tiresias baffles his audience, but subsequent events are supposed to clarify his pronouncements (Met. 3.349-50):
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