Ovid

ov'id (43 B. C.-18 A. D), a Roman poet. A study of Ovid's life exhibits him as a leader in a gay and profligate company, not unlike that which flourished in France at one time and at the English court after the Restoration. His Art of Love, an extensive work, pictures the society in which he moved. Ovid is remembered, however, for his Metamorphoses, much read in school as a text book of classical mythology. It consists of poetical narratives of all the transformations described in legend and tradition up to the time of the death of Julius Caesar. Milton's Paradise Lost is said to owe much to Ovid. For some unknown offense, possibly slight, Ovid was banished by the Emperor Augustus. He petitioned humbly to return, but he was refused. He lived ten years in grief and died an exile.